Lao Qiu Pacifies the Frontier

Old Qiu Guards the Borders, also known as Si Bujiang. Si Bujiang of the Xia royal house established his capital at Old Qiu and reigned for fifty-nine years, during the height of the Xia Dynasty's power. In those days, the well-field system spread across the land, with commoners cultivating and raising silkworms. The royal court kept taxes and labor demands light and refrained from needless construction. It campaigned west against the Nine Gardens, bringing the remote states to heel, then used conciliation to keep the various tribes in line. The realm saw no prolonged years of warfare, making this a rare period of lasting peace in an ancient slave society.

The book moves beyond the narrow focus on emperors, ministers, and generals, viewing society through the eyes of the people at the bottom of the slave system. It depicts the daily lives of dependents on well-field lands, the hundreds of servants in workshops, and border tribes, laying out the full social fabric of the Xia Dynasty.

Emperor Bujiang understood that his son Kongjia was fond of spirits and deities and unfit to rule. He disregarded public opinion and set a precedent for abdication within the Three Dynasties, passing the throne to his younger brother Si Jiong and carefully plotting to protect the peace of Xia's borders.

This work tells the story of ancient Huaxia's first golden age of peace. Because the Xia Dynasty left no written records or unearthed artifacts, later historians generally regard the Chengkang era of the early Western Zhou as the first golden age of peace in antiquity.