Bronze and Iron AgesGovernment & Law Shang dynasty c. 1,600 BCEMajor Bronze-casting kings rule the Yellow River valley and leave China's first writing. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comShang dynasty (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookKwang-chih ChangShang Civilization ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeShang dynasty history explained ↗Editor's pick