Xia Dynasty ( 2100 BCE - 1600 BCE)

[padraig]

Hello Wahnam Family,


Just to get things started I will give a brief overview of the Xia Dynasty.

The Xia dynasty is the first of the historical dynasties, where being ruler was passed on as a birth right. The first Emperor of the Xia Dynasty as legend told was Emperor Yu who was given the throne by the last of the Five Emperors, Emperor Shun.

There were 13 kings in all who reigned through the Xia Dynasty which spanned over a period of 500 years.

The Xia Dynasty was the end of the Neolithic Age and the start of the Bronze Age, where skills and culture began to change, leading to the following Shang Dynasty.

Much of whats known in this era is through archealogical digs as there were no written accounts, the written sources of information were taken from the Records of the Grand Historian which are regarded as legend rather than fact as they were written between 109 BC to 91 BC by the famous Scribe and Historian Sima Qian 1,500 to 2,000 years later.

Anyone who would like to add anything to this please do

[yasminejade]

Thank you Padraig for opening the post for Xia Dynasty.

Emperor Yu, or Yu The Great was famous for his success in stopping the flood of Yellow river.

He was appointed by Emperor Shun for this mission. He spent 13 years to solve the flood problem.

Instead of blockading the flooding river, he built canal in the flooding rivers, so the flooding water can flow into the sea. (This makes me think of our Chi Flow )

During this 13 years, he has passed by his home village 3 times but he did not enter. This was regarded as being persevere in his tasks, until today, there is a proverb describing this -- "da yu zhi shui san guo jia men er bu ru" (Yu The Great, who was stopping the flood, passed by the doorway of his house but not entering.)

[padraig]

Erlitou culture

Hi Jason good to hear from you, it's amazing the way proverbs that are still in daily use today can be traced so far back.


The Erlitou culture is a name given by archaeologists to an Early Bronze Age urban society that existed in China from 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE.

The culture was named after the site discovered at Erlitou in Yanshi, Henan Province.

This is considered to be the city of the Xia Dynasty by the majority of Chinese archaeologists. They uncovered palace buildings and smelting workshops with many elaborate bronze vessels.

The city is sited on the Yi River and was approximately 2.4 km by 1.9 km.

This is the earliest evidence of the beginning of the Bronze Age and the start of Chinese culture.

(noticed an error in previous post: there were 13 generations and 16 kings over the five hundred years of the Xia Dynasty)

[Andrea]

As I like pictures I was searching for some on the web and came across these:


A reconstruction how a building (dynasty palace) might have looked during the Xia Dynasty (based on Erlitou findings)


Source: http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-119.htm

or a reconstruction from the Henan Provincial Museum: Xia Palace, Erlitou


Source: Posted by Gary L. Todd in Picasa , which contains many beautiful pictures about early Chinese history: http://picasaweb.google.com/GaryLeeT...ughHanDynasty#

Does anybody knows something about Chinese architecture? What strikes me is that already so early there seems to be a "large entry house integrated in the walls and a main house within these walls, which (it seems to me) is very typical for Chinese architecture and very different from what other cultures have built.

Andrea

[Andrea]

Dear Jason and Padraig

My books say Emperor Yu was followed by his son Qi, founding thrugh this act the first hereditary dynasty in China.

And about the fall of the Xia: Fourhundred years later a new sovereign ascended the throne. His name was Jie. He was a ruthless ruler who cared only about enjoying himself and did not care about his people. His palace was said to be so high, that it look as it would collapse and it was therefore called "Collapse palace". The people did not like him.
At the same time a new kingdom grew in east of the Xia area: The Shang were in the beginning just a small tribe, but quickly gained power because they were very skilled in rising animals. Their ruler Tang tried to reason Jie of the Xia, but as this was fruitless he attacked Jie and overthrew the Xia regime. But that's already the next period (Shang dynasty 16.-11.century) .. back to the Xia

Andrea

[padraig]

Burial site of the Xia

Around 2000 BC, one large cemetry found in the provence of Shanxi with over a thousand graves, had included nine burial sites that were of high standard in style and artifacts with wooden coffins and over a hundred grave goods in each, including musical instruments, jades, and jugs.

Some eighty medium sized graves had similar objects in smaller numbers.

More than 600 graves were simple burials with neither coffins nor grave goods.



source: Cambridge History Illustrated of China, Patricia Buckley Ebrey

[padraig]

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for the images they give a good idea of the style of structures of the Erlitou people.

Here is some similar looking Chinese structures taken from Google Images where you have a main entrance with courtyard and buildings inside.





A Siheyuan compound




The layout of the Forbidden City, sections are similar but on a grander scale.




The "foremost monastery beneath heaven"

[padraig]

Cultural diversity of the Xia

Even as late as 2000 BC, communities in the Chinese subcontinent were probably as varied as they were in North America before Europeans arrived, a great many languages were undoudtedly spoken, some related and some not; shamans were probably powerful in some tribes and in some places but not in others.

source: Cambridge History Illustrated of China, Patricia Buckley Ebrey

[padraig]

Artifacts found from the Xia Dynasty












Source: Google Images

[yasminejade]

Thanks Padraig and Andrea for the pictures.

[yasminejade]

Another proverb which is referencing Xia dynasty:

"Jie2 ao4 bu4 xun2" (King Jie, arrogant, insubordinate).

Initially used to describe how violent, wild, and ruthless King Jie, the last king of Xia Dynasty, in modern days, it is used to describe person who is arrogant, unruly (not necessarily violent or criminal). [The dictionary meaning is wild and intractable; obstinate and unruly].

For example, a recent article described Maradona's appearance in World Cup 2010 as "jie2 ao4 bu4 xun2".

[yasminejade]

According to some records, King Jie is said to be a scholar and warrior ("wen2 wu3 shuang1 quan2").

He is said to be able to straigthen a thick iron hook with bare hands, and able to "fight tiger and leopard with bare hand".

(Many warrior figures in history were often described in this way, particularly figures during The Three Kingdom and The Water Margin era.)

However, he disregarded good moral values and he was brutal to his own officials and people, finally earning the name as notorious tyrant in Chinese history.

He and King Zhou4 (The last king of the following Shang dynasty) were always named together to describe tyrants.

[Andrea]

Thank you both for the pictures and the proverbs. Beautiful.

Revising the Xuan Kong (Flying Stars) Method of Feng Shui I just realized that the Lo Shu, which is a fundamental pattern to map the Qi in a building is attributed to Emperor Yu the Great. Thus the heritage of this period is very much alive. Amazing. The story says that a magical turtle came out of the water and had this pattern on its back. It is mathematically perfect. All numbers in a line add up to 15. Bellow a traditional representation.

Andrea

[padraig]

Hi Andrea and Jason,


I am enjoying both your posts, nice to read some new information, which is not easy to get this far back, hopefuly the Shang Dynasty will be a little easier.




I came across this same story in a book I was reading a few weeks ago where there was a section on magic squares, I will just add the version from it: "The villagers tried to appease the spirit of the flooding river Lo and a turtle came out of the water with markings on its back that depicted the magic square. The pattern acquired ritualistic or talismanic properties for the local people".


Magic squares or the Lo Shu square have been known for around 4,000 years. They are recorded also in ancient Egypt and India and have been attributed with special powers by cultures around the world.



Lo Shu magic square.

(source: Rooney, Anne. The Story of Mathematics)

That's interesting Andrea, would never have known that there was the connection with Feng Shui.

By the way just saw on Sigungs web site your promotion to Sifu, many congratulations Sifu Andrea, nice ring to it!

[Shaolinfist]

Great threads guys, it has been a pleasure reading them.
Just thought I would take this opportunity to say thanks and congratulations to Andrea on the promotion! <insert party emoticon here!>

Best regards,
Phil