First, I'm going to assume multiplayer, post-patch. I think those are pretty much given.
I don't know the capabilities of Shang, because I haven't played them since the patch came out. However, I imagine they are still rather fast, faster than your average civ. They can't get away with four on berries, but with five on berries early on you can get a bit of a wood jump.
So, it, IMO, comes down to map size. First, Shang can hit a tool rush on Hittite. The larger the map, the better for the Hittite. On Large or above, both land and water, I would hand the advantage to the Hittite. Also depends on map type. On, say, Medit, it isn't that hard to find you. But on maybe rivers or an unusual conti map, you have room to hide.
Hittites are tool rush bait. No slingers. I'll admit that they have good bowmen, but shangs have slingers, and they start with 150 stone, so slingers don't end up costing a whole lot. Therefore, Hitties have to play hide-and-seek for the first fifteen minutes. Scout around you well, and don't scout for him, unless you plan on tool rushing as well. Try to head off any forward bases of his. Better to have your villies chase his that his slingers chase yours!
However, in Bronze, it becomes more of a pitched battle. You have Hittie CA/ST vs. Shang everything. Generally, there isn't a decisive advantage to either side on the land wars. However, there are the boat wars.
In the water, the Hittie has the clear advantage. A large enough fleet can take out a whole ship before their fleet gets in range. The Hittite really needs to chop wood like there's no tommorrow, because you need CA, Galleys, and a few ST for backup. I'd add maybe 3-4 guys on gold in late tool, and that's about it. Unless you're aiming for a group of ST.
The one thing the shang can't do is let it go to iron. If it goes to iron, he might as well run his underwear up a flagpole to use as a white flag. (With a little brown, I imagine.) Hittite iron is Eles, Cats, Scythes, HA, etc. No explanation needed here.
So, to answer your question, my hands down pre-patch answer is in no way take Hittite against Shang.
However, after the patch, things become rather more even. I wouldn't take Hittite myself, but it could be done.
I would take these civs, in something close to the order I'd take them in.
Land map:
1) Shang (this was a gimme)
2) Yammy/Assy
3) Hittite
4) Egypt
5) Persia (probably wouldn't because Persia is really dependant on their starting spot, but it's a thought)
Water map:
1) Shang
2) Minoa
3) Rome
4) Hittite
5) Yammy/Assy
Phoe fits on those two lists somewhere, but I don't know where as I haven't done any post-patch work with them.
Hope these ramblings help you some. [This message has been edited by apocalypse77 (edited 06-23-2000).]