What are we arguing about the existence of the Xia Dynasty?

In the long history education, Xia Dynasty, as the first dynasty in China history, was written into the history books. However, after entering modern times, there was a great debate about the existence of Xia Dynasty. On the existence of Xia Dynasty, there are two views in historians: Xia Ting School and Doubting Xia School.

At present, the records about the Xia Dynasty mainly come from Xia Shijia and Zhushu Chronology, which are the main documents for future generations to understand the Xia Dynasty. The Xia Dynasty is also mentioned in Mencius, Shangshu, Guoyu, Zhou Li and Zuo Zhuan. However, most of these records are from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and there is even a gap of 2,000 years between them and the Han and Xia Dynasties.

At present, the cognition of Xia Dynasty mainly comes from the confirmation of archaeological evidence to historical books. For example, Erlitou site is considered as the capital of Xia Dynasty.

When it comes to doubting the Xia Dynasty, many people's first reaction now is foreign conspiracy theories and so on. In fact, most people who are suspected of Xia School now belong to domestic historians and archaeologists, including Xu Hong, who presided over the excavation of Erlitou, the capital of Xia.

Archaeology is first and foremost a rigorous science. For any discovery, if you want to draw a conclusion, you need to have enough evidence. For example, in recent major archaeological discoveries, the identity of the tomb owner can only be finally determined after the seal is found. On the contrary, similar to Cao Cao's tomb, the debate between true and false has never been broken.

At present, the lack of written evidence about the Xia Dynasty is a fatal problem. No record of any historical and cultural phenomenon exists only in the Xia Dynasty, which can be confirmed by archaeological discoveries.

Having said that, people with a heart may have noticed that all the records about the Xia Dynasty come from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. However, at present, the earliest writing did not come from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but from Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty.

In historical records, the Shang Dynasty was also next to the Xia Dynasty. However, at present, there are more than ten thousand Oracle bone inscriptions 10, covering all aspects of Shang Dynasty, which proves the records of Shang Dynasty in historical books. But there is no record of Xia at present, and Xia can't be found in the records of recent dynasties. What does this mean? Oracle Bone Inscriptions has Yu without Xia, but there is no Xia, and at least according to the records of Shang people, they don't admit that they were ruled by a dynasty called Xia.

It is because there is no clear written record of the Xia Dynasty, and even the records of the Xia Dynasty can't be found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, so the existence of the Xia Dynasty has been difficult to determine. There has always been a debate about whether Erlitou is a business capital or a summer capital.

So what are we arguing about? In fact, there has been a long-standing debate about the existence of the Xia Dynasty, but what are we arguing about and struggling with?

Assuming that there is enough evidence to prove that the Xia Dynasty really exists in the future and all the records are wrong, what can it do? The conclusion is only a mistake recorded in some historical books during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. But so what? Have there been fewer mistakes in historical records in recent years? After all, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were separated by the Xia Dynasty for nearly two thousand years. Based on the information and situation at that time, it is normal to make mistakes. Only later generations generally believe this record, and the result is like this.

But many people directly associate the existence of Xia Dynasty with the history of China. It seems that denying the Xia Dynasty is tantamount to completely denying the history of China. Without the Xia Dynasty, the history of China in this period would not exist. In fact, this is really a joke. With the emergence of more and more archaeological evidence, Erlitou, whether it is the commercial capital or the summer capital, is a historical fact of China.

Now Liangzhu, which is even older than Xia Dynasty, has successfully applied for the World Heritage. Whether the Xia Dynasty existed or not was just to prove whether there were any mistakes in the records of ancient history books, or the mistakes recorded by Zhou people or the mistakes recorded by businessman Oracle Bone Inscriptions, that's all.

So, there is no need to struggle. This is a simple archaeological problem to prove the history books, without too much debate and entanglement. The existence of Xia Dynasty, in the face of numerous archaeological evidences, cannot subvert the history of China.