Paper short abstract:

What's the relationship between early human society and environment? To what extent, the transition from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty may have been a product of environment change?

Paper long abstract:

Does environment affect politics or do politics affect environment? Mark Elvin's book, Retreat of the Elephants, has traced an environmental history in ancient China. In turn, may human beings' political changes be an outcome of environment? The transition from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty may have been a product of environment change. Particularly, environmental pressures may have driven the Zhou to conquer the Shang. The paper is divided in three parts, first part discusses about the change from the Shang dynasty to the Zhou dynasty. The second part is discussion of human's influence on environment.