Xia dynasty

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The Xia dynasty (, SHEE-ah; Chinese: 夏朝; pinyin: Xiàcháo; Wade–Giles: Hsia Ch'ao) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. Some scholars, especially Western historians and Sinologists, consider the Xia dynasty legendary or at least unsubstantiated, while a majority of Chinese archeologists consider it historical and identify it with the archaeological Erlitou culture (c. 1900–1500 BC). According to tradition, it was established by the likely legendary figure Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In traditional historiography, the Xia dynasty was succeeded by the Shang dynasty. There are no contemporaneous records of the Xia, and they are not mentioned in the oldest Chinese texts, the earliest oracle bone inscriptions dating from the Late Shang period (13th century BC). The earliest mentions occur in the oldest chapters of the Book of Documents, which report speeches from the early Western Zhou period and are accepted by most...

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