Where does the Central Plains refer to?

The Central Plains is divided into broad sense and narrow sense. The "Central Plains" in a broad sense refers to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, including most of Henan Province and parts of southern Hebei Province, southern Shanxi Province, eastern Shaanxi Province and western Shandong Province around Henan Province. It is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and the cradle of the Chinese nation. The narrow sense of "Central Plains" refers to Henan. The so-called "Central Plains" usually refers to the narrow sense of "Central Plains", that is, Henan. Because Henan is not only the ancestral home of most people in China, but also the political, economic and cultural center of China for most of its history. The period of Five Emperors is the period from the origin of Central Plains civilization factors to the formation of Central Plains civilization society, which can be divided into two stages: the middle and late Yangshao culture and the Longshan culture. In the middle and late period of Yangshao culture, the origin and accumulation of civilization factors, the development level of Central Plains culture and surrounding cultures are the same, and they are in a parallel development period. At this time, the central plains occupied the position of geographical center, but it has not yet achieved the position of political and cultural center. During the Longshan culture period, the primary civilization was gradually formed, the comprehensive strength was obviously enhanced, and the central position of the Central Plains civilization began to be clear. From Yangshao culture to Erlitou culture and then to Longshan culture, the civilized factors in the Central Plains showed a rapid growth trend during this period, which was in obvious contrast with the cultures in the surrounding areas at the same time. Majiabang-Liangzhu culture, which was once brilliant, was driven to the end by Maqiao culture. Dawenkou culture in Shandong experienced the decline from Longshan culture to Yueshi culture. During Yangshao culture period, Dawenkou culture in Shandong and Qujialing culture in Jianghan area both extended to the east and south of Henan in the Central Plains. This situation changed after entering the Longshan culture period. Dawenkou culture in Shangqiu, Zhoukou, Xuchang and Zhengzhou, Henan, either returned to Shandong or merged with the local area, and was completely replaced by Longshan culture in Henan. Qujialing and Shijiahe cultures in southwest Henan also suffered the same fate. This phenomenon reflects the historical truth of the strong expansion of Central Plains culture. On the basis of constantly absorbing the surrounding civilization factors, the Central Plains culture has further improved social productivity and has always been ahead of other cultures. Marked by the establishment of Xia Dynasty, it established Wang Zhongwang's position in Chinese civilization. Taking the elements of civilization as an example, bronze smelting, which can be used as a symbol of the new era, gradually became popular in Longshan period. Many bronze smelting and casting relics have been found in the Central Plains, including the bronze measuring pieces unearthed in Wang Chenggang and Dengfeng and the bronze chimes of Taosi site (northeast of Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province), which represented the highest level of bronze casting technology at that time. Subsequently, a large number of bronze weapons and ritual vessels were unearthed from Erlitou cultural site, showing the elegance of Central Plains civilization. During the Yangshao culture period in the Central Plains, only an ancient city in Xishan, Zhengzhou was discovered. The ancient city of Longshan era is only in Henan province, and there are six places that have been discovered, such as Anyang Hougang, Huaiyang Pingliangtai, Dengfeng Wang Chenggang, Yancheng Haojiatai, Huixian Mengzhuang and Xinmi Ancient City Village. There may be more discoveries of contemporary urban sites in the future. Behind the appearance of a large number of castles in Longshan era is the drastic change of the whole society and the concentration of war, plunder, power and wealth. A primary civilized society in which many countries coexist has emerged in the Central Plains. From the tortoise shell carving in Peiligang, Xinzheng County (the early Neolithic culture) and the carving symbols in Yangshao, to the Wen Tao and bone carving characters in Taosi, Wang Chenggang, Chang 'an, Shaanxi Province, there is a continuous connection with Oracle Bone Inscriptions in later generations. There is no doubt about Wen Tao's writing function in Erlitou site. 1975, a castle site equivalent to Xia Dynasty was discovered in Dongxia fengcun, Xia County, Shanxi Province. The castle is large in scale and reasonable in layout, including residential sites, artificial ditches, pottery kilns, wells, caves and tombs. A large number of stone tools, bones and pottery were unearthed, as well as some bronzes. There are as many as 35 architectural relics similar to Dongxiafeng Castle in the south of Shanxi, starting from Linfen in the north, reaching the Yellow River in the south, Yicheng in the east and Hejin in the west. These findings coincide with the "Great Summer" and "Summer Site" described by Jizhou, Taiyuan and Zhou people. According to ancient documents, the main active areas of Xia people include Fenhe, Yuehe and Sushui basins in southern Shanxi, yi river, Luohe and basins in western Henan, and even Guanzhong Plain. In recent years, the discovery and excavation of Taosi site in Xiangfen contributed to the confirmation and breakthrough of early summer culture. There are more than 100 cultural relics in Taosi, including city sites, residential sites, tombs, complete sets of ritual vessels, bronzes and so on. Taosi culture has very distinct characteristics of the times: first, a number of painted pottery such as pots, bottles, cans, plates and beans have been unearthed, among which Panlong Tao Pan painted is regarded as the symbol of central China and a collection of primitive tribal totems; Second, a batch of painted wooden products, including cases, tables, boxes, plates, buckets, beans and drums, were unearthed, which reflected some social conditions in that particular era. Third, a number of farm tools and several wells have been unearthed, which shows that people have mastered the technology of drilling wells at that time, and their living places can be free from the restrictions of water sources and their activities can be further expanded; The fourth is the discovery of bronzes and characters in the remains. A bronze bell with a copper content of nearly 98% was unearthed in the tomb, which proved that people had mastered metallurgical technology at that time. A flat earthenware pot unearthed at the residential address, with a writing brush on the pottery wall, is very similar to the homograph in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. This is the earliest writing brush in China so far. Fifth, there are more than 1,000 tombs in Taosi, which shows obvious grade or class differences. Among the five tombs with the highest rank, ritual vessels such as drums and special pianos were unearthed, which is the earliest treasure of similar musical instruments found in China. Taosi culture shows the world that the ritual and music system, class differences and national forms in the Central Plains region have sprouted or are taking shape at this time, which indicates that the southern Shanxi region radiates the brilliant light of the arrival of the Chinese civilization era. Now when we say Central Plains, we generally mean Henan Province. In fact, the Central Plains refers to Henan for a simple reason: in ancient times, it was said that "those who win the Central Plains win the world", and Henan was also a long-term political and cultural center from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to China in the Northern Song Dynasty. So this Central Plains is the vast central region represented by Henan.