China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 2

archaeological discovery

●Yuanmou people
Yuanmou Man, about 170 million years ago, is the earliest hominid in China as we know it.

In 1965, near Shangnabeng Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, archaeologists discovered two fossils of the left and right upper medial incisors of Homo hominid, which belonged to the same young male individual.Later, in the brown clay layer where the Yuanmou Man fossils were located, archaeologists discovered four scrapers made of quartzite, and collected more than a dozen other stone artifacts.In the three strata about three meters thick, charcoal fragments, burnt bones, and various mammalian fossils were scattered here and there.Yuanmou Man is an early human being discovered in China, and the long-standing Chinese civilization was born here.

●Caveman

Cave Man has a history of about 8000 years.

In 1933, archaeologists discovered the cave man site in Zhoukoudian, Beijing.The Cave Man fossils found in the ruins have a total of eight human remains of men, women, old and young.Regardless of the brain size or the physical characteristics of the human body, they are close to modern people.The physique of the cavemen has improved a lot.The widest part of the skull is near the parietal tubercle, the teeth are small, the crowns are high, the mandible is extremely inwardly curved, the chin is protruding, and the brain volume has reached 1300-1500 ml.These characteristics are consistent with modern humans.The male is about 1.74 meters tall and the female is 1.59 meters tall.Fossils of 54 species of vertebrates were also found in the cave deposits, most of which were creatures from North China, Inner Mongolia and Northeast China.The cavemen had made fire before them.Cavemen could make stone tools and bone tools, and they could use bone tools to make some exquisite decorations.Cave Man is a "Peking Man" who is close to modern people.

●Hemudu Culture
The Hemudu Culture is an ancient and splendid Neolithic culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. It was named after it was first discovered in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, about 800 years ago.The production tools include stone axes, bone plows, and bone arrowheads. The pottery is black, including cauldrons, bowls, jars, basins, and plates, all of which are handmade.The agricultural production in Hemudu is mainly rice planting. During archaeological excavations, many remains of rice, rice husks and rice stems were found, which proves that agriculture was quite developed at that time.In addition, a railing-style building with piles and slabs higher than the ground was also discovered. The railing-style building is one of the important forms since the Neolithic age in the south of the Yangtze River in China. At present, the earliest one found in Hemudu is the same as that in the Beijing area. The difference between the semi-crypt construction houses in the early period is obvious.The domestic animals raised at that time included pigs and dogs, and a square-mouthed pottery bowl was engraved with patterns of pigs.There is a pottery basin, which also depicts the images of rice ears and pigs, reflecting the situation that livestock breeding was attached to agriculture at that time.In the Hemudu culture, the production of bone tools was relatively developed, and the woodworking technology was also quite advanced.The Neolithic culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is an important source of Chinese civilization, representing another main line of the development trend of ancient Chinese civilization, and it is completely different from the Yangshao culture in the Central Plains.

##The second series of ancient myths
●Pangu was born into heaven and earth
A long, long time ago, before the sky and the earth were separated, the universe was like a big egg, dark and chaotic.In this big egg, Pangu was quietly conceived.

Pangu was conceived and growing in the big egg, snoring as if asleep.One year, ten years, one hundred years... In the blink of an eye, 8000 years have passed.One day, Pangu woke up suddenly and opened his eyes, but he felt strange: why is it so dark that he can't see anything?The darkness made him flustered with boredom, followed by extreme annoyance. He couldn't bear it anymore, and grabbed a side axe, and caught a big axe.So, with all his strength, he slashed forward fiercely, and with a loud bang like a landslide, the big chaotic egg that had tightly wrapped around him and conceived him was split by him .

The light and clear things in this big egg slowly rise up and gradually become the sky; the other heavy and turbid things gradually sink and become the earth little by little.Thus, Pangu opened up the chaotic world with his big axe.

After the sky and the earth were separated, Pan Gu was afraid that they might close again, so he put his head on the sky, stepped on the ground with his feet, and stood between the sky and the earth with his waist straight, changing with the changes of the sky and the earth.Every day, the sky rose ten feet higher, the earth thickened ten feet, and Pangu's body grew accordingly.In this way, another 8000 years passed.The sky rose extremely high, the earth became extremely thick, and Pan Gu's body grew extremely tall.

So, how tall was Pan Gu?It is said to be as high as ninety thousand miles.Pan Gu became a majestic giant. He was like a long pillar propped between the sky and the earth, preventing them from closing together again and returning to the chaotic darkness.

I don't know how many years have passed, and Pangu is doing the hard work of supporting the world in loneliness.Later, the sky and the earth were fixed, but Pangu also reached the point of exhaustion.Finally one day, with a bang, he fell to the ground and died.

When Pan Gu was about to die, great changes took place in his whole body: the puffs of air he exhaled turned into the wind blowing in the sky and the floating clouds; His left eye became the radiant sun, his right eye became the bright moon; his limbs and body became the four poles of the earth and the famous mountains in the five directions; his blood became the rivers; His tendons became roads; his muscles became fields; his hair and beard became stars in the sky; his skin and down hair became plants and trees; his teeth, bones, and marrow became Glittering metals, hard stones, beautiful pearls and warm jade hidden in the earth; even the sweat on his body has changed into endless rain and dew.

In short, even though Pangu died after creating the world, he did not forget to leave all of himself to the heaven and earth he created.Therefore, later generations praised Pangu as the "incarnation of dying", and he used his whole body to make this newly born world more beautiful and bright.

●The legend of Nu Wa creating man

Legend has it that since Pangu created the world, the earth has been deserted and lifeless.This scene made the other god, Nvwa, feel very lonely, and always felt that there seemed to be something missing between heaven and earth.She wants to create beings that are superior to any living thing.In this way, there will be beings that can dominate and manage all things in the world, and there will be no more wild grasses covering the mountains, wild animals in groups, and birds in groups, and the world will not be lonely and desolate.

One day, Nuwa found a clear pond, squatted down, picked up the yellow mud, and made a clay doll in her own image.When she put the clay doll on the ground, the clay doll bounced back to life.Nuwa was very happy in her heart, so she continued to pinch many people with yellow clay and put headdresses on them.Nuwa wanted to fill the earth with these spiritual beings, and worked until the sky was covered with sunset clouds, and the stars and the moon shone with light.It was late at night, and the tired Nuwa only slept for a while with her head resting on the cliff, and at dawn the next day, she got up and continued to work.

Later, Nuwa felt that this was too tiring and the speed of creating humans was too slow, so she pulled a dead vine from the cliff, stretched it into a mud pool, stirred the muddy yellow mud, and threw the vine again. In the place where the mud splashed, many jumping and screaming people appeared, exactly the same as the people made with mud before.Soon, the land was full of human traces.These naked people cheered and jumped around Nuwa, thanked her devoutly, and then scattered to various places to start their lives.

Although there are human beings on the earth, Nuwa's work has not stopped.She also considered: people are going to die, will a group of people die and another group be created?This is too much trouble.How can we keep them alive?Later, Nu Wa finally came up with a way.Some of them she infused with yang, and they became men; and in others she infused yin, and they became women.Nuwa married men and women and told them to create offspring by themselves.In this way, human beings will have children, reproduce and continue from generation to generation.Nu Wa created human beings and is revered as the ancestor of human beings.

The Suiren family drilled wood to make fire
In the early days of primitive society, human beings mainly hunted, devoured raw meat, drank blood, and lived a primitive and savage life. They didn't know how to use fire, and they ate everything raw.In fact, the phenomenon of fire has already appeared in nature.Volcanic eruptions cause fire; lightning and thunder often cause forest fires.At first, when primitive people saw fire, they thought it was some kind of monster and were terribly afraid.Later, when humans saw the beasts being burned to death by the fire, and smelled the meaty aroma from the fire, they dared to approach the fire and eat the cooked meat in the ashes.After tasting, people find that the things cooked by fire are so delicious.As a result, people gradually learned to roast things with fire, and tried to keep the fire so that it would not go out, so that it could be used for a long time.However, it is not an easy task to keep the fire. Whenever there is wind and rain, the fire is easily extinguished.

I don't know how many years later, a man named "Suirenshi" discovered that two pieces of flint can collide and rub against each other, and fire can be produced by collision.So, he immediately told people about this amazing discovery, and taught people to collect this "flint".He also discovered that by drilling hard with a hard and sharp wooden stick on another piece of wood, sparks can also be drilled out of the wood.This is the origin of "Suirenshi" to drill wood to make fire.

The discovery and use of fire and the invention of drilling wood to make fire are undoubtedly great progress for mankind.When human beings mastered the ability to make fire, they naturally stopped eating raw food, ending the era of eating raw food and drinking blood.With fire, humans can eat cooked things at any time, and the variety of food has increased, and the range of food objects and activities has also expanded.Humans also use fire to keep warm and resist the attack of wild animals.Due to changes in food structure, human beings' ability to adapt to nature and survive has been greatly enhanced.

●Fuxi epiphany painting gossip
Fuxi's greatest achievement is the creation of gossip.People at that time knew nothing about nature.Whenever it rains and winds, lightning and thunder, people are afraid and confused.The naturally intelligent Fuxi wanted to understand all this. He often stood on a mountain on the south bank of the Weihe River, looked up at the sun, moon and stars in the sky, looked down at the surrounding terrain, and sometimes studied the footprints of birds and animals and the patterns on their bodies.

One day, Fuxi was thinking hard about the phenomenon he had observed for a long time, when he suddenly heard a strange roar, and saw a dragon-headed horse-body mythical beast jumping out from the opposite cave, with very strange patterns on its body.The dragon horse jumped onto a big rock in the Weishui River.The shape of this stone is like Tai Chi, matching the patterns on the body of the dragon and horse, Fuxi immediately understood, and finally drew the gossip.Since then, people have been able to understand the changing nature of all things, and classify and summarize the shapes of all things.Later generations called this mountain Guatai Mountain, the cave where the dragon horse jumped out was the Longma Cave, and the big rock in the Weishui River was called the Distraction Stone.

In addition, Fuxi also appointed officials to manage the society, established the marriage customs and etiquette of men hiring women to marry, and created a book contract for recording events to replace the original method of knotting events.Fuxi invented musical instruments such as Tao Xun and Qinse, and composed music and ballads. He is a great musician.Fuxi used to "taste a hundred medicines and make nine needles". Therefore, he has been honored as the ancestor of medicine and acupuncture by the Chinese medical circle for more than a thousand years. "Guanzi Qingzhongwu" said that he made the number ninety-nine and invented multiplication; "Almanac Preface" also said that he invented the Jiazi calendar.Fuxi became the earliest astronomer and mathematician.

●The birth of five grains and the beginning of farming
While tasting all kinds of herbs, Shennong tasted five grains such as wheat, rice, millet and sorghum to satisfy his hunger.Through observation, Shennong also found that after people eat melon seeds, fruit cores, and seeds that are thrown on the ground or grown by themselves, new shoots will appear in the second year, and new melon vines and plants will grow.Later, he discovered that weather and land have a great influence on plants.When the weather is warm, the plants germinate and grow leaves, bloom and bear fruit; when the weather becomes cold, the plants lose their leaves and wither.Moreover, some plants that grow in loess grow slowly in black soil; some plants cannot survive in dry land, but grow luxuriantly in wet land.Therefore, according to the weather conditions and different types of land, he instructed people to artificially cultivate plants, and collect the fruits and seeds of plants as food, so that they would not be afraid of returning empty-handed when hunting.They use wood to make a farming tool called Leisi.Leisi is used to plow land and grow grains, and the harvest will be even greater.Since people learned farming from Shennong, their survival has been guaranteed, and human life has been stable.

According to legend, in addition to inventing farming technology, Shennong also created water conservancy irrigation technology with nine wells connected.

●Shen Nong tasted all kinds of herbs and wrote a book
In ancient times, grains and weeds grew together, and medicines and flowers bloomed together. No one could tell which were grains to eat and which were herbs to cure diseases.At first, the common people lived by hunting, but the hunting of birds in the sky became less and less, and the hunting of beasts in the ground became rarer, so people had to rely on picking wild fruits for food.However, because I don't know the habits of various plants, I don't know which ones can be eaten and which ones can't. After eating some poisonous fruits, I get sick and even die from poisoning. I live a very hard life.At this time, there was a brave and capable "Shen Nong". His belly was bright and transparent, and his heart, liver, intestines and lungs could be seen clearly.Shennong really wanted to do something for the people, and was determined to taste all the edible things to see how they changed in his stomach.So he traveled to many places tirelessly, and personally tasted all kinds of wild grasses and wild fruits, some were sweet, some were bitter, and some were even poisonous.He not only discovered many edible foods, but also discovered many medicinal materials that can cure diseases.

During the day, Shennong led everyone to the mountains to taste herbs; at night, he asked people to light a bonfire, and by the light of the fire, he sorted out the herbs collected during the day, and put the poisonous and non-poisonous ones in different pockets.Once, he put a grass in his mouth and tasted it, and suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground.Everyone hurriedly helped him sit up. He knew that he had been poisoned, but he could no longer speak, so he had to use his last bit of strength to point to a red Ganoderma lucidum in front of him, and then to his own mouth.Everyone hurriedly chewed the red ganoderma in their mouths and fed them to him.After Shennong ate Ganoderma lucidum, the poisonous gas was relieved, his head was not dizzy, and he was able to speak.Since then, people have said that Ganoderma lucidum can bring the dead back to life.

Everyone worried that it was too dangerous for him to taste grass like this, and they all advised him to go back down the mountain.He shook his head and said, "I can't go back! The Li people are hungry and have nothing to eat, and those who are sick have no medical treatment. How can I go back!" After tasting the flowers and plants on one mountain, he went to another mountain to taste them. In seventy-nine days, Shennong tasted 49 five kinds of herbs and wrote it as "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", and asked everyone to take it back to treat diseases for the people all over the world.Legend has it that when Shennong walked to the mountains in the west of today's Hubei Province, due to the steepness of the mountains, he had to use wooden ladders to go up.In order to commemorate Shennong's achievements in tasting hundreds of herbs and benefiting the world, the common people named the place where Shennongjia was built "Shennongjia".

●Kuafu chasing the rising sun into a mountain
A long time ago, there was a towering and majestic mountain in the north of our country, named Chengdu Zaitian Mountain.There lived a clan of giants on the mountain, called the Kuafu clan, and the leader of the Kuafu clan was called Kuafu.He was incomparably tall, powerful, strong-willed, and extraordinary in spirit.At that time, the world was desolate and backward, poisonous snakes and beasts were rampant, and people's lives were miserable.In order for his people to survive, Kuafu led the people to fight against floods and beasts every day.

At that time, people's agricultural production level was still very backward, and they depended on the sky for food.But sometimes there is a severe drought, and the fire-like sun scorches the crops on the ground and dries up the water in the river.People were so hot that they couldn't live.And when the sun is needed, it often hides behind the clouds and does not come out.When Kuafu saw this situation, he set up his ambition and vowed to catch the sun and make it obey people's orders and serve everyone better.

One day, as soon as the sun rose from the sea, Kuafu started his journey of chasing the sun from the East China Sea.There are two yellow snakes hanging from his ears, and he also holds two yellow snakes in his hand, and he also carries a walking stick with him.

Kuafu kept chasing and chasing. When he was hungry, he picked a wild fruit to satisfy his hunger; when he was thirsty, he held his mouth to quench his thirst; when he was tired, he just took a nap.He kept encouraging himself in his heart: "Soon, we will catch up with the sun, and people's lives will be happy." He chased for nine days and nine nights, getting closer and closer to the sun, and the red, hot sun was right in front of him. on the head.

Kuafu crossed the mountains and rivers, and finally caught up with Yugu.Legend has it that Yugu is the place where the sun rests.After the sun sets here to take a bath, he rests on the huge Wakagi.Rise again until the next day.Kuafu was very excited. A huge red and bright fireball was in front of him. Kuafu had entered the sun's halo and was completely surrounded by light.But the closer he was to the sun, the stronger the sunlight, and Kuafu felt more and more restless. He felt that all the water in his body had been evaporated, and the most urgent thing was to drink water.So, Kuafu stood up and walked to the southeast of the Yellow River, bent down, and drank the water in the Yellow River. He drank up the Yellow River, and then went to drink the water in the Wei River.Who knows, he drank up the water of the Weihe River, but he still didn't quench his thirst.So, he planned to go north to drink the water of a large lake.Daze is a piece of water that spans thousands of miles, enough to quench his thirst.However, Kuafu was really tired and too thirsty. When he went halfway, his body couldn't support him anymore, and he slowly fell down and died.

(End of this chapter)