The Yellow River has left a rich living cultural heritage

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

A vast and profound river

In the process of the formation and evolution of the Chinese nation, Chinese characters have always played an irreplaceable and important role. From 7800 to 4800 years ago, the Earliest prototype of writing appeared in the Dadiwan culture, and there were many archaeological discoveries such as writing and painting in the Yangshao culture site from 5000 BC to 3000 BC, and the Zhushu found on the clay pots in the early Days of the Longshan culture can certainly be written. These ancient civilization sites in the Yellow River Basin fully illustrate the history of Chinese characters for at least 4,000 years.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the various princely states in the Yellow River Basin recruited talents and soldiers in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, which contributed to the first great integration of political and academic ideas in China's history. According to the Hanshu Yiwenzhi, there were 189 schools of thought that could be named at that time, and there were 4324 works. They occupy an important place in the history of Chinese thought. Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius and other greatest thinkers in Chinese history all lived in this era and became the essence and foundation of Chinese civilization.

The Yellow River Basin is an important birthplace of Chinese literature and art, and a large number of literary works and classics, from the Book of Poetry to the Tang and Song Dynasties, are from along the Yellow River. "The State is thousands of miles, the Uighurs stop", "Shijing, Shangsong, Xuan bird" describes the magnificent picture of the ancestors of all ethnic groups in the Yellow River Basin who called their hands and feet, cut through thorns and thorns, and jointly developed the splendid rivers and mountains of the motherland; "The water of the Yellow River does not see the water of the Yellow River rising from the sky, rushing to the sea and never returning", When Li Taibai wrote the wild and extravagant indulgence of the Yellow River with the majestic momentum of shaking the ancient and modern times; Zhang Zeduan's "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty" recorded the urban appearance of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Tokyo (Kaifeng), and the living conditions of all social classes, presenting the prosperous scene on both sides of the Yellow River in the 12th century AD The "Yellow River Chorus", sung in the Cave Dwellings of Yan'an more than 80 years ago, has written a brilliant chapter of the Chinese nation's resistance to foreign humiliation.

Nurture the spiritual world of the Chinese nation

At the time of the origin of civilization, the role of rivers was often decisive. Only early civilizations relying on great rivers and rivers could gain a significant impact in the sense of historical time and space. In the process of the formation and development of Chinese civilization, the Yellow River has always played an irreplaceable and important role. 5,000 years ago, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River had formed the largest agricultural area in East Asia, contributing to the first great national integration in Chinese history; the Xia and Shang Dynasties began to forge the powerful symbol of human civilization here; and the Han and Tang dynasties in the next millennium made it an important center of world civilization. The Yellow River civilization has also become a basic model of the world's river civilization.

The evolutionary history of the Chinese nation is a history of the relationship between mankind and nature. "Good dredging, good decision, good migration" is the nature of the Yellow River, from the 27th year of King Ding of Zhou (602 BC) to 1938 AD 2540, the lower reaches of the Yellow River broke 1593 times, changed course 26 times, becoming an uncompromising "river of sorrow". The Gonggong clan wanted to "defend against hundreds of rivers and fall into high heights"; Dayu wanted to "decide the nine rivers, away from the four seas, and dredging the rivers from the rivers" to make the river flow peacefully; Jia Rang of the Western Han Dynasty saw the wild flow of the river and tried to chen "Jia Rang Three Strategies"; Wang Jing of the Eastern Han Dynasty ushered in the second peaceful period of the Yellow River because of the concept of guiding the river by virtue of the situation; and the "building embankments and binding the water and attacking the sand with water" proposed by the Ming Dynasty Wan Gong and Pan Jitao changed the situation of the Yellow River". The river control ideology of "harnessing water and attacking sand" incisively reveals the interrelationship of the water and sand movement of the Yellow River and enlightens the development of modern sediment science.

In the process of understanding the Yellow River, harnessing and utilizing the Yellow River, generations of Chinese sons and daughters have gained the wisdom of survival, absorbed creative inspiration, shaped the spiritual world, and gradually formed a cultural totem that best reflects the spiritual characteristics of the Chinese nation. The simple philosophical wisdom of ancient China, such as the five elements of gossip and yin and yang dialectics, has always influenced the present day; Dayu has set a moral example for future generations of rulers by "being the first for the people"; the concept of "harmony and order" born of the Zhou Gong system of ritual music still plays an active role to this day; the concept of "governing water as if ruling the world" has influenced China's unified national outlook; "a gentleman is sensitive to his deeds and is content with his words" has become the spiritual character of the Chinese nation to seek truth and be pragmatic; and Heshan Yonggu's feelings of home and country have become an important national character of Chinese people all over the world.

A living continuation of the historical culture

For more than 3,000 years since the Shang Dynasty, the Yellow River Basin has been the political, economic and cultural center of the Chinese nation, and people have created a glorious history here and left a lasting civilization. According to statistics, the main tributaries of the Yellow River flow through 69 cities (prefectures) in 9 provinces (autonomous regions) There are about 168,000 immovable cultural relics, including 11 world cultural heritage sites, 1 mixed world cultural and natural heritage site, 3 global important agricultural cultural heritage sites, 19 important agricultural cultural heritage sites in China, 1451 national key cultural relics protection units, 4221 provincial cultural relics protection units, 26476 city and county level cultural relics protection units, and 1325 registered museums; in addition, there are 16 national historical and cultural cities, 29 Chinese historical and cultural towns, 91 Chinese historical and cultural villages and 678 Chinese traditional villages. Many of these Yellow River historical and cultural relics are still alive and well.

Only by digging deep into the cultural heritage of the Yellow River Basin can we tell the contemporary "Yellow River Story". Relying on the cultural heritage and cultural landscape of the Yellow River, zhengguoqu scenic spot and Hukou waterfall scenic spot have become national 4A-level scenic spots. In the Ningxia Yellow Irrigation District with a history of more than 2,000 years, the Yellow River water flowing in the ancient river nourishes 7.15 million mu of fertile fields in 13 areas along the Ningxia Plain day and night, and creates more than 70% of the region's grain production and 83% of the regional GDP with 29% of the cultivated land in the whole region, which is the essence of the Ningxia Plain.

(The author is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Water Resources and Hydropower Sciences)