The second Dynasty in Chinese history. It's earliest discovered written record of China's past dates from the Shang Dynasty in perhaps the 13th century BCE. The Shang Dynasty lasted nearly 600 years, having 30 emperors through 17 generations.

However, from the tenth emperor ¨C Zhongding, chaos prevailed in the royal family. During the rule of the following nine kings after Zhongding, multiple struggles took place for the crown between brothers or uncles and nephews, and the capital was moved more than once. The Shang Dynasty was surrounded by enemies. Social problems began to emerge; the country began to fall into decay; vassals didn't go to the court any more. To overcome the crisis, Pangeng, the twentieth emperor, moved the capital to Yin (Xiaotun Village in Anyang City, Henan Province today). Then, Pangeng practiced King Tang's policies, and carried out a series of reforms. He got rid of the vice of extravagance, and took care of the lives of the common people, which helped to stabilize the situation to some extent. As a result, the social politics, economy and culture recovered and developed. This event is called 'Pangeng when the capital was moved to Yin' historically.

In astronomy, the Shang Dynasty produced the calendar on the cycle of the moon. The calendar of the Shang Dynasty was differentiated into big and small months, and it regulated that 366 days formed a cycle. Besides, in the 'inscriptions on oracle bones' of the Shang Dynasty, there are many records about solar eclipse, lunar eclipse and nova.

In mathematics, there are big numbers up to thirty thousand and specific conceptions about decimal system, odd numbers, even numbers and multiple numbers, according to the 'inscriptions on oracle bones'. It indicates that people of that time had preliminary capability of calculating

Additionally, optics knowledge was also used then. The excavated convex mirror of the Shang Dynasty can mirror the whole face of a person completely.