The beginning of the history of Chinese civilization has been questioned. Where was the earliest China?

It is a sunny day. Standing on the Qiufeng Tower of Houtu Temple on the east bank of the Yellow River in Miaoqian Village, Wanrong County, looking to the west, you can clearly see the lush green space in the foothills on the other side. . On the opposite bank is Gaomen Village, Weidong Township, Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province. The green land is the ancestral tomb of Sima Qian, known as the sage of Chinese history.

On the morning of October 14, nearly 30 people from Beijing, Taiyuan and other places gathered in Houtu Temple. Coming down from Qiufeng Tower, they set off towards their final destination, the Erlitou site in Henan Province. During the five-day "Earliest China-Discovering Chinese Culture Investigation" trip, the team members may have been infinitely close to the earliest China.

A The Questioned Beginning of the History of Chinese Civilization

The Qiufeng Tower is built on a high platform at the intersection of the Fen River and the Yellow River. It is part of the Hou Tu Temple. Houtu Temple was built because Chinese emperors of all dynasties worshiped Houtu, the mother of all living beings, here. According to legend, Nuwa, the queen of Houtu, used the mud from this land to create the earliest Chinese people. Nuwa is also the legendary female ancestor of the Chinese people. Another theory is that she was the sister and wife of Fuxi, one of the Three Emperors. The union of brother and sister produced the earliest Chinese people. Xuanyuan Huangdi, one of the ancestors of the Chinese people, is said to be the first person to worship here. The Yellow Emperor regarded this place as the place of their ancestors. It seems that all Chinese people go here to recognize their ancestors, right? It seems that this place is the origin of Chinese civilization.

But the fact is that from a real historical perspective, it is doubtful whether a person like Huang Di existed.

Where are our Chinese roots? Where is the origin of Chinese civilization? Where did the earliest China emerge? When should we start telling the history of China? These are all questions.

The "Historical Records" written by the historian Sima Qian who was buried on the other side of the Yellow River and numerous Chinese documents that can be regarded as historical works seem to have the answer. They talk about the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors all the way to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, which are in the same line. The genealogy can be checked, and the five thousand years of Chinese civilization history seem to be eloquent and grand.

However, when scholars studied these classical documents from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties, they found that the records were very flawed. The "Shang Shu", which is regarded as the earliest history book in my country, says that the history of China begins with Yao and Shun; It was written in the "Zhuangzi" and "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" in the middle of the Warring States Period. Three emperors and five emperors appeared. There is no specific explanation of who the three emperors and the five emperors were. The "Historical Records" of the Western Han Dynasty has records of the Yellow Emperor, but Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty regarded Fuxi as the Chinese The beginning of history. In the "San Wu Li Ji" of the Three Kingdoms era, it was believed that Pangu created the world and was the ancestor of China. It seems that the later a historian is born, the longer he can trace Chinese history.

Obviously, it is obviously unreliable to talk about history simply by referring to literature and classics. Moreover, regarding the fundamental question of how humans came into being, the answer given by the ancient Chinese is very similar to that of Western religions, that is, it was given by heaven. The gods in heaven made mistakes in their lifestyle and gave birth to humans. After the publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and Huxley's "Evolution of Heaven", this statement was denied.

And in the West, because of the establishment of archeology, the beginning of Chinese history has been questioned: Forget about those documents where literature, legends and historical facts are entangled, show us the evidence! Some modern Chinese scholars who accepted Western theories have therefore proposed that China had "no history before the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" and set the beginning of Chinese civilization in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Pangu, Nuwa and even Yao and Shun did not exist, directly cutting off the history of Chinese civilization. for more than two thousand years. What is even more unacceptable is that for a period of time, the origin of Chinese civilization was even believed by Western scholars to have originated in the West.

Of course, these conclusions were overturned at the beginning of the development of archaeology in China. Until now, China's archaeological achievements have been able to prove that the genealogical records of the Shang Dynasty in "Historical Records" written by Sima Qian are conclusive. .

Shang has no problem, so are the records about Yao, Shun and Xia in "Historical Records" conclusive?

Chinese archeology is still unable to answer this question, and more question marks have been added to this question.

B Where is the earliest China

Wang Hairong, a Shanxi Wanrong native who was born and raised in Qinghai, is now the executive chairman of Singapore RH Energy Group. In 3 years Recently, because his parents returned to Yuncheng to settle down, he himself returned to Yuncheng frequently. From the people he met and the many cultural relics he saw, he found that southern Shanxi was a fertile ground for the origin of Chinese civilization. However, this view he accepted was challenged by another person, Qu Xiangdong, the former host of CCTV.

Because of his interest in history and culture, Wang Hairong participated in a project planned by Qu Xiangdong - retracing the path of Xuanzang. After that, the two became friends. During many trips together, Wang Hairong and Qu Xiangdong A debate began: Where is the origin of China? Qu Xiangdong once photographed the archeology of the Erlitou Cultural Site in Yanshi City, Henan Province. Based on expert explanations, he believed that it was the earliest place in China, not southern Shanxi.

During the debate, they found that not only the two of them, but also the Chinese people in general could not explain such an important issue clearly. “I settled in Singapore and often lived in Toronto, Canada. I also traveled to many countries and found that many foreign places and even small towns have decent museums about their history.

But many of us know too little about China’s history. "Wang Hairong said.

The result of the dispute was that Wang Hairong himself joined some entrepreneurial friends in Shanxi to donate money and established a "Discover China Fund" at the China Women's Development Foundation in September 2010. Qu Xiangdong Becoming the planner of "Discover China", a cultural project that popularizes Chinese history to the Chinese public, the fund project office was established in Beijing Xingzhi Media Culture Co., Ltd., where Qu Xiangdong is the boss. "The total amount of this fund now is more than 400. Ten Thousand Yuan, the purpose is to explore the psychological process of the origin and prosperity of Chinese civilization through in-depth intellectual experience, and to deeply understand how the roots of Chinese civilization determine our thinking, behavior, and even national character today. " Qu Xiangdong said.

After three road explorations in Yuncheng, Linfen, Shanxi and Yanshi, Henan, we determined a route starting from Wanrong Houtu Temple and ending at Xiangfen Dingcun ruins, Taosi ruins, Houma Jin State Copper Casting Workshop, Yuanquzhong Tiaoshan Copper Mine Site, Xiyin Village in Xia County, Zhoujiazhuang Site in Jiang County, Yuncheng Salt Pond and Chishen Temple, Pinglu Yuban Ancient Salt Road, all the way to the Erlitou Site in Yanshi, Henan Inspection route.

In October this year, the "Earliest China-Discovering Chinese Culture Inspection" project began to form a team for the first time. This is a relatively special inspection team, and experts from Shanxi Province will follow throughout the process. Wang Yiren, researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Paleolithic research expert, Professor Li Yanxiang who studies metallurgical archeology at the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials History, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Li Baiqin, researcher and deputy director of the Yuncheng Cultural Relics Bureau, deputy editor-in-chief of the Sichuan CPPCC, well-known writer, "Li Jizhuan" The author Chen Daijun, guests included Bian Yufang, a social activist, essayist and disciple of Mr. Ji Xianlin, Zhang Weiying, an economist, professor and former dean of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, as well as reporters from many media, travelers, photographers, and Many of the teammates who originally participated in Xuanzang's journey are entrepreneurs from Beijing, Shanxi, and Henan.

The team of experts who have agreed to participate in the explanations in various places is also eye-catching. They are the hosts of Taosi. He Tu, captain of the Shanxi working team of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Gao Qingshan, director of the Houma Jin Expo Park and Copper Casting Heritage Park, Li Zhulin, salt culture expert and director of the Hedong Museum, the second excavator of Xiyin Village, Tian Jianwen, a researcher at the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, Dai Xiangming, director of the Archeology Department of the National Museum, and Xu Hong, director of the Xia Shangzhou Research Office of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and leader of the Erlitou Archaeological Team

As China’s economy that has attracted much attention. Scientist, why is Zhang Weiying interested in participating in such a historical and cultural event? On the afternoon of the 18th, after an 8-kilometer trek through the Yuban Ancient Road, the reporter asked Professor Zhang Weiying who was walking on the road.

He told the reporter. , he is not here for leisure: “I have two purposes for coming. First, as a Chinese, I should understand China’s history; second, I hope to go beyond my professional studies and cultivate myself through such activities. "For this event, he had to make time in his busy schedule.

C Experience archaeological work and experience ancient civilization

Learn and experience ancient humans' understanding of Paleolithic tools in Dingcun After the construction, on the evening of the 14th, the team members set up tents for camping at the Taosi Temple ruins in Xiangfen. The content of the activity was to observe the celestial phenomena at night and watch the sunrise at the restored Taosi Ancient Observatory ruins early the next morning.

There is a saying in ancient Chinese books and documents that "Yao had his capital in Pingyang, Shun's capital was Puban, and Yu had his capital in Anyi." Pingyang is now Linfen, Puban is in Yongji, Yuncheng, and Anyi is in today's Xia County. That is to say, the three ancient Chinese sages all established their center of rule in southern Shanxi today. If this statement is true, it will be difficult to argue that Chinese civilization started in southern Shanxi. However, archaeology is needed to provide evidence for this. . In 1979, Taosi discovered the ruins of an ancient city that dates back more than 30 years. For more than 30 years, experts from the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have discovered that the Taosi ruins contain many elements of the kingdom that have not yet been discovered by the West. The recognized "early China" is probably there. In China, there was a saying that "the capital of the emperor was Zhong, so it was called China". The location of Taosi Temple was discovered after the restoration of the ancient observatory ruins and Gui and Piao. It is located "in the middle of heaven and earth", and experts further boldly speculate based on archaeological discoveries and ancient documents that the Taosi site is not only the site of Yao's capital, but may even be the capital of Yao and Shun.

Early on the morning of the 15th, the team members greeted the rising sun from the ancient observatory ruins. When the sunlight cast a beam of light from between two of the 13 observatory pillars and shone on their faces, they felt a sense of excitement and reverence for their ancestors. The feeling arose spontaneously.

Afterwards, the team members experienced excavations at the Zhoujiazhuang archaeological site, followed the footsteps of Mr. Li Ji, the father of Chinese archeology, in Xiyin Village, and came to Yuncheng Salt Lake, which played an important role in ancient Chinese civilization. On the 18th, at the Erlitou site in Henan, Dr. Xu Hong gave an in-depth introduction to the concept and formation of China, the archaeological results of the Erlitou site so far, and the continuous pursuit of the Xia Dynasty by successive Erlitou archaeologists. .

Where is the earliest China and where is the origin of Chinese civilization? The team members found that this is still a question that needs to be solved by archaeologists. Before the answer is determined, "the earliest China - the discovery of China" The "Cultural Investigation" trip left the team members with an experience of in-depth pursuit of ancient Chinese civilization and Chinese history, and the beginning of in-depth thinking about the history and destiny of our country.

Ding Jinlong, a staff member of Yuncheng Cultural Relics Bureau, said in his speech: “After we discuss where we come from, we can better know where we are going.

”