The classic stories in the 5000 years of China's history should be 3

1 The Myth of the Opening of Heaven and Earth

Our great motherland has a very long history. According to ancient tradition, from the legendary Yellow Emperor to the present day, there are about 4,000 years of history, usually called "5,000 years up and down".

In the five thousand years of history, there are many moving and meaningful stories. Many of them have been written down. As for the ancient times five thousand years ago, there are no written records, but some myths and legends have been passed down.

For example, where did our human ancestors come from? In ancient times, there was a myth that Pangu opened up the world, saying that before the heavens and the earth were opened up, the universe was just a chaotic mass of gas, with no light and no sound in it. At that time, a Pangu Clan came out and split the chaos with a big axe. The light air floated upward and became the sky; the heavy air sank downward and became the earth.

After that, the sky rose one zhang every day, the earth thickened one zhang every day, and Pangu himself grew one zhang every day. After 18,000 years in this way, the sky was very high, very high, the earth was very thick, very thick, and of course, Pangu became a giant in the sky and on the earth. When Pangu died, his body parts became the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, the grass, the trees, and so on.

This is the myth of the opening of the heavens.

Myths are, after all, only myths, and no one now would believe that such a thing really happened. But people love this myth, and when they talk about history, they often say that it started with "Pangu opening up the world". This is because it symbolizes the greatness of mankind in conquering nature and the richness of its creativity.

So where does human history begin? Later, when science became more advanced, fossils unearthed from the ground proved that the earliest ancestor of mankind was a kind of ape that was transformed from an ancient ape.

Chinese scientists have unearthed many fossilized bones and remains of apes in various parts of the country, and we can see that the earliest primitive man in our motherland has a history of more than one million years. For example, the Yuanmou ape-man discovered in Yunnan has a history of about 170,000 years; the Lantian ape-man unearthed in Shaanxi has a history of about 800,000 years; and the famous Peking ape-man has a history of 450,000 years.

Here, let's start with the Beijing Apes. The Beijing Apes lived in the Zhoukoudian area. At that time, the climate in northern China was milder and wetter than it is today. On the hills and mountains, woods, shrubs and rich wild grasses grew. Fierce beasts such as tigers, leopards, wolves and bears haunted the woods and mountains. There are also elephants, rhinoceroses,

bulls and sika deer.

The apes were not as strong as these ferocious beasts, but they were fundamentally different from any animal in that they could make and use tools. The tools were very simple: a stick and a stone. The sticks, of which there were plenty in the woods, were cut by men; the stones, which had been smashed by hand, were rough, but after all they were tools made by men.

It was with such simple tools that they gathered fruit and dug up the roots of plants to eat. They also used sticks and stone tools to fight wild animals and hunt for food.

But, after all, this tool is too simple, they get food is very limited, rely on the strength of a single person, can not live, had to live in groups of life, *** with the labor, *** with the fierce beasts to deal with the attack. This kind of crowd is called the primitive crowd.

Hundreds of thousands of years have passed, the apes evolved in the hard struggle. In the cave on the top of Longbiao Mountain in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, the remains of another kind of primitive man were found. This kind of primitive man has looked no different from modern man. We call them "Peak Cavemen".

The labor tools of the cavemen were greatly improved, and they were not only able to turn stones into stone axes and hammers, but also to grind the bones of wild animals into bone needles. Don't look at this small bone needle, in those days, people can grind the bone needle is not a simple thing. With bone needles, people could sew animal skins into clothes, unlike in the time of the Peking apes, when they were naked.

The cavemen also lived in groups. But their group life has been fixed according to the blood relationship. The members of a collective are *** the same ancestor Mr. down, that is, the same clan. In this way, human society has entered the period of clan communes.

Five thousand years up and down

2 The legend of the wood-drilling fire

The primitive people to the beginning of the clan communes, human life is how to evolve, China's ancient times, there are also many legends. Legends have some big people, these people are often both the chief, but also an inventor. Such legends were mostly imagined by the ancients based on the life of primitive people in ancient times.

Primitive people had very simple tools, and were surrounded by many fierce animals, which could harm them at any time. Later, they saw birds making nests in the trees, and the beasts could not climb up and hurt them. Primitive people then followed the example of the birds and made nests in the trees, that is to say, they built a hut in the trees. This is much safer. Later people called this "building a nest in a tree" (巢 音cháo，就是鸟窝). Who invented it? Of course, it was a group of people who figured it out together. But in the legend, it is said that there is a man who taught us how to do this, and his name is "Yu Chao Shi".

The earliest primitive people did not know how to utilize fire, and ate everything raw, not to mention the fruits of plants, but also the beasts that were eaten alive, and ate them with their hair and blood. Later, only invented the use of fire (in Zhoukoudian Peking Man site, has found traces of fire, indicating that the time has known the use of fire).

The phenomenon of fire has existed in nature for a long time. When volcanoes erupt, there are fires; when thunder and lightning strike, fires also start in the woods. However, primitive man began to see fire, will not utilize, but rather afraid to death. Later on, they occasionally picked up the beasts that were burnt to death by fire, and tasted them, and the flavor was quite fragrant. After many trials, people gradually learned to use fire to burn things to eat, and ideas to save the fire, so that it is not extinguished all year round.

After a long period of time, people drilled a hard, sharp piece of wood into another piece of hard wood, and made sparks; some also struck flint (flint sound suì), and made fire. This is how we know that workers can make fire (from the archaeological materials, we found that the cavemen already knew how to make fire by hand). Who invented it? Of course, it was the working people, but in the legend, it is said that it was a man called "Suirenshi".

The artificial fire is a remarkable invention. Since then, people have been able to eat cooked food at any time, and the variety of food has increased. It is said that Suiren also taught people to fish. The original like fish, turtles, mussels, clams and other things, raw bashful smell can not eat, with the fire method, you can burn to eat.

I don't know how much time, people began to use the rope net, with the net to hunt, but also invented the bow and arrow, which is much stronger than the light with wooden sticks, stone tools to hunt. Not only the beasts on the ground, but also the birds in the sky and the fish in the water could be shot and captured. Caught birds and beasts, most of them are alive, a moment to eat, but also can be left to watch, keep, save for the next time to eat, so people have learned to raise. This kind of netting, hunting, raising livestock work, are people in the labor **** with the accumulated experience. Legends say that the invention of these things is "Fuxi's", or called "庖牺氏" (庖牺音 páox ī, herpes is the kitchen, ?? is the meaning of livestock).

This period of fishing and hunting went on for many years, and human civilization became more and more advanced. At first, people occasionally scattered a handful of wild grains on the ground, and in the next year, they found that seedlings grew on the ground, and in the fall, they grew into more grains. So they planted them in large quantities. They used wood to make a kind of farming tool called Lei?ê (耒耜), a kind of wooden spade with a handle. They plowed the land with Lei?ê and planted grains, and the harvest was much larger. Later, the legend described these crop growers as a single man named Shennong.

The legendary Shennong's also tasted all kinds of wild grasses and fruits, both sweet and bitter, and even encountered poisonous ones. He not only found a lot of food that can be eaten, but also found a lot of medicinal herbs that can cure diseases. It is said that this was the beginning of the medicine business.

From the Aristotelian to the Shennong, these legendary figures did not actually exist. But there is some truth in the fact that the development of the productive forces of primitive man was reflected in the construction of wooden nests and the drilling of wood for fire, and in the development of fishing, hunting and animal husbandry, and in the development of agriculture. In 1952 A.D., the ruins of a clan village about 6,000 to 7,000 years ago were discovered in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. From what was excavated at the site, it is known that people at that time had already learned to breed and farm.

Five thousand years up and down

3 Huangdi's battle with Chiyu

About 4,000 years ago, there were many clans and tribes living along the Yellow River and Yangtze River Basin in China. The Yellow Emperor was one of the most famous tribal leaders in the legend.

The tribe with Huang Di as its leader first lived near Jishui in the northwest of China, and later moved to Zhuo Lu (the area of Zhuo Lu and Huailai in today's Hebei Province), where they began to develop animal husbandry and agriculture and settled down.

Another tribal leader at the same time as the Yellow Emperor was called Yandi, who first lived near Jiangshui in the northwest of China. He was said to be a close relative of the Yellow Emperor. The Yandi tribe was in decline, while the Huangdi tribe was thriving.

At this time, there was a Jiu Li tribe leader named Chi (sound chīyōu), very strong. Legend has it that Chi You has eighty one brothers, they are all beasts of burden, copper head and iron forehead, eating sand and stone, ferocious and incomparable. They also make a variety of weapons, often leading his tribe, looting other tribes.

One time, Chi You invaded the place of Yandi, Yandi up resistance, but he is not Chi You's opponent, was Chi You killed a defeat. The Yan Di couldn't do anything, fled to Zhuo Lu to ask the Yellow Emperor to help. The Yellow Emperor had long wanted to remove the scourge of the tribes, and united the tribes, prepared the men and horses, and Chiyu in the fields of Zhuo Deer to start a big battle.

On this battle, there are many mythological legends. It is said that the Yellow Emperor usually tamed six kinds of wild beasts: bears, warriors (音 pí), pi (音 pí), braves (音 xiū), quails (音 chū), and tigers, and that in the time of the battle he released these beasts to help in the war (some people think that the six kinds of wild beasts of the legend are actually the six clans that were named after the wild beasts). Chi soldiers although fierce, but met the Yellow Emperor's army, plus a group of fierce tigers and beasts, can not resist, have fled in defeat.

The Yellow Emperor led the soldiers to kill, suddenly dark, foggy, windy, thunder and lightning, so that the Yellow Emperor's soldiers could not catch up. The original Chi You invited the "wind and rain division" to help the war. The Yellow Emperor was not willing to show weakness, please the help of the heavenly maiden, dispersed the wind and rain. In an instant, the wind stopped the rain, clear skies, and finally defeated Chi You. There is also a legend that Chi You used the magic to create a fog, so that the Yellow Emperor's soldiers lost their way. Huang Di used the "guide car" to guide, lead soldiers, according to the direction of Chi escape pursuit, the results of the Chiyu caught and killed. These myths reflect that the war was very intense.

The tribes saw that the Yellow Emperor had defeated Chiyu, and were quite happy. Huangdi was embraced by many tribes. However, the Yandi tribe and the Huangdi tribe also clashed, and the two sides fought a battle in the place of Hanquan (southeast of Zhuolu County in present-day Hebei Province), in which the Yandi tribe was defeated. From then on, Huangdi became the leader of the tribal alliance in the Central Plains.

The legendary Yellow Emperor had many inventions in his time, such as building palaces, vehicles, ships, and five-colored clothes, etc. Of course, these were not invented by a single person, but later people credited them to the Yellow Emperor.

Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor had a wife named Bind (sound léi) Zu, personally participated in the labor. Originally, silkworms are only wild, people do not yet know the usefulness of silkworms, bindzu taught women to raise silkworms, reeling, weaving. Since then, there have been silk and silk.

The Yellow Emperor also had a historian, Cang Jie (cāngjié)，who created the ancient script. We have never seen any writing from that period, and we can't trace it.

Ancient Chinese legends hold the Yellow Emperor in very high regard, and people of later generations believe that the Yellow Emperor is the founder of the Chinese race, and that they themselves are the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. Because the Yandi and Huangdi tribes were originally close relatives, and later fused together, so we also often refer to themselves as the children of the Yellow Emperor. In order to honor this legendary *** same ancestor, future generations of people also in the present Shaanxi Huangling County north of the bridge mountain built a "yellow emperor mausoleum".

Five thousand years up and down

This is the first time I've seen the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum.