Once upon a time, many people ascribed the period of China's Three Emperors and Five Emperors to the mythological stage. However, as archaeological research deepened, it was revealed that these characters were not fictional, but real.
However, because writing was not yet widely available at that time, and historical records were extremely limited, we can only speculate about the situation of that era through later documents and archaeological remains. But the limits of this speculation are self-evident.
Previously, we had always thought that the Yin Shang was the first dynasty in China, until the excavation of the Erlitou site revealed that the Xia Dynasty was earlier than the Yin Shang. This, in turn, led to an exploration of more ancient history.
However, was there a dynasty that had not yet been recognized before the Xia dynasty? The question remains a mystery to this day.
The establishment of a new dynasty often has to go through a series of development processes, and the establishment of the Xia dynasty is no exception. The Xia Dynasty is recognized as a dynasty because it marks the shift of the inheritance system of Chinese emperors from the "Chan concession system" to the "hereditary system".
This change was the beginning of the feudal dynastic inheritance system, and thus made the Xia dynasty an important member of the dynastic list. Before the Xia Dynasty, although there was no strict state system, the political system at that time was more like a primitive tribal racial form.
In a tribe, a capable person will be elected as the leader, but he will choose another capable person in the tribe as his heir, and this person will not necessarily be his own son.
Although this approach has a distinctly "primitive" character, the idea behind it is unique.
Long before the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, the rudiments of the state had already begun to appear. At that time, although the social form was still a loose tribal group, there was already a unified political system and special government affairs**.
Historians of this period refer to it as the Tao Tang Dynasty or Tao Tang Dynasty, which was founded by Tang Yao. Tang Yao was one of the five emperors of the ancient era, and he was the son of Emperor Yu, but the Chan concession system could not determine this.
Despite this, he was still the leader of the tribal alliance and was given a fief called "Tang", hence also being called "Tang Yao". After the death of Emperor Yu, he originally planned to hand over the country to his eldest son, but because the latter was not good at management, he passed the imperial throne to Tang Yao.
After Yao came to power, he carried out a comprehensive reform of the tribes, especially a major breakthrough in politics. He integrated the scattered tribes into a powerful whole, began to implement the political system of the state, and most importantly appointed them according to their administrative capacity.
The reform of this period was a milestone, and it was the first in the history of our country to establish a more systematic political system, which laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.
From a dynastic perspective, this period can be seen as the beginning of a dynasty. The period of the Tao Tang Dynasty was a rare peaceful and prosperous era in society, and it was known as "the time of Tang Yu, Yu Si was prosperous", which was the highest praise for that era.
Tang Yao's excellent management enabled the tribes to live in harmony and the society to prosper and develop. As a result, he was revered as one of the Five Emperors and was known as an outstanding martial artist. His uniqueness lies in the fact that in the succession to the throne, he does not prioritize family blood, but takes meritocracy as the standard.
His son Danju was of bad character and unfit to inherit the throne. Therefore, Tang Yao took the initiative to seek the advice of the ministers, and finally chose Shun, who is filial and good at handling family relationships, as his heir.
Tang Yao's move not only demonstrated his impartiality and selflessness, but also provided an important reference for future generations to inherit the throne.
Despite the endorsement of Shun from many people, Tang Yao insisted on personally inspecting his abilities. So he married his two daughters, Empress E and Nuying, to Shun to see if he could really handle family relationships.
After marriage, the three of them lived by the Weishui River, and the relationship was harmonious and respected each other. Tang Yao was very satisfied with this scene, and then sent Shun to promote moral teaching, teaching his subjects the five virtues, namely father's righteousness, mother's kindness, brother's friend, brother's respect, and son's filial piety.
As a result, the people were happy to accept Shun's teachings. After that, Tang Yao continued to send him as the commander-in-chief to handle government affairs, and the hundred officials admired and obeyed him very much. With the help of Shun, the Taotang Dynasty was revitalized in all aspects, without any waste, and the social order was in good order.
Yao gave Shun an important task to receive the princes of the Quartet, and Shun won everyone's respect by virtue of his excellent communication skills and getting along well with the princes. He was then sent to the forest to take on nature's challenges, where he never lost his way despite being in the wilderness, demonstrating his unparalleled life skills.
After three years of rigorous testing, Shun has grown into a leader who is deeply loved by the people and has made great achievements. In the end, Yao decided to give up Jiangshan Chan to Shun, and he quietly retreated into the background, and it was not until 28 years later that he disappeared forever from people's memory.
Shun established the Yu Dynasty after Yao's abdication, and because it inherited all the political systems of the Tao and Tang dynasties, historical records often refer to the Tang Dynasty and the Yu Dynasty as the "Tang Yu Period".
During the Tang Yu period, the establishment of the Yu Dynasty opened the prelude to the Xia Dynasty, but this mysterious history has not been widely recognized internationally. This is not because we have reservations about that period of history, but because there is almost no written record of that era.
At that time, writing was not yet widespread, and almost all records of that era were written in later generations. To add insult to injury, Qin Shi Huang's book burning further exacerbated the scarcity of historical materials.
Therefore, the existence of a piece of history once aroused people's doubts, and some people even suspected that it was just a fabrication after beautification and processing by later generations.
In the study of history, some people often want to classify a certain period of history as the "era of myths and legends", and many textbooks now also consider the Xia Dynasty to be the beginning of Chinese history, not the Tang Yu period.
And this period was also seen as part of primitive society. Because from the perspective of the political system, the Tang Yu period cannot be called a complete dynastic system.
However, despite this, there are still many records of the Tang Yu period in history, such as the mention in "Han Feizi Xianxue": "Yin and Zhou are more than 700 years old, and Yu and Xia are more than 2,000 years old." ”
This acknowledges the existence of the Yu Dynasty. In addition, the Liangzhu cultural site discovered in 1936 was once considered to be a cultural relic of the Tang Yu period. Although history is sometimes controversial, we can learn about the wisdom of the ancients and the vicissitudes of history.
Although it may be that a complete state system was not formed during the Tang Yu period, its existence is undoubtedly unquestionable. Just like the existence of the Xia Dynasty was once questioned, it was not until the discovery of the Erlitou site that it was finally confirmed.
So, is it possible to maintain a certain skepticism about the records of the Tang Yu period? If the credibility of the historical materials is too low, we can only rely on archaeological technology to justify this history, and look forward to the day when the Tang Yu Dynasty will be restored to glory in the millennium.