History of the Yin Dynasty (2nd Edition)

First, with ample historical materials and modern archaeological discoveries, this book demonstrates that the dynasty founded by Cheng Tang after he replaced the Xia was named "Yin," not "Shang."

Second, this book firmly establishes that the Yin dynasty passed down 17 generations and 27 Yin Sons of Heaven who combined the roles of "Shang King" and "Yin Emperor." The total duration of the Yin dynasty was 574 years.

Third, this book firmly establishes that the territory directly or indirectly controlled by the Yin dynasty in its early period was vast, extending to the two great river basins of the Yellow River and the Yangtze; Cheng Tang, the founding great emperor of the Yin dynasty, was the actual founder and originator of a unified Chinese state, not Qin Shi Huang and Han Wu Di as traditionally believed, and certainly not King Wu of Zhou.

Fourth, this book firmly establishes that in the mid-Yin period, pressed by enemies on all sides, the dynasty had to adopt a strategy of contraction—biding its time and concealing its strength—and had to suspend the father-to-son succession system established by the founding great emperor Cheng Tang, replacing it with a "royal nomination system" modeled on the abdication system of the legendary Yao, Shun, and Yu era.