The Xia Dynasty, whether there is a history or not, there are still many controversies. Basically, Western historians do not recognize the Xia Dynasty, while Chinese historians believe that the Xia Dynasty existed. However, the Shang Dynasty was recognized, and it is very important that there was a written script, the oracle bone, which is one of the necessary conditions for civilization and an important evidence of the existence of the Shang Dynasty.
The Shang Dynasty, we sometimes call it Yin Shang, and some are called Yin Dynasty. So the question is, is the Shang Dynasty called "Shang" or "Yin"? The name of the country is a big deal, how can there be two names?
After the study of historians, it is now basically believed that "Shang" was the name of the country set by the People of the Shang Dynasty, and they called their country "Shang". Early texts such as the Oracle Bone Bu Ci and the Ancient Book of Bamboo Chronicles all call the Shang Dynasty "Shang", which is their self-designation.
And "Yin" is his name, is the Zhou Dynasty after the Shang Dynasty to call it, pre-Qin classics such as the Book of Shang and other books call the Shang Dynasty "Yin", the "History" also continues this name. Therefore, "Yin" is not the national name.
This is like the Shu state established by Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period, calling itself "Han", which is a continuation of the Great Han. And others call him "Shu" or "Shu Han", and later generations are also accustomed to calling him "Shu".
As for why the Zhou people called the Shang Dynasty "Yin"? This is related to the depreciation of the Merchant by the Zhou people.
After the Zhou people destroyed the Shang, they tried every means to belittle and smear the Shang Dynasty, and the image of the tyrant of the Meat Forest in the Jiuchi Of the King of Qiu was the masterpiece of the Zhou people. I won't go into detail here.
The Zhou people called the Shang Dynasty "Yin", which is one of the means of demeaning. In the oracle bones, the word "殷" was developed from "夷", which is similar to the pronunciation of "Yi" in ancient pronunciation.
In the pre-Qin period, racial discrimination was very serious, and the Central Plains region referred to the ethnic groups around its four sides as: Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi. The ancestors of the Shang Dynasty originated in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, around Shandong, and geographically belonged to the category of Dongyi (although the merchants established the Central Plains Dynasty, the Zhou people liked to strengthen this "black history" of their ancestors).
"Yi" is a "big" word plus a "bow" word, "big" means a person opening his arms, and the meaning of "Yi" is a person opening his arms to shoot arrows. This is the charm of hieroglyphs. But "Yi" is a bit of a "only know how to bend the bow and shoot the big eagle", there is courage, there is muscle, no culture.
"Yin" is a word developed from "Yi", which naturally inherits the meaning of "Yi" (not very positive and derogatory). The Zhou people called Shang "Yin", which shows his depreciation and contempt. It's like a person, people are originally called Liu Jianguo, you have to call him Liu Tie Egg.
So why do businessmen call themselves "merchants"? There are many sayings, and there is no consensus.
Another theory is that merchants are particularly good at doing business, so they take this as the name of the country, and our history textbooks use this saying.
In fact, there is a problem with both of these statements, and it is because of the effect. It should be said that this is true - because with the Shang Dynasty, there was a place called Shang, and only then did there be people who were good at doing business called merchants. It was not a question of chickens or eggs first, but the Shang Dynasty led to place names and merchants.
The reason why Shang is called "Shang", the "Poetry Classic, Shang Song, Xuan Bird" gives the answer: "Heavenly Destiny Xuan Bird, descending to give birth to Shang". The "Chronicle of History" explains this sentence as follows: When Emperor Zhao's second concubine JianDi went out to take a bath, she saw a bird egg, and after Jiandi swallowed it, she became pregnant and gave birth to a contract, and he was the ancestor of the merchant.
The statement of the "Book of Poetry, Shang Song, Xuan Bird" is believeable, because "Shang Song" is an ode of the Ancestors of the Shang Dynasty people in the ZongMiao Temple, which must be very formal and rigorous, and cannot be joked.
However, the saying of the Book of Poetry, Shang Song, and Xuan Bird cannot be viewed in a modern context, because that would be too unscientific. For example, how can a bird's egg swallow a bird give birth to a child, it is too bizarre.
So this should be put into the context of ancient myths and legends, and eliminate those unscientific components.
In a matrilineal clan society, it is often only known that the mother does not know the father, and swallows the eggs of the bird and gives birth to the child, which shows that the merchant regards the bird as his own patrilineal line. Why is it a bird and not another animal? It can be seen from this that the totemic worship of early merchant tribes was the Xuan bird.
What kind of bird is it? Xuan means black, and Xuan Bird is a black bird. Nowadays, scholars generally believe that the bird is a swallow or a phoenix. But the phoenix is a legendary sacred bird, and it is said to be colorful and colorful, which does not match the black bird. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the totem of the merchant should be a swallow.
Driven by curiosity, excavating historical materials anecdotes—— [Curiosity Mining Group]