Is the existence of the Xia Dynasty controversial? Whether the Xia Dynasty really existed

Whether the Xia Dynasty has always influenced the beginning of Chinese civilization (the symbol of civilization is the production of writing), surely people believe that the Xia Dynasty has been circulating in ancient China, and it has also "examined" the emperors of the dynasty.

Those who hold the degree of dynamism believe that archaeology has not yet found cultural relics recorded in the Xia Dynasty, and the earliest is the oracle bone inscription of the Shang Dynasty, and there is no record of the Xia Dynasty, after all, the real thing is the most favorable evidence to break all doubts.

For the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, people in ancient times always liked to mythologize phenomena or things that could not be recognized or people with certain abilities, in order to achieve the purpose of explaining strange phenomena or people with outstanding abilities, which is nothing more than the awe of nature and the worship of capable people, as for whether there are three emperors and five emperors, since the existence of the Xia Dynasty is not yet certain, then the three emperors and five emperors who were earlier than the Xia Dynasty are not convincing only by virtue of the ancestral temples that people built for them, because they are all mythologized, It is believed to be a "god" who can help people with his mana

So whether Xia exists or not, the legend of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors has its authenticity, and we have to wait for further archaeological discoveries (I think it is unlikely that it can be investigated, because the so-called territory of Xia is in the Central Plains of China, since there has been no occasional harvest so far, then the possibility of what can be found in the future is very small).

Yes Because the Xia Dynasty is currently only recorded, there is no physical evidence to prove its existence.

The Xia Dynasty is real, and the Erlitou site shows that the Xia Dynasty before the Shang Dynasty was real.

The Erlitou culture probably existed from the 21st century BC to the 17th century BC, which happened to be the time when the legendary Xia Dynasty existed.

Although the Shang Dynasty did not write about the Xia Dynasty at all in the oracle bone inscriptions, they did have an account of the period before the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, especially praising how great their ancestors were, including a Shang leader named Wang Hai, who was honored as "Gaozu" in the oracle bone inscriptions. In Sima Qian's "Historical Records", it is also mentioned that the ancestor of the Shang people was Wang Hai.

Introduction to the Erlitou site:

The Xia Dynasty did not have a written language that was directly handed down, so it could only rely on the records of ancient documents to understand the kings, officials, armies and prisons of the Xia Dynasty.

Since modern times, the excavation of large palaces, tombs and many bronzes in the ruins of Erlitou Village, Yanshi City, Luoyang City, Henan Province, has revealed the political, economic, social, cultural, and life aspects of the Xia Kingdom as a tribal alliance in the late Neolithic period, and the social development of the Xia Dynasty.

Ancient documents are both few and obscure. The underground archaeological work of the Xia Dynasty is still being explored.

After years of investigation and excavation, a cultural relic was found between the Longshan culture of Henan Province and the early Shang culture of Erligang in Zhengzhou Province in the western part of Henan Province and the southern part of Shanxi.

The date of this cultural remains, according to the determination, is about 1900 B.C., which belongs to the Xia Dynasty chronology. At present, although there is no direct evidence of the Xia Dynasty culture, the rich archaeological data provided has strongly promoted the exploration of the Xia Dynasty culture.

The reason why the Erlitou site is determined to be the summer capital is mainly due to three scientific considerations. First of all, through archaeological stratigraphy and typology, the relative age of Erlitou is determined, which is between the Longshan culture and the Shang Dynasty culture.

Secondly, through carbon-14 dating, the Erlitou site has been determined to be between 3,800 and 3,500 years old, which is consistent with the middle and late Xia Dynasty recorded in historical records. In addition, the location of the Erlitou site is in the western part of Henan Province, which is also in line with the main activity area of the Xia Dynasty recorded in the historical records.

It does exist. First of all, China has a relatively complete and systematic historical record of the Xia Dynasty. In the Spring and Autumn Warring States era, systematic history books began to appear in China, such as "Shangshu", "Chinese", "Spring and Autumn", "Bamboo Book Chronicle", etc., and in the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Qian wrote the "Historical Records" on the basis of his predecessors.

The "Historical Records" has "Xia Benji", "Yin Benji" and "Zhou Benji" respectively to record the history of the three generations, and the record of the throne lineage is very clear.

Before the discovery of the Yin Ruins, Westerners were equally skeptical of the existence of the Shang Dynasty. The archaeology of Yinxu in 1928 shocked the world, and according to the lineage of the kings of the Shang Dynasty recorded in the oracle bone inscription at the Yinxu site, the records of the "Historical Records" are basically correct, but the order of the individual ancestors of the first Shang (before the establishment of the Shang Dynasty) is wrong. This shows that the lineage of the throne recorded in the "Records of the Historians" is basically credible.

There are probably four mainstream opinions about the Xia Dynasty:1. The Xia Dynasty did exist, but there was a lack of effective archaeological evidence.

2. The Xia Dynasty did exist, and its existence was parallel to or only slightly earlier than the Shang Dynasty.

3. The Xia Dynasty did not exist, which is the legitimacy of the Zhou Dynasty based on the construction of the Shang Dynasty, which must be fictional.

Fourth, the Xia Dynasty is suspicious, and there is still effective evidence to be found.

The Xia Dynasty is real.

The Xia Dynasty was the first hereditary dynasty recorded in Chinese historical documents. Many pre-Qin classics such as "Book of Songs", "Zuo Chuan" and "Shangshu" all mention the Xia Dynasty. Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty also clearly recorded the history of the change of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in China's earliest general history masterpiece "Historical Records".

However, at the beginning of the 20th century, a group of intellectuals who were influenced by the modern Western methods of learning stirred up a pool of stagnant water in the Chinese academic circles, with "ancient letters" as the mainstream. Stories such as "Dayu controls the water" are classified as legends by the ancient history school in this "suspicious ancient thought".

In order to confirm the existence of the Xia Dynasty and prevent the thousand-year-old history of the Chinese Pure Trace Clan from becoming "water without source and wood without roots", in April 1959, the 71-year-old historian Xu Xusheng set out from Beijing to Henan and Shanxi to find "Xia Ruins".

At that time, the conditions were extremely difficult, Xu Xusheng's team got off the train to change carriages, and sometimes had to ride a small donkey to hurry, eating sweet potato noodles and black nests. After a month of intensive investigation in western Henan, Xu Xusheng's team discovered more than 20 sites, among which the most important discovery was the site located in Yanshi Erlitou Village.

With the advancement of archaeological excavations, the ruins of this capital city, which has been dormant for more than 3,000 years, have brought endless surprises to the outside world and become a "wordless book from heaven" to uncover ancient civilizations. Today, it has become a general consensus in the academic community that the Erlitou relics of the Erlitou relics are the earliest dynasty in China, the remains of the capital city in the middle and late Xia Dynasty.

Territory of the Xia Dynasty:

The Xia Dynasty was a period of transition from a city-state alliance to a feudal state, so there was no clear territory. The relationship between the Xia clan and other city-states was like that of suzerainty and tributary states, but some Fang states were divided by the Xia family, just like vassal states, so their influence could only be expressed in terms of their sphere of influence.

The eleven tribes of the Xia tribe and the ** royal family of the Xia Hou clan have a clan relationship in blood, a feudal relationship in politics, and a tribute relationship in the economy, which roughly constitute the core territory of the Xia Dynasty. It stretches from the western part of Henan Province and the southern part of Shanxi Province to the junction of Henan Province, Shandong Province and Dosan Anhui Province in the east, and reaches the northern part of Hubei Province in the south and the southern part of Hebei Province in the north. The geographical center of this area is the area of Yanshi, Dengfeng, Xinmi and Yuzhou in Luoyang.

At that time, Xia's power extended to the north and south of the Yellow River, and even the Yangtze River basin.

The Xia Dynasty is real.

In the Book of Shang and Zhou about 3,000 years ago, there is a record of the Xia Dynasty, and at the same time, the lineage of the Shang Dynasty in the "Historical Records" has been verified by the oracle bone inscription, so Sima Qian's account of the Xia lineage must not be without basis. Historical records related to the Xia Dynasty not only appear in the "Historical Records" and "Shangshu", but also appear in several historical books such as "Bamboo Book Chronicle", "Warring States Policy", "Zuo Chuan", "Chinese", etc., and Confucian classics such as "Mencius" and "Zhou Li" also mention the Xia Dynasty.

With the development of archaeology, especially the excavation of Erlitou cultural sites, the existence of the Xia Dynasty has a physical basis. In 1953, the Erlitou cultural site was first discovered in Dengfeng Yu Village, Henan, and then Yanshi Erlitou, Zhengzhou Luoda Temple, Luoyang Donggangou and other sites belonging to the same culture were discovered one after another, among which the Erlitou site has the largest range and the thickest accumulation, so it is named "Erlitou Culture".

Scholars quickly noticed that the distribution of Erlitou cultural sites in western Henan and southern Jinnan roughly coincided with the places inhabited by the Xia people in the literature. Secondly, through carbon 14 determination, the early ruins of Erlitou culture are about 2395-1625 BC, which is equivalent to the Xia Dynasty. Therefore, the Erlitou culture was designated as the Xia culture.

A brief history of the Xia Dynasty:

The Xia Dynasty (c. 2070 BC – c. 1600 BC) was the first hereditary dynasty recorded in Chinese history books. The Xia Dynasty is generally considered to be a state in the form of multiple tribal confederations or complex chiefdoms. Among the cultural relics of the Xia period, there are a certain number of bronze and jade ritual vessels, dating from the late Neolithic Age and the early Bronze Age.

The Xia Dynasty is commonly referred to as "Xia" in history.

According to historical records, the Yu Chuan is located in Ziqi, which changed the Zen concession system of the primitive tribes and created a precedent for the hereditary throne of China for nearly 4,000 years. The eleven tribes surnamed Xi of the Xia nationality have a patriarchal relationship with the Xia Hou clan ** royal family in blood, a feudal relationship in politics, and a tribute relationship in the economy, which roughly constitute the core Pengfeng territory of the Xia Dynasty.

It stretches from the western part of Henan Province and the southern part of Shanxi Province to the junction of Henan Province, Shandong Province and Hebei Province in the east, to the northern part of Hubei Province in the south, and to the southern part of Hebei Province in the north. The geographical center of this region is the area of Yanshi, Dengfeng, Xinmi and Yuzhou. The Xia Dynasty (now Luoyang) was passed down for 14 generations, and the 17th Dynasty (the ruler of the Xia Dynasty was called "Hou" during his reign and "Emperor" after his death), which lasted for about 471 years and was destroyed by the Shang Dynasty.

Later generations often refer to themselves as "Huaxia", making it synonymous with China.

The above content reference: Encyclopedia - Xia Dynasty.