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==Myth or history?==

==Myth or history?==

In the 1990s, the government funded the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project to sort out early Chinese history using modern research techniques.<ref>Chen Ning, "[http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/topic/31689-the-controversy-of-the-xia-shang-zhou-chronology-p/ The Controversy of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project]" (2009).</ref> Although the project did not establish a chronology for the Xia, it did reaffirm the dynasty's place at the head of the Chinese dynastic table.

Although the two most authoritative references, ''Cambridge History of Ancient China'' (1999) and the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project (2000), both treat the Xia as historical and identify it with the Erlitou site,<ref>Chen Ning, "[http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/topic/31689-the-controversy-of-the-xia-shang-zhou-chronology-p/ The Controversy of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project]" (2009)</br>Michael Loewe, Edward L. Shaughnessy, ''The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC'' Cambridge University Press (1999). See "The Question of the Xia Dynasty," p. 71.</ref> skepticism remains.<ref>Gillery, Bruce (July 20, 2000), "[http://web.archive.org/web/20010413175526/http://www.feer.com/_0007_20/p74currents.html Digging into the Future]", ''Far Eastern Economic Review'': 74–77.</ref>

{{Template:History of China}}

{{Template:History of China}}

Skeptics counter that the Xia was at most only one of dozens of states in China at this time.<ref name="Lee" /> Oral tradition concerning the pre-historic states may have been reworked when their stories were written down in the early [[Zhou dynasty]] (c. 1045–256 BC). Emphasis on the Xia supports a "unilinear" view of history in which each dynasty passes the baton to the next.<ref name="Lee" />

Xia was only one of dozens of states in China at this time.<ref name="Lee" /> Yu is said to have summoned the leaders of "10,000 states."<ref>''Cambridge''. p. 71.</ref> Oral tradition concerning the pre-historic states may have been reworked when their stories were written down in the early [[Zhou dynasty]] (c. 1045–256 BC). Emphasis on the Xia supports a "unilinear" view of history in which each dynasty passes the baton to the next.<ref name="Lee" />

Sarah Allan, a professor at Dartmouth College and a leading skeptic, has pieced together Shang mythology and cosmology. The Shang associated the Xia with the time of the flood, according to Allan. After the waters receded, the Xia grew weak. They were vanquished by the Shang sun-kings and eventually departed. There is no issue of dynastic handover in this version of the myth. The Shang rulers must have already viewed themselves as sovereign when the two peoples were living side by side. Shang records suggest that the Xia had a complex system of laws, as well as an unusual religion. Many traits of the Xia are the opposite of traits that the Shang associated with themselves. While the Shang represent light, fire, the sun, birds, and the East, the Xia represent dark, water, and the West. As such dualities fit all too neatly into yin-yang cosmology, they suggest that the story has a large mythological element.<ref>Allan, Sarah, "[http://www.jstor.org/pss/25211710 The myth of the Xia dynasty]," ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', No. 2, 1984.</ref>

Sarah Allan, a professor at Dartmouth College and a leading skeptic, has pieced together Shang mythology and cosmology. The Shang associated the Xia with the time of the flood, according to Allan. After the waters receded, the Xia grew weak. They were vanquished by the Shang sun-kings and eventually departed. There is no issue of dynastic handover in this version of the myth. The Shang rulers must have already viewed themselves as sovereign when the two peoples were living side by side. Shang records suggest that the Xia had a complex system of laws, as well as an unusual religion. Many traits of the Xia are the opposite of traits that the Shang associated with themselves. While the Shang represent light, fire, the sun, birds, and the East, the Xia represent dark, water, and the West. As such dualities fit all too neatly into yin-yang cosmology, they suggest at very least that the story has a mythological component.<ref>Allan, Sarah, "[http://www.jstor.org/pss/25211710 The myth of the Xia dynasty]," ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', No. 2, 1984.</ref>

==The Mandate of Heaven==

==The Mandate of Heaven==