THE XIA DYNASTY
According to Chinese legend, human beings had their origin in the parasites on the body of the creator, Pangu. After his death a succession of sage rulers introduced the key inventions and institutions of human society.
Fuxi - domesticated animals and instituted marriage
Shennong - introduced agriculture, medicine and trade
Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor - credited with the invention of writing, ceramics and the calendar
Some centuries later came the Emperor Yao, who ruled wisely and introduced flood controls, but whose particular claim to fame was that he decided his son was unworthy to be his successor and chose instead a humble sage name Shun. The reigns of Yao and Shun were later regarded as a golden age in Chinese history. Shun in turn awarded the succession to his faithful minister Yu. It as at this point that China's prehistory merged with history. Yu, whose reign according to tradition began in 2205 BC, supposedly founded the Xia dynasty, the first of the three dynasties of ancient China, the Xia, the Shang and the Zhou.

When archaeological investigations began in the 1920s, the traditional view of the Xia dynasty was questioned and Yu was reduced to a mythical figure. More recently the place of the Xia dynasty in early Chinese history has been restored, not as the first of a sequence of dynasties, but as perhaps the most powerful of the very many small states to be found along the Yellow river valley, co-existing with the early Shang and Zhou states. The Xia dynasty state, which existed between approximately 1900 and 1350 BC, has been identified with Erlitou in Henan, where palace-like buildings and tombs have been excavated and the earliest known bronze vessels have been found. The genealogy of its rulers was preserved in the Shihi, the Historical Records compiled by Sima Qian, and later corroborated by evidence from oracle-bone inscriptions.