1. Government and Leaders
1.1. Shang/Zhou
1.1.1. The Shang Dynasty was a monarchy
1.1.2. The king was both lawmaker and judge so no-one dared to argue with him. He ruled by force, and anyone who got in his way would be killed immediately by his soldiers.
1.1.3. Whichever clan had the biggest army would rule the civilization until a clan with a better army came along.
1.1.4. Nobles would keep watch over certain regions.
1.2. Sumerian
1.2.1. Priests were the ones who governed the city-states.
1.2.2. During and after the city states started to battle for dominance war chiefs began to rule as kings.
1.2.3. Many of the kings formed dynasties which created the hierarchy of the Sumerian culture.
1.2.4. The Sumerians didn't separate government and religion.
2. Arts and Education
2.1. Shang/Zhou
2.1.1. Craftsmen made a lot of fairly advanced art, such as carved marble and jade, paintings with inks on silk, bronze vessels and drums
2.1.2. The craftsmen used ceramic molds to make the vessel. Almost all of the artwork was given to the king as taxes, or used in religious ceremonies for worshiping ancestors.
2.1.3. The nobles would hire private tutors for their five or so children, but common children would not have had any formal schooling.
2.1.4. The Shang Dynasty is famous above all for its bronzes, mostly ceremonial vessels.
2.2. Sumerian
2.2.1. Sumerian writing is called cuneiform.
2.2.2. They kept records of buisnesses
2.2.3. Their architecture includes a lot of ramps, arches, and columns.
2.2.4. Sumerian sculptures usually included statues with large wide open eyes as well as small objects carved out of ivory.
3. Social Structure and Family
3.1. Shang/Zhou
3.1.1. The poorest of Chinese citizens comprised the majority of the population, and were limited to farming and selling crops for profit.
3.1.2. Masses of peasants were buried with aristocrats, leading some scholars to believe that they were the equivalent of slaves.
3.1.3. The traditional role of women in China was dominated by "three obedience's and "four virtues": obedience to the father before marriage; obedience to the husband after marriage; to the son after the husband's death; and morality, proper speech, modest manner and diligent work.
3.1.4. The social hierarchy started with the king, the prince, nobles and finally the presents.
3.2. Sumerian
3.2.1. The Sumerian economy was based on agriculture, which was influenced by major technological advances.
3.2.2. Sumerian society was thought to have been made up of four social classes: nobles, commoners, clients and slaves.
3.2.3. Men dominated women as they were physically stronger. They often ruled women by brute force always making the decisions.
3.2.4. They were very strict with their laws and punishments were usually very severe, usually consisting of painful punishments.
4. Geography and Agriculture
4.1. Shang/Zhou
4.1.1. The Zhou was divided into two. Eastern and Western Zhou.
4.1.2. The Zhou dynasty developed in the regions of the Shang dynasty after they overthrew the Shang dynasty.
4.1.3. The largest social group was the farmers, who were also considered peasants. Some farmers raised sheep, cattle, pigs, and other livestock.
4.1.4. The main crops were a variety of cereals, namely wheat, millet, rice, and barley. However, nuts, fruits, and vegetables were grown as well.
4.2. Sumerian
4.2.1. Sumeria is located in Mesopotamia, in the fertile Crescent.
4.2.2. Mesopotamia is divided into two parts: upper Mesopotamia and Sumer.
4.2.3. It barely rained and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded usually at inopportune times like when the food is about to be harvested.
4.2.4. The Sumerians grew barley, chickpeas, lentils, millet, wheat, turnips, dates, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks and mustard.
5. Religion
5.1. Shang/Zhou
5.1.1. The people of the Shang Dynasty were polytheistic meaning they worshiped numerous gods.
5.1.2. The Shang people held huge festivals to honor their gods and in the hopes of influencing them for favorable events such as an abundant harvest.
5.1.3. Divination, which is defined as the using of certain signs to predict future events, played an important part in Shang religion.
5.1.4. The Zhou dynasty was famous for the beginnings of 2 major philosophies; Confucianism and Taoism.
5.2. Sumerian
5.2.1. Priests held a high status in sumer and initially governed the city-states.
5.2.2. The Sumerians worked hard to please their gods so they built ziggurats and temples where priests and priests and priestesses offered the gods foods and drinks. In these temples they would also hold ceremonies.
5.2.3. The Sumerians believed that the gods could change things like the harvest or bring extreme weather depending on their moods.
5.2.4. The rectangular central shrine of the temple, known as a 'cella,' had a brick altar or offering table in front of a statue of the temple's deity. The cella was lined on its long ends by many rooms for priests and priestesses. These mud-brick buildings were decorated with cone geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco with human and animal figures. These temple complexes eventually evolved into towering ziggurats.
6. Science and Technology
6.1. Shang/Zhou
6.1.1. The Shang industrialized bronze casting to make tools, vessels, music instruments, and weapons.
6.1.2. The earliest known mathematics dates back to the Shang Dynasty. Mathematical symbols have been found on Oracle bones dating to this ancient civilization.
6.1.3. The Shang were the first people of China to develop writing. Their writing system consisted of over 2000 symbols.
6.1.4. The development of an accurate calendar system. The Shang people developed a calendar that had a 360-day year made up of 12 months, each with 30 days. Periodically they would inserted months into the calendar to adjust to the solar year.
6.2. Sumerian
6.2.1. The Sumerians invented the wheel still used in everyday life today.
6.2.2. The Sumerians invented the sewing machine.
6.2.3. For their writing they use sharp tools called styluses to make symbols on clay tablets.
6.2.4. When someone needed something minor the Sumerians figured out how to help them by performing minor surguries.
7. Economy and Trade
7.1. Shang/Zhou
7.1.1. They traded directly in gods but used cowrie shells as a system of currency.
7.1.2. The most important part of their economy was agriculture and the most important grain is millet.
7.1.3. The people in Shang Dynasty traded all kinds of goods, such as cattle, sheep, bronze vessels, jade, food, clothes.
7.1.4. Shang currency consisted of cowrie shells, which originated in the Indian Ocean. Many Shang writings on bronze refer to cowrie shells as a form of money. They were placed in some tombs as money for the dead, in a manner similar to Greek custom of preparing for the afterlife.
7.2. Sumerian
7.2.1. Sumerians traded for items including wood and stone.
7.2.2. The Sumerians used slaves, although they were not a major part of the economy. Slave women worked as weavers, pressers, millers, and porters.
7.2.3. Early Sumerian homes were huts built from bundles of reeds, which went on to be built from sun-baked mud bricks because of the shortage of stone.
7.2.4. The Sumerian economy was based on agriculture, which was influenced by major technological advances.