to lose the Mandate of Heaven, thus leading to the downfall of the Shang dynasty. Because of this belief, food vessels (and ding in particular) replaced wine vessels in importance. Bronze vessels underwent what has been called the "Ritual Revolution." This theory suggests that because there was a change in decor as well as the types and variations of vessels found in tombs, their function shifted from solely religious to a more secular one. Instead of sacrificing food to appease ancestors, the Zhou used ding to show off the status of the deceased to both the living and spirits. Ding symbolized status. For example, emperors were buried with nine ding, feudal lords with seven, ministers with five, and scholar-bureaucrats with three or one. The vessels served as symbols of authority for the elite far into the Warring States period. Form and construction Like other ritual bronze shapes, the ding was originally an ordinary ceramic cooking, serving and storage vessel, dating back to the Chinese Neolithic, and ceramic dings continued to be used during and after the period when ceremonial bronze versions were made. From the time of the Shang dynasty in the 2nd millennium BCE, dings were also cast in bronze as high-status "ritual bronzes", which were often buried in the tomb of their owners for use in the afterlife. This is the period to which the oldest examples of bronze dings date. Inscriptions found on dings and zhongs are used to study bronzeware script. Theories on construction The most commonly believed bronze vessel casting process of ancient Chinese vessels is the piece mold process. In this process, a model of the finished vessel, complete with décor, is made of clay and left to harden, next a negative of this is made by adding a layer of wet clay to the completed model, and allowed to harden to the point where it can still be cut away from it. The model would then be shaved down to form the core, which would eventually become the empty interior of the completed vessel. In the final step, the negative layer was replaced around the core, these were held apart by small bronze and copper pieces called chaplets until the molten bronze could be poured into the opening, and fill the empty space between the two layers. When the bronze had cooled, the clay would be broken away from the vessel, and the