In modern times, some experts believed that xiaxiaozheng might have been written by Qi Ren, a descendant of Xia people, or a descendant of Xia people living in the Yiluo plain. However, some experts believe that the text of the book is simple and simple, and has many similarities with the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty. Although there are traces of later generations’ processing and polishing, it still retains the essence of the original documents. In addition, the astronomical phenomena and climate recorded in the book are very close to the actual situation in the ancient Central Plains, so it can be determined that the book is basically written by the Xia people.
Sima Qian said in the historical records of Xia Benji that “Confucius was in the summer, and scholars often spread Xiao Zhengyun about Xia.” In the spring and Autumn period, Confucius wanted to observe the rise and fall of the Xia Dynasty, so he went to the Xia ruins to investigate and obtain the summer time. The so-called “summer time” is xiaxiaozheng. He thought that xiaxiaozheng was undoubtedly a work of the Xia Dynasty. Confucius also believed that this document was very good, so he advocated “the time of summer travel”. The calendar of the early Han Dynasty still used Xiazheng’s “Jianyin”. The lunar calendar we use today is also called the lunar calendar. The winter solstice is usually in November, and the third month after the winter solstice is the beginning of the new year. This is the summer calendar.
The music and dance of the Xia Dynasty have reached a fairly high level. According to the book of history, Yu Shu, Yi Ji, “when you hit the ball, you beat the zither and the zither to chant”, “birds and animals stumble between Sheng and Yong”, “when the Xiao is young, the Phoenix comes to the instrument”, “when you hit the stone, the animals lead the dance”. This means that when people strike the stone chime, they dance together in imitation of the movements of all animals. It is said that Xia Qi is not only fond of drinking, but also obsessed with singing and dancing. Whenever he went on a hunting outing in the wild, he always brought a group of singers and dancers to indulge in the landscape while drinking and dancing.
Xia Qi’s favorite ministers collected or created some unique songs and dances in the folk in order to cater to their preferences, and they named them Jiu Bian, Jiu Ge, Jiu Shao or Jiu Zhao. “Chu Ci Li Sao” said: “open the” nine debates “and” Nine Songs “, and enjoy yourself in summer He also said, “play the nine songs and dance. Talk about holidays and have fun.” The so-called “Nine” means numerous indexes. It is recorded in history that one year, Emperor Qi went to the west to patrol hunting, and performed a large-scale song and dance Jiushao in the “field of great Mu” or “field of heavenly Mu”.
These famous folk songs and dances have occupied the stage of Chinese history for hundreds of years and have been popular until the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. Once Confucius heard Shao music in the state of Qi. He was deeply moved by the beautiful music. He did not know the taste of meat for three months. He said in the Analects of Confucius: “Shao is perfect! It is also perfect.” The songs and dances of the Xia Dynasty fascinated the audience, but they didn’t believe that they came from Jinjian, which evolved into myths and legends.
According to the Shanhaijing ยท the western classic of the great wilderness, “if you open three concubines to heaven, you will get below the nine arguments and nine songs. This is a field of mu, two thousand feet high. How can you open it to sing the nine moves?” It means that the songs and dances that prevailed in the Xia Dynasty were the heavenly music stolen from heaven by Emperor Qi (Kai). Qi Shang Tian Tian came to the “Heaven Mu’s wild”, which was 2000 feet higher than the ground. Qi performed the song and dance “nine moves” there. These myths and legends are obviously fabricated to beautify the emperors and rulers. However, if we strip away the myth, we can know that Xia Qi really has an indissoluble bond with Chinese primitive songs and dances.
The music and dance of the Xia Dynasty have been lost, and we can’t know its grandeur. However, the pottery Cuan, pottery bell, bronze bell, stone chime and other musical instruments unearthed at Erlitou site in Yanshi have become the historical witness of this great and ancient civilization, enabling us to get a glimpse of the singing and dancing scenes at that time. However, according to the book of Xia, there were not only these musical instruments found at Erlitou site of Yanshi in the Xia Dynasty, but also some wind, string and percussion instruments combined with them. Perhaps they were made of perishable materials, such as bamboo, wood, bone and animal skin.