At the end of 1973, a large number of books were unearthed from the Mawangdui No. 3 Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, which was a major event in the world of Chinese archaeology. Although I had already participated in some of the work of sorting out the books in 1974, due to the limitations of the "Cultural Revolution" movement, I only went to the sorting group to report early the next year. When I got there, I saw two ancient maps that had been restored. What surprised me the most was that next to the Nine Ridges Mountain in the "Topographic Map", the word "Di Shun" was marked.
Seeing this map of the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the location and shape of the Nine Ridge Mountains are quite accurate. The south side of the mountain is painted with a building made up of nine columns with spires of varying heights in the middle. According to the record of the nine doubts in the "Water Classic, Xiangshui Notes", "There is a Shun Temple in Nanshan, there is a stone stele in front of it, the text is missing, and it cannot be recognized", Mr. Tan Qijun believes that "this building is immediately Shun Temple, and the nine pillars should be the nine stone stele in front of the Shun Temple". Shun's death in Cangwu and burial in Jiuling is undoubtedly an ancient legend, but can Shun Temple be so early? I kept doubting in my heart.
Last year, it was also a hot and unbearable summer day, and I was invited to visit the Yuzhenyan Architectural Site located in the southeast of Ningyuan County. After experiencing many peaks and mountains, entering the mountain basin where the site is located, the peaks of the Nine Ridges are beautiful, the panoramic view, and the weather is magnificent, which makes people marvel at the exquisite selection of the ancestors.
I carefully observed some of the sites being excavated and the excavated ceramics, bricks and tiles, and other artifacts, and learned that the upper part of the site is dated to the Northern Song Dynasty, which coincides with the historical records of the early Song Dynasty's shu jiulingshan Shun temple. Judging from the excavated parts, the scale of Shun Temple at that time was quite large. What is more remarkable is that under the remnants of the Northern Song Dynasty, there are also earlier architectural formations. In particular, as the excavators point out, "Han Dynasty sacrificial pits and large architectural remains no later than the early Eastern Han Dynasty were found in the lower piles of the excavation area." (Editor-in-Chief of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage: "Important Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2004 [p. 161])" This may be related to the Shun Temple on the ancient map of Mawangdui Shu.
The history of Shun Temple is long, and it has a deep cultural and traditional background.
As the first part of the Twenty-Four Histories, Sima Qian listed the Five Emperors Before the Xia, Yin (Shang), and Wednesday Dynasties, the Five Emperors were the Yellow Emperor, the Emperor, the Emperor, the Emperor Yao, and the Emperor Shun. Later, the Yellow Emperor and Yao and Shun were well known, and the reason for this difference was obvious, the Yellow Emperor was revered as the common ancestor of the Chinese nation, and various civilization factors were founded from his time, so it was called "the first ancestor of humanity", in today's words, it represents the origin of Chinese civilization. As for the era of Yao and Shun, civilization has been formed and expanded, especially in the minds of Confucians, it is the ideal "golden age". Confucius said, "Only the heavens are great, but yao is it, majestic to its success, and full of articles." ”
The traditional scriptures, the Book of Shang, begin with the YaoDian and the Shundian .e.q. These two articles were originally one in ancient times, called "Yao Dian", and sometimes called "Imperial Code". It is said that Confucius deleted the Book of Shang, judging from Yao and Shun, and not taking materials about earlier times, which has a deep meaning of ruling the world with Yao and Shun. The famous "Book of Ritual Fortune", describing datong before Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, Chengwang, and Zhou Gong, is also the ultimate ruler of the world with Yao and Shun. In this way, Yao and Shun became the ideal Saint King Mingjun in traditional culture.
The Shun recorded in the YaoDian and other relevant documents is a typical example of a talent from the folk. He was known for his virtuous and filial piety, was selected by Emperor Yao, passed the test of dangerous political affairs, and became an important assistant to Yao. In the end, Yao not only married his two daughters to Shun, but also made him the heir to the throne, completing the "Zen Concession" of the famous future generations. These deeds are clearly consistent with the Confucian ideal of combining moral ethics and politics. Many ancient books play to the legends of Yao and Shun. In recent years, the Warring States period has also discovered the bamboo book of the Warring States period, and there is no lack of content in this regard. For example, the Bamboo Jane "Rong Chengshi" collected by the Shanghai Museum not only lays out the deeds of Chen Yao and Shun with many sentences, but even says that since the ancient Rong Chengshi, it has been "not to give his son but to the sage", Yao can make the sage, "the kings of all nations give up their state to the sages", and the Yao and Shun Zen are infinitely exaggerated.
How to view ancient historical legends such as Yao, Shun, and Yu has always been debated in historians. Scholars of the late Qing Dynasty who doubted the ancient trend of thought advocated that Yao, Shun, and Yu were all myths, which were falsely trusted by later generations. Some scholars disagree with this view, such as Wang Guowei said: "The fault of doubting the ancient is the figure of Tong Yao Shunyu and is also suspicious, and its attitude of doubt and the spirit of criticism are not undesirable, but it is a pity that the ancient historical materials have not been fully handled." (New Evidence of Ancient History, p. 2) He specifically proposed the record of Yu in the bronze inscriptions as proof, but failed to list the earlier materials about Yao and Shun, and the bronzes mentioned were also later, in the middle and late Spring and Autumn periods. In 2002, a mid-period bronze vessel Sui Gongshu was found, and its inscription talks about Yu's water control, which is similar to the preface of Shangshu Yugong and Yugong, and is also similar to the Gao Tao Mo (including the present edition of Yiji). Looking at these documents, we can see that the matter of water control is inseparable from Yao and Shun. Ancient historical legends are confirmed to a certain extent here.
Or Mr. Wang Guowei said it well: "Ancient things, legends and historical facts are mixed and not separated." In the historical facts, there is no difference between them and the legends, and the legends often have historical facts for the plains, and the two are not easy to distinguish, and the countries of the world are the same. (New Evidence of Ancient History, p. 1) Ancient history and legends are an indispensable part of ancient history, and cannot be directly quoted like the historical materials of later generations, nor should they be completely erased because of the mixture of myths.
Archaeological research has given us a glimpse of the truth of the society and culture of the legendary Yao and Shun eras. For example, the site of Xiangfen Tao Temple in Shanxi, which has been reported a lot, has a maximum age limit between 2500 BC and 2400 BC, and the lower limit is no later than 2000 BC, which is roughly equivalent to the era of Yao and Shun legends. The temple found a large 2.8 million square meter site, including a complex architectural foundation, a large number of noble tombs, jade, bronze and pottery ceremonial instruments, and writing. Some scholars have speculated that the recent excavation of a special building site may be related to the "observation and timing", which is a part of the Yaodian. As we all know, the geographical location of Tao Temple is exactly close to the "Yaodu Pingyang" in the literature. From this point of view, it is appropriate to think that the legendary civilization of the Yao and Shun eras has been initially established.
In short, the reason why the Nine Ridges Mountain Shun Temple has a long history is not accidental. On the one hand, this reflects the long history of the mainland, and the retrospection of the ancestors by future generations, on the other hand, it also pins on the expectations and ideals of traditional culture on the prosperity of the world. I hope that further excavation and research of the Yuzhenyan site will bring us more enlightenment.
(The author is a professor at Tsinghua University, chairman of the Chinese Pre-Qin History Society, and an academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences)
The people's daily overseas edition was published on the eighth page on August 20, 2005
Guangming Daily was published on the eleventh page on August 17, 2005