These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period, and Shang writings do not indicate the existence of the Xia.

91 BC) mention and describe a Xia dynasty (c.

296 BC) and the Records of the Grand Historian (c. Ancient historical texts such as the Book of Documents (early chapters, 11th century BC), the Bamboo Annals (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the king Wu Ding's reign, who was mentioned as the twenty-first Shang king by the same. The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c.