The Cultural Origin of Huxiang Culture

Archaeologists in China believe that 10,000 to 5,000 years ago is the early and middle period of the Neolithic Age in China, that is, the legendary Shennong Age. Five or six thousand years ago, it was the transitional period from the late Neolithic period to the bronze ware, which was the legendary Yellow Emperor era. Yandi and Huangdi are not only clan leaders, but also clan and tribe titles, representing two eras respectively, namely Yandi era and Huangdi era. Prior to this, Hunan had hundreds of thousands of years of paleolithic culture history. Hunan has a warm and humid climate, and Jiangyong area in the south is a primitive wild rice producing area. Pottery and three complete kinds of rice grains were found in Yuchandong site in Daoxian County, which is adjacent to Jiangyong. The earlier one is wild rice, and the later one is cultivated rice. It also retains the comprehensive characteristics of wild rice, indica rice and japonica rice, and is the earliest cultivated rice specimen found in the world so far. This shows that the ancestors of Daoxian county took the lead in igniting the hope of developing rice culture by cultivating and transforming wild rice in the face of wild rice that nature could not meet people's edible needs.

The middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Paleolithic period has become a homologous link between the two sides. Passing through Jiangling, Hubei Province, it is the Liyang alluvial plain with soft soil in Dongting District, Hunan Province, which has the natural conditions for developing large-scale rice culture. Since the late Paleolithic, ancestors have entered this plain one after another. Eight or nine thousand years ago, there were ideographic symbols, ideographic paintings and totems in Pengtou Mountain in Lixian County. About 8,000 years ago, more than 20,000 grains of rice were found at the Batang site in Lixian County, which is the place with the largest number of prehistoric grains found in the world. There are also agricultural tools such as wooden rafts, wooden shovels and bone shovels, as well as processing tools such as wooden pestles, which are similar to those written by Shennong in Zhouyi. The legend records that "wood is the foundation, rubbing wood is the foundation of thunder, and the fundamental benefit of thunder is to teach the world", which is completely consistent with the sum of the time when the corpse said that "Shennong has the world in seventy" and "Continued Chronicles" recorded that Emperor Yan proclaimed himself emperor for 530 years. It can be seen that Shennong moved from Shaanxi and Gansu to Liyang, and its advantages continued to increase, forming the basic economic form of settled agriculture, and the rice culture developed into a large-scale agricultural stage. Pottery-making technology is also quite skilled, with various forms of pots and white pottery. Painted pottery is the most distinctive and radiant, spreading to neighboring areas such as Yuan, Hunan and western Hubei. Huxiang culture has been constantly innovating since then. 6500 years ago, the ancient city of Chengtoushan and the rice fields in Lixian County were excavated, which confirmed the legend of Shennong that "the day is the city". Lixian 80? Some platform buildings were found on site, among which the middle main part of one building foundation was about 40 cm above the ground, and its four corners were trumpet-shaped and protruded outward, and the plane was starfish-shaped. This ceremony center site reminds people: Lixian 80? This used to be the center of the Shennong era. The first generation of Shennong Party set out from here for a southern tour to treat diseases, and was buried at the end of Changsha tea town because of the mistake of tasting money grass. Shennong was acclaimed as the central clan to create agricultural civilization, and its descendants were recruited and spread in all directions. The last generation of Wang Yu tribe in Yan Di was defeated in the Battle of Hanquan, and its leaves fell near the graves of its ancestors. In this way, the Huxiang culture in the whole Shennong era developed in the heart of Shennong central clan, and it also soaked the spirit of Shennong clan culture.

With the passage of time, the Huangdi clan rose from the Yellow River valley and gradually merged with the Yan Di clan to form the Yanhuang Alliance, which became the most powerful tribal group in ancient China. Yan Di Shennong was the founder of this alliance, and then the Yellow Emperor took its place, unifying the Central Plains and expanding the Quartet. Yanhuang Group entered the Emirates era on the eve of the country's rise. The Yellow Emperor became the first chieftain and continued to hold high the banner of the Yanhuang Alliance, pushing the primitive civilization initiated by Emperor Yan to a new historical stage, thus laying a solid foundation for an ancient civilization with the largest nationality and population in the world that has been stable and unified for thousands of years. Huxiang culture has also developed into Yanhuang culture. Under the background of the shift of cultural center of gravity to the south, Hunan has become a province with Confucian culture as its orthodoxy, and is called Xiaoxiang Bamboo Silk and Man Jing Zou Lu by scholars. Local culture before Tang and Song Dynasties, including Jingchu culture. These two origins affect two levels of Huxiang culture respectively. On the ideological and academic level, Confucianism in the Central Plains is the source of Huxiang culture, and the plaque of "Daonan Zhengmai" hanging in the lecture hall of Yuelu Academy shows the Confucian orthodoxy represented by Huxiang culture. From the social and psychological level, such as the folk customs and psychological characteristics of Huxiang, it mainly stems from the local cultural traditions. These two completely different cultures regrouped and formed a unique regional culture. Therefore, by studying Huxiang scholars, we can find the orthodox characteristics of Confucianism in Huxiang culture. Whether Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Nanxuan, Wang Chuanshan or Zeng Guofan, their academic thoughts and pursuits are all aimed at orthodox Confucianism and Mencius. Those who study Hunan people will feel the strong and stubborn character of Jingchushan people. Of course, these two cultural combinations are interpenetrating: Xiang Xuehai's academic thoughts always reveal Ren Xiang's strong, pragmatic and enterprising style and fighting spirit, while Ren Xiang's personality traits are cultivated by Confucian moral spirit, so he can show a kind of personality charm and spiritual sublimation. For example, Zeng Guofan's pursuit of "blood honesty" and "light" in personality cultivation often makes us realize the beauty of this dual cultural combination. Honest and bright thoughts come from Confucian classics and Confucian scholars' pursuit of personality perfection; The concept of blood and force is clearly surging with the blood of Jingchu barbarians! Including the Xiang army formed by Zeng Guofan, whose members are mainly mountain people on Hunan land. Zeng Guofan not only took a fancy to their straightforward and vigorous Hunan character, but also asked them to learn Confucian morality and cultural accomplishment, which reflected his conscious use of this dual cultural combination. Triple evolution and the causes of Huxiang culture. Huxiang culture was formed after the Song Dynasty. In the history of Hunan, "there are great rivers in the north, thin mountains and five ridges in the south, and Qianchuan in the west, which were picked up by a group of seedlings", it is a charming place that is not moved by the people in the Central Plains. Then, how did Huxiang culture, with the Central Plains culture as its main source, form in this land that was blocked on all sides?

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Huxiang philosophy thought: Huxiang philosophy thought, with Hu Anguo as the pioneer, formed its own unique style in Song Dynasty through Hu Hong, Zhang Wan, Wang Chuanshan, Zeng Guofan, Tan Sitong, Yang Changji and even Mao Zedong; "By combining the moral spirit of Neo-Confucianism with the practical advantages of practical application, the characteristics of this academic culture have continued to modern times ... In modern history, Hunan has a large number of talents. Although their political positions may be quite different, their academic and cultural style of stressing ideals and attaching importance to practical application is true. "

Huxiang literature and art: Inheriting Qu Yuan's literary tradition of worrying about the country and the people and Hu Anguo's philosophical tradition of "applying the world", Huxiang literature and art has the obvious characteristics of "the unity of literature and Taoism". The "Xiangxiang Literature School" headed by Zeng Guofan is the representative of this feature. This feature is also evident in Mao Zedong.

Huxiang historiography: the philosophical thought of practical application is also reflected in Huxiang historiography. Huxiang historiography has the following obvious characteristics: First, it pays equal attention to classics and history. Taking Confucian classics as the highest basis for criticizing history, the purpose of describing history is to explain the significance of Confucian classics, and to explain the connotation of Confucian classics is to maintain historical traditions. Second, to say that the past is for the present, and to criticize the past is to criticize the shortcomings of the present. Studying history is not for academics, but for revisiting the lessons of rise and fall and seeking historical reference for national rejuvenation and national salvation. "This spirit of attaching importance to historiography for practicality and tradition of attaching importance to historiography for current affairs have influenced the development direction of Huxiang historiography."

Huxiang education: Huxiang education flourished in the Song Dynasty and lasted for thousands of years, forming its own unique tradition: it attaches importance to both learning and thinking, the unity of knowing and doing, and independent thinking and rational criticism. Yuelu Academy is the witness and representative of this tradition.

Huxiang religion: Huxiang culture has adopted an "inclusive" attitude towards religion, and the land of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism in Nanyue Temple is a typical example. For the latter, Huxiang culture takes a firm and critical attitude. Since the Huxiang School in the Song Dynasty, Huxiang scholars have advocated "joining the WTO", insisted on "practical learning" and emphasized "applying what they have learned", so they all criticized religion from the perspective of sociology and epistemology. Especially the conspiracy against Christianity, boycotting Yuri. Hunan is the region with the largest number of "teaching plans" in modern China. Resisting foreign religions has become the concerted action of the whole region.

Huxiang Folk Custom: Huxiang is one of the regions with the largest ethnic groups in China. In the long years, due to the differences in historical evolution, living areas, modes of production and religious beliefs, various ethnic groups have nurtured rich and colorful traditional customs and ethnic customs, which infiltrated and influenced each other and merged into a distinctive and unique Huxiang folk culture.

Huxiang science and technology: Huxiang science and technology is famous for its development because of its emphasis on practice and practicality. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, bronze smelting had reached a considerable scale. Modern antimony is the most smelted in China. The exquisite cultural relics unearthed from Mawangdui are breathtaking. They show the unique scientific character of Huxiang culture from different angles. China culture experienced three great changes in Song Dynasty, which played a vital role in the rise of Huxiang culture.

By the Song Dynasty, the economy and culture of the south had been very developed, surpassing that of the north. Especially in the Southern Song Dynasty after the Jingkang Rebellion, famous literati engaged in cultural and educational activities in the south, and Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian and other provinces became the most culturally developed places, producing many famous schools and establishing many famous academies.

Confucianism also flourished in the Han Dynasty, but the opportunity for its prosperity was that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty promoted the ousting of hundreds of schools and respected Confucianism alone, and Confucianism in the Han Dynasty became a top-down national ideology. Fundamentally speaking, Confucianism in Han Dynasty is a unified Confucianism. The ideological trend of reviving Confucianism in Song Dynasty is a bottom-up academic and cultural ideological trend, which mainly carries out academic research and dissemination through local academies instead of central or local official schools. Groups of neo-Confucian scholars who are determined to revive Confucian beliefs and rebuild Confucian knowledge system gather in different academies in various regions to concentrate on writing and giving lectures. As a result, regional schools with academic traditions and ideological characteristics have been formed. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were Zhou Dunyi's Learning, Zhang Zaizhi's Learning, and Er Cheng's Learning. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were Zhu's Fujian studies, Hu's and his son's Huxiang studies, and Lu Jiuyuan's Xiangshan studies.

The rise of neo-Confucianism indicates the emergence of a more comprehensive neo-Confucian cultural form, and due to the southward shift of the cultural center and the localization of Confucianism, this cultural form with Confucianism as the core and a comprehensive interpretation of Taoism will inevitably multiply and develop in the south. Finally, the triple important evolution of China culture promoted the formation and rise of Huxiang culture, a local academic form with Confucianism as the core, and it will shine brilliantly in the future.