Yangcheng (historical city)

Yangcheng (阳城; 陽城; Yángchéng) was the first capital of the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) of China. In ancient texts, the city was founded by Yu the Great (founder of the Xia),[1] or was his residence.[2] In the Bamboo Annals and Shiben, Yangcheng was located near Mount Song and the Wudu and Ying rivers (close to modern Gaocheng, Henan).[2]

Archeology

Yangcheng may be located at the Wangchenggang (王城岗) site in Henan. In 1977, An Jinhuai (安金槐)[3] excavated a small east-west oriented walled city at Wangchenggang.;[4] it is dated to the second period of the Longshan era, or approaching the start of the Xia.[5] In 2002-2005, a larger walled city was discovered[4] and radiocarbon dated as the earliest and largest Xia-period site at Wangchenggang.[5]

An and Sun Zuoyun (孙作云) believed the small city to be Yangcheng,[3] and this interpretation remained popular through the rest of the 20th century.[1][2] One criticism was that the city was too small to be a capital of a major state.[3]

Since its discovery, the larger city has been associated with Yangcheng. The smaller city has been attributed to Gun, Yu's predecessor,[6][1] although Liu and Chen note that the 100 year difference between the two cities makes this unlikely.[1]

References

Citations
  1. Liu and Chen: page 222
  2. Manzanilla: page 89
  3. Fang: page 111
  4. Fang: page 107
  5. Fang: page 110
  6. Fang: page 112

Sources
  • Fang, Yanming (2007) [First published 2006]. Translated by Guedes, Jade. "The Dating of the Wangchenggang Walled-site in Dengfeng County and Related Issues" (PDF). Chinese Archaeology. Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 7: 107–112.
  • Liu, Li; Chen, Xingcan (2012). The Archaeology of China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521643108.
  • Manzanilla, Linda (2013) [First published 1997]. Emergence and Change in Early Urban Societies. Springer. ISBN 978-1489918482.


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