A brief talk about Chinese History - Xia Dynasty 2070 – 1600 Bc

When talking about Chinese History most people refer to the Qin period when the first emperor united China in 221 BC. However China’s history goes back a lot further than that. The first known Dynasty was the Xia Dynasty. Spanning over 400 years from 2070 – 1600 BC with 16 emperors.

In 2070 BC Yu inherited the throne from Shun, after Yu died his son Qi took the throne and start the hereditary system and so starting the FIRST DYNASTY.

Little information in known about this time as little written information has been found, giving some historians a belief that this dynasty is false.

However there is information on the Last emperor of the Xia Dynasty. He ascended the throne around 1600 BC and was the cause of the collapse of the Xia dynasty, He was Jie the 16th emperor of the Xia Dynasty.

He was a tyrant and he was incompetent.

He 

+Order a pool of wine to be filled and then sailed on it with his concubines.

+He used to love wine and if his wine was unclear he used to have his chef executed.

+He would then ride upon servants and men for his amusement.

+He build a place called the tilted place, dubbed the Collapse Palace. This took 7 years to make,took up huge sums of money and thousands of slaves.

+ He wife grow bored of the sound of music but like the sound of silk cloth ripping,so he order all the silk in China to be brought to the place to be ripped.

+His place was full of concubines.

+He hated to listen to advisors and would execute them if they upset him.

However a neighboring kingdom called Shang had a ruler called Tang. Tang of Shang was very different from Jie of Xia. With the help of his advisor Yi Yin he increased the power and influence of Shang, defeated Jie of Xia and created the Shang dynasty.

The reason that Tang of Shang manage to do this was that he was good and fair to his people as well as allowing talented people to rise from their low ranks. His minister Yi Yin is a great example of this. Yi Yin was formerly a slave to Tang’s wife, later he worker as a cook to Tang. The story goes that Yi Yin made very salty dishes on some days and very tasteless dishes on others. He was summoned to Tang’s and asked to explain himself.

He gave Tang a new dish and it was the best food that the emperor had ever tasted, Yi yin told Tang that administration is like cooking. You must mix all the ingredients in the right amount at the right time to get the best result. You can not do things unless you go about it in a rational way. Every time you ate I noted your reactions and learnt a lot more about your tastes.

Tang realized what a talent Yi Yin was and appointed him his minister.

With the help of Yi Yin, Tang defeat jie of Xia at the battle of Mingtiao. He waited until there was a revolt among his own people and then seeing the opportunity launched an attack. Tang’s men despised the Xia dynasty because of Jie’s treatment, so they fought bitterly and bravely where Jie’s men hated him and fleed when the battle started getting difficult.