Does the Xia Dynasty exist or not? Why can't you find the records of Xia Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions?

Why can't you find the records of Xia Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions? I bring you relevant content, and interested friends come and have a look.

Does the Xia Dynasty exist? Since ancient times, people influenced by the traditional view of history have never questioned this point, but in modern times, influenced by western textual research, many scholars began to look for evidence to prove the existence of the Xia Dynasty. So far, no evidence recognized by rigorous scholars has been found.

Therefore, there are two views on whether the Xia Dynasty exists: one thinks that the Xia Dynasty does not exist, but at best it is just a primitive village; Another view is that Xia Dynasty was a tribal country. In the theory of nothingness, there is such a basis: there is no record of Xia Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. This is in stark contrast to the frequent mention of Shang Dynasty by Zhou people.

Then, why is there no record of the Xia Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions?

Personally, I think there are four possibilities:

Appellation problem

Judging from the history of China, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an event of "Mongolia destroying Xixia" in the history of China. However, if the Mongols explain this incident, they will say that "the Mongols destroyed Tang Wu"-the so-called "Tang Wu" refers to what the Mongols call Xixia.

This situation is very common in the history of China: for example, in the ancient history books of China, the Roman Empire was called "Daqin", but it certainly didn't call itself that.

Similarly, the name "Xia Dynasty" was given by the Zhou Dynasty, not by the Xia people who claimed to be themselves, nor by the Shang Dynasty.

So there is no such record as "Xia Dynasty" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and probably there is no such word.

daydreamer

Of course, the second possibility may make many readers feel uncomfortable: that is, perhaps, as some scholars said, the Xia Dynasty did not actually exist, but was a dynasty that scholars attached to after the Zhou Dynasty. Since it doesn't exist at all, of course, there will be no records of Xia Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty.

Special for divination

All nationalities in the world, in their ancient times, will turn to the revelation of heaven when they encounter confused things. However, as a person, how to get the inspiration from heaven? As a result, all ethnic groups have their own wizards and priests, claiming that they can communicate with ghosts and gods and even heaven.

Yin Shang also attached great importance to ghosts and gods and providence. Even in Shangshu, there was a dialogue between Shang Zhouwang and ministers to discuss providence. Most of the words on the unearthed Oracle bones are related to divination.

If the unearthed Oracle bones are preserved because of divination, it is normal to find no records of the Xia Dynasty-because divination is about the future, and no one will go to the extinct dynasty.

lose

The last possibility is that perhaps there are Oracle bones in the world that record the Xia Dynasty, but this part of Oracle bones has not been handed down.

No one knows how many Oracle Bone Inscriptions the nobles of Shang Dynasty left in the 600 years of Shang Dynasty, but what is certain is that only a few can be preserved to modern times. Moreover, many of these Oracle bones were destroyed by people as medicinal materials, and only a few can be preserved today.

Just like if human society is destroyed, only a few novels about human civilization, such as Tiny Times and Tomb Raider Notes, are preserved due to special factors and discovered by new intelligent creatures hundreds of millions of years later, then it is difficult for new intelligent creatures to understand the history of China, not to mention the history of the world after deciphering the contents of the novels.