1. What is Yu Gong? Shangshu Gong Yu is recognized as an article with the concept of systematic geography in ancient historical documents in China, and it is also a model of ancient geography in China. The book * * * 1200 words consists of five parts: Kyushu, Daoshan, Daoshui, Shuigong and Five Blessingg.
Dayu statue
Since the Warring States and the Han Dynasty, it has been recognized that the content introduced in Yu Gong was recorded by Dayu himself or after the success of water control in Dayu era. Later, people questioned the time when Gong Yu was written, and thought that the text of Gong Yu could not have been written in summer. Slowly, there are four opinions about the completion time of Gong Yu, namely, the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Late Warring States Period and the Early Han Dynasty.
Gu Jiegang, a late historian in China in the 1940s, once discussed this issue. He said in the article "Yu Gong (full text annotation)" published in 1959: "It was a work at the beginning of the third century BC, 60 years before Qin Shihuang unified the six countries. The author's geographical knowledge is limited to the territory reached by the seven countries before 280 BC. " In fact, Shi Nianhai, NeiTojiro, Xinshu and others have systematically discussed the completion time of Gong Yu. Although they all have their own differences, most people insist that Gong Yu should be a work at the end of the Warring States Period.
As for Shangshu Gong Yu, why did it push the book forward under the guise of Dayu 17 centuries? Its purpose should be to publicize Yao Shunyu's kingly way and deceive the subjects of feudal society since then. In such a turbulent period as the Warring States Period, in the name of Dayu, people's political aspirations and expectations for reunification and peace were expressed at that time.
Giant flood of shad
Although Yu Gong is regarded as the pen name of Dayu, from the development of ancient geography in China, Yu Gong put forward a series of systematic geographical concepts, which constituted the oldest regional geographical model in China.
Second, the geographical basis and contribution of Gong Yu From the perspective of the whole Gong Yu, Gong Yu attaches importance to the geographical situation, which is based on the author's full grasp of the geographical data of various places, so as to decorate the prosperity of the ancient historical era and Dayu's water control work.
Gong Yu broke through the characteristics of too much myth and imagination in early geography works such as Shan Hai Jing and Mu Zhuan. It uses more systematic and rational words to outline the ancient people's understanding of the geographical environment and social development at that time. Therefore, as far as writing is concerned, Gong Yu has a far-reaching influence on the development of ancient geography and the establishment of modern historical geography in China.
The ancients referred to the map of Kyushu in Gong Yu made by Gong Yu.
The first is the establishment of the concept of Kyushu. The traditional concept of Kyushu division has always been regarded as the system of Xia Dynasty, and its only basis is Yu Gong. In the past, many historians often used Kyushu in Gong Yu as the administrative division in summer.
The division of Kyushu was introduced into Yugong.
In fact, according to the current archaeological findings, Xia, as a dynasty to be solved, only has its territory from Heluo Basin to the south of Shanxi (Yuncheng and Linfen). Gong Yu's Kyushu reaches Hexi Corridor in the west, South China Sea in the south, Liaodong Peninsula in the north and Shandong and Jiangsu in the east. At that time, Xia's ruling ability could never reach such a range.
However, the concept of Kyushu has been deeply rooted in people's hearts since Yugong. Today, we compare China to the land of China and Kyushu, and its roots are from the foolish old Kyushu. Later generations of Zhou Li Paper Workshop, Erya Dish and Lu Chunqiu all took Kyushu as the boundary. Although it is slightly different from Yugong's division of Kyushu, his Kyushu thought has deeply influenced the later generations' understanding of the geographical scope of China's primitive space.
Lv Buwei Steels
In the Western Han Dynasty, the concept of Kyushu of Hezhifang was merged into one, and the world was divided into thirteen states: Henan, Yan, You, Jing and Yang. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the state-owned sports system officially became the administrative region of China, and successive dynasties followed suit. Even today, Zhou, as a general administrative region, has been replaced by provinces, cities, counties and other administrative regions, but Zhou, as a proper name, has been used to this day, such as Xuzhou and Yangzhou in Jiangsu, Yanzhou in Jining, Shandong and Qingzhou in Weifang, Jizhou in Hengshui, Jingzhou in Hubei, Yuzhou in Henan (that is, Kyushu) and the abbreviation "Yu" in Hebei. 、
A glimpse of Jizhou today
In addition to the influence of Kyushu, there is also an analysis of the national geographical situation. The geographical content of Gong Yu has the function of reflecting the national geographical situation. For example, the part of "Gong Yu" that guides mountains and waters, such as the Jizhou chapter of "Gong Yu": "Jizhou not only carries the mouth of the lake, but also cures the gap between beams. Taiyuan and Yueyang have both; As for achievements, as for Zhang Heng. " Although Hukou, Yueyang Ji and Zhang Heng Ji are short in length, they can help readers have an overall understanding of Jizhou and a clear understanding of its territory and mountains and rivers. In addition, Gong Yu's record of the Yellow River made people see the image of the Yellow River in the middle of the Warring States Period. Later, Mr. Tan Qixiang, a historical geographer, further analyzed and sorted out the contents of the article.
Yellow river today
However, the content of Gong Yu still has great defects. For example, the understanding of the concept of water-saving undercurrent has a great influence on China's ancient geographical works, such as Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics, which indiscriminately continues to adhere to Gong Yu's idea of water-saving undercurrent.
Jidu Temple, the source of today's Jishui (photo by the author)
Another influence of Gong Yu's position is the classification of soil. For example, an article in Yongzhou, Gong Yu said: "Jue soil is only yellow soil, Jue field is only above, and Jue house is below." The soil in Yongzhou is classified in more detail, and it is considered that the soil in Yongzhou (the geographical scope of Yongzhou is roughly the loess plateau area of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu today) is yellow, which is a correct understanding of the soil in the whole area including Guanzhong Plain at that time. In addition, according to the records of Jingzhou and Yangzhou, it is considered that the mud clothes of Jingzhou and Yangzhou (equivalent to the areas along and south of the Yangtze River today) are roughly in line with the soil conditions of the plains of these two places.