p. 19: The discussion in this chapter relies mainly upon the An-yang excavation reports and the studies by Tung Tso-pin and, most strongly, Ch'en Meng-chia. In English, the best work is still H. G. Creel, _The Birth of China_, London 1936 and his more specialized _Studies in Early Chinese Culture_, Baltimore 1937.

p. 20: The possibility of a "megalithic" culture in the Far East has often been discussed, by O. Menghin, R. Heine-Geldern, Cheng Te-k'un, Ling Shun-sheng and others. Megaliths occur mainly in South-East Asia, southern China, Korea and Japan.--Teng Ch'u-min and others believe that silk existed already in the time of Yang-shao.

p. 21: Kuo Mo-jo believes, that the Shang already used a real plough drawn by animals. The main discussion on ploughs in China is by Hsue Chung-shu; for general anthropological discussion see E. Werth and H. Kothe.

p. 22: For the discussion of the T'ao-t'ieh see the research by B. Karlgren and C. Hentze.

p. 23: I follow here mainly Ch'en Meng-chia, but work by B. Schindler, C. Hentze, H. Maspero and also my own research has been considered.

p. 24: I am accepting here a narrow definition of feudalism (see my _Conquerors and Rulers_, Leiden 1952).--The division of armies into "right" and "left" is interesting in the light of the theories concerning the importance of systems of orientation (Fr. Roeck and others).

p. 25: Here, the work by W. Koppers, O. Spengler, F. Hancar, V. G. Childe and many others, concerning the domestication of the horse and the introduction of the war-chariot in general, and work by Shih Chang-ju, Ch'en Meng-chia, O. Maenchen, Uchida Gimpu and others concerning horses, riding and chariots in China has been used, in addition to my own research.

p. 26: Concerning the wild animals, I have relied upon Ch'en Meng-chia, Hsue Chung-shu and Tung Tso-pin.--The discussion as to whether there was a period of "slave society" (as postulated by Marxist theory) in China, and when it florished, is still going on under the leadership of Kuo Mo-jo and his group. I prefer to differentiate between slaves and serfs, and relied for factual data upon texts from oracle bones, not upon historical texts.--The problem of Shang chronology is still not solved, in spite of extensive work by Liu Ch'ao-yang, Tung Tso-pin and many Japanese and Western scholars. The old chronology, however, seems to be rejected by most scholars now.