New Theories on Archaeology by He Xin (Talking about Dragons and Phoenixes)

Author: He Xin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: In the earliest sense, the dragon and the phoenix represent the two most fundamental units of our ancient nation—the Xia and the Yin. This is because in the myths "[Gun died and transformed into the Yellow Dragon, thus giving birth to Yu]" and "[The Heavenly Mandate sent the Black Bird to give birth to the Shang]," we can vaguely see that the dragon was the totem of the primitive Xia people, and the phoenix was the totem of the primitive Yin people (we say "primitive Xia people" and "primitive Yin people" because the Xia and Yin dynasties were already far removed from the totem culture period; the so-called totem was a system and belief of the Xia and Yin people long before the Xia and Yin dynasties). Therefore, considering the dragon and phoenix as symbols of the rise of our nation and the beginning of our culture can be said to be most appropriate.