# Article Starting Challenge #
Yao and Shun are two kings mythologized by ancient scholars. There is a saying in Mencius Teng Wengong: "Mencius is kind in nature, and his words must be called Yao and Shun." It can be seen that in Mencius’ mind, Yao and Shun are the best examples of human nature. "Historical Records of Five Emperors" also recorded Yao and Shun’s abdication. However, in the Chronicle of Ancient Bamboo Books, it is described as "Shun imprisoned Yao, and suppressed Dan Zhu again, so as not to meet his father". Shun imprisoned Yao and exiled Dan Zhu so that he could not meet his father (Yao). There are also the following contents in "Han Feizi Shuo Yi": Shun forced Yao, Yu forced Shun, Tang Fang Jie, and Wu Wang cut Zhou; These four kings, people and ministers regicide, are also famous all over the world. It’s so straightforward that it doesn’t have to be translated into vernacular.
The same thing, two completely opposite versions, who do we believe? From the perceptual point of view, we are more inclined to believe in the elegance and mind of the ancient emperors in the theory of abdication; But rationally speaking, the records in Annals of Ancient Bamboo Books are more in line with human nature and logic. In ancient times, the productivity was extremely low, and there was no so-called etiquette and law to restrain people. It was entirely possible for people, tribes and tribes, to conduct activities in a way similar to that of wild animals. Imagine that in the primitive times when the means of production and living were extremely scarce, once the surrounding environment could not provide enough food, the possibility of fighting between tribes for survival resources would be infinite. We can even think that the premeditated killing or plundering of the labor force population that has been or will be formed in hostile tribes should be the normal state of human life in that era. If we substitute the later nomadic people, it feels really similar. Therefore, the behavior of human beings in that era should be more inclined to the barbaric side, rather than the ideal state that we traditionally think.
In Historical Records and Annals of Bamboo Books, Yu is regarded as the first place in the chronology of Xia Dynasty. And the former recorded Yu’s much more detailed deeds relative to his descendants, including water conservancy, Kyushu, succession and so on. Except Xia Qi, most of the records of the leaders in the whole Xia Benji were XX collapse and XX standing. There is also a passage in Historical Records: Emperor Yudong made a hunting tour, but it collapsed when he was arrested. Grant benefits to the world. After three years of mourning, the son of Emperor Yu was enlightened and settled in the Yang of ji shan. Yuzi is a wise man, and the world is interested. On the whole, it means that Yu is also giving in, but his son Qi is too good to be at home. This is in line with the world outlook of ancient mainstream consciousness. Then let’s take a look at how the Annals of Bamboo Books are written: Yudu Yangcheng. One sentence; Forty-five years of Yu Li. Two sentences. This Yu is gone! Then there is: the emperor said "will". Yi gan qi position, qi kill it. The last few words have a lot of information, which is very similar to many events in our history. Let’s take a look at the simple sentence in The Songs of the South: Enlightening the generation and benefiting the future. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, the word Hou had the meaning of Wang.
Personally, I believe in words less. Of course, this is not psychological gloom or anything, because I have read a passage before, and I can’t remember it specifically. It probably means that the longer the history is from us, the more detailed it is, the greater the possibility of fabrication and the lower its credibility. This is very reasonable, even if modern people restore things before 2000, they must use historical materials to confirm each other to get a relatively reasonable result, not to mention the ancients who restored things more than 2000 years ago. And the record of Dayu in Historical Records is just like taking a guest, so it’s not very reliable to think about it.
Although we have been unable to research the specific events, judging from all kinds of struggles for power and position in the history of China, the events recorded in the Annals of Bamboo Records can not be completely restored, but it is estimated that they are not too far apart.
People or things in remote ancient times have been passed down to this day. As I said before, there may be people, and things have definitely changed beyond recognition, but we can be sure that they are our common ancestors and the source of China.
Up to now, the word "China", the earliest archaeological discovery, originated from a bronze ware presented to Zhou Chengwang by a nobleman named He in the Western Zhou Dynasty. We now call it "He Zun" with the following sentence: Yu Qi lives in China. At this time, the meaning of the word China refers to the center of the world. At that time, people’s concept was that the sky was round and the place was like a cover, and the place was like a chess game. It can be said that the significance of China at this time is not only geographical, but also civilized: all the people living here are civilized people, the highest class, and there are also people and savages in the rites of Zhou.
Therefore, in ancient history, if someone talks about "China", it means not only this land, but also that it is the place with the highest level of civilization, the world lighthouse, and the air is sweet. Here is an interesting topic to insert. After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, when the two sides signed the treaty of shimonoseki, the contracting parties had to call themselves "China" in the treaty. Japan resolutely refused to do it, saying that you were beaten down by me now, but not as bad as me. Where is China and I am China? It should be noted that it was already 1895, and the Westernization Movement of the Manchu government and the Meiji Restoration in Japan had been around 30 years, but their understanding of "China" was still from the perspective of civilization.
Knowing the original concept of China, how did she come into being?
As we know, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written in the Shang Dynasty, and Oracle bones were used for divination, and sacrifices were often used in divination. According to the study of unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions films, there are about 1,300 pieces of Oracle bones that record human sacrifices, including nearly 2,000 Oracle inscriptions. In the archaeological process of Yin Ruins, a large number of abnormal human skeletons were unearthed. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 4000 people, that is to say, there are at least more than 100 abnormal deaths per square kilometer in Yinxu alone. To know that Yin started to be the capital of Shang Dynasty since Pan Geng, and the capital of Shang Dynasty changed several times before, it is not difficult to speculate how many savage human sacrifices there were before.
And sacrifice, at that time, should be the most important thing. Who are the people who can sacrifice to heaven? Only our business people. From the contents of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s deciphering unearthed, we know that Shang often made foreign expeditions. In Di Xin’s period, there was an Oracle bone which recorded "Di Xin’s Ten Sacrifices to Cut People’s Square". Some of the unlucky prisoners who came back from the war will be sacrificed to please God. This leads to a problem. Businessmen think that only themselves are destiny, or simply put, only businessmen are human beings, and people outside businessmen are not human beings. They can all be sacrificed to heaven, no different from pigs, cattle and sheep. As a "square" at that time, Zhou was inferior to Shang in terms of population and force, so it had to unite with other "squares" to fight against the behemoth of Shang.
"Zhou Wuwang led the Western vassals to attack Yin and was defeated by the wild" (Annals of Ancient Bamboo Books). One of the important reasons why the Western vassals here, or tribal leaders, are willing to let the Zhou people command in a unified way and jointly attack the merchants is that Zhou put forward the concept of "common ownership of the world": I, the king of Zhou, am a herder of Heaven, and I won’t beat you and him as easily as the Yin merchants. Summarized by a well-known sentence in the Book of Songs: Under the whole world, is it the land of kings? Leading the land, is it a king? Everyone is the same. Zhou people won’t take you to worship heaven with pigs, cattle and sheep.
If we say that before Zhou defeated Shang, the civilization in China was still a discrete community separated from each other, then marked by the cutting of King Wu, the scattered fires of civilization in the Central Plains finally gathered together and began to release dazzling brilliance. This is the country of the central government, the crown of civilization, and China.
