Every nation crafts myths to elucidate its origins, explaining the natural landscapes of their lands, the formation of mountains and rivers, the discovery of vast terrains, and the commencement of their civilization.
Pangu
Among these narratives, the Vietnamese people regard themselves as descendants of Dragons and Fairies, while the Japanese claim lineage from the Sun Goddess. The Chinese, on the other hand, attribute their ancestry to a singular figure, Pangu, who, in their eyes, surpasses Dragons, Fairies, and even the Sun in significance.
According to the Chinese scholar Tsui Chi, in his book “Histoire de la Chine et de la Civilisation Chinoise” (1949), the universe’s creation mirrored the separation of the white and yolk of an egg, with Pangu emerging therein. He fashioned the heavens from the pure and bright elements and the earth from the murky and dark. Pangu grew three meters daily, with the sky and earth expanding accordingly. After living for 18,000 years, his demise marked a vastly expanded universe.
His tears formed the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, his breath became the wind, his voice thunder, and his eyes transformed into the sun and moon upon his death. His body disintegrated into the sacred mountains of China, known as the Five Great Mountains, his fat flowed into rivers and seas, and his hair rooted into the earth, becoming vegetation.
The Three Soverigns
The era following Pangu’s death saw the emergence of China’s first rulers, the Three Sovereigns, though scholars dispute their identities. Theories include:
- The Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Sovereigns.
- Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor.
- Fuxi, Nuwa, and Shennong, as per Tsui Chi.
The Five Emperors
This period gave way to the Five Emperors, with varying theories on their identities as well:
- Taihao, the Yellow Emperor, Shennong, Shaohao, and Zhuanxu.
- Different sequences are proposed by various sources, adding to the complexity of ancient Chinese historiography.
The most frequently mentioned figures include:
- The Yellow Emperor, credited with introducing writing, technology, sericulture, and silk weaving to Chinese civilization.
- Shennong, who taught agriculture and herbal medicine.
- Fuxi, also known as Taihao, who established the Bagua, fundamental to the I Ching.
- Nuwa is also noteworthy for mending the sky with colored stones after it had cracked.
These figures, revered in Chinese folklore, are believed to have ruled from around 2900 BCE to 2350 BCE, blending myth with semi-historical accounts, particularly in the cases of Yu the Great and Shun.
From Emperors Yao and Shun to the end of Shang Dynasty
The golden era of China is often associated with the reigns of Emperors Yao and Shun, hailed as paragons of virtue around 2356–2255 BCE and 2255–2205 BCE, respectively. Known for their humility, Yao and Shun epitomized simplicity, opting for modest dwellings and attire akin to their constituents. Their rule was marked by a profound connection with the populace, attributed to their exemplary governance which fostered a society where contentment was widespread, crime was virtually non-existent, and social harmony prevailed. People respected elders, and isolation or loneliness was unheard of, emphasizing a community where everyone had a place. The most notable aspect of their leadership was the merit-based succession, with Yao choosing Shun and Shun selecting Yu as successors, prioritizing virtue over bloodline.
This narrative, while inspiring, bears a mythical undertone, especially with claims like Yao’s exact century-long reign, stirring a healthy dose of skepticism. The possibility that Confucius might have shaped or highlighted these stories to bolster his political ideology cannot be dismissed. Despite references to Yao and Shun in ancient texts like the Shang Shu (Book of Documents), their historicity is questioned, with suggestions that Han dynasty scholars could have retroactively constructed these accounts. The Lun Yu (Analects of Confucius) provides what might be the earliest credible mentions, offering insights into their philosophies and governance ideals.
The portrayal of Yao and Shun‘s disinterest in material wealth and power underscores their moral excellence. However, it’s improbable that these tales were purely Confucian inventions. They likely stem from a kernel of truth, reflecting societal transformations such as the shift from tribal to feudal structures and from communal to private property ownership, amidst a backdrop of significant economic and social changes.
Yao and Shun, possibly tribal leaders of their times, embody the transition from a collective to a more stratified society. The narrative of Yao ceding power to Shun, given the century gap, raises questions about their lifespans and suggests a complex intertribal dynamic. Given Confucius lived nearly 1,800 years after these figures, in a period devoid of historical records as we understand them, it was plausible to idealize their reigns extensively.
What emerges from these legends is a picture of Yao and Shun as influential leaders within a nascent communal society, where despite the absence of modern conveniences, the populace lived in peace and mutual support, a testament to the enduring human aspiration for harmonious existence.
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Shun ceded the throne to Yu (-2205 to -2197), also known as the Great Yu or Xia Yu, as Yu is considered the progenitor of the Xia Dynasty. Yu was initially a minister under Shun and was celebrated for his efforts in controlling the floods. According to Mencius, in the chapter “Dang Wen Gong, Part 1, Article 4,” Yu dug nine rivers and dredged four more to direct water into the sea, a monumental task that took eight years to complete, during which he passed by his own house three times without entering.
Given the era’s limited population and resources, the grand scale of water management described likely exaggerates Yu’s actual undertakings. Confucius, in the Analects (VIII-21), suggests that Yu’s efforts were more about minor adjustments to waterways to alleviate flooding rather than grand hydraulic projects. Nonetheless, Confucius highly praised Yu for his frugality and the importance he placed on sacrifices to spirits, reflecting the era’s simple lifestyle and deep reverence for the supernatural.
Upon his death, Yu did not pass the throne to a virtuous minister but to his son Qi, marking a significant departure from the earlier tradition of merit-based succession. Mencius, in “Wan Zhang, Part 1, Article 4,” recounts a different narrative where Yu intended to pass the throne to a virtuous minister, Yi, who declined the offer, leading to the throne being passed to Yu’s son, Qi, who then chose to retreat to Mount Guiji. The lords and common people praised Qi, not Yi, indicating the people’s will favored Qi, suggesting a divine endorsement for Qi’s rule, not a direct appointment by Yu.
This narrative contrasts with Confucius’s silence on the matter, reflecting the transitional period in Chinese history where tribal leadership became hereditary monarchy, moving away from elected leaders. This shift lasted approximately 440 years (-2205 to -1766) until the fall of King Jie, the 18th ruler after Yu, due to his tyranny, debauchery, and infatuation with Consort Mo Xi, which led to widespread public disdain. Tang of Shang overthrew Jie, establishing the Shang Dynasty.
The accuracy of these legends and the very existence of the Xia Dynasty remain topics of debate. Archaeological findings to date have not conclusively confirmed the details of the Xia period, and scholars question the traditional chronology. Instead of starting in -2201 and ending in -1760, the Xia Dynasty is now thought to have begun around -1800 and ended around -1500, suggesting a need for reassessment of early Chinese historical timelines.
Science Evidences
Turning to the voice of science, which provides a more empirical understanding of human origins, we delve into archaeological and anthropological findings that shed light on ancient human populations in China.
Human Bones
In 1921, the discovery of human bones in a cave near Zhoukoudian (Beijing) unveiled some of the oldest specimens of human ancestors known to us, dating back approximately 500,000 years. These beings were termed “Peking Man” (Sinanthropus pekinensis). Evidence suggests that Peking Man had knowledge of fire use, subsisted on hunting and gathering, and possibly practiced cannibalism. Their cranial capacity was below 1,000 cubic centimeters (cc), compared to the modern human average of 1,400 – 1,450 cc, and they had distinctive shovel-shaped incisors. From 1921 to 1960, additional skeletal remains predating or postdating Peking Man were sporadically found in Shaanxi Province and other locations in North China.
Scientists classify these groups within the Mongoloid race, a group that historically inhabited various regions including Siberia, Russia, and the northern parts of North America.
In South China, in 1935, a discovery was made in a traditional medicine shop in Hong Kong, where large teeth sold as “dragon bones” for medicinal purposes were suspected to be human teeth. Indeed, decades later, excavations in Guangxi unearthed teeth and jaw fragments from an unusually large hominid species, estimated to be three to four times the size of modern humans. This species was named Gigantopithecus, closely related to the Meganthropus of Java. These findings suggest ancient connections between South China and Southeast Asia.
Thus, the ancestors of North China’s population are likely to have been Peking Man, while those of South China might trace back to Gigantopithecus, sharing roots with the Malay people. This supports the theory that the ancestors of the Vietnamese people are also related to the Malay, providing a grounded basis for this claim. However, it’s essential to note that the field of archaeology, only about a century old, still holds many undiscovered mysteries within the earth. The information cited from works like “La Chine ancienne” by Gernet (Presses universitaires de France – 1964) and “East Asia – the Great Tradition” by E.O. Reischauer and J.K. Fairbank may well undergo revisions as new discoveries emerge.
Animal bones
Since the end of the last century, people in Anyang, Henan Province (north of the Yellow River) in China have unearthed some animal bones and tortoise shells with carved figures, which they called “dragon bones” used for medicinal purposes. This news spread, and the Qing dynasty court inferred that the carvings on these bones and shells were ancient script and started purchasing them, paying 100 grams of silver for each character (equivalent to two and a half taels). This information reached the West, and the British and Americans sent people to buy a large number for their museums. In 1914, a Canadian went to Anyang and managed to buy hundreds of thousands of these inscribed bones and shells. It wasn’t until 1927 that the Revolutionary Government of China banned the excavation of hills in Anyang and sent officials to conduct digs, discovering the foundations of mansions, city walls, mausoleums, smelting furnaces, pottery, bronze items, chariots… dating back to the 14th to 11th centuries BCE (the Shang and Zhou dynasties).
From 1950, all over China, numerous excavations have unearthed bronze ware (in Henan), iron ware near Beijing, lacquer ware in the state of Chu in the Changsha region (Hunan), old stone (Paleolithic), and new stone (Neolithic) artifacts, in thousands of locations.
Thanks to these excavations, it has been revealed that the Chinese nation has gone through:
- The Neolithic Age, possibly around the fourth millennium BCE. The middle reaches of the Yellow River were cultivated earliest (refer to the map at the end of the chapter); they cleared forests to create farmland and established small communities.
They made pottery:
- Red pottery in Xi’an (Shaanxi). They lived in groups, in circular pits dug into the ground or in circular huts built on the ground, surrounded by pottery kilns, slag, and cemeteries. They grew millet, sorghum… Used rudimentary stone tools, raised silkworms, pigs, dogs, cattle, sheep. Their tools were crudely made from stone.
- Black pottery appeared after red pottery (possibly during the reigns of Emperors Yao and Shun) in Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu. Agricultural techniques were more advanced, and stone tools were sharper and more efficient for cutting trees. The pottery was made from a better, more durable type of clay.
Houses, as well as the era of red pottery, but villages were now surrounded by earthen walls and were more organized. They worshipped deities and used animal shoulder bones heated in fire for divination.
- Grey pottery appeared last in Henan, found beneath layers of soil along with bronze items. Agriculture as well as the era of black pottery. Human bones unearthed were of the Mongoloid type. A significant advancement was the start of organized government at the end of the third and beginning of the second millennium BCE.
The Bronze Age
It seems that the Chinese nation gradually progressed from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age. The most bronze artifacts have been excavated in Anyang (Henan), and the bronze-making techniques in Anyang were the most advanced between the 14th and 11th centuries BCE. Before that, at the beginning of the Shang dynasty, in other places, people also occasionally found thin bronze items with simple decorations, mostly tools (knives) and weapons (arrowheads).
Scientists today estimate that bronze appeared around 1700 BCE (the beginning of the Shang dynasty). The bronze casting technique was discovered by the Chinese, but it might have been influenced by some Western nations such as Mesopotamia, southern Russia, and Central Asia.
Moreover, at that time, Anyang, the center of Chinese civilization, might have also been in contact with South China and Southeast Asian regions, as evidenced by the discovery of very large tortoise shells used for divination that belong to a species only found in the Yangtze River valley; bronze items carved with images of people with broad, round faces and flat noses, typical of the Melanesian race (Southeast Asia); furthermore, to cast that type of bronze, tin was needed, which was not available in North China.
Lastly, the shapes of objects carved during the Shang (and Zhou) dynasties resemble those on the totem poles on the northwest coast of North America, leading to speculation that China and America had contact through the Bering Strait (as mentioned in “La Chine ancienne”).
It is particularly noteworthy that the names of the Shang dynasty kings engraved on oracle bones closely match the names in the “Historical Records” by Sima Qian.
