China is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world with a long history. About 5000 years ago, settlement organizations centered on the Central Plains began to appear, and thus a country was formed. After many ethnic exchanges and dynasty changes, the unified situation of multi-ethnic countries was finally formed. After the Revolution of 1911 in the early 20th century, the monarchy withdrew from the historical stage and a republic was established. 1949 after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the people's congress system was established in Chinese mainland.
China has a vast territory and many nationalities. The Chinese nation in the pre-Qin period thrived in the Central Plains. In the Han Dynasty, the Han nationality was formally formed through cultural blending, which laid the foundation for the main ethnic group in China. Later, through blending with neighboring nationalities, the situation of a unified multi-ethnic country was gradually formed, and the population was also rising. The population of China in Song Dynasty exceeded 1 100 million, and that in Qing Dynasty exceeded 400 million. By 2005, the population of China has exceeded1300 million.
Over the past five thousand years, the history of China has been divided into four stages, namely, the age of myth, the age of legend, the age of semi-belief and the age of belief. So how do they divide it?
Shen petrochemical belt
We are not sure when and how the history of China began.
This is a major and serious topic, which will force us to talk about the origin of the universe, the origin of mankind and the origin of China people, and we know little about it. Historians have at least ten different great theories on these issues, but they can't come to a conclusion. Usually some antiques or bones are dug up from the ground to infer the living conditions of the owner. The result can only provide a static explanation: the development of each nation is similar. For example, stone is used first, then bronze is used.
Every ancient nation has its own myth as the answer to the origin of the universe and the origin of the nation. China people are no exception. All these myths have their essential meanings, which can at least impress us deeply.
Now, let's see how the huge stage of China was unveiled.
Open the world.
I don't know how many billions of years ago, in ancient times, there was a huge star floating in space, very shaped like an egg, running in endless dark clouds. Everything is silent, everything is as silent as death. Just inside the superstar, there is a giant named Pangu who has been digging with his axe in an attempt to save himself from the siege. After 18,000 years of hard work, in 2760,480 BC (note that this year was calculated by theologians with strange spells), Pangu swung the last axe and only heard a loud noise, and the superstar was split in half by him.
Pangu is the ancestor of mankind, at least the ancestor of China people.
Half of the superstars on Pangu's head turned into gas and kept rising; At half the foot of the superstar, it became the earth, and it became thicker and thicker. The universe began to have heaven and earth. The sky rises three meters every day, the earth is three meters thick every day, and Pangu is three meters tall every day. The higher the sky and the thicker the ground, the bigger Pangu is (depending on the situation, Pangu is the only hero who can be called "indomitable spirit"). But it is as dark as ever, and the earth is lonely and cold. Pangu is very sad. He said, "The world is terrible. No light, no heat, no mountains, no water, nothing. Future generations cannot survive, and I must sacrifice myself. " So he died.
The death of Pangu triggered a series of new lives, and the world changed greatly after his death. His right eye became the sun; The left eye turned into the moon; Blood merges into rivers and seas; Hair becomes trees and flowers; Breath becomes wind; The sound turned into thunder. Happy smile turned into a sunny day; When you are worried, your sad face will become gloomy. And his limbs became the five mountains we introduced in the third section of the first chapter: the head became Mount Tai and Dongyue; Belly into Zhongyue Songshan; The left arm becomes Mount Hengshan in Nanyue; The right arm becomes Mount Hengshan in Beiyue; Feet into Xiyue Huashan. Pangu created a beautiful world for mankind.
However, in the eyes of China people, Tianshi is not Pangu. This is different from the Jews, who believe that the Lord created the world, that is, the Lord ruled the world. China's Pangu, whose task is only to create the world, was created by another god, known as the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor was invented by Taoism, and the people called him "Tianshi" or "God". He has a huge government agency in heaven, and various grotesque gods in Taoism and Buddhism serve as civil and military officials. Because his image is the projection of most emperors in the world, he will always be an imbecile.
From 2760 BC to 480 BC, that is, from the year of creation to 480 BC (this year, a unicorn was discovered in the small feudal country of Lu, which we will talk about later), totaling 2.76 million years, which mythologists divided into ten periods. Each cycle is 276,000 years, and each cycle has a specific name:
Yijiujin
25 Longteng Century
Give up one's life for oneself.
Sihe Luoji
Wulian period
Six stages of life
Seven flight trainings
Eight reasons to mention age
Jiuchan Tongji
A ten-year-old child
We can't see the significance of the division of ten periods, but it shows that the years are long. The descendants of Pangu continue to multiply, and the earth is getting more and more lively every day. Mythologists say that the following three great gods, known as "Huang San", appeared in succession from the tertiary period of Pangu 550,000 years ago. The original meaning of "emperor" is gods, but the gods are slightly inferior to Pangu and Jade Emperor, so we can call them second-class gods.
An emperor
Two rehmannias.
Saint Ren Huang.
The emperor was the first outstanding leader among Pangu descendants, with a life span of 18,000 years and twelve sons, who helped him to govern more and more people. Although these people are all descendants of Pangu, they are too old, covering all directions and five mountains. They have long been unfamiliar, and some have become enemies because of conflicts of interest, and disputes have emerged one after another. The emperor divided them into several tribes, and each tribe elected or appointed a capable person as its chief. Since then, the people of China have become an organized nation with the embryonic form of the country.
After the emperor died, he was born in Longer Mountain (the mythical fairy mountain) for tens of thousands of years, with a life span of 18,000 years and eleven sons. At that time, the sun and the moon changed from Pangu's eyes, and the stars changed from eyelashes, and the operation order was suddenly out of order. Sometimes days are daytime, and sometimes days are night. Some stars hang very low. If you walk carelessly, you will bump your head. The emperor promoted one by one with his unparalleled power. He first determined the time when the sun and the moon appeared, and made them rise and fall regularly, so that day and night could be distinguished. It is also stipulated that 30 days is a month and 12 months is a year, so that people can know the calculation method of time and age. The Yellow Emperor also ordered all the stars to rise to the distant sky. Of course, the stars are very boring there, so Rehmannia deliberately let them sleep at home during the day and come out to visit their old friends left on the ground at night. This is why we can't see the stars during the day, but at night.
Ren Huang was born in Xingmashan (the mythical fairy mountain) and lived for 15600 years. There are nine younger brothers, all of whom are miraculous and proficient in magic. Ren Huang divided China into nine states and ordered his younger brothers to be governors of one state each. He himself lives in the center of Kyushu and travels a lot. While patrolling, I was sitting in a car that could run in the air like a cloud. The driver has six wings and moves as fast as lightning.
Erwu family
Thanks to Huang San's efforts, the world has made great progress, but people's lives are still very difficult. At first, they just climbed to the tree to pick fruit and eat it, and then they progressed from the picking stage to the fishing and hunting stage (they must make progress, because the fruit on the tree will be picked and there will be no fruit to eat in winter), but they can only eat live fish, shrimp and small animals, which is no different from wild animals. Everyone lived in a cave, and later there were many caves, so those who were finally pushed out of the cave had to develop in the plain. The plain can't resist the sudden attack of wild animals and wind and rain, and everyone, including those in caves, can't resist the diseases caused by cold and raw food, resulting in a large number of deaths.
Great figures of various gods came into being. After Huang San, the following five dynasties appeared. It's a pity that we can't know when and when they appeared.
Yiyou supermarket
A two-year-old surname
Sanfu Xishi
Snowash
Wu Shennong
The original meaning of "teacher" is also god, but the divinity seems to be less than "yellow", so it can be classified as third class.
The first one to appear is the one who teaches people not to live on the ground. He built a simple crown on the tree with branches and leaves. As a demonstration, this is the original house, which can at least avoid wild animals and floods. People learn from him, and the building technology is improving day by day. Later, even if you move to the ground, it will have the same effect.
Then came Suiren, who revealed the biggest secret in the sky to mankind, that is, "fire". Fire is everywhere, but no one knows how to get it. Suiren taught people to drill it out of the wood. When people have fire, they will part ways with all other animals forever. Other animals can't use fire all the time, but people change to eat cooked food because of fire, and their lifestyle presents an epoch-making breakthrough.
Fu is the third god to appear. He seems to be more powerful than the two predecessors before him. He taught people how to cook with fire, and since then people have enjoyed delicious food, which is the bud of art; He further made the Eight Diagrams, the earliest counting script in China, which was later used by astrologers for divination. Officials are also set up to manage the people, and officials draw a dragon to show their noble status; Invented musical instruments; And teach men and women to fix their spouses; The husband and wife system has also been established, and children can only be born after the wedding ceremony, so that the next generation can be well educated by their parents; And make fishing nets to teach coastal residents to fish; It also teaches people to dig traps, catch live animals, train them into livestock, teach people to cultivate mulberry trees, raise silkworms and spin silk.
However, we must thank the fourth goddess, Nu Wa, who saved the world created by Pangu and dominated by the Jade Emperor, and saved it from destruction, and it still exists today. She is a beautiful goddess, slim as a snake, so that some mythologists insist that she is a snake at all. At that time, there were two heroes: Gong Gong and Zhu Rong, who were fighting in Buzhou Mountain (the mythical fairy mountain)-we are not sure whether it was for her love. As a result, Gonggong failed. He was so angry that he hit his head on Butou Mountain. After a terrible noise, Bu Zhoushan was knocked off. No, Zhoushan Mountain is the main pillar between heaven and earth. When the pillar broke, heaven immediately opened a huge crack. The earth lost its balance and tilted sharply to the southeast. In a flash, there was a storm, and the sun and the moon were dark. Humans ran around shouting and watched them roll down the dark abyss like gravel. Nu Wa couldn't bear the catastrophe, so she burned the five-color stone on the mountain. After refining, she used them to fill the cracks in the sky. Now those bright and dazzling Xia Hong in the sky are the colorful boulders fabricated by the Nuwa family. She killed another unlucky tortoise and used its four feet as four pillars to support the earth again. Because the sky cracked and leaked heavily, Nuwa burned the ash with reed and sucked it dry. This is the truth of the Central Plains-the Great Plains of North China. They are paved with reed grass ash, so they are flat and fertile.
When human beings no longer worry about the sky falling apart, they are troubled by two other things: one is that they don't know what to eat and what not to eat, and the other is that they don't know how to treat diseases. So the fifth god Shennong appeared. He collected all kinds of flowers and fruits, chewed them in his mouth and ate them one by one to determine their properties and functions. As a result, even if he is a god, sometimes he will be poisoned more than 70 times a day. Fortunately, unlike ordinary humans, he was not poisoned in the end. Finally, he finally split up.
Don't list what you can eat and what you can't eat, and what you can use as medicine. He wrote a magnum opus called Materia Medica, which recorded the characteristics of various drugs in detail. This book spread to the 20th century and is the noblest and most authoritative classic of China medicine. Shennong named some edible plants "wheat", "rice", "sorghum" and "corn" to teach people to grow them. He also taught people to keep some tame beasts at home, that is, the ancestors of what we now call dogs, horses, cows and pigs. China's agricultural society was completed under the guidance of this great god. East-west world
So much for the mythical era.
Some historians despise the substantial position of myth in history, but myth is the soul of a nation. If there is no myth in a nation's history, it is just a group of puppets. From the content of myth, we can understand the life background and humanistic reaction of early people. All myths are full of contradictions, and sometimes they simply don't know what to say. The same is true of China's myth, but it proved to be the product of primitive people. If it was made up by a modern novelist, it would be impeccable.
Legendary times
Legendary period: also known as legendary period, ancient period, ancient period, three emperors and five emperors period or mythological period, in China, it refers to the historical period before Xia Dynasty. Chinese ape-man (early1700,000 years, late 400,000 years) only left the primitive Paleolithic culture underground, and the myths and legends at that time could not be handed down. Until about six or seven thousand years ago, all localities went to the prosperous period of matriarchal clan commune in different forms, leaving behind the Neolithic culture. At this time, all ethnic groups have their own totem worship, religion and mythology, but they are often hazy memories or descriptions combined with later religious thoughts. About five or six thousand years ago, various places entered the patriarchal society one after another, with rich myths and legends.
patriarchal clan
The earliest fairy tales and historical legends are always fairy tales of clans and tribes about the origin and ancestors of their own clans or tribes. Such myths and legends are recorded in historical documents, gradually from simple to complex, from lack of system to systematization, from strong divinity to humanity, from pure myth to historical story. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period, it was the evolution and change period of ancient historical myths and legends in China. In the Han dynasty, it was historical and stereotyped.
The ancient historical myths and legends in the documents of the Western Zhou Dynasty are the earliest documents reflecting ancient national myths and legends, and are some chapters belonging to the Western Zhou Dynasty in poetry books (including the remains of Xia and Shang documents processed during the Western Zhou Dynasty). There are also hexagrams in the Book of Changes, which do not clearly reflect some ancient myths and legends of Shang and Zhou Dynasties with historical facts as the background.
The ancient myths and legends seen in these documents only say that both Shang and Zhou families were born of gods and lived in a land spread by gods. Before Shang Dynasty, there was Xia, and Xia, Shang and Zhou were handed down one after another, living in the territory of "Yuji". Xia and Zhou are descendants of the western soil, and Yin and Shang are tribes of the East. The poem "Daya" says that the marriage family of the Zhou Dynasty has been the Chiang family since its ancestors. According to Xing, there are both Miao families and Li families.
An era of semi-belief in history
The historical era of semi-belief is also called ancient times and ancient times. The historical period of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
The era of semi-trust history is a lax era, which is often a blank for hundreds of years. During this long period, the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the lower reaches of the Weihe River witnessed the rise of three dynasties:
Founded in the Xia Dynasty before the 23rd century.
The second Shang Dynasty was founded before18th century.
Founded in the three-week era before 12 century.
There is a phenomenon in the history of China, that is, when every political power is established, it is necessary to publish a country name belonging to its own political power. When this regime ruled the whole country, the name of the country became the name of the dynasty. Therefore, the era of division and chaos is opposite, and there are many countries, so we should use the country name. In the era of national reunification, we used the dynasty number. However, it must be understood that in the history of China, there is no difference between country names and dynasty names.
Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties are connected, so historians call them "three generations", and we can also call the dubious historical era three generations.
The historical era of semi-belief began in the 23rd century BC and ended in the 8th century BC, about 1500 years.
Xia dynasty (about 2 1 century BC-about16th century BC) was the first hereditary dynasty recorded in China's history books. It is generally believed that Xia Dynasty was a country with multiple tribal alliances or complex chiefdom forms. There are a certain number of bronze and jade ritual vessels in the cultural relics of the Xia Dynasty, dating from the late Neolithic Age to the early Bronze Age.
According to historical records, Yuchuan, located in Zi Qi, changed the abdication system of primitive tribes, and initiated the hereditary precedent of China for nearly 4,000 years. In the history of China, "home is the world" began with the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.
1 1 tribes of Xia nationality are related to the central royal family in Xia Houshi by blood, political enfeoffment and economic tribute, which roughly constitute the core territory of Xia dynasty. Xia Dynasty started from the west of Henan Province and the south of Shanxi Province, to the junction of Henan Province, Shandong Province and Hebei Province in the east, to the north of Hubei Province in the south and to the south of Hebei Province in the north. The geographical centers of this area are today's Yanshi, Dengfeng, Xinmi and Hebei Province.
The Xia Dynasty was passed down for fourteen generations, and lasted for about 47 1 year after seventeen years (the ruler of the Xia Dynasty was called "Hou" when he was in office and "Emperor" after his death), which was destroyed by the Shang Dynasty. Later generations often call themselves "Huaxia", making it synonymous with China. There are many records about the Xia Dynasty in China's traditional literature, but because they were all written late, no known records have found the direct existence of the Xia Dynasty. Therefore, the existence of Xia Dynasty has been questioned by modern historians. Erlitou culture discovered in western Henan and southern Shanxi has the basic conditions of Xia culture era and geographical location, but the existence of Xia Dynasty has not been confirmed because of the failure to find written records similar to those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins. Many Chinese and foreign historians believe that the first, second or whole period of Erlitou site in yanshi city, Henan Province is the remains of the capital of Xia Dynasty, but they are still looking for conclusive evidence to clarify it.
Shang Dynasty, also known as Yin and Shang Dynasty, is the second dynasty in China's history and the first one in China with direct written records. Shang Tang, the tribal leader of Xia Dynasty's vassal states, led the vassal states to establish Shang Dynasty in Bo (now Shangqiu) after defeating Xia Hou in the battle of Mingtiao. Since then, the Shang State has frequently migrated, and it was not until its descendant Pan Geng moved to Yin (now Anyang) that it settled down, and its capital was Yin for 273 years.
From BC 1600 to BC 1046, it went through three stages. The second stage is "early business"; The third stage was "Late Shang Dynasty", which lasted for 600 years from 17 to 3 1 year.
Shang Zhouwang, the last king, set himself on fire after being defeated by Zhou Wuwang in the battle of Makino. The excavation of Yin Ruins confirmed the existence of Shang Dynasty in China. Shang Dynasty was the heyday of slavery, and slave owners and nobles were the ruling class. A huge bureaucracy and army have been formed. The records of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen are the earliest systematic characters in China. During the Shang Dynasty, there were also developed non-Central Plains civilizations in the Yangtze River basin. The Zhou Dynasty (about 1 1 century-256 years before) was the dynasty after the Shang Dynasty in China history. Zhou is also the creator and original referent of the word "Huaxia". The Zhou dynasty was shared.
The other is 868, separated by more than one hundred years.
The problem is that the founding year of the Zhou Dynasty has never been confirmed.
The Zhou Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Western Zhou Dynasty (165438+mid-20th century -77 1 year ago) and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 years ago). The Western Zhou Dynasty was founded by Ji Fa, Zhou Wuwang, with Haojiang (Zhou Zong) as its capital and Luoyi as its eastern capital in the fifth year of Wang. In 770 BC (the first year of Zhou Pingwang), Pingdong moved eastward, and Luoyi was its capital. Since then, this period of the Zhou Dynasty has been called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty, also known as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, is divided into two parts.
The Zhou Dynasty was the third and last hereditary slavery dynasty in China, and then the Qin and Han Dynasties began to become a unified country with a unified government from the central government to the local government. History books often refer to the Western and Eastern Zhou Dynasties as two weeks.
Before the demise of Shang Dynasty, Zhou tribe originated from Huaxia (Han nationality). Due to the intrusion of nomadic tribes such as Rong and Di, the leader of Zhou tribe led Zhou people to move to the lower plain of Qishan (now the northeast of Qishan County, Shaanxi Province) to settle down. His ancestors who lived in the Weihe River valley (Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province) abandoned Hou Ji and were called the god of agriculture. Shuowen said that "the Yellow Emperor lived in Jishui (said to be Qishui River in Wugong County, central Shaanxi Province, and said to be near huangling county in northern Shaanxi Province, and both rivers were tributaries of Weihe River), taking Ji as the surname, and Zhou people inherited his surname", and the language was ancient Chinese.
Xinshi times
The era of historical trust refers to the era when words or unearthed cultural relics recorded the social situation at that time, which was later called the era of historical trust. On the contrary, it is an era of doubt or legend.
China entered the era of trust history, which began in the first year of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The history of trust is well documented. As we all know, China began to record its history in words from 84 BC1year (the so-called first year of the Western Zhou Dynasty), and it has continued to this day without interruption.
Mr. Bai Yang said in the Outline of China People's History that this is one of the greatest contributions of China people to human civilization ~
Because other ancient civilizations of the same period are either not recorded at all, or although they are recorded, the records have been lost, and it is up to archaeologists to dig hard to get the fragments ~
(Note: I learned from Gu Zhun's Greek City-State System that the era of Greek history began in 776 BC. Before that, historians almost unanimously classified Greek history as a legendary era ~)
What does this mean? This means that the history of China before 84 1 BC is not credible ~
Some people may say, how dare you doubt the credibility of historical records? Historical Records clearly records the biographies of the five emperors Xia Benji and Yin Benji. Are those unbelievable?
Come on, Sima Qian was from the Western Han Dynasty. What did Sima Qian mean when he wrote Xia Benji and Yin Benji in Biography of Five Emperors since China began to record history in words in 84 1 BC?
Moreover, Xia Benji, Yin Benji and Zhou Benji in Biography of Five Emperors all recorded the history of nearly two thousand years. Why does it account for less than 5% of the historical records? Why didn't Sima Qian preach independently for anyone during this period?
The answer is obvious, because there are so few things left for Sima Qian's reference in this period ~
If you don't believe me, you can check the historical records. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties of the Five Emperors, only a few people and their deeds were recorded by Sima Qian, and the rest were a lot of historical gaps, some of which were blank for hundreds of years. What happened in the meantime? God knows ~
For example, there are two paragraphs in Shiji Xiabenji that are like this:
"Kang collapse, the emperor. The emperor collapsed, and the son emperor Shao Kang. Emperor Shaokang collapsed and the son emperor stood. The emperor collapsed and the son emperor stood upright. Emperor Huai collapsed, and the son emperor stood upright. The headstrong emperor collapsed, and the son emperor vented. The emperor fell, but the son emperor did not stand down. The emperor does not collapse, but the younger brother stands. The emperor collapsed and the son emperor stood up. The Emperor collapsed and made Di Zi and Kong Jia Emperor Kong Jia. Emperor Kong Jiali, good ghosts and gods, things * *. Xia Houshi's moral decay, vassal side. There are two dragons in the sky, a male and a female. Kong Jia can't eat them, so he didn't get their names. Tao and Tang declined, followed by Liu Lei, who followed Rao Long's example and called on the dragons to serve the Kongs. Confucius named him the Royal Dragon's Family, which was accepted by Qian Wei. When a dragon dies, it feeds on Xia Hou. Xia Hou begged and walked away in fear.
Kong Jia collapse, son emperor Korea. When the emperor Gao collapses, the emperor Zi stands. When the emperor collapsed, the son emperor stood upright for Jie. "
Don't you think the record is too short?
So many emperors (or tribal alliance leaders) only left their names. What did they do?
Perhaps, these names are all problematic ~
Of course, historical researchers can study history not entirely by literature, but also by archaeology ~
In my humble opinion, archaeological achievements are credible in many ways because they are obtained through scientific means ~