Jie, the last ruler of China’s quasi-legendary Xi dynasty, was said to be a corrupt king, and is blamed for its fall.

He reputedly mistreated his people and became a tyrant.

Records from the later Qin dynasty say that during the last year of Jie's reign, ice formed during the summer mornings and frosts occurred through July.

Heavy rainfall toppled buildings, hot and cold weather arrived in disorder, and crops failed.

Some scientists correlate a volcanic winter from the eruption of Thera with Chinese records documenting the collapse of the Xia dynasty in China.

According to the Bamboo Annals, the collapse of the dynasty and the rise of the Shang dynasty, approximately dated to 1618 BCE, were accompanied by "'yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals".

Shang is overthrown by Tang, the rebellious leader of Shang.

Information about the Shang Dynasty comes from historical records of the later Zhou Dynasty, the Han Dynasty Shiji by Sima Qian and from Shang inscriptions on bronze artifacts and oracle bones—turtle shells, cattle scapula or other bones on which were written the first significant corpus of recorded Chinese characters.