<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > introduction:</h1>
When it comes to Huaxia, every Chinese is familiar with it, but what his true meaning is and how it was born, and not many people who understand it are estimated.
The word Huaxia was first mentioned in the Shangshu Zhoushu Wucheng:
Huaxia is barbaric and reckless.
The meaning of this statement is that both the peoples in the Central Plains and the peoples in the remote areas expressed their obedience to King Wu of Zhou.
It can be seen that the meaning of Huaxia refers to the people who were ruled by King Wu of Zhou, and based on this continuation, there is the concept of the subsequent Huaxia.
So how did Huaxia come about? It's a long history to look at!
(Huaxia Tenglong)
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >: what the ancestors experienced from nomadism to tribal alliances. </h1>
In 3000 BC, the land of China was in the late Neolithic period.
In what era, countless tribes gathered in the land of China, who lived primitive lives, reclaimed farmland with rudimentary farming techniques, obtained meat by domesticating wild animals, made tools by polishing stone tools, and learned simple pottery and weaving.
Limited by the technical conditions of that year, although each tribe had communication with the surrounding tribes, it still formed a lot of distinct civilization circles. Over time, long-term agricultural settlements led to more and more populations, the expansion of tribes, and the increase in conflict.
Conflicts, already numerous, are beginning to become more intense because of climate change.
Around 2000 BC, the Earth's climate changed, becoming drier and colder.
Tribes, which were already in constant conflict, began to diverge because of climate change.
Tribes in Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, which were originally mixed farming and animal husbandry areas, were affected by the weather and climate, and crop yields began to decrease, and they had to rely more on hunting and grazing to survive.
But even so, it is still unsustainable!
(Neolithic life scene)
The climate is getting colder, so this group of people chooses to abandon their settled life and start nomadic instead, in order to obtain the possibility of survival.
This group ended up as nomadic ancestors!
After they were diverted, they began to clash with tribes located in the south, with little impact from climate change, and still farming.
Nomadic tribes, force is the dependence of survival, farming tribes, force is relatively weak, which is determined by the mode of production and living environment. Faced with constant external threats, farming tribes, based on external pressures, became more and more eager to demand a strong regime, because only by organizing themselves could they have a comparative advantage against nomads.
Therefore, the farming areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River formed the earliest tribal alliances, and this united tribal alliance was the predecessor of the original people of China.
In the era of tribal alliances, in response to the loss of food production caused by weather changes and the threat of northern nomads, a class division also emerged within the originally equal tribes.
Force is fundamental to the continuation of the race, and food distribution based on contributions to war has become a trend. The purpose of all resource allocation is to build barriers that protect everyone.
So the competition between man and man began, and so did the competition between tribes and tribes. Those who wielded large resources in a long competition developed from tribal chiefs to nobles, while those who lost resources became ruled.
After hundreds of years of competitive integration, the aristocracy became the ruling class because of historical precipitation and the advantage of resource owners.
They established armed arch guards, built palaces to promote authority, set up systems to distribute rights and interests, and gradually formed a stable pyramid structure society. The minority ruling class at the top rules over the majority of the people at the lowest level through the division of interests at the middle level.
Subsequently, the early state power was born, the era of Xia Shang Zhou began, and a dynasty based on tribal alliances and a loose feudal system was established.
(Xia Shang Zhou Period)
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two: the establishment of the Xia Shang Zhou and the great unification attempt of the ancestors. </h1>
The concept of the great unification of the dynasty is after Qin Shi Huang, which heralds the end of the feudal era and the disintegration of the feudal system, which is a significant historical turning point, but this turning point is not achieved overnight, but has experienced multiple twists and turns.
As mentioned earlier, global climate change in 2000 BC split the ancestors living on the land of China into two groups.
The first wave of people and horses was the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, occupying the ancestors of the farming areas of the Central Plains, who made a living from farming and established a relatively powerful and complete dynasty such as Xia, Shang, and Zhou.
Another wave of centaurs is the ancestors who originally occupied the junction between farming and nomadism, who lost their farming conditions due to climate change and had to take the nomadic road.
The ancestors who took the nomadic road, because of the compulsion of life, plundered the agricultural areas for a long time, and indirectly contributed to the establishment of the Xia Shang Dynasty regime.
For security reasons, the Xia Shang Zhou regime, which was combined into a loose state entity, was the earliest prototype of China.
However, the prototype of China at that time was not clear, and it can only be said that there was the earliest regional national consciousness, which was especially obvious in the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty. It was not until the emergence of the Zhou Dynasty that everything changed, and the root of the change was related to the birth of the Zhou people.
The Zhou people who established the Zhou Dynasty were themselves the Xirong tribe, and many of the allies of the Zhou Dynasty were also evolved from nomadic tribes.
(Birthplace of the Zhou Dynasty)
According to the Book of Poetry, the ancestor of the Zhou people was called Jiang Yuan.
Jiang and Qiang are connected, so the ancestors of the Zhou people are most likely a branch of the Qiang people, and there is also a saying that the ancestors of the Zhou people came from the Baidi tribe in the northern Shaanxi Plateau, that is, the Yellow Emperor clan in the ancient era, who settled in the Wugong area of Shaanxi in the early days, and then moved to Feng, from a farming tribe to an agricultural city tribe.
This also coincided with the Zhou Dynasty's homeland of Hojing (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), at the junction of agricultural and nomadic areas.
In the Zhou Dynasty's Ho-Jing area, to the west is the range of activities of countless nomadic ancestors, and to the east, it is the agricultural region princely states that were divided after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.
It can be seen that the core territory of this Zhou Dynasty is above the dividing line between nomadic and agricultural, and has a huge influence on these two ancestral groups. Based on this influence and the need to expand the living space and stabilize the rule, the Zhou Dynasty is bound to rise up and expand its territory and strengthen the centralization of power.
(Territory of the Zhou Dynasty)
Therefore, there are several things happening in a row.
The first one: King Zhao of Zhou three expeditions to the Chu state.
King Zhou Zhao's crusade against the Chu state, in addition to expanding the territory, also had the meaning of shocking the world and showing force, who promised to fight three times and finally defeated himself, the military strength of the Zhou Dynasty began to be questioned by various sub-feudal countries.
The second one: non-sub-sealing Qin.
During the reign of King Xiao of Zhou, Xi Rongjin sacrificed 100 good horses, and in order to restore military strength, King Xiao of Zhou appointed FeiZi to raise horses for the royal family, and ordered FeiZi to raise horses for the Zhou royal family between Wei and Wei (汧河, in present-day Longxian County, Shaanxi). Ensure the supply of horses, improve military strength, and strengthen the rule of the Zhou Dynasty.
This was divided into non-sons who raised horses, and later because of the success of Ma Wen, he obtained the fiefdom of Qinyi (Qingshui County, Gansu), and built the Qin state, known as Qin Wei.
The third case: King Li of Zhou carried out reforms.
The reforms carried out by King Li of Zhou are all tyranny in the history books, but from the perspective of King Li of Zhou, it is just a measure to strengthen the centralization of power.
Politically: King Li of Zhou changed the zhou and summoned the second duke to the practice of "being a secretary of state" and appointing the eldest father of Rong Yigong and Duke Yu, who had expertise in economy and military. The initiative is a manifestation of meritocracy, but it has been attacked because it breaks the talent selection mechanism.
Economically: King Zhou Li grasped the two key links of "patents" and "agriculture" in order to expand the economic strength of the dynasty. The property of the mountains, forests, rivers and rivers occupied by the nobles was taken into the ownership of the royal family, and it did not infringe on the interests of the people, and it was the nobles who were hit, so why talk about fighting with the people for profits?
The administration of King Li of Zhou attaches the greatest importance to agriculture, with "harvesting" as a national treasure and focusing on agricultural development.
The fourth one: The Zhou Youwang Beacon Fire Drama Princes.
A farce-like story of "Zhou Youwang Beacon Fire Drama Princes" distorts the behavior of Zhou Youwang into an inhuman appearance, and finally Western Zhou is attacked and destroyed by Inuyasha.
Notice the attacking tribe, inuyasha, which was once an ally of the Zhou Dynasty, without their help, there would not have been so many fang states during the Shang Dynasty, and there would not have been the Eight Hundred Years of the Zhou Dynasty.
According to historical records, the rebellion of the Inuyasha tribe directly triggered the demise of the Western Zhou.
The cause of the rebellion was that King You of Zhou deposed Shen Hou and made Hou Hou angry.
In the eleventh year of King Zhou You's reign (771 BC), the enraged Marquis Shen attacked King Zhou You, and then killed King Zhou You at the foot of Mount Li. This war directly ended the influence of the Zhou Dynasty in the Weishui area.
Originally, the way the Zhou Dynasty ruled the world was to divide and rule!
The western nomadic regions practice the system of marriage, and in the eastern agricultural areas, they practice the system of sub-feudalism, and control the world through long-term marriage and sub-sealing.
These four events are actually interlocking things, and they are also the measures of the Zhou Dynasty to strengthen the centralization of power.
Compared with the ratio of sub-sealing and marriage, it was undoubtedly a more effective management method to look at sub-sealing at that time.
In order to strengthen its rule, the Zhou Dynasty first declared its might by force to attack the Chu State, then strengthened its military strength by dividing up the Feizi, and then demanded to strengthen economic control and enhance national strength through reforms.
It is through the cultivation of concubines by dividing the seals, strengthening military strength, and weakening the influence of the Shen clan on themselves by breaking off the marriage, and becoming a veritable co-lord of the world.
(King Ping of Zhou moved east)
Who had thought that King You of Zhou was in a hurry to make a quick profit, and played this matter away, provoking the Shen clan to collude with Inuyasha to expel the Zhou royal family from the Weishui River Valley.
The Zhou royal family lost the basic plate of the Original Weishui River Basin, and also lost the support of its former allies Shen and Inuyasha, and had to move east.
The Zhou Dynasty's attempt to unify ended in failure!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > three: Why did the Concept of Huaxia appear in the Spring and Autumn Period? </h1>
King Ping of Zhou moved east, bringing the era to the Spring and Autumn Warring States era.
After moving east, the Zhou royal family lost the support of its former Western allies and lost its basic disk into an empty shelf.
Zhou Tianzi's strength was not enough to rule over the princes, but the historical inertia of the long-term sub-feudal system has made countless princely states based on the concept of dividing the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty form a similar cultural circle due to the constraints of the sub-feudal system and the deep blood connection between the feudal states.
This cultural circle, centered on the Central Plains of the Yellow River, has built the earliest prototype of Chinese civilization.
In order to deal with the threat from the eight sides in the west, the Central Plains Civilization Circle must have a leader appear and call on everyone to unite against the attacks of Chu Man and Sibian Rong and Di in the south.
(Jin-Chu Battle)
Thus, in the context of this special era, the concept of Huaxia appeared!
In this time period, in order to unite people's hearts and continue the tradition of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the princely states regarded the Zhou Dynasty as a symbol of culture and spirit, using the big net of Huaxia to net each other together, and what was inside the net was our clan, that is, the Huaxia clan, and outside the net was the foreign race, that is, the Sifang Barbarians, Yi, Rong, Di, Hu and so on.
The purpose of strengthening the concept of Huaxia is to distinguish the cultural circle of the Central Plains from the surrounding areas.
By emphasizing the lofty status of Zhou Tianzi, achieving hegemony became the basic skill of hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Politically, the overlord of the Central Plains Dynasty would pull the banner of Zhou Tianzi whenever he went out to fight, and after the war was over, he could still get praise where Zhou Tianzi was, which was the so-called great righteousness.
On the border, the various eastern princely states also built the Great Wall based on security needs and established a border line in the northern region.
With the common political influence and border awareness, the birth of the Chinese consensus was promoted.
(Warring States Seven Heroes Territory)
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > four: the Warring States period, the expansion of the concept of Huaxia. </h1>
History moved from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Era, and the theme changed from the Zun Wang Zhiyi to the Seven Heroes.
Looking back at the story of spring and autumn, we can see a characteristic, that is, the main line that runs through the Spring and Autumn period, in addition to the five hegemons of spring and autumn, there is also the jin and Chu hegemony.
The Spring and Autumn Five Hegemony is based on the narrative line of the hegemon, while the Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony is a narrative line based on the context.
This contextual narrative line is also clear, that is, the confrontation between the Yellow River civilization circle (Jin and the Central Plains princely states) and the Yangtze River civilization circle (Chu state and its vassal states).
Although the State of Chu was also a viscount of the Zhou Dynasty, the particularity and cultural independence of the State of Chu made him a faction of its own, following many of the countries in the Yangtze River Basin around the State of Chu, and also having different cultural circles from the Central Plains.
At that time, the Chu state and Wuyue, as relatively backward cultural and economic regions, gradually accepted the canonization and game rules of the Yellow River cultural circle in the Central Plains. Subsequently, after a long period of struggle and exchange, these different cultural circles gradually merged together, extending the original concept of Huaxia from the Central Plains region to the Jingchu Wuyue region.
This round of expansion is the result of the initiative of both sides!
Therefore, by the Warring States period, Wu Yue and chu state already belonged to the Chinese cultural circle.
Halfway through the history of the Warring States, the Chinese cultural circle ushered in a new partner, that is, the Bashu region.
(Qin army siege)
The annexation of Bashu by the State of Qin was a key link in the expansion of the State of Qin, and Sima Que's reasoning and struggle obtained based on the fertile based on the Basis of the Qin State, which contributed to the hegemony of the Qin State and the continued expansion of the Cultural Circle of the Central Plains.
After this round of expansion, the scope of Huaxia has a clear division!
The Eastern princely states belonged to the advocates of the Central Plains cultural circle, and they were driven by the mentality of "not my race, their hearts must be different", and driven by the demand for security, they used the way of building the Great Wall on the northern border to distinguish between China and the surrounding tribes.
The Chu state and Wu Yue in the south merged into the Chinese cultural circle in the long struggle, and the Bashu region also defected to the Chinese cultural circle after the Qin state operated. The formation of cultural circles and the demarcation of the boundaries of the Great Wall in the north have in turn raised self-awareness for other tribes outside the area north of the Great Wall.
The emergence of this self-perception is the difference between Huayi and Yi.
Between China and non-China, geographical boundaries have emerged as well as cultural boundaries.
(Qin Empire Opens The Frontier)
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > five: Han Wu waving whip and laying the core area of Huaxia. </h1>
The Qin and Han Dynasties were the era of China's First Empire and the era that laid the core area of the Chinese concept.
The Warring States of Qixiong Qin became the final victor, and the Qin State, which unified the six kingdoms, became an empire under the leadership of the ambitious Qin Shi Huang!
Abolishing the division of seals, Xingjun County, books with texts, cars on the same track, unified currency, and weights and measures are political and economic unifications.
Conquering Baiyue in the south, attacking the Xiongnu in the north, building the Great Wall of Wanli, building the Ling Canal, and ditching the Yangtze River and the Pearl River system, this is an effort to expand the territory.
Qin Shi Huang used his own vigorous countless measures to lay the foundation for the great unification of Qin and Han.
However, the rapid demise of the Qin Empire did not last, and then this historical task was handed over to the Han Dynasty.
Compared with the short-lived state of the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty was undoubtedly a long-lived and powerful empire.
After several generations of Jie Cultivation by Han Gaozu, Lü Hou, and Wenjing, in the era of Emperor Wu of han, he finally began to reshape the borders of China.
In the face of the four-sided ethnic groups outside the Chinese cultural circle, the Han Dynasty practiced different ways and expanded the borders of China.
(Han Wu whip)
Northern Region: The long Great Wall is the earliest and clearest dividing line in the Chinese region.
South of the Great Wall belongs to the agricultural civilization economic zone, north of the Great Wall, belongs to the territory of the nomadic Huns, relying on strong military strength to constantly invade the frontiers of the Han Dynasty, is the biggest opponent of the Han Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of han, in order to cooperate with the battle against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wudi of Han sent Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions to investigate the customs and customs of the Western Regions, while the military offensive lasted for 40 years, and countless famous generals such as Li Guang, Wei Qing, and Huo Quyi took turns to retake the Hetao region, build Shuofang City, and set up the four counties of Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuwei, and Dunhuang, completely severing the ties between the Xiongnu and the Qiang.
In particular, in the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (119 BC), Wei Qing, Huo Fuyi and other generals led the army to launch the "Du Mu" battle, a round deep into the desert north, the Great Destruction of the Xiongnu, and the "No Royal Court in the South of the Curtain". This series of military measures occupied part of the area north of the Great Wall and used this part as a strategic buffer zone with the northern nomads, setting up garrisons while also stationing Hu people who were attached to the Han Dynasty.
However, realistically speaking, due to the economic conditions and productivity level at that time, the expansion momentum of the Han Dynasty in the north did not exceed the Great Wall, but the subsequent expansion of the northeast region also made a lot of gains!
Western Region: The Han Dynasty launched an attack on the Qiang after striking hard at the Xiongnu and cutting off the Xiongnu from the Qiang.
The choice of the Qiang people is that they cannot defeat the Han Dynasty and merge into the Han Dynasty, choosing to submit, although the subsequent rebellions continue, but the Qiang people still choose to integrate into the Chinese civilization after a long war, and the Qiang people's territory has become the western edge of China.
Southern region: Compared with the northern and western regions, because of the favorable geographical conditions and rich products, the expansion is very smooth due to the fact that it belongs to the same agricultural civilization gathering area. With the promotion of Confucianism and military operations, the Han Dynasty smoothly integrated yue, Dian, Yelang, and the southern Baiyue tribes into China.
Today's Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yungui generation, bathed in Chinese civilization, have been passed down to this day.
(Territory map of the Han Dynasty)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Epilogue: Qin Han's contribution. </h1>
After the struggle and cultivation of the Qin and Han dynasties, the core circle of Chinese civilization was formed.
In particular, the Han Empire, after the southern conquest of the north, covered all the rich lands suitable for farming in East Asia, and developed the edge of ancient China to the extreme, not to mention, it also developed in the northwest region through the western region.
With the expansion of the Han Dynasty, the Han people continued to emigrate to the frontier, bringing advanced culture and advanced productive forces to the frontier areas where the productive forces were relatively backward, and further expanding their cultural influence.
This ever-expanding cultural influence, as well as political and administrative coverage, eventually formed the Chinese Consensus, and in the subsequent historical dynasties, it has continued to evolve and become more and more solid.
This is the contribution of the First Empire of the Qin and Han Dynasties, this is the merits of the Qin Emperor Han Wu, and it is also the historical source of the emergence of the Chinese consensus.