Xia dynasty
夏朝 Xia Dynasty | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ca. 2100 BC–ca. 1600 BC | |||||||||
 Location of the Xia Dynasty | |||||||||
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||||
| Capital | Yangcheng | ||||||||
| Common languages | Chinese mandarin | ||||||||
| Religion | Chinese folk religion | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy, Feudalism | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Establishing of the Xia Dynasty by Xia` Yu | ca. 2100 BC | ||||||||
• Qi of Xia succeeds the throne | 2146 BC | ||||||||
• Jie of Xia falls | ca. 1600 BC | ||||||||
| Currency | Cowries, Chinese coin | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| History of China |
|---|
 |
The Xia Dynasty (Chinese: 夏朝; pinyin: Xiàcháo; Wade–Giles: hsia-ch'ao) of China is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals. The Xia Dynasty was established by Yu the Great. According to the traditional chronology based upon calculations by Liu Xin, the Xia ruled between 2205 BC and 1766 BC; however, according to the chronology based upon the Bamboo Annals, it is between 1989 BC and 1558 BC. The Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project concluded with 2070 BC and 1600 BC. Although there are some scholars who have debated over whether the dynasty really existed,[1] archaeological evidence points toward its existence. According to historical records, it was preceded by the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and followed by the Shang Dynasty.
History
According to traditional history, the Xia Dynasty was founded when Shun abdicated the throne in favor of his minister Yu, whom Shun viewed as the perfect civil servant. Yu was greatly praised by his people for eliminating flooding by organizing the building of canals in all the major rivers. Soon before his death, instead of passing power to the person deemed most capable of rulership, Yu passed power to his son, Qi, setting the precedence for dynastic rule or the Hereditary System. The Xia Dynasty began a period of family or clan control.
Jie, the last ruler, was said to be a corrupt king. He was overthrown by Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty.
After the defeat of Xia by Shang, some members of the royal family of Xia Dynasty survived as the Qi (Henan) state until 445 BC. The Qi state was well recorded in the Oracle script as the one major supporter of the Xia Dynasty.[2] The Kings of the state of Yue, and therefore its succesor state Minyue, also claimed to be descended from Yu the Great.[3]
Modern Controversies
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”[4] 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.”[5]
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 records
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 Erlitou culture was the site of the Xia dynasty. Radiocarbon dating places the site at ca. 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.[6] In 1959, a site located in the city of Yanshi was excavated containing large palaces that some archaeologists have attributed as capital of the Xia Dynasty. Though later historical works mention the Xia dynasty, no written records dated to the Xia period have been found to confirm the name of the dynasty and its sovereigns. At a minimum, the archaeological discoveries marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang Dynasty.The Xia Dynasty also made bronze cups to hold wine.
Mythology
In Book 5 of Mozi, Mozi (470BC-c. 391BC) described the founding of Xia. During the great confusion of the three Miao tribes, the sun came out at night, there were three days of blood rain, the dragon appeared in the temple, the dogs howl in the street, summer water turned ice, the earth cracked till water gushes forth and there was mutation in the five various grains. Heaven gave a command to conquer Miao. A great lightning and thunder ensued, and a man with the body of a bird shot dead the leader of the Miao. Subsequently, the Xia kingdom was organized.[7]
Sovereigns of the Xia Dynasty
| Posthumous Names (Shi Hao 諡號)1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order | Reign2 | Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Notes |
| 01 | 45 | 禹 | Yǔ | also Yu the Great (大禹; dà yǔ) |
| 02 | 10 | 啟 | Qǐ | |
| 03 | 29 | 太康 | Tai delbert | |
| 04 | 13 | 仲康 | Zhòng Kāng | |
| 05 | 28 | 相 | Xiāng | |
| 06 | 21 | 少康 | Shào Kāng | |
| 07 | 17 | 杼 | Zhù | |
| 08 | 26 | 槐 | Huái | |
| 09 | 18 | 芒 | Máng | |
| 10 | 16 | 泄 | Xiè | |
| 11 | 59 | 不降 | Bù Jiàng | |
| 12 | 21 | 扃 | Jiōng | |
| 13 | 21 | 廑 | Jǐn | Guoyu: jǐn or jìn, putonghua: jǐn |
| 14 | 31 | 孔甲 | Kǒng Jiǎ | |
| 15 | 11 | 皋 | Gāo | |
| 16 | 11 | 發 | Fā | |
| 17 | 52 | 桀 | Jié | also Lu Gui (履癸 lǚ guǐ) |
| 1 The reign name is sometimes preceded by the name of the dynasty, Xia (夏), for example Xia Yu (夏禹). | ||||
| 2 Possible length of reign, in years. | ||||
See also
Notes
- ^ Beck, Roger B. (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0-395-87274-X.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=JUeFAAAAIAAJ&q=%E6%9D%9E%E5%9B%BD&dq=%E6%9D%9E%E5%9B%BD&lr=&pgis=1 Guo li Taiwan shi fan da xue guo wen yan jiu suo ji kan By Guo li Taiwan shi fan da xue Guo wen yan jiu
- ^ The State of Yue
- ^ Building the Chronology of Early Chinese History. Journal article by Yun Kuen Lee; Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, Vol. 41, 2002
- ^ Building the Chronology of Early Chinese History. Journal article by Yun Kuen Lee; Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, Vol. 41, 2002
- ^ Fairbank, John K. China: A New History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992, page 35.
- ^ http://chinese.dsturgeon.net/text.pl?node=566&if=en
References
Template:Contains Chinese text
- Deady, Kathleen W. and Dubois, Muriel L., Ancient China. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2004.
- Lee Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese Music Monograph Series). 1999. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. ISBN 1-880464039
- Allan, Sarah (1991), The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art and Cosmos in Early China (S U N Y Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture). State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0791404591
- 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
- Liu, L. & Xiu, H., Rethinking Erlitou: legend, history and Chinese archaeology, Antiquity, Volume: 81 Number: 314 Page: 886–901, 2007