Ancient People's Tourism and Cultural Exchange

The word "tourism" has existed since ancient times. For example, Shen Yue in the Southern Dynasties said in Treatise on Febrile Diseases: "In the spring of a year, tourism attracts visitors."

China's travel record is a typical "roaming" of Laozi and Confucius. Laozi is a small official in charge of history books. He resigned and left because he admired nature and longed for seclusion. He went west all the way to Guanzhong, made friends with local Yin, built a platform to give lectures on Zhouzhi Southeast Mountain in the west of Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, and wrote the Tao Te Ching. Later, Lao Tzu continued to travel west, and I didn't know where he went.

Confucius' roaming is an indispensable part of his political career. In order to realize his political ambition, Confucius led his disciples to travel around the world after resigning from Lu's official position and lived a roaming life for thirteen years. When passing through Surabaya, he looked at the rushing river and lamented that "the deceased is like a husband, not giving up day and night." Such a sigh is undoubtedly inspired by the nature of mountains and rivers and understands the philosophy of life.

In ancient times, there were not many people like Lao Zi and Confucius who had the opportunity to roam, because the traditional society in China was an agricultural society, which determined that the lifestyle of ordinary people was "work at sunrise and rest at sunset" and they had no leisure to travel. In addition, due to the influence of Confucius that "parents are here, so they don't travel far", coupled with backward productivity and limited economic conditions, tourism activities cannot be carried out among the general public. Therefore, the traditional tourists in China are either princes, scholars or religious monks.

For the ancients, tourism is the pursuit of a "people on the journey" lifestyle. In the process of roaming, find the goal and meaning of life. Xie Lingyun, a poet in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, took landscape as the aesthetic object, from which he realized the philosophy of life, dispelled the feelings of resentment, dispelled the impetuous spirit, comforted his soul and pinned his spirit.

Xie Gong's love of traveling around the mountains is quite similar to that of Li Bai in the Five Holy Mountains. There is no difference between distance and distance. According to my lifelong habit, Li Bai has a broader vision and richer experience from their life trajectory. After Li Bai became an adult, except for his short official life, it seems that he spent most of his time traveling, and all the famous mountains and rivers in the world left his footprints.

Zhang Chao, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, said: "The article is the landscape of the desk, and the landscape is the article on the ground." Traveling around is also reading articles. The ancients usually roamed for a long time at a time, usually looking for opportunities to learn on the road. Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, went deep into famous mountains, rivers and historical sites to make up for the lack of reading and learning, and obtained first-hand reliable historical materials. Historical Records was completed after Sima Qian's forced tour.

China is a vast country. Since ancient times, various landforms have been intricately arranged together, including plains, hills, lakes and mountains. In ancient times, going out for a long trip was to cross mountains and rivers. "It's hard to go" is not just lip service. Li Bai sighed in "Difficult Road to Shu": "Difficult Road to Shu, difficult to go to heaven." The means of transportation used by the ancients to go out reflects their economic status and class level: ordinary people mainly walk, literati love riding horses, and carriages are symbols of authority and wealth.

Ancient literati are keen on roaming famous mountains and rivers, wandering around historical sites, wandering between mountains and rivers, intoxicated with rural scenery and looking for spiritual comfort and sustenance. Geographer Xu Xiake has traveled all over China for 39 years. He keeps a diary every day, describing his personal experiences and experiences in fresh and concise language, and the diary was compiled into Xu Xiake's Travels by later generations. Because of its vivid writing, fine description and strong artistic appeal, this book not only has geographical value, but also has high literary value.

In the Yuan Dynasty, Italian Kelpolo traveled to China 17 years. The Travels of Marco Polo recorded in detail what he saw and heard in China, which had an important influence on the development of Europe.

In addition, tourism is also an opportunity for cultural exchange. Zhang Qian's trip to the Western Regions in Han Dynasty opened the channel of cultural exchange along the Silk Road and became the messenger of cultural exchange. The richness and diversity of ancient regional culture make travel an important way to understand nature and society, and make travel and sightseeing the main channel of cultural exchange and cultural exchange and integration.

(Author: Graduate School of National Defense University)