What period is the Liangzhu culture?

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-03-05

According to most historians today, the Liangzhu culture dates from the 30th century BC to the 20th century BC. The span is likely to be more than 1000 years. Then the core area is the lower reaches of the Yangtze River around Taihu Lake, where there are more than 500 sites that archaeologists believe belong to the Liangzhu culture. The typical feature of the Liangzhu culture is the extensive use of jade, from tools, to weapons, to ornaments.

Historiography is now very certain that the Shang Dynasty roughly took place between the 16th and 11th centuries BC. In other words, the Liangzhu culture should have appeared before the establishment of the Shang Dynasty. Since China only entered the era of real written records from the Shang Dynasty, the Liangzhu culture must belong to a historical era without historical media. In other words, most of the conclusions of Liangzhu culture are inferred, or there is no direct evidence, only indirect evidence.

As for the legendary Xia Dynasty, according to the inference of the historiography, it should not have expanded beyond the Yellow River Valley, so even if the Xia Dynasty is a dynasty with a high probability of existence, the culture of the Xia Dynasty should not have much connection with the Liangzhu culture, and the two should be juxtaposed.

Judging from the historical research of later generations, the area where the Liangzhu culture is located should belong to a part of the "Jiuyi". And the "nine" in Jiuyi is not a real word, but a virtual word, which means many. In other words, Jiuyi is the general name of all the tribes living in the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

And Jiuyi, or collectively referred to as "Yi", in books such as "Zuo Chuan" and "Chinese", is very vaguely related to the Youyu clan. And modern historians have once again used their brains to speculate that the core of the Yu clan is probably in the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It also overlapped with the Taihu Lake area of the Liangzhu culture. According to legend, the Yu clan is a tribe with the same surname as Xia, so the Liangzhu culture is related to Xia La.

But the problem is that the records in the "Zuo Chuan" and "Chinese" are all quoting people who are at least a thousand years later, or even two thousand years later, such as people in the Zhou Dynasty, and even people in the Spring and Autumn period. Whether it is Xia, Youyu, or Liangzhu culture, they all belong to prehistoric cultures without written records. So how much credibility do people in a thousand or two thousand years have to speak casually?

Even so, it is certain that Liangzhu culture is part of the "Yi", and it is certain that the "Yi" eventually integrated into the Chinese family and became a part of the Chinese today. Therefore, no matter where the descendants of Liangzhu culture migrate, they will probably be integrated into today's Chinese family in the end.

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