User:Generalissima/Historicity of the Xia Dynasty

Historiography
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Doubting Antiquity School emerged among some Chinese historians, arguing that various portions of the traditional historical narratives were inaccurate, fabricated, or drawn from myth and folklore.

In 1923, historian Gu Jiegang theorized that Yu the Great may have originated as a "deified animal" in folk mythology, shifting into a human ruler by the time of early historical writings. Gu changed his opinion on Yu's specific origin several times, although maintained that he originated as a mythical figure unrelated to the Xia. He believed that although traditional historiography had conflated various myths and legends with the dynasty, "the existence of Xia cannot be doubted".