China has a long and rich history, stretching from distant antiquity to the present, and Chinese civilization has experienced the rise and fall of multiple dynasties and dynasties. According to the chronological division, the history before 1840 is classified as ancient history, from the First Opium War (1840) to the founding of the People's Republic of China (1949) as modern history, and 1949 to the present is called modern history. China's history dates back to the time of the Yellow Emperor about 5,000 years ago, and this history is divided into two major civilization systems, the Yellow River civilization and the Yangtze River civilization, which constitute the origin of Chinese civilization.
From the historian's point of view, the era with written records is called the "era of letter history", while the era without written records is called the "era of legends". There are many romantic myths and stories in Chinese history, such as "Jingwei reclamation of the sea", "Father Qua chasing the sun" and "Dayu curing water". These historical legends are still widely preached in today's textbooks, and Jingwei, Father Kwa, and Dayu are celebrated for their tenacity and selfless dedication. In addition, legends about writing, such as "Fuxi created gossip" and "Cangjie invented writing", have also left their mark in historical records, but in fact, in the field of archaeology, these "histories" do not provide substantial evidence for future generations to examine.
Chinese archaeologists have found that the earliest written records date back to the Shang Dynasty around 3350 BC, the appearance of oracle bones. Oracle bones are one of the oldest scripts in Chinese history, and they are inscribed on tortoise shell or animal bones and are mainly used to record divination matters. The discovery of oracle bones is a major breakthrough in the history of the mainland, symbolizing the authenticity and reliability of the history of the Shang Dynasty, as well as the true record of royal deeds. However, due to historical changes and cultural disasters, many records of Chinese history in the pre-Qin period have been lost, and the means of preserving these texts in ancient times are limited, so there are gaps in the historical records handed down.
Compiled by Sima Qian, a historian during the Western Han Dynasty, the Shiji records the 3,000-year history of China's development, from the mythical and legendary Yellow Emperor era to the Han Wudi period, running through a long historical time and has far-reaching historical significance. However, even with such an outstanding work, many of the historical records are still not supported by sufficient original evidence, because many historical records have been lost with the change of dynasties.
In the nineteenth century, European countries gradually rose and, as they grew in power, began to develop an overconfident attitude towards their own culture and began to question the authenticity of Chinese history. Some Western scholars believe that there is no evidence of the existence of the Xia Dynasty in archaeological finds, so they assert that there was no Xia Dynasty in Chinese history. This arrogant Western thinking began to influence Chinese historians, leading to the emergence of the "skeptics" who advocated the idea that "it is better to doubt the ancient and lose it, not to trust the ancient and lose it". In other words, if there is no historical evidence of the existence of the Xia Dynasty, it should be concluded that the Xia Dynasty never existed. However, to this day, historians have not provided conclusive evidence that Chinese historians have fabricated major historical events.