Published : 2025-11-09
On 9 November 2000, following five years of collaborative effort by over 200 experts and scholars involved in the "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project", the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronological Table was officially published.
The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronological Table extends China's historical chronology backwards by more than 1,200 years from the first year of the Gonghe Regency in the late Western Zhou dynasty, i.e., 841 BC, which means that the three dynasties of Xia (夏), Shang (商), and Zhou (周), which trace the origin and chart the course of Chinese civilisation, finally have a clearer chronological scale.
Chinese civilisation is the world's only civilisation that has continued uninterrupted, but the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou, which symbolise the rise to prosperity of Chinese civilisation, have always "had generations but no years", a major deficiency in both Chinese and world history.
According to the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronological Table, the Xia Dynasty of China began in approximately 2070 BC; the boundary between the Xia and Shang dynasties is approximately 1600 BC; Pan Geng (盤庚)'s move to Yin was in approximately 1300 BC, and the boundary between the Shang and Zhou dynasties is 1046 BC.
The chronology table also lists the specific reign years of the 10 kings of the Western Zhou, and the approximate reign years of a total of 12 kings of the late Shang dynasty, from Pan Geng to Di Xin (帝辛), who is also known as King Zhou (紂王).
The "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project" was a key national scientific research project of the 9th Five-Year Plan launched in May 1996, bringing together over 200 senior, middle-aged and young experts and scholars from disciplines including Chinese history, archaeology, astronomy and scientific dating.
As required, the "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project" established nine topics and 44 special subjects to conduct comprehensive and innovative research and verification into the chronological issues of the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou, from different angles and vantage points, using various methods and approaches.
The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronological Table and the Report on the Phased Results of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project 1996-2000 passed national review and acceptance in September 2000, with the project's expert panel and acceptance panel considering it to be "the most scientifically sound" to date, representing the highest level of chronological research.
