14 Ancient China & the First Dynasties
It has generally been accepted that the Chinese ‘Cradle of Civilization’ is the Yellow River Valley which gave rise to villages sometime around 5000 BCE. While this has been disputed, and arguments have been made for the more widespread development of communities, there is no doubt that the Henan province, in the Yellow River Valley, was the site of many early villages and farming communities.
In 2001 CE, archaeologists uncovered two skeletons “buried in a collapsed house, which was covered with a thick layer of silt deposits from the Yellow River. In the layer of deposits, archaeologists found more than 20 skeletons, an altar, a square, pottery, and stone and jade utensils” (Chinapage.org). This site was only one of many prehistoric villages in the area.(15)
The First Dynasties
From these small villages and farming communities grew centralized government; the first of which was the prehistoric Xia Dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BCE). The Xia Dynasty was considered, for many years, more myth than fact until excavations in the 1960s and 1970s CE uncovered sites which argued strongly for its existence. Bronze works and tombs clearly point to an evolutionary period of development between disparate Stone Age villages and a recognizable cohesive civilization.
The dynasty was founded by Yu the Great who worked relentlessly for 13 years to control the flooding of the Yellow River which routinely destroyed the farmer’s crops. He was so focused on his work that it was said he did not return home once in all those years, even though he seems to have passed by his house on at least three occasions, and this dedication inspired others to follow him.(15)
The Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1046 BCE) was the second dynasty of China which succeeded the Xia Dynasty (c. 2700-1600 BCE) after the overthrow of the Xia tyrant Jie by the Shang leader, Tang. Since many historians question whether the Xia Dynasty really existed, the Shang Dynasty may have actually been the first in China and the origin of what has come to be recognized as Chinese culture.
The stability of the country during the Shang Dynasty led to numerous cultural advances such as industrialized bronze casting, the calendar, religious rituals, and writing. The first king, Tang, instantly began to work for the people of his country instead of for his own pleasure and luxury and provided a role model for his successors. These men created a stable government which would continue for 600 years but eventually, according to the records of the Chinese historians, they lost the mandate of heaven which allowed them to rule.(16)
The Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) was among the most culturally significant of the early Chinese dynasties and the longest lasting of any in China’s history. It is divided into two periods: Western Zhou (1046-771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (771-256 BCE). It followed the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE), whose cultural contributions it developed, and preceded the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE, pronounced “chin”) which gave China its name. Among the Shang concepts developed by the Zhou was the Mandate of Heaven – the belief in the monarch and ruling house as divinely appointed – which would inform Chinese politics for centuries afterwards and which the House of Zhou invoked to depose and replace the Shang.(17)
