The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese history. It is
described in ancient historical chronicles such as the Bamboo Annals,
the Classic of History and the Records of the Grand Historian. According to
tradition, the dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great after
Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave his throne to him. The Xia was
later succeeded by the Shang dynasty. According to the traditional chronology
based upon calculations by Liu Xin, the Xia ruled between 2205 and 1766 BC;
according to the chronology based upon the Bamboo Annals, it ruled between 1989
and 1558 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project concluded that the
Xia existed between 2070 and 1600 BC. The tradition of tracing Chinese
political history from heroic early emperors to the Xia to succeeding
dynasties comes from the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, in which only one
legitimate dynasty can exist at any given time, and was promoted by the
Confucian school in the Eastern Zhou period, later becoming the basic
position of imperial historiography and ideology. Although the Xia is an
important element in early Chinese history, reliable information on the
history of China before 13th century BC can only come from archaeological
evidence since China's first established written system on a durable medium, the
oracle bone script, did not exist until then. Thus, the concrete existence of
the Xia is yet to be proven, despite efforts by Chinese archaeologists to
link the Xia with Bronze Age Erlitou archaeological sites.
Traditional accounts The Xia dynasty was described in classic
texts such as the Classic of History, the Bamboo Annals, and the Records of
the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. It has been documented that the tribe that
founded the dynasty was the Huaxia, who were the ancestral people of the Han
Chinese. = Origins and early development=
According to ancient Chinese texts, before the Xia dynasty was established,
battles were frequent between the Xia tribe and Chi You's tribe. The Xia tribe
slowly developed around the time of Zhuanxu, one of the legendary Five
Emperors. The Records of the Grand Historian and the Classic of Rites say
that Yu the Great is the grandson of Zhuanxu, but there are also other
records, like Ban Gu, that say Yu is the fifth generation of Zhuanxu. Based on
this, it is possible that the people of the Xia clan are descendants of Zhuanxu.
= Gun's attempt to stop the flood= Gun, the father of Yu the Great, is the
earliest recorded member of the Xia clan. When the Yellow River flooded,
many tribes united together to control and stop the flooding. Gun was appointed
by Yao to stop the flooding. He ordered the construction of large blockades to
block the path of the water. The attempt of Gun to stop the flooding lasted for
nine years, but it was a failure because the floods became stronger. After nine
years, Yao had already given his throne to Shun. Gun was ordered to be
imprisoned for life to reform the Eastern Barbarians by Shun at Yushan, a
mountain located between modern Donghai County in Jiangsu Province and Linshu
County in Shandong Province. = Yu the Great's attempt to stop the
floods= Yu was highly trusted by Shun, so Shun
appointed him to finish his father’s work, which was to stop the flooding.
Yu’s method was different from his father’s: he organized people from
different tribes and ordered them to help him build canals in all the major
rivers that were flooding and lead the water out to the sea. Yu was dedicated
to his work. People praised his perseverance and were inspired, so much
so that other tribes joined in the work. Legend says that in the 13 years it took
him to successfully complete the work to stop the floods, he never went back to
his home village to stop and rest, even though he passed by his house three
times. = Establishment=
Yu’s success in stopping the flooding increased agricultural production. The
Xia tribe’s power increased and Yu became the leader of the surrounding
tribes. Soon afterwards Shun sent Yu to lead an army to suppress the Sanmiao
tribe, which continuously abused the border tribes. After defeating them, he
exiled them south to the Han River area. This victory strengthened the Xia
tribe’s power even more. As Shun aged, he thought of a successor and
relinquished the throne to Yu, whom he deemed worthy. Yu’s succession marks the
start of the Xia dynasty. As Yu neared death he passed the throne to his son,
Qi, instead of passing it to the most capable candidate, thus setting the
precedent for dynastic rule or the Hereditary System. The Xia dynasty began
a period of family or clan control. Jie, the last king, was said to be
corrupt. He was overthrown by Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty.
Modern skepticism The Skeptical School of early Chinese
history, started by Gu Jiegang in the 1920s, was the first group of scholars
within China to seriously question the traditional story of its early history:
"the later the time, the longer the legendary period of earlier history...
early Chinese history is a tale told and retold for generations, during which new
elements were added to the front end". Yun Kuen Lee's criticism of nationalist
sentiment in developing an explanation of Three Dynasties chronology focuses on
the dichotomy of evidence provided by archaeological versus historical
research, in particular the claim that the archaeological Erlitou Culture is
also the historical Xia dynasty. "How to fuse the archaeological dates with
historical dates is a challenge to all chronological studies of early
civilization." In The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art,
and Cosmos in Early China, Sarah Allan noted that many aspects of the Xia are
simply the opposite of traits held to be emblematic of the Shang dynasty. The
implied dualism between the Shang and Xia, Allan argues, is that while the
Shang represent fire or the sun, birds and the east, the Xia represent the west
and water. The development of this mythical Xia, Allan argues, is a
necessary act on the part of the Zhou dynasty, who justify their conquest of
the Shang by noting that the Shang had supplanted the Xia.
Archaeological discoveries Archaeologists have uncovered urban
sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the
Xia dynasty at locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. There
exists a debate as to whether or not the Erlitou culture was the site of the Xia
dynasty. Radiocarbon dating places the site at c. 2100 to 1800 BC, providing
physical evidence of the existence of a state contemporaneous with and possibly
equivalent to the Xia dynasty as described in Chinese historical works.
In 1959, a site located in the city of Yanshi was excavated containing large
palaces that some archaeologists have attributed to capital of the Xia
dynasty. Through the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban
sites, bronze implements, and tombs in the same locations cited in ancient
Chinese historical texts regarding Xia; at a minimum, the Xia dynasty marked an
evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical
Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.
In 2011, Chinese archaeologists uncovered the remains of an imperial
sized palace—dated to about 1700 BC—at Erlitou in Henan, further fueling the
discussions about the existence of the dynasty.
Sovereigns of the Xia dynasty The following table lists the rulers of
Xia according to Sima Qian's Shiji. Unlike Sima's list of Shang dynasty
kings, which is closely matched by inscriptions on oracle bones from late
in that period, records of Xia rulers have not yet been found in archeological
excavations. Xia dynasty family tree
See also Erlitou culture
List of Neolithic cultures of China Nine Provinces
References = Citations=
= Bibliography= Deady, Kathleen W. and Dubois, Muriel
L., Ancient China. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2004.
Lee Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Musical Instruments. 1999. Chinese Music
Society of North America Press. ISBN 1-880464-03-9
Allan, Sarah, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China.
State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0459-1
Allan, Sarah, "Erlitou and the Formation of Chinese Civilization: Toward a New
Paradigm", The Journal of Asian Studies, 66:461–496 Cambridge University Press,
2007 Mair, Victor H., with contributions by
E. Bruce Brooks, "Was There a Xià Dynasty?", Sino-Platonic Papers 238.
Further reading Allen, Herbert J.. "Ssŭma Ch'ien's
Historical Records, Chapter II – The Hsia Dynasty". Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society 27: 93–110. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00022784.
Legge, James. "The Annals of the Bamboo Books: The Dynasty of Hea". The Chinese
Classics, volume 3, part 1. pp. 117–127. External links
History of China Stunning Capital of Xia Dynasty
Unearthed