Xia Dynasty

From Heterodontosaurus Balls

“”於！帝念哉！德惟善政，政在養民。水、火、金、木、土、穀，惟修；正德、利用、厚生、惟和。九功惟敘，九敘惟歌。戒之用休，董之用威，勸之以九歌俾勿壞。[1]
— Yu the Great

The Xia Dynasty, sometimes spelled the Hsia Dynasty, is the first dynasty in Chinese history. It is uncertain exactly when he existed, but legends say he was founded after a great flood. Due to the lack of direct evidence of Xia’s existence, some scholars debate that the Xia Dynasty was completely fictional.

The national color of Xia is grue-black and his element is water. The major innovation of Xia was the bronze caldron [鑄鼎] (unfortunately, it is currently archaeologically undiscovered). During his time in the second millennium BC, the Xia was the most powerful state, culture and peoples in the east.

The Xia was located in the central plains, as the Huaxia clan/tribe. To the east, there lies another tribe, the Yi (夷), whose descendant Hou Yi actually took control of the Xia for some time, and their further descendants, Shang, completely destroyed the Xia. To the south, was the Chu (楚) tribe/civilization, presumably the ancestor of the State of Chu and Later Chu. These where the three different civilizations that existed in China during the time of the Xia dynasty.

歷史 (History)

开國 (Beginnings)

The Xia Dynasty was founded after Yu the Great, after 13 years of nonstop work, channeled all the flood water out of China after a giant flood. Yu the Great became the first ruler of the newly founded Xia Dynasty, and the people were happy. Yu the Great's leadership and engineering prowess not only secured his place as the first ruler of the Xia Dynasty but also set a precedent for future governance and societal organization. His success in flood control demonstrated the importance of strong, centralized authority and infrastructure development, laying the groundwork for the stability and prosperity of the Xia Dynasty.

Yu the Great also divided his land into nine provinces and improved agricultural systems. The Xia Dynasty also practiced some bronze making, though not as advanced as the later dynasties. There are some pots and pans discovered that is thought to have belonged to the Xia Dynasty.

Yu the Great was the first Chinese ruler to pass their reign down to his descendants (the rulers before chose the most virtuous person to be the next ruler). Yu originally wanted to give the throne to a virtuous person like those before him, but his first candidate, Gao Yao (臯陶), died before Yu. So, Yu picked Bo Yi (伯益), a person of Dongyi ethnicity, as his successor. But Bo Yi didn’t do much, and the public didn’t want him as ruler because they didn’t resonate with him like the previous rulers. So, the public thought it would be great to pressure Yu’s son into becoming the next king, therefore starting a 2000-year long dynastic rule in China.

Yu’s son, Qi of Xia, did not care for the people at all. He didn’t even want to become king, but the public pressured him to do so. His brother criticized him, but he didn’t listen. Eventually his brother had enough and waged war against him, but Qi defeated him, cut off his head, and made his whole family slaves. Qi had 5 sons, who all fought each other for the throne. Eventually, a son named Tai Kang won out. This shows how the human dynastic ruling leads to human attachments and violence, contrast to the “benevolence ruling” before.

间歇期 (Interregnum)

The third Xia king, Tai Kang, was known for his avid hunting but was considered an ineffective ruler. According to the Bamboo Annals, while Tai Kang was away on a hunting expedition beyond the Henan Luo River, the Xia capital at Zhenxun was attacked by Hou Yi, leader of the Youqiong-shi, a tribe of the Dongyi peoples. This occupation of Zhenxun marked the beginning of a significant interregnum. Hou Yi brought his Dongyi peoples and beliefs into the central plains, where it mixed and mingled until it became a part of the Chinese canon.

On the day of gengwu (庚戌), the 9th month in the 5th year of the puppet ruler (4th king of Xia), Zhong Kang’s reign, there was a solar eclipse. Since the royal astronomers at that time were licentious and drunk, they failed to predict this eclipse, resulting in confusion and panic among the common people. Zhong Kang sent the nobleman Yin to punish the ministers of astronomy for neglecting their duties.

In the eighth year of the reign of Tai Kang's nephew, king Xiang, Hou Yi was killed by his former chief minister, Han Zhuo. Twenty years later, Han Zhuo's forces killed king Xiang and usurped the throne, although the royal family managed to escape.

Xiang's son, Shao Kang, was sheltered by a tribal chief, surviving for years as a fugitive despite Han Zhuo's efforts to eliminate him and prevent the reemergence of the Xia Dynasty. Upon reaching adulthood, Shao Kang began organizing with local lords who despised Han Zhuo's rule. Shao Kang ultimately emerged victorious in the ensuing military confrontation, leading to Han Zhuo's suicide. The reigns of Shao Kang and his son Zhu are traditionally characterized as among the most prosperous periods in the history of the Xia Dynasty.

擴張和城牆 (Expansion and Walls)

As the Xia Dynasty expanded and established an empire, he needed protection from the powerful barbarians whose archery skills were unmatched. So, Xia Dynasty decided to build big walls around cities, the closer to the emperor, the taller. Zhu, the 7th king of Xia, undertook a punitive expedition in the East China Sea and conquered lots of land, even killing a nine-tailed fox while hunting during the expedition. A prison called yuantu (圜土) was created. Captured enemies were made slaves to work on the walls, but the comfort the wall provided made the last kings of Xia extremely materialistic, to heaven’s disgrace.

灭亡 (Fall)

“ When it came to King Jie of Xia, Heaven gave severe order. Sun and moon did not appear on time. Winter and summer came irregularly. The five grains were dried up to death. Ghouls cried in the country and cranes shrieked for ten nights. Heaven ordered Shang Tang to receive the heavenly commission from the Xia dynasty, which had failed morally and which Heaven was determined to end. Shang Tang was commanded to destroy Xia with the promise of Heaven's help. In the dark, Heaven destroyed the fortress' pool, and Shang Tang then gained victory easily. ”
— Mozi, Condemnation of Offensive War III

The last king of Xia, Jie, was tyrannical and immoral. He would put people on burning pillars and make them crawl on it just to get a laugh. While the peasants were starving, he would create a pool full of wine for his friends to drink, and when people got drunk and drowned in the pool, he didn’t bat an eye. He also created forests hanging with meat (very wasteful). Natural disasters were rampant. Jie was also very much rude to the neighboring tribes, usually going to them without warning and demanding them to give wealth and women. The Xia has officially lost their Mandate of Heaven.

A neighboring tribe, the Shang clan (who was descendant of the Yi civilization), saw this chaos unfold within the once so powerful Xia Empire. Their leader, Cheng Tang, lead an army to invade the Xia. As the Shang army stormed through the villages and palaces, they told the people that they are only here for Jie. Many Xia people joined the Shang, and their army grew stronger and stronger. Jie’s forces were destroyed in a storm so Jie fled. The Shang Dynasty was established. King Tang gave the remnants of the Xia clan a fief comprising the small state of Qǐ. This practice is known as "the two crownings and the three respects". All and all, the Xia dynasty went through 13 generations and 17 kings.

The transition from Xia to Shang was not a result of a “peasant rebellion”, where the oppressed lower class revolted and toppled the current government and became the new rulers, no, that never happened. Instead, rather than “class struggle” as the historical revisionists tell you, this transition was the result of one nation/civilization invading another.

考古 (Archaeology)

“”We are not at a time when we can get the history of the Xia era completely clear, we are not there yet. So, to the recovery and revelation of the Xia culture will be a thing spanning across possibly generations, dozens of generations, or even several dozen generations. As of now, we have started some work, at most it’s recovering Xia history, and it’s only at the beginning.
— Zhao Chunqing[2]

There have been many archaeological findings believed to belong to the Xia dynasty, including pots and bowls, either from bronze or clay pottery. There have been many carvings resembling written characters, possibly a writing system predating the Oracle Bone Script. There have been many characters that are found to be identical to the script of the Shui peoples (水族).

In 1959, in a place called " Erlitou", the capital of the Xia Dynasty was discovered near what is now Luoyang, Henan Province. At that time, the area of the capital of the Xia Dynasty was not small, and a palace alone was about 10,000 square meters. Including the restoration of the entire ruins, it was practically the same as the capital of the Xia Dynasty recorded in the book Kaogongji (周礼·考工记).

The Erlitou site gives lots of information about the late Xia dynasty, but for the early Xia, it gives nothing. In 1979, archeologists began to uncover things near Xinmi, Henan. They found some remnants predating Erlitou, possibly from the reigns of Qi to Shao Kang. This archeological site was named Xinzhai.

Another site was found that contained things older than the Xinzhai, and this site is called Wangchenggang (王城崗), and is thought to be the place where Yu formed the Xia dynasty, or at least, had some relations to the formation of the Xia. At first in 1977, the archeologists there were disappointed because the city they found was only around 10,000 square meters. This site wouldn’t be given more attention until 2002, when they dug at the site again and found a city that is up to 300,000 square kilometers. This big city was younger than the small city.

文化和社會 (Culture & Society)

龍 (Long/Chinese Dragons)

It is said that Chinese dragons were normal semi-divine creatures that existed in the Xia Dynasty, with even accounts on “dragon tamers” who train the dragons. These dragons were signs of a half-man half-divine culture of the Chinese. As the people grew more materialistic, however, the dragons began to disappear, but the culture left by them was very valuable. 4000 years later the CCP decided to destroy all of what was left of the semi-divine culture.

环保自然 (Environmentalism)

During the legendary reign of Yu the Great roughly four millennia ago, in the first three months of the spring, people didn’t take their axes to the forests so the trees could flourish. In the three months of the summer, people didn’t put nets to rivers so fishes could breed. This is the traditional way of moderating and conserving nature, and promotes harmony between man and earth, cherishing and protecting it while still getting all the needs.

瑣事 (Trivia)

  • Some early Chinese historians believed Xiongnu descended from the Xia dynasty. Later, in the 5th century, some Xiongnu established Helian Xia in Northern China, and used this idea to legitimize their claim.

神話還是事實？ (Myth or Real?)

A pot carved with a flower, from the Xia dynasty.

Xia dynasty is unique in Chinese history in that we don't possess actual written texts from the Xia itself but can only study texts that were written in later periods that mention the Xia. So, most of what we know today about the Xia is a projection back in time from what we know about the succeeding dynasty, the Shang dynasty, as well as from other important historical documents. Since no contemporary historical records from the time of the Xia dynasty itself have so far been uncovered, some experts still regard this dynasty as merely mythical. Even if the Xia dynasty really existed (and new evidence keeps turning up that affirms this notion), it is at this time impossible to precisely date its beginning and end.

Many Chinese scholars earlier last century got influenced by Western history and their style of determining what’s mythology and what’s real. The west says, if you want to prove that a kingdom really existed, you need to have these proofs: first you must have written accounts from that time period, second you need archeological evidence.

Many western scholars regard the Xia Dynasty as complete fiction due to the “lack of evidence”, while in reality there have been many artifacts that have been unearthed that suggested a civilization that matches up with the geopolitical position of the Xia Dynasty. The civilization shows complete capability of being a single-house ruled dynasty. But, there currently have no been written records about the Xia dynasty from the Xia dynasty (which is the main point anti-Xia scholars use), and the first mention of the Xia appears in a text from around the early-late Zhou Dynasty. But, it is very possible that such evidence have been destroyed during Mao’s anti-tradition campaigns, or it has simply not been discovered.

Another reason why the Shang didn’t write down records of the Xia is maybe because the Oracle Bone Script was mostly used for religious ceremonies and writing down prayers and mystic texts, and the story of the Xia was passed down generation to generation orally in a game of telephone, until they reached the Zhou peoples who decided to write it down.

Bronze pots, cups and artifacts have also been unearthed that could belong to the Xia dynasty, and some are carved with patterns resembling a flower. It is possible that the Erlitou Culture is indeed a part of the Xia dynasty, as it shows that the civilization there is advanced enough to be the described Xia, with striking similarities such as in their design of palaces.

證據 (Evidence)

Before we discover written records from the Xia Dynasty, discussions on whether the Xia Dynasty existed should start with the earliest documentary and written records related to Xia. The earliest known records meeting this criterion date back to the Zhou Dynasty. Comparatively, written records from that time are primary sources that have not been altered by later transcriptions, interpretations, additions, or omissions, making them indisputable. Therefore, it is best to first examine these written records.

Currently, three (or groups of) Zhou Dynasty bronze inscriptions mention Yu the Great and the Xia Dynasty:

  1. The Shuyi Bell (叔夷钟) from the Spring and Autumn period, belonging to the State of Qi. The inscription, while recounting the achievements of Cheng Tang, states that Tang "received the Mandate of Heaven, conquered the Xia sacrifices, and ruled over the Nine Provinces, residing in the land of Yu".
  2. The Qin Gong Gui (秦公簋) and Qin Gong Bell (秦公钟) from the State of Qin during the Spring and Autumn period. The inscription on the Qin Gong Gui praises Qin’s ancestors for "receiving the Mandate of Heaven and dwelling in the traces of Yu" and for "handling affairs concerning the Man and Xia peoples".
  3. The Zan Gong Pan (赞公盘) from the mid-Western Zhou period, collected by the Beijing Poly Art Museum (保利艺术博物馆). The opening inscription states: "The Mandate of Heaven granted Yu the power to distribute land, level mountains, and dredge rivers". Unfortunately, the provenance of this vessel is unknown. However, based on its shape, patterns, and inscription style, it is inferred to belong to the Central Plains Ji-Zhou cultural system, or in other words, it belonged to the Han Chinese. This is the earliest known written record of Yu the Great.

Many Zhou Dynasty and slightly later literary records also mention Yu and the Xia Dynasty, some of which align remarkably with the bronze inscriptions. For example, the Book of Songs (诗经), in the hymn Lu Song – Men Gong (鲁颂•闷宫), states that the early Zhou rulers "took possession of the lower lands and inherited Yu’s legacy." The Book of Documents, in Lizhèng (尚书：立政), records how Duke Zhao urged the Zhou people: "Rise and deploy your troops to expand Yu’s domain and rule the world." This indicates that the Zhou people saw "continuing Yu’s legacy" as a goal.

夏王名單 (List of Xia Kings)

Rulers of the Xia dynasty
Name Chinese Name Number Years of Reign Years (BC) Notes Capital
Yu the Great 禹/大禹 1 45 2205 BC-2160 BC Founder of Xia Yangcheng
Qi of Xia 啟/啓 2 10 2160 BC-2150 BC Son of Yu the Great
Tai Kang 太康 3 29 2150 BC-2121 BC Son of Qi
Zhong Kang[3] 仲康 4 13 2121 BC-2108 BC Son of Qi, younger brother of Tai Kang
Xiang of Xia 相 5 28 2108 BC-2080 BC Son of Zhong Kang
Shao Kang 少康 6 21 2080 BC-2059 BC Son of Xiang, restored the Xia
Zhu of Xia 杼 7 17 2059 BC-2042 BC Son of Shao Kang
Huai of Xia 槐 8 26 2042 BC-2016 BC Son of Zhu
Mang of Xia 芒 9 18 2016 BC-1998 BC Son of Huai
Xie of Xia 泄 10 16 1998 BC-1982 BC Son of Mang
Bu Jiang 不降 11 59 1982 BC-1923 BC Son of Xie
Jiong of Xia 扃 12 21 1923 BC-1902 BC Son of Xie, younger brother of Bu Jiang
Jin of Xia 廑 13 21 1902 BC-1881 BC Son of Jiong
Kong Jia 孔甲 14 31 1881 BC-1850 BC Son of Bu Jiang, nephew of Jiong, cousin of Jin
Gao of Xia 皋 15 11 1850 BC-1839 BC Son of Kong Jia
Fa of Xia 發 16 11 1839 BC-1828 BC Son of Gao
Jie of Xia 桀 17 52 1828 BC-1776 BC Son of Fa. Also known as Lu Gui (履癸).

Compared with the rulers of the Shang Dynasty, the kings of the Xia dynasty have less often a binominal posthumous temple name (like Tai Kang, Zhong Kang, Kong Jia). A great number of the Xia rulers instead have one-syllable names (like Jiong, Jin, Gao). These names are preceded by the title "divine ancestor" (di [帝], for example Di Xiang [帝相]), which is therefore actually no part of the name.

词源 (Etymology)

Xia (夏) literally means “summer” in Chinese.

國際關係 (Relationships)

友 (Friends)

  • 百越 - My wife, who has interesting mythology that I will add to my canon.
  • 羌 - His descendants celebrates my founder a lot.

敵 (Enemies)

  • 商 - Yuo are no descendent from Huaxia, admit it. Yuo stormed my capital and took my throne, but the XIA WILL NEVER DIE! I WILL BE RESTORED! Just look at the two of my loyal followers that refused to live under you and escaped to live in the wilderness (oh waits nevermind they died for they refused to eat anything grown out of your occupied lands). At least yuo gave me a fief.
  • 三苗 - Descendant from filthy Chiyou. Your behavior is unacceptable, don’t make me use force. Perhaps I could give you some autonomy and let you govern yourselfs…
  • 夷 - Ancestor of all my major enemies.
    • 東夷 - Especially you. Stop raiding me!

如何畫 (How to draw)

The character “夏” (Xia) in oracle bone script.

Xia Dynasty has a drawing rating of intermediate.

  1. Draw a ball.
  2. Fill it with a colour that is green-blue (青, official colours of the Xia dynasty).
  3. Add the oracle bone character “夏” in the middle, in darker green-blue.
  4. Add slanted eyes and you’re done!
Color Name HEX
Green-Blue #176148
Dark Green-Blue #0B3B2B

画廊 (Gallery)

  • Flooding

    Flooding

  • Made by LBMapper

    Made by LBMapper

  • Map (why is this file so large)

    Map (why is this file so large)

筆錄 (Notes)

  1. ↑ Yu said, 'Oh! think (of these things), O Di. The virtue (of the ruler) is seen in (his) good government, and that government in the nourishing of the people. There are water, fire, metal, wood, the earth, and grain - these must be duly regulated; there are the rectification of (the people's) virtue, (the tools and other things) that supply the conveniences of life, and the securing abundant means of sustentation - these must be harmoniously attended to. When the nine services (thus indicated) have been orderly accomplished, that accomplishment will be hailed by (the people's) songs. Caution them with gentle (words), correct them with the majesty (of law), stimulate them with the songs on those nine subjects - in order that (your success) may not suffer diminution.'
  2. ↑ From the series General History of China (中国通史), episode 6 Tracing the Xia Dynasty (夏王朝覓蹤), 2016
  3. ↑ Due to him being only a puppet/de jure ruler, sometimes he is absent from Xia king lists.

導航 (Navigation)

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