Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 311 Why China! The Mystery of Yu and Xia [Subscription Request]

The video begins with misty mountains, lush forests, and vast blue oceans... At the same time, a familiar female voice was heard.

"There was no China in this world. It was the Chinese who created China!"

Then the faces of people of all ethnic groups flashed by quickly one after another, and a red-painted door was opened from the inside, and a woman dressed in clothes from later times walked out.

"Can you imagine? Five thousand years ago, our ancestors used a volume of earth and stone equivalent to four pyramids to create their capital and the world's most ambitious water conservancy project at the time."

"The seal of the infrastructure maniac has been deeply rooted for five thousand years."

The video scene changed again, showing an area densely covered with lakes and rivers, where an ancient rammed earth city stood.

At the same time, an explanatory text appeared next to it - Liangzhu Ruins (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang)!
Just by reading the beginning, the Zhu family had a lot of ideas.

Zhu Di was thinking, 'I've heard this woman's voice several times before, and today I finally got to see her in person. I didn't expect her to look ordinary—but her temperament is completely different from that of a Ming Dynasty woman.'

What Old Zhu was thinking about was, 'What are pyramids? Why are they measured by the volume of earth and stone of four pyramids?'

Zhu Biao was thinking, "Liangzhu Ruins? Could it be a city built by Chinese ancestors? I wonder if it can be found in Hangzhou now..."

The video did not pause because of Lao Zhu and others' distracting thoughts and continued to play.

"Three thousand eight hundred years ago, our ancestors had already opened the door to the Bronze Age and very likely established the first dynasty in Chinese history to possess vast territory and powerful royal power."

Various bronze and jade artifacts appeared in the video, and two lines of explanatory text reappeared next to them - Erlitou Site (now Luoyang, Henan).

"More than three thousand years ago, our ancestors, with their unparalleled imagination and bronze technology, created a universe that belonged to the gods."

I saw a lot of bronze statues appearing in the video - these statues were very strange, with protruding eyes, big mouths, wide noses, and big ears. From today's aesthetic point of view, they were completely exotic.

The last thing that appeared was a tall bronze tree, with two lines of explanatory text next to it - Sanxingdui Ruins (now Guanghan, Sichuan).

"Can you imagine? They are the Chang'an City where 'the gates of the nine heavens are opened to the palace, and people from all nations dress in formal attire to pay homage to the emperor.'"

"They are the cities south of the Yangtze River where 'old friends bid farewell to the Yellow Crane Tower and descend upon Yangzhou in the hustle and bustle of March.'"

"It is also a city in the Western Regions where 'the Yellow River flows far away among white clouds, a lonely city stands on the ten-thousand-foot mountain.'"

"They are supreme imperial cities like Luoyang, Kaifeng, Nanjing, and Beijing; they are flourishing commercial capitals like Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Hangzhou; they are important border towns like Suiye City, Suoyang City, Jiaohe Ancient City, and Yumen Pass..."

As the video continues, cities that seem real and illusory, such as Chang'an and Yangzhou, appear one after another.

Most of these, including Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, knew, but there were also some things they didn't know.

For example, this was the first time they knew about cities like Suiye, Suoyang, and Jiaohe, which had been lost in the Western Regions as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty.

"I wonder if cities like Suiye will still exist when the Ming Dynasty reclaims the Western Regions. Even if they don't, perhaps they can be rebuilt and their names restored!" Zhu Biao thought.

"Can you imagine how our ancestors crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to integrate our diverse civilization into one?"

"They created the 3166-kilometer-long Grand Canal, the world's oldest, longest-used, and longest-spanning canal. It enabled an unprecedented flow and integration of wealth, culture, and population across China."

"They also created the Great Wall, a massive 21196.18 kilometers long, the most magnificent human creation in human history! Looking back at ancient civilizations around the world, no other creation can rival it!"

When the video mentioned the Grand Canal, adult men like Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di, as well as concubines and children, all felt a sense of pride and the idea that "China is so great."

But when they saw the Great Wall behind them, which started from a place called Qinhuangdao on the eastern coast and wound all the way to Jiayuguan in the northern border, many people in the Zhu family were confused.

The Great Wall doesn’t seem to be that long nowadays, does it?

Could it be that it was built later by the Ming Dynasty?
But if the Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall, wouldn’t it mean that it would always be facing threats from nomadic peoples such as the Mongols in the north?

The subsequent content of the video did not answer these questions, but continued to introduce China's brilliant historical achievements - the Silk Road on land and sea. Later generations still preserved 766722 immovable cultural relics and more than million movable cultural relics. Countless cultural relics were destroyed by natural disasters and man-made disasters...
Afterwards, the video introduces some achievements of later generations.

For example, the west tower of Guangzhou's FC Building uses an inner and outer tube-within-tube construction technique, a construction technique that was borrowed from Buddhist pagodas that existed thousands of years ago.

For example, the Grand Canal is no longer as important in later generations, but it has given birth to an even more magnificent water conservancy project - South-to-North Water Diversion!
Finally, we talked about the Great Wall.

"The Great Wall of today is no longer the Great Wall of the past, because the land and people on both sides of the Great Wall have long since merged into one. From now on, both inside and outside Shanhaiguan are my hometown! West of Yangguan, there are only old friends!"

Upon seeing this, Old Zhu's eyes couldn't help but flash with a gleam of light, and he thought to himself: Later generations have indeed completely solved the threat of the northern nomadic tribes. However, now our Ming Dynasty must also completely solve this problem and not leave it to future generations!
"It must be said that our Chinese civilization is truly a civilization favored by time. Despite five thousand years of wind, frost, rain, snow, and smoke, it has never been interrupted. And looking at the ancient civilizations of the world, only Chinese civilization has never been interrupted!"

"Our ancestors developed agriculture, which continues to this day; our ancestors built homes and constructed cities, which continues to this day..."

As the video drew to a close, the woman's commentary grew increasingly passionate, and the Zhu family could sense and be deeply moved by her pride. So, even after the video ended, the Zhu family stared at the final, frozen bird's-eye view of China, gazing at the vast, majestic mountains and rivers, unable to recover for a long time.

After about a minute, Zhu Xiongying was the first to speak and break the silence.

"Teacher, are we really the only civilization in the world that has never been interrupted?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said affirmatively: "Of course."

Zhu Xiongying looked puzzled. "Why is this? Could it be that our Chinese civilization is truly blessed by Heaven?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "It's not a favor from heaven, but it was earned by countless of our ancestors with their fiery blood, tenacious will, and brilliant wisdom."

"Liu Kuan is right!" Old Zhu also interrupted, and stood up and looked around at his children and grandchildren. "No matter where you go in the future, you must remember that you are from the Ming Dynasty and are descendants of our Old Zhu family. You must not bring shame to us!"

"What the hell is going on here!"

Liu Kuan was speechless - Zhu Yuanzhang understood the difference between China and the Ming Dynasty, so he said that on purpose.

Zhu Biao, perhaps feeling embarrassed, immediately changed the subject and asked, "Son-in-law, at the beginning of the video, it says that the civilization that left behind the Erlitou ruins was replaced by the Shang Dynasty. Could it be that they are referring to the Xia Dynasty?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "It is the Xia Dynasty."

Zhu Biao was puzzled and asked, "Why doesn't the video directly mention the Xia Dynasty? Could it be that people in later generations don't know about the Xia Dynasty?"

Liu Kuan sighed helplessly and said, "Because the international community in later generations did not recognize the existence of the Xia Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di angrily said, "Why should our history be recognized by some so-called international community?"

Zhu Su asked in confusion, "Then why doesn't the international community recognize the existence of the Xia Dynasty?"

The others were either indignant or puzzled, waiting for Liu Kuan to explain.

Liu Kuan said, "The main reason is the lack of documents, or the relatively few and disorganized documents, relics, and artifacts that have been discovered, which are insufficient to prove the existence of the Xia Dynasty in the eyes of Western scholars."

"After all, the Xia Dynasty is three or four thousand years away from later generations. Even earlier historical books like the 'Records of the Grand Historian' are nearly two thousand years apart. The authenticity of the events recorded there is difficult to verify."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao frowned and said, "The Book of Documents is also considered a historical book, and it records the four dynasties of Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou. Isn't it earlier than the Records of the Grand Historian? Since it was written in the Zhou Dynasty, it should be able to prove the existence of the Xia Dynasty, right?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly, "The problem is that a large part of the Shangshu was lost after the Qin Dynasty, and it was only Fu Sheng who passed down a portion. Therefore, Westerners also believe that the Shangshu was written in the Han Dynasty, and the authenticity of the historical events recorded in it is questionable."

Hearing this, even Zhu Biao was furious, "Isn't this just specious talk?"

Old Zhu snorted coldly, "Those Westerners deserve to be punished. If we can give them a good beating, will they still dare to deny the existence of the Xia Dynasty?"

Zhu Di clenched his fist and said, "Your Majesty is right, the Westerners deserve to be dealt with. After I am enfeoffed and strengthen my vassal state, I will definitely go west to conquer them!"

Zhu Ying shouted, "Father, I don't need to wait for my vassalage. Just give me ten warships and ten thousand soldiers, and I can conquer the Western nations right now!"

But when Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he scolded them: "What are you all yelling about? War is a matter of great importance to a nation. How can we send troops on an expedition to Europe just because of a momentary impulse?"

"Didn't you say that Westerners deserve a beating..." Zhu Ying muttered aggrievedly.

Old Zhu ignored Zhu Ying and asked Liu Kuan, "Then which dynasty do the Sanxingdui and Liangzhu ruins represent? Could they be the Tang and Yu dynasties that preceded the Xia Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, it's not from the Tang and Yu dynasties. According to the speculation of later archaeologists, the Sanxingdui ruins were most likely left behind by the remnants of the Xia Dynasty."

"It's likely that when the Xia Dynasty was destroyed by the Shang Dynasty, a portion of the Xia Dynasty royal family fled with their people to the Guanghan area of ​​Sichuan and established a new kingdom. It later disappeared or merged into the local tribes and was no longer known to the public."

"Of course, some say that these ruins are from the ancient Shu Kingdom, which was founded by Cancong and Yufu. Or perhaps, the ancient Shu Kingdom itself had some connection with the remnants of the Xia Dynasty."

"Because the ancient Shu Kingdom and the Xia Dynasty were so far away from later generations and there is a lack of written records, later generations can only make some relatively reasonable speculations and cannot confirm them."

After a pause, Liu Kuan continued, "As for the Liangzhu ruins, they represent the Liangzhu culture—a culture that predates the Xia Dynasty, approximately four to five thousand years ago."

"Their cultural characteristics are their skill in growing rice and making pottery, and their fondness for using jade as ornaments and ritual objects."

"Some later scholars speculated that it was left by the Yu Dynasty, while others speculated that it was the birthplace of Xia Dynasty culture. But these are all speculations and cannot be proven."

After listening to Liu Kuan's story, Lao Zhu and others couldn't help but recall the ancient Yu and Xia dynasties.

　First update.

　　I wish all my readers a Happy New Year! May 2025 be prosperous and full of happiness!
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)