Who invented the carriage?

Archaeological excavation of Yin Ruins in Anyang shows that two-wheeled carriages were used in the late Shang Dynasty in China. The origin of the carriage in China has always been a concerned but unresolved issue. In this regard, domestic and foreign academic circles are arguing endlessly. Some domestic scholars hold the theory of independent origin of China's wagons, while others hold the theory of foreign origin, believing that China's wagons originated in the grasslands of Central and Western Asia or Eurasia. Among them, the most representative view is that Sumerian carriages, which originated in the middle of the 30th century BC, were introduced to China in the late Shang Dynasty.

There are many records about China's invention and use of automobiles in ancient literature. There is a saying that the car was invented by Huangdi, Yu Xia or Xizhong in the Xia era. It is also documented that Hu Jia was conquered by chariots, and many chariots were used in Shang Tang. Even in the Xia dynasty, there were officials in charge of car administration, car administration and so on. If these records are true, the carriage system in Xia Dynasty has been quite developed, but until now, no archaeological evidence has been found.

In previous archaeological work, Fan Tao, who cast bronze fittings for vehicles, was found in Zhengzhou Mall, the capital of the early Shang Dynasty, and bronze fittings for vehicles were also found in Yanshi Mall. All these show that before the late Shang Dynasty, China not only had cars, but also used bronze fittings on cars. After the rut of Yanshi Mall was discovered, Du and Wang Xuerong, who presided over the excavation of Yanshi Mall, wrote that it was obviously inappropriate to directly trace the source of merchants' carriages to West Asia according to literature records and archaeological discoveries.

Dr. Hong Xu, captain of Erlitou Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that ruts have been found in Erlitou Site, and it can be said with certainty that the tradition of using cars in China appeared hundreds of years before Yin Ruins. The ruts found in Erlitou and Yanshi Mall are similar in characteristics and smaller in size, which is quite different from the carriages found in Yinxu, Anyang. In Erlitou period, whether to use manpower or livestock to drive and what kind of livestock to drive need to be confirmed by later archaeological discoveries. In addition, the remains of horses are rare in the sites before the late Shang Dynasty in China. Therefore, the custom of riding horses in the late Shang Dynasty in China has not yet found its local origin in archaeology, and the origin of carriages in the late Shang Dynasty is still a mystery to be solved.