How long is the history of civilization in China? The traditional saying is five thousand years. However, since the 1970s, new discoveries have been made in archaeological work, indicating that some civilizations in the north and south originated more than 5,000 years ago. 1In August, 1997, the 4th Symposium of Historians across the Taiwan Straits on the History of the Chinese Nation put forward the argument that the history of Chinese civilization can be traced back to 10,000 years ago. After the meeting, the author and Professor Huang Dashou, a famous historian in Taiwan Province Province, jointly drafted the Proposal on Rewriting the Ancient History of China, arguing that the ancient history of China should be written 10,000 years ago. This proposal has been signed and recognized by more than 100 historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnologists and folklorists at home and abroad, and has been published. Summarize and publish the process of discussing this issue for the benefit of experts and readers at home and abroad.
Probe into the origin of five-year system theory
In the past century, when it comes to our own history, we will say "five thousand years" and "five thousand years of Chinese civilization". If you want to ask how the number of 5000 years came from? We can definitely answer: it is a traditional saying, following an old saying in Sima Qian's Historical Records, the Yellow Emperor is the beginning of ancient history, and there is no other source. Because one hundred years ago, the archaeological work in China had not started, and the method of dating antiquities by carbon fourteen had not been invented. Some western scholars
The Yellow Emperor lived five thousand years ago. Did Sima Qian say this? No, Sima Qian did not list Huang San in Historical Records, but listed the Yellow Emperor at the top of the chronicle of the Five Emperors, and regarded the Yellow Emperor as our ancestor, which is very good. As for the specific time when the Yellow Emperor was alive, he did not say. Historical records of the AD. Three generations of world watches, he said: "The Yellow Emperor was in power for several years. But the year of the Five Emperors is not recorded. Probably because he thought the figures of those years were unreliable, he didn't adopt them, which shows that his academic research is rigorous and he won't take unfounded historical materials lightly. In this case, where did the year of the Yellow Emperor era used by later generations come from?
At present, some historical reference books contain chronologies of major events at home and abroad, including the year of the reign of the Yellow Emperor. According to the explanation of the Comparison Table of Huangdi Times used during the Revolution of 1911 attached to Cihai, the source of this fixed number of years is as follows:
"In every calendar year, People's Daily was accepted by most revolutionaries. After Wuchang Uprising, the proclamation of Hubei military government was based on this, and the proclamation of all provinces also adopted this theory. When Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president, he electrified all provinces. The Yellow Emperor was in 469 in the first year of the Republic of China. 」
But where did the era of People's Daily come from? It was originally calculated according to the relevant figures in ancient books. The process of this calculation is:
First of all, according to Shao Yong's Song Di Jing, the first year of Yao was called the first year, and then Lu determined that this year was equivalent to 2357 BC. In other words, Shao is not a historian, but a philosopher who is proficient in the study of image numbers. It is also a "Shu Shu" book, and its credibility can be imagined. The so-called "review and determination" lacks reliable data.
Secondly, the first year of Yao is known as 2357 BC. According to Huangfu Mi's calculation of time and year in Jin Dynasty, it is considered that there are five emperors above Yao, which lasted 34 1 year. Among them, Huangdi reigned in 100, Shao Hao Jintianshi reigned in 84 years, Zhuan Xu Levin reigned in 78 years, Di Ku Gaoxin reigned in 70 years and Zhi Zhi reigned in 9 years. According to this calculation, the first year of the Yellow Emperor should be 2698 BC. This Huangfu Mi is not a historian, but a doctor in Jin Dynasty, who is proficient in acupuncture. His book The Age of the Emperor is an amateur work. Whether it is credible depends on the year when the five emperors were in power, so it is not difficult for us to speculate. Don't say that this is the number of years when the five emperors were in power, just say that the life span of the five emperors is hard to believe.
The so-called "yellow emperor era" is just a bold guess, and there is no credible basis. From 2698 BC to this year, there are 4697 years, less than 5000 years, nearly 5000 years, which is the real source of the "5000 years" theory. In 2000, the Yellow Emperor era was adopted, but it was just "making the past serve the present". It was put forward by the revolutionary party in the late Qing Dynasty for the propaganda needs of "expelling Tatars and restoring China". It has not been carefully verified, so it is definitely not credible.
Besides the traditional old stories, what's new about the Millennium stories? Some people may suggest that the Hongshan Culture site in the northeast of China is only 5,000 years old, and Su, a famous archaeologist in China, also said that it is an ancient country with a history of 5,000 years. However, these new theories only appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, and the "5,000-year" theory began with the Revolution of 1911. So traditional old sayings are the only source of 5,000-year-old sayings.
The absence of the Yellow Emperor is the beginning of ancient history.
Sima Qian was punished, worked hard to write a book, got married, and created a style that has been used for thousands of years. It is essential to set an example. This is based on the whole "imperial century". However, it is quite lacking to start with the Yellow Emperor as an ancient history. We sincerely do not want to criticize the ancients, but in order to explore the truth of ancient history, we have to discuss its shortcomings.
Sima Qian ignored Fuxi and Shennong, which originated in the south before the Yellow Emperor, and regarded the Yellow Emperor, which originated in the northwest relatively late, as the ancestor of mankind and the beginning of ancient history. For whatever reason, the saying that the Yellow Emperor is the beginning of ancient history is divorced from the truth of history, leaving at least two sequelae for future generations.
One is the monism of China's civilization and history. Created an ancestor-the Yellow Emperor, a mother river-the Yellow River, a birthplace-the view of history of the Central Plains. This is inconsistent with historical facts. Not to mention that archaeological discoveries in recent decades have completely broken this monism, that is, when archaeological work has not yet begun and the older generation of scholars are still studying ancient history according to ancient books, Meng pointed out in the People's Daily that the Han nationality is a fusion of Heluo, Jianghan and Haidai. Xu teacher pointed out in Historical Records that the Han nationality is the fusion of three ethnic groups: Huaxia, Dongyi and Miaoman. Since then, Teacher Lin's Ancient History Wei Zhen has defined the origin of the Han nationality as a four-in-one-the fusion of Huaxia, Dongyi and Baiyue. Whether it is three-in-one or four-in-one, it is not a dollar.
Sima Qian, who established a monistic view of history, tried to fabricate a genealogy for the ancestor of mankind, Huangdi, in order to identify all the ancient sages and kings who belonged to different nationalities as descendants of Huangdi. This is indeed a failure in the book "Legendary Times of China Ancient History". In "The History of China", he has admitted that "a hundred schools of thought talk about the Yellow Emperor, and the prose is unruly, so it is hard to tell the teacher of the gentry". He remembered the deeds of the Yellow Emperor and had to "choose the one with particularly elegant words". How could he fabricate a family tree for such an unknown legend! It is neither necessary nor possible to compile genealogy for legends. The genealogy of Huangdi fabricated in Historical Records and Biography of Five Emperors cannot be justified. For example, Yao and Yu are the fourth grandchildren of the Yellow Emperor, and Shun is the eighth grandson. As a result, a big joke was made, that is, Shun married Yao's daughter to his great-grandmother, and Shun gave way to his fourth grandparents. It is difficult to organize all celebrities belonging to different regions and nationalities into descendants of one person and make an airtight genealogy table. Even if it can be done, it has nothing to do with historical facts, just playing word games.
The second is to set restrictions and cut off history. If you write history, you should start from scratch. Writing a biography of a person should start from birth, not from the moment he succeeds. Many nationalities in the world have their own myths and legends, which will be recorded in their own national history books. Only historical records are different. There are neither myths nor legends. The first sentence at the beginning is "Yellow Emperor, son of Shaodian". "This' Yellow Emperor' is the son of heaven, and the Hanwu in Sima Qian's life is the same son of heaven. In this case, the history of Chinese civilization before the Yellow Emperor was cut off, and the childhood of the Chinese nation was cut off. There are many beautiful and touching myths and colorful legends in "Daidai Li Ji". You can't find it in the Imperial Department. In the past, there was a discussion in our literary circles that China lacked gods and epics in ancient times. Compared with the rich Greek mythology, our short stories "Gong Yu Moves Mountains" and "Jingwei Reclaims the Sea" are inferior. Historical Records is just an anthology of folk songs from all over the world. Naturally, it can't catch up with the magnificent epic that others have sung for months. As far as our historical records are concerned, it is true. If we look at the people and look for them among ethnic minorities, especially those in the south, we will be surprised to find that there are rich myths and epics preserved in the people, and these myths and epics only stay in words. The past is unknown because "official history" is not accepted and recognized. It should have been darling's masterpiece, but it turned out to be an outcast.
Taking the Yellow Emperor as the framework of the beginning of ancient history is to set restrictions and cut off history. Before establishing a dynasty or a country, any nation in the world has to go through a long history of civilization development and national formation. Since our history books were written by the Yellow Emperor, the history of civilization and the history of national formation have been cut off. Every nation has a long history of matriarchal society. Our history books have been written since the Yellow Emperor entered the patriarchal society, and the history of the matriarchal society was cut off before. On the historical stage of the Chinese nation, the first protagonist, Huangdi, is portrayed as a great emperor who stoops and wears clothes and rules the world. All inventions and creations are concentrated on him alone, and all the cultural and martial arts of governing the country are recorded in his account. Is it too sudden? Just like the "Laozi" in folklore, he was born an old man with a white beard, so he was called Laozi. In fact, this is not the case in real history. There must have been a long history of civilization development and national formation before the Yellow Emperor. Now archaeological discoveries can be confirmed and lasted for thousands of years. Because our history books regard the Yellow Emperor as the beginning of ancient history, we have to try our best to compress the previous thousands of years into a hundred years of the existence of the Yellow Emperor. How can this be surprising!
If we want to restore the true colors of history and gradually restore the artificially compressed history based on archaeological discoveries, we should let ancient history move forward realistically, instead of taking the Yellow Emperor as the beginning of ancient history.
Western scholars say
Since westerners gained maritime hegemony and their fleets could sail freely around the world, western scholars have shown unprecedented concern about the history and culture of many nationalities in the world. Although it cannot be said that these scholars are doing research with the purpose of serving aggression, there will always be some white superiority and racial prejudice. Therefore, when they put forward new arguments about our history and culture, we really should give more consideration and not be credulous. The book Historical Records compiled by Professor TerriendeLacouperie of London University in 1894 is an example. He compared the ancient history of Babylon with that of China and thought that the Chinese nation came from Babylon. Its conclusion is almost arbitrary, and the arguments cited are rather reluctant and unconvincing. For example, it is said that Babylonian cuneiform is the source of China's gossip and characters, and China wheat was introduced from Babylon. The four seasons, leap month, 12 cycle and 60-year cycle all come from Babylon. In 2282 BC, Babylonian chief Naquint led cyclists eastward. This leader is the Yellow Emperor; Buck is what China called "common people". This theory holds that both Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation are foreign and have no origin with the mainland, which completely obliterates historical events such as Fuxi and Shennong before the Yellow Emperor. For China scholars who respect ancient books, it should be said that it is unacceptable. But after the advocacy of Japanese scholars, it was introduced to China, and even Zhang Taiyan and others believed it.
After more than ten years of debate, the "western theory" gradually disappeared until the archaeological work in China started and the Yangshao ancient cultural site was discovered. He Bingsong's book On the West of China's Ancient Civilization severely criticized the "West". He said, "Europeans are shocked by China's long history and its important position in world history, so they try their best to express the cultural origin of China to the west, so as to show that westerners have made great contributions to China. Lexbury took the initiative to "come to the west", regardless of whether he had this motive or not, but his attitude towards the study of Chinese civilization was very careless, so it is undeniable.
In the past century, among the four ancient civilizations in the world, Egypt ranks first in time, with a history of more than 6,000 years. For Babylon, more than five thousand years; India again, five thousand years; Finally, for Chinese civilization, more than 4,000 years. Some western scholars who are biased against us don't even admit that our civilization has a history of more than 4,000 years, but think that it is only 3,000 years. How is the length of civilization calculated? What is the arrangement order of the four ancient civilizations? This depends on how to interpret the concept of "civilization", and the right of interpretation has long been in the hands of western scholars. In their view, in order to say that a place or a nation has entered "civilization", four conditions must be met at the same time, and none of them is dispensable. These four conditions are:
First, there has been a systematic writing.
Second, there are already bronzes.
Third, there are already cities.
There is already a temple.
Regardless of the lifestyle of this nation, the geographical environment of this place, and the different social development paths of various ethnic groups, there is a one-size-fits-all approach. Those who meet my requirements will be admitted, otherwise they will be rejected by "civilization", as Teacher Lin said in his letter to me on February 24th 1998:
"
The root of western culture is the culture of nomadic people, and its basic spirit is quite different from that of farming people. According to their standards, the time to enter "civilization" is bound to suffer a big loss for China and Indian, two ancient civilizations that originated from farming culture. When the four ancient civilizations are in good order, Indian civilization and Chinese civilization always lag behind. That's why. It seems that to fight for fair treatment, we must have the right to speak, and many ethnic groups in the world must also have the right to speak. We can't always passively accept others' decisions.
How long is the history of civilization in China? Western scholars say:
First, at the beginning of the 20th century, they put forward the view that "Chinese civilization came from the West", and believed that Chinese civilization originated from ancient Babylonian civilization, with a total length of more than 4,000 years.
Second, in the middle of the 20th century, they restricted us on the condition that we entered the era of "civilization". According to their standards, the history of our civilization can only be counted from "Pan Geng moved to Yin", with a total length of only 3400 years.
Third, by the end of the 20th century, great changes had taken place. Thanks to the obscure efforts of archaeologists in China for decades, a large number of archaeological discoveries finally forced western scholars to change their views on China civilization again and again. How long is the history of civilization in China? For this question, they can only say: for the time being.
Please read the Chinese version of "Western Civilization" published by China Social Sciences Publishing House 1992, and the preface of the editor of the general loan auction exposed by "Financial Mirror", and you can understand why they "don't talk about it for the time being". This book is co-edited by British D Denis Twitchett and American Fei Zhengqing, and its representativeness is beyond doubt.
The preface of the editor-in-chief said: When the New Myth of the Origin of the Chinese Nation was compiled more than ten years ago, it was of course intended to start from the earliest period of China's history. However, in the years since we started writing this series, most of our knowledge about prehistoric China and the first millennium BC has changed due to a large number of archaeological discoveries. These discoveries began in the 1920s, and more and more progress has been made since 1970s. These new materials have changed our view of early history time and time again. So far, there is no recognized synthesis between these new evidences and traditional written records. Despite our repeated efforts, we tried to plan and write one or several volumes that can summarize the current situation of our early knowledge in China, but it turns out that we still can't do this. It may take 10 years to synthesize all new discoveries that may have lasting value. So, out of desperation, when we wrote The History of Qin and Han Dynasties in China in Cambridge, we started with the first two imperial regimes, Qin and Han.
Of course, they know that "all kinds of systems, literature and art, social forms and ideological beliefs in the Qin and Han dynasties are firmly rooted in the past, and they can't understand it without understanding this earlier history." They want to do it, but they can't. "I have to do it, I can't." They started writing from the Qin and Han Dynasties, and they had to do it "out of desperation". Western scholars are confident and domineering; Sometimes confession is lovely, and telling the truth "out of helplessness" is very valuable.
Write your own history.
You should write your own history, which is the simplest truth. It is the sacred duty of historians to clarify the layers of doubts and restore the true colors of history.
It is not difficult to write a new history book. Many scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of preparatory work. In addition, the framework of new history books has been put forward. Please refer to a passage in the article "Welcome the New Century of Archaeology in China —— Interview with Professor Su, Chairman of the China Archaeological Society", Cambridge History of ChinaNo. 199 1. Professor Su said to the interviewer:
"Today, the task of rebuilding China's ancient history is officially mentioned before the national historians and archaeologists, and the conditions are basically ripe. Its main sign is that the concept and context of reconstructing the ancient history of China have been basically clear. From a macro perspective, from the perspective of the world, and from the height of the combination of theory and practice, the framework and context of China's ancient history can be summarized as: "The cultural root of more than one million years, the beginning of tens of thousands of years of civilization, the ancient country of 5,000 years, and the unified entity of China of 2,000 years. This is the basic national condition of our history. 』」
In the new history books, in addition to a brief description of the "cultural roots of more than one million years", it also introduces the natural environment of Yuanmou people, Wushan people, Lantian people and Beijingers and the living conditions of early humans, which has entered the scope of the history of Chinese civilization and the history of the Chinese nation since 10 thousand years ago. Ten thousand years ago, five thousand years ago and two thousand years ago were three important milestones.
About 10 thousand years ago, our ancestors gradually moved from fishing and hunting to farming, began to settle down and entered the matriarchal society. Because food is guaranteed, we can invent, improve tools and develop production during the slack season. Since then, it has entered the threshold of "civilization". This is the legendary Fuxi Shennong era. From 5000 years ago to 10000 years ago, many ancient cultural sites were unearthed in the north and south, indicating that our farming civilization has begun to spread. The main crops in the south are rice and millet in the north. In civilized times, there are a large number of unearthed cultural relics as evidence, and no one needs to identify them for us.
About 5000 years ago, some square countries-polis appeared one after another. Because of the competition for cultivated land and pasture, a large-scale war took place, and the matriarchal society gave way to the paternal society. Bronze and iron appeared one after another. This is the legendary era of the Five Emperors headed by the Yellow Emperor, in which Xia, Shang and Zhou formed an alliance with tribes. From 5000 years ago to 2000 years ago, many countries annexed each other, from more to less, and finally became a unified feudal country.
Since two thousand years ago, many historical events are well known, so there is no need to repeat them.
Because we are used to saying "5,000 years" or "5,000 years of ancient civilization", when we suddenly say "10,000 years of Chinese civilization" or "10,000 years of China history", we may think that these two statements cannot coexist. In fact, "10,000 years" and "5,000 years" are just two different stages in the history of China.
Ten thousand years is the history of civilization, the history of Chinese civilization from the beginning to the gradual formation.
Five thousand years is a national history, a history in which many countries gradually merged into a unified feudal country.
China's 5,000-year history is written in the past, including mainland China, Taiwan Province Province and overseas, at least 100 years; There is not even a 10,000-year history of Chinese civilization or the history of the Chinese nation. Why not? It's also easy to understand. Because it was not until the 1970s that evidence was found to prove that Chinese civilization existed for 10,000 years. The report of Chengtoushan Ancient Culture Site in Hunan Province was published on1February 2, 9941day, only five years ago. Isn't it boastful to rush to write a perpetual calendar with insufficient evidence? Now that the conditions are ripe and the turn of the century is coming, it is a great event to write a new history book in the new century. Don't write at this time, but when!
In the past, when we only knew "five thousand years", we always thought that Chinese civilization originated in the hinterland of the Yellow River and the Chinese nation came from the Loess Plateau. Our civilization is mainland civilization, yellow civilization, and has the disadvantages of being closed and conservative, so we envy the pioneering spirit of other people's marine civilization and blue civilization. However, through the excavation of Hemudu ancient cultural site in 7000, we know that the Baiyue nationality of our ancestors, who ate rice, soup fish and tattooed hair, had already gone out to sea by canoe at that time and was the earliest maritime nationality in the world. Baiyue people were active in the vast Pacific Ocean by drifting from island to island, and migrated to Southeast Asia and islands in the 1960s.
Our previous archaeological work didn't start, and many inventions couldn't find the source. Western scholars point fingers and think that they are all foreign. For example, rice cultivation is said to have come from India, because Indian archaeology found that rice was cultivated 7000 years ago. Not long ago, artificial rice cultivated 9,000 years ago appeared in the Pengtoushan ancient cultural site in Lixian County, Hunan Province, which illustrated the problem with facts. Many difficult problems in the 5,000-year history have been solved one by one in the 10,000-year history. Because many things that can represent Chinese civilization were conceived in this period.
In the past, it was believed that Chinese civilization originated in the northwest and gradually spread to the south. Although a few scholars, such as Juxian Wei, an elderly historian, once said that Chinese civilization originated in the southeast and developed in the northwest, the lack of evidence did not have much impact. Now archaeological discoveries have repeatedly confirmed that anything that can represent the civilization of China, such as silk, tea, porcelain, lacquerware and so on. All originated in the south.
We often say that historical figures will be limited by history in their thoughts, but we seldom think that we will be limited by history books when we think about problems. Due to the misleading of traditional history books, we often think that we are children of the Loess Plateau, self-satisfied, not striving for progress, so everything lags behind others, lacking sufficient self-confidence, self-esteem and pride. If you read the new history books, you will know that our ancestors opened up a rich land of fish and rice in Jianghan Plain eight or nine thousand years ago. It is known that six or seven thousand years ago, our ancestors sailed on the southeast coast of the Pacific Ocean. You know, more than half of the 200 most important inventions of mankind in the world are the products of Chinese civilization. Knowing that Chinese civilization is 10,000 years ahead, and we are only 4% behind others, how will people in China feel? These historical events cannot be deafening; These historical events may be exciting!
We cherish the past and look forward to the future. If we don't make up our minds, go forward bravely and shoulder the historical responsibility of connecting the past with the future, we will always live up to our ancestors and future generations. From the past, we can know that we can draw strength from an unprecedented and relatively true new history book and be encouraged to move from the loess high slope to the blue sky and blue sea. The sea is wide and the fish jumps, and the sky is high and birds fly!