The Origin and Development of China Traditional Culture

The origin of China's traditional culture. On the origin of China's traditional culture 1. From the west: 2. Zhongyuan said: orthodoxy: "since Pangu opened the world, three emperors and five emperors have come to this day." For example, most people talk about history from Pangu, which is the so-called "since Pangu opened the world, three emperors and five emperors to the present." (1) Pangu: the leading goose in the legendary system of China. His achievements are only epoch-making, and have little to do with personnel. According to the "Thirty-five Calendars", his achievements are as follows: "Heaven and earth are chaotic like chickens, and Pangu was born in them. He was eight thousand years old and made heaven and earth, and the sky was clear and the earth was cloudy. Pangu is among them, changing nine times a day. God is in heaven and saint is on earth. The sky is ten feet high, the earth is ten feet thick, and Pangu is ten feet long, so it has eight thousand years. " (2) Three Emperors and Five Emperors: A. Who are "Huang San" and "Huang San"? There are different opinions in various documents, which can be roughly divided into two types: Emperor, Huangdi and Ren Huang, and Sui people, Fu and Shennong. The latter is dominant. There are also some documents that use Zhu Rong, Nu Wa or Huangdi instead of Suiren's, but Fu and Shennong are the * * * knowledge of most documents. The ancients believed that history began in the order of emperors, emperors, kings and tyrants, and the tyranny of kings in Huang San, Five Emperors, Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was more severe from generation to generation. Guan Zi Sun Tzu's Art of War said: "Those who are wise are emperors, those who keep the Tao are emperors, those who are wise are kings, and the soldiers are victorious." "Guanzi Forbidden Tibet": "Those who win the world will attack the emperor with affection, the king with things and the tyrant with politics." "Zhuangzi Tianxia": "The ancients had five emperors, three kings used righteousness and five tyrants." "Huai Nan Zi Ben Jing Xun": "Emperor Taiyi, Wang Yin and Yang, when he dominated the four seasons, the monarch used six laws." In the era of the Three Emperors, people's lives were not happy. "Everything goes wrong, five evils" contains: "In ancient times, there were fewer people and more beasts, and the people were invincible. Some saints take trees as their nests to avoid group harm, while the people say that the world is king, which is called the nest family. People eat fruits, melons and clams, which stink, hurt their stomachs and make people sick. There are saints who drill fire to make it stink, and the people say it, making it look like a king and calling it a name. " "Lu Chunqiu Rely on Jun" said: "There is a gentleman in the old age. Its crowd lives, and Anemarrhena does not know its father; No relatives, brothers, husband and wife, men and women; There is no way up and down, no difference between the old and the young, no difference between advance and retreat, no difference between submission, no difference between clothes and shoes, no difference between palaces and no difference between livestock. There are no equipment, ships, battlements and obstacles. " Huang San has brought benefits to the people, but there is no great cause of "ruling the country and leveling the world". Huang San's achievements: Sui's achievements are "drilling wood for fire, teaching people to cook, cultivating people's interest, avoiding tools and removing poison"; Fu's achievement is "looking up at the sky and overlooking the earth". Because of the couple, the five elements are positive, and people are determined. "Shennong's achievement is that" at first, he taught people to cultivate grains, cultivate fields, dry and wet fertile soil, taste herbs, and make people know how to avoid them. " B. There are different opinions about who the "Five Emperors" refer to. " "Guoyu" records a bird saying: "The Yellow Emperor can make people rich. Turn to Xu Can to fix it. Di Ku can order three times to strengthen the people. Yao can punish the people with a penalty. Shunqin died in the wilderness. In other words, Di Ku's Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Ku, Yao and Shun are five emperors. Five emperors, the name of the royal family and the biography of the five emperors all say so. In Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, Shaobaigao, Taibaigao, Huangdi, Yan Di and Shun Di are the five emperors. Huai Nan Zi takes Huangdi, Zhuan Xu, Yao, Shun and Qi as five emperors. What is most accepted by later generations is the statement of Guoyu. Merits and demerits of the Five Emperors: A Record of the Five Emperors: The Yellow Emperor said, "After the wind broke out, the people used strong herding, constant development and generous governance. Obeying the discipline of heaven and earth, seclusion, the theory of life and death, the difficulty of survival. When sowing hundreds of valleys of vegetation, Chunhua birds, animals, insects and moths, next to the sun, moon, stars, water, rocks and jade, diligent, saving water, fire and money, and having the virtue of land, it is called the Yellow Emperor. "Zhuan Xu:" Jingyuan has a plan to relieve the governor; Repair materials anywhere, take the sky as the load, take ghosts and gods as righteousness, take enlightenment as governance, and take sacrifice as sincerity. Di Ku: "It's not about charity. Smart knows the distance, smart observes the micro. Shun Tian's righteousness, know the urgency of the people, be benevolent and strong, be profitable and believe, cultivate one's morality and serve the world. Take the materials from the land and use them sparingly, help others and teach the people, welcome them through the sun and the moon, and respect ghosts and gods. Its color is gloomy and its virtue is embarrassing. When it moves, it suits you. Di Ku irrigates the world, the sun and the moon shine, and when the wind and rain come, he must obey. "Yao:" His benevolence is like heaven, and his knowledge is like god. Like the sun, it looks like a cloud. Being rich is not arrogant, but expensive and uncomfortable. Huang receives clean clothes, rides a white horse and sits in a chariot, and can be close to nine families in Ming Dynasty. Since the nine clans are in harmony, they will rule the people. The folk customs are clear and harmonious. " Shun: "Shun heard about filial piety at the age of twenty. On the 30th, Emperor Yao asked who was free. Yue Xian recommended Yu Shun and said yes. So Yao Nai used his second wife Shun to observe the inside and let nine men and women observe the outside. Live in harmony and act cautiously. Yao's two daughters are very feminine because they dare not use your arrogance to avoid their relatives. Yao and nine men are all beneficial. Shun Li Gengshan, Li Shanren gave way; Razer fishing, Razer people all give way ... Shun eight qi, so that the main land, in order to slap Pepsi, there is no time sequence. Give eight yuan, so that the five religions can be taught in all directions, and the father's righteousness, mother's kindness, brothers and friends, brothers' respect, filial piety and success from the inside. "Huang San is just a means to teach people to make a living, while the five emperors are educating the people and benefiting the people, which embodies moral politics. Huang San is only the founder of culture, while the Five Emperors are the founders of civilization. 3. Skepticism: Gu Jiegang's "Stratification Theory" There are many skeptics about ancient history in China historians, but the most successful one is the ancient history school represented by Gu Jiegang in the first half of the 20th century. 1923, in a letter discussing with Qian the problem of discriminating the falsehood of The Book of Songs, Gu Jiegang systematically put forward the theory of "layered fatigue", that is, "the view of ancient history caused by layered fatigue". There are three main viewpoints: ① The later the times, the longer the legendary ancient times; (2) In the post-era, the taller the legend is; (3) Even if you are not sure whether a historical figure or event is true, you can know its earliest position in the legend. " Since Pangu opened the world, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors have come to this day ",and Gu Jiegang believes that Pangu, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors are fictional characters, and the later they go, the earlier the fictional history will be. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, people only knew that there was a Dayu, and the legend of Yao and Shun did not appear until the Spring and Autumn Period. Huangdi and Shennong were invented during the Warring States Period. Huang San's theory did not appear until the Qin Dynasty, and the legend of Pangu even appeared after the Han Dynasty. Pangu Pangu is a purely fictional character, and the fictional age is very late, which is probably the product of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Strictly speaking, it is not enough to become the leading geese in China's legendary system. His achievements are only epoch-making, and have little to do with personnel. (2) Three Emperors and Five Emperors: There are different opinions about who "Huang San" refers to, which can be divided into two categories: the emperor, the Yellow Emperor and Ren Huang, and the Sui people, Fu and Shennong. The latter is dominant. There are also some documents that use Zhu Rong, Nu Wa or Huangdi instead of Suiren's name, but Fu and Shennong are the * * * knowledge of most documents. "Historical Records begins with biographies of five emperors, and rarely mentions Huang San's achievements. The theory of the Five Emperors only existed in the Warring States Period. According to Mr. Xu's textual research, the statement that "there were no five emperors until the Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period, and their names were not found in Zuozhuan, Guoyu, Analects of Confucius, Mozi and Mencius" is obvious evidence. It was not until the late Warring States that the Five Emperors prevailed. "But the worship of the five emperors existed before the Warring States period, and the Analects of Confucius and Mencius spoke highly of Yao and Shun. Shangshu has Yao Dian and Shun Dian. Does the Yellow Empire exist? According to ancient literature, the Yellow Emperor was a real person. Zhou Piai suan Jing, Shan Hai Jing, Mandarin, Da Dai Li, Lv Chunqiu, Historical Records and other documents are all eloquent, especially Sima Qian's record is the most detailed: his father is young, his mother is Qiao, and he was born to his compatriots with Yan Di, and he has 25 sons. However, these works are all works after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Before that, the ancient books did not mention the Yellow Emperor at all, especially the Historical Records, which was written by Emperor Yao. Can the hills of Xuanyuan, the fields of Zhuolu, Huangdi Spring and Huangdi Mausoleum prove that the Yellow Emperor really exists? Huangdi Mausoleum, before Sima Qian, the legendary Huangdi had no burial place, only "Lapras ascended to heaven". On the one hand, Sima Qian inherited the old theory, on the other hand, he thought that "the Yellow Emperor collapsed and buried Qiaoshan". But where is Qiao Shan? The chronology of the Five Emperors does not provide the following, so there are Qiao Shan in Shaanxi, Qiao Shan in Gansu and Qiao Shan in Zhuolu. There are two Qiao Shan in Shaanxi, one in northern Shaanxi and the other in Guanzhong. Legend has it that "the Yellow Emperor draws water and the Yan Emperor is Jiang Shui", and the scope of activities is roughly in Shaanxi today. Why do you want to go to Zhuolu Farm near Beijing to play Chiyou today? Emperor Yan was buried in Chaling, Hunan Province, which is now Yanling County. Shun Di was buried in Jiuyi Mountain, Hunan Province. Legend has it that Shun Di took two concubines, Goose Emperor and Nv Ying, on a southern tour, wandering in the depths of Dongting, entering and leaving Xiaoxiang Pavilion, and finally drowned in Xiangshui and was buried in Jiuqi. It is said that Shaoshan today also plays Shaoshan, and many birds are worshipped, hence the name Shaoshan. Tracing back to the origin of the Yellow Emperor, we should start with the five-party concept of our ancestors. From Oracle Bone Inscriptions's point of view, the Yin people already had the concept of five parties. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Guo Moruo's Compilation of Nazi Party in Yin Qi recorded four places, namely, southeast, northwest, and the four places, together with "Shang" or "Shang Zhong", are the five places in the southeast and northwest. The concept of five parties began to evolve into the concept of "five colors" or "five colors" in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Yizhou Zuoluo is the earliest document that records "five colors": "The Duke of Zhou and the general will lead the government to build a large society in the middle school, and their soil will stay in the east, Song Ka will be in the male, the western white rabbit will be in the male, and the soil will be broken, and the central government will be trapped by loess." Zhou people originated in Shaanxi, where there are high loess slopes everywhere, so yellow is the most expensive thing for Zhou people. Moreover, due to the tradition of the concept of five parties in Yin people, Zhou people also divided the world into five parties, with Shaanxi as the center. Although Luoyi and the camp of the Duke of Zhou in Luoyi are different from those in Shaanxi, due to the consideration of the kingship center, the Duke of Zhou can only regard the generation of Luoyi as "yellow", and the center of the big society is yellow. Zhou people's admiration for yellow and the concept of "five-color soil" are related to strengthening centralization. After the five colors, there are five elements. Because the five-color concept is directly combined with dynasty politics, kingship needs myth, so the rulers of Zhou Dynasty naturally worship the Yellow Emperor because they are still yellow. The Yellow Emperor, like the emperor, said that the color is yellow and he has power over the emperor. Interpretation of the text says: "The emperor was originally the Yellow Emperor". Huai Nan Zi says, "Middle Earth is also the Yellow Emperor". Huangdi is the emperor of the central government. 2. Before the Yellow Emperor, there were ancestors such as Shennong, Fuxi and Nuwa, and even Sui people and dynasties. However, the ancestor recognized by China people is the Yellow Emperor, and modern people call themselves "descendants of the Yellow Emperor". Why? Tribal alliance first established by Huangdi; Huangdi first started moral politics; The Yellow Emperor is the crystallization of China culture. Han people are really basically the blood of China people. 3. Descendants of the Dragon China people also gave themselves a good name, that is, "Descendants of the Dragon". 1. What is a dragon? Er Ya Yi said: The dragon "has horns like deer, head like camel, eyes like rabbit, neck like snake, belly like scorpion, scales like carp, claws like eagle, palms like tiger and ears like ox." There is no such monster in nature. Strangely, in China's plastic arts and poems, there are descriptions and descriptions of dragons everywhere, especially in palaces, which are the world of dragons. All the walls and beams have the shape of dragons. For more than two thousand years, dragons have been regarded as a symbol of monarchical power. The emperor called him the son of the real dragon and regarded him as the embodiment of the dragon. His body is a dragon body, his face is a dragon face, his beard is a dragon beard, his coat is a dragon robe, and his residence is a dragon palace. It can be said that dragon worship is an important part of Chinese civilization and the root of Chinese culture to a great extent. In the past few years, scholars have their own ideas to explore the true colors of dragons, including crocodile theory, Lei Gong theory, pine theory, horse theory and so on. Most of these are based on the analysis of the shape of dragons. It is called crocodile because it is as big, scaly and shaped like a dragon as people think. It is called lightning because lightning in the sky is like a flying dragon, flying and raining; Speaking of pine trees, it is because the bark of pine trees is like Long Lin, and the branches are like dragon horns; It is called a horse because some dragon statues have a dragon head like a horse's head. But these statements can't stand scrutiny. 1. Dragons are often associated with water, while pine trees and horses have little to do with water. 2. Many documents say that the basic characteristics of dragons are "small and powerful", "long and short" and "quiet and bright", which are not found in animals, plants or natural phenomena. The objects worshipped by primitive people are often things closely related to their lives and of great significance to human survival. Except lightning, these things have little to do with human life. ④ Dragon worship is an important part of China culture, especially believed by Confucianism and Taoism, and its original meaning must be related to the inner spirit of China culture. None of these can reflect the inner spirit of China culture. ⑤. The monarch is regarded as the embodiment of the dragon, and China's politics is characterized by the unity of religion and monarchy. Accordingly, the worship of dragons must also reflect the political and cultural significance of this level. None of the above explanations can be cut to this extent. 6. Most importantly, how are China people called "descendants of dragons"? In other words, dragons were worshipped as ancestors at first, but there is no relevant evidence from ancient literature. In ancient literature, there are many records or descriptions about dragons, which can be summarized as follows: 1. Dragons live in osawa and are related to water; Second, the dragon can make wind and rain, and is in charge of human rain; Third, the shape of the dragon changes. A. Dragon and Water "Shuowen": "The place where dragons live is often in Shui Ze." He also said: "The dragon, the scale worm's length, can be quiet and bright, fine and huge, short and long, climbing the sky in the spring breeze and diving deep in the autumn equinox." "Zuo Zhuan Xiang Gong Twenty-one Years" said: "In osawa, a deep mountain, a dragon snake was born." Water is negative, and Ze is a hollow in the mountain. In the ravine, there is water called ze, there is no water called valley, and there is valley between ze and valley. Erya Shi Tian: "Water flows into the stream, and the stream flows into the valley." Ancient times wrote "bath" in the silk book Laozi, emphasizing that there is water in the valley. In the eyes of the ancients, valleys were often used to symbolize female genitalia. "Dai Li Yi Yisheng's Core Monument": "The mountain is a horse and the valley is a valley." The high note "Huainanzi" is more direct: "The hill is high and open, and the sun is also there, so it is a stag; The valley is dirty and cloudy, which is embarrassing. " Zhou Yutong, a close friend, also pointed out that in ancient China, the valley was worshipped as a female genital organ, and Zeheyuan and the valley were basically synonymous, that is, the image of the vulva. So what are dragons that live in osawa or dive into the abyss? B Dragon and Yunyulong not only live in osawa and dive into the abyss, but also take charge of human rainwater. When it rains, there must be clouds first, so all clouds and rain belong to the dragon control. The haiku of Ganyi hexagram says: "Clouds make rain, goods make logistics. Daming began at the end, and six people became useful, taking six dragons to rule the sky. " "Huainanzi Astronomical Training": "Long Ju Yun Jing." He also said: "Those who can climb the mountain without seeing the dragonfly will be blessed by the wind and rain." "Bao Puzi" also said: "The name of the rain Lord is Morning Dragon." It is precisely because the dragon is in charge of rainwater that the Dragon King Temple was built everywhere in ancient China. Whenever there is drought, men and women will go to the temple to beg for rain. "Sex and rain" is a common argot about sexual intercourse between men and women in China proverbs and literary works. It is generally believed that the word "sex" first appeared in Song Yu's Gao Tang Mi. In fact, "sex" is a metaphorical behavior, and the time is much earlier. In fact, sex is a matter between men and women. The most obvious is the livestock in Xiao Yi. The hexagram said: "Clouds are dense and it doesn't rain, I am in the western suburbs." The hexagrams in "Little Livestock" are like husband and wife, the old man and the eldest daughter. The combination of the two is ideal, but it is inevitable that there will be clouds without rain, so it is like saying that "husband and wife turn against each other." The ancients used "sex" to compare the sexual behavior of men and women for two reasons. First, sex in nature is a sympathetic life behavior between heaven and earth. After sex, everything is transformed. In this regard, Wang Chong said in "On the Balance of Nature": "The sky is above, the ground is below, the low-level steam is steaming, the high-level gas is falling, and everything is born in the middle." Second, there is also a process of making love between men and women. C. The characteristics of dragons There are a lot of descriptions about the characteristics of dragons in ancient literature. The dry divination in the Book of Changes symbolizes the change of the universe with six dragons, in which both dragons and dry divination are male images, that is, "the avenue becomes a man, and Kun Dao becomes a woman." Cohesion: "The husband is dry, his quietness is also expert, and his movement is straight." "Speciality" means turning and fatigue. What do you mean by this dynamic and static, straight and expert? Shuowen said: the dragon can be quiet and bright, thin and huge, short and long. Wang Yi also said in his comments on Tian Wen: "Dragons can be powerful, small and huge, quiet and bright, short and long." Modern language: "One can bend and stretch." What is a "dragon"? "Dragon" should be a male root at first. 2. Why do China people choose to be descendants of dragons? Reproductive totem, economic totem, political totem, dragon was originally a reproductive totem, and later evolved into a political totem. 1, the rule of a big country needs some magical, powerful and extraordinary power to support it. Nine praises 2. Farming civilization needs the protection of water gods. Dragons are in charge of rain. 3. It is also expected that a large population will be needed. The contemporary dragon is just a symbol. Today, we should respect the dragon as a symbol of China people, OK? It may be better to take the outstanding politicians in the real society, the pride of China people and the national model as symbols. Fourth, China culture and reproductive worship Although reproductive worship is a common cultural phenomenon in primitive society, comparatively speaking, the eastern world is more prevalent than other places. Hegel said: "What the East emphasizes and worships is often the universal vitality of nature, not the spirit and strength of ideology, but the creativity in reproduction ... More specifically, the view on the universal fertility of nature is expressed and worshipped through the shapes of male and female genitals." ("Aesthetics" 3V. Volume II P40. The Commercial Press 198 1. ) In the eastern world, China and India are prosperous. China's culture, from form to content, from writing to philosophy, religion, politics, art and so on. , or implicitly or explicitly influenced by reproductive worship. 1, Nu Wa made man "Taiping Magnolia" Volume 78 quoted "Customs Tong" and said: "As the saying goes, heaven and earth are open, people have no fixed place, and Nu Wa made man with loess, but the audience was at a loss, but they were attracted to the mud and raised him as a man." Who is Nuwa? What is its prototype?