Restore the Mythological Ages: The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project in China

China, as known as a country which has long history. When Chinese people talk about history, they will probably say "five thousand years history". It was a widely accepted saying in China for centuries, however, the suspicion against this statement has also existed for a long time.

This could date back to the Song (宋) or Ming (明) dynasty. A group of ancient scholars, now called the doubt archaic school (疑古派), considered that the records of some historical documents which contained legends and myths were very sceptical. Some people even doubt that most part in the history of bronze age was made up by the predecessors. The disappointed fact was, there was no solid evidence to proof them. 

This deadlock dragged on until 1899, a significant discovery of ancient hieroglyphs led the researchers to a silver lining.

 

Oracle-bone Inscriptions from Anyang

These are the Oracle-bone Inscriptions or so called Jiaguwen (甲骨文), fist found in Anyang (安陽), Henan (河南) province.

Later from 1928 to 1937, a series of archaeological excavations in Anyang unearthed one of the greatest discoveries—the Yin Ruins (殷墟) or Yinxu as transliteration. The one thing I would like to mention here is that the character "墟(xu)" in ancient Chinese used to meant "city" unlike "ruin" in present time.

 

Bronzes from the Yin Ruins

Yin was the capital of the late Shang (商) dynasty after the king Pangeng (盤庚) moved the capital there. It is the first fully confirmed ancient capital ever in Chinese archaeological history. Countless relics and inscriptions of records were unearthed. Finally, the authenticity of Shang was proved.

After more excavations, in May 16, 1996 an effort in massive scale named "the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project (夏商周斷代工程)" was officially launched. The goal of the project is to reproduce the chronology of the three dynasties in detail that all of the ancient documents did not do.

The subjects of this project ranging from history to astronomy, and cover the whole vast area of China continent.

 

The Erlitou Relic Site

 

 

Symbols on the Potteries of Erlitou

 



In another place of Henan, the Erlitou Relic Site (二裡頭遺址) lays silently in the middle of a wheat field of Yanshi(偃師). It was believed belongs to the Xia (夏) dynasty by some researchers who is working on the project. It was discovered in 1956. Later in 1960, a large palace site which was found in the upper layer makes them believes that it was the capital of Xia.

However, the project in this point was questioned by the international academia, and in manny other aspects as well. Some scholars claims that the Xia dynasty never existed.

Although the doubts about some periods remain, China is still struggling to restore the lost chronology. The quest reveals the mysterious history, and turns us back into the era of mythology.