mirage
In the modern society of globalization, the ocean is a hot spot of concern in all countries in the world. If you look back at history, China's marine culture also has a long history. China has a long coastline, since ancient times, there have been a large number of Chinese ancestors living on the seashore, the Chinese ancestors have long had a rich marine culture.
First, China's early marine use
In the site of the Cave Man on the top of the mountain in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, the bones of the blue fish and sea shells used by the people of the Cave on the Top of the Mountain were found, indicating that in the New Age era, the Ancestors of China began to deal with the ocean. In the records of the YuGong, there are records of coastal areas paying tribute to the Central Plains, such as in the records of Yangzhou, "Island Yihui clothing." 篚篚织贝, 厥包桔柚, Sigon". Island Yi refers to the inhabitants of small coastal islands, who wear straw clothes and offer sea shells to the Xia Dynasty. From "Yu Gong", we can also find that the Central Plains regime was able to radiate to some islands during the Xia Dynasty.
Ancient Chinese shell coins
In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the number of historical documents left behind gradually increased, from which we can clearly see that there were already a large number of residents in the coastal areas during this period. At that time, the coastal powers mainly included the Yan, Qi, Wu and Yue. According to the "Records of History", during the reign of Jiang Taigong, the State of Qi had already formulated a national policy of "the business of trade and industry, and the profit of fishing and salt". By the time of The Duke of Qi Huan, Guan Zhong paid more attention to the economy, "the power of light and heavy, and the industry of mountains and seas". Both of them attach great importance to the ocean in their national policy. The State of Qi is close to the East China Sea, and the fishing and sea salt industry are the main means of enrichment, so when it comes to the rich countries of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Qi bears the brunt of it.
Duke Huan of Qi
The Yan kingdom is close to the Bohai Bay, and also develops the marine economy, Tai Shi Gong said that "(Yan) has fish salt jujube chestnut rao". In the south, the two kingdoms of Wu and Yue were more closely related to the sea. The frequent proximity to the sea and the dense water network in the Wuyue region, so in the Spring and Autumn Period, the two countries already had large-scale warships and powerful naval forces. According to Professor Xin Deyong of Peking University, at that time, Yue Wang Gou Jian once went north to establish a capital city in the isolated north in the Langya area along the Coast of Shandong, relying on strong shipping capabilities. The "Chronicle of History" records that Fan Li, a famous minister of the Yue Kingdom, in order to avoid the fate of rabbits and dead dogs cooking, "pretended to be his light jewels and jade, and took a boat to float in the sea, and finally did not rebel." Fan Li was going to the State of Qi, so he "floated the sea to travel", and he definitely walked by sea. It can be seen that in the Spring and Autumn Period, China's offshore shipping has been very developed.
Fan Li in the film and television drama
Second, China's early concept of the ocean
China's relationship with the sea was already very close during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. So what was the concept of the ocean in the early Chinese? In the pre-Qin period, there were already many residents on the islands near the coastline. The Book of Shang first recorded the concept of the ocean in Chinese, the so-called "literary life, applied to the four seas". In the Xia Dynasty, people had the concept of the four seas, believing that the continent was in the center of the world, and the east, west, south, and north of the continent were vast oceans, and within the four seas was Kyushu, which was where the Son of Heaven could rule. The Book of Shang says, "Within the four seas, Xian Yang Is virtuous." Time is the wind, and the humerus is the only one. This means that people from all over the world obey the king's orders.
The ancients had a specific understanding of the four seas, east, west, south, and north. According to China's geographical location, the East and South China Seas roughly coincide with what is referred to in today's waters. The East China Sea is probably today's Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, and the South China Sea is today's South China Sea. But the concept of the North and West Seas has changed considerably. China's western and northern sides are both land, and the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea in the west of Eurasia are very far away, so these two seas generally refer to the larger waters in the north and west of China. It is certain that in the historical documents of the Han Dynasty, the North Sea generally refers to Lake Baikal (the North Sea in the pre-Qin literature also generally refers to the Bohai Sea), and the West Sea generally refers to qinghai Lake. When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, in order to show that he covered the four seas, he deliberately set up Xihai County on the east bank of today's Qinghai Lake.
West Sea County
In the Warring States period, the Yin-Yang scholar Zou Yan put forward the idea of great Kyushu. He pointed out that the Chinese name is "Chixian Shenzhou", which is only a part of the southeast of the great Kyushu under the heavens, and the Kyushu is divided by the sea, that is, "The Ring of the Sea". Outside of Ōkyushu, "there is a great sea circle outside it." This statement is somewhat similar to today's seven continents, but it should be noted that the ancients believed that the great Kyushu was on a plane, and outside the great Kyushu, there was an endless ocean.
Zou Yan in film and television dramas
Third, the sea world in the eyes of the ancient Chinese
The marine areas where the ancient Chinese people were active were mainly on the seashore and offshore, and the far sea with no end in sight and the fierce marine storms made the ancients full of fear. In the eyes of the ancients, the sea is a mysterious world, with both ferocious monsters and desirable immortal mountains. For example, in the book "Classic of Mountains and Seas", it is recorded that many marine fish with strange appearance but magical powers are recorded. Such as thin fish, "its shape is like a sandfish and one eye, its sound is like Europe, see the world is in a great drought", if these fish appear in the human world, it will inevitably cause great disasters.
Of course, the Classic of Mountains and Seas also records many gods living in the ocean. The Great Desolation of the Eastern Classics records: "There is a god in the Nagisa of the East Sea, a human-faced bird body, two yellow snakes, and two yellow snakes, known as Yu Yu." The Yellow Emperor was born with yu yu... Yu Yu is located in the East China Sea and is for the sea god. "This god is a human-faced bird body, and the decorations on his body are green snakes. Most importantly, he was the son of the Yellow Emperor. There is also a deity in the ocean called the "Candle Dragon". The Great Wilderness North Classic records: "Beyond the Northwest Sea, to the north of Chishui, there is Zhangwei Mountain. There is God, the face of the serpent is red, the eyes are straight, his eyes are obscure, his vision is clear, he does not eat or sleep, and the wind and rain are gurudwara. It is the nine yin of candles, and it is called the candle dragon. "Candle Dragon man face snake body, he opened his eyes is day, closed eyes is night, no need to eat or rest, eternal existence between heaven and earth. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is the earliest simple concept of the sea god in China, so these gods and immortals have a strange appearance like a monster.
Comics Candle Dragon
By the Warring States period, the concept of the sea god was developed, and the sea god was no longer a strange shape, but an otherworldly god or fairy. For example, the immortals who shoot life on the sea immortal mountain in the "Zhuangzi" are like this: "The skin is like ice and snow, and the skin is like a virgin; it does not eat grains, sucks the wind and drinks dew; rides on the clouds, the royal flying dragon, and swims away from the four seas." ”
During the Warring States period, it was believed that the immortals lived on the Immortal Mountains overseas. According to the Liezi, hundreds of millions of miles east of the Bohai Sea, there is a bottomless valley called "Gui Ruins". On the ocean not far from Guixu, there are five immortal mountains, namely Daiyu, Yuanyu, Fangju, Yingzhou and Penglai. These sacred mountains are 30,000 miles high, 30,000 miles in circumference, and there are 9,000 miles of flat land on the top of the mountain. None of these five mountains have roots and float above the sea. In order to prevent these sacred mountains from drifting to the nether land of the distant sea, Yu Qiang, the sea god, found 15 sacred turtles and divided them into five groups, carrying a sacred mountain on their backs every three. But then there was a giant country called "Dragon Bo Kingdom", and several giants in the country hunted and killed six divine turtles carrying Dai You and Yuanyao, resulting in two sacred mountains having no roots and drifting to the Arctic Nether land. Since then, only the three sacred mountains of Fangju, Yingzhou and Penglai have been left.
Penglai Wonderland
The remaining three sacred mountains are the three sacred mountains that countless people have longed for since the Warring States, and it is said that there are immortals on the mountains refining elixirs. The Book of Han records that "Ziwei, Xuan, and Yanzhao sent people into the sea to seek Penglai, abbot, and Yingzhou. "The Kings of Qi Wei and Qi Xuan of the State of Qi, as well as the King of Yan Zhao of the State of Yan, sent people to the Immortal Mountains overseas to look for immortals. Qin Shi Huang was most keen on immortality, and under the temptation of the alchemist, he even sent Xu Fu to lead three thousand boys and girls out to the sea to seek immortals.
Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to seek immortality on the sea
Wen Shijun said
For the unknown ocean world, the Chinese ancestors are undoubtedly full of imagination, they imagined a variety of sea god images and overseas immortal mountains, especially these immortal mountains have received great attention from future generations of emperors, many emperors have sent people into the sea to find immortal mountains and immortals. The Chinese ancestors' understanding of the ocean, especially these mythological figures, was of great significance to enriching the ancient Chinese marine culture.
bibliography
Chen Cheng: Translation notes on the Classics of Mountains and Seas, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2012.
Zhu Jianjun, "The Concept of the Sea in Ancient China from the Belief in the Sea God", Qilu Academic Journal, No. 3, 2007.
Liu Qing: "Ocean View in the Pre-Qin Period", Master's Thesis of Shandong Normal University, 2017.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Rotten Keren)
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