Foreword
The ancient Chinese civilization, from the ancient bonfire glimmer to the fragrance of pen and ink for thousands of years, still shines after hundreds of thousands of years of vicissitudes of wind and rain.
Thousands of years of civilization accumulation, like a magnificent epic, slowly flowing in the long river of time.
The Chinese civilization, with its profound continuity, unique innovation, firm unity, broad inclusiveness and lasting peace, has forged a unique cultural symbol of the Chinese nation, become a solid cornerstone of contemporary Chinese culture, and an inexhaustible source of Chinese cultural innovation.
Based on the major research results of the "Chinese Civilization Exploration Project" and "Archaeological China", the large-scale documentary "Why China" systematically traces the foundation, origin, formation and early development of Chinese civilization.
The documentary is divided into 8 episodes: "Qin and Han Dynasty", "Cradle", "Star Dou", "Ancient Kingdom", "Choosing China", "Yin Shang", "Family Country" and "Tianxia", starting from the Qin and Han dynasties that moved towards integration, and then tracing back to the turn of the old and Neolithic periods, witnessing the ancestors of the Chinese land towards agricultural settlement, forming families and societies, and establishing early beliefs and cultural aesthetics.
Began the exchanges between the five lakes and the four seas, formed the regional ancient kingdom and early civilization, opened the dynasty era of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and until the great process of the Qin and Han dynasties establishing a unified multi-ethnic state, handed over a grand, profound and vivid cultural answer sheet of the times.
"Why China" has a Douban score of 9.1 points
The narration of "Why China" is timeless and exquisite, showing the subtlety of the Chinese language, and the Chinese civilization slowly unfolding in the picture complements each other, permeating with deep humanistic feelings, leading us to appreciate the incomparable beauty of words.
Let's follow these words together, travel through time and space, and feel the depth and depth of ancient civilizations!
Episode 5 Selecting
01
The Yellow River forms a large "several" shape between the Inner Mongolia Plateau and the Loess Plateau, which is the most magnificent pen written by the power of creation in the land of China. Immediately to the east of this zigzag-shaped bend is the Luliang Mountains, the Taihang Mountains and a series of narrow basins between them.
4,300 years ago, in the Linfen Basin appeared in which there was a glorious time, but because of the years and obliterated the ancient country, its capital is in the area of Taosi Village in Xiangfen, Shanxi today, and the researcher named it Taosi.
In the fog, archaeologists are busy but orderly cleaning a corner of the Tao Temple ruins. As the dirt that covers it is peeled away, evidence of a catastrophe emerges from a young nobleman 4,000 years ago who narrowly escaped the danger of a forest that seemed to see no light of day rather than face what had happened in the once-thriving capital.
02
In the late autumn of 4,000 years ago, the night was covered in the loess beams of thousands of cracks, a little light between the heavens and the earth flickered slowly, and between the torches, the leader of the stone ridge was slowly and solemnly ascending the imperial city platform, and the higher he climbed, the closer he was to the sky.
The bright moon hangs alone, the Taicheng is high, the moonlight, human figures and firelight are swaying and intertwined, flowing over the round stone pillars with divine face patterns standing on the ground, flowing through the jade embedded in the stone wall, and the stone carvings of human faces, animals and god faces. The face of the eyes is from the solemn killing of the ancient city of Shijiahe between the Jiang and Han Dynasties, the people shoot the horses, it is the vitality from the vast grassland, the two dragons are coiled like rings, wearing scale armor, full of unpredictable power.
He stretched out his hand and rubbed the body of the stone carved dragon, and the dragon seemed to be awakened, shining with a smart sense of life in the faint light of the dark night. These stone carvings are scattered and embedded in the stone wall, and some are even inverted, but it does not affect the original beauty of the rough lines chiseled, between the cracks of the stone wall, there are often deliberately embedded jade knives, and the flat and sharp bladed jade was originally the identity symbol of military power and royal power when the leaders of various regions were buried in the ancient kingdom era.
03
After the annihilation of the Tao Temple, the stone ridge also began to decline, and other cities in the Central Plains withdrew from the historical stage. And the chariot of the times will be driven by a new king.
More than 3,700 years ago, in the north of the Luoyang Basin, on a high hill in the mountain, King Shaokang of Xia stood in the south, and the Luohe River went east through the vast mountain down, and in the south, the twin peaks on both sides of the Yishui River towered, like a gate; To the west, at the end of the morning fog is the narrow Hangu Valley, which leads directly to the Guanzhong Basin.
According to ancient documents, Xia was the first dynasty in China, the beginning of the hereditary royal power, and the Yu who opened up Kyushu was brave and stormy for the people of the world. The successive generations of kings included the lord of hard work and pioneering, as well as the king of immorality and exile. Decades ago, the former king Taikang was raided by the descendants of Dongyi during a field hunting activity, and his whereabouts are unknown. After Taikang lost his country, his five brothers went into exile and sang "The Song of the Five Sons" by the Luoshui River.
04
The blue dragon soars, the bronze bell rings, the gods descend, and the dead ascend to heaven. As recorded in the later "Book of Songs", when the King of Zhou sacrificed to the temple, the scene of "the dragon flag Yangyang, and the bell Yangyang". The god and witch are slightly lame, with the rhythm, and walk and dance, the footprints draw a big figure-of-eight, such a step is called "Yu step", showing the difficulty of Yu to control the water and travel the mountain.
The dragon head on the lid of the Xinqi pottery, the snake-shaped dragon pattern on the pottery plate of the Tao Temple, and the dragon and snake image on the stone carving of the stone ridge became one at this moment and became an eternal totem in the spiritual world of the Chinese in later generations.
05
The Yellow River is like a dragon, Kyushu looks at it together, and the country is in the middle. In the question of why China, Erlitou culture has epoch-making significance. At this time, China completed the transition from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, and opened three generations of civilization with bronze ritual vessels as the core, political power and ethical order as one.
The rise of Erlitou is the first time that a super political and cultural core has appeared in China's cultural community, and its influence has surpassed the representatives of various periods such as Liangzhu, Taosi and Shiyuan, showing a "dynastic atmosphere" of integration and concentration. This cultural core is in what the Zhou people called "China", and its influence has spread to all directions, establishing the basis of the centripetal force and cohesion of Chinese civilization.
Episode 6 Yin Shang
01
Legend has it, the woman Jian Di bathed in the water, saw the Xuanniao fall its eggs, Jian Di took and swallowed it, because of the pregnancy contract, the contract grew up to assist Dayu to control the water meritorious, and was enshrined in the Shang, which then there was a Shang family. In the Shang Dynasty oracle bone inscriptions, the name of the ancestor of the Shang king, Hai, is crowned with a bird, which is exactly the merchant's belief in the myth of the Xuanniao.
From the Taihang Mountains to the plains of southern Hebei and northern Henan, the ancestors of the past dynasties went through many hardships and battles before they became weak. As a descendant of Xuanniao, Cheng Tang got the mandate of heaven, self-explanatory, about 1600 BC, in the battle of Mingtiao in the south of Shanxi, Emperor Xia was completely defeated by the Shang army led by Cheng Tang. And the place where the sun of Luoshui pours out, the once glorious capital city of Erlitou has shown signs of decay.
02
Legend has it that when Cangjie created the text, the sky rained and the ghosts cried at night, and the heavens and the earth were shocked by this unprecedented creation. To the ancients, words were like thunder and lightning that struck into a chaotic world, awakening and illuminating a dormant civilization. Since then, human beings have possessed wisdom and feelings that can be accumulated and superimposed from generation to generation, and the civilization of the primate of all things will never be erased.
From the Wuding period, China has the earliest mature writing system that can be confirmed to date. Hieroglyphs are the most valuable heritage left to us by our ancestors in the Shang Dynasty. So far, between the strokes and paintings of this square Chinese character, there is still the sunrise and moon setting, wind, rain, thunder and lightning in the eyes of the merchants, ancient and modern, and still maintain the heart of every person enlightened by Chinese characters for more than 3,000 years, regardless of the West and the East.
03
With Yinxu as the center, from the sand dunes in the north, to Chaoge in the south, to the Taihang Mountain in the west, and to the ancient Yellow River in the east, this is where the Wangji of Shang is located. Canals and roads grow out from the center, spreading like whiskers to every corner of the business. It stretches outward for hundreds of kilometers from Wangji. The territories of the nobles at all levels, such as Hou, Dian, Nan, and Wei, constituted the Shang domain, and the power of the Fang State was staggered.
04
In the late Shang Dynasty, the bronzes of various types have reached a mature state, and in contrast to the steady and concise shapes, there is a complicated ornamentation. In the neat floor pattern, there are thicker lines and concave and convex patterns, outlining a variety of patterns with rich imagery. The twisted gluttony, the curled dragon, the phoenix bird, the reborn cicada, these intricate ornaments are cast on the surface of the arc of the container, but there is no waste or omission, and it cannot be achieved without superb craftsmanship and design ability.
05
The merchant created an atmosphere of bizarre and mysterious through the exquisite bronze weights. This is also the vast and profound spiritual world of businessmen. The gods are all over the sky, the strange beasts are all over the ground, and people are among them, and only the king of Shang can communicate with heaven and earth. And these bronze ritual vessels, which integrate scarce resources, complex craftsmanship and mysterious knowledge, are also in the hands of the Shang king.
The monopoly of theocracy and the realization of only spiritual unity were not enough to give the Shang rulers peace of mind, and only with strong military strength could they form a strong barrier on the throne.
06
This clay face, smaller than a heart. Who is he? He is the driver of the martyrdom of his master, he is the chasanto who asks for answers from fate, and he is the bronze craftsman who wanders along the river. He looked at us, as if he had a lot to say, which was the ordinary joys and sorrows of a person that the oracle could not speak. On the Loess Plateau in the northwest, the Zhou people from Rong Di are ready to go, and they will take our China to the world of home and country that shines with the light of humanity.
To be continued......
Picture丨From the official Weibo of the documentary "Why China", Douban screenshot
The commentary is from the documentary "Why China", which is compiled by the ancient rhyme and elegance
Source: WeChat public account "Ancient Charm Elegant Collection"
Editor: Pan Xi
[Disclaimer: This number is the official public welfare account of "National Reading Promotion", and this article is reprinted for the purpose of conveying more information. If there is a source label error or other inaccuracies, please contact us. We will correct it in a timely manner. Thank you]