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Distribution Map of The Taosi Site (Credit: Kim In-hee)

Is 'The Taosi site' a capital city of Yao?

China regards buildings related to Bronze Age, character, site of a castle, and large religious ritual as important grounds for the origin of civilization and the formation of early states. However, all of the artifacts related to this were found in the Taosi site. So the Chinese academics considered the Taosi site and Yao's Capital City to be related. Through this, the age of Yao is changing from legendary era to historic era.

In 《Shui jing zhu(水經注)》, there is a record that "Yao has set Pingyang as a capital city." 'Pingyang' is presumed to be the present Linfen of Shanxi Province, and most Chinese scholars say that the Taotsu site is Yao's Capital City. Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, argued: “The time, geographical location, and contents and scale of artifacts of the Taosi site are considered to be consistent with the capital city of Yao. So The Taosi site is Yao's capital city and the first 'China'. We’ve already entered the civilization phase at this time.” Wang Zhenzhong said, "The characteristics of Taosi site as capital city are in line with Yao(Tao tang shi, 陶唐氏), so it is Yao's capital city."

There are two representative views in Chinese academia about the Taosi site. The prominent archaeologist Sūbǐngqí(蘇秉琦) says: “Taosi culture is the form of ‘early state’, and it is considered to be the legendary era of Yao and Shun. Taosi established the foundation of the first ‘China’ and Huaxia(華夏) wenmíng.” Meanwhile, Professor of Archaeology at Peking University, Lǐbóqiān(李伯謙), says: “Taosi culture is the ‘kingdom’ stage. The development of Chinese civilization is made in the order of the early states-kingdom-imperial.”

An Observatory in The Taosi Site (Credit: Kim In-hee)

The Archaeological Meaning of The Taosi Site

To identify the age of the Taosi site, scientific techniques such as radiocarbon dating, environmental archaeology, archaeozoology, archaeobotany, ashes and gene analysis, and astronomy were mobilized. As a result, it was revealed that the Taosi site was between 2300 BC and 1900 BC. The remains were discovered in 1978 in the south of Taosi Village, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province. The size of the site is about 2,000m east-west and 1,500m north-south, with an area of ​​2.8 million square meters. It is the largest of the Longshan Culture Taosi types of historic sites found in the Zhōngyuán area of the middle of the Yellow River. This is presumed to be one of the origins of Huaxia wenmíng. In addition, more than 70 remains were found in the downstream of Fenhe and the Huihe basin of Shanxi Province. This proved to have important academic value in the nature of the late Neolithic society, history of the nation's occurrence, and the study of Xia.

The first dragon totem in the Zhōngyuán area (left)

The character of Taosi Culture (right)

The Taosi site is the first ‘China’

The Taosi site's representative relics are the first sundial(astronomical observation system), the first character excavated from the site, the oldest instrument in China, the first dragon totem in the Zhōngyuán area, world's first plain roof-tile architectural material, the largest prehistoric tomb in part of the middle of the Yellow River, the largest ruins of a castle in prehistoric Central Asia, 500 years ahead of Stonehenge in the UK and the oldest observatory in the world.

The Taosi site has a palace district and a handicraft district. And the royal tombs and palaces found there can be seen as the formation of a 'kingdom society' in Taosi and the differentiation of classes. In addition, containers used in the sacrificial rites reflecting 'ritual civilization' and instruments, and the first Tóngqì qún(bronze tools) were excavated there. Therefore, it can be assumed that Taosi has entered the stage of early state. In this aspect, Taosi had the structure and system of the early villages. And it seems that the society was close to the emergence of early state, or it was in the form of a country ruled by feudal lords. For this reason, Chinese academia claims that the Taosi site is the first 'China' and has established the basis of Huaxia wenmíng.

Explain the whole thing in part

The period when the emperors in 〈Wǔdì běnjì(五帝本紀)〉 of 《Shǐjì(史記)》 written by Sīmǎ Qiān lived belongs to the legendary era in a strict sense. There is no specific mention of Capital City in the 〈Yáo diǎn(堯典)〉 of 《Shàng shū(尙書)》. 〈Yáo diǎn〉 is the first book to have a record of Yao. There is a literature called 《Shui Jing zhu》 that Chinese scholars refer to when estimating Yao's Capital City. This is an annotated literature by Li Daeyuan(酈道元, 466~527) in the period of North and South Dynasties, which is considerably later than the Taosi site. So researchers do not trust Yao-related records. It can be acknowledged that Taosi has entered the 'early state' stage based on remains and artifacts. However, it is problematic to call it Yao's Capital City based on later records. To prove this, evidence such as unearthed documents is needed, not fragmentary letter symbols. It is considered that there is a problem to explain the whole with some facts.

Chinese scholars believe that the Taosi site is directly related to Yao and Shun, the emperor of the legendary age. However, foreign academics express skepticism about the archaeological conclusions of Chinese academia. There are still many challenges to be solved if the Taosi site is to become Yao's Capital City.