The '''Xia dynasty''' is an era of Chinese history that began in 2070 BC and continued until 1600 BC.<ref>These dates are from the [[Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project]] (2000). Liu Xin gives 2205 - 1766 BC.</ref> It was followed by the [[Shang dynasty]]. Shun, the last of the mythical Five Emperors, picked Yu the Great as his successor, according to the traditional account. Yu was able to control a worldwide flood by building embankments. Yu's son succeeded him, making Yu the founder of a dynasty. There were seventeen Xia rulers. The last was Jie. Jie fell in love with a woman who was both beautiful and cruel. Outraged rebels led by Zi Lü overthrew the Xia and established the Shang dynasty.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/273749/Xia-dynasty Xia dynasty]," ''Britannica''</ref> This dynastic handover, it is a model for the "Mandate of Heaven" concept.
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The '''Xia dynasty''' is an era In the 1920s, scholars of Chinese history that preceded the "Doubting Antiquities School" questioned whether the Xia should be considered historical.<ref name=Lee>Lee, Yun Kuen, "[[Shang dynasty]]http://scholarspace. It is dated as cmanoa. 2070 BC – chawaii. 1600 BC. Although edu/handle/10125/17161 Building the actual dynasty is considered to be legendaryChronology of Early Chinese History]", modern historians may nonetheless use the term as a shorthand University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu) 2002.</ref> It was once common to dismiss the refer to archaeological sites dated to this perioddynasty altogether as mythical. These show a transition between In the earlier neolithic culture and 1980s, radiocarbon dating suggested that Erlitou in northern Henan Province might be the bronze age culture site of Zhenxun, the [[Shang dynasty]]. Several sites that have been labeled Xiacapital.<ref>"[http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Nov/79635.htm./ Stunning Capital of Xia Dynasty Unearthed]", ''China Daily'', Nov. 11, 2003.</ref>
Based on the Shang recordsErlitou was culturally dominant in its heyday and was unlike earlier Neolithic cultures. Its residents practiced ancestor worship, and the Xia city can be viewed the place where a distinctively Chinese culture was founded by forged.<ref>Allan, Sarah, "people of Erlitou and the water" who lived in the [[Yellow River]] valley during Formation of Chinese Civilization: Toward a time New Paradigm", The Journal of bad floodsAsian Studies, 66:461–496 Cambridge University Press, 2007. The records described them as having fair skin</ref> Sites from the Xia period show mixed copper and stone use, course hair a transitional phase between neolithic and speaking an "unusual tongueBronze Age culture." If they existedChina entered the Bronze Age around 1700 BC, they were probably not ethnic Chinesetoward the end of the dynasty.
According ==Myth or history?=={{History of China}}The character used to write Xia was not used on the Shangoracle bones, after the flood waters receded (during earliest phase of Chinese writing. In the 18th or 19th century Spring and Autumn period (770 to 481 BC), the character appears on several bronze inscriptions. These are not thought to be references to the dynasty grew weak, but rather mean "large" or "summer. Eventually" The Shang had a two-season calendar, the people so it is possible that China had no concept of the water departedsummer before this time.<ref name="mair">Mair, Victor, “[https://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp238_xia_dynasty_china.pdf Was there a Xia dynasty?]” Sino-Platonic Papers, May 2013.</ref>
Not much The earliest mention of a Xia dynasty can be found in ''Analects'' by Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC). This is known about over a thousand years after the nature end of the Xia dynasty. The Shang records suggest that ''Analects'' does not provide much information about the Xia had a complex system of laws that was unusual . The main sources for the timestory of the dynasty are the ''Bamboo Annals'' (~300 BC) and ''Records of the Grand Historian'', as well as an unusual religionwritten by Sima Qian around 100 BC.<ref>http:name="mair"//www.jstor.org/pss/25211710</ref>
==ReferenceThe Mandate of Heaven==The Shang version of the myth is quite different than the Zhou version, which emphasizes the shift of the Mandate of Heaven (''tiānmìng'') from the Xia to the Shang.<ref name=Arthur>The legend of the the Xia can be compared to the legend of the King Arthur, which was created by Norman writers to justify the Norman Conquest.</ref> The Mandate is a central theory in Chinese political ideology. According to this theory, a dynasty rules until it the Mandate is forfeit as a result of a ruler's immoral behavior. The Zhou and later dynasties found this theory useful since it delegitimizes movements for regional autonomy. Skeptics note that the story of Jie's downfall is suspiciously similar to that of the final Shang ruler, who is also said to have been an immoral tyrant.<ref name="Lee" /> Zhou religion, including the Xia myth, is the basis of Chinese Native Religion. ==Rulers==The following is the list of Xia rulers as given by [[Sima Qian]]. {| class="wikitable"! style="background:#efefef;" colspan="4" | Table of Rulers|-! Order! [[Pinyin]]! [[Chinese language|Chinese]]! Reign (years)|-| 1| class = "lft" | Yu (the Great)| 禹| 45|-| 2| class = "lft" | Qi| 啟| 10|-| 3| class = "lft" | Tai Kang| 太康| 29|-| 4| class = "lft" | Zhong Kang| 仲康| 13|-| 5| class = "lft" | Xiang| 相| 28|-| 6| class = "lft" | Shao Kang| 少康| 21|-| 7| class = "lft" | Zhu| 杼| 17|-| 8| class = "lft" | Huai| 槐| 26|-| 9| class = "lft" | Mang| 芒| 18|-| 10| class = "lft" | Xie| 泄| 16|-| 11| class = "lft" | Bu Jiang| 不降| 59|-| 12| class = "lft" | Jiong| 扃| 21|-| 13| class = "lft" | Jin| 廑| 21|-| 14| class = "lft" | Kong Jia| 孔甲| 31|-| 15| class = "lft" | Gao| 皋| 11|-| 16| class = "lft" | Fa| 發| 11|-| 17| class = "lft" | Jie| 桀| 52|-|} ==References==
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[[Category:Chinese Dynasties]]
