Thursday, March 16, 2017

What Happened to the Blacks of China ?

The first Blacks to settle China were the Anu or pgymies. After great flood the Anu, retreated to the Kunlun Mountains.

The Kushites after the flood made their way to China from two directions. The Megalithic Kushites came to East Asia by Sea between 3000-2500 BC. They spread across China depositing the megalithic and pyramid building culture in China from the coast up into North and Central China.

By 2300 BC the Elamites (Mande speakers) and Dravidians from the Indus Valley began to migrate through Central Asia into North China. They founded the Xia Dynasty recovered much of the land that was covered by water.

The Xia Dynasty declined and the Dravidians founded the first Shang dynasty. Most of the descendants of the Xia Dynasty that did not remain with Shang became the Qiang tribes.

In the Chinese literature the Blacks were called li-min, Kunlung, Ch'iang (Qiang), Yi and Yueh. The founders of the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasties were blacks. These blacks were called Yueh and Qiang. There are many beautiful artifacts depicting these Blacks in the Shaanxi and Xian Museum: http://hua.umf.maine.edu/China/xian3.html#02

In accordance with the oral traditions of China, the founders of Chinese civilization were Huangdi and Fu Xi. These legendary rulers like Dai Hao, were all buried in zhiu (burial mounds). The presence of this mound culture in China supports the traditions of burial of elects in mound tombs.

The skeletal remains from southern China are predominately negroid. (Chang 1964, p.70) The people practiced single burials.
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In northern China the blacks founded many civilizations. The three major empires of China were the Xia Dynasty (c.2205-1766 B.C), Shang/ Yin Dynasty (c.1700-1050 B.C) and the Zhou Dynasty.The Zhou dynasty was the first dynasty founded by the Mongoloid people in China called Hua (Who-aa).

The founders of Xia and Shang came from the Fertile African Crescent by way of Iran. According to Chinese legends the first man Pan Gu, used a hammer 18,000 years ago to make man.
The Chinese legends designate various culture heroes as the inventors of various aspects of Chinese civilization. 

The Chinese term for emperor is Di. Huang Di (Yellow Emperor), is the Chinese culture hero credited with introducing boats, carts 'chariots, the bow and arrow, ceramics, wooded houses and writing.

Chinese civilization began along the Yellow river . Here the soil was fertile and black Chinese farmers grew millet 4000 years ago, and later soybeans. They also raised pigs and cattle. By 3500 B.C., the blacks in China were raising silkworms and making silk.

The culture hero Huang Di is a direct link of Africa. His name was pronounced in old Chinese Yuhai Huandi or Hu Nak Kunte. He was supposed to have arrived in China from the west in 2282 B.C., and settled along the banks of the Loh river in Shanxi. This transliteration of Huandgi, to Hu Nak Kunte is interesting because Kunte is a common clan name among the Manding speakers.

The Africans or blacks that founded civilization in China were often called li min "black headed people" by the Zhou dynasts. This term has affinity to the Sumero-Akkadian term sag- gig-ga "black headed people". These li min are associated with the Chinese cultural hero Yao.

In the Annals of the Bamboo Books, we learn that Yao devised a calendar to help regulate agrarian work through proper use of ritual and music and created a rudimentary government. The Annals of the Bamboo Books, makes it clear that Yao "he united and harmonized the myriad states [of his dominion], and the [li min] black headed people were reformed by his cordial agreement".

We also read that Shun, the successor of Yao, distinguished by his reputation as an obedient devoted son, noted to : "Ki [that] the Black headed people are suffering the distress of hunger". To help relieve the people Shun gave his throne over to Yu, the founder of the Shang Dynasty. Yu, in the Annals of the Bamboo Books, is reported to have noted that "...when a sovereign gives response to the people, he is kind, and the Black headed people cherish him in their heart". P> The first dynasty of China was Xia (She-ya). The Xia dynasty lasted from 2205 to 1766 B.C. According to the Guben zhu Shu zhi Nien, the Xia dynasty "from Yu to Zhieh had seventeen kings... and lasted 471 years". (Chang 1987)

Archaeologists believe that the major Xia sites are located in Shanxi and Henan. According to Chang (1987) northern Henan towards the end of the Longshan period was the eastern part of the Xia culture.

Xia was probably situated in the Yihe and Luohe river valleys, and along the Yinghe and Ruhe rivers. The capital of Xia was located in the Sangshan mountains.

The origins of Xia go back to the Longshan period. During the Longshan period burial goods included a large number of weapons, including stone lanceheads and arrows. This suggests that intersocial conflict was at its height during the Longshan periods, and warfare may have played a role in the rise of Xia. The Longshan neolithic is characterized by wheel-made pottery, bronze working, ceramics, wheeled vehicles, writing, rich grave goods and furnishings.

The Chinese histories tell us much about Xia. According to Chinese tradition the Xia built their settlements near rivers, lakes and streams. The Xia Dynasty is mentioned in the oracle bone records.

The leaders of Xia were granted rule based on their Ssu (clan) membership. The Xia naming system employed the ten celestial stems the same as the Shang people. (Chang 1980,p.353)

The national tree of the Xia li min was the pine. This tree was used in the earth ritual.
Xia social organization, and life was based on the clan . 


The totems of the major Xia clans were aquatic animals: fish, tortoise, turtle and etc. This view is supported by the myth recorded in the Annals of the Bamboo Books, which claims that Yu's mother swallowed a spirits pearl before the birth of Di (Lord) Yu, founder of the Xia Dynasty. Moreover , the dragon motif is common at Xia sites. A pan vessel was found at Taosi, with a red painted dragon motif.

The Chinese histories make it clear that the Xia had writing and tortoise books. This view can be supported by the pottery marks on the Longshan and Erlitou pottery. (Chang 1987, p.265)

Xia is considered the first dynasty of the sandai (three Dynasties) of ancient China: Xia, Shang and Zhou. There are many references to the Xia people. The Xia people were recognized as westerners, because they settled the middle Yellow river region of China. As a result they were called the Hua Xia "the middle states people".

There are numerous textual references to Xia. Han Fei Tzu writing in the third century B.C., in his Shih Guo, observed that:
"Yu made the ritual vessels painting the interior black and the exterior in red."
The tradition recorded by Han, of the black-and-red ware for the Xia li min suggest some relationship of Xia to the Yangshao culture which also used BRW and analogous pottery signs.

Chang (1987) believes that the legendary sages and heroes of China, probably lived during the Lungshan culture period. The Lungshan culture had walled cities and evidence of rank and rituals. This clearly illustrates how archaeology can compliment textual history.
The artifacts of Erlitou include BRW, red-and-black and buff wares. These artifacts were made of stone, shell and bronze.

The bronze instruments found by archaeologists at Erlitou sites correspond to the descriptions by Yuan Kang, in the Yueh Zhueh Shu, quoting the philosopher Feng Hu Tzu of the tools made by the Xia. Yuan Kang wrote that:
"In the Age of Yu, weapons were made of bronze, for building canals...and..houses...."
The black-and-red ware (BRW) common to the Fertile African Crescent was also used in China. There is affinity between the BRW from Nubia, and the pottery from Yangshao sites in the Henan and Gansu sites of China.
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The textual history of Xia is synthesized in the Chinese book Shih Zhi. This evidence from the Shih Zhi, was used by Hsu Husheng , of the Chinese Institute of Archaeology, to find the xu (ruins) of Xia: the Xia xu. Hsu Husheng using this source hypothesized that the center for traditional Xia Dynasty towns was the Loyang plains and the Dengfeng river valley. This coincides with the Erlitou sites of this area which date to 2100- 1800 B.C.

The Xia people were recognized as being different people from the mongoloid Chinese they politically dominate China today as a people that came from the west (i.e., Iran), before they settled the middle Yellow river. A Zhou saying observed that :
"The rituals [or rules of] the Three Dynasties [sandai] are one".

The early Xia lived on mounds, in houses made of grass and mud. Pounded earth walls surrounded Xia villages to protect the li mim from attack. The Xia probably spoke a Manding language. This view is supported by the earlier discussion of the analogy between ancient Chinese and Manding.


The modern Chinese are descendants of the Hua tribes that founded Zhou. The second Shang Dynasty ( situated at Anyang) was founded by the Yin. As a result this dynasty is called Shang-Yin. The Yin or Oceanic Mongoloid type is associated with the Austronesian speakers ( Kwang-chih Chang, "Prehistoric and early historic culture horizons and traditions in South China", Current Anthropology, 5 (1964) pp.359-375 :375). 

The Classical Mongoloids, Austronesian or Oceanic Mongoloid type were called Yin, Feng, Yen, Zhiu Yi and Lun Yi.

The Classical mongoloids appear to may have originated in Anatolia. The Han and Mongolians (the taller) mongoloids originated in the Tian Shan mountains.

During the Anyang-Shang period, the Qiang lived in Ch'iang Fang, a country to the west of Yin-Shang . The Qiang people were often referred to as the Ta Qiang "many Qiang", they were used as agricultural workers, and used in Yin-Shang ancestral rites as sacrifice victims.


The Dravidians mated with Classical mongoloids. The Classical mongoloids conquered the Shang, and founded the Anyang-Shang Empire.

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The Yueh /Yue zhi or Dravido-Shang retreated into Yunnan. In Yunnan they founded several States. The principal States founded by these Blacks before the rise of the Qin Chinese Empire were the States of Yue-Wu and Ba-Shu.
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Yunnan Bronze

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The Yue-Wu state was part of the ‘geometric impressed pottey culture of South China. The Yue-Wu culture extended from the South China Sea to Taiwan. Yue-Wu was conquered by the Chinese King Weiwang of the Chu State.

Ba-Shu was a Black state established in the southwestern part of Sichuen and the Dian state of Yunnan. It appears that Ba-Shu was state founded by the Anu or Pygmy people. They were later joined by Mande and Dravidian speakers from Xia and Shang.


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The diversity of ethnic groups in Ba-Shu is made evident in the Buckle ornament with a ritual scene from Lijishan in Jiangchuan, China. The people of Ba-Shu were referred to as the southern Man. They represent the ancestors of the Baiman, Puman and Wuman.

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The Ba state was centered in the area of Chengdu, Sihcuan. The Shu state was separated from the Central plains by Qin and Ba. They were known as great seamen .

The Ba-Shu made ordinary earthen pit graves and boat coffins. They worked in bronze and had their own writing system. The artifacts from Dapona resemble the bronze from Lake Dian, a centre of the Dong-son culture.

After the Black states of Yue, Ba and Shu were defeated by Qin, the Yueh people fled to the southwest and into Annam. During the Han Dynasty the fragmented Yueh states and people were incorporated in the Han Empire.

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The Yueh (Dravido-Shang), who were not incorporated in the Han Empire. began to migrate southward into Southeast Asia. By this time the major power in Southeast Asia, were the Naga kings from Ethiopia.

The Han/Mongolians began to migrate out of the Tian Shan mountains and took control of Anyang-Shang. This forced the classical Mongoloid people to migrate into Indonesia.

Other classical mongoloids began to migrate into Southeast Asia and onto the Islands as they fled East Asia (China). The Classical mongoloids and the megalithic Kushites are probably the ancestors of the Polynesians.

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