Xià Cháo (2100–1766) B.C.E
The Xia was the earliest Chinese dynasty (going back some two thousand years, although
scholars debate the dates). Knowledge of the
Xia comes from oral tradition, ancient
historical records, and archaeological research. Scholars also debate the veracity of the
legends of the founding of the dynasty.
The quasi-legendary Xia, or Hsia, dynasty of China
is the oldest dynasty described in ancient historical records including the Records of the Grand Historian (covering the period c. 2600–91 BCE and written
109–91 BCE) and Bamboo Annals (documenting the period
from legendary times, 2497–221 BCE). Mythologically,
Chinese civilization began with Pan Gu, the creator of
the universe, and a succession of legendary sage-emperors
and culture heroes who instructed the ancient Chinese in
communication and enabled them to find sustenance and
to fabricate clothing and shelter. The name Xia was embodied in early oral traditions but also was documented
in archaeological sites and artifacts discovered in 1928.
Western and Chinese scholars debate the veracity of the
legends of the founding of the dynasty, particularly the accuracies of the chronologies expressed in written records
such as the Records and Annals, which were composed
2,500 years after the supposed creation of the dynasty. In
addition, the existing archaeological evidence does not
appear to correlate with the historical records.
The Xia had villages and urban centers but were agrarian people whose pottery and bronze implements have
assisted prehistorians in developing more finite chronologies. During the Xia dynasty, the major crafts included jade
carving and casting bronze vessels, some of which were embellished with jade. The Xia also devised a calendar system
that incorporated lunar and solar movements.
The Xia period— dating, as explained below, from
the twenty-first to the sixteenth-century be— defined
a cultural stage between late neolithic cultures and the
urban civilization of the Shang dynasty. Excavations in
the city of Yanshi, Henan Province, uncovered what appears to have been the capital of the Xia dynasty. Although
archaeological evidence (including radiocarbon dating)
demonstrated that the inhabitants were the direct ancestors of the Longshan and were predecessors of the Shang,
some Western scholars contend that the Xia was not a
true dynasty. The two earliest of the three ancient dynasties of ancient China (Xia and Shang) are not directly
known from contemporary written records, hence some
scholars contend that these are mythical; however, there
is agreement that the existence of the subsequent Zhou
dynasty is based on historic documentation.
Xia Dates
A traditional chronology based on calculations by Liu Xin
(c. 46 BCE–23 BCE), an astronomer and historian, suggests
that the Xia ruled from 2205 to 1766 BCE, but a chronology based on the Bamboo Annals dates the Xia dynasty
from 1989 to 1558 BCE. The Skeptical School of early Chinese history, founded by Gu Jiegang in the 1920s, seriously
questioned the traditional history, noting that through time the oral history had been embellished with elements
added to the earlier periods. The Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project, a multidisciplinary effort commissioned by
the People’s Republic of China in 1996, involved two hundred scholars whose task was to determine precisely the
chronology and geographic locations of the Xia, Shang,
and Zhou dynasties. The report, published in 2000, determined that the Xia dynasty dated from 2070 to 1600 BCE.
Scholars such as Sarah Allen contend that aspects of the
Xia are the opposite of traits emblematic of the Shang,
and she argues that the Zhou dynasty justified their conquest of the Shang by pointing out that the Shang had supplanted the Xia.
Xia Rulers
Traditional Chinese histories contend that the Xia dynasty was founded by Yu and ultimately had seventeen
rulers. (See table 1.) According to traditional history,
the dynasty was founded when Shun, following the abdication system (which chose leaders according to their
ability) ceded his throne to his minister Yu, whom Shun
viewed as the “perfect civil servant.” Yu was esteemed by
his people for eliminating devastating annual flooding
by organizing the construction of canals and dikes along
all the major rivers. But before his death, Yu passed power
to his son, Qi, setting the precedent for a dynastic rule, or
the hereditary system, which began a period of family
and clan political and economic control. The rulers often
performed as shamans, communicating with spirits for
guidance and the ruling families employed elaborate and
dramatic rituals to confirm their political power Continuing with the hereditary system, fifteen descendants of Qi succeeded him after his death. Several, such as Shaokang and Huai, made important contributions to Chinese society, but three were tyrannical emperors: Taikang, Kongjia, and Jie. The Xia dynasty ended
under the reign of Jie, whose dictatorial and extravagant
ways caused a popular revolt under the leadership of
T’ang (the leader of the Shang tribe), who overthrew the
Xia and established the Shang dynasty. Liu Xin’s calculations give the Shang dynasty a reign of 1766–1122 BCE;
the chronology from the Bamboo Annals dates it 1556–
1046 BCE; and the Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project
places it 1600–1046 BCE.
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| Statue at the Yellow River Visitor’s Center depicting the legendary Yu, the first ruler of the Xia Dynasty. Yu earned his title through his merit as a civil servant; he was esteemed by his people for eliminating devastating annual flooding by organizing the construction of canals and dikes along all the major rivers. |
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| MAP OF Xia Dynasty |
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