In the late Neolithic period, a distinctive pottery appeared in Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan in southern China. This kind of pottery is difficult to fire, just like porcelain, hence the name hard pottery. Some geometric patterns are printed on the surface of pottery, such as checkered patterns, circular patterns and zigzag patterns. Because of its wide distribution, people call this ancient culture of pottery Indo-pottery culture. It also lasted for a long time, until the ruins of Shang and Zhou dynasties were discovered, and it spread to the northern part of the Central Plains. They are often buried as precious objects in the tombs of emperors and nobles.
China is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world. Because its civilization has never been cut off from its origin to its development, it is highly respected and concerned by the world. There have been various conjectures and statements about the origin of Chinese civilization. In recent decades, especially in the past 30 years, the discoveries and research achievements of paleoanthropology in China, Paleolithic archaeology and Neolithic archaeology in China have emerged one after another, providing scientific basis for studying the origin of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation. Therefore, the study of Chinese civilization and the origin of the Chinese nation has been a field dominated by humanities in China in recent 20 years.
Inspired by teachers and driven by social needs, I began to make a transition from the study of historical geography in Northeast China and the study of ethnic relations in China to the study of the whole Chinese nation in the early 1980s. I have made more efforts about Chinese civilization and the origin of the Chinese nation. From 65438 to 0984, Professor Yin Falu asked me to write the first chapter, The Origin of China Culture and the Formation of the Chinese Nation, for the History of China Ancient Culture edited by him. From 65438 to 0987, I began to publish articles about the significance and origin of the Chinese nation and the multi-regional development of Neolithic culture in China and its convergence and radiation. Inspired by Professor Su's theory of Neolithic culture types in China, these articles are the preliminary results of combing the Neolithic culture in China by using multidisciplinary comprehensive research methods, and also put forward the viewpoint of "multiple aggregates" of Chinese national structure. Not long after, Professor Fei Xiaotong called me and said that he had read my article "The Meaning and Origin of the Chinese Nation" and pointed out that "the Chinese nation is a pluralistic aggregate" is somewhat vague and should be a "pluralistic whole". 1989 Fei Lao published a famous paper "The Pattern of Pluralism and Integration of the Chinese Nation". Since then, he has assisted Fei Lao in publishing the Pattern of Pluralism and Integration of the Chinese Nation and its Revision, New Exploration of Chinese Nation Studies, and published his solo album A Preliminary Study of Chinese Nation Studies. Since my series of papers on Chinese studies have been published one after another, academic teachers and friends have given me all kinds of support, especially Fei Lao and Su Lao, both of whom were my college teachers. They encouraged me to persist in my research many times, and pointed out that the materials and research results of history, ethnology, archaeology, paleoanthropology and other disciplines are all integrated in a melting pot, so that I can learn my own experience from them. This research method is also correct. These support and encouragement have enabled me to persist for 20 years without a deep academic foundation and flawed research conditions, and have achieved certain results, and recruited doctoral students majoring in the history of the formation of the Chinese nation. Students asked me to summarize my research step by step, so I started with the basic characteristics of the origin and early development of Chinese civilization.
In short, in the past 20 years, a series of articles on Chinese civilization and its early development have been published, the main points of which include:
1. The origin of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation has distinct local characteristics.
2. The origin of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation has obvious characteristics of multiple origins and unbalanced development in many regions.
Three, China's agriculture has been different from the north and the south since its origin. The archaeological discovery in recent years 10 proves that the origin of agriculture in the north and south can be traced back to about 10,000 years ago, which is roughly synchronous with the earliest agricultural areas in the world.
The germination of Chinese civilization and Chinese nation can be traced back to more than 5000 years ago. From 5000 to 4000 years ago, the archaeological community called it "an ancient country of ancient culture", and I called it "an ancient country before the dynasty". This historical period, in archaeology, is roughly equivalent to the transition from Longshan culture period to bronze age; In terms of social development, it is a transition from a classless society to a class society; In terms of cultural development, it is a transition from non-writing to writing civilization; In terms of national and ethnic development, it is a transition from tribal alliance to national and ethnic formation; In China, it was a transition from the Yellow Emperor to the Five Emperors of Yao and Shun and then to the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Therefore, the period of "the ancient country before the dynasty" I mentioned is a long process from the eve of the dynasty, the beginning of civilization, the embryonic form of the country to development, and it can also be said to be a historical era.
5. The development of China culture in different regions is unbalanced, which leads to the complementary relationship between different regions and is the driving force of cultural convergence and integration in China.
6. The development of China culture is endless, continuous and uninterrupted, which is different from any other ancient civilization. China culture is inclusive and harmonious, so its cohesion and external integration are unity of opposites. It is precisely because of these characteristics of Chinese culture that the richness and long-term vitality of Chinese culture have been created, and it is also the reason why the structure of the Chinese nation has formed "you have me, and I have you".
It should be said that these understandings about the origin and early development characteristics of the Chinese nation are not only my personal achievements, but also the joint efforts of several generations of scholars from many disciplines. In addition to archaeological research, there are also achievements in history and ethnology. Generally speaking, in addition to the above-mentioned teachers, Mr. Gu Jiegang, Mr. Meng and Mr. Xu have a great influence on me. If I still have some achievements, it can be attributed to two reasons: first, the times are progressing, and we stand on the shoulders of our predecessors, so we look farther than our predecessors; Second, the archaeological achievements of New China can be said to be rapid progress. We are fortunate to see such a wealth of underground information, which will naturally improve our horizons and understanding.
In addition, over the years, I have been engaged in the study of historical geography and national history, which has also given me great help. The background of historical geography makes me always pay attention to the relationship with space when studying history, and consider the time sequence of history when considering space problems; The background of national history makes me pay more attention to the changes of ethnic relations in the "vertical and horizontal space-time network", from the exploration of the authenticity of historical events to the discussion of "China".
I always believe that on the road of academic research, future generations will definitely surpass their predecessors, so my knowledge will be constantly supplemented and developed with the changes of the times, and I am always ready to update my knowledge and move towards higher goals.
one
For a long time, there have been arguments about the origin of China people and their culture, such as foreign theory, native theory, monism and pluralism. In the past, due to the restriction of political background and popular theory at that time, scientific discoveries were not sufficient, and it was difficult to have a convincing understanding. For example, all kinds of theories about the western origin of Chinese civilization have obvious elements of fiction, compilation and hypothesis. Moreover, since the18th century, the Frenchman Joseph? De? From Gu Ni (even earlier17th century) to An Tesheng in the early 20th century, all the arguments made by western countries are based on the standpoint of western cultural centralism (including ancient Egyptian civilization centralism and ancient Western Asian civilization centralism). With the development of archaeology today, some studies are inevitably biased and shallow.
At present, the information of paleoanthropology in China is quite rich and systematic, and archaeological discoveries in Paleolithic and Neolithic Age (especially since ten thousand years) have blossomed everywhere in China. These systematic and rich discoveries have clear cultural nature and connotation, which are easy to confirm each other. They are used to verify the ancient myths and legends described in Chinese literature, which fully proves that the origin of Chinese civilization has distinct local characteristics and pluralistic characteristics, and the characteristics of development from pluralism to integration since the Neolithic Age.
Where did human beings originate? Is it one center or multiple centers? Paleoanthropology is still under discussion. China's paleoanthropology research has a history of nearly 80 years, and has made gratifying progress in the ups and downs of nearly half a century; Fossil materials of human bone remains at various stages of human origin are found in China and widely distributed. According to the discovery of paleoanthropology in China, there is no missing link in the sequence of human origin. From the aspect of physical characteristics, early Homo sapiens has appeared the bud of evolution to Mongolian race (yellow race); By the late Homo sapiens, represented by Liujiang people (found in Liujiang city, Guangxi) and cavemen (found in Zhoukoudian cave in Beijing), the Mongolian race had been divided into north and south.
The early remains of Paleolithic culture in China are different from other places, and the heavy accumulation and rich connotation of Peking man site culture have already attracted the attention of the whole world. It can be said that the existence of early Paleolithic culture is universally acknowledged, which benefits from the rich cultural connotation and distinctive features of Peking man ruins. The remains of Xiaochangliang site in Nihewan Basin, Yangyuan County, Hebei Province are also very prominent, mainly the production and processing of stone tools. Except for the large spherical stone core, other stone tools are generally small, weighing about 5- 10g, and the smallest is only about 1g, but there are many stone tools, and more than 2,000 pieces have been found! According to its shape, it can be divided into sharp, scraper, carving and cone, which reflects that people lived a hunting life at that time. Judging from the fineness of these paleolithic tools, before that, their culture had a long development process, and people must have enough language exchange to ensure the teaching, imitation, improvement and inheritance of technology. A series of materials of lama apes have also been found in the Yangtze River basin. Based on these materials, it is reasonable to infer that the origin of human beings should be four or five million years ago, and China is within the range of human origin areas.
The early Homo sapiens and the corresponding culture in the middle paleolithic period expanded obviously, especially in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and its tributaries, Weihe River and Fenshui River basin. Late Homo sapiens almost spread all over China, and its corresponding cultural sites and sites in the late Paleolithic period were distributed in the provinces that are now divided into administrative divisions, and the Loess Plateau was relatively dense.
From the analysis of the characteristics of archaeological culture, the paleolithic cultures in the north and south of China have different styles and traditions, but they also have the same characteristics. By the late Paleolithic period, the development trend of different regional types appeared in northern China.
To sum up, the issue of human origin will be further debated, but the theory that human origin is only a center in Africa has been questioned by a series of new discoveries in the past; Recently, the discovery of a century-old ape fossil of Qu Yuan in Shanxi, China, overthrew the conclusion that "human beings originated in Africa" and "Eve theory" could not be established. Due to the limitation of data, the study of "genetic evidence" is far from solving the problem of whether the origin of human beings is central or polycentric. Of course, the discussion on the origin of human beings should not be confined to the narrow scope of a country or a region, but should be discussed and analyzed from the perspective of the whole world and all mankind. In fact, the origin of China people is a part of the origin of human beings. In addition, if the division of "race" is feasible, then the origin of China people also involves the origin of Mongolian race. Although it is still difficult to determine whether China is the center of human origin, the known materials have proved that China is the hometown of Mongols. No one can deny that these human fossils in China, from Homo erectus to modern humans, have obvious continuity in the evolution of body shape.
Comparing the fossil materials with the basic characteristics of modern China people's physique, we can also find the historical continuity of the Chinese nation. As Professor Wu Rukang summed up, China people have four outstanding characteristics: (1) shovel-shaped front teeth, China people are 98%, and the sum of whites and blacks is only 5%; ② Inca bone, the occurrence rate is also quite high; (3) flat face; (4) lower stool round pillow < 4 >. Therefore, the Chinese nation, including its main body-Huaxia/Han nationality, in general, its ancient ancestors should come from those who originated in China and stayed in the mainland to continue to create history.
Therefore, the origin of Chinese civilization has distinct local characteristics.
two
Many scholars have made wonderful generalizations and summaries on the archaeological culture of China for tens of thousands of years. From these induction and summary, we can clearly see the second characteristic of the origin and development of Chinese civilization, that is, the characteristics of converging from multiple origins to one.
According to the traditional view of history, the Chinese nation originated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and then spread to all parts of the frontier, so there was a frontier nation. Sima Qian integrated the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in Historical Records? The Chronicle of the Five Emperors records: Because * * * works, fights around, three seedlings and guns are guilty, "So Shun belongs to the emperor, please * * * work in the secluded tomb to become the Northern Emperor; Put down Chongshan and become Man Zi; Move three seedlings and three dangers to change Xirong; To swim in Yushan to change the east. " This view of history has a great influence. Until modern times, some scholars still believed that the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization originated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Historians used to speculate on the relationship between the development and change of regional culture from the viewpoint of "courtesy does not seek all kinds of fields", and regarded the political and economic center at that time as the center of the origin of Chinese civilization. This is the monism in the theory of local origin.
The argument of monism was overthrown by archaeological discoveries of more than half a century. Chinese civilization did not spread in all directions from a single source in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, but developed unevenly in many areas, infiltrated each other, converged and radiated repeatedly, and finally formed Chinese civilization. I have talked about this understanding on many occasions. In the article "The Origin and Development of the Theory of the Origin of the Chinese Nation", I summarized this and mentioned the close relationship between the study of the origin of Chinese civilization and the change of historical view since modern times. Of course, the idea of unbalanced development in many regions is not my invention. From 65438 to 0927, Mr Meng first divided the ancient nationalities into three systems: Jianghan, Heluo and Haidai. Their tribes, surnames and regions are different, and their economy and culture also have their own characteristics. Fu Sinian put forward the theory of "Yi Xia Dong Xi" in 1930 and 1934, and determined two systems of the origin of Chinese civilization. 194 1 Mr Xu classified the ancient nationalities in China into three "ancient tribal groups": Huaxia group, Dongyi group and Miaoman group. Xu said that going out late is the most detailed.
The above theory has a very obvious role in promoting archaeological research. Fu Sinian is the founder of the Institute of History and Linguistics of Academia Sinica, and the earliest archaeological excavations carried out by China scholars have been supported by him. His "new historiography" thought greatly promoted the study of ancient history. Mr. Xu participated in the northwest investigation in 1927, and initiated the investigation of Xia ruins and the study of Xia culture in 1959. Later, Professor Su, who initiated the research on the flora types of archaeological culture in the field of archaeology, was his student and was most influenced by him in retrospect.
Numerous archaeological discoveries and research results of archaeological and cultural flora types show that there are many centers in the origin of Chinese civilization, and the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. I sum up the diverse characteristics of Chinese civilization as follows: "The ancient residents of China were scattered in all directions, adapted to different natural environments in various regions and created history and culture. The germination of regional characteristics in Paleolithic Age has developed into different flora in Neolithic Age, and each flora has different types and development centers. In myths and legends, the gods and ancestors worshipped by ancient tribes and their totems also have obvious regional characteristics. Archaeological culture and myths and legends confirm each other, revealing the existence of ancient tribal groups, thus becoming a scientific basis for understanding the multi-source characteristics of the origin of the Chinese nation. 」〈 12〉
I emphasize the "mutual proof" between archaeology and myths and legends in order to change the dichotomy of "archaeology studies ancient times and myths study myths". There is no developed myth in China, or the myth system in China is different from that in the West, which is a legend of ancient history, that is, a part of ancient history. As Mr. Xu pointed out: Legends mixed with myths are different from pure myths, and ancient legends in China are not pure myths < 13 >. However, the ancient historical legends of China were not summarized until the Warring States Period, indicating that regional civilizations with different origins and lineages gradually developed into one.
The following is a detailed description of the division of Neolithic cultural flora in China, the culture corresponding to ancient tribal groups, and the internal and external interaction and integration of cultures among regions. This is the synthesis of many papers I published in the past, and according to the new understanding of archaeological research (such as carbon 14 dating data), combined with recent archaeological discoveries, I have made corresponding supplements and revisions. It should be noted that with the newly discovered archaeological culture densely distributed on the territory of the People's Republic of China, my overall understanding of the origin and development structure of the Chinese nation has become more and more accurate and perfect. These increasing new knowledge describe in detail the local characteristics, pluralistic characteristics and the characteristics of the origin of Chinese civilization from pluralism to integration.
From the study of geology, we know that around 10000 BC, we entered the post-glacial period and started the Holocene, thus the history of mankind entered a new era.
/kloc-0 In August, 987, archaeologists discovered an early Neolithic site in Nanzhuangtou, Xu Shui, Hebei Province, about 10000 years ago. Some pottery, stone mill, stone mill, etc. Unearthed and found some plant seeds, indicating that agriculture has sprouted. In addition, about 10,000-year-old cultural remains have been found in the lower floor of Xianren Cave in Jiangxi and Linglongyan and Xiqiao Mountain in Guangdong. Although we only have the above-mentioned sporadic discoveries about the early Neolithic culture (about 6500 BC), it is enough to show that Chinese civilization has the characteristics of multiple origins. Judging from the cultural characteristics of the Paleolithic Age and the superior geographical and natural environment in China, it is only a matter of time before more discoveries will be made in the future. China is also one of the best places to explore the origin of agriculture.
So far, more than 7,000 Neolithic sites have been discovered in China. Archaeological cultures 7,000 years ago are almost all over the country, such as Chahai culture in the Liaohe River basin, Xinglongwa Culture, Li Wenhua in Taiyi area, Dadiwan and Laoguantai culture in Guanzhong area, Peiligang and magnetic mountain culture in the Central Plains, Hemudu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Pengtoushan culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengbei Creek culture and stone soap culture. These new discoveries not only broke through the traditional understanding of the Yellow River monism, but also enriched the connotation of the starry sky theory. Mr. Su attributed these achievements to the inevitability of "the study of flora type theory": "Re-understanding the ancient culture of China with the theory of flora type of archaeological culture has greatly broadened the field of vision for archaeologists to observe the history created by ancient people of all ethnic groups in the vast territory of China, and began to explore the types of archaeological school districts from the aspects of cultural origin, characteristics and development paths. In the past, the deviation of exaggerating the ancient culture in the Central Plains and belittling the surrounding ancient culture began to be corrected, which was a breakthrough in the study of the origin of Chinese civilization. 」〈 15〉
This is basically consistent with my induction of archaeological discoveries from the perspective of the origin of Chinese civilization and the formation of the Chinese nation many years ago. On many occasions, I further emphasized my understanding of this issue and publicized the history of the origin, formation and development of the Chinese nation. Its ethnic structure and cultural development are dialectical movements of "pluralism" and "unity", and its way is "pluralistic origin, unbalanced development in many regions, repeated convergence and radiation". This is my attempt to analyze and summarize the process of cultural development and change in combination with the division of flora types. This process is quite complicated, and the specific details will be repeated, but the overall process should be summarized as above.
Therefore, I insist that there are two points that run through the whole process of Chinese culture development: First, the multi-regional unbalanced development of Chinese culture, and the Neolithic culture in each region has its own origins, has its own system, has a clear distribution area and scope, and its cultural connotations and features cannot overlap with each other, and can be clearly divided into several independent cultural areas. Second, the regional culture presents a two-way movement of convergence to the Central Plains and radiation from the Central Plains culture to the surrounding areas.
The above understanding comes not only from the division of Neolithic culture, but also from the analysis of their mutual relationship. Therefore, it is advisable to retell the specific division results and their understanding as follows < 18 >, and slightly modify the previous description according to the new archaeological findings and research results < 19 >:
1. Two opposing cultural areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
The middle reaches of the Yellow River are centered on the Central Plains, reaching the Hetao and Great Wall in the north, northwest Hubei in the south, eastern Henan in the east, and the border areas of Gansu and Qinghai in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in the west. Under Nantouzhuang culture, there are Cishan (6100-6100 BC)-Peiligang culture (6200-5500 BC), Dadiwan culture (5900-5300 BC), Yangshao culture (Banpo type, Miaodigou type, etc.
Corresponding to this area are the two tribes of Yellow Emperor, which can be traced back to the origin of Hexia. It can be roughly confirmed that Xia culture (southern Shaanxi, western Henan, central Henan), pre-Shang culture (northern Henan, southern Hebei) and pre-Zhou culture (Guanzhong) followed the development of Longshan culture in the Central Plains. The origin of Yanhuang Group is relatively close. No matter from the analysis of cultural or geographical factors, these two groups are blood groups with the same origin and cultural characteristics. Yan and Huang were born together-there were Ba tribes, and later generations became tribes with different clans and surnames. I think the Yellow Emperor originated in the west of Longshan, near Tianshui. In the development of Huangdi Group, northern Shaanxi is an extremely important area. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor was buried in Qiao Shan after his death. Huangdi is not the private name of a specific historical figure, and the location of its cemetery shows the importance of northern Shaanxi in the development of Huangdi Group. Another most important activity area of Huangdi Group is Yanshan area. The evidence that the group migrated from northern Shaanxi to Yanshan area has been confirmed by archaeology. The Central Plains culture, represented by Yangshao culture, crossed the Yellow River from the lower reaches of Weishui River, went north along Fenhe River and Sanggan River, and joined Hongshan Culture in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, the birthplace of Sanggan River and Fenhe River. The collision and communication between the two cultures gave birth to the dawn of civilization.
"Mandarin? Today, it is said that the Yellow Emperor has 25 sons, whose surnames are 12 (actually, it is 1 1). This surname 1 1 obviously does not necessarily come from the same source, but is the result of continuous integration. Therefore, the legendary pedigree of the Yellow Emperor has different names, such as "Xuanyuan Family" and "Youxiong Family", which shows that although these later groups also have their own totems, they all regard the Yellow Emperor as the ancestor god and god. "Yellow Emperor" is not only the heavenly emperor worshipped by the group, but also the title enjoyed by the chief of the group.
Yan Di, also known as Chi Di, is the heavenly emperor worshipped by the Yan Di tribe and the title of the tribal leader. According to legend, in ***530, there were eight people who inherited the surname of Emperor Yan, and the last one was (22 years old). The source areas of Yandi Group should be the upper reaches of Weihe River in Shaanxi Province and the upper reaches of Hanjiang River south of Qinling Mountains. Then continue to migrate. The descendants of Emperor Yan include Zhu Xia, Jiang Rong and Bianqiang. Later, it developed into three branches: Gonggong, April and Bianqiang. * * * workers are divided into two parts, namely * * * workers and Kun (slow reading), indicating that the group has further differentiation. * * * workers developed in eastern Henan and southern Hebei. Xu specifically pointed out that it was in Huixian, and the scope was obviously too small. Guns flourished in Chongshan (now Songshan) and developed in the border area between Henan and Shaanxi. Therefore, gun is considered as a branch of Huangdi Group. Siyue, or Xiyue, is also called Taiyue. Its descendants are Shen, Lu, Qi, Xu and other countries. Shen is now in Nanyang, Henan; Lu Yuan was in Shaanxi and later moved to Nanyang. Qi is in Shandong; Xu is now Xuchang, Henan; It is the capital of Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan). About one of the four mountains is the mainstream of Emperor Yan. The edge strength is more complicated, and it has been in the ecotone between agriculture and animal husbandry in northwest China. Legend has it that the worker and the gun died after failing to control water, and the gun became a yellow bear or a yellow dragon; * * * became a red bear < 23 >. This has something in common with the totem of the animals of Huangdi Group. It can be seen that the areas where the two ethnic groups of Yanhuang are located are not only the same in Neolithic culture series, but also quite similar in cultural characteristics, and the difference is only the difference in local types and cultural centers. Homosexuality in myths and legends further shows that the cultural origins of the two tribal groups are the same.
Today, the lower reaches of the Yellow River, with Mount Tai as the center, south to Huai, east to Hai and north to Wudi, is actually the water-saving Haidai area in the pre-Qin period. Its cultural origin and inheritance are clear, and its development context is complete. Post-Li Wenhua (6300-5600 BC) < 24 >, Qingliangang? Northern New Culture (5600-4300 BC) < 25 >, Dawenkou Culture (4300-2500 BC), Longshan Culture (2500-2000 BC) and Yueshi Culture (1900- 1500 BC) are interrelated. Neolithic culture in Haidai region corresponds to mythical tribal groups such as Tai Hao and Shao Hao, some of which merged with Yanhuang group and became one of the sources of Xia people and businessmen, while most of them were ancestors of Dongyi in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Generally speaking, the Neolithic culture in Haidai area should be the culture of Dongyi in the Three Dynasties.
Tai Hao, located in the north, was the emperor of the East and the ancestor of Feng. The distribution of Shao Hao overlaps with that of Tai Hao, slightly to the south, with birds as the totem. In the fifteenth year of Zuozhuan in Zhao Gong, there were 15 tribes or clans with birds as their surnames. According to legend, the descendants are Houyi, Tao, Chiyou and Yi, and now Juxian is its core area.
2. Two cultural areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
With the increase of archaeological discoveries in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, we have a clearer understanding of the archaeological and cultural characteristics and structural relations in this area.
The middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with Jianghan Plain as the center, Dongting Lake in the south, Three Gorges and East Sichuan (now East Henan) in the west, and archaeological culture in the south of Henan and the middle reaches of the Yellow River in the north, is a self-contained archaeological cultural area. With regard to the genealogical relationship of archaeological culture in the Yangtze River basin (especially in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River) since the Neolithic Age, we have gained a new understanding thanks to the work of archaeologists in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Chongqing, and also thanks to the rescue excavation in the Three Gorges reservoir area since 1995 [26]. For example, the book "The Structure of Prehistoric Culture in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River" written by Meng Huaping, a young scholar, made a good summary of the archaeological culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and also implemented some of my unique opinions: the later the times, the wider the distribution of archaeological culture, and the more inclusive its cultural connotation. He said: "The Neolithic archaeological culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is mainly manifested in the dual-oriented pedigree structure ... that is, the southern system centered on the southwest side of the two lakes plain and the northern system centered on the east side of the Hanshui River. The southern branch is divided into two branches, the southern branch is composed of Pengtou culture, Zaoshi lower culture and Tangjiagang culture, and the northern branch is composed of Chengbei West culture and Daxi culture. Their absolute age is about 8500-5 100 years ago. The archaeological culture of Northern China is composed of Bianfan culture, Youziling culture, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture, and its absolute age is about 6900-4200 years ago. In terms of the composition of development, the archaeological culture of the North-South system has different degrees of exchange and influence. About 5 100 years ago, this dual-oriented pedigree structure was broken, that is, the Youziling culture of the northern system gradually expanded to the southwest, and basically replaced the southern system during the Qujialing culture period, achieving unprecedented unity and prosperity. Nevertheless, the cultural excavations in the southern system are still partially preserved and become different local types in the northern system. After the Shijiahe culture, the archaeological culture from the Central Plains gradually infiltrated into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, forming the post-Shijiahe culture, which fundamentally changed the pedigree structure of the traditional culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and took an important step towards the process of pluralistic integration of the Chinese nation. 」〈27〉
Legend has it that there are three seedlings in this area. According to "Mandarin? Under Chu Yu and the master, Sanmiao is a descendant of Jiuli. The distribution of Jiuli is unknown in the literature. At the beginning of the Warring States Period, Wu Qi pointed out his vision: "In the past, there were waves in the left, water in Dongting in the right, Wenshan in the south and Hengshan in the north" (Warring States Policy? Wei Ce). Historical records? "Chronicle of Five Emperors" records: "The number of three seedlings in Jianghuai Jingzhou is chaotic. Both Xu and Qian Mu have verified that Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake are in this area. Yu first connected Sanmiao with the prehistoric culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from the perspective of archaeology, and thought that the "primitive culture centered on Qujialing culture" in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River belonged to the remains of Sanmiao culture. In its heyday, Qujialing culture "influenced the middle reaches of Danjiang River and Hanshui River to the north and reached the foot of Funiu Mountain, making the primitive culture there change from the original factor to Qujialing factor." The southern type of Xiushui area in Jiangxi Province between Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake began because of the unclear sequence, but by the late Qujialing period, the primitive cultural factors in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River had arrived there and combined with the Shi Xia culture in Lingnan. After the middle of 3000 years ago, this cultural system developed to a new stage, and its cultural outlook changed rapidly. It may enter the period of copper and stone, and it has more contact with various cultures in Longshan culture stage in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. [28] The development of this archaeological culture is roughly consistent with the scope and influence of the three temples. From the pedigree analysis of prehistoric culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Qujialing culture and Shijiahe culture have obvious northern factors, so some scholars regard them as "northern archaeological culture". More and more evidence shows that their origin is intrinsically related to the tradition of "Ding Culture" facing the ocean. For example, the pottery rules in Shijiahe culture are influenced by the cultural traditions in Taiyi area. The jades of Shijiahe culture also have obvious Dawenkou-Longshan cultural style (such as Yufeng, etc. ) < 30 >.
To sum up, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Qujialing cultural period was generally unified, and after a period of relative stability, it entered the Shijiahe cultural period, and the cultural outlook of the whole middle reaches of the Yangtze River has undergone tremendous changes. There is a cultural break between "post-Shijiahe culture" and Shijiahe culture, which seems to explain the conquest of the Central Plains by the "Three Miao" in Yao, Shun and Yu periods.
In addition, some scholars pointed out that a branch of Huangdi Group developed to Yichang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in an earlier period, and intermarried with the indigenous people in Xilingxia area, resulting in Changyi clan, which was proved by archaeology, that is, "the influence of Yangshao culture southward on Daxi Cultural Center may have the historical background of the legends of Huangdi and Leizu", 3 1. The influencing factors of Yangshao culture (Banpo culture and Miaodigou culture) can be clearly seen in Daxi culture and Youziling culture in the north of the Yangtze River, and gradually weaken from north to south, but basically disappear in the south of the Yangtze River.
The lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with Taihu Plain as the center, Hangzhou Bay area as the center in the south and Ningzhen area as the center in the north (including the border area between Jiangsu and Anhui), is a cultural flora with its own origin and complete archaeological cultural sequence in the Neolithic Age. Since Hemudu culture (5000 years ago