Examples of Legends in Literary Texts

A  legend is  a  narrative — often handed down from the past — that is used to explain an event, transmit a lesson, or simply entertain an audience. Though customarily told as true stories, legends often contain supernatural, bizarre, or highly improbable elements. Types of legends include folk legends and urban legends. Some of the worlds most famous legends survive as literary texts, such as Homers Odyssey and  Chrà ©tien de Troyes tales of King Arthur. Folktales and Legends Although folktales and legends are both important genres of orally told narrative, in many ways they are decidedly different. As folklorists use the term, folktales are fictional stories; that is, they are regarded as fictions by those who tell and listen to them...Legends, on the other hand, are true narratives;  that is, they are regarded by their tellers and listeners as recounting events that actually took place, although to say so is an oversimplification....Legends are historical accounts  (such as the account of Daniel Boones encounters with Indians); or they are sorts of news accounts (as with contemporary or urban legends in which, for example, it is asserted that a madman with a hook arm recently attacked parked teenagers somewhere nearby); or they are attempts to discuss human interactions with other worlds, whether in the present day or in the past...However, in the social contexts in which legends  are told, attitudes toward the veracity of any given narrative may differ; some people may accept its truth, others may deny it, still others may keep an open mind but not commit themselves. (Frank de Caro, Introduction to  An Anthology of American Folktales and Legends.  Routledge, 2015) How Have Legends Appeared in Literary Texts? One of the worlds most famous legends is the story of Icarus, the son of a craftsman in ancient Greece. Icarus and his father attempted to escape from an island by making wings out of feathers and wax. Against his fathers warning, Icarus flew too close to the sun. His wings melted, and he plunged into the sea. This story was immortalized in Breughels painting Landscape With the Fall of Icarus, which W. H. Auden wrote about in his poem Musee des Beaux Arts. In Breughels Icarus, for instance: how everything turns awayQuite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman mayHave heard the splash, the forsaken cry,But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shoneAs it had to on the white legs disappearing into the greenWater, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seenSomething amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.(From Musee des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden, 1938) As stories handed down from the past, legends are often revised by each subsequent generation. The first stories of King Arthur, for example, were recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae  (History of the Kings of Britain), which was written in the 12th century. More elaborate versions of these stories later appeared in the long poems of  Chrà ©tien de Troyes. By several hundred years later, the legend was so popular that it became the subject of parody in Mark Twains humorous 1889 novel  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court.

What Pros Are Saying About Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students and What It Means For You

What Pros Are Saying About Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students and What It Means For You Ruthless Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students Strategies Exploited In choosing your topic, it's frequently a good idea to start with a subject which you already have some familiarity with. Below are a few simple recommendations to lead you in deciding on the ideal persuasive essay topic for you. It's possible to pick topics from several lists of ready themes. Deciding upon an emotional topic is also a great idea. Somebody works part-time and doesn't have sufficient time to do each of the assignments. You will be assigned a topic, or your professor will enable you to select your own. There are many intriguing topics that could be become a persuasive essay if you take the opportunity to consider about doing it. The New Angle On Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students Just Released When you are requested to select a great topic for your argument, start with something you're familiarized with. Even if you think in a specific argument very strongly, if you lack the evidence to show your point, then your argument might just be as great as lost. After picking your subject, you have to have the five varieties of arguments at the rear of your head throughout your writing. Finding the most suitable arguments will allow you to prove your point and win. The New Angle On Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students Just Released Normally, the teachers or professors assign the topics independently. Writing a superb persuasive essay is a significant approach to impress both your teacher and peers. In college, there are various essays a student must write. New tests, methodology, classes, suggestions and concepts happen each day on the planet of education. If you're a student who needs assistance with an easy, then you will be pleased to learn some tips which are useful once you begin. Another reason is to observe how well students argue on distinct views and demonstrate understanding of the studied subject. The Basics of Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students In order to reach wonderful effects, you should learn to persuade. You don't need to acquire super technical with legal argumentative essays, but make certain to do your homework on what the present laws about your favorite topic actually say. Find various sorts of facts and evidence to create the reader don't have any doubts your viewpoint is the correct one. You could also get in touch with your writer to supply some added recommendations or request information regarding the order's progress. All persuasive essays are like argumentative essays. Moreover, in-t ext citations will present your awareness of the various papers formats. It is a good idea to look for the one which has an excellent reputation and offers high-quality papers at very affordable rates. Understanding how to compose a strong argumentative paper can help you advance your very own argumentative thinking. The most frequently encountered paper writing service that the vast majority of our clients require is essay writing. If it's the first time you're likely to use our article writing service, you most likely have plenty of questions. To reach a compelling subject, you want to center on a single issue instead of using several thoughts which are inclined to confuse the reader. When you're picking your topic, remember that it's much simpler to write about something which you currently have interest ineven in case you don't know a great deal about it. Additional the topic itself includes a whole lot of statistics and can be ideal for practically any business, statistics, marketing or other majors. The Honest to Goodness Truth on Good Argum entative Essay Topics College Students There are just a few things that define whether an essay you're working on is going to be a good one. Some people might believe that the fantastic content might be written on any topic and the paper success is dependent just on the mastery of the writer. The entire idea is to receive your audience thinking and when you select an interesting topic to write about, you do exactly that. If you didn't figure out how to locate an excellent idea among the TOP-10 persuasive essays topics that agree with your style, be certain that you produce your own, by focusing on something you need to create people believe in. Definitions of Good Argumentative Essay Topics College Students Argumentative essays suppose that there's a discussion opposed to a single viewpoint, while persuasive ones involve supporting just one position. It's important to select debatable argumentative essay topics as you need opposing points you may counter to your own points. It's possible to restate your argument, which is quite a common practice amongst essayists. You may find there's a compelling argument for learning another language after all! When writing a crucial composition, it's sensible to pick contradictive topics. Tell our experts what sort of homework help on the internet you will need to get. You may use different examples which can be found on the world wide web free of charge. Maybe you thought you learned more due to the internet format.

The Horrors of the Jewish Holocaust - 690 Words

What if there was a choice on whether to be Jewish or Non-Jewish, to either be Jewish and fight back or to go with the flow, and to be Non-Jewish and fight back or go with the flow? Being non-jewish and going with the flow would be the smart choice, if survival is the goal. In that time period being Jewish was awful. Being Jewish basically meant you were an outcast. During the Holocaust it would have been better to not be Jewish and to stay out of the way, or go with the flow. Even though being Non-Jewish and not fighting back is the easiest way to go, being Non-Jewish and fighting back is the most sincere thing to do. Fighting back is a great thing to do too. If the Non-Jewish people are fighting back they could be saving peoples lives which is great; however, taking the risk of fighting back can affect more than just one person. Sure if the Non-Jewish people are fighting back they could be helping the Jewish people which is a great thing. If your Non-Jewish and fighting back then they could also be considered heroes in the long run, and maybe could convince the Nazis to stop harming the Jewish people. There is always a possibility that if the Jewish people would have fought back that maybe the black and white issue would not have happened. Yes, fighting back is the most sincere thing to do, but if survival is the key then fighting back shouldn’t be done. Staying out of the way and not making more problems is honestly the smart thing to do. Simply going with the flow isShow MoreRelatedThe Horrors of the Jewish Holocaust530 Words   |  2 Pagesbeing torn from your family, home, and the people that you loved. Most all Jewish people in that time had to live through that. There were very few that were lucky enough to have escaped. They were even luckier if they were helped out of camps by other Jewish people and brought home to their families. Now just imagine if all of the Jewish people fought back. Opposing views claim that the Jewish people during the Holocaust should not have fought back; nevertheless, fighting back would have beenRead MoreGod and Evil: Can They Co-exist? Essay854 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the Holocaust, the Nazi’s murdered an estimated 6 million Jews, which was about two thirds of the entire European Jewish population. To put this in perspective, the amount of Jews that were murdered during the Holocaust is about the same size as the population of Denmark. The Holocaust is a part of Jewish history that can never be forgotten, and the Jews who fell subject to this inhuman act will never be forgotten either. The Holocaust has changed Jewish culture forever, and has become theRead MoreThe Horror Of The Holocaust859 Words   |  4 PagesThe Holocaust was perhaps the darkest event in the twentieth century. This genocide resulted in the death of six million Jews -not counting the death of soldiers from World War II. Although many Jews died during the Holocaust, some survived and spoke about their struggles and experiences. Art Spiegelman, an American cartoonist, interviewed his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. After collecting information from the interviews with his father, Spiegelman, created Maus, a comic book novelRead More Examine the practical and the morale constraints upon Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust.1659 Words   |  7 Pages Jewish resistance throughout the holocaust has caused much debate among academics historians, and even governments. Historians conclude that resistance was practical and morally constrained throughout the Second World War, for a variety of reasons. Historians such as Rab Bennett, Michael Marrus, Richard L Rubenstein, and John K Roth all have written in detail about the constraints placed upon Jewish resistance throughout this period. Each of these explanations will be examined throughout this paperRead MoreJewish Literature And The Holocaust899 Words   |  4 PagesHolocaust literature is one of the emerging field in literature during the second half of the twentieth century. Several Holocaust survivors wrote about the atrocities they witnessed and their experiences during the incarceration. The word â€Å"Holocaust† encompasses images of death, horror, and inhumanity. Although many survivors find it difficult to talk aabout their experience, some of the took an oath to use their pen to protest against such horrible genocide and to make sure that this would neverRead MoreRoberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful Essay712 Words   |  3 PagesThe Film Life is Beautiful In the movie Life Is Beautiful, a Jewish man and his family are put into a concentration camp during the Holocaust. The movie gives an inside look at the horrors the Jews were faced with during the Holocaust. ?Life Is Beautiful? should be incorporated into a unit on the Holocaust in schools because it shows everything the Jews were faced with, it handles expressing the horrors of the Holocaust without being too graphic, and it would help students get a more personalRead More Children of the Holocaust Essay983 Words   |  4 Pageshistorical precedent for it.† (Lukas, 13 Kindle) About 1.5 million children were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust—one million being killed because they were Jews (ushmm.org) The Germans had a clearly defined goal of killing the Jewish children so that there would be no remnants of their race to reproduce, resulting in extinction. Not only were the children that were victimized in the Holocaust persecuted and murdered, but they were a ll stripped of their childhood. Children were not allowed to beRead MoreComparing the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Life Is Beautiful910 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Analyse, evaluate and compare the techniques used to dim the horror of the real life events discussed in the novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and the film Life is Beautiful.† The Holocaust was a distressing time in history and is not a story everyone can absorb. Both the book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas written by John Boyne and the film, Life is Beautiful, directed by Robert Benigni, are based upon the real life events of the Holocaust but with a difference. They made clever use of differentRead MoreShooting Stars by Carol Ann Duffy Critical Essay1635 Words   |  7 Pageswritten by Carol Ann Duffy. She adopts the persona of a female Jew speaking out from beyond the grave about her terrifying ordeal before she died in the Holocaust. A powerful impression is left on the reader after reading Duffy’s dramatic monologue and visual descriptions of her ordeal and immense suffering. She urges the reader to remember what the Jewish victims were forced to go through, and begs us not to turn our back and forget. ------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------Read More Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg and The Pianist, Directed by Roman Polanski1003 Words   |  5 PagesPianist, Directed by Roman Polanski The holocaust is seen as a time of horror, filled with brutal, inhuman actions carried out by the Nazi party. Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg, is one of the most realistic movies to show the gruesome shock of the concentration camps and torture of Jews. Spielberg captured the true essences of what pain was during World War Two. In 2002, Roman Polanski came out with The Pianist, a movie that focuses on a Jewish man’s struggles outside the walls of a

The Boy Who Cried Code free essay sample

Sweat accumulated on my palms as I sat in a cold, plastic chair while I pondered how I would hurdle past this dilemma. My programming teacher, Mr. Welch, was contentedly at his desk reading through the local newspaper. At a glance, he did not appear to be intimidating whatsoever seeing as how he was a man of short stature. However, his crystal blue eyes could penetrate brick walls and always sent chills running down a student’s spine. I gazed over at his desk, ensuring I did not make eye contact with him, as he directed his attention towards me. â€Å"Can I help you?† asked Mr. Welch. â€Å"I don’t believe so. I’m stuck on this one part of the test though,† I replied while I turned towards my monitor which displayed a myriad of colorful code, â€Å"I am still trying to come up with some ideas for the problem at hand. We will write a custom essay sample on The Boy Who Cried Code or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † I was in Programming 101, learning to utilize and memorize Java code as part of the class. And the test was impossible, I mean, I had never encountered such an overwhelming programming problem until I decided to take my teacher’s Java coding test. I had not a clue in the world as to what I should do next. I exhausted my repertoire of useful code snippets I had learned over the years, but nothing seemed to fix the program on my computer that was broken. Error after error, I spent many minutes wondering if the best course of action would be to rewrite the entire program from the beginning. I decided to give it a try, seeing as how my time allowed for the test was gradually whittling away and I had not been able to discover any other solutions. Putting my seemingly amazing idea to work, my newly acquired issue turned into a race against the clock. I had little over an hour to finish crafting and compiling a program which, for a young developer such as myself, was a daunting task. My fingers glided over the smooth, black keys on the keyboard in front of me. I become conscious of the fact that I was holding my breath for an extended period of time and my heart was pounding rapidly as I typed out the program I deemed to be worthy of a grade. I felt extremely nervous as this test grade reflected my ability to use Java code as a programmer. With only a few minutes left to spare, I clicked submit at the bottom of the test to send my assignment to my teacher. I swallowed the lump that had built up in my throat and took a deep breath to calm myself as I stood up, pushed my chair in, and strolled out of the dimly lit schoolroom. Impatiently awaiting my test results, I began to second guess myself, wondering if the way I approached the problem at first was incorrect. This self-doubt turned into stress as the days flew by and I still had yet to receive my evaluation for the assessment I had so worriedly submitted. After a long while, I received an email regarding the test results. I had failed the Java program test. The score I achieved was less than proficient and I read my instructor’s comments in the body of the message to comprehend why I scored so low. Apparently, I had approached the situation correctly. However, rushing my typing created many mistakes in the lines of code I produced and that was a huge factor in why I scored so terribly. In fact, my teacher noted that if I had taken my time to review my own work before I had submitted it, I would have been able to catch many of those mistakes myself and correct them for a much higher grade. After all of this, I learned through my colossal disaster in the programming class that one must always take time to evaluate their own work. Without performing such a simple task, regardless of the occupation or situation, an individual might find themselves with issues and complications that could have been easily avoided. Never again shall I ever find myself in such a precarious predicament.

Samsung Safety Truck Essays - Technology, Economy Of South Korea

Samsung Safety Truck Argentina, an exotic country with a high amount of one/two lane roads that people die on over-taking because of slow and heavy vehicles, 80% estimation defines deaths in Argentina on roads due of this cause. Samsung with Leo Burnett has launched a technology for trucks that protects the lives of people through innovation, to be more precise: to save lives. In this essay, I will conduct a critical and analytical research about project Samsung Safety Truck, the most focused aspects will be on how this project can save people lives, how is it safe, what are the risks and recommendation for this innovated project. Every organisation is striving for competitive advantage and maintain high performance standards, collaborate and team-oriented projects are increasingly provided with flexible mode, to excel. However, they are still organisations are failing due of recognitions the core determination of team-work framework, by grouping employees into non-connected, non-dependent individuals. The important approach is collection -bases, because it distinct from team-specific ingenuities and fails to meet the difficult factors of dynamism that are important in the marketplace. Majority of people use the word "team" to define "employees". A "sales team" is mutual example of this moveable or perhaps indirect usage, though independencies are existing in organisations, and a sales team are like to be let down by poor performance on other sides of the organisation upon which sales team depends, such as deliveries after service, etc. However, "sales staff" is a more precise and targeted for the t ypical arrangement. Samsung Safety Truck Project is developed on saving lives and decreasing road accidents, but is it save and can it handle any type of weather and environmental conditions? Every Project has its own idea and innovation, one of the innovated projects that Samsung try to reach is to add a huge OHD video walls on the Volvo trucks to capture and transmit a picture of the road ahead, to make sure drivers are having better and safer decisions to over-take heavy and slow vehicles. Furthermore, the displays are in high quality designed to be dustproof and waterproof. The question is, can we count on the displays in any conditions, and having a clear image nevertheless of the road or weather? To answer these questions Valere Lourme mentioned (Manager of Marketing Communications at Volvo Trucks): "Safety is basic principle in any project of Volvo Trucks and it's what keeps the group active to eliminate the risk of accidents". Samsung Newsroom (2016) Corporate Technology Resource, retrieved : 28 th March 2017 from: https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-presents-firs t-samsung-safety-truck-prototype Statistically in Argentina the traffic accidents are one of the highest in the world, one death occurring every of the day, that's 80% deaths in two-lane roads, drivers attempting to overtake another vehicle mentioned above. We can clearly see from the statistical point of view there is an insight that needs to be resolved asap, therefore Samsung and Leo Burnett saw an opportunity and join with their technological creative imagination and tackle to the road-safety issue. The term of "Safety Truck" is defined by equipping a wireless camera, installed at the front of the vehicle that captures real-time footage of the road, and that consumes it for four exterior Samsung displays on the truck's rear wall. To shield this fact of how effective this test was on Argentina roads, the impact that Samsung has executed awarded them with a couple of awards such as: Seven Lion s, one Titanium Lion (Recognizes breakthrough idea), two gold Clios, Gravity Award at Adweek's Project Isaac Awards and a Grand Prix award. "The Safety Truck has seen as a successful execution" Samsung "The Safety Truck" (2016) Fifteen of 15, retrieved: 28 th March 2017 from: http://leoburnett.com/articles/work/samsung-the-safety-truck/ Come in back to build a something that can save people lives is always not an easy mission to tackle, and clearly not on its own. With a creative mind and team with attributes such as: Commitment, creativeness, and solid productiveness, you can reach or create something unique. And that's what Leo Burnett with Samsung has started, joining together has gave them opportunity to save people lives by teaming up and developed something innovated. "Team skills are often overlooked, yet they are essential to successful teams"

Life Essay Example

Life Essay Example Life Essay Life Essay Essay Topic: Life Is Beautiful Life in the present is bombarded with many influences that make it difficult to resist no matter how people try not to succumb to the pressures and expectations of society. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but it is another story if the beholders are one’s peers, social group, and parents and even love ones. Beauty will always be skin deep, but what is seen will always be the first to be judged. As persons, an individual evaluates him/her self based on how others respond to him/her. In this society, beauty is defined by what is seen in the outside, the physical attributes are evaluated as attractive, sexy, desirable or fat, big, ugly and gross. Within this context, people develop an unhealthy obsession with their bodies, in order to become good looking and attractive. Obsession with one’s body is a result of social influence, peer pressure and media influence.As a social being, man constantly interact with other people and is both influencing his environment and i s being influenced by it. In the American culture, one’s body is regarded as a personal property; no one can dictate to a person what one wants to do with his/her body and with it comes the personal responsibility in making sure that the body is in its best form. One of the reasons why people become obsessed with the perfect body is because of the many social influences that everyone is constantly being subjected to. An attractive body or physique would mean that an individual has invested in his/her body and that he/she can use it to his/her advantage thus the need to maintain the perfect figure through artificial or natural means. For example, fitness products have become a major player alongside the cosmetics industry, because as one advertisement says, â€Å"maybe she was born with it† and if it isn’t then there is always a cosmetic product or a diet pill that would enhance what she has or eliminate her flaws. Social expectations in the form of how others de fine physical beauty have made us believe that physical beauty is important. Having the perfect body is like having the power to be needed and wanted by others. The attractiveness of the rewards of being physically beautiful and perfect motivates a person to seek means to be beautiful in the eyes of society. Different social groups place a premium on the perfect body, evidence of which is how people react more positively to attractive people. Pretty girls get better service at bars; they get appreciative nods and smiles and are perceived to be confident and witty while hunks get the hot girls, they get better jobs and are popular. Wanting the perfect body may be caused by social expectations, but a more significant cause is peer pressure.Becoming obsessed with having the perfect body can also come from the pressures that a person feels from his/her peer group.   It is within the peer group that a child learns what is valuable and important, when teenage girls have slumber parties, they talk about what is important to them and it is mainly how to be hip and fashionable and they trade secrets in how to keep their hair that way, how to cheat on their weight and how important it is to look good for the boys in order to be popular. When boys get together, they also talk about how girls like boys who have the muscle, who are tall, who are sexy and a stud. Good looking girls and boys who are genetically endowed with the perfect body would not have difficulty in this area but those who are unfortunate to be fat and big may be consumed with the need to have a perfect body. In the peer group, a child or adolescent is continually evaluated based on their own concept of what a perfect body is and if they somehow fall short of what is desired then they are consumed in finding the means to change their appearance and body. A girl who has been teased about her nose because it is not the perfect shape may become obsessed with how to enhance or hide it and if all else fails then the answer is cosmetic surgery.   The pressure from the peer group to look perfect is very real and adolescents are very susceptible to live up to the pressure because it would ensure their belongingness to the group.Lastly, a significant cause of obsession with one’s body are found in the media, the   influence of the media is so pervasive and it constantly sends out the message that physical beauty will make people rich and successful and it promotes an unhealthy concept of beauty that is based on physical attributes only. Browse through a magazine and almost half of the entire magazine is made up of advertisements that depict the perfect body as slim, lean, and well proportioned, have great skin and attractive features. Movies and television shows always depict celebrities who are perfect in every way and these celebrities make it a point to be beautiful and fashionable, to be fit and alluring. They endorse products, diets and exercise routines to help achieve the perfect body, they are saying that if you want to become a celebrity, look at me!   Clothes modeled on the runway or even in the mannequins of Sears and Wal-Mart are often made for thin women and slim men, indirectly it is telling people that fat and big people are an anomaly and they should be concerned with their bodies if they want to feel good about themselves.In conclusion, it can be seen that all the messages and influences that a person receives directly or indirectly from social expectations and the media in the importance of having the perfect body have made people develop the obsession to have a perfect body. Obsessions in having the perfect body may take the form of wanting to change a body part, have rigid and extreme exercise routines, invest in cosmetic surgery, use make-up extensively, and have implants and others. The peer group exerts pressure to its members to have the perfect body as it is often the standard at which group belongingness is judged. Becoming obse ssed with physical beauty is a result of the premium that is placed on how a person looks and the consequences associated with it.

The Xia Dynasty of Ancient China

The Xia Dynasty of Ancient China The Xia Dynasty is said to have been the first true Chinese dynasty, described in the ancient Bamboo Annals called the Ji Tomb Annals, dated to the late third century BCE; and in the Records of the Historian Sima Qian (called the Shi Ji and written about 145 BCE). There is a long-standing debate as to whether the Xia Dynasty was myth or reality; until the mid-20th century, no direct evidence was available to support stories of this long-vanished era. Some scholars still believe that it was invented in order to validate the leadership of the Shang Dynasty, for which there is abundant archaeological and written evidence. The Shang Dynasty was founded in about 1760 BCE, and many of the attributes ascribed to the Xia are different from those ascribed to the Xia. Legends of the Xia Dynasty According to the historical records, the Xia dynasty is thought to have lasted between about 2070–1600 BCE, and it was said to have been founded by a man known as Yu the Grea a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and born about 2069. His capital was at Yang City. Yu is a semi-mythical figure who spent 13 years stopping a great flood and bringing irrigation to the Yellow River Valley. Yu was the ideal hero and ruler, said to have been assisted in his work by a yellow dragon and a black turtle. Many of the tales about him are cast in mythology, which doesnt necessarily rule out the possible reality of a sophisticated society predating the Shang. The Xia dynasty is said to be the first to irrigate, produce cast bronze, and build a strong army. It used oracle bones and had a calendar. Xi Zhong is credited in legend with inventing a wheeled vehicle. He used a compass, square, and rule. King Yu was the first king to be succeeded by his son instead of a man chosen for his virtue. This made the Xia the first Chinese dynasty. The Xia under King Yu probably had about 13.5 million people. According to the Records of the Grand Historian (the Shi Ji, started around the second century BCE (over a millennium after the end of the Xia Dynasty), there were 17 Xia Dynasty Kings. They included: Yu the Great: 2205–2197 BCEEmperor Qi: 2146–2117 BCETai Kang: 2117–2088 BCEZhong Kang: 2088–2075 BCEXiang: 2075–2008 BCEShao Kang: 2007–1985 BCEZhu: 1985–1968 BCEHuai: 1968–1924 BCEMang: 1924–1906 BCEXie: 1906–1890 BCEBu Jiang: 1890–1831 BCEJiong: 1831–1810 BCEJin: 1810–1789 BCEKong Jia: 1789–1758 BCEGao: 1758–1747 BCEFa: 1747–1728 BCEJie: 1728–1675 BCE The fall of the Xia is blamed on its last king, Jie, who is said to have fallen in love with an evil, beautiful woman and become a tyrant. The people rose up in rebellion under the leadership of Zi Là ¼, the Tang Emperor and founder of the Shang Dynasty. Possible Xia Dynasty Sites While there is still debate over how much the texts can be relied on, there is recent evidence has increased the likelihood that there really was dynasty predating the Shang. Late Neolithic sites which hold some elements suggesting Xia dynasty remains include Taosi, Erlitou, Wangchenggang, and Xinzhai in central Henan province. Not all researchers in China agree to the connection of archaeological sites with prehistoric semi-mythical polities, although scholars have noted that Erlitou in particular had a high degree of cultural-political sophistication at an early period. Erlitou  in Henan Province is a massive site, covering at least 745 acres, and occupations between 3500–1250 BCE; at its heyday about 1800, it was the primary center in the region, with eight palaces and a large cemetery precinct.  Ã‚  Taosi, in southern Shanxi, (2600–2000 BCE) was a regional center, and had an urban center surrounded by large rammed-earth walls, a craft production center for pottery and other artifacts, and a semicircular rammed-earth structure which has been identified as an astronomical observatory.  Wangchenggang in Dengfeng province (2200–1835 BCE) was a settlement center for at least 22 other sites in the upper Ying River valley. It had two connected small rammed-earth enclosures built about 2200 BCE, a craftproduction center, and many ash pits some containing human burials.  Xinzhai, in Henan Province (2200–1900 BCE) is an urban center with at least fifteen associated sites surrounding it, with a large semi-subterranean stru cture interpreted as a ritual structure.   In 2016, an international group of archaeologists reported evidence of a great flood in the Yellow River at a site called Lajia, dated about 1920 BCE, which they claimed provided support to the great flood in the Xia Dynasty legends. The Laija townsite in particular was found with several residences with skeletons buried within the deposits. Wu Qinglong and colleagues admitted that the date was several centuries later than the historical records state. The article appeared in Science magazine in August of 2016, and three comments were quickly received disagreeing with the dating and interpretation of the geological and archaeological data, so the site remains an open question like the others. Sources Dai, L. L., et al. An Isotopic Perspective on Animal Husbandry at the Xinzhai Site During the Initial Stage of the Legendary Xia Dynasty (2070–1600 BC). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26.5 (2016): 885–96. Print.Han, Jian-Chiu. Comment on Outburst Flood at 1920 BCE Supports Historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia Dynasty. Science 355.6332 (2017): 1382–82. Print.Huang, Chun Chang, et al. Comment on Outburst Flood at 1920 BCE Supports Historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia Dynasty. Science 355.6332 (2017): 1382–82. Print.Liu, Li. State Emergence in Early China. Annual Review of Anthropology 38 (2009): 217–32. Print.Wu, Qinglong, et al. Outburst Flood at 1920 Bce Supports Historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia Dynasty. Science 353.6299 (2016): 579–382. Print.Wu, Qinglong, et al. Response to Comments on Outburst Flood at 1920 BCE Supports Historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia D ynasty. Science 355.6332 (2017): 1382–82. Print.Wu, Wenxiang, et al. Comment on â€Å"Outburst Flood at 1920 Bce Supports Historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia Dynasty†. Science 355.6332 (2017): 1382-82. Print.