Zhengzhou Commercial Culture

According to the relative archaeological materials, historical documents, and previous research results, this paper discusses the process and background of forming of the Shang Culture at Zhengzhou, and gives some opinions on its related problems.The Shang Culture in Zhengzhou with the Erligang Culture remaining dominant is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the Shang dynasty after the Yinxu Culture in Anyang. Shang cultural relics are widely distributed in the area represented by the Shang Capital City at Zhengzhou and Xiaoshuangqiao site, which provide valuable materials for studying the Shang culture in Zhengzhou, and some new archaeological discoveries push the study forward. It is well known that the Erligang Culture is the Early Shang Culture, and the Xiaqiyuan Culture of Zhanghe type is the Pre-Shang Culture, but how the Shang Culture is formed is a disputed problem.According to the archaeological materials, at least at the third phase of the Erlitou Culture, the Pre-Shang Culture has affected Zhengzhou area which is controlled by the Erlitou Culture, which has given birth to the Shang Culture at Zhengzhou. About at the fourth phase of the Erlitou Culture, the influence of the Pre-Shang Culture in Zhengzhou area has been enhanced rapidly, and several cultures exchange, collide and hybrid each other there. At the first phase of the lower layer of the Erligang Culture, the amalgamation of the Erlitou Culture, Xiaqiyuan Culture and Yueshi Culture increase rapidly, and at last the Shang Culture in Zhengzhou is formed. The form of the Shang Culture in Zhengzhou is not an occasion, but a necessity, because there are profound historical background, superior geographical conditions, good natural eco-environment, and abundant social cultures.In addition, this paper also discusses the problems of the replacing between the Xia and Shang dynasties and the Pre-Shang culture, and considers that the change between the two dynasties finishes at the late stage of the fourth phase of the Erlitou Culture, which shows the lagging of the cultural change between the two dynasties. From the Zhanghe Type to the Lutaigang Type and to the form of the Shang Culture at Zhengzhou, the Pre-Shang Culture also processed the last stage, which is the Pre-shang Culture, Zhengzhou type.The paper believes that the form of the Shang Culture at Zhengzhou is an explicated gradual advancing process, so the culture is neither a sudden invasion by other culture nor a simple recombining among several cultures.