Xia Dynasty (about 2070 ~ 1600 BC) is the first hereditary dynasty recorded in Chinese history books. It is generally believed that the Xia Dynasty was passed on for 14 generations, and 17 generations later, which lasted for about 471 years and was destroyed by the Shang Dynasty. Later generations often call themselves "Huaxia" and make it synonymous with China.
According to historical records, Yu was originally handed down to Yi, but Yi was abdicated to Yu's son Qi. This period of history is regarded as the beginning of "family world" in Chinese history. From the establishment of the Xia Dynasty. The eleven Si tribes of the Xia family and the central royal family of the Xia family had patriarchal clan relationship in blood, enfeoffment relationship in politics and tribute and Fu relationship in economy, which constituted the core territory of the Xia Dynasty. In summer, it starts from the west of Henan Province and the south of Shanxi Province in the west, reaches the junction of Henan Province, Shandong Province and Hebei Province in the East, reaches the north of Hubei Province in the south, and reaches the south of Hebei Province in the north. The geographical center of this area is Yanshi, Dengfeng, Xinmi and Yuzhou.
Through the study of the dynastic history of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the project of exploring the source of Chinese civilization, the social picture from 2500 BC to 1500 BC, that is, from the Yao and Shun times to the Xia and Shang Dynasties, is preliminarily outlined. Six large-scale and high-level central cities in the Central Plains of the Xia Dynasty, including Yudu Yangcheng (today's Wangchenggang site in Dengfeng, Zhengzhou, Henan), have been included in the research focus.
There are a certain number of bronze and jade ritual vessels in the cultural relics of Xia Dynasty, which are about the late Neolithic age and the early Bronze Age. There are many records about Xia Dynasty in Chinese traditional literature. Erlitou culture, discovered in the west of Henan Province, has the basic conditions for the age and geographical location of Xia culture, but it has not been able to find any written records similar to the oracle bone inscriptions of Yin Ruins in Anyang. Many Chinese and foreign historians believe that the whole period or the first and second periods of the site of the Xia capital Erlitou, Yanshi, Luoyang, Henan, are the remains of the capital of the Xia Dynasty.
National name
The Xia Dynasty is often called "Xia" in history. There are ten sources of this appellation, among which the more credible one is that "Xia" is the pictograph of the totem of Xia nationality.
Sima Qian recorded that "Xia" was the name of a tribe composed of twelve clans, namely, Xiahou, Youhu, Yunan, Chongyi, Tongcheng, Bao, Fei, Qi, ZA, Xin, Ming and chongguan, with "Xia Hou" as the leader. Therefore, after the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, the name of the tribe became the name of the country. The Xia Dynasty was built on the ruins of the primitive social system.
In Tang Dynasty, Zhang Shoujie thought that "Xia" was named after Dayu was granted the title of "Xia Bo" in Yangzhai. "Xia" evolved from the place name of "You Xia Zhi Ju" and "Da Xia" to the name of a tribe, and then became the name of a country. This is the beginning of the Chinese hereditary dynasty that many historians believe.
According to the Concise Encyclopedia of Britain, "Xia" means "people of China".
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| The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in Xia Dynasty |
History
The origin of Xia nationality
According to historical records, before the establishment of the Xia Hou clan, there were frequent wars between the Xia tribe and other surrounding tribes for the leader of the alliance. The Xia tribe emerged after Zhuanxu in ancient Chinese history. Many ancient documents trace the Xia nationality back to Zhuanxu. In Shiji xiabenji and dadailiji Dixi, he was called the son of Zhuan Xu. He believed that the second son of the Yellow Emperor was named Changyi, who gave birth to Zhuan Xu. Zhuan Xu's son was named he, and his son was named Yu, who was the father of Xia Houqi. However, in the book of Han Dynasty, Lu Li Zhi quoted "the system of emperor Boyu" as saying that "Zhuan Xu was born in the fifth generation". No matter what the lineage, these records show that the Xia nationality is probably a descendant of Zhuanxu tribe. It is a tribe formed by the intermarriage of Zhuanxu's Gaoyang family, a descendant of Yellow Emperor, and a Gonggong family of Yan Emperor. The Xia tribe first lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Wei River, and then moved eastward to the Yiluo River Basin in southern Shanxi and Western Henan.
Water control by Jianyu
See also Dayu's flood control
He is the leader of the Chongs tribe in the Songshan Mountain on the South Bank of the river. There are Chongs and Gonggong, who are both experienced in water control. In the period of Yao and Shun, in order to fight for the royal power, he and Gonggong launched a fierce struggle against Yao and Shun, and both failed. After that, Yu inherited him as "chongboyu". This indicates that the early Xia people lived near Chongshan. At that time, the river overflowed. In order to resist the flood, many tribes formed a tribal alliance. He was elected by Siyue to lead the flood control. It took nine years and finally failed. The reason for his failure may be that he was not good at uniting his people and other tribes. It is recorded in the book of history of Yao that Yao initially thought that he had ordered his people to destroy their families and good people, but he opposed his leadership in water control, which shows that many tribes were dissatisfied with him when he led the water control. In Shangshu Hongfan and Guoyu Luyu, it is also mentioned that the method of flood control is mainly to block the flood with civil works, which may be one of the reasons for the failure of flood control in the past nine years. After he failed in flood control, he was killed in Yushan on the coast of the Yellow Sea in the East.
Yu was the son of he. After he died, Yu was ordered to join the Gonggong clan and many other tribes to carry out water control work in Yi, Luo, he and Ji areas. Yu gave up the water control strategy of "blocking" and replaced it with dredging, which was to dredge the water in the highland according to the terrain, so that the fertile plain could reduce the flood disaster. After treatment, most of the residents who were originally concentrated in the high-lying areas along the great plain moved to the relatively low plains to reclaim the fertile land. Those lush vegetation, breeding places of animals, become places where people are willing to settle down.
Due to Yu's contribution to flood control and promotion of agricultural production, Xia clan's power was strengthened and social productivity was significantly improved, which provided the necessary economic basis for the establishment of hereditary state. Xia Benji in historical records records records that Yu "worked hard and thought hard, lived abroad for 13 years, and did not dare to enter his family". His hardworking spirit was praised by later generations, and the process of water control also promoted the unity of the tribes.
Therefore, the direct reason for the establishment of the Xia dynasty may be the flooding of the Yellow River in the era of the three emperors and five emperors. The flood affected the production and life of the surrounding people for a long time. The 20-year flood control work that Dayu mobilized all ethnic groups in China not only united the Chinese ancestors, but also greatly enhanced his reputation. With the improvement of the living environment, the emergence of the first unified monarchy was established.
Crusade against Sanmiao
See: Sanmiao
Yu made great contributions to flood control, and then Shun sent Yu to fight against Sanmiao. Yu defeated Sanmiao repeatedly, drove Sanmiao to Danjiang and Hanshui River Basin, and consolidated the monarchy. In Mozi · FeiGong, it is said that after Yu conquered Sanmiao, "other things are up and down, the Qing system is extremely big, and the gods and the people are not disobeyed, and the world is quiet." This shows that the Xia tribe has become the leader of the tribal alliance after Yu's victory in flood control and the battle against Sanmiao.
Establish a dynasty
See: Abdication system, Tushan meeting, Hereditary system, You Hu and GaoTao punishment
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| Xia Wangqi |
Shun abdicated the throne to Yu, who called a tribal alliance in Tushan to fight against Sanmiao again. According to Zuo Zhuan, it is recorded that "all nations holding jade and silk" participated in Tushan alliance, which shows the appeal of Xia tribe. Once, during a tribal alliance in Kuaiji (Shaoxing, Zhejiang), the leader of Fangfeng family was executed by Yu for being late. The ancient documents also record the amount of tribute paid by Yu to the tribes, which shows the Xia clan's economic control over the surrounding tribes.
Yu once recommended Gao Tao, a well-known leader of Yan surname in the East, as his successor to show his respect for the traditional abdication system. However, gaotao did not wait for chanrang and died earlier than Yu. Yu also ordered Boyi, the leader of Dongyi, to be his successor.
After the death of Yu, Yi (Boyi, some people think that Yi is not Boyi, but two people of the same era) held a funeral ceremony for Yu in accordance with the tradition of tribal alliance, and mourned for three years. After three years of funeral, Yi didn't get the power, but Qi got the power with the support of the people.
There are different opinions about this period of history: the ancient bamboo annals records that "after Yi ascended the throne, he killed Yi and won the throne"; on the other hand, "after Yi ascended the throne, some tribes did not submit to Yi, but supported Qi, fought against Yi's tribe and finally won the throne. Hou Yi led the Dongyi alliance to attack Qi. After several years of struggle, Qi established his leading position in the tribal alliance, but his common view is that "the public world" has become "the family world".
From then on, the abdication system was replaced by the hereditary system. This marks the replacement of the long primitive society by the private ownership society, which should be said to be a historical progress. However, the establishment of a new system is bound to meet some opposition. Later, many tribes inclined to abdicate the tradition questioned Qi's power and position. On the outskirts of Qidu, Hu family led the tribal alliance to fight against Qidu and fought against the army in Gansu. Before the war, Qi called his position of power "gongxingtian", which was the rudiment of the theory of the son of heaven in the Later Zhou Dynasty. Qi had the approval of the people in the Central Plains, had a great advantage in the number of people, and finally defeated Youhu and demoted him as a slave. This victory represents that the mainstream social concept of the Central Plains has changed from the original abdication system to the hereditary system.
The surname of Xia clan was Si, but it was changed from Qi to Xia. At the same time, Qi no longer used the title of Bo, but changed to "Xia Hou Qi". Qineng is good at singing and dancing, and often holds grand banquets. The biggest one of them was in Juntai, which is the enjoyment of Juntai. He also performed songs and dances in "Tianmu field". It is recorded in the book of mountains and seas, the overseas west classic that qizai danced with "Yi in his left hand, Huan in his right hand, and peiyuhuang. Some documents even say that Qi once took music and dance from heaven. The ancient Chinese music and dance literature "Jiubian", "Jiuge" and "jiuzhao" are all called Qi's original authors.
During Qi's reign, his son's view of martial arts was often in disorder. "Han Feizi Shuo Yi" said that he was "harmful to the country and the people", and was eventually killed. In addition to the disputes within the Xia clan, they often fought with Dongyi in order to gain the authority of the tribal alliance.
Taikang lost its country
After Xia Qi's death, his son Taikang inherited the post. During his reign, the authority of Xia tribe was weakened, and the poor tribe of Dongyi took the opportunity to move westward. There is a leader of Dongyi nationality who is good at shooting. Yi led his army to move to qiongshi, which belonged to Xia Hou's family. He intermarried with the local Xia people and formed Youqiong's family. Yi won the Xia government with the support of Xia people. Then Taikang went to the Zhen family of Zhen.
After Yi won the throne, he did not become king, but made Zhongkang, the younger brother of Taikang, king. But in fact, the state affairs were governed by Yi. This has aroused the dissatisfaction of many tribes. He Shi and Xi Shi, who presided over the activities of celestial phenomena, openly opposed it. Yi said that they abandoned the time and disordered the sun, sent Yin to lead troops to fight against the two families of Xihe, and made the oath "Yin Zheng" before the war to win in the war.
After Zhongkang's death, his son took over the throne. Later, he went to the two families of the same surname as Xia. From then on, Yi inherited the throne alone. Yi was good at hunting and was not good at governing. After he gained power, he was just like Taikang. He was good at hunting and abandoned state affairs. He abandoned the loyal ministers such as Wuluo, Bokun and Longyu, and made use of hanzhuo, an unfilial son expelled by Boming. When Han Zhuo was young, he was expelled by the king of Boming because of rumors. Later, he was adopted by Yi, the leader of Youqiong family, and became a member of Youqiong family. Hanzhuo became more and more powerful. Later, he took advantage of Yi's hunting opportunity to kill Yi and his family. He seized his power and wife, and gave birth to two sons, Chen and Guan. Hanzhuo granted Ge to his son Chen and Guo to his other son. According to his father's orders, he led his soldiers to destroy the two families, and killed the prime minister who was hiding in him. Xiang's wife, Luo, was pregnant with his son at that time. She fled from the wall hole to his mother's home and soon gave birth to her posthumous son Shaokang.
Shaokang Zhongxing
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| King Of Shaokang |
Through the history of Taikang's loss of state or at least the rise of kangzhongxing, we can see the process of the Huaxia people's pacification of the tribes in the Central Plains, especially the Dongyi people.
Zhu, the son of Shaokang (also known as "Yu"), inherited the latter position. In order to consolidate his power in the East, he moved the capital from the original East to Laoqiu. He attached great importance to the development of weapons and the manufacture of armour. There are often statements in the literature that "Zhuzuo Jia" and "Zhuzuo spear". He also sent people to attack Dongyi (Southern Shandong, Northern Anhui and Northern Jiangsu) in eastern China. It is said that he got the mascot Nine Tailed Fox. The territory of Xia Dynasty expanded to the East China Sea (Yellow Sea) under the rule of Zhu. Zhu's reign was the most prosperous period in Xia Dynasty. The people of Xia paid special respect to Zhu and held "memorial service" for him. "Guoyu · Luyu" said that "zhuneng Shuai Yu also, Xia Hou Shi Bao Yan," that zhuneng inherited Yu's career in an all-round way.
During the reign of Huai, the son of Zhu, Dongyi and Huaxia began to coexist peacefully. Among them, the nine tribes (i.e. the nine Yi) living in the Huaihe and Sishui river basins usually paid tribute to the empress Xia. After the death of Huai, his son mang succeeded to the throne. After mang died, his son Xie succeeded to the throne. During this period, Dongyi and Huaxia gradually assimilated. During Xie's reign, the Dongyi people had basically assimilated, so he began to develop to the West. At the same time, he began to seal the land and titles of Fang tribes who obeyed Xia Shi. This was the beginning of the vassal system several centuries later. After the death of Xie, his son did not descend to the throne. He led the army to attack the Western Jiuyuan many times.
Despotic and despotic
After the chaos of Kongjia, the rule of Xia Dynasty declined day by day. After his death, his son Lu GUI (Xia Jie) succeeded to the throne. Jie Shanwu, "fighting jackals, chasing four horses.". During the reign of Jie, the relationship between Xiashi and Fangguo tribes had broken down. The number of tribes giving tribute to xiashanggong is decreasing. Therefore, Jie often attacked those disobedient tribes.
It is said in ancient literature that Jie was lustful. After defeating a certain tribe, he would select the woman he loved from that tribe and take her back to the palace as his concubine. The Shi clan mentioned in Guoyu Jinyu, the Minshan clan and the Moxi clan mentioned in Zhushu chronicle all suffered this kind of fate. Among them, the concubine of Mo Xi's family has already been married with Yi Yin, but Jie takes her away in Luo. Yi Yin rushes to Shangtang in anger.
Jie's repeated expeditions also angered many more authoritative tribes. There is a family of Xun (descendants of Shun) who was destroyed because of disobedience to Shun Jie. The clans of Zi surnamed Shang, who lived in the southwest of Shandong Province in the east of Henan Province, flourished during the Xia Dynasty. Jie also attacked Shang leader Tang Bingzhi on the pretext of not accepting Shang. Tang was imprisoned in xiatai (a Juntai), and then released. In addition to the deterioration of Xia Shi's foreign relations, the literature also mentioned Jie's improper employment in the court.
In 1600 BC, Tang, the leader of Shang tribe, led Fang tribe to attack Jie. After destroying Wei, Gu, Kun and Wu, the pro Xia tribes, they went to war with Jie in a hurry. Tang's power was great, but Jie could not resist it. He fled and fought at the same time, and finally lost to the old site of Youqi. Jie fled to mingtiao (now Xi'an), and Tang chased him and started a war in mingtiao. Jie was defeated again, exiled by Tang to Lishan (yizuoshan), lived with Mo Xi's family, and finally ran to Nanchao mountain (today's Chaohu City, Anhui Province) and died here (Huainanzi xiuwuxun is slightly different, saying that Tang "calls out the whole army, sleeps in xiananchao, Qiao passes by and releases Lishan").
In the battle of mingtiao, Xiashi was destroyed. With the support of Fangguo tribe, Shangtang was called "King" in Bo. In this way, the Xia Dynasty, the first hereditary regime in Chinese history, perished, which lasted for about 400 years. The time of subjugation was around 1600 BC.
Kong Jia died and his son Gao succeeded to the throne. Gao died and his son succeeded. During this period, the relationship between Fangguo tribe and Xiashi deteriorated, and the disputes within the clan became intense. From Kong Jia to Lu GUI, civil strife continued.
Descendants of Xia people
After the fall of Xia Dynasty, the remaining forces not only stayed in the Central Plains, but also moved to the South and the north. Jie and a lot of Xia people moved from Lishan south to Nanchao, which is the South Branch. The northern branch entered the Mongolian Plateau and integrated with the local nationalities. Some people think that this is what later generations call the Xiongnu. The biography of Xiongnu in historical records says that "Xiongnu, whose ancestors were Xia and then Miao, was also called Chunwei. Kuodipu explains in more detail that "the wife and concubine of his son (Jie) and wife Jie, who lived in the Northern Wilderness and moved with animals (i.e. nomadic people in Beiyuan), is called Xiongnu in China." Because of the former capital of emperor Ning, King Tang of Shang Dynasty granted an aristocrat surnamed Si to the state of Qi to worship the ancestors of the ancestral temple. According to the records of the historian Chen Qi family, the Xia people were granted or lost in Yin Dynasty. After King Wu of Zhou defeated Shang as king, he granted donglougong, the descendant of Dayu, to Qidi, continued the state of Qi, and was in charge of the sacrifice to Yu. At the end of the spring and Autumn period, Confucius paid a special visit to Qi State because he advocated Xia Li. In Yuling village of Kuaiji mountain in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, the descendants of the Si surname of Xia Yu have been called Yu Shouling from generation to generation.
Guo Moruo, Hu houxuan and Cheng Jing believed that the earth in oracle bone inscriptions was the Xia after the defeat. According to the oracle inscriptions, TU was a powerful Fang state in the northwest of Yin Dynasty, which was the object of long-term conquest by Wuding and the previous Shang king. After conquering earthwork, Wuding built a large-scale city "Tang" in his hinterland "Tang soil" and suppressed and controlled the earthwork people. Since then, there are no records of earthwork rebellion. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng granted Tang Shuyu, the first king of Jin State, the title.
Territory
Administrative division
The Xia Dynasty was a transitional period from the city-state alliance to the feudal state, so there was no clear territory. The Xia clan had a lot of relations with other city states, just like the suzerain state and tributary state, but some Fang states were enfeoffed by the Xia family, just like the vassal states, so they could only express their influence by the sphere of influence.
The eleven tribes of the Xia family with the surname Si and the central royal family of the Xia family were related by blood, by enfeoffment in politics and by tribute and tax in economy, which constituted the core territory of the Xia Dynasty. In summer, it starts from the west of Henan Province and the south of Shanxi Province in the west, reaches the junction of Henan Province, Shandong Province and Anhui Province in the East, reaches the north of Hubei Province in the south, and reaches the south of Hebei Province in the north. The geographical center of this area is now Yanshi, Dengfeng, Xinmi and Yuzhou. At that time, Xia's power extended to the north and south of the Yellow River and even the Yangtze River Basin.
In the early Xia Dynasty, the Xia nationality mainly lived in the Hanoi area in the middle and south of Shanxi Province, moving southeast along the Fenshui River and the river, and in the late Xia Dynasty to the Yihe and Luohe River Basins in the middle of Henan Province. It is said in Guoyu zhouyushang that "xiyiluo was exhausted and Xia died", which shows the importance of Yiluo River to Duji in the late Xia Dynasty.
For the administrative region of the Xia Dynasty, it was passed down as "Kyushu":
1. Jizhou, jiayoujieshi into the river, three sides away from the river, is the state tribute road must pass through. (today, Shanxi, Hebei and the west of Liaoning.)
2. Yanzhou, floating in Ji and Luo, reaches the river. (the East and west parts of the mountain and the southeast corner of Hebei Province.)
3. Qingzhou, floating in Wen, reaching Ji. (Shandong Peninsula to the east of Mount Tai.)
4. Xuzhou, floating in Huaihe River and Sihe river. (today, Jiangsu, Anhui and southern Shandong are to the north of the Huaihe River.)
5. Yangzhou, along the river and sea, reaches Huaihe River and Sihe river. (to the south of the Huaihe River are Jiangsu and Anhui, and to the north of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.)
6. Jingzhou, floating in the river, Tuo, Qian, Han, more than Luo, as for the South River. (now Hubei, Hunan to the north of Hengshan and the northwest end of Jiangxi.)
7. Yuzhou, floating in Luohe. (now Henan Province, North Hubei, Southeast Shaanxi and Southwest Shandong.)
8. Liangzhou, floating in the potential, surpassing Mianyang, entering Wei River and chaotic in the river. (now Sichuan and the southern ends of Shaanxi and Gansu.)
9. Yongzhou, floating in Jishi, as for Longmen West River, will be in Wei, Wei. (now Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai.)
