In 1900, Liang Qichao, in the Pacific Song of the Twentieth Century, believed that "there are four ancient civilizations on the earth: China, India, Egypt, and Asia Minor."
So, among the four ancient civilizations, why is China the only one that has been passed down? One of the most common explanations is:
China has a unique geographical advantage, with a natural national defense line, the southeast is the sea, the west is the lofty mountains and treacherous plateau, effectively blocking foreign invasions, protecting the Chinese civilization passed on the torch.
But is this really the case? Scholars have refuted it to the point, not only does China lack a natural defense line, but it is also always facing a formidable enemy that no other ancient civilization has ever encountered, that is, the most powerful foreign enemy faced by ancient China!
Qian Mu, a famous Chinese scholar, refuted in his book "The Spirit of Chinese History": "It is not true that China has been closed to itself for two thousand years. China is a country with open doors, which has nothing to do with it, the southeast is the sea, the west is a lofty mountain, and the north is a vast grassland. On this long frontier, not only the gates are opened, but the fences are removed. ”
Objectively speaking, from a geographical point of view, the southeast, south, and northwest directions are indeed geographically advantageous, but in the north, there is a long defense line, and it is impossible to defend in all aspects. In the northern region, there are many nomadic peoples living, and it is also the largest and most powerful nomadic base in the ancient world.
Since the Warring States period, the northern Xiongnu and other ethnic groups have risen wave after wave, seriously threatening the security of ancient China. More importantly, whether it was the Xiongnu, the Turks, or later the Mongols, they were once the most powerful forces in the world, threatening the security of the Central Plains Dynasty at all times. In contrast, what kind of enemies are the other three ancient civilizations facing?
The main enemies of the other three ancient civilizations were the Aryan clique, the Roman Empire, the Arab Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. However, around ancient China, the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Tubo, Shatuo, Khitan and Mongolia... Each one was extremely strong, and in the end it was almost defeated by ancient China, among which the Huns, Turks and other soldiers were forced to move west after their defeat, destroying countless civilizations along the way, and the descendants of the Huns even destroyed the Roman Empire. It can be said that the defeated generals of ancient China defeated the powerful countries of the West, even if the invincible Mongol iron horse at that time, the Southern Song Dynasty resisted for half a century, effectively helping Europe and Egypt, and the decline of Mongolia was related to the resistance of the Southern Song Dynasty and excessive consumption.
Some people think that the nomadic people active in northern China, only a few million people, or more than tens of millions of people, are not so terrible. In fact, this view is historical nihilism, which completely negates the wisdom of the ancient Chinese.
The nomads were very aggressive, and because of the cavalry fighting, they had the most powerful and mobile "mechanized troops" in ancient times. When China harvested autumn and winter Tibet, the northern nomads flocked to the south to invade at any gap in the Great Wall. By the time the Central Plains Dynasty army arrived, the enemy had already grabbed enough horses and was nowhere to be found in the desert.
But if the Central Plains Dynasty wants to eliminate this aggressive force, it encounters many problems, such as these four: First, logistics and transportation problems, the desert is far-reaching, there is no water and no food, how to fight? The Central Plains army is not like the nomadic troops, eating mutton and drinking goat milk has no logistical pressure, so when the Han And Tang Ming expeditions to the grasslands, the number of combat troops will not be too large; second, the number of warhorses is insufficient, And Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty knows that if you want to defeat the Xiongnu, you must "ride to ride", but the Central Plains have a serious shortage of warhorses most of the time; third, you must take risks, because the nomadic people will use the desert or the vast grassland as a cover, plus logistical problems, so the Central Plains army must take risks to fight, and pursue a blow that must be hit, otherwise it may be defeated; fourth, it is difficult to manage the grassland. Because it was difficult to develop agriculture, after defeating the strong enemy, the Central Plains Dynasty could only withdraw from the grasslands, but after a hundred years, new enemies would emerge in the north.
Because of the existence of these problems, Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Ming Taizu, etc. were forced to have no choice but to establish a man-made national defense line - the Great Wall. Although the Great Wall is thousands of miles away, it also lacks real natural danger.
From this, we can imagine how arduous China's defense against the outside world has been in history, and how severe the threat of foreign hostility to Chinese civilization has been, much more severe than that of ancient India, ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, and ancient Greece. How difficult it is for Chinese civilization to be passed down under such circumstances.
Under such a difficult national defense situation, from Qin Shi Huang to the present, the Chinese nation and Chinese culture, which have been more than two thousand years old, can still stand tall in the world and become the only ancient country in the world.
During the periods of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Ming Chengzu, there were foreign martial arts against the Xiongnu, Turks, and Mongols, and most of them always won with less. The existence of Meng Tian, Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi, Li Jing, and so on proves that the Chinese nation is full of fighting spirit and fighting strength. Qian Mu believes that "in its achievements in defending the country and defending the land, [China] is unmatched by other nationalities." ”
In short, ancient China was not only good at attacking and defending, not only had strong combat effectiveness, but also had great resilience, so it could become the only ancient civilization that had been handed down. On the contrary, other ancient civilizations are either good at attacking or defending, and it is difficult to have both.
As for why China can become the only ancient civilization that has been handed down, the scholar Qian Mu has a sharp evaluation: "
The Chinese nation is a peaceful nation, and Chinese culture can also be said to be a culture of peace. However, historically, the Chinese nation also has a very strong fighting spirit, and the peace between the Chinese nation and its culture is a kind of "strong peace", which is endowed with a very strong and superior fighting spirit.
"And this is something that the other three or more ancient civilizations do not have."
It is worth mentioning whether the lofty mountains in the west protect China or block China is a topic worth pondering. At least during the Han and Tang dynasties, there was no obstacle from the harsh geographical environment in the west, and Chinese could have gone further. In other words, what some scholars call the northwest geographical advantage may actually be an obstacle, because there is really no strong enemy in the western part of China.