Chinese civilization has a long history and is brilliant. However, the history of our country with an exact chronology began in the Western Zhou Dynasty (841 BC). That is to say, China's clearly recorded civilization history is less than 3,000 years, and although China is one of the world's four major ancient civilizations, it ranks behind Egypt, India and ancient Babylon. Many Western scholars generally do not recognize That China has a 5,000-year history of civilization. Why? In fact, Western scholars' identification of the history of ancient civilizations mainly has two points: one is the historical record, and the other is the proof of cultural relics preserved in ancient times.
Here I'll start with the text. Since the creation of Cangjie characters, it has a history of about 5,000 years. The development of a clan cluster to the use of writing for communication records should be necessary to develop to a certain scale and degree of civilization. According to archaeological findings, clan clusters across China had developed to a very large scale before Cangjie made characters, and as an organized social activity, the more people there were, the more obvious the division of labor would be. Writing has been found on pottery excavated from the Dawenkou cultural site. It is 6,000 years old, 1,000 years before Cangjie made characters. This shows that China's history of more than 5,000 years is not empty, it is well documented.
So why don't some Western scholars recognize that China has a 5,000-year history? I think the fundamental reason is that most of the ancient Chinese characters are engraved on utensils or shells used for life and production, and it is not easy to preserve for a long time. Now we can find some words sporadically, but it is difficult to find a complete record of this history, or of the life, production and social activities of ancient humans. The writings of other ancient civilizations are mainly carved on the stones used in buildings or on the cliffs of mountains, and will be preserved for a longer time. Another situation is that after Qin Shi Huang unified China, he burned books and pit Confucianism, which seriously damaged the scripts and collections of various princely states. The historical materials that were unfavorable or unrelated to Qin in the pre-Qin era were completely destroyed. The loss of these ancient materials has caused great difficulties in the historical traceability of Chinese civilization.
Now I would like to talk about the historical and cultural relics of China's 5,000-year civilization. According to archaeological findings at the Pujiang Shangshan site in Zhejiang, there was evidence of rice cultivation in Chinese at least 8,000 years ago. The Donghulin site in Mentougou, Beijing, also found the world's earliest cultivated millet and millet, dating from 9,000 to 10,000 years ago.
The most noteworthy thing is that at the Jia Lake site in Wuyang, Henan, 8500-year-old bone flutes were also found. This shows that the Chinese of the ancient period were not only satisfied with the existing material life, but also began to pursue a higher spiritual and cultural life.
There are also cultural relics excavated from the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan, which also have a history of about 5,000 years. In addition, such as the Site of The West Slope, the Ruins of the Double Locust Tree, the Ruins of Dongshan Village, etc., although these are scattered throughout the country, they are enough to prove that China does have a long and long history of civilization of more than 5,000 years.
Therefore, the study of Chinese history can only be analyzed and judged according to the actual situation in China, and cannot only listen to the standards of foreigners. Like the Ancient Chinese Pangu Heaven and Earth, Nüwa Created Man, Flintstone Drilling Wood for Fire, Shennong Tasting Hundred Grasses, Yellow Emperor Zhan Xuan You, Chang Zu Zhi Silk, Yao Shun Chan Rang, these are all passed down by generations of population by word of mouth, before being recorded and preserved by later generations of people.
Although these stories have some mysterious color, they do reflect the living conditions of ancient Chinese and the state of cognition of heaven and earth. I believe that after further excavation of archaeological work, it will not be long before The 5,000-year history of China's civilization will be further verified by more demonstrations and excavated cultural relics, and even the 5,000-year history of civilization may continue to advance significantly.