From the perspective of ecological environment history, social progress and economic prosperity are all completed on the stage of ecological environment. The living space of Qin dynasty has occupied the main part of China today. Some scholars believe that the population of the Qin Dynasty is around 20 million, while others think it may reach 40 million. At the peak of the hukou in the Western Han Dynasty, the population was less than 60 million. At that time, most of the forests and grasslands were not seriously damaged by human activities, and the lakes in Chuanze were far wider than today. The words such as "Fangchun Meng Fan", "Guitang Wan Yan" and "Yongquan Mixed Flow" seen by Wa Dang in the Han Dynasty all reflect the deep blue natural atmosphere that people feel in their lives.
Zhu Kezhen pointed out in the Preliminary Study on Climate Change in China in the Last Five Thousand Years: "During the Warring States Period, the climate was much warmer than it is now." "During the Qin and Pre-Qin Dynasties (2265438 BC +0 ~ 23 AD), the climate was mild" (Collected Works of Zhu Kezhen, Science Press, March 1979, p. 495). At that time, the climatic conditions in the Yellow River Basin were similar to those in the Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin today. Sima Qian said that if you own "thousands of acres of bamboo in Weichuan", its economic status can be comparable to that of "thousands of households". And those who take "bamboo poles and drums" as their business foundation, "this is better than a thousand times' home" (Biography of Historical Records and Huo Zhi). Shen Shu suggested inviting Master Dou to present a garden to please Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and said that Gucheng Temple "has a beautiful bamboo field" (Biography of Han Dong Fang Shuo). Chang 'an people in the Western Han Dynasty paid attention to the economic benefits of bamboo forests, which can also be seen in Ban Gu's "Journey to the West": "Irrigation from the source, ponds connected, bamboo orchards, sweet grass, rich country, and close to Shu." And Zhang Heng's Xijing Fu: "The nickel fence is perfunctory, the town is a scorpion, and the valley is endless." The so-called "boundless" can be read in contrast to the "boundless" of tile-shaped characters in Han Dynasty.
Ganquan Palace and Bamboo Palace are mentioned in both the records of rites and music in the Han Dynasty and the ancient artifacts in the Han Dynasty. Archaeological data in the Qin and Han Dynasties also show bamboo structures and cultural relics with bamboo as auxiliary building materials. At that time, bamboo forests had become the "wealth-rich help" of Guanzhong people (Biography of Huo Zhi in Historical Records), but we can't think that bamboo forests in the Yellow River basin are all artificially cultivated economic forests. According to the biography of Guo Fake in the Later Han Dynasty, he was a herdsman in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "There are hundreds of children, each riding a bamboo horse and greeting them every time." Meijiadi is in the northwest of Zhungeer Banner, Inner Mongolia. At present, the northern boundary of the subtropical mixed forest area in Central China is in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is roughly located in Changsha, Nanchang and Ningbo. However, the northern boundary of the subtropical scattered bamboo forest area in Central China roughly coincides with the 35 north latitude line. The northern boundary of bamboo growing area in Qin and Han dynasties is very close to the edge of today's Beihe desert area. There are bamboo slips unearthed in Juyan area, so the materials should not be far away. According to "The Biography of Western Qiang in the Later Han Dynasty", during the reign of Emperor Han 'an, the Qiang people rebelled, "without armor, or replaced Mao Ge with bamboo sticks." It can be seen that bamboo is still widely used in Longshan area.
Mountains and rivers, dense forests and fragrant grass are the objects that the authors of Han Fu are particularly happy to describe. Sima Xiangru's Zi Xufu talked about the birth of "HP", including "Heng Lan Zhi Ruo, Qiong Changpu, Li Jiang Wuyu, and various philosophers." Yang Xiong's "Shu Du Fu" is called "Wild Hope, Mang Fei Fei", and Du Du's "shouyangshan Fu" is called "Changsong Lush", which depicts the lush scene of Shan Ye. In Du Nan Fu, there are words praising the rich forests in Nanyang area in Han Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the word "millet" in Li's Notes on South Vietnam was Metasequoia glyptostroboides. The growing areas of "Chinese fir forest" and "fir, spruce and hemlock forest" are far away from Nanyang (edited by Geography Department of Northwest Normal University and Map Publishing House: China Atlas of Physical Geography, Map Publishing House, June 1984, 135). It can be seen that this is the primitive natural ecology of vegetation in the Qin and Han Dynasties when human activities were not very serious.
There are many documents related to Zhuan in Hexi Bamboo Slips in Han Dynasty. "Zizania latifolia" refers to forage grass. Some bamboo slips in Dunhuang Han bamboo slips reflect more specific information about Yi. We saw such a short article: "... buy rice, the rice is two feet long, and the bundle is strong." Don't worry about horses, so there are many things ... "... According to the ratio of the ruler of Han Dynasty to today's scale," two feet "is equivalent to 46 or 2 centimeters. It can be seen that there were good grasslands of considerable scale in Hexi area at that time. There are often tens of thousands of bundles. There are also simple examples of "cutting reed" and "cutting pu" in Juyan Han bamboo slips. Wei and Pu are both aquatic plants. The number of "reed cutting" is as high as "5520 bundles", which can be used as important information to reflect the vegetation and overall ecological situation in Juyan area.
Rice was once the main agricultural product in the Yellow River valley in the Western Han Dynasty. The so-called "land of land and sea in Guanzhong" and "the kindness of rice, chestnut, mulberry forest and bamboo arrows" in Han Dong Fang Shuo Biography list rice production as the first case of economic benefits. The book "Da Jie Shu", which summarizes the farming experience in Guanzhong area of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote: "Hang rice will be planted in March, and rice will be planted in April." The official position of "rice field messenger" was specially set up in Guanzhong area, which also showed that rice was widely planted in Guanzhong at that time.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, lakes in North China Plain experienced the process of expansion. Some scholars pointed out that "from the pre-Qin to the Western Han Dynasty, lakes and marshes in Hebei Plain were very developed and widely distributed" and "most of these lakes and marshes were irrigated by shallow depressions". Due to the unstable supply, the change rate of drought and flood in lakes and marshes is very large. In many lakes and marshes, beaches, sandbanks and water bodies are mixed, and the lakes and marshes are full of plants, and wild animals such as elk grow and breed in large numbers "(Xing Tie and Wang: A Comparative Study of China's Ancient Bohai Rim Region and Other Economic Zones, Hebei People's Publishing House, February 2004, 65438, p. 1 vol., pp. 64-66). Among the historical records between Qin and Han dynasties, there are many historical records about "Ze". Chen She riots, the uprising took place in Ozawa township, the township name "Ozawa", not unrelated to "Ze". Records of the Emperor Gaozu in Historical Records records the story of Liu Bang's "going to Fengxi Zezhong", "abstaining from drinking" and then "cutting snakes in the middle of the night", which means that "Fengxi" has "Zezhong". Historical Records, Biographies of Wei Bao and Biographies of Peng Yue also said that Peng Yue "often fished wild and was a thief". It is the record of Juye Ze. Xiang Yu went to the final defeat in the decisive battle of Gaixia, and once had the experience of "falling into osawa and catching up with the old Han Dynasty".
It can be seen that there were many "Ze" characters in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Jianghuai Plain at that time. The dense rivers and lakes was one of the remarkable geomorphological features of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain at that time. According to the literature, Zou Yilin learned that from Zhou Qin to the Western Han Dynasty, there were 46 lakes and marshes recorded in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, including 1 1, 33 in the Huang-Huai Plain and 2 in the coastal areas. Zou Yilin said: "In fact, the lakes and marshes in the ancient Huang-Huai-Hai Plain were far more than that" (Brief Introduction to the Changes of Lakes and Marshes in the Great Plains of North China in Historical Period, Historical Geography No.5, Shanghai People's Publishing House, May 2005 1987, included in Lu Chun Historical and Geographical Papers, Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, May 2005). As far as Guanzhong area is concerned, according to historical data, the scale and density of natural water surface and artificial water surface at that time were also different from the local geographical features we see today. According to the well-known archaeological drilling data of Kunming Pool from April to September, 2005, the circumference of the pool bank is 17.6 km, the pool area is about 16.6 km2, and it is about 360 hectares in the Han Dynasty (Han Chang 'an City Working Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Brief Report on Drilling Trial Excavation of Kunming Pool Site in Anhantang, Archaeology, 2006,65438+).
Although Kunming pond is generally regarded as an artificial lake, it is impossible to complete it in a short time with the scale of "40 miles per week". "Hanshu Wuxing Zhi" said, "In the summer of Yuanshou for three years, there was a great drought. It was at the age of 20 that officials cut thorns into the forest and crossed the Kunming pool. " It was during the "drought" that the construction began to run through Kunming Pool. The statement that "drought" began to work suggests that there may have been water in Kunming Pool Site. It is inferred that the main content of the project includes the construction of weir besides dredging. In other words, Kunming Lake is not an artificial lake in the strict sense. The information of water resources in Qin and Han Dynasties gave us a new understanding of natural history. Pay attention to the relevant research results and get some enlightenment. For example, in the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow River flooded frequently, while in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the river disasters were obviously reduced. After Wang Jing ruled the river, the Yellow River experienced a long-term steady flow. As for the discussion of its causes, we should not only pay attention to engineering technical measures and soil erosion, but also pay attention to the possible changes of river flow itself.
The ecological environment in Qin and Han Dynasties made the distribution of wild animals present a special historical outlook. The distribution of primates such as rhinoceros, wild elephant, deer and golden monkey. , all occupy a vast area unimaginable today. Due to the insufficient development of mountain forests, "tiger storm" and "tiger disaster" once seriously threatened social production and life. "The Biography of Song Jun in the Later Han Dynasty": "There are wild animals in the Jianghuai area, and there are chickens and dolphins in the north of Judah", which seems to indicate that the number of tigers in South China was once amazing because the local economic development lags behind the Central Plains. There is a record in the history books that "in the first month of three years, the tiger sees peace and optimism, and also sees the Xianling, biting Wei". Ping Optimism, located in the western suburbs of Luoyang, is one of the important social centers where cars and horses meet and people come and go. Xianling is the mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty. In the first month of the third year of Han Guanghe (180), it was only 35 years before Shun Di was buried. Presumably, it should be carefully maintained and strictly guarded. It can be seen that the tiger disaster really endangered the palace and the imperial tomb near Kyoto. However, the so-called "when the tiger entered the city" in Lun Heng was attacked by a tiger, and the so-called "when the tiger entered the capital" in Lun Heng was lifted, which was not sensational. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the area affected by tigers was very vast, so people once regarded it as an anecdote that there were no tigers in Japanese settlements.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, social customs, scholars' opinions and decrees can all reflect the awareness of forest protection. The formation and influence of Qin's ecological environment view is based on the concept of folk mysticism, and it also has the function of natural consciousness generally recognized by intellectuals at that time. These conceptual factors affect the administrative tendency of state managers, and the corresponding laws and regulations react on people's psychology and behavior, strengthening the social norms with positive significance for maintaining ecological balance. There are also provisions on mountain forest protection in the "Tianlu" of Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Crouching Tiger Land in Hubei Province. The translation of the finishing team is: "In the spring and February, it is not allowed to go up the mountain to cut wood and block the waterway. It is forbidden to burn grass as fertilizer, take newly sprouted plants, catch young animals, eggs and young birds, poison fish and turtles, and set traps and nets to catch birds and animals until July. Only those who need to cut down trees to make coffins because of death are not restricted by seasons. If the residence is close to soap and other forbidden gardens for raising cattle and horses, young animals are not allowed to bring dogs to hunt when breeding. "
Such legal provisions can be regarded as the earliest mountain forest protection law seen so far. Its rigorous and meticulous content shows that the code of conduct has gone through a process of gradual maturity and perfection. As the finishing team pointed out, "July should be erected", that is, "the ban should be lifted", coincides with the following contents in Yi Zhou Shu: "In March in spring, the mountains don't climb axes, making plants grow; In Xia San, Kawasawa didn't get into the net and became a fish and a turtle. " (Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land: Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1978+0 1 Edition, p. 27). The mud wall calligraphy unearthed from Xuanquanjia Han Dynasty site in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, "Fifty Orders of the Four Seasons Commanders and Intermediate People's Courts" also stipulates that trees, big or small, are not allowed to be cut down from January to August, and only when the vegetation is exhausted after autumn can they be cut down selectively. However, the Order of Mid-Spring Moon also prohibits hunting by burning mountains and forests (Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology: Interpretation and Selection of Han Bamboo Slips in Xuanquan, Dunhuang, No.5 Cultural Relics, 2000), which was promulgated as the highest directive-imperial edict. Written on the wall, in order to expand publicity and make the relevant content known to everyone.
Chao Cuo was a famous minister in the early Han Dynasty. He made a speech about ecological environment protection in the musical instruments played by the emperor. Among them, it said: "Virtue and poultry, down to the production of Cordyceps sinensis, are all favored by them. Then the tone of yin and yang, the change of the four seasons, the change of the sun and the moon, the change of the wind and rain. " The so-called "morality", "vegetation" and "everything benefits" are of course Confucian propaganda. Critics believe that only in this way can the "four seasons" and "storms" be realized. But this is actually a statement worthy of attention, which reflects the progressive ecological environment view at that time and is an enlightened opinion in the history of ecological environment protection.
Paintings that reflect the social life of Qin and Han dynasties often show the lush trees, which reflects people's yearning for the "lush greenery" situation at that time. There is "the beauty of the mountain forest" in the "Monument to the Head of the Building" written by Xiping for three years, which describes the dense, boundless and deep mountain forest. The so-called "grace of mountains and forests" reflects Qin's attitude towards life. Through relevant folk customs, we can also understand the social care for natural mountains and forests at that time.