Losing your Capital, constructing a Courthouse in a conquered foreign Capital, or completing a Social Policy tree starts a new Dynasty. When filled, it provides +2% Culture for every Dynasty progressed.Nearby units earn Experience 25% faster.Losing your Capital, constructing a Courthouse in a conquered foreign Capital, or completing a Social Policy tree starts a new Dynasty and provides a new cumulative bonus (requires an annexed or settled city). May you yet prove yourself a just and noble ruler.ĭefeat: My son shall carry on my dynasty and honour his father, as I have honoured my father and his father before him.ĭefeat: Even in defeat, I rest easy knowing my great work is accomplished and the land made prosperous for my people.ĭefeat (by another China): To think that one as unjust and dishonorable as you would be named by Heaven! Introduction (when meeting another China): It brings shame to see my descendant falsely claim the approval of Heaven. Introduction: Know that I have been tasked to this role by my lord Shun. Introduction: Welcome! I am Yu, leader of the Huaxia. Will you heed their call to return? Can you build a civilization that will stand the test of time? Once again the peoples of the Middle Kingdom need your help. In legend, you sacrificed body and forsook the comfort of family to tame the Yellow River.
At this intersection of fact and legend, the Xia Dynasty emerges as a symbol of identity and empire the start of a dynastic chain stretching across history to forever leave its mark on Eastern Asia.Įsteemed Ancestor, your virtue and moral conduct served to inspire the great emperors of the East throughout time. The palatial estates and complex bronze work of Erlitou would set the cultural foundation for the later Shang state and usher in the beginning of Chinese civilization. As the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors imparted their knowledge onto man, so too did Han culture begin to coalesce along the Yellow River. Yet, much of her origins lay shrouded in myth. The world's oldest continuous civilization, China has stood as a beacon of civility and progress throughout time. However, the myth surrounding the figure of Yu continues to be an influential force on Chinese rulers and culture up to the modern day.ĭivine and honourable Yu, revered founder of the Xia Dynasty, we humbly beseech your wisdom and guidance. Because of the mythic nature of the Xia dynasty and the lack of written records from Erlitou archaeological sites, it is impossible to judge the veracity of Yu's rule. As the founder of the Xia Dynasty, Yu is understood as the first ruler of the dynastic cycle an important political theory in Chinese history which represents China as a single continuous civilization ruled by a succession of different dynasties. Yu the Great was a legendary Chinese ruler famed for his upright moral character, the introduction of flood control, and inaugurating dynastic rule in China. Continued archeological surveys of Erlitou sites are needed in order to form a more complete picture of China's first state. The details concerning the Xia Dynasty, first recorded more than a millennium later during the Western Zhou period, are largely understood to be mythical serving as a counterpoint to the subsequent Shang Dynasty and ultimately to justify the Chinese dynastic cycle.
However, although Xia is an important element in Chinese historiography, there is to date no archeological evidence to corroborate the dynasty. During the Erligang period, 1600-1250 BC, Erlitou decreased in importance and was ultimately abandoned.īecause of temporal and geographic overlap, the culture is often assumed to correlate to the Xia Dynasty. This period saw an increase in bronze metallurgy and urbanization with palatial buildings, royal tombs, paved roads, and rammed earth foundations attesting to the complexity and importance of Erlitou sites. Evolving from the Longshan culture, Erlitou emerged as the first state-level society in East Asia around 1900-1600 BC. The Erlitou culture of China's central plain marks the decisive shift out of East Asia's Neolithic period, ushering in the beginning of Chinese civilization.