The 1,600-year history of the Yu Dynasty has been questioned, and experts have not found physical proof, making it difficult to solve the mystery
As we all know, China is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world, and it is also the only country that has not had a cultural rupture. In the vast history of 5,000 years, we always want to trace the roots and find the starting point of Chinese civilization, and when it comes to ancient Chinese history, people will always inadvertently think of it first'Xia Shang Zhou'These three words, so it is generally believed that China's 5,000-year history should start with the Xia Dynasty, but it is not.
In the ancient period before the Xia Dynasty, there was a very mysterious Dayu Dynasty, which existed in China for 1,600 years, but is still doubted and denied to this day. Since no relevant physical objects have been found in China, it is impossible to verify this oral tradition"Antiquity"Whether it really existed. However, there are indeed records of the ancient period in the history books of the Chinese dynasties, and people infer from the historical materials that the ancient period refers to the long period from the ancient Yu to the Xia Dynasty, and the legend"Three Emperors and Five Emperors"One of Shun was the last ruler of Dayu.
In the history books, the Yu Dynasty has always been called"Yu Shun"or"Emperor Shun"。Shun's surname is Yao, the name is Si, and the word Yao Chonghua. Chonghua means that Emperor Shun was born with two **, which also contains the meaning of the Huaxia clan. There is one in Confucius's Analects - Taber"Tang Yu's life is prosperous"of the record. The strength of the Yu Dynasty is obvious to all in the historical materials, and people's worship and yearning for the Yu Dynasty can also be seen in many documents of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Shun is famous for his filial piety, which coincides with the Confucian filial piety. Therefore, Mencius strongly supported Shun's filial piety, hoping that people would learn from Shun Xi, honor the elderly, and be sons and daughters.
Influenced by Confucianism, the legend of Shun spread, and his actions had a profound impact on traditional Chinese culture. In history books such as "Zuo Chuan" and "Chinese"."Yu, Xia, Shang, Zhou"Often called:"Four generations"。But this one"Four generations of governance"It has not been handed down, because the historiography of the time paid attention to it in order to avoid it"The Western Zhou Dynasty died"with"Eastern Zhoucun"Historical facts, not to talk about the Zhou Dynasty!In order to avoid mentioning the Zhou Dynasty, they put"Four generations of governance"Changed to"Three generations", which makes the descendants of the three generations"Three generations"There is a suspicion of the formulation, and it is impossible to say what the latter three generations refer to"Yu Xia Shang"Still"Xia Shang Zhou"。No one can tell what these three generations are referring to"Yu Xia Shang"Still"Xia Shang Zhou"。
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the beginning of the Warring States Period, the turbulent times led to years of war, resulting in the disappearance of a large number of historical documents. Later, the King of Qin abolished the Six Kingdoms and ruled the world, and the records of the Yu Dynasty that can only be found in some history books with one or two words also disappeared along with the law. It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that Dayu's water control regained people's attention. In the twelfth year of Guangxu (A.D. 1886), the year of Juniper of Puzhou Zhizhou ended with the first sentence in the "Preface to the Rebuilding of Yongji County Chronicles":"Puban Tiandi people, since Yu, layer upon layer of stinky history, eyes for the refuge of human beings in the rivers and lakes. This is another record of the existence of the Yu Dynasty.
Due to the long history, most of the clear records of Dayu's water control in the history books are still in the Spring and Autumn Period, and basically only stay in the notes of historical figures. The ancients only regarded "Dayu Governing the Water" as a mythical treatise that exhorted the ruler to be cautious and follow the sages to implement benevolent government, and did not believe that the Dayu Dynasty was a real dynasty in history. So far, Western scholars have only doubted the possibility of the Dayu dynasty:"After all, we have not found any historical artifacts related to the Yu Dynasty, so we can only speculate on its existence, but we cannot deny the existence of the Yu Dynasty because of this"。
History is the best teaching material. Years ago, people were skeptical about the existence of the Xia Dynasty, and many people denied the existence of the Xia Dynasty on the same grounds. However, the cultural relics of the Xia Dynasty unearthed from the Erlitou site of Luoyang, the summer capital, have since subverted the real existence of the Xia Dynasty. Therefore, historical experts believe that the Dayu Dynasty cannot be easily denied or confirmed until physical evidence is found.
There are many historical documents about the Yu Dynasty before the Qin Dynasty, and we have reason to believe that the Yu Dynasty existed in a transitional period of more than 1,000 years from ancient times to the Xia Dynasty. Although we have yet to find any artifacts to confirm this history, I believe that time will tell, and through the efforts of archaeologists, this unknown dynasty will one day be unveiled.