100 BC ) and Bamboo Annals assert the existence of a Xia Dynasty before the Shang.

The Xia Dynasty of China ( from c. 2100 to c. 1600 BC ) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals.

Sima Qian, writing in the late 2nd century BC, dated the founding of the Xia Dynasty to around 2200 BC, but this date has not been corroborated.

Capitals: of the Song Dynasty, Kaifeng and Lin ' an ; of the Liao Dynasty, Shangjing, Nanjing, and Tokmok ; of the Jin Dynasty, Shangjing, Zhongdu, and Kaifeng ; of the Western Xia Dynasty, Yinchuan

Meanwhile, in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, and Ningxia, there emerged a Western Xia Dynasty from 1032 to 1227, established by Tangut tribes.

In the ensuing years, China was divided between the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty and the Tangut Western Xia.

) A calendar using this new year is often referred to as " the Xia Calendar " ( 夏曆 / 夏历 ), following the Shiji which states that under the Xia Dynasty, the year began on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

According to the Han Shu 21a, 973, for the moment of unification the Middle kingdoms had 6 different calendars: those of the mythological progenitors Yellow Emperor ( 黄帝曆 ) and Zhuanxu ( 顓頊曆 ); of the dynasties Xia ( 夏曆 ), Yin ( 殷曆 ), and Zhou ( 周曆 ), and of the Zhou Dynasty state of Lu ( 鲁曆 ).

The earliest records of prohibition of alcohol date back to the Xia Dynasty ( ca.

Yu the Great, the first ruler of the Xia Dynasty, prohibited alcohol throughout the kingdom.

In the Middle Ages, the Mongol Empire's campaign against China ( then comprising the Western Xia Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and Southern Song Dynasty ) by Genghis Khan until Kublai Khan, who eventually established the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, with their armies was extremely effective, allowing the Mongols to sweep through large areas.

In China, there was a triangular affair of continued war and peace settlements between the Song Dynasty, the Tanguts-led Western Xia in the northwest, and the Khitans of the Liao Dynasty in the northeast.

* 2070 BC ( disputable ): Yu the Great set up the Xia Dynasty, which isn't verified by archeological findings, some propose the Erlitou culture.

* 2040 BC: Beginning of the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty and government system in China.

* Li Jiqian, Tangut jiedushi who ruled the new Western Xia Dynasty in northwestern China ( b. 963 )

* c. 2030 – 1556 BC — Xia Dynasty, first Chinese dynasty and government system established

Most archaeologists now connect the Xia to excavations at Erlitou in central Henan province, where a bronze smelter from around 2000 BC was unearthed.

Sima Qian relates that the dynasty itself was founded 13 generations later, when Xie's descendent Tang overthrew the impious and cruel final Xia ruler in the Battle of Mingtiao.

The Xia was later succeeded by the Shang Dynasty ( 1600 – 1046 BC ).

The tradition of tracing Chinese political history from heroic early emperors to the Xia to succeeding dynasties comes from the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, in which only one legitimate dynasty can exist at any given time, and was promoted by the Confucian school in the Eastern Zhou period, later becoming the basic position of imperial historiography and ideology.

According to ancient Chinese texts, before the Xia Dynasty was established, battles were frequent between the Xia tribe and Chi You's tribe.

Yu was successful in stopping the flooding and increased the produce from farming ( since the floods usually destroyed the crops ), the Xia tribe ’ s influence strengthened and Yu became the leader of the surrounding tribes.

The Qi state was well recorded in the Oracle script as the one major supporter of the Xia Dynasty.

There exists a debate as to whether or not Erlitou culture was the site of the Xia dynasty.

In 1959, a site located in the city of Yanshi was excavated containing large palaces that some archaeologists have attributed to capital of the Xia Dynasty.

A number of books printed in Tangut script during the Western Xia ( 1038 – 1227 ) period are known, of which the Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union that was discovered in the ruins of Baisigou Square Pagoda in 1991 is believed to have been printed sometime during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Western Xia ( 1139 – 1193 ).

In 177 A. D., 30, 000 Han cavalry attacked the confederacy, commanded by Xia Yu ( 夏育 ), Tian Yan ( 田晏 ) and Zang Min ( 臧旻 ), each of whom was the commander of units sent respectively against the Wuhuan, the Qiang, and the Southern Xiongnu before the campaign.

After Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty fell in 1234.

However, this campaign was ultimately a failure due to a rival military officer of Shen disobeying direct orders, and the territory gained from the Western Xia was eventually lost.

The Western Xia Dynasty () or the Tangut Empire, was known to the Tanguts and the Tibetans as Minyak.

The Western Xia made significant achievements in literature, art, music, and architecture, which was characterized as " shining and sparkling ".

The founder of the Tangut-Western Xia was the Tuoba Xianbei from the Tuyuhun Kingdom.

In 1115, Jurchen Jin Dynasty was set up and Liao emperor fled to Western Xia in 1123.

The Western Xia army was also untrained and ill-equipped.

The Xia Dynasty (; ; c. 2070 – c. 1600 BC ) is the first dynasty in China to be described in ancient historical chronicles such as Bamboo Annals, Classic of History and Records of the Grand Historian.

Radiocarbon dating places the site at c. 2100 to 1800 BC, providing physical evidence of the existence of a state contemporaneous with and possibly equivalent to the Xia Dynasty as described in Chinese historical works.

Book 5 of the philosopher Mozi described the end of the Xia Dynasty and the beginning of the Shang.

The first dynasty in China to be described in ancient historical records such as Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals is the Xia, which was succeeded by the Shang, although concrete existence of Xia is yet to be archaeologically proven.

Since the discovery of Erlitou, scholars have speculated on its relationship to the Xia Dynasty described by ancient historians as having existed in the Yellow River area.

Archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts regarding Xia ; at a minimum, the Xia Dynasty marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang Dynasty.