Based on its grammatical structure, the language of the written monuments of the Early Preclassical period (primarily the Shangshu) should generally be attributed to the same stage of development as the language of the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions. However, some function words, while essentially identical, are written differently in the inscriptions and written monuments.
For example, the Shangshu text contains the first-person pronoun 予 yú, which appears in inscriptions only in the Late Preclassical period.
Although new emphatic constructions appear in the Early Preclassical language, particularly the phrase with inverted predicate, the change in position of other parts of the sentence is subject to the same rules as in the archaic language.
As in the previous period, an object indicating time of action, usually placed before the subject, can be inverted without a preposition and stand in preposition to the predicate only when marked with the emphatic particle 唯 wéi.
Compare: 旦王格廟 dàn wáng gé miào "At sunrise, the ruler entered the temple."
予唯乙卯朝至于洛師 yú wéi yǐ măo zhāo zhì yú luò shī "I arrived at Luo's camp on the morning of Yi Mao Day."
An object denoting the direct or indirect object of an action is inverted, also when formed with an emphatic particle: 唯洛食 wéi luò shí "It was pointed out specifically to Luo."
The Early Preclassical language uses the same numeral classes as the Archaic language, with the exception of the new class 億 yì. The exact meaning of this word remains unclear: in ancient times, it could mean either "one hundred thousand" or "one million." Later, this digit became synonymous with "one hundred million."
Remember that when a digit was omitted, the zero sign was omitted. It appeared in China very late, not earlier than the 12th century.
周公 zhōu gōng «Чжоу-гун»
明辟 míng pì «мудрый правитель»
黎水 lí shuǐ «Лишуй» (название реки)
澗水 jiàn shuǐ «Цзяньшуй» (название реки)
瀍水 chán shuǐ «Чаньшуй» (название реки)
新邑 xīn yì «Новый город»
Having defeated Yin and returning east, the Zhou people deemed it necessary to establish a stronghold in the west to control their newly acquired territories. A convenient location was chosen for the city on the northern bank of the Luo River, between its two tributaries, the Jianshui and Changshui. This city, founded in the early years of the reign of King Cheng, was called "New City" (新邑 xīn yì). It was sometimes also called "Chengzhou" (成周 chéng zhōu).
The conqueror of Yin, King Wu, died shortly after returning from the campaign against the Great City of Shang. His young son, who received the title of Cheng Wang, succeeded him. During this period, the young monarch was cared for by his uncle, his father's younger brother, Emperor Zhou. According to some sources, Emperor Zhou even officially occupied the throne for a time. The conquered Yin people took advantage of Wu Wang's death, winning over a number of high-ranking Zhou rulers. Emperor Zhou launched a second campaign to the east and decisively defeated the rebels. Upon returning to the capital, he transferred full power to Emperor Cheng Wang, remaining his advisor. In Confucian tradition, Emperor Zhou is portrayed as a sage who laid the foundations of Zhou morality and the most important state institutions.
The Zhou adopted from the Yin the custom of divination using animal bones and deciphering the will of the supreme deity from the shape of the cracks. We don't know how the Zhou specifically performed this divination method, but the specialized terminology associated with this ritual differs somewhat from that of the Yin. In particular, the Yin did not use the word 食 shí, "to indicate the result of divination."