As we all know, the abbreviation of Henan Province in China is "Yu", literally, it seems that elephants once existed in Henan Province, and in modern times, elephants often live in the tropics. So, in what era did Henan live with elephants?
Forgotten Yin Shang and Henan Elephant
In Chinese history, Yin Shang was undoubtedly a forgotten but memorable dynasty. Because for a long time, people's impression of Yin Shang is mainly the content of folk literature such as Shang Shu Wang, Daji, and Star Picking, which is very vague for the real Yin Shang.
Sima Qian's "Yin Benji" in the "Records of History" has far less ink on the Yin merchants who existed for six hundred years than the princely states in the Spring and Autumn Period, which shows Sima Qian's lack of information on Yin merchants.
Fortunately, in modern times, archaeologists have found a large number of Yin shang sites in Henan. The cultural relics excavated at the site also gave future generations a detailed understanding of Yin Shang.
In the cultural relics excavated from the Yin Shang site, there are a large number of ivory products. These products show that for the Shang Dynasty, the elephant was a habitual animal.
However, at least since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, elephants have become a rare species in Henan. The famous story of "Cao Chong calling an elephant" must have been heard by everyone: Sun Quan sent someone to give Cao Cao an elephant, and Cao Chong thought of a way to weigh the elephant - if elephants were common in Henan (Cao Cao's territory) at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, then Sun Quan would not have given elephants as gifts to Cao Cao.
So, what is the reason for the situation that in the Yin Shang era, Henan was full of elephants, and it was reversed in the more than a thousand years of Zhou-Han?
Personally, I think there are several reasons:
Climatic factors
Archaeological data and meteorological experts confirm that over the past few thousand years, China's climate has fluctuated several times, in general, the climate has become cold as the main trend, and even the Ming Dynasty encountered the "Xiaoice River Period", which accelerated the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
Archaeological data found that the climate in Henan during the Shang Dynasty was much hotter than in contemporary times, which was suitable for elephant life. With climate change, the Central Plains are gradually becoming less suitable for elephant life, so some elephants choose to move to the south, and the other part is eventually eliminated by nature.
Development issues
Henan is known as the "earliest China", and its degree of development is earlier than that of other provinces. It is generally believed that the main territory of the Xia Dynasty was mainly in the territory of Henan.
In ancient Times, The Chinese Dynasty pursued an agrarian economy. Especially in the Warring States period, with the invention and popularization of iron tools and the continuous construction of water conservancy projects, agriculture has taken off as never before. This development has effectively increased the national strength of the Chinese countries, but for animals, this means that many undeveloped mountains and rivers will be developed, and the consequence is that the living circles of many animals will shrink, food will be scarce, and eventually, face the crisis of extinction.
Elephants in Henan are likely to have suffered a more fatal blow due to the take-off of agriculture in the Warring States period, and eventually, due to the narrowing of the scope of life, the breeding rate declined, and finally, after four hundred years of the Qin and Han Dynasties, by the time of Cao Cao, the elephants were in a state of almost extinction.
Hunting factors
The history of fishing and hunting in human beings is much older than that of farming. This is true of all the peoples of the world. Therefore, the history of the profession of hunter is much longer than that of farmers.
From the ivory products and elephant bones excavated from the Yin Ruins, it can be known that as early as the Yin Shang era, hunters participated in the hunting of elephants. The ancients did not have a sense of animal protection, in the case of over-hunting, comprehensive development problems, climatic factors, and eventually led to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Henan itself, there were no elephants.