China the Beautiful

[chinapage]

This is a rather fancy web site from France.

It shows what we may see on the Internet in the coming years.

http://www.toutelachine.com/china.swf

From the opeining page, you have to click on 'Geography', 'Dynasty'
etc. to see the pages.

[Tin-Kay Goh]

Dear Ming

I am surprised that the French site has accepted the Xia Dynasty. Unlike Chinese historians, most Western sinologists are reluctant to extend Chinese history beyond the Shang Dynasty. The Encyclopedia Brittanica considered the Xia Dynasty as "quasi-legendary". However, the Minnesota State University website has included Xia as a dynasty following evidence from 1959 onwards.

Many books on "Ancient Civilizations" in Western countries conveniently leave out the Chinese and Indian Civilizations. There is a bias/obsession with Western archaeologists and historians towards Egyptian and Mesopotamian Civilizations and disregarding the equally great civilizations of Asia.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/ancient_china/xia.html

For many years, the Xia Dynasty was thought to be a part of a myth that the Chinese tell as part of their history. The Xia Dynasty was in oral histories, but no archaeological evidence was found of it until 1959. Excavations at Erlitou, in the city of Yanshi, uncovered what was most likely a capital of the Xia Dynasty. The site showed that the people were direct ancestors of the Longshan and were predecessors of the Shang. Radiocarbon dates from this site indicate that they existed from 2100 to 1800 B.C. Despite this new archaeological evidence of the Xia, they are not universally accepted as a true dynasty.

http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=408332
_________________
…Ç悹ç

[chinapage]

Tin-Kay:

It has long been a bias on the part of Western archeologists and historians who refuse to accept any evidences other than some artifacts dug up from some sites.

For the last 50 years or so, the Chinese began an intense effort for archeological digs. The project is to develop new evidences of
the Three Dynasties - Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

We now have hundreds of archeological sites and countless artifacts
from the Zhou Dynasty. Excepting for some diehard or uninformed people, Zhou Dynasty is no longer a legendary dynasty. Museums all over the world now has Zhou pieces in their collections now.

Reports of new finds are given in http://www.chinapage.com/archeology

It is just a matter of time before new discovery of Xia and Shang Dynasty tombs will be excavated.

Ming