Legend of the source of the Yellow River

How did the Yellow River and its children walk from the dawn of civilization to the threshold of civilization? To solve this mystery, we should not only rely on archaeological data, but also rely on many ancient myths and legends recorded in ancient books. The legends of Yanhuang and Yao Shunyu can help us find some traces of the Yellow River and its descendants from early civilization to civilized times.

The Yellow Emperor and Yan Di are not emperors, but two tribal leaders in the ancient Yellow River valley recorded in ancient books. Huangdi and Yandi were born in the Weihe River basin, a tributary of the Yellow River, which was already in the patriarchal commune era. Legend has it that they are all descendants of Shaodian, the "Bear Princess". "In the past, Shaodian married Youshi and gave birth to Huang (Yellow) and Yandi. The Yellow Emperor was made of water, and the Yan Emperor was made of Jiang Shui. Success is different from virtue, so the Yellow Emperor is the discipline and the Yan Emperor is the ginger. " The "fate" mentioned here does not mean that both Huangdi and Yandi are descendants of Shaodian, but that they are all descendants of Shaodian. "The Yellow Emperor took the name of pumping water" means that he grew up on the bank of pumping water, so he took pumping water as his surname. Jishui immediately used ancient lacquer water, which originated in Dulin, northwest of linyou county, Shaanxi Province, and merged into Weihe River in Wugong County today. Jiang Shui is the lower reaches of Qingjiang River, a tributary of Weihe River, which joins Weihe River in Baoji, Shaanxi. In other words, the initial activity areas of the two tribes of Yanhuang were in the upper reaches of Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.

Legend has it that the original surname of the Yellow Emperor was Gongsun, but he changed his surname to Ji because he was longer than Ji Shui. Once lived in the hill of Xuanyuan,No. Xuanyuan; Because it is a descendant of a bear, it is also called Xiong's. He was born as a god, weak and eloquent, young and loyal (clever), long and sensitive, and wise. Later, he was elected as a tribal leader and led his troops to migrate to northern Shaanxi to settle down. With the development of agricultural production, in order to find more flat, open and fertile land, we went south along the Beiluo River to Dali and Chaoyi in Shaanxi today. The yellow land there gave them convenient conditions for developing agriculture, but the drought that appeared from time to time troubled them and forced them to continue looking for their ideal place. As a result, the Yellow Emperor led his troops from Dali and Chaoyi to cross the Yellow River eastward, along Zhongtiao Mountain and Taihang Mountain, into the Fenhe River basin, and then pushed northeast to reach Zhuolu, Hebei Province today. There is a wide valley suitable for farming formed by the alluvial of Sanggan River and Yanghe River, and there is a hunting forest nearby. They thought the environment was superior and settled down.

Just as the Yellow Emperor led his tribe eastward, Emperor Yan also led his people on a long journey. Yan Di, also known as Yan Di, said that he was born in Lishan Mountain, that is, Lishan Town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province, and that he was born in Changyang, that is, Yangshan, the head of Shennong Township, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. "He is a man, surnamed Jiang, also known as." In order to find an ideal place to settle down, he also led the tribe to migrate eastward. But the route they took was different from that taken by the Yellow Emperor. They first went down the Weihe River to the southwest of Henan, then down the Yellow River to the east of Henan and settled there.

At that time, with the emergence of private property and the disintegration of clan system, tribal leaders gradually mastered certain privileges. Wars often occur between tribes in order to compete for living space and each other's strength. In order to satisfy their own selfish desires, some tribal leaders "saw with knives and used armour", and also launched wars to plunder wealth and enslave other clans and tribes. This kind of war has intensified social division and brought great threat to normal agricultural production, but the customary law of clan system, which regulates social contradictions, has lost its function at this time, which seems to be inadequate. In the face of more and more wars, blood tribes unite with each other, form alliances, and then form larger consortia. At this time, the two tribes of Yan and Huang also conquered all directions by force and expanded their power, thus triggering large-scale conflicts. The two sides fought three wars in Hanquan (now Huailai, Hebei Province). The six clans under the Yellow Emperor, namely, the bear, the scorpion, the raccoon and the tiger, were killed in the dark together with the Yan Di tribe, and the Yan Di tribe was defeated and had to surrender. Because the two tribes are related by blood, the Yellow Emperor did not slaughter the Yan Di tribe, but formed a tribal alliance with them, and the Yellow Emperor became the leader of the Yanhuang tribal alliance. After a long period of development, the Yanhuang Tribal Alliance formed the embryonic form of the Chinese nation in the future.

Later, Chiyou, the leader of Jiuli who settled in Qufu, Shandong Province, expanded his sphere of influence and triggered a war with the Yan Di tribe. Jiuli, or Jiuyi, belongs to Dongyi nationality. Legend has it that Chiyou has 9 tribes, 8 1 clan. He talks like a monster, eating sand and stones, which may be because the descendants of the Yellow Emperor deliberately vilify other tribal leaders. "Making metallurgy with Chiyou", "Taking gold as a soldier", making sticks, knives, halberds and crossbows, which are brave and good at fighting, shocked the world. He led a tribal alliance composed of nine tribes to attack the Yan Di tribe in the west of eastern Henan. Unable to resist, Yan Di tribes lost their homes. Chiyou followed, and Emperor Yan asked the Yellow Emperor for help. The Yellow Emperor then led troops to meet the enemy and fought fiercely with Chiyou in Zhuolu. The war is extremely fierce. It is said that the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou are invincible in nine battles. For three days and nights, the Yellow Emperor tribe couldn't see the direction clearly. After the gale, the "ministers" of the Yellow Emperor were inspired by the Beidou constellation and invented the south guide car, so that they were able to rush out of the fog. With the help of Xuan Nv, the Yellow Emperor made 80 drums, which were covered with the skin of the East China Sea god beast osmium, and made drumsticks with Lei Shou's bones. They were beaten in the battle and could be heard 500 miles away. The battle lasted for a long time, and finally a decisive battle was held in Jizhou. The Yellow Emperor sent Ying Long to attack Chiyou, and Ying Long put water into the water array. Chiyou invited a rain master from Fengbo, and there was a storm, which washed away the water array and put the Yellow Emperor in trouble. The Yellow Emperor invited Xiuli Jiami, the heavenly daughter, to stop the wind and rain, and the weather suddenly cleared up. Chiyou was at a loss and his men were terrified. The Yellow Emperor commanded an army to cover and kill the past and won the final victory. Chiyou surrendered to the Yellow Emperor with the Fengbo Rain Master he invited. The Yellow Emperor entered the area where Dongyi lived. He "drives six dragons like an elephant, with blue eyes (one trillion firebird) in the lead, Chiyou in the front, Fengbo in the back, the rain teacher in the rain, the tiger and the wolf in the front, ghosts and gods in the back, and the Phoenix Emperor (Phoenix) covering it". He went to the top of Mount Tai to see ghosts and gods and played a tragic and sad ". Chiyou was later killed, and some Jiuli people joined the Yanhuang tribal alliance and merged into the Huaxia people; Part of it went south and merged into the southern Miao nationality.

The victory of the battle of Zhuolu further expanded the power of the Yanhuang tribal alliance and developed into a larger tribal consortium. The authority of the Yellow Emperor was greatly improved, integrating judicial power, sacrificial right, military command and production command. All tribes must obey his orders, and if they don't, they will send troops to conquer. He also built mountains and roads, trying to break through the isolation of tribal areas and promote exchanges between tribes. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor never lived a peaceful life. 1 18 years old died in Jingshan while traveling in Henan. People escorted him back to northern Shaanxi and buried him in Qiaoshan Mountain in huangling county, Shaanxi Province. This is the Huangdi Mausoleum mentioned earlier.

Since the Yellow Emperor was later honored as the ancestor of China, later generations attributed many ancient inventions to him and his "ministers", such as building houses, drilling wells, sewing clothes, making crossbows for ships, smelting stones and copper, and creating music. His wife Lei Zu invented sericulture, his "minister" Cang Xie created words, and Ling Lun created music and joy, and so on. For the same reason, Emperor Yan was honored as the ancestor of China, and later generations praised him for his inventions and called him Shennong. In pre-Qin legends, Shennong and Yan Di were originally different figures in two eras, and Shennong lived before Yan Di. During the Warring States period, people put two people together and called them Emperor Shennong. They said, "Shennong makes wood, polishes wood and Lei Lei to teach the world", "You can taste a hundred herbs before you get medicine" and "You can also be a banjo to teach people to become a city in China". Of course, these inventions are also the collective creations of people in primitive times.

Although Emperor Yanhuang is only a legend, and their inventions are also the crystallization of the wisdom of the sons and daughters of the Yellow River in ancient times, as the symbol of the ancestors of the Chinese nation and the embodiment of the pioneers of Chinese civilization, they are still admired and missed by future generations. Therefore, there are many legends about Yanhuang in the land outside the Yellow River basin and the Yellow River basin, leaving many places of interest related to them. Besides the Mausoleum of Huangdi in huangling county, Shaanxi, Yan Di Temple and Yan Di Mausoleum in Baoji, there are also the Jingling Palace in Qufu, Shandong, the Temple of Heaven of King Wu in Xinzheng, Henan, the Temple of Heaven in Jiyuan, the Huangdi City and Huangdi Spring in Jingshan, Zhuolu, Hebei, the Huangdi Temple and Xuanhuangtai in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, the Yuanxuan Palace and Leizu Tomb in Yanting, and Xuanyuanfeng in Huangshan, Anhui. Wenwen Palace in Pingliang, Gansu, Xiling Mountain and Leizu Temple in Yichang, Hubei, Shennong Temple in Suizhou, Shennong City and Shennong Well in Gaoping, Shanxi, Shennong Wugutai in Huaiyang, Henan, the statue of Emperor Yanhuang in Zhengzhou, Yandiling in Yanling County, Hunan and so on. These long-standing legends and places of interest have played an inestimable role in enhancing the sense of identity of the Chinese nation, inspiring the national pride of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor and enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation.

After the Yellow Emperor, several outstanding tribal leaders appeared in the Yellow River Basin, namely Yao, Shun and Yu. This is the late Longshan culture, and the clan system is about to collapse. According to legend, Yao, also known as Tao, was born in Fenhe River valley in Shanxi Province today. At present, Yi Village in the south of Linfen, Shanxi Province has the tablet of "Emperor Yao Mao Ci Tai", Yao Temple Village has Yao Temple, Linfen County has Yaoling and Shenju Cave. His life is very simple. Ancient books say that he "eats from the rough, takes the soup of quinoa, has fur in winter and clothes in summer", that is, he lives in a simple house made of uncut thatched reeds and shaved rafters and eats. However, he cares about the people. Some people in the tribe are hungry and cold. He said that he made them hungry and cold, and some people were punished for their crimes. He said that this is because he is not well disciplined at ordinary times, and he has come out to take responsibility. Shun, also known as Youyu, is a native of Yao Ruins (now northeast of Yuanqu, Shanxi). Legend has it that he was inspected by Yao before he succeeded him as the leader of the tribal Council. He worked in Lishan (another name for Zhongtiaoshan), fished in (now north of Ruicheng, Shanxi), made pottery by the river in Taocheng (now north of Yongji Town, Shanxi), and was later sealed by Yao in a dangerous place (now southwest of Pinglu, Shanxi). After he became the leader of the tribal alliance, he became Puban (now Zhou Pu Town). Shun is strict with self-discipline and lenient with others. He was framed by his stepmother and half-brother several times, but fortunately, his virtuous wife cleverly designed a plan to save him from danger. However, after he was elected as the leader, he ignored the past and treated his stepmother and brother leniently, so that some enemies were moved and devoted to doing good. Yu's ancestors are said to have lived in Hetao area, and moved to western Henan when Yu lived. He took the world as his responsibility and led the people to control floods and develop production, which was highly praised. Due to the good governance of Yao, Shun and Yu, the society at that time achieved great development, showing a scene of peace and tranquility. "The world is peaceful and the people have nothing to do." Therefore, he was honored as a sage by later generations.

1. Ancient geological movements and the formation of the Yellow River (Chen,,)

In the constant movement of the earth's lithosphere, the North China platform uplifted about 654.38+0.7 billion years ago. Then it continued to rise, forming the earliest and largest ancient land in China. In the long time since then, the North China Platform sank twice and was soaked in seawater, and then rose again and reappeared in Permian (285 million to 230 million years ago). In this process of repeated uplift and subsidence, a large number of biological remains are accumulated in the subsidence area, forming rich coal, oil and natural gas resources.

Then a orogenic movement called Yanshan Movement took place in Jurassic (1950,000 years ago to1370,000 years ago) and Cretaceous (1370,000 years ago to 67 million years ago). The North China Plain, which was originally integrated with the Shanxi Plateau, turned to subsidence, first formed a basin, and then gradually developed into a great plain, while the Cenozoic Shanxi (. This orogenic movement was more intense than Yanshan movement, which not only caused the Himalayas to rise from the seabed and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to rise sharply, but also affected the whole of China, causing some plots to rise into mountains and some plots to sink into basins. For example, affected by this orogeny, Shanxi Plateau formed two almost parallel fault zones, which ran through the central part of the plateau from north to south, and the fault blocks of the fault zones fell down to varying degrees, forming a long and narrow valley. The southern end of the trough is connected with the subsidence zone where Guanzhong lies, forming the Wei Fen Basin. Later, some uplifted mountains were weathered and denuded, gradually flattened and became plateaus; The sunken basin accumulated water to form a lake. Since then, this area has experienced two large-scale glacial activities, and the climate has become cold and dry. Those big lakes are gradually shrinking or divided into many small lakes, and several big lake basins and many small lakes and wetlands have appeared in the whole area. From high to low, the flowing water on the ground gradually converged into an ancient lake basin and developed into several independent inland lake water systems. At the northern foot of Bayan Kara in Qinghai Plateau, a flowing water flows from here to the southeast. Because the Jishi Mountain, that is, the Animaqing Mountain, is bounded by the north and south of Bayan Kara, it flows to the now sinking Zoige grassland area, where it accumulates and forms the ancient Zoige Lake. Another flowing water, originating from Xiqing Mountain and Qingshan Mountain in Anima, flows from southeast to northwest in the valleys of the two mountains and gathers in the ancient basin of * * * county in Qinghai Province today. In the east of the ancient * * and the basin, there was another flowing water, which flowed eastward into today's Gansu along the canyon at the southern foot of Laji Mountain. After passing through today's Lanzhou, it turned to the north and flowed to today's Ningxia region, and gathered in the Yinchuan Basin formed by the collapse of the fault beside Helan Mountain, forming the ancient Yinchuan Lake. On the eastern edge of East Ordos Plateau, another river flows into Wei Fen Basin through a series of small lakes, forming an ancient Weifen Lake. In the east of Wei Fen Basin, stands a towering Zhongtiao Mountain. Due to the blocking of Shandong hills, the flowing water on the Shandong side flows eastward into the sea from different rivers in the north and south of the hills. In this way, from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west to the Shandong hills in the east, four unconnected rivers have gradually formed. The ancient Yellow River gradually evolved on the basis of these independent water systems.

In the early Quaternary geological age (from 2.5 million years ago), that is, about 6.5438 million years ago, the glaciers in this area melted, the climate became warm and humid, the precipitation was abundant, the river surged, and the erosion and undercutting of running water intensified. The erosion of flowing water makes the riverbed gradually change from shallow to deep, resulting in traceable erosion, which makes the source position move in the opposite direction of the river flow and makes the upstream continuously extend upward. The downward cut of flowing water impacts the mountain that blocks its progress, opening a channel for itself and making the downstream extend downward day by day. At this time, the plateau in the central and western regions of China continues to be in the rising stage, further strengthening this downward erosion of flowing water. Traceability erosion and undercutting erosion of flowing water finally opened the watershed between the two rivers, making each closed lake basin have an outlet and connecting their independent river sections. At this point, the ancient Yellow River began to emerge. However, at this time, the ancient Yellow River was still an inland river, and its eastern end ended in the vast Sanmen ancient lake, because Zhongtiao Mountain in the east still blocked its way to the sea. However, the ancient Yellow River continues to play its function of tracing the source and cutting erosion with tenacious perseverance. When a large amount of upstream water enters Sanmen Ancient Lake, the water level rises, exceeding the height of Sanmen horst, and the lake overflows eastward and keeps cutting down. After a long time, she finally crossed Sanmenxia, flowed into the North China Plain, joined the flowing water on the east side of Zhongtiao Mountain, ran eastward and threw herself into the embrace of the sea. A great life was born!

Scholars have different opinions on the specific time when the Yellow River finally crosses Sanmenxia and runs through the whole line, but one thing should be certain, that is, when Beijingers who lived 700,000 to 200,000 years ago appeared in Zhoukoudian, this great river originating from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has connected all the river sections from west to east, and entered the ocean, never to return. However, at this time, her downstream flows into the sea around the southern part of Shandong hills. There have been several changes and migrations in the lower reaches, but the upper reaches are basically stereotyped. Moreover, due to the traceability, erosion and extension of running water, its upstream and downstream continued to extend, and finally formed today's face.

Today, the Yellow River, with a total length of 5,464 kilometers, is the second longest river in China after the Yangtze River. She flows eastward from the source, passes through Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, and flows into the Bohai Sea in Lijin County, Shandong Province, with a drainage area of 75? 24.43 million square kilometers. If you add the area of Ordos inner flow area, it is 794,000 square kilometers. Including the areas along the Yellow River in Henan and Shandong provinces, which are closely related to the Yellow River, there are 300 million mu of cultivated land and a population of 654.38+0.2 billion. Historically, the Yellow River also flowed through Hebei, Tianjin, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces and cities, and the alluvial plain in the lower reaches of the Yellow River was about 250,000 square kilometers. According to the latest statistics released at the beginning of 2000, the average annual runoff of the Yellow River for many years is 58 billion cubic meters, which is only 2% of the annual runoff of rivers in China. However, these Yellow River waters, together with the limited groundwater in the basin, undertake the water supply tasks of 15% of the country's cultivated land, 12% of the population and more than 50 large and medium-sized cities, and transfer water to the outside of the basin for a long time, and undertake some water supply tasks outside the basin. From this figure alone, we can see the great contribution of the Yellow River to the economic, historical and cultural development of the Chinese nation.

(Excerpted from Biography of the Yellow River, Hebei University Press 200 1 Edition)