When did the contact between China and Japan begin? No one knows, everyone says that the exchanges between the two countries go back to ancient times; That's true, but when and how long this long history began, I'm afraid it's still a matter of concern to everyone, and it's difficult to have a correct answer. Of course, as far as recorded history is concerned, China history books first recorded the communication between Japanese islanders and Yandi people in the Han Dynasty. By the17th century, there was a clear historical record. Therefore, as far as the recorded history is concerned, it has been more than two thousand years since the Han Dynasty. However, this is only a written record. In fact, the exchanges between the two peoples are much earlier than this. Taking the legendary Xu Fudong's crossing as a reflection is also better than; Remember in the early days of the book. Therefore, in the real period of Sino-Japanese exchange, I am afraid we will explore the so-called other ways from other ways. Today, it is mainly from archaeological methods such as unearthed cultural relics and relics. See if there was any communication between China and Japan before the recorded history; If so, when can it be traced back to the earliest? Geographically speaking, Japan is an archipelago surrounded by the sea and has nothing to do with the Asian continent. However, in recent decades, some animal fossils have been found on Japanese islands, which were impossible to go out to sea under the condition of extremely simple and primitive ancient means of transportation. For example, mammoth fossils were found in Hokkaido, bighorn deer, wild horses and bison fossils were found in Kyushu and Honshu, and elephant fossils were also found near Tokyo. These animals are relatively large, and they are by no means primitive means of transportation such as canoes, which can carry them across the sea. So, how to find the fossils of these animals on the Japanese archipelago? What is even more surprising is that the species of these animal fossils found in Japan are similar or identical to some ancient creatures in Chinese mainland on the other side of the ocean. So, how did they get to the Japanese archipelago from the East Asian continent? The development of human culture is roughly from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and then to the Iron Age. Due to the special situation on the Japanese archipelago, the bronze age and the iron age were almost at the same time, or the iron age was earlier than the bronze age. As for the Stone Age, like the classification of world history, it can be divided into Neolithic Age and Paleolithic Age. It used to be thought that there was no life and no culture in the Neolithic Age. However, from 193 1 (in the sixth year of Showa), the left waist bone of human beings was found in the alluvial deposit of Bamu Coast in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, and it was considered that Japan, like other places in the world, also had the Paleolithic Age. But it hasn't been decided. It was not until the 1940s, especially after the discovery of Paleolithic relics, such as sharp tools, scrapers, cutting tools, peeled pieces and stalagmites processed on both sides, that no one doubted that there were human beings living on the Paleolithic Japanese islands. After the Second World War, the Japanese archipelago was followed by the remains of the rock lodge. Many Paleolithic relics were found in many places, such as the tomb site in Gunma Prefecture, the Maulu site in Tokyo, the site around the lake in the middle, the bottom of the Wild Pigeon Lake, the Seto Inland Sea, and even in Hokkaido. Among these relics, in addition to stone tools, some fossils and bone implements of the above-mentioned large mammals have been found, which cannot be carried across the ocean by primitive means of transportation. Obviously, these animals and stone tools belong to Pliocene era, and these stone tools were the daily necessities of human beings living on Japanese islands at that time. Interestingly, these remains belonging to the daily necessities of Paleolithic people found in the Japanese archipelago can also be seen on the East Asian continent across the sea, just like the species to which animal fossils belong. For example, some stone tools are very similar to those found in Chinese mainland, not only in shape, but also in processing technology or procedures. Some stone tools, such as those found in Zaoshuitai Site in Oita County and Xingye Site in Tochigi County, have many similarities with those unearthed in Zhoukoudian, China. For example, timely or quartzite is used as raw material; Some kitchen knives are processed on one side, so the original stone surface is still retained at the bottom; Some are double-sided processing, and the first side is sharper with interactive processing technology. Other rectangular stone cores, triangular stone chips, sharp tools and scrapers are similar to the stone tools unearthed at No.15 site in Zhoukoudian, China. Besides being similar to Zhoukoudian, the sharps found in the remains of Hokkaido and other places, especially the sharps and stone cores processed on both sides, are also similar to the stone tools unearthed near Hutouliang Village, Yangyuan County, Hebei Province, China in the late Paleolithic period. A large number of wedge-shaped stone cores found in Hutouliang Village are not only similar in shape to those found in Japan, but also identical in processing methods and procedures. In addition, the stone tools found at the bottom of Yejiuhu Lake in Nagano Prefecture, Japan are feldspar chips and scrapers made of feldspar chips, and their technological characteristics are similar to those unearthed from Shuigou Site in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. From these circumstances, we can draw a concept that the cultural activities on the Japanese archipelago are closely related to the culture of East Asia, mainly China, as early as the Paleolithic Age. Of course, this close relationship can only happen through human communication. According to this fact, coupled with the factors of animal fossils, we can know that even in Pliocene, Paleolithic, there was communication between China and Japan. Today, the ocean between the two countries cannot be an insurmountable obstacle. Otherwise, these facts cannot be explained. Of course, in the ancient Paleolithic, there were no means of transportation and no navigation technology. So how did you cross the ocean to come between China and Japan? Humans may be able to use the most primitive single tree (not a boat) to float across the sea by wind or tide, but how do those large mammals cross it? According to geological and stratigraphic exploration, this problem has been solved. It can be considered that before the middle Paleolithic period, the East Asian continent, that is, between China and the Japanese archipelago, was not separated by the sea as it is now; But directly connected to the landing site, people and animals can directly travel to and from the Yellow Sea. According to the exploration of strata, the Japanese archipelago, which is now arc-shaped and located on the eastern edge of the Asian continent, was not surrounded by the sea as it is now during the Pleistocene. Not only does the Sea of Japan not separate the Japanese archipelago from the northern mainland, but even the Yellow Sea does not separate China from Japan. During the period of 1962, Japanese fishermen once fished a fossil of the incisor of the Gunamax from the sea bottom of Ma Haixia, which was about one meter long and weighed18kg. This ancient elephant tooth fossil has also been found on some coral reefs on the west coast of the Korean peninsula, the Sea of Japan and the Ryukyu Islands. Coincidentally, a few years ago, China also salvaged an unpolished rhinoceros tooth fossil at the bottom of Bohai Bay, which is more than 200 kilometers away from the coast. These extinct paleontological fossils were found on both sides of the Yellow Sea, which is of great significance. As we all know, it is difficult to find fossils of ancient terrestrial vertebrates on the seabed. Now the fossils of these ancient terrestrial vertebrates have been found in the sediments of the Yellow Sea, indicating that at least during the survival period of these terrestrial animals, the current Yellow Sea, including the Bohai Sea, was originally a plain. Otherwise, these terrestrial giant vertebrates would not be on both sides of the Yellow Sea. Leave fossils. This explains that during the existence of these ancient terrestrial vertebrates. The Yellow Sea must be an open grassland. Therefore, the ancient horse elephant, hairy rhinoceros and mammoth, which were common in China at that time, can also be distributed to the Japanese archipelago separated by a sea. The survival period of these ancient creatures is about 16200 to 32000 years ago. During this period, the Japanese archipelago was connected with the East Asian Plain, so these big creatures that could not cross the sea could easily enter the Japanese archipelago through land. Now, in the Japanese archipelago, in addition to the ancient terrestrial vertebrate fossils that can't cross the sea, such as mammoth, Nama elephant and hairy rhinoceros, there are also some terrestrial animals that can't cross the sea. Most of these ancient creatures were common animals in Chinese mainland at that time, mainly distributed in North China or Northeast China, such as leopards, badgers, brown bears, bison and wild horses. These China paleontologists obviously crossed the Yellow Sea Plain from Chinese mainland, or crossed the tatar strait, which now separates Siberia from Sakhalin Island, from the north. Therefore, in the Holocene, the Japanese archipelago, at least its north and south ends, was connected with the mainland. So do plants. Most conifers distributed on the Japanese archipelago also belong to the same genus as those on the East Asian continent, and the spread and reproduction of these plants can not fly over the ocean, but can only spread and reproduce when the land is connected. That is to say, from the distribution of plants, it is also proved that there can be no ocean separation between the Japanese archipelago and the Asian continent in the past; At least it should be a plain connected with China North China Plain and Korean Peninsula. The Sea of Japan does not exist as it does today, but in the form of an inner lake. Tatar strait and Zonggu Strait do not exist, and the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk are impassable. As for the specific time and route of the migration of animals and plants from the mainland to the Japanese archipelago, it is still unclear. However, by comparing the distribution of paleolithic stone tools and paleoterrestrial vertebrate fossils, we can probably know that in the early days, the Sea of Japan, which connected the northern and southern ends of the Asian continent and the islands, appeared in the form of an inner lake. Animals and plants in the north can travel from Sakhalin Island in Siberia to Hokkaido. The mammoth fauna found in Hokkaido, Japan, probably arrived in Japan from northeast China or Siberia through this route. However, after this fauna arrived in Hokkaido, due to climate change, it may not have entered Japan's own mainland and other southern regions southward. From the south, it entered Kyushu through Taiwan Province Province of China and Ryukyu. At that time, this road was also land, and there was no ocean. About 10,000 years ago, at the boundary between Pliocene and alluvium, the Japanese archipelago separated from the Asian continent and formed an island on the eastern edge of the East Asian continent. From these geological changes, we can know that in ancient times, China and Japan were originally connected lands with no ocean in the middle, so fossils of paleontology and terrestrial vertebrates seen on the Chinese mainland can also be found on Japanese islands. Because of this, the stone tools representing Paleolithic culture found on Japanese islands are similar to those unearthed in China not only in shape, but also in manufacturing methods and technological procedures. This similarity is by no means accidental, but shows that China and Japan have many similarities and consistency in paleolithic culture. This explains another problem, that is, the exchanges between China and Japan existed as early as the Paleolithic Age. Although this kind of communication can't be seen in the written records of history books, the unearthed stone tools are the best proof. Is cultural exchange a historical fact? ; Some people may say that ancient humans were ignorant, so there was no cultural exchange. In other words, the similarity of some stone tools cannot explain the facts of communication. Indeed, stone tools are similar. In primitive society, the stone tools used and produced almost everywhere are similar, and it is difficult to distinguish them and explain their interaction. However, a closer look reveals that things are not that simple. The shapes of stone tools are really similar, and they are all similar. However, the production process, or processing methods, technologies and technological procedures of these stone tools may not be exactly the same. In separated areas, it is impossible to be similar or consistent; Only those who belong to the same cultural system can have similar or consistent treatment methods and procedures. Therefore, even in the similar stone tools of the Paleolithic Age, the fact of cultural exchange between different regions can be found. Cultural exchange must be carried out through people's contact. Therefore, even in ancient times when the level of human culture was still very low, it was still possible to judge whether there was a general relationship or cultural exchange. It is from this aspect that the stone cultural relics found in the two areas are compared and analyzed in terms of processing methods and procedures, and a conclusion is drawn. Chinese mainland and the Japanese archipelago are now facing each other across the sea. Without cross-sea transportation, it is impossible for people of the two countries to communicate. However, the distribution of paleontological fossils in the two places now proves that in the PaleoHolocene, the Japanese archipelago was not an island separated from the East Asian continent, and there was no sea in the middle, so people could walk freely from one place to another. Therefore, it is not surprising that the stone tools found on Japanese islands are similar to those found in Chinese mainland. It can be thought that they were all brought by people who walked to the Japanese archipelago. They brought the technology and culture of making stone tools. Of course, there are not many relics found today, only a rough idea can be known. As for the ways and methods to bring these technologies and processing procedures to the Japanese archipelago, more observation and research are needed in the future. Judging from the Paleolithic relics unearthed on Japanese islands, the relics of Kyushu, Shikoku and the southern part of this continent are earlier than those of the northern part, such as those of Zaoshuitai, Su Yan and Quanxianshan, which are about 30,000 to 80,000 years ago, that is, the middle and early Pliocene. What was discovered in Hokkaido was not earlier than 12000 to 16000 years ago. In addition to animal fossils such as mammoths, the stone remains found in Hokkaido have not appeared at the same time as those found in Siberia or northeast China, which only shows that there were humans or animals at that time, but there was not necessarily cultural exchange. The above-mentioned premature Shuitai stone tools are mainly similar to the processing methods and procedures of the chopper unearthed from the fifteenth site in Zhoukoudian, China. It is worth noting that the stripping of feldspar in Jiubao site of Yegeshan in Nagano county and the scraper made from these stripping are similar to some technological characteristics of feldspar stripping seen in Shuigou site of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In addition, the production methods of other paleolithic found in Japan are quite similar to those of Zhoukoudian, Ding Cun and Shuidonggou in China. This similarity and consistency is by no means accidental. Because the stone tools are similar in appearance and primitive society, they are relatively simple in form and extremely rough in manufacture. However, the similarity and consistency in processing methods and technological procedures can't be a coincidence, but at that time, someone took technology from Chinese mainland, crossed the Yellow Sea Plain, went to the Japanese archipelago, settled down there, copied stone tools processing methods and technologies from Chinese mainland, and processed stone tools in Japan. This kind of communication should be said to be the most primitive cultural exchange. Generally speaking, although there is a sea barrier between China and Japan today, the Japanese archipelago was connected with the East Asian continent more than once during the Paleopleistocene with the changes of climate and crust. Paleolithic people, animals and plants are so unimpeded distributed on both sides of today's ocean. This is why we can now find some giant terrestrial vertebrate fossils that can't cross the sea on the Japanese archipelago. Because there is no barrier from the sea, people can walk from one place to another, so people in the Asian continent once brought the method and technology of making stone tools to the Japanese archipelago. In Sino-Japanese relations, this is not only not found in written records, but also not involved in legends, but the unearthed stone tools are the best proof. Of course, little is known about Sino-Japanese relations in the Paleolithic period, which needs further exploration, discussion and research.

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