(Author: Zhao Hui) The exploration of Xia culture is an important topic that has been widely concerned at home and abroad in China's historical and archaeological research, and it is also a major academic research topic that is crucial in the study of the formation and development of the entire Chinese civilization. So far, there are still some problems and differences in the academic community around the Xia culture in field archaeology and theoretical research.
In order to promote the in-depth development of the Chinese civilization exploration project and continue to promote the research of Xia culture, China has continued to implement the major research project of "Archaeological China". In August 2020, in collaboration with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the People's Government of Henan Province, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the major project of "Archaeological China Xia Culture Research" (2020-2024) was launched to systematically carry out the archaeological survey and excavation research of the Yanshi Erlitou site in Henan.
Throughout the history of Chinese archaeology since the birth of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s, the process of studying Xia culture in China has produced the following understandings or views on Xia culture:
1. Li Ji's excavations in the Archaeological Survey of Southwest Jinxi and Xiyin Village from 1925 to 1926 have gone through more than 90 years of history with the purpose of exploring xia culture.
2. In 1931, Xu Zhongshu proposed: Yangshao culture with faience pottery is our Chinese Xia Dynasty culture.
3. In 1947, Zhai Bozan believed that Yangshao culture was Xia culture.
4. In 1947, Fan Wenlan proposed that Longshan culture is Xia culture.
5. In 1959, Xu Xusheng investigated the "Xia Ruins" in western Henan and discovered the ruins of Erlitou, and believed that Erlitou was the capital of Shangtang.
6. In 1977, the "Dengfeng Completed Ruins Excavation Site Symposium" was held in Dengfeng, Henan, and Mr. Zou Heng turned out to be a dark horse at the meeting, and he proposed that the second mile should be Xia.
7. At the same time, experts and scholars put forward the following views and viewpoints: the city wall of the middle and late Ganglongshan culture of Dengfeng Wangcheng may be the Yangcheng of the Xia Dynasty; the Yanshi Erlitou culture belongs to the xia and shang cultures; the erlitou culture is xia culture from the first to the fourth period; and the xia culture should be the culture of the Xia people during the Xia Dynasty.
8. At the symposium, Mr. Zou Heng proposed that the second mile was Xia, and at that time, everyone could not accept it, and the group attacked it. Later, in the Xia Shang Zhou Dynasty Project, Mr. Zou Heng was proud that his views became the majority, and since then, "Erlitou is Xia culture" and "Xia culture is Erlitou" has become the "consensus" of mainstream academic circles, because Mr. Zou Heng believes that only Erlitou is Xia.
9. However, Xu Hong, as the archeological captain of the Twenty-Year Erlitou Site, believes that according to the results of the Carbon Fourteen measurement, the upper limit of the Erlitou culture is about 1750 BC, which is not enough for the number of years of Xia, and the first year of Xia is set to 2070 BC, that is, the late Longshan Era. Then, the so-called consensus and mainstream opinions of "Mr. Zou Heng believes that only the second mile is Xia" are obviously difficult to establish from the perspective of academic rigor.
10. Regarding the view that "Mr. Zou Heng believes that only erlitou is Xia", Professor Sun Qingwei of Peking University, in his recent academic history works, has devoted a small section to describing "Zou Heng the Spoiler", arguing that Zou Heng has disturbed the normal discussion of Chinese Xia culture research.
11. After the view that "Mr. Zou Heng believes that only Erlitou is Xia" became the so-called consensus and mainstream opinion, Xu Hong, as an archaeologist of Erlitou, refused to clearly express the cultural identity of the Erlitou site, and was considered a new spoiler, disrupting the mainstream Xia cultural research direction of "only Erlitou is Xia".
12. Professor Sun Qingwei of Peking University believes that in fact, even the Erlitou site is difficult to say that it fully reflects the development height of Xia culture. One of the most troublesome problems is that the excavated artifacts of the Erlitou site are not enough to convince the general audience that this is the Xia Dynasty Duyi, because there are really no magnificent ruins and relics, and in this regard, the gap with the Yin Ruins is too far; but I agree with Zou Heng's view that "the Xia culture is not undiscovered, but what method is used to identify it."
What is Xia Culture? It is a problem that has not been solved in today's academic circles. Every scholar can put forward his or her own views, put forward his own views, and make his own research results. When a possible academic point of view is wrapped up in local interests, the subsequent research has been detached from the scope of academic research, and the conclusions produced have nothing to do with scholarship. "Xia culture research", let any Chinese, is a scientific research that explores the existence of the Xia Dynasty through archaeology nationwide. However, through the objectives and unit composition of the "Archaeological China • Xia Culture Research" major project (2020-2024), "systematically carrying out archaeological survey and excavation research work at the Yanshi Erlitou site in Henan" is clearly to prove that "only Erlitou is Xia" local interest research.
Putting aside the human cultural concept of Xia culture, as far as the archaeological concept of Xia culture is concerned, Mr. Xia Nai defines Xia culture as: Xia culture should refer to the culture of the Xia people during the Xia Dynasty; Zou Heng's complete definition of Xia culture is: Xia culture is a bronze culture in the Xia Dynasty during the reign of the Xia Dynasty and the region where the Xia Dynasty is located, and there should be temples, bronze ceremonial vessels, etc. in this culture that reflect the remnants of the State form of the Xia Dynasty.
From this point of view, the reason why the Erlitou site has become the only archaeological site for the study of xia culture today is because Zou Heng has tailored a set of standards for identifying xia culture for the Erlitou site. Because so far, Erlitou is the only archaeological site with archaeological age entering the Xia Dynasty period, and some bronzes and jade artifacts of Xia or Shang have also been found.
The Longshan culture was first discovered in Longshan Town, Licheng County, Jinan City, Shandong Province, and is independent and unique in archaeological classification. Radiocarbon dating and correction is from 2500 BC to 2000 BC (4000 years ago). The Longshan cultural period corresponds to the literature before the Xia Dynasty or slightly staggered with the early Xia, and is distributed in Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. However, in the expression of some scholars, the Longshan culture in Henan and the Longshan culture in the Central Plains have become an independent cultural category to distinguish them from the Longshan culture in other regions.
Therefore, Xu Zhongshu and Zhai Bozan believe that Yangshao culture is Xia culture, Fan Wenlan believes that Longshan culture is Xia culture, zou Heng believes that Erlitou is Xia, etc., forming a highly consistent Xia culture area, Xia culture is Henan culture, Xia culture is Central Plains culture, and Xia culture is Erlitou culture.
Everything seems to be logical, and the "Archaeological China • Xia Culture Research" can only be "systematically carried out the archaeological investigation and excavation research work of the Yanshi Erlitou site in Henan" as the only task. However, no matter how Zou Heng steals beams and changes pillars, how he avoids the real and the virtual, how he sees things and does not see people, he cannot erase the basic definition of the study of Xia culture during the Xia Dynasty. Although the Erlitou site entered the Xia period for a part of the time, no archaeological evidence has been found at the Erlitou site to prove that the artifacts were left behind by the Xia kings or the Xia people. How can an archaeological site that does not have any unique representative of the Xia Dynasty designate artifacts as its symbol be given the title of "Xia"? In the early Shang Dynasty, there were still 1,800 princes, how to rule out that the Erlitou site was not one of them?
The goal of Xia culture research is to establish the region where the Xia Dynasty existed and what kind of cultural characteristics were produced by the Xia people, and the major project of "Archaeological China • Xia Culture Research" (2020-2024) to systematically carry out archaeological investigation and excavation research at the Yanshi Erlitou site in Henan Province is obviously contrary to the goal of Xia culture research, and to seek the unknown with conclusions, many of which make people fall into clouds. Five years will soon pass, if the study of Xia culture by Chinese archaeology is still lingering in place, what progress can Chinese archaeology achieve in the past century? (Author: Zhao Hui )