Hi there,
I've read a lot of resources that indicate the Xia Dynasty never existed, but it seems my references are a good 20 years old. Recently I talked to someone that believed it wasn't, basing it on supposed readings. Is there any evidence at all that it did exist, or is the evidence really one sided?
I know that for instance, the Eastern Zhou was more a small, ceremonial puppet state, but the Western Zhou was powerful and ruled all of China. How could they rule all China and not be an empire?
hello everyone, DarkKirby14 here and with me here today is the next edition of Dynasty Warriors 6. Today, it seems that Lu Bu has taken Xi Province from Liu Bei, who has come to Cao Cao for assistance, and they're more in this to get rid of a threat to the land than help out Liu Bei, but anyone would take this chance to get rid of such a thread
playthrough to this point:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4019v4jZh_korJHGE-EVBwvnprtXjMzw
In light of recent events, I guess the west accepts that China has 5000 years of history and accepts the existence of the Xia Dynasty now? So interesting that they use whatever is convenient to them
So Iβm watching Crash Course World History and this question popped up for me.
Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di of the Qin Dynasty became the first ruler of a unified China after a warring states period. Thatβs why if I google βfirst emperor of China,β his name will show up first. Makes sense.
However, since China was not always from the beginning a unified state, and the Qin Dynasty wasnβt the first Chinese Dynasty (the Shang or Xia are believed to be the first dynasties and it wasnβt until after a warring states period that the Qin came into power), my question is: how can we consider the Shang or Xia to be Chinese βdynastiesβ if they didnβt rule all of China like the Qin did? Isnβt the point of a ruling state to rule over all the states?
Additionally, if China wasnβt unified before the Qin came into power, how could there have been βdynastiesβ at all? Was China just separate states/city states that fought each other for power, even though they were all βChineseβ?
If China consisted of multiple states during the Shang/Xia dynasties, does this not mean that multiple dynasties/states could have ruled at the same time then, since each Chinese state would have its own rulers and therefore, dynasties?
Like, for example if China had 100 non unified states during the Shang Dynasty, but only one of these states were actually ruled by a group called the Shang, how can we call this period the βShang Dynastyβ if the other 99 states were ruled by those who were NOT the Shang?
Also, who was the very first emperor of the non-unified China then, if it wasnβt Emperor Qin during the Qin Dynasty? But then again, how can you have a singular ruler/emperor of separate states that arenβt united?
