World population in 1000 BCE is about fifty million.

The Proto Malays, who have a more diverse origin than their Negrito or Semang predecessors, are settled in Malaysia by 1000 BCE.

Although they show some connections with other inhabitants in Maritime Southeast Asia, some also have an ancestry in Indochina around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, about twenty thousand years ago.

Anthropologists support the notion that the Proto-Malays originated from what is today Yunnan, China.

This was followed by an early-Holocene dispersal through the Malay Peninsula into the Malay Archipelago.

The Mon people of Thailand and southern Burma, one of the earliest distinct groups to occupy Burma, moving into the area as early as 1500 BCE or possibly earlier, apparently make large stone funerary monuments that are ornamented with figures. (These monuments may be connected with a megalithic culture extending westward beyond India and southern Arabia through Malaysia and Indonesia.)

Maritime East Asia (1053–910 BCE): Transition from Shang to Zhou and Cultural Flourishing

Between 1053 BCE and 910 BCE, Maritime East Asia—comprising lower Primorsky Krai, the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago below northern Hokkaido, Taiwan, and southern, central, and northeastern China—experiences significant political transitions and remarkable cultural developments. This era sees the decline of the Shang Dynasty, the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, the origins of several important Chinese states, and archaeological discoveries challenging traditional narratives of Chinese civilization.

Mysterious Civilization at Sanxingdui

Archaeological findings at Sanxingdui, located in southern China’s kingdom of Shu, reveal a technologically advanced civilization distinct from the contemporary Shang capital at Anyang. Sanxingdui culture produces sophisticated bronze casting, including remarkable artifacts such as the world's oldest life-size standing human statue (260 centimeters high, weighing 180 kilograms) and an intricate bronze tree (396 centimeters high) featuring birds, flowers, and ornaments, possibly representing the mythological fusang tree.

Dozens of large bronze masks and heads, some originally adorned with gold foil, portray angular human features with exaggerated almond-shaped eyes, protruding pupils, and large ears. These discoveries, along with similar finds such as the Xingan tombs in Jiangxi, challenge the traditional narrative that Chinese civilization solely radiated from the central plains of the Yellow River. The Sanxingdui culture ultimately declines, potentially due to massive flooding or external invasion.

Artistic and Cultural Achievements of the Late Shang

The Shang Dynasty is renowned for producing artistic masterpieces in bronze, notably elaborate ritual vessels used in ceremonies dedicated to ancestor worship. These distinctive bronze objects continue into the Zhou period. Beginning in the 11th century BCE, artisans also manufacture large, barrel-shaped brass bells richly decorated on their surfaces.

Despite its artistic and ritual achievements, the Shang Dynasty faces internal unrest and declining political stability during the 12th century BCE, setting the stage for its eventual collapse.

Rise and Consolidation of the Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou, initially semi-nomadic people located west of the Shang realm, gradually emerge as a formidable power in the Yellow River valley. Under the leadership of King Wu, assisted by his brother, the Duke of Zhou, the Zhou decisively defeat the Shang at the Battle of Muye. King Wu legitimizes his rule by invoking the influential concept of the Mandate of Heaven, asserting divine justification for rulership contingent upon just governance.

Following their victory, the Zhou move their capital westward near modern Xi'an, on the Wei River, initiating the first of many historic population migrations from northern to southern China. This period, known as the Early or Western Zhou, features rapid consolidation under a centralized bureaucracy supported by vassal states managing peripheral areas. During this era, several notable states emerge that will play significant roles in later Chinese history, including Chen, Chu, Jin, Lu, Qi, and Yan, each originating as Zhou fiefdoms governed by hereditary nobles.

Cultural and Religious Transformations

The Zhou reorient Shang ancestor worship toward universal worship of Tian (Heaven), representing both the physical sky and a supreme divine entity, replacing Shang’s worship of the deity Di. Rituals of divination, bronze casting, and writing continue, blending Shang traditions with evolving Zhou customs.

Adhering to the code of conduct known as li, the Zhou promote detailed rules of etiquette, social hierarchy, and chivalric conduct, emphasizing civilization through adherence to ritual norms. Non-adherents, particularly groups beyond Zhou territories, are considered barbarians. To defend against these external threats, the Zhou begin constructing frontier walls along the northern boundary.

Sacred Geography and Settlement at Luoyang

The region of Luoyang, at the intersection of the Luo and Yi rivers, holds longstanding sacred significance as China's geographical center. Historically, multiple settlements have occupied this site:

• In 2070 BCE, Xia Dynasty king Tai Kang establishes the capital Zhenxun.

• Around 1600 BCE, King Tang of Shang builds a new capital called Western Bo.

• In 1046 BCE, following the Shang defeat, the Duke of Zhou establishes Chengzhou, resettling captured Shang nobility and transferring the ceremonial Nine Tripod Cauldrons from the Zhou capital at Haojing to Chengzhou.

Legacy of the Age: Political and Cultural Transition

Thus, the age from 1053 to 910 BCE marks a critical transition from Shang to Zhou dominance, characterized by dynamic cultural evolution, political transformation, and significant archaeological discoveries. This period reshapes the historical narrative of Maritime East Asia, laying foundations for future social, cultural, and political developments.

Written records found at Anyang confirmed its existence but Western scholars are often hesitant to associate settlements contemporaneous with the Anyang settlement with the Shang dynasty.

For example, archaeological findings at Sanxingdui, a mysterious civilization in southern China, which was in the kingdom of Shu during the period of the Shang Dynasty, suggest a technologically advanced civilization culturally unlike Anyang.

The evidence is inconclusive in proving how far the Shang realm extended from Anyang.

The leading hypothesis is that Anyang, ruled by the same Shang in the official history, coexisted and traded with numerous other culturally diverse settlements in the area that is now referred to as China proper.

The Sanxingdui culture has a well developed bronze casting culture that permits the manufacture of the world's oldest life-size standing human statue (two hundred and sixty centimeters high, one hundred and eighty kilograms), and a bronze tree with birds, flowers, and ornaments (three hundred and ninety-six centimeters), which some have identified as renderings of the fusang tree of Chinese mythology.

Dozens of large bronze masks and heads (at least six with gold foil masks originally attached) represent angular human features, exaggerated almond-shaped eyes, some with protruding pupils, and large upper ears.

The discovery at Sanxingdui, as well as other discoveries such as the Xingan tombs in Jiangxi, challenges the traditional narrative of Chinese civilization spreading from the central plain of the Yellow River.

The Sanxingdui culture ends, possibly either as a result of natural disasters (evidence of massive flooding will be found in the early twenty-first century), or invasion by a different culture.

China’s Shang dynasty consists of thirty kings in fraternal succession.

The bronze vessels produced by Shang artisans in a variety of distinctive forms are artistic masterpieces.

The production and use of these ritual objects used for the offering of food (especially grains) and wine during the most sacred Shang ceremonies continues into the Zhou (Chou) dynasty.

Beginning in the eleventh century BCE, Chinese artisans manufacture large, barrel-shaped brass bells with ornate designs cast on their outer surfaces.

The Shang Dynasty declines in the twelfth century through internal unrest.

The Zhou dynasty adheres to a code of conduct called li, a collection of complex rules of social etiquette and personal deportment; a related chivalric code applies to royal relations, to nobles and conduct in battle.

Those who practice li are civilized; those who do not, such as those outside the Zhou domains, are barbarians.

Under King Wu, the Zhou Dynasty initiates construction of a series of northern frontier walls to keep the barbarians from the kingdom.

The Zhou Dynasty begins to emerge in the Yellow River valley, overrunning the territory of the ShangB by the end of the second millennium BCE.

The Zhou, a semi-nomadic people who live west of the Shang, appear to have begun their rule under a semi-feudal system, with the Zhou leader having been appointed "Western Protector" by the Shang.

The ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, with the assistance of his brother, the Duke of Zhou, as regent, manages to defeat the Shang at the Battle of Muye.

The king of Zhou at this time invokes the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to legitimize his rule, a concept that will be influential for almost every succeeding Chinese dynasty.

The Zhou initially move their capital west to an area near modern Xi'an, on the Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River, but they are to preside over a series of expansions into the Yangtze River valley.

This is the first of many population migrations from north to south in Chinese history.

In the Chinese historical tradition, the Zhou defeated the Shang and oriented the Shang system of ancestor worship toward a universalized worship away from the worship of Di, the Supreme Being, and to that of Tian, which can either mean the physical sky or the presiding God of Heaven.

They legitimize their rule by invoking the Mandate of Heaven, the notion that the ruler (the "Son of Heaven") governed by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate.

Such things that proved the ruling family had lost the Mandate were natural disasters and rebellions.

The doctrine explains and justifies the demise of the Xia and Shang Dynasties and at the same time supports the legitimacy of present and future rulers.

After the Zhou conquest, the Shang practices of bronze casting, writing, and pyromancy—a kind of divination involving the application of heat or fire—continue.

China’s new dynasty (called by historians the Early, or Western, Zhou) is structured similarly to the Shang, operating as a centralized bureaucracy with vassals ruling the peripheral areas.

Consolidation of the Zhou Empire proceeds rapidly.

The greater Luoyang area has been sacred ground since the late Neolithic period.

This area at the intersection of the Luo and Yi rivers was considered the geographical center of China.

Because of this sacred aspect several cities, all of which are generally referred to as "Luoyang", have been built there.

In 2070 BCE, the Xia Dynasty king Tai Kang had moved the Xia capital to the intersection of Luo River and Yi River and named the city Zhenxun.

In about 1600 BCE, King Tang of Shang defeated Jie, the final Xia Dynasty king, and built Western Bo, a new capital on the Luo River.

The ruins of Western Bo are located in Luoyang Prefecture.

In 1046 BCE, the Duke of Zhou constructs a settlement named Chengzhou for the remnants of the captured Shang nobility.

The Duke also moves the Nine Tripod Cauldrons to Chengzhou from the Zhou Dynasty capital at Haojing.