The Decline and Fall of the Shang Dynasty and Lead poisoning
Is drinking the cause of the downfall of the Shang Dynasty?
More than 3000 years ago, the Shang Dynasty, once famous for nearly 600 years, was destroyed by King Wu of Zhou. Many pre Qin classics attribute the cause of the downfall of the Shang Dynasty to drinking. For example, the "Da Ya Dang" in the Book of Songs, as well as the "Wei Zi" and "Wu Yi" in the "Shang Shu", all believe that political corruption in the late Shang Dynasty was caused by "excessive drinking". The inscription on the bronze Da Yu ding at the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty also condemned the officials of the Shang Dynasty to "indulge in wine". Duke of Zhou once issued the "Jiugao", which taught the lesson of the Shang Dynasty's demise and strictly prohibited the Zhou people from drinking alcohol, and even threatened the death penalty. From it, we can feel that Duke Zhou was full of aversion and fear towards drinking. It seemed that as long as he drank, his country would perish, and he must strictly enforce the prohibition of drinking. In ancient times, alcohol was only 7-8 degrees Celsius, which is only a few degrees higher than today's beer. Today's people can drink seven or eight bowls of beer every day without losing their country? Why did Duke Zhou hate drinking so much?
Evidence of archaeological discoveries
From archaeological data, it is indeed a fact that the nobles of the Shang Dynasty were fond of drinking alcohol. In the tombs of every nobleman, there are basically bronze wine vessels for burial. This includes cups, horns, goblets, and jars for drinking, jars, jars, jars, and jars for holding wine, as well as buckets for warming wine. The precision and quantity of its manufacturing are rare in later generations.
It is said that China had artificial wine making in the Paleolithic. In the Shang Dynasty, due to the development of wine making industry and the improvement of bronze production technology, China's wine vessels reached unprecedented prosperity. At that time, there were also clans such as the "Chang Shao" and "Wei Shao" who specialized in making wine utensils for a living. King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty built wine ponds and meat forests, emphasizing material enjoyment, indicating that the dietary level at that time had reached a considerable level.
According to the General Theory of Bronzes in Yin and Zhou Dynasties, bronzes in Shang and Zhou Dynasties can be divided into four parts: food vessels, wine vessels, water vessels Traditional Japanese musical instruments, with a total of 50 categories, of which wine vessels account for 24 categories, which shows that businessmen like drinking very much. Wine vessels can be divided into boiling vessels, wine containers, drinking vessels, wine storage vessels according to their purpose, as well as ritual vessels.
There are also many records of brewing in oracle bone inscriptions. So, is there also a certain reason for Zhou's accusations? Is there also an inherent connection between the habit of drinking alcohol and the tragedy of the Shang Dynasty's demise that we have not yet discovered??
The lead content in bronze wine vessels exceeds the standard
In 1969, the Flier Museum of Fine Arts in the United States conducted laboratory tests on 30 Shang Dynasty bronze wine vessels and found the presence of lead in the bronze composition. The average proportion is 77.2% for copper, 12.5% for tin, and 7.2% for lead. According to scientists' research, lead in alloys is more soluble in alcohol. If the lead content in the alloy melt reaches 7% -20% and is often consumed by people, it can cause chronic poisoning.
There are three main types of metal components in bronze ware: copper, tin, and lead. Adding lead to bronze can increase the fluidity of the molten liquid, making the cast bronze more aesthetically pleasing, not only increasing the surface gloss, but also enabling the casting of more intricate details for appliances. Those bronze vessels with intricate decorative patterns cannot be cast without lead. Long term intake of excessive amounts of copper and tin can increase the burden on the liver and damage physical health. Although excessive intake of copper and tin is harmful, the human body can gradually eliminate excess copper and tin through metabolism. However, the human body does not need lead at all, not only does it not, but it can also lead to poisoning. As long as the human body consumes extremely small amounts of lead, it will greatly harm health. Once lead enters the human body, its half-life is 10 years! Lead poisoning is enough to affect the central nervous system, causing headache, dementia, memory decline, emotional instability, mania, delusion and other symptoms. Its signs are similar to Alcohol intoxication. Therefore, the adverse reactions caused by drinking alcohol by the nobles of the Shang Dynasty may not only be due to the alcohol itself, but also to the use of lead containing wine vessels.
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