Xia Dynasty: Cradle of Chinese civilization
An inlaid turquoise bronze plaque unearthed from the Erlitou archaeological site Photo: CHINESE ENCYCLOPEDIA
China has been generally recognized as one of the Four Ancient Civilizations. However, when its civilization began is still in debate. Some scholars, particularly foreign experts, consider the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th–11th century BCE) as the beginning of Chinese civilization. These experts don’t recognize the previous dynasty, the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st–16th century BCE), as the earliest civilization in China, or even don’t believe its existence. Hence, the study of the Xia Dynasty is crucial to the research of Chinese civilization.
Four Ancient Civilizations
The idea of the Four Ancient Civilizations was first brought out by Liang Qichao (1873–1929), a leading Chinese intellectual in the first two decades of the 20th century. Two influential books, A Global History by Leften Stavros Stavrianos and Five Epochs of Civilization: World History as Emerging in Five Civilizations by William McGaughey, identify China as belonging to the earliest civilizations in history.
Scholars have defined civilization using various criteria. The earliest civilizations shared some similarities with each other. Firstly, they all developed independently and became the cradle of a series of civilizations, cultures and nations around the area where they emerged. Secondly, the earliest civilizations tended to spring upon fertile river plains, where the geography was favorable to agriculture. Thirdly, they were the earliest civilizations that emerged in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and East Asia between 3500 and 2000 years BCE.
Whether to identify the Xia Dynasty as the earliest civilization and the first nation in China is disputed. McGaughey believes that the Xia marks the beginning of Chinese civilization, while Stavrianos claims the Shang as the cradle. However, what Stavrianos insists conflicts with his belief that the Chinese civilization grew upon fertile river basins and plains. This article agrees with the idea of McGaughey that the Xia Dynasty was the cradle of Chinese civilization.
Traces of Xia Dynasty
One of the reasons for some scholars to doubt the existence of the Xia Dynasty lies in their lack of knowledge about China’s history, ancient Chinese documents and archaeological evidence. Moreover, the side that believes in the Xia’s role as the first civilization is yet to present strong evidence.
The Erlitou site in Luoyang, Henan Province, is the first instance of evidence of the Xia Dynasty. The ongoing archaeological excavations there have already revealed a possible capital city that once was located within that area in ancient China. In other words, the Erlitou site seems to be the ruins of a city in a large country or nation at the time. However, this site only dates back to the late Xia Dynasty, no earlier than the year of 1750 BCE, and historical documents recorded that the Xia had extended its influence over the Heluo area (an area centered on Luoyang, spanning over the plain where the Luo River ran into the Yellow River) during its late period. The location of the Xia in its early and middle stages, particularly the birthplace of the civilization, has not yet been found.
If the Xia formed a civilization, it may have been located on a river plain as the other ancient civilization centers were. Given the conditions of the time, the Xia culture might have grown up on the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, where the fertile soil of alluvium has always been of significant importance to agriculture. During the period of the Longshan culture (c. 2600–2000 BCE), a Neolithic culture serving as an important link from the independent Neolithic communities to the Xia Dynasty, the climate in northern China turned cooler and dryer, stimulating a rapid increase in the size of the river valleys, alluvial plains and deltas there. Meanwhile, the depth and size of lakes and swamps shrank dramatically. These geographic changes made the plains between the east of Henan province and the west of Shandong Province more habitable. Soon, this region developed into a populous center of rich economy and culture.
Historical documents have also supported these deductions with records that show the territory of the Xia Dynasty matched the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Wang Guowei (1877–1927), the great historian, who had tried to separate the history of the Xia from mythology through research of associated ancient documents, mentioned that from the reign of Taikang (the third ruler of the Xia Dynasty) to that of Jie (the last ruler of the Xia Dynasty), the country of the Xia and its constituent states had been located in the ancient Heji area, which referred to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River spinning over the east of Henan Province and the west of Shandong Province. This also coincides with places that Yu the Great regulated the floods along the Yellow River, based on documentary evidence.
Archaeological excavations provided stronger evidence of the birthplace of the Xia. Zuo Zhuan (Commentary of Zuo), an ancient commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals, recorded that the state of Wey (a state founded in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, rising to prominence during the Spring and Autumn Period) made the city of Diqiu (present Puyang, Henan Province) its capital, and Diqiu used to be the capital of the Xia Dynasty during the reign of its fifth ruler. In recent years, the archaeological site and findings in Puyang has revealed that the capital city of Wey was established on foundations that were built in the early Xia Dynasty or earlier. The city of Puyang used to be the center of the ancient Heji area, thereby confirming that the Xia used to occupy the east of Henan Province and the west of Shandong Province.
Guesses about the Xia
It is documented that the Xia Dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great after he successfully devised a system of flood controls. This was mentioned early in the Guo Yu (Discourses of the States), an ancient Chinese text consisting of a collection of speeches attributed to rulers and other men from the Spring and Autumn period. If the historical records of the Xia Dynasty were true, the following paragraphs in this article explore predictions about what might have happened in this country and its states.
The Xia might have been a large country comprising many small states. It didn’t adopt the political structure that employed the existence of independent city-states, such as ancient Greece and Rome, nor developed into an immense state unified by a structured centralized political power. This is because the country was formed around the joint efforts implied through flood control.
The Xia might have adopted an absolute monarchy as its political system. The King would have held supreme authority over the country and made the rulership hereditary in his family. Meanwhile, the small states of the Xia were ruled by its own rulers and their titles passed down to their heirs.
Ancient Greece was located in hilly regions covered with soil of poor quality. As a result, some of its city-states had to make a living by developing handicraft industries and commerce apart from agriculture. The civilization of ancient Greece was defined largely by the region’s dependence on commerce and the trade of the products of craftsmanship. Slave trading was a symbol of advanced commerce. Slaves were the lowest class in the social hierarchy of ancient Greece.
Different from ancient Greece, the economy of the Xia might have featured more self-sufficiency with agriculture playing a dominant role. The flood control implemented by Yu the Great aimed at making a system of irrigation canals that relieved and dispersed floodwater into lower fields. The Guo Yu noted that his flood-control project was crucial in establishing the prosperity of the Chinese heartland. Due to poorly developed commerce, slavery was not popular in ancient China. Based on this type of economy, the social structure of the Xia Dynasty might have consisted generally of rulers, nobles and common people.
Shen Changyun is a professor from the School of History and Culture at Hebei Normal University.
edited by REN GUANHONG
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