# 5000-year Chinese history

5000-year Chinese history (or 5000 years of Chinese history) is a phrase often repeated by Chinese and some non-Chinese people since the early 20th century, meaning that China has a history of 5,000 years. The claim traces the origins of Chinese civilization to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and the Xia dynasty that was recorded in traditional Chinese historiography. Although there is still insufficient archaeological evidence for their existences, Chinese people generally believe that China has a history of at least 5,000 years and regard China as one of the four ancient civilizations.

## Evidence

The Xia dynasty was the first hereditary dynasty of China as recorded in traditional Chinese history books. According to the conclusion made by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project, the Xia dynasty began in c. 2070 BC. At the same time, most ancient Chinese records placed the beginning of Chinese history in the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and the Yellow Emperor, the first of the Five Emperors, is said to have reigned nearly a thousand years before the founding of the Xia dynasty. According to the Records of Emperors and Kings by Huangfu Mi of the Jin dynasty, there were five emperors before Emperor Yao, and their reigns lasted for 341 years in total. It is believed that the first year of the Yellow Emperor should be 2698 BC. In this way, Chinese civilization has a history of nearly 5,000 years since the time of the Yellow Emperor. In addition, some Chinese scholars believe that there was an era before the Yellow Emperor, when the tribal leader was Yan Emperor. Yan and Huang together became the beginning of Chinese civilization in the Chinese public consciousness (see Yan Huang Zisun). In this way, whether it started from the Yellow Emperor or the previous Yan Emperor, "5000-year Chinese civilization" has gradually become a conventional expression among Chinese people.

## Origin and usage

It appears that the first person to propose the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization was an Italian missionary in the early Qing dynasty. Italian missionary Martino Martini came to China around 1650, during the reign of Shunzhi Emperor. His primary purpose in coming to China was to preach. At the same time, he was also a sinologist who had a good understanding of Chinese culture and was the first person to systematically introduce China's geography, culture, history, and language to Europe. In his book Sinicæ Historiæ Decas Prima, he covered a wide range of topics and was the first person to propose the concept of China's 5,000 years.
By the late Qing dynasty, the concept of "5000-year Chinese culture" had gradually been officially recognized and promoted by the Qing dynasty. For example, the Chinese history textbook "Chinese History of the Present Dynasty" approved by the Board of Education of the Qing dynasty said at the beginning that "China was founded 5,000 years ago and has the longest history in the world. Its culture is the best among the ancient Oriental countries..." Similarly, the "China" section of the trilingual textbook Manchu–Mongolian–Chinese Interlinear Trilingual Textbook published in the late Qing dynasty also stated "China is located in East Asia, with a mild climate, vast land, and a prosperous population. Its culture was developed five thousand years ago, and it is the most famous ancient country on the earth...".
With the breakout of the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen took office as the Provisional President of the Republic of China in early 1912, and he sent a telegram to all provinces, "taking Year 4609 of the Yellow Emperor as the Republic of China's first year", which was the first time in Chinese history that the concept "5000 years of history" was publicly acknowledged by a head of state of China. The concept of "5000-year Chinese history" has become more popular since then.

## Criticism

Although the concept of "5000-year Chinese history" has become common in China since the early 20th century, it has never been universally accepted, especially outside China. According to the Western academic community for example, Chinese civilization has only a reliable history of more than 3,000 years instead of 5,000 years. Although there are many records about the Xia dynasty in traditional Chinese literature, they were all written relatively later, and no direct evidence of the existence of the Xia dynasty has been found so far, such as the texts that existed during the period of the Xia dynasty as self-evidence, many people in the modern and contemporary historical circles have questioned whether the Xia dynasty actually existed, which has been regarded as mythical rather than reliable. If counting from the following Shang dynasty, which has been universally recognized by historians, China only has about 3,700 years of reliable history, which is still a long way from 5,000 years.
At the same time, some Chinese scholars believe that Chinese history is more than 5,000 years old. For example, it has been said that 8,000 years ago, parts of China had an orderly society and a certain degree of social differentiation, and produced relatively advanced and complex ideas and knowledge systems. At the same time, the cultures of parts of China had initially merged and connected into a rudimentary "early Chinese cultural circle", and the cultural "early China" had sprouted. They conclude the first step in the origin of Chinese civilization was taken 8,000 years ago.