Xia

Definitions

1. An ancient dynasty in China.
   historical
2. A surname.
3. A county of Yuncheng, Shanxi, China.

Equivalents

Examples

“Shortly after the era of the flood⟳, sites associated with a culture called Erlitou began to emerge⟳. To archaeologists, they signal the start⟳ of China's Bronze Age: The communities are 10 times as big as the ones that existed previously, and their technology is much more sophisticated. So far, no evidence has been found to definitively link⟳ the Erlitou to the mythical Xia. But if the Xia dynasty really did exist⟳, it's thought that the Erlitou sites would have⟳ been the lands they ruled.”

“But records of the first dynasty, that of the Xia, contain⟳ stories of a Great Flood⟳ with a Noah-like savior, the Emperor Yu, who gained the mandate of heaven after dredging canals to dispel the floodwaters and make⟳ the land⟳ safe. Historians have⟳ long wondered whether this flood⟳ account was a creation-style myth, the folk memory of a real event, or some mixture of the two. Some have⟳ dismissed the story of Emperor Yu as a fiction intended to justify⟳ centralized rule⟳ and, in the absence of any evidence of a massive flood⟳ at the time, many have⟳ regarded the stories of the Xia dynasty as more myth than history.”

CEFR level