第一个历史悠久的朝代据说是夏，大约是公元前21世纪到公元前16世纪。直到1928年，在河南省安阳市旧铜器时代遗址的科学考古发现，使得人们分不清夏朝的历史是神话还是事实了。但是从那以后，特别是20世纪60年代和70年代，考古学家发现了古城遗址，铜器和墓穴，这些东西证明了夏王朝的存在地址，和中国史书上的记载是相吻合的。夏朝标志着人类社会从新石器时代到典型的中国城市化进程阶段商朝的过渡。
Chinese civilization, as described in mythology, begins with Pangu (磐古), the creator of the universe, and a succession of legendary sage-emperors and culture heroes (among them are Huang Di i黄帝, Yao, and Shun) who taught the ancient Chinese to communicate and to find sustenance, clothing, and shelter.
中华文明，正如神话中描述的一样，是始于世界的创造者盘古，已经后来的一系列圣帝和文明的英雄（他们包括黄帝，尧和顺），他们教会了中国古人如何交流，如何找食物，做衣服和搭建避身处。
The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia (夏),from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang (安阳),Henan(河南) Province, in 1928, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia. But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.
