Further reading This is the Song "Yu Trace Map" that has survived in Chinese history to this day, and it is now in Xi'an. Its picture frame is 80.5 cm × 78.5 cm. The picture is engraved with the words: "Yu Trace Diagram." Each side folds a hundred miles. Yugong mountain and river names, ancient and modern state and county names, ancient and modern landscape names. Fuchang 7 april carved stone. The map is noted with ancient and modern names, orienting up and down to the south; the scope is north to the inside and outside of the Great Wall, south to the South China Sea and the Indochina Peninsula; the content focuses on the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the Pearl River and other river systems. There are about 380 place names on the map, including 80 river names, 6 lake names, and more than 70 mountain range names.
《China Yu Trace Map》 Huijishan Number: Zhejiang 11 Category: Mountains, Rivers and Mountains Location: Dayu Ling Scenic Area, Jishan Street, Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China Basin: Southeast Coast Introduction: Huijishan, ancient mountain name. Formerly known as Maoshan Mountain, also known as Miao Mountain. "History of Xia Benji": "The princes of Yuhui Jiangnan, counting merits and collapsing, because of burial, fate will be audited." Auditors, accountants also. "Nanzhen Huijishan" is one of the five major towns and mountains in China. The main peaks of the Huiji Mountains are concentrated in the urban area of Shaoxing and the borders of Zhuji and Shengzhou, with an altitude of about 700 meters. The picture shows Huiji Mountain and Dayu Tomb. Photo by Guo Minjun
Link Shaoxing's Yu Trace Logo From 2021, Shaoxing began to identify local Yu traces on a large scale. Establish a unified and eye-catching signage to add to the cultural atmosphere of YuJi. At present, 64 Yu trace points in Shaoxing have installed Yu trace signs.
Yu Ji Palace of "Chinese Yu Traces" Number: E1 Category: Ancient Buildings and Palaces Location: Yu Gong ji, East Guishan, Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province Basin: Yangtze River Introduction: Yu Ji Palace, formerly known as Yu Wang Temple, was built during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1131-1162 AD). The existing Yuan JianYu Temple and many YuBai are the places where Wuhan has sacrificed Dayu in the past, and is also a famous historical and cultural building in Wuhan. In March 2013, it was listed in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
"Yu" occupies an important position in the origin stage of Chinese civilization. In the process of the development of the Chinese nation, "Yu Traces" recorded the history of Dayu in a pluralistic form, and also included human resistance to natural disasters and various social and cultural phenomena.
Today, the interpretation and inheritance of Dayu's history and culture from the perspective of cultural heritage has undergone a new evolution.
Every year, the rainy season in the valley of the lunar calendar is the day of public worship in various places. In mid-April 2022, the first "Map of Chinese Yu Traces" was released in Shaoxing, which comprehensively described the Dayu ruins and Yu traces cultural landscape throughout China.
First, Shaoxing became an important town for the study of Yu Traces
Dayu is a water hero of the Chinese nation. As the place where Dayu Zhishui completed its work and the Dayu Mausoleum is located, Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province has always been committed to the protection and inheritance of Dayu culture.
In April 2018, the relevant departments of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, released the "Shaoxing Yu Trace Map" for the first time. There are a total of 127 Yu traces, including mausoleums, temples, ancestral halls, place names, natural entities of mountains and lakes, inscriptions, cliffs, sculptures and other categories. This is a complete and systematic regional distribution map of Dayu's cultural heritage.
After the release of the "Shaoxing Yu Trace Map", it was widely praised. As a result, the larger-scale compilation of Yu trace maps has also accelerated. In April 2019, Shaoxing launched the "Zhejiang Yu Trace Map", which marked the location of Yu traces in 11 prefectures and cities in Zhejiang Province and eight major water systems, including a total of 209 "Zhejiang Yu Traces", 4 "Windproof Ruins", 37 "Yuedi Shun Traces", and 30 "Zhejiang Dayu Contemporary Neolithic Cultural Sites". This distribution map of Dayu's cultural heritage, which is based on provinces, is an important innovation in Dayu's academic research and cultural dissemination.
In 2021, Shaoxing began to identify local Yu traces, activating Yu traces from documents and figures to real life through identification signs. This is more conducive to the integration of culture and tourism. The Yu Trace Logo integrates the historical sites and cultural features that were originally scattered and distributed and various related to Dayu, and makes a new summary from the perspective of cultural heritage and "intangible cultural heritage", which has aroused widespread social concern. As a result, the compilation of a larger-scale "Chinese Yu Trace Map" has become the consensus of researchers of Dayu culture in relevant regions across the country and at home and abroad.
Driven by the new cultural heritage cognition, Shaoxing first conducted a one-year research on the topic of "Guidelines for the Compilation of Yu Traces", which conducted in-depth exploration of the definition of Yu traces, compilation principles, the authenticity and completeness of the data, the results and the form of release, and formed specific rules. On April 19, 2021, the Shaoxing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, together with the Shaoxing Jianhu Research Association, the China Water Conservancy Museum, the Shaoxing Municipal Museum of Culture and History and other units, officially launched the compilation of the "China Yu Trace Map".
Second, the "Chinese Yu Trace Map" reflects the characteristics of the times
How should Yu Traces be understood in the era of cultural heritage? Researchers in the "Chinese Yu Trace Map" believe that "Yu Trace" is a sacrifice activity that has survived to this day based on the records of the legend of the footprints of the Great Yu Zhi Water and other activities in the historical materials, and also includes immovable natural and historical material relics, sites and relics such as commemorative building facilities, feature representations, inscriptions, and place-name relics. In addition, the Yu Traces included in the Chinese Yu Trace Map also include a small number of movable cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage.
As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, the mainland had the advent of the "Yu Trace Map". This is a map of ancient Chinese territory, mainly reflecting mountains and rivers, and has been called "the most outstanding map in the world at that time". There are two carved stones in the Song "Yu Trace Map" that have survived to this day: one preserved in the forest of steles in present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi, which was carved for the sixth year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty and the seventh year of Fuchang (1136 AD); the other is the standing stone engraved in the third year of Yuan Fu (1100 AD) and the twelfth year of Shaoxing (1142 AD), which is collected in the Jiaoshan Stele Forest in present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu.
The contemporary "Chinese Yu Trace Map" inherits the main points of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Yu Trace Map" and the description of the Yu Trace in the mountains, rivers and place names; on this basis, the "Chinese Yu Trace Map" also reflects the characteristics of the times and the characteristics of global cultural dissemination.
According to the requirements of the guidelines, the contemporary "Yu Traces" highlight the connotation of "The Relics of Dayu Culture". The "Yu Traces" in this compilation of maps focuses on the relevant Yu traces in the national key cultural relics protection units and provincial cultural relics protection units, and also contains the corroborating remains of the Records of Yu Traces in historical documents.
Third, gather multidisciplinary experts to participate
The newly published "China Yu Trace Map" selects 323 of more than 1,000 candidate Yu traces in 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, belonging to 11 river basins.
In accordance with the requirements of the "true and complete" characteristics of cultural heritage, the "Chinese Yu Trace Map" strictly screens the selected contents through literature consultation, on-site examination, and commissioned investigation. About 35 experts from all over the country in the fields of water conservancy history, cultural relics, literature and history, surveying and mapping, photography and other fields participated in the compilation and achieved diversified research results. In addition to the map display, this "China Yu Traces Map" also contains detailed descriptions, charts, photos, data compilation, etc.
As can be seen from the "Map of Chinese Yu Traces", the selected Yu traces extend to Taiwan Province in the east, Yunnan in the south, Gansu in the west, and Jilin in the north. This includes 31 "national security", 27 provincial-level cultural relics protection units and 11 city-level and county-level cultural relics protection units; 308 projects belonging to immovable heritage and 13 movable cultural relics. There are also a number of issues related to intangible cultural heritage.
Fourth, more areas are needed for cross-border integration
Current archaeological findings show that the history of water control in the Chinese nation has reached more than 10,000 years. As early as 2500 years ago, Yue Wang Gou Jian paid attention to establishing the image of Dayu, creating Yu culture and Yu belief, and he also established the "Yuzong Temple" when building the large and small cities of Yueguo centered on the Longshan Mountain in present-day Shaoxing, thus laying the cornerstone of Dayu culture in Yuedi. The "History of the Yue King's Gou Jian Family" records: "Yue Wang Gou Jian, the Miao descendant of his ancestor Yu, and the son of Emperor Shaokang of The Later Xia Dynasty. Sealed in the Huiji, in order to honor the worship of Yu. In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang "went to the meeting, sacrificed Dayu, looked at the South China Sea, and carved a stone to praise Qin De". Thus created the highest ceremonial form of the Dayu Festival.
The spirit of Dayu Zhishui, which began 4100 years ago, has become an important part of our Chinese national spirit. The living process of Dayu culture development shows the strong vitality of the Chinese nation and is an integral part of the process of Chinese civilization. The compilation of the "Chinese Yu Traces" can be regarded as a contemporary cultural innovation event, and its core goal is to promote the inheritance and dissemination of Chinese culture. From historical records combined with archaeological excavations to study and prove the Dayu culture, inherit and carry forward the Dayu culture, it has become the next direction of the "Chinese Yu Trace Map".
As a historical imprint of the origin stage of Chinese civilization, "Yu" still has many research difficulties waiting to be solved. The next step of "China Yu Trace Map" will gather more interdisciplinary, cross-regional and cross-industry experts and scholars, through investigation and research, enrich the content of Yu Traces, depict the development of Dayu culture in different historical periods, and compile the distribution map of Yu Traces throughout the country, so as to more accurately present the origin and inheritance of Dayu culture and sort out the transmission process of Dayu culture in different periods. On this basis, the "Chinese Yu Traces Tu Examination and Interpretation Anthology" can provide guidance and support for academic research such as water conservancy history, literary history, and archaeology.
After the release of the "Chinese Yu Trace Map", the eyes of experts began to turn to the international Yu Trace Cultural Exchange. The process of sorting out the exchanges and mutual learning of the "Yu Traces" in eastern Asia and gradually becoming the common cultural beliefs of people everywhere has also been put on the agenda.
About the Author:
Qiu Zhirong: Vice President of the Hydraulic History Research Association of the China Hydraulic Conservancy Society and President of the Jianhu Research Association of Shaoxing City
Zhang Weidong: Expert of the key scientific research base of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Protection and Research
This edition of the image is provided by the Shaoxing Jianhu Research Association