The Central Plains is a relative regional concept with Henan as the main body. First, it is a general concept, including the whole middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Second, the concept of China mainly refers to the middle reaches of the Yellow River, including a small part of Shanxi, Anhui, Hubei and even Shandong; The third is a small concept, which only refers to Henan Province. The Central Plains culture mentioned here is mainly a concept of China in geography.
The regional geographical significance of "Central Plains"
As a regional geographical concept, the Central Plains is subdivided into "narrow interpretation" and "broad interpretation".
1. Broad interpretation: "Central Plains" refers to most areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
The Heluo area with Luoyang as the center ranks among the best in the world, and is known as "three generations of previous lives, all between Heluo". During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou became the king, and Luoyi was the capital of the world, which further consolidated the world status of Heluo area. At the same time, because Chinese civilization originated in the Central Plains, the earliest country appeared in the Central Plains, so sometimes the meaning of "Central Plains" is similar to that of ancient China and China. But in general, the "Central Plains" in a broad sense mainly refers to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which is dominated by ancient Yuzhou.
China is divided into Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Liangzhou and Yongzhou in Shangshu Gong Yu. Yuzhou is called "Zhongzhou" because it lives in Kyushu. Its borders are Yan, Xu and Yang in the east, Jingshan, Yong and Liang in the west, Jingshan and Jingzhou in the south and the Yellow River, Hebei and Yan in the north. Today, Henan, Luxi and northern Hubei are all ancient Yuzhou, covering an area of about 400,000 square kilometers.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuzhou became a first-class administrative region, with a much smaller jurisdiction area than Gong Yu, roughly equivalent to the vast areas north of Huaihe River, south of Yellow River and east of Funiu Mountain in Henan, with northern Anhui, northwestern Jiangsu, southwestern Shandong in the east and parts of southern Shanxi in the west. It can be seen that the Central Plains covers a wide area and has deep roots with surrounding areas, especially with northern Anhui, northwestern Jiangsu, southwestern Shandong and northern Hubei, and its political and economic ties have been relatively close.
It consists of three plains. The first is the Heluo area. That is, with Luo Yi Plain as the center, there are Waifangshan and Funiu Mountain in the south, Yellow River in the north, Qinling and Guanzhong Plain in the west, and the intersection of Yellow River, Luohe River and western Henan in the east. This is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the capital of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The second is the Huanghuai Plain.
Taohuayu in the northern suburb of Zhengzhou is the dividing line between the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. It is the end of the Loess Plateau and the apex of the alluvial fan plain in Huanghuai. From here to the east, it is the Huanghuai Plain, the backbone of the Central Plains and the southwest part of the North China Plain. It is alluvial by the Yellow River and Huaihe River, so it can be subdivided into two parts: the Yellow River Plain and Huaihe River Plain, which are fertile thousands of miles away, and vast expanse, which is rich in loess and water resources, has many fertile fields suitable for farming.
The third is Nanyang basin. Located in the southwest of Henan Province, it is formed by alluvial rivers of Tanghe River and Baihe River, with an area of 26,000 square kilometers and fertile land. Like the Huanghuai Plain, it is an important granary. Yuzhou is called Zhongyuan because it has three fertile plains besides its geographical position in the world.
2. Narrow interpretation: Henan Province, also known as Central Plains, Zhongzhou, Middle Earth, Huaxia and Shenzhou, has a long history and profound cultural heritage. Historians generally believe that Henan in the Central Plains plays the most important and decisive role in the history and development of the whole Chinese nation. Henan is the most important birthplace of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation. For 5,000 years, Henan has been the Yuzhou in the center of Kyushu, China, so it is called "Yu" for short, and also known as "Zhongzhou" and "Central Plains".
Henan is the main residence of early China people and the ancestral home of most China people today. Most of the history of China's political, economic and cultural center is in Henan. Since the first dynasty in China's history, the Xia Dynasty made Henan its capital, there have been 20 dynasties, including Xia, Shang, Western Zhou (Luoyi), Eastern Zhou, Western Han (early), Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang (including Wu Zhou), Five Dynasties, Northern Song and Jin.
Of the eight ancient capitals in China, Henan Province accounts for four, namely Zhengzhou, the ancient capital of Xia and Shang Dynasties, Anyang, the ancient capital of 13th Dynasty, and Kaifeng, seven dynasties. However, Henan is also the most concentrated area of wars and disasters in the history of China. In different periods of history, some Henan people emigrated to avoid the war, which greatly promoted the development of many parts of the motherland and the spread of Chinese civilization. This is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the cradle of the Chinese nation.
The above is my answer to "Central Plains". If there are any shortcomings, please comment.
I'm @ Black and White History.
Yellow River (6) Henan (10) Central Plains (12)