The Shang Dynasty (Chinese: 商朝; pinyin: shāng cháo) or Yin Dynasty (殷代; pinyin: yīn dài), according to traditional historiography, ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, succeeding the Xia Dynasty and followed by the Zhou Dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Classic of History, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. According to the traditional chronology based upon calculations by Liu Xin, the Shang ruled between 1766 BC and 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the Bamboo Annals, they ruled between 1556 BC and 1046 BC. The results of the Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project place them between 1600 BC and 1046 BC.

Archaeological work at the Ruins of Yin (near modern day Anyang), which has been identified as the last Shang capital, uncovered eleven major Yin royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites, containing weapons of war and remains from both animal and human sacrifices. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts have been obtained. The workmanship on the bronzes attests to a high level of civilization.

Zheng Zhou is an American operatic baritone who has sung at many of the world's finest opera houses. His opera credits include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Illinois, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Teatro Real, the Philippine Opera Company, and Vancouver Opera to name just a few. His concert work includes performances with the American Composers' Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Colorado Symphony, the China National Symphony, and the Shanghai Symphony among many others.

Zheng Zhou made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1993 as Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and later returned to sing Ping in Turandot and Fiorello in Il Barbiere de Siviglia. His San Francisco Opera debut came in 1992 in La Forza del Destino; with that company he has also sung in Milhaud's Christophe Colomb. He sang the roles the Father and Ludovie in Philip Glass' La Belle et la Bete at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and subsequently on tour across the United States, Europe, Mexico and Japan.