A Historical Survey of the Yellow River and the River Civilizations

251 Pages·2021·2.649 MB·English

by  Jianxiong Ge, Yunsheng Hu

Understanding China
Jianxiong Ge
Yunsheng Hu
A Historical Survey
of the Yellow River
and the River
Civilizations
Understanding China
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11772
Jianxiong Ge Yunsheng Hu
(cid:129)
A Historical Survey
of the Yellow River
and the River Civilizations
123
Jianxiong Ge Yunsheng Hu
FudanUniversity FudanUniversity
Shanghai, China Shanghai, China
Translated by
Qingyong Wang Lijia Yao
Tianjin University of Technology Tianjin University Renai College
Tianjin, China Tianjin, China
FundedbyThe National Social Science Fundof China.
ISSN 2196-3134 ISSN 2196-3142 (electronic)
Understanding China
ISBN978-981-33-4480-8 ISBN978-981-33-4481-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4481-5
JointlypublishedwithYellowRiverConservancyPress
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About This Book
Mostearlymajorcivilizationsemergedalongrivers,whichservedasahubforboth
transportationandeconomyalike.Therelationshipbetweenmankindandrivershas
been enduring and complicated. This book traces the changes of the Yellow River
withthepassageoftimeandexaminestheoriginandthecourseofdevelopmentof
Chinese civilization closely intertwined with the Yellow River throughout history.
With their attitudes toward the river changing from fear to respect, and from
exploitationtoprotection,theChinesepeoplehavefoundtheYellowRiverbasina
cradle of culture, a nurturing place for their well-being and a guarantee for their
country’s future prosperity. Furthermore, comparisons are drawn between the
Yellow River and the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well as the Indus
River to provide insights into the road to civilizations incubated by rivers.
Similarities and differences of early river civilizations are summarized to look at
their respective nature and characteristics. Efforts are also made to reflect on the
lessonslearnedfromthetamingoftheYellowRiverbasinintermsofthecontrolof
pollutionandsiltconcentration.Thisbookisanurgentreminderofthecrucialrole
human activities play incoping with theenvironmentalissuesof theYellow River
so as to achieve a sustainable development of the mother river of China. It also
hopes to provide insights for all peoples to help get along with their own rivers.
v
Contents
1 The Yellow River and the Yellow River Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Unique Physical-Geographical Environment of the Yellow
River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 A Continuous River Owned by One Nation . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 Unique Landscape of the Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 High Sediment Concentration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.4 Low Water Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.5 Special Climate in the Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1.6 Numerous Disasters in History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 The Basic Characteristics of the Early Yellow River
Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.1 An Advanced and Precocious Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.2 Continuity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2.3 Relative Isolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.3 The Early Yellow River Civilization’s Status in China
and East Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.3.1 The Early Yellow River Civilization’s Status
in the Beginning of Ancient Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.3.2 The Early Yellow River Civilization’s Contribution
to the Early Chinese Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.4 The Yellow River Civilization and the Chinese Civilization . . . . . 26
1.4.1 Formation and Development of the Yellow River
Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.4.2 The Yellow River Civilization’s Contribution
to the Chinese Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.4.3 The Yellow River Civilization’s Dominant Position
in the Chinese Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1.5 The Cradle of the Chinese People and the Chinese Civilization. . . 38
1.5.1 The Yellow River’s Favorable Natural and Geographical
Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
vii
viii Contents
1.5.2 The Yellow RiverBasin as theBirthplace of theChinese
Nation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.5.3 The Yellow River and the Splendid Ancient Chinese
Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1.5.4 TheYellowRiverasthePolitical,EconomicandCultural
Center of Ancient China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2 The Yellow River Civilization and the Yangtze River
Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.1 Different Conditions of Physical-Geographical Environment . . . . . 49
2.1.1 Differences in Geographical Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.1.2 Difference in Water Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.1.3 Difference in Silt Concentration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.1.4 Difference in Tributaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.1.5 Difference in Floods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.2 Different Conditions of Human Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.2.1 Difference in Economic Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.2.2 Different Levels of Cultural Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.2.3 Differences in Elements of Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.2.4 Different Degrees of Openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.3 Different Civilization Centers in Different Historical Periods. . . . . 68
2.3.1 ThePeriodWhentheYellowRiverBasinWastheCenter
of Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.3.2 Southward Shift of the Civilization Center . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2.3.3 The Period When Both River Civilizations Thrived. . . . . . 75
2.3.4 The Period When the Yangtze River Basin Was
the Center of Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
2.4 Different Foundations for Future Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3 The Yellow River Civilization and Other River Civilizations
of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.1 Different Natural Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.1.1 Different Climates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.1.2 Different Degrees of Flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.1.3 Different Conditions of River Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.2 Different Humanistic and Geographic Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3.2.1 Different Modes of Origination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3.2.2 Different Economic Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3.2.3 Different Political Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
3.2.4 Different Connotations of Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.3 Historical Achievements of River Civilizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Contents ix
4 The Yellow River and Its People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1 The Exploration of the Yellow River’s Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1.1 How “the Yellow River” Got Its Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.1.2 Tracing the Yellow River to Mount Jishi . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.1.3 Double Origins and Underground Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.1.4 Personal Trips to the Yellow River’s Source Area. . . . . . . 120
4.1.5 Exploring the Yellow River’s Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.1.6 Identifying the Principal Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.2 The Taming of the Yellow River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.2.1 Legends About Combating Floods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.2.2 Building Embankment and Shifting Floods
to the Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.2.3 Blocking the Breach at Huzi During the Reign
of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.2.4 Jia Rang’s “Three Strategies for Harnessing the Yellow
River”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.2.5 Wang Jing Treating the River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
4.2.6 TheFactsandReasonsUnderlying800YearsofPeaceful
Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.2.7 Gao Chao’s Gap Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
4.2.8 Jia Lu’s Efforts to Close the Breach and Restore
the River’s Old Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.2.9 Efforts to Harness the Yellow River During Ming,
Qing and Republic of China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4.3 Men and Customs Shaped by the Yellow River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.3.1 Sheepskin Raft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
4.3.2 Loess Cave Dwellings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.3.3 Winding Yellow River Lamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
4.3.4 Disasters and Customs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.3.5 Sacrifice Offering to River God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4.4 The Root of the Chinese People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
4.4.1 Legends of Huangdi and the Xia Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.4.2 Migration of Shang People and Enfeoffment of the Zhou
Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.4.3 Expanding the Territory and Populating Frontier
Regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.4.4 Migration in a Chaotic Era: Prelude to Southward
Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4.4.5 Migration to the South and the Frontier Regions
in Yongjia Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
4.4.6 Captives of Talas Battle and Waves of Southward
Emigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
4.4.7 Southward Retreat in Jingkang Period and Outward
Migration in Jin and Yuan Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
x Contents
4.4.8 MigrationtoNortheasternChinaandResidualSouthward
Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
4.4.9 The Yellow River Basin: An Ethnic Melting Pot. . . . . . . . 190
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
5 How the Yellow River Civilization Can Retain Perpetual Youth . . . 195
5.1 River Civilization and Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
5.1.1 The Rise and Fall of Ancient River Civilizations
and the Evolution of Their Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
5.1.2 Decline of the Yellow River Civilization
and Environmental Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.2 River Civilization and Mankind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
5.2.1 A Historical Survey of Water, Rivers and Mankind. . . . . . 207
5.2.2 Relationship Between the Yellow River and Mankind . . . . 215
5.3 River Civilizations and Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
5.3.1 The Yellow River Civilization and River Ethics . . . . . . . . 220
5.3.2 From Conquering Nature to Peaceful Co-existence . . . . . . 222
5.4 Opportunities and Transformation of the Yellow River. . . . . . . . . 228
5.4.1 Opportunities in the New Era. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.5 Sustainable Development of the Yellow River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238