The Changjiang River Civilization: Nature and Culture of the Changjiang River from a Global Perspective (Understanding China) 9811945519, 9789811945519

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Understanding China

Tianyu Feng Zhiliang Ma Yuan Ding

The Changjiang River Civilization Nature and Culture of the Changjiang River from a Global Perspective

Understanding China

The series will provide you with in-depth information on China’s social, cultural and economic aspects. It covers a broad variety of topics, from economics and history to law, philosophy, cultural geography and regional politics, and offers a wealth of materials for researchers, doctoral students, and experienced practitioners.

Tianyu Feng · Zhiliang Ma · Yuan Ding

The Changjiang River Civilization Nature and Culture of the Changjiang River from a Global Perspective

Tianyu Feng (Deceased) Center of Traditional Chinese Cultural Studies Wuhan University Wuhan, Hubei, China

Zhiliang Ma Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Wuhan, Hubei, China

Yuan Ding CITIC General Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co., Ltd. Wuhan, Hubei, China Translated by Ying Xu CITIC General Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co., Ltd. Wuhan, China

ISSN 2196-3134 ISSN 2196-3142 (electronic) Understanding China ISBN 978-981-19-4551-9 ISBN 978-981-19-4552-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6 Jointly published with CITIC Press Corporation The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: CITIC Press Corporation. © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

The Changjiang River originated from the snowy mountains, rushes among the mountains in Tibet and Yunnan from north to south, and then turns eastward into Sichuan, receiving raging torrents in the basin. It meanders through the precipitous cliffs in the east of Sichuan, flows into the plain of Hubei Province, and rolls into the sea. The Changjiang River, with the drainage area of 1.8 million square kilometers, has nurtured the Chinese civilization. The Changjiang River runs through 30° North Latitude along which human civilization originated (ancient Egypt, Babylon, Persia, India, and China). However, the Changjiang River Basin enjoys the geographical location with the most favorable natural conditions since other basins are mostly desert zones controlled by subtropical high, the civilization of which were only nurtured by rivers (As the saying goes, Egypt is a gift from the Nile.). In the west of the Changjiang River Basin, there are Hengduan Mountains and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau blocking the wet and warm monsoon from the Pacific Ocean, which develops a subtropical area with abundant rainfall and rich water and heat resources. The Changjiang River Basin is a region with the most potential for economic and cultural development in China and even in the world. The Changjiang River Basin not only has long history and rich culture in the past, but is also creating a more magnificent modern civilization nowadays. In today’s world, the Changjiang River is shining in the East. Wuhan, China

Tianyu Feng

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Introduction

Part One Water is the source of life, and a necessary condition for the occurrence of culture. Only when human beings have a stable supply of freshwater can they settle down and farm, and then step into the threshold of civilization (marked by the emergence of cities, the invention of writing system, and the use of metal tools). It is the rivers that continuously supply freshwater for human survival and civilization development. River refers to a natural flow of water flowing regularly or intermittently across the land. In Chinese, there are many words describing rivers, such as “江 (Jiang), 河 (He), 川 (Chuan)” referring to great rivers, and “沟 (Gou), 涧 (Jian), 溪 (Xi)” meaning small rivers. With abundant freshwater supply and convenient water transportation, river basins usually become the birthplaces of civilization. The four ancient civilizations all originated from the basins of great rivers, such as the Mesopotamian civilization from Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, Egyptian civilization from the Nile, Indian civilization from the Indus River and Ganges River, and Chinese civilization from the Yellow River and Changjiang River. Herodotus, Father of History in ancient Greece, once said: “Egypt is a gift from the Nile River”. The words are applicable to other river civilizations since ancient Babylon, India, China are also the gifts from rivers.

Part Two However, it is a pity that most of the river civilizations mentioned above had disappeared in the long history. For example, the Nile civilization was Hellenized and Islamized, the ancient Babylon was conquered by Persia, and the Indus civilization was successively Aryanized and Islamized. Only the Chinese civilization survived the ups and downs. One of the important reasons is that China, with vast territory and a complex geographical situation, possesses the two great river civilizations, the

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Introduction

Yellow River civilization and the Changjiang River civilization, which complement each other and have natural barriers. When the Yellow River civilization was declining due to overcultivation, dry and cold climate, and the southward crusade of the northern tribes in ancient China, the Changjiang River Basin, giving a full play of its natural advantages, began to become the cultural resort and the main area where grains, clothing, and taxes and wealth were from. Once the Great Wall was broken through, the Yellow River Basin which is close to the nomadic areas would be occupied, and then the Changjiang River Basin with great economic and cultural potential would provide a base of defence and rejuvenation for Chinese civilization. Through the inheritance and creative development of the Yellow River culture by the Changjiang River culture, the Chinese spirit featuring self-discipline and social commitment is maintained. The nourishment and protection of the two rivers is one of the reasons why Chinese civilization has last for thousands of years.

Part Three The Yellow River, covering the plateaus and plains of 800 thousand square kilometers, stretches across the north temperate zone. It was once a region of lush forests and good natural ecology. The ancestors collected and hunted along the tributaries of the Yellow River (such as Luo River, Wei River, Fen River, etc.), and then developed agriculture and laid the foundation of civilization. The modern archaeology started in the early twentieth century in China. The first field archaeology was carried out in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The discovery of Neolithic cultural relics of Yangshao, Longshan, Dawenkou, etc., and the excavation of the ancient cities of Shang and Zhou Dynasties had provided evidence for the documents in Book of Documents, Zuozhuan, and Shih Chih that the culture of pre-Xia, Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties were originated from and flourished in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, it was finally confirmed by scholars that the Yellow River Basin is the birthplace of Chinese culture. The Changjiang River Basin, covering a drainage area of 1.8 million square kilometers, runs through 30° North Latitude where many human civilizations occurred. In the 1970s, Hemudu sites were discovered in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. The rice domesticated by human beings can date back 7000–8000 years. Then, Liangzhu and Majiabang sites in the lower reaches, the Qujialing and Shijiahe sites in the middle reaches, and Daxi site in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River were also discovered. In Dao County of Hunan Province, the rice domesticated by human beings, which can even date back more than 10000 years ago, was discovered. Therefore, the history of “rice culture” in Changjiang River Basin is as long as that of “millet culture” in the Yellow River Basin. Scholars now have reached a new consensus that “both the Yellow River Basin and the Changjiang River Basin are the birthplaces of Chinese culture”.

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Part Four Both the Yellow River Basin and the Changjiang River Basin nurtured Chinese civilization. The settlement of ancestors and the occurrence of agriculture in the Changjiang River Basin seems to be earlier than those in the Yellow River Basin. However, the soil structure in the Yellow River Basin can better conserve and supply water, which contributes to the cultivation in the period in which people used tools made of wood, stone, and copper. Although the annual precipitation is low, the rainfall mainly occurs in summer, which is good for the growth of upland crops, such as millet and flax. The Yellow River Basin was the first area for Chinese to settle down and develop agriculture and culture. The capitals and many economically and culturally prosperous cities of Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han and Tang Dynasties were all along the Yellow River Basin. The literature of Shang and Zhou Dynasties represented by the Book of Songs, academic schools represented by Confucianism, Mohism, and Legalism mainly influenced the Yellow River Basin, which made Shandong Province, Shanxi Province, and Shaanxi Province become culturally prosperous area. In ancient times, there were miasma in the Changjiang River Basin, and the soil was sticky. It was not easy to reclaim the lands with wooden tools and primary metal tools. Therefore, the agricultural economy in the Changjiang River Basin in the preXia, Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods lagged behind that in the Yellow River Basin. When metalwork (especially iron work) was popularized as agricultural tools, the hydrothermal resources in the Changjiang River Basin were gradually brought into play. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, Ba-Shu, Jing-Chu, Wu-Yue, and other cultural areas generated, respectively, in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Chu literature represented by Qu Yuan’s Lisao and Taoism flourished in the Changjiang River Basin. Since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the pattern of Chinese culture, harmony in diversity, had been formed. Emperor Wu of Western Han Dynasty started to develop south China. With the popularization of iron tools farming and cattle farming, the Changjiang River Basin gradually developed into an area with abundant products and rich culture. From Sui Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the Changjiang River Basin gradually became the main supply area of grains and clothing. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a saying that 90 percent of taxes comes from the south of the Changjiang River. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a saying that “Harvest In Suzhou and Huzhou, abundant in whole China”. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a saying that “Harvest In Hubei and Hunan, abundant in whole China”. In a word, since Qin and Han Dynasties, when the Yellow River Basin dominated China as a political and economic center, the development of the Changjiang River Basin had also made great progress. As for demographic distribution, the ratio of the population in the northern China to that in the southern China in the Western Han Dynasty was three to one; in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was six to five, which was roughly equal; in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was four to six.

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Introduction

However, the southward movement of economic center did not mean the southward movement of the political and military center. In addition to economic factors, the establishment of the military and political center was influenced by many other factors, such as the ideal geographical location to rule the whole nation, the habitual selection of capitals, and the strategic consideration for resisting the Northern regimes. As a result, most of the dynasties whose economic centers had been moved to the south still retained their capitals in the north. However, the military and political center in the Yellow River Basin relied on the taxes from southeastern China. In order to adjust the north-south pattern of political center and economic center, the Grand Canal was constructed in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the aim of which was to support the political and military center in the north with Changjiang River economy. With the opening of the Grand Canal, the inner circle of Chinese culture, which consists of the Yellow River, the Changjiang River, the Han River, and the Grand Canal, had been formally formed. “Soldiers from the northwest” and taxes from the southeast were the two pillars of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, and the foundation of two pillars was the Yellow River and the Changjiang River cultures.

Part Five The status of the Changjiang River Basin in the Chinese civilization had been promoted especially in modern times. This was not only related to its superior natural conditions, but also related to the development route of modern Chinese culture. The occurrence and development of modern Chinese civilization was from southeast to northwest. After the first Opium War, all the five treaty ports were located in the southeast coast. In the Changjiang River Basin, only Shanghai was opened up. After the second Opium War, among the ten treaty ports which were forced to be open, there were four ports (Hankow, Jiujiang, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang) located in the Changjiang River Basin. The location of the treaty ports was extended from coastal areas to the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. The opening of the Changjiang River route for foreign ships began to link the cities along the Changjiang River gradually, including Shanghai, Nantong, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Wuhu, Anqing, Jiujiang, Wuhan, Shashi, Yichang, Chongqing, and Chengdu in the following decades, forming an urban belt along the River. Trading with other countries not only promoted the development of modern industries, but also attracted a large number of people, and the size of cities along the Changjiang River grew rapidly. The two most important industrial and commercial bases in the middle period of modern China were the Changjiang River Delta area with Shanghai as the center and the intersection area of the Changjiang River and Han River with Wuhan as the center. At the same time, China’s modern civilization also gradually spreaded along the Changjiang River from the southeast coast to the northwest inland. In October 1911, after the Wuchang Uprising, cities along the Changjiang River, such as Shanghai and Nanjing, responded immediately to overthrow the government

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of Qing Dynasty to help the establishment of the Republic of China. During the period of the Republic of China, the Changjiang River Basin was an arena for all kinds of new and old, domestic and foreign powers. While completing its modern transformation, it also led the process of China’s modernization. Up to now, the Changjiang River is still an important economic zone in China. It plays an important role not only in developing economy, but also in relieving the ecological pressure and maintaining the vitality of Chinese civilization.

Contents

1 Nature of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 The River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 The Beginning of the Great River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 Geographical Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Main Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 The Upper Reaches of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 The Middle Reaches of the Main Stream of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 The Lower Reaches of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Tributaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Yalong River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Minjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Jialing River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.4 Wujiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.5 Yuanjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.6 Xiangjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.7 Hanjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.8 Ganjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 Dongting Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 Poyang Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 Chaohu Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Taihu Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Cognitive History of the Nature of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . 2.1 The Cognition of the Mainstream of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 The Confusion of the Changjiang River and the Han River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Minjiang River as the Mainstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Jinsha River as the Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 River Source Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 1 3 7 7 17 18 22 22 25 29 33 36 38 40 44 47 48 53 55 59 61 61 61 65 66 67

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Contents

2.2.1 Investigation of the River Source in the Kangxi Reign . . . . . 2.2.2 Buqu as the Main Source: Description of River Source Water System from Qianlong Dynasty to Modern Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Tuotuo River or Dangqu: Modern Investigation and Debate on the River Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 Overview of River Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 River Civilizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Nile Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 The Early Civilization of Tigris River and Euphrates River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Indus-Ganges Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 The “Occurrence Line of Human Civilization” Across the Changjiang River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Natural Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81 81 82

68 73

88 101 110 111 125

4 Cultural Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Upper Reaches: Qiang-Zang Culture, Dian-Qian Culture and Ba-Shu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Qiang-Zang (Tibetian) Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Dian-Qian Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.3 Ba-Shu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Middle Reaches: Jing-Chu Culture and Hu-Xiang Culture . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Jing-Chu Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Hu-Xiang Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Downstream: Gan-Wan Culture and Wu-Yue Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Gan-Wan Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Wu-Yue Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 The Civilization Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 The Mother River of Chinese Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The Southern Movement of the Economic and Cultural Center . . . . 5.2.1 The External and Internal Causes of Southward Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Signs of Southward Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Development Route of Chinese Modern Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 The Expansion of the Area with Treaty Ports and the Development of Ship Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 The Rise of Westernization Movement and the Prosperity of Industry and Commerce in the Changjiang River Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 The Evolution of Changjiang River Civilization and the Transformation of Modern China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

175 175 185

129 129 132 133 145 145 158 160 160 164

185 191 195 198

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Contents

6 Water Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Canal Projects in Ancient Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 The Han River: A Link Between the Changjiang River and the Yellow River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Modern Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Foreign Ships Entering Shanghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 The Rise and Development of Modern Shipping Industry of the Changjiang River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.3 A Glance at the Great Retreat of the Changjiang River in the Early Stage of the Anti-Japanese War—The Great Retreat from Yichang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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213 213 226 233 234 235

241 245

Conclusions: Protection and Prospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Chapter 1

Nature of the Changjiang River

1.1 The River Basin 1.1.1 The Beginning of the Great River Du Fu, a well-known poet in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote: Even though your body and fame disappeared, great rivers will flow forever. In the light of human history, Du Fu believed that great rivers would last forever. However, today, looking back at the earth’s 4.6 billion year history, we can see that the rivers are also hurried travelers in the evolution of the earth. About 240 million years ago, with the continuous plate separation movement of Pangea, a large amount of seawater poured into the area between Laurasia (northern continent) and Wagona (southern continent), forming a vast water area, which was the Tethys Sea (ancient Mediterranean), and the present Mediterranean is its remnant. The Tethys Sea was developed on the continental crust and was not a real ocean. The present Changjiang River Basin was located in this shallow sea which was narrow in the West and vast in the East. 195 million years ago, the Indo-sinian orogeny caused the crustal rise in Western China, and the Tethys Sea retreated westward on a large scale. The crust in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River began to emerge, and the prototype of the ancient Changjiang River flowing westward into the Tethys Sea appeared. 140 million years ago, the Yanshanian movement further raised the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and made the Tethys Sea retreat further. The uplift of Dabie Mountains, Wushan mountains and other mountains in the present middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River gradually began. About 100 million years ago, the northward movement of Gangdise plate led to the slow uplift of Sichuan Basin and the subsidence of Yunmeng and Dongting basins. With the Three Gorges area as the watershed, the ancient East and West Changjiang Rivers formed respectively. The West River flows into Ba-shu Lake in Sichuan Basin and the East River flows into Xiang-E Lake in Yunmeng and Dongting basins. © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_1

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

The Himalayan orogeny 40–30 million years ago formed the Himalayas. The Tethys Sea retreated further and disappeared completely 20–10 million years ago. The upthrust of the upper reaches of the Changjiang River was extremely high, and the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River also rose gently, forming the ladder pattern of the present Changjiang River Basin with the west higher and the east lower. Three million years ago, the Himalayas once again uplifted strongly, further raising the present upper reaches of the Changjiang River. In the early Pleistocene (about 3–1 million years ago), the Changjiang River was still in segmented, which can be roughly divided into three parts: the ancient Jinsha River section, the Yibin-Yichang section and the Hukou-esturay section. 1.2 million years ago, the Kunhuang movement further uplifted the western mountains and the plateau cryosphere gradually formed. By the last interglacial period (about 130,000 years ago), climate warming accelerated the melting of glaciers, and the river runoff sharply increased. Finally, it cut through the Wuxia Gorge and connected the east and west of the Changjiang River (Photo 1.1).

Photo 1.1 Autumn scene of Wu Gorge (one of the Three Gorges)

1.1 The River Basin

3

Fig. 1.1 Sketch of the main stream and tributaries of the Changjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Cai Jing. Study on Regional Cooperation Development of Changjiang Economic Belt [M]. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 2015:4

1.1.2 Geographical Form Like a dancing dragon, the Changjiang River meanders eastward from the snowy Geladandong Mountains1 of the Tanggula Mountains2 in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It goes all the way across the central and east part of China, taking tributaries and then pouring into the East China Sea. With a total length of more than 6300 km, it is the third longest river in the world, second only to the Nile and Amazon Rivers. The huge water network woven by its trunk and tributaries covers a vast area between 24° 30' –35° 45' N and 90° 33' –122° 25' E. The direct distance between its east and west end is more than 3219 km, and the north–south width reaches 966 km (except for the river source and delta areas), and the drainage area covers 1.8 million square kilometers, accounting for almost one fifth of China’s total land area. The Changjiang River has a population of more than 500 million3 and is rich in mineral resources such as shale gas, manganese, vanadium, titanium, tungsten, tin, antimony, lithium and phosphorus4 (Fig. 1.1). Water discharge of the Changjiang River is the most in China. Its average annual runoff is 960 billion cubic meters, accounting for 36% of the annual runoff of rivers in China and ranking the third in the world after the Amazon River and the Congo River, which is 20 times that of the Yellow River. The hydro-power deposit is 268 1

“Geladandong” means “high and sharp peak” in Tibetan. “Tanggula Mountain” means “mountain on the plateau” in Tibetan and “mountain beyond which Eagles can fly over” in Mongolian. 3 According to the 2018 China Statistical Yearbook, the total population of the Changjiang River Economic Belt in 2017 was 595.01 million. 4 Zhang Yuhan,et al. Optimization of the Spatial Pattern of Mineral Resoulces Development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt [J]. 2

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Table 1.1 Overview of tributaries with a drainage area of more than 80,000 km25 River System

Branch name

Drainage area (km2 )

Multi year average annual discharge (m3 /s)

River length (km)

Natural drop (m)

Jinsha River Yalong River

128,556

1914

1535

4420

Minjiang river

Minjiang river

135,000

2850

735

3560

Jialing River

Jialing River

159,357

2120

1120

2300

Wujiang River

Wujiang River

87,770

1690

1037

2124

Dongting Lake

Xiangjiang River

94,815

2070

856

756

Dongting Lake

Yuanjiang River

88,451

2070

1033

1462

Hanjiang River

Hanjiang River

154,804

1640

1577

1962

Poyang Lake

Ganjiang River

80,948

2130

819

937

million kilowatts, accounting for 40% of that in China. The exploitable hydro-power is 197 million kilowatts, accounting for 53.4% of that in China, which also ranks third in the world after the Congo River and the Amazon River. The Changjiang River system is developed, with about 7000 tributaries at all levels, including more than 3600 navigable rivers. By the end of 2015, the navigable mileage of the main and branch water systems of the Changjiang River had reached 65,000 km, accounting for 51% of the total navigable mileage of inland rivers in China (127,000 km). Its main steam freight volume has ranked first in the world since 2005, and it is the largest and busiest River in the world. Among the major tributaries of the Changjiang River, there are 8 with a drainage area above 80,000 km2 , namely the Yalong River, Minjiang River, Jialing River and Wujiang River in the upper reaches and the Hanjiang River, Yuanjiang River, Xiangjiang River and Ganjiang River in the middle reaches. Among them, the Hanjiang River is the longest, the Jialing River is the largest in drainage area and the Minjiang River has the most water discharge (Table 1.1). The Changjiang River basin also has lakes with a total area of about 20,000 km2 . Four of China’s five major freshwater lakes—Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake—are located in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River (Table 1.2).

5

Chen Jin. Evolution of the Yangtze River and Utilization of Water Resources [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2012:77.

1.1 The River Basin

5

Table 1.2 Characteristics of main lakes in the Changjiang River Basin Lake6 Lake

Province

Water level elevation (Wusong elevation) (m)

Area (km2 )

Volume (100 million m3 )

Average water depth (m)

Poyang Lake

Jiangxi Province

22

3900

289

7.41

Dongting Lake

Hunan Province

33.5

2623

167

6.37

Taihu Lake

Jiangsu Province

3.1

2338

48.7

2.08

Chaohu Lake

Anhui Province

10

780

48.1

6.17

Honghu Lake

Hubei province

25

344

10.8

1.92

Liangzihu Lake

Hubei province

17

304

10.8

3.56

Dianchi Lake

Yunnan Province

1887.5

311.9

15.9

5.11

It is a distinctive feature that 30° North Latitude runs across the Changjiang River Basin. Controlled by the subtropical high, most of the areas near the 30° north latitude are arid. However, the Changjiang River Basin is different. Due to the uplift of the Hengduan Mountains and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west, the warm and humid southeast monsoon from the Pacific Ocean is blocked in the east of the Changjiang River, making the Changjiang River Basin a rare area with abundant rainfall near the 30°north latitude. The annual average precipitation in the basin reaches 1126.7 mm7 , which gives the Basin rich hydrothermal resources and great potential for civilization development. The Changjiang River runs across the first, second and third geological steps of China from west to east. The whole basin is divided into upper, middle and lower reaches. Yichang in Hubei and Hukou in Jiangxi as the dividing nodes, the length of upper, middle and lower reaches is 4504, 955 and 938 km long respectively, and the drainage area is about 1000,000 km2 , 680,000 km2 and 120,000 km2 respectively8 . The geographical environment of each river section varies greatly. The Changjiang River Basin covers a wide area, with mountains, plateaus and hills accounting for about 84.7% of the total area of the whole basin, plains accounting for 11.3% and 6

Chen Jin. Evolution of the Yangtze River and Utilization of Water Resources [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2012:78. 7 Zeng Xiaofan, Zhai Jianqing, Jiang Tong et al. Spatial Characteristics and Evolution Trends of Annual Precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin [J]. Journal of Hohai University (Natural Sciences), 2008 (06). 8 Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:6-10.

6

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

rivers, lakes and other water surfaces accounting for 4%9 . The upper reaches of the Changjiang River span across the first and the second geographical step, the terrain of which mainly includes plateaus and mountains, with the altitude of 500–5000 m (the altitude of the first step is about 3500–5000 m, and the altitude of the transition zone is about 2000–3500 m. The altitude of the second step is about 500–2000 m). The slope is steep and the flow is rapid, which makes it dangerous for ships to navigate. Natural disasters, such as landslide, collapse and debris flow, occur frequently. The major area of the middle and lower reaches of the basin is in the third geographic step. There are various types of terrains which mainly include hills and plains, and the water flow is gentle. Most areas of the Changjiang River Basin are subtropical monsoon areas with warm and humid climate. North of the line of Shigu of Jinsha River—Wali of Yalong River—Kangding of Dadu River, the whole plateau area with an altitude of more than 3000 m is in plateau climate area, with complex internal zoning and large climate differences. The precipitation in the Changjiang River Basin increases from its northwest to southeast. Except that the annual precipitation in the source area of the river is only 250–500 mm, the annual precipitation in most sections is 800–1600 mm. Due to the different time of the arrival of monsoon, the rainy season in different regions start at different times. The rainy season of Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake system starts from March to April, and then gradually moved northwestwards. After October, the rainy season of the whole basin ends. Due to the abundant precipitation brought by the monsoon, every year the flood season in the Changjiang River Basin lasts for half a year. Usually in May of each year, the water volume of main and branch rivers increases significantly. Floods usually form in July and August and gradually subside in October. Due to the large geographical span, diverse climate types, complex terrain and the role of human activities, the Changjiang River Basin has developed a variety of ecosystem types such as forests, grasslands, shrubs, wetlands, deserts, farmland and cities, and bred rich biological groups. The Changjiang River Basin has more than 14,000 kinds of advanced plants, including 574 special protected plants, such as Dendrobium, Gastrodia elata, Rhododendron calyx Fir, Chinese pine, cypress, nanmu, etc.. There are more than 400 species of fish, including about 360 species of pure freshwater fish. The majority of freshwater fish ranks first in all water systems in China, accounting for about 1/3 of the number of freshwater fish in China. Among them, 156 species are unique to the Changjiang River, such as Chinese sturgeon, white sturgeon,10 Acipenser dabryanus, rouge fish, long thin loach, Sichuan Shaanxi Zhelou salmon, iwara carp, etc.. There are 145 species of amphibians, accounting for about 45% of the amphibian species in China, including 55 important protected amphibians, such as big toothed toad, concave ear frog, Chinese newt, Yanyuan 9

Yangtze River Water Resources Commission of Ministry of Water Resources. Brief report on Flood Control Planning of the Yangtze River Basin [R]. 2005. 10 On December 23, 2019, global environmental science published a paper saying that the Changjiang River white sturgeon had been extinct from 2005 to 2010.

1.2 Main Stream

7

Shanxi salamander, etc.; There are 166 species of reptiles, including 87 species of important protected reptiles, such as Zao snake, Xiangcheng bamboo leaf green snake, Taibai gecko, Qinghai sand lizard, turtles, Chinese alligators, etc.; There are 762 species of birds, accounting for about 62% of the total number of birds in China, including 153 important protected birds, such as Emei willow warbler, red bellied tit, blue pheasant, Sichuan Forest owl, mandarin duck, etc.; There are 280 kinds of mammals, including 146 important protected mammals, such as Yangtze finless porpoise, Chinese bamboo mouse, snow leopard, giant panda, wild yak, Tibetan antelope, sika deer, etc11 .

1.2 Main Stream Taking Yichang in Hubei Province and Hukou in Jiangxi Province as the dividing node cities, the main stream of the Changjiang River is divided into three sections: namely the upper, middle and lower reaches, with a length of 4504 km, 955 km and 938 km respectively. The hydrological conditions of each section are quite different. The drop of the upper reaches, from the origin of the Changjiang River to Yibin, Sichuan Province, is more than 5000 m. Except the source section, the water flow of other sections is rapid, and the hydropower resource is very rich. From Yibin, the river is officially called the “Changjiang River”. The water flow slows down, and after rushing through the Three Gorges, the velocity of river suddenly slows down. Because of the silt deposits, the riverbed rises and many tributaries converge, the water discharge increases considerably, and floods occur frequently. There are not many major tributaries in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, and the water discharge does not increase much. However, a large number of lakes are distributed in the lower reaches, which is one of the areas with the most dense water network in China. Below Zhenjiang is the Changjiang River Delta. The river surface gradually becomes wider, and a trumpet-like estuary is formed in Jiangyin where the river connects the sea. Due to the support of sea water, the velocity of the river slows down, and a large amount of silt deposits, forming many sandbanks (Fig. 1.2).

1.2.1 The Upper Reaches of the Changjiang River The upper reaches of the Changjiang River have a total length of about 4504 km and a drainage area of about 1 million square kilometers, accounting for 55.6% of the total area of the whole basin. The average annual runoff for many years is 451 billion 11

Research Center for Eco-Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Biodiversity Pattern and Conservation Atlas of the Yangtze River Basin [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 2011.

8

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Fig. 1.2 Profile of the main stream of the Changjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhou Xingzhi, Zhao Jiangong. Introduction to Geological Environment and Engineering Geology in Changjiang Basin [M]. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 2004:3

cubic meters, accounting for about 47% of the total flow of the whole basin. Taking the mouth of Chuma, Batang in Qinghai Province and Yibing in Sichuan Province as seperation nodes, the upper reaches of the Changjiang River can be divided into four sections: the source of the river, the lower reaches of the Tongtian River, the Jinsha River and the Chuanjiang River, with the length of 624 km, 500 km, 2290 km and 1040 km respectively. The water system of the river source section is fan-shaped, and the water flow is relatively gentle except the section in mountains. The lower reaches of Tongtian River belongs to the valley type mountain river channel, and the water flow is rapid. The Jinsha River rushes through high mountains and gorges, where there is abundant discharge and rich hydropower. However, due to the silt, natural disasters, such as landslide, collapse, debris flow, occur frequently. The valley in Chuanjiang River section is wide, which is navigable throughout the year. (1) River source and Tongtian River The source of the Changjiang River is located in the hinterland of the plateau with an altitude of 45 km in the southwest of Qinghai Province. It is between 90° 33–95° 20’ E and 32° 26–35° 45 N. It is divided by the Kunlun Mountains and the Tsaidam Basin in the north, adjacent to the inland water system in the north of Tibet in the west, and adjacent to the source of Nu River and Lancang River on the Tanggula Mountains in the south. It covers an area of 102,700 km2 . Surrounded by mountains in the north and south, the terrain is semi closed and controlled by continental climate. The whole year of the region can not be divided clearly into four seasons, but into the dry season and the wet season. The wet season is from May to September, and the rest of the year is the dry season (Fig. 1.3).

1.2 Main Stream

9

Fig. 1.3 Schematic diagram of the source of the Changjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhou Xingzhi, Zhao Jiangong. Introduction to Geological Environment and Engineering Geology in Changjiang Basin [M]. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 2004:3

The source of the Changjiang River is composed of three sources, namely the major source, Tuotuo River,12 Dangqu13 in the south and Qumar River14 in the north. Although the climate is dry, cold, windy and rainless, the region is still called “the water tower of China”, since it is covered by glaciers, rivers, lakes and wetlands, the water retaining capacity of the Changjiang River is relatively large. However, due to climate warming, the temperature in the source area of the Changjiang River is increasing and the climate is drying up. Since the lakes are shrinking and a large number of marshes are drying up, the source area is facing the risk of alpine desertification (Fig. 1.4). The Tuotuo River originates from the glacier with an altitude of 5820 m in the southwest of the Jianggendiru peak (meaning the mountain which can not be conquered by humans in Tibetan) of the Geladandong Snowy Mountains of the Tanggula Mountains. The snow mountain valley section with a length of 44 km is 12

The Tibetan name is “Malqu”, in which “mal” means “red”, “Qu” means “River”, so “Malqu” means “Red River”. “Tuoketuonaiulan Mulun” in Mongolian language means “Taotao River” or “Tuotuo River” in Chinese from the transliteration and free translation of Mongolian river name. 13 “Dangqu”, also known as “ladangqu”, is a transliteration of Tibetan, meaning “swamp River”. Tanggula and dangla are different transliteration of the same Tibetan word. Mongolian called “akdamu River”, meaning “broad”. Dangqu is the river with the largest water discharge in the source area. There is still a dispute that is Dangqu or Tuotuo River the major source of the Changjiang River. 14 “Chumar” is a Tibetan transliteration, meaning “Hongshui River”, also known as “qumahe” or “qumalai River” and “qumaqu”. Mongolian is called “amuqitu Ulan Mulun”, which means “calm Red River”.

10

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Fig. 1.4 Schematic diagram of water system in the source area of the Changjiang River and Tongtianhe River Basin. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:24

called “Naqinqu”, and the rest of the river is named the “Tuotuo River”. The total length of the two rivers is 346 km, and the water system is fan-shaped. Except the source section in the mountains, the riverbed is relatively flat, and many branches are developed. The Tuotuo River and Dangqu converge in Nangjibalong to become the “Tongtian River”. The Tongtian River flows eastwards for 278 km to join the north source, Qumar River, forming the “upper reaches of the Tongtian River”. The riverbed is wide, and many branches are developed. The river section mentioned above is called the “river source section”, with a total length of 624 km, which is fan-shaped and possesses numerous tributaries and wetlands, and is rich in water resources. Then it comes to the lower reaches of the Tongtian River, with the Batang estuary in Yushu, Qinghai Province as the seperation node. It is about 550 km long, the water flow of which is rapid. Since Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty to the 1970s, the upper reaches of the Tongtian River were called the “Muluwusu River” (meaning the ice river in Mongolian), the lower reaches are called “Zhequ”. (2) Jinsha River The main stream of the Changjiang River, from Batang estuary in Yushu, Qinghai Province to Minjiang River mouth in Yibin, Sichuan Province, is called “Jinsha River”, with a length of 2290 km and a wide drainage area of 362,000 km2 . In ancient times, the Jinsha River was called the “Black Water”, “Rope River”, “Li River”, “Zhao River” or “Divine River”. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mainstream today

1.2 Main Stream

11

upstream the Yalong River Estuary was called “Yan River”, while “Ruo River (the Yalong River)” was taken as the main stream. During the Three Kingdoms period„ the section downstream Suijiu (now Ninglang County, Yunnan Province) was called the “Rope River”, and the section following the “Rope River” was called “Lu River” or “Lujiang River”. In the Western Jin Dynasty, the section downstream the Niulan River mouth was called “Mahu River”. The river that flows through Sichuan and Tibet is called “Bulei River”, “Budie River” or “Buliechu River” by local Tibetans, and the section in Panzhihua is also called “Moxie River”. In the SongDynasty, it was given the name “Jinsha River” since the sand in the river was golden or the golden sand was the local product at that time. In Yuan Dynasty, it was renamed Li River. With Shigu town in Lijiang of Yunnan Province and Xinshi town of Sichuan Province as seperation nodes, Jinsha River is divided into the upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of 965 km, 1220 km and 106 km respectively. The drop from the upper section to the middle section is huge, and the water flow is rapid. The lower section, with an altitude below 500 m, is in a lower, hilly area. The water flow is slow, and there is a large amount of sedimentary gravel on the riverbed (Fig. 1.5). Jinsha River, flowing through the east of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Hengduan Mountains (the longest, widest and most typical north–south mountain system in China, “Hengduan” means “blocking the east–west traffic”), is a typical canyon river. With a drop of 3300 m, it flows rapidly with changeable directions. The river Fig. 1.5 Sketch of Jinsha River water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:65

12

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Fig. 1.6 Schematic diagram of the Three Parallel Rivers

is high, deep, steep, narrow and curved. The longitudinal gradient of the riverbed is large, and there are many dangerous shoals in the river15 . Along and within the Hengduan Mountains, the Nu River, Lancang River and Jinsha River flow parallel for more than 1000 km from the northwest to southeast. The shortest distance between the Jinsha River and Lancang River is less than 19 km, forming a marvelous scene of “Three Parallel Rivers”. The section in Yunnan Province has been listed in the World Natural Heritage List (Fig. 1.6). However, the Jinsha River suddenly turns northeastwards in Shigu Town, Yunnan Province, forming the first bend of the Changjiang River, with a curve of ° in the shape of “U”. The surface of the river here is wide, and the water flow is gentle, which is suitable for crossing (Photo 1.2). The river gradually narrows after Shigu Town, and flows northeastwards to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The Hutiao Gorge is located between Yulong Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain, which is divided into the upper, middle and lower sections. The distance between the upper and lower narrows is only 16 km, but the drop is 220 m. It is one of the valleys in China with the largest drop, which is in the shape of “V” and famous for its magnificent scenery. The widest part of the water surface in the gorge is 60 m wide, and the narrowest part is only 30 m wide. There is a 13 m high huge stone standing in the middle of the river. It is extraordinarily magnificent that the rolling river rushes against the huge stone. According to the legend, there was a fierce tiger who leaped across the river with the help of this huge stone after 15

Yang Shilin, Dong Xianyong, Dai Shuiping. Introduction to Application of Hydrological Channel Survey Technology in Jinsha River [M]. Zhengzhou: Yellow River Water Conservancy Press, 2013:3.

1.2 Main Stream

13

Photo 1.2 Aerial view of the first bend of the Changjiang River

being shot by a hunter in Yulong Snow Mountain. So the stone was given the name “Tiger Leaping Stone”, and the gorge was named the “Tiger Leaping Gorge”. The Jinsha River flows northeastwards from the Tiger Leaping Gorge to Sanjiangkou, and turns sharply to the south, forming the largest bend in the main stream of Jinsha River (Photo 1.3). The upper section of Jinsha River is narrow, without large tributaries flowing into. In addition, the precipitation is low (less than 600 mm). Therefore, the river runoff is small. The precipitation runoff mainly comes from the region downstream the Shigu Town and its tributary, Yalong River. Due to the large drainage area, the flood season is relatively long, lasting from June to October. The water discharge accounts for 74– 81% of the total annual runoff. The water discharge is more concentrated from July to September (the maximum month: July and August in the upper section, August and September in the middle and lower section, which is also the period when flood

Photo 1.3 Hutiao (Tiger Leaping) Gorge

14

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

peaks occur in all river sections), accounting for about 53–61% of the total amount of the whole year. There are many tributaries of Jinsha River. There are nine tributaries (including secondary tributaries) with a drainage area of more than 10,000 km2 . Among them, Yalong River, the largest tributary, has a drainage area of 128,400 km2 . There are other large tributaries, such as Songmai River, Shuiluo River, Pudu River, Niulan River and Heng River. With abundant water discharge, Jinsha River is rich in hydropower resources, accounting for 45.25% of the total amount of that of the Changjiang River in theory. However, problem also exists that there is a large amount of silt, which is one of the main sources of the Changjiang River’s silt. “The average annual suspended load discharge is 247 million tons, accounting for 47% of that in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River”16 . The main stream after Panzhihua is a key area producing silt. The silt in Jinsha River is caused by natural factors. This area is mountainous, with high mountains and steep slopes. Due to the frequent earthquakes caused by strong tectonic movement, the stratum is not stable. Moreover, the wet season and the dry season make the rock stratum weathered strongly and become loose and broken. Then, after rainstorms, natural disasters, such as collapse, landslide and debris flow occur frequently. In addition, with the growth of population in the basin, excessive cultivation, deforestation, mining and traffic construction also exacerbated soil erosion. The flood and debris flow of Jinsha River have great influence on the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Laojun Shoal, located 2 km upstream of the Pudu River Estuary, was a small shoal about 100 years ago. However, due to floods and debris flow, the first dangerous shoal in the Changjiang River with a drop of 41.33 m and a length of 4.36 km has been formed. There are many rocks on the shoal, and the current is too torrential to navigate, which has become the biggest obstacle to open up the downstream channel of Panzhihua. (3) Chuanjiang River Chuanjiang River refers to the part from Yibin, Sichuan Province to Yichang, Hubei Province. Since most parts of it is in Sichuan Province (683 km of it are in Chongqing now), it was given the name Chuanjiang River. Before Tang Dynasty, it was named the “River” or the “Great river”. After Tang Dynasty, it was called “Shu River” (Fig. 1.7). With a length of about 1040 km and a drainage area of 532,000 km2 , Chuanjiang River runs across the whole Sichuan Basin. It is an important waterway connecting the southwest region with the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Several main tributaries are also navigable. The upstream section of Chongqing, with a length of 375 km is called “Shangchuan River” (Upper Chuanjiang River), and the downstream section of Chongqing, with a length of 665 km, is “Xiachuan River” (Lower Chuanjiang River). In Xiachuan River, the section from Baidicheng 16

Wang Jun. Design and Implementation of Hydrological and Sediment Information Management Analysis System for Cascade Hydropower Stations [M]. Wuhan: Wuhan University Press, 2014.

1.2 Main Stream

15

Fig. 1.7 Sketch map of Chuanjiang River water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:108

in Fengjie to Nanjinguan in Yichang is the Three Gorges section, also named “Xia River”. There are many low mountains and hills on both sides of the Shangchuan River, and the valley is wide with the same river width. There are many canyons and dangerous shoals in the Xiachuan River, and the water flow is fast, complex and changeable. The water system of Chuan River is located in the Sichuan Basin and covers its surrounding area, so the terrain varies a lot. On the whole, the terrain inclines from northwest to southeast, and the altitude gradually drops from 4000 m to 400–500 m (the average altitude of Chengdu Plain). Influenced by the terrain of the basin, the Chuan River runs at the southern end of which, with many tributaries flowing into. On the left bank, there are tributaries like Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, Jialing River, which run across the Sichuan Basin. On the right bank, there are tributaries like Nanguang River, Chishui River, Qi River, Wu River, which are relatively short except Wu River. Among them, Jialing River is the tributary with the largest drainage area in the Changjiang River Basin (with an area of 159,357 km2 ); Minjiang River is the one with the largest annual runoff (about 89 billion cubic meters), which far exceeds that of the Yellow River (about 58 billion cubic meters). The Chuan river has a huge amount of water discharge, with an average annual runoff of 295 billion cubic meters, accounting for about 2/3 of the total amount of that of the upper reaches of the Changjiang River. Besides that snow brings extra water to

16

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

the Dadu River, the water of the Chuan River mainly comes from the abundant rainfall brought by the monsoon climate. The average annual precipitation of the Chuan River system is about 1100 mm. Due to the high mountains in the west and northeast of the Sichuan Basin, it becomes a famous rainstorm center in the Changjiang River Basin. There are three rainstorm areas: the Emei Mountain, Lutou Mountain and Daba Mountain. Especially in Emei Mountain area, the annual average precipitation is above 2000 mm. The annual average precipitation of Jinshan station in Yingjing County in the west of Emei Mountain is the most (2592 mm). The Jianshan station in Wuxi County, Tangxi River, at the eastern foot of Daba Mountain holds the highest record of annual precipitation, with the precipitation of 2980.5 mm in 1963. Affected by the monsoon climate, the precipitation of the Chuanjiang River system is mainly received from May to October, especially from June to September, accounting for about 70% of the total amount of that of the whole year. It is easy to form flood with large and long-duration water discharge, which becomes the main source of floods in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. The huge hydropower resources of the Chuan River and the need of flood prevention of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River have promoted the launch of Gezhouba Dam water conservancy project and Three Gorges water conservancy project. After the completion of the Three Gorges project, the water of the middle and lower sections of the Chuan River rose by about 80–100 m. In addition, the Chuan River is the part of the Changjiang River with the most foggy days. Chongqing has an average of 50 foggy days a year, known as the “the City of Fog” (Photo 1.4).

Photo 1.4 Sunset over the three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei Province

1.2 Main Stream

17

1.2.2 The Middle Reaches of the Main Stream of the Changjiang River The middle reaches of the main stream of the Changjiang River are from Nanjinguan in Yichang, Hubei Province to the mouth of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, with a total length of 955 km and a drainage area of about 680,000 km2 , accounting for 37.8% of the whole basin. This section of the river is 800–1200 m wide, with gentle water flow and curved watercourse. According to the form of the watercourse, it can be divided into four sections: Yichang to Zhicheng section, Zhicheng to Chenglingji section, Chenglingji to Hankow section and Wuhan to Hukou section (Fig. 1.8). A large number of tributaries flow into the middle reaches, and most of the lakes are located here. The runoff of the main stream downstream the mouth of Poyang Lake accounts for over 90% of the total amount of that of the main stream. Since most of the areas are alluvial plains with low-lying terrain on both sides and abundant lakes, the region often faces floods and waterlogging. With Ouchikou as the dividing node, Jing River (named for it flowing across ancient Jingzhou Area), from Zhicheng, Hubei Province to Chenglingji, Hunan Province, with a length of 360 km, is divided into the upper and lower sections. Since the lower reaches of the Jing River flow slowly and have many curves, there is

Fig. 1.8 Schematic diagram of main water system in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:195

18

1 Nature of the Changjiang River

a large amount of silt to cause natural disasters in flood seasons. This is a key section of the Changjiang River to prevent floods. Since 1960s, with the implementation of a series of projects as watercourse cutoff works, the river has been basically stable and withstood the great flood in 1998. The main tributaries flowing into the middle reaches of the Changjiang River are Hanjiang River, the “four rivers of Dongting Lake water system” (Xiang, Zi, Yuan and Li RIvers), and the “five rivers of Poyang Lake water system” (Gan, Fu, Xin, Rao and Xiu Rivers). Among them, the Hanjiang River is the longest tributary of the Changjiang River, with a length of 1577 km. Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake are the two largest fresh water lakes in China. In addition, lakes on the Jianghan Plain and in the Southeast of Hubei Province are all connected to the Changjiang River. Influenced by the warm and wet monsoon from the Pacific Ocean, the flood season of the southern part of the middle reaches of the Changjiang River arrives in April or even earlier every year. From June to July, the Plum Rain Season, the area of precipitation is broad and concentrated. In July and August, due to the flood from upstream, the water reaches the highest level. The flood season lasts till October. In general, the floods of the main stream and tributaries of the Changjiang River will not occur at the same time. The floods of the middle and lower reaches usually last for a long time. For example, the floods of the water system of Poyang Lake and Xiangjiang River in the water system of Dongting Lake usually occur from April to June, and the floods of other tributaries of Dongting Lake usually occur from May to July. The floods of the Hanjiang River and the upper reaches of Changjiang River usually occur from July to September. However, in the year of abnormal atmospheric circulation, the rainy season of the water system of Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake will get postponed, and the floods of the upper reaches of the Changjiang River and Hanjiang River will occur earlier. The converging of several floods will easily lead to a great flood, such as the great floods in 1931, 1954 and 1998 (Photos 1.5 and 1.6).

1.2.3 The Lower Reaches of the Changjiang River From the mouth of Poyang Lake to the Changjiang River Estuary is the lower section of the main stream of the Changjiang River, with a total length of 938 km and a drainage area of about 120,000 km2 , accounting for 6.7% of that of the basin. The river in this section is wide and deep, with gentle water flow. With Xuliujing as the separation node, the lower reaches of the mainstream can be divided into two sections, with a length of 756 km and 182 km respectively. There are both wider and narrower sections in the upper section, with many shoals and branches. The estuary section, below Xuliujing, is about 90 km wide and branches into the sea in a trumpet shape. The basin is low-lying, dotted with numerous lakes (such as Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake, two of China’s five largest freshwater lakes), and there are many small and medium-sized rivers. It is one of the areas with the most dense water network in China (Fig. 1.9).

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Photo 1.5 Wudang Mountain, a world cultural heritage site in the middle reaches of Changjiang River, in Shiyan, Hubei Province

Photo 1.6 Fenghuang (Phoenix) Ancient Town in Western Hunan Province

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Fig. 1.9 Sketch of water system in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:286

The main tributaries of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River include Wanhe River, Qiupu River, Yuxi River, Qingyi River and Huangpu River, among which Huangpu River is the last tributary of the Changjiang River. The climate in this region is warm and humid, with an average annual precipitation of 800–1300 mm. The average annual precipitation in most areas exceeds 1000 mm, showing a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest. Due to the low and flat terrain and huge volume of runoff in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, although protected by embankments, it is still inevitable that waterlogging will cause disasters. (1) Hukou-Xuliujing section The River of this section flows generally from west to east, but there is a significant turning in Hukou-Nanjing-Zhenjiang section. The river goes northeastwards and then turns eastwards and southeastwards into the sea. Due to the influence of the earth’s rotation, the water flow cuts south for a long time, and the river course continues to move southward, resulting in great differences in geomorphic types along the two banks of the river. On the north bank, there are many alluvial plains (some are lacustrine plains), with low and flat terrain and dense tributaries and lakes. On the south bank, there are many steep cliffs, narrow flood plains, and many mountains and hills in a multi-level stepped landform.

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(2) The estuary section There are two definitions of the Changjiang River Estuary, in a broad and in a narrow sense. In a broad sense, the area over 700 km downstream Datong, Anhui Province can be called the estuary area. In a narrow sense, it only refers to the section flowing into the sea downstream Xuliujing. Chongming Island below Xuliujing divides the Changjiang River estuary into south and north branches. And the south branch is divided into south and north ports by Changxing Island and Hengsha Island. The south port is divided into South and North grooves by Jiuduansha, thus forming a three-level branching pattern into the sea. The river section is generally only 2–7 m above the sea level, with flat terrain, high in the West and low in the East. There are many short tributaries, and only the Huangpu River is over 100 km long (Fig. 1.10). The estuary of the Changjiang River is a land-sea tidal one, with large runoff and strong tidal currents. Under the interaction of runoff and tidal current, the river is branched, and the mainstream has changed many times over time and the beach and trough changes frequently and the evolution process is complex. The Changjiang River Estuary was originally a funnel-shaped estuary. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the top of the Bay was in the area of Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. For more than 2000 years, due to the accumulation of a large amount of sediment, the estuary has been moving towards the present sea area. A large number of sand islands merged on the north bank, and the width of the estuary has gradually narrowed from 180 to 90 km. The formation of the river channel has deepened, and the main channel move south continuously, and finally turned into today’s multi-level branched delta estuary (Fig. 1.11).

Fig. 1.10 Outline of Changjiang River estuary water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:195

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Fig. 1.11 Schematic diagram of coastline change in the Changjiang River Estuary. Author’s own drawing. Source: Xia Haibin, Jiang Xuezhong, Liu Fei.Talking about the Estuary of Changjiang [M].Shanghai: Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 2017:22

At present, the trend of the southward movement of the estuary continues. Chongming Island at the estuary will eventually be merged into the north shore like “Guazhou Island” in history, while young islands such as Changxing and Hengsha in the South will become new “Chongming Islands” (Photos 1.7 and 1.8).

1.3 Tributaries The Changjiang River has a wide basin and over 7000 tributaries 0.437 of them has a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . Among them, Yalong River, Minjiang River, Jialing River, Wujiang River, Hanjiang River, Yuanjiang River, Xiangjiang River and Ganjiang River each has a drainage area of more than 80,000 km2 . They are known as the eight main tributaries of the Changjiang River, and they together with the main stream constitute the major part of the Changjiang River water network.

1.3.1 Yalong River Yalong River was called “Ruoshui”, “Lushui”, “Nuojiang”, “Donglushui”, “Niequ”, “Dachong River”, “Nayi River”, “Heihui River” and “Yalong River” in ancient times. It is called “Niyaqu” in Tibetan, which means “water with many fish”. In Qinghai

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Photo 1.7 Snow Falls Lightly in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province

Photo 1.8 The Skyline of Pudong at Dusk in Shanghai

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Province, it is called “Zhaqu”, also known as “Qingshui River (Clear Water River)”. It is called “Yalong River” downstream Shiqu in Sichuan. It originates between Niyannamak mountain and donglagang ridge at the south foot of the west of Bayan Kara, Qinghai, runs parallel to the Jinsha River to the south, and flows southeastwards into the Jinsha River. It is a typical Canyon river with a huge drop of 4420 m, many bends, rapid water and many shoals. Although it is not navigable, it has rich hydro power resources. With a total length of 1535 km and a drainage area of 128,000 km2 , it is the largest tributary of Jinsha River. Because its natural and geographical characteristics are similar to Jinsha River, it is also known as the “little Jinsha River”. It is also called “Golden River” because there is a large amount of golden sand in the river (Fig. 1.12). Yalong River Basin is located in the southeast of Qinghai Tibet Plateau. It belongs to the transition zone of first and second geologic steps. It is in a high mountain canyon area, between Jinsha River and Dadu River. The whole basin is in a willow leaf shape. It is 950 km long from north to south, 128 km wide from east to west, 410 km wide in the South and 85 km wide in the North (Ganzi section). Although the north–south span is less than 8 degrees latitude, the landform, with huge drop, is complex, and the climate in different areas varies greatly. The Yalong River Basin is located in Western Sichuan Plateau climate area, which is mainly influenced by the upper westerly circulation and the southwest monsoon. The weather can be clearly divided into dry and wet seasons, with obvious differences in the north–south and vertical directions. The difference in the downstream area Fig. 1.12 Schematic diagram of Yalong River water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:65

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is more obvious than that in the upstream, and the difference in mountains is more obvious than that in valleys and basins. The north area is dry, cold, rainless and windy, with an average annual temperature of −5–5° and an average annual precipitation of 500–800 mm. The central area is warm, humid and rainy, with an average annual temperature of 10–15° and an average annual precipitation of 1000–1800 mm. The south is dry and hot, with an average annual temperature of 18–21° and an average annual precipitation of 900–1300 mm. The water in the basin mainly comes from precipitation, some of which are snowmelt and groundwater. The annual variation and regional distribution of runoff is basically consistent with that of precipitation, with little inter-annual variation, but uneven distribution within a year. The wet season is from May to October, and the precipitation is concentrated. Among them, the flood season is from June to October, and the runoff accounts for more than 75% of the annual runoff of the whole basin, and the maximum runoff mostly occurs in July. The rest of the months are the dry season. The driest period occurs in March or April, accounting for only 1–2% of the annual runoff of the whole basin. The wet and dry seasons are very obvious. The terrain descends from northwest to southeast, and the surface corrading effect intensifies from north to south. According to the different types of river valley, different features of the river channels and different corrading degree, its main stream can be divided into upper, middle and lower sections by taking Nituo and Litang River estuary as the dividing nodes. The plateau in the upper section is gently undulating, covered with meadows and shrubs. In this section, the valley is wide, the river is shallow and tortuous without rapid current and dangerous shoals. In contrast, the middle and lower sections of the river have deep valleys. Because of the dense vegetation on both sides and small precipitation intensity in this area, the sediment concentration of this river section is very low. In the middle section, the river continuously passes through deep canyons, so there are many dangerous shoals and rapid currents. At the Litang River Estuary, the river channel turns northeastwards and then turns back to the south, forming the famous Yalong River Bay around Jinping Mountain. The lower section flows through medium and low mountain, with plains and flat banks among the mountains, and the riverbed is flat and wide (Photo 1.9).

1.3.2 Minjiang River Minjiang River, also known as the “Wenjiang River”, “Dujiang River” or “The River”, originates from the southern foot of Minshan Mountain at the eastern end of QinghaiTibet Plateau. It flows through Maoxian, Wenchuan and Dujiangyan from north to south, then passes through Chengdu Plain, Meishan and Leshan, and flows into the Chuanjiang River in Yibin. It has a total length of 735 km, a drainage area of 135,000 km2 , and an average annual runoff of about 89 billion cubic meters. It is the tributary with the largest runoff of the Changjiang River. Taking Dujiangyan and Dadu River Estuary as the dividing points, the main stream of Minjiang River can be divided into

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Photo 1.9 Yalong River Bay

upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of about 340 km, about 240 km and about 160 km respectively (Fig. 1.13). Minjiang River Basin is located in the basin system on the eastern edge of QinghaiTibet Plateau. The basin range is in a shape of an inverted trapezoid. It is in a deep mountain gorge area with complex and rugged terrain. The natural drop of the river course can reach 3560 m. It is not only an important water conservation area in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River, but also an important compound ecological transition zone in China. Minjiang River has two sources. The east source is from the south foot of the Gongga Mountain (also known as the Gonggang mountain) (3526 m above the sea level), and the West source, which is considered the main source, is from Langjia Mountain (4000 m above the sea level). They are all located at the south foot of Minshan Mountain (Songpan County, Sichuan Province). They all flow from north to South and converge at Hongqiaoguan, Songpan County to form the major stream. The water system in the upper reaches of Minjiang River is distributed in a dendritic shape, with clear branches showing the mainstream and tributaries. The river in this section is narrow, and flows rapidly, passing by deep mountain valleys where the terrain inclines from northwest to southeast. It is an area with complex geology, and frequent earthquakes, landslides, debris flows and other disasters. The sediment content in the river is large. Downstream Yuzui of Dujiangyan are the middle and lower sections. In this section, the geological structure is simple, with many plains and shallow hills and the river surface is wider. There are many shoals and small branches in this river section, and the river channel is easy to be silted, causing disasters. Therefore, Li

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Fig. 1.13 Sketch of Minjiang River system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:118

Bing, the local governor of Shu County of the state of Qin in the late Warring States period, constructed the Yuzui (Fish Mouth) Water-Dividing Dam, dividing the Minjiang River into the inner river and the outer river. The Feisha Weir was built to block the inner river, to divert the water for farmland irrigation together with Li Dui Dam through the Baopingkou Channel. Lidui is a stone dam sandwiched between the inner and outer rivers, with Baopingkow on its east side as a water gate of the inner river, which can control the flow of water. In case of drought, it will be used for diverting the water, and in case of rain it will be blocked. Shu people benefited from it. And later generations opened more new canals and weirs, which were gradually interwoven with natural rivers into a network. Chengdu Plain became a “land of abundance”, and the irrigation area has exceeded 10 million mu (about 6667 km2 ). The tributaries of the inner and outer rivers successively flow again into the Minjiang River at Jiangkou in Pengshan, and then flow southward into the low mountain and hilly area. The branching shoals of the lower reaches are developed, and the tablelands and flood plains on both banks are wide (Fig. 1.14 and Photo 1.10). Except that the upper section of Minjiang River Basin belongs to the mountain plateau climate, most of the basin belongs to subtropical monsoon climate. The precipitation is mainly affected by the advance and retreat of southeast and southwest monsoon and subtropical high, with obvious seasonal changes. The rainy season is from May to October, and the precipitation accounts for about 80% of the whole year. In particular, rainstorms occur frequently from June to September, forming a

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Fig. 1.14 Schematic Diagram of Dujiangyan Project. Author’s own drawing. Source: Liu Xinghui. Current Situation and Historical Problems of Dujiangyan Project [M]. Chengdu: Sichuan Science and Technology Press, 2014:14

flood season. The precipitation in each section of the basin is greatly affected by the terrain. There is little rain in the upstream section from Songpan to Wenchuan, and the average annual precipitation is only 400–700 mm. In contrast, the Wenchuan to Dujiangyan section, located in the southeast of Longmen Mountain is the rainfall center of the main stream of Minjiang River. The average annual precipitation is 1100–1600 mm. The annual average precipitation downstream that section is also between 900–1300 mm. There are more than 90 large and small tributaries to the Minjiang River, in which there are 10 primary tributaries with a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . Dadu River, the largest tributary among them, has a drainage area of about 90,700 km2 and a length of about 1060 km. It has 19 primary tributaries of more than 1000 km2 , which is more than that of the main stream of Minjiang River. The natural drop of the river is more than 4170 m, and the average annual runoff is about 47 billion cubic meters. It is the main source of runoff of the lower section of Minjiang River, accounting for about 52.8%. All data above far exceeds the main stream of Minjiang River. After receiving Qingyi River at Caoxiedu in Leshan, it joins the Minjiang River at the foot of Leshan Giant Buddha. The water volume of Minjiang River thus sharply increases, so the main stream below Leshan is navigable for barges with a weight from 50 to 300 tons directly into the Chuanjiang

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Photo 1.10 Dujiangyan (World Cultural Heritage Site)

River. But for historical and cultural factors, it is the Minjiang river that is considered the tributary of the Changjiang River (Phoro 1.11).

1.3.3 Jialing River Jialing River, also known as “Xi Hanjiang River (West Hanjiang River)”, “Lang River”, “Yang River” and “Yu River”, originates in the south of Daiwang mountain in the northwest of Fengxian County, Shaanxi Province. It flows through Lueyang and Yangpingguan from north to south, and enters Sichuan Province in Datan Town in Guangyuan. It passes through Zhaohua, Cangxi, Langzhong, Peng’an, Nanchong, Wusheng, Hechuan and other places, and enters the Chuanjiang River in Chongqing, with a total length of 1120 km, and an area of 159,000 km2 . It is the tributary of the Changjiang River with the largest drainage area. Guangyuan and Hechuan as the dividing nodes, the main stream of Jialing River can be divided into upper, middle and lower sections, which are about 370 km long, more than 640 km long and about 100 km long respectively, with a natural fall of 2300 m. The upper section has steep slopes and deep valleys. There are many meanders in the middle section and the river is wide. The lower section passes through canyons, with many shoals and water bays (Fig. 1.15). Jialing River has a wide Basin with obvious mainstream and many tributaries. It is a typical dendritic water system. It passes through Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Photo 1.11 Leshan Giant Buddha (World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site)

It is separated from the Yellow River and Weihe River water system by Qinling Mountains in the north, and is separated from the Minjiang River and the Yellow River water system by Minshan Mountain in the northwest, and is separated from the Hanjiang River water system by the Micang Mountain and Daba Mountain in the East. The terrain tilts from north to south. The upper section passes through Qinling Mountains and Micang Mountains, both with an altitude of more than 2000 m. The source is divided into the east and west, and the east is considered the main one. The east source of the Jialing River is Dongyugou in the south of Daiwang Mountain in Feng County, Shaanxi Province. The west source is Nanpingchuan in Tianshui in Gansu Province, also known as the West Hanjiang River. Because it flows through the loess area with sparse forests, the water contains more sediment, which is the main sediment offering area in the upper section of the main stream of Jialing River. The east and west sources flow together at the Lueyang River Estuary in Shaanxi Province, and continue to cross mountains and canyons towards the south, with deep water bays and shoals with rapid waters flows. The middle section of the river runs through the hills and wide valleys of the Sichuan Basin. Most of the water systems are distributed in branches, with many meanders and a wide river surface. The lower section of the river runs through the parallel canyon area, forming three gorges: Libi Gorge, Wentang Gorge and Guanyin Gorge. The gorges are altogether 9.4 km long and the river is only 110–270 m wide at its high water level time. So it is called “small Three Gorges”. Among them, six bridges have been built within less than 1 km over the river of the Guanyin gorge, where the bridge density is highest in

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Fig. 1.15 Outline of Jialing River water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:141

China. After leaving the gorge, the river widened significantly and finally merged into the Chuanjiang River at Chaotianmen, Chongqing (Photos 1.12 and 1.13). There are great differences in topography and climate between the upper section of Jialing River and its middle and lower sections. The upper section is a mountainous area located on the south slope of Qinling Mountains. Its weather is cold and dry in winter and spring since it is significantly affected by the cold current from the northwest. The annual precipitation in the mountainous area north of Lueyang is only 600–800 mm. The middle and lower sections of the basin are low mountains and hills. The Longmen Mountains, Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains block the cold current so the climate is warm and humid, and the annual precipitation is more than 1000 mm. At the edge of the basin at the junction of the upper and middle section, southeast monsoon is blocked and lifted by the mountains in the north, so there are many rainstorms at the foothills. The runoff of Jialing River Basin is mainly supplied by precipitation. The flood season water volume from May to October accounts for 80% of the whole year. Rainstorms mostly occur from June to

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Photo 1.12 Bridges Densely Covered Guanyin Gorge

Photo 1.13 Night view of Chaotianmen in Chongqing

September. Precipitation is very concentrated, which is vulnerable to extreme climate and frequent flood and drought disasters. There are 439 tributaries to the Jialing River, among which there are 11 tributaries with a drainage area of more than 10,000 km2 . The largest tributary on the left bank, Qu River (with a length of more than 720 km and a drainage area of 41,000 km2 ) and the largest tributary on the right bank, Fu River (about 670 km long and with

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Fig. 1.16 Sketch of Wujiang River water system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:163

a drainage area of 36,400 km2 ) flows into the Jialing River in the north and south respectively of Hechuan District, Chongqing. Therefore, the water discharge of the lower section increased considerably, which is one of the main sources of flood in the Chuan River.

1.3.4 Wujiang River Wujiang River, formerly known as “Bajiang River”, “Yanjiang River”, “Bafu River”, “Dejiang River” and “Fuling River”, was called “Wujiang River” or “Qianjiang River” since the Yuan Dynasty. It originates from the eastern foot of Wumeng Mountain in the Northwest Plateau of Guizhou, crosses the central part of Guizhou from west to east, passes Sinan, Dejiang and Yanhe, then leaves Guizhou from its northeast entering Chongqing. After passing Youyang, Pengshui and Wulong, it flows into the Chuanjiang river in Fuling. With a total length of 1037 km and a drainage area of 87,800 km2 , it is the largest tributary on the South Bank of the Chuanjiang river, with an average water volume equivalent to that of the Yellow River. Its mainstream and tributaries flow through Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing and Hubei 0.76.9% of the whole basin is located in Guizhou,17 accounting for 38.3% of the land area of Guizhou. It is the mother river of Guizhou (Fig. 1.16). Wujiang River Basin is located in the slope zone of the transition from the YunnanGuizhou Plateau to the western Hunan hills (i. e. the first and second step transition zone in China), with a large east–west height difference and a natural fall difference of 2324 m. More than 85% of the area in the whole basin is mountainous. It is a 17

The drainage area of Wujiang River in Guizhou is 60,000 km2 .

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

typical mountainous river where there are many valleys, shoals and rapids. Huawuji and Sinan as the dividing nodes, its main stream can be divided into the upper, middle and lower sections with a length of 325.6 km, 366.8 km and 344.6 km respectively18 . The upper section on the plateau has an altitude of 1000–2000 m, with steep slopes, rapid flow and deep river valleys. The middle section is mountainous, with an altitude of about 1200 m. The river slows down in this section, but it is covered with reefs and dangerous beaches. The lower section is in lower canyons, with an altitude of 300–600 m. The river valley has both wide and narrow parts, and there are still many dangerous shoals. Located on the northeast slope of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Wujiang River Basin is the center of East Asia Karst landform area, one of the three karst landform development areas in the world. The terrain is higher in the southwest and lower in the northeast. There are undulating mountains and deep valleys in the area, which are also the development of karst landform. Steep canyons are formed on both sides of the main stream, with many karst caves and undercurrent. It is separated by the Wumeng Mountains with the Niulan River and the Hengjiang River, tributaries of Jinsha River, in the west. And it is separated by Miaoling Mountains with the Pearl River water system in the south. In the northwest, it is separated by the Dalou Mountains with the Chishui River and Qijiang River, tributaries of Chuanjiang River. And in the Northeast, it is separated by the Wuling Mountains with the Yuanjiang River. The river basin is in a long, belt shape. The water system is in a shape of feather, and the river network is dense. There are 58 primary tributaries, including 16 with a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . Wujiang River has two sources, the south and the north, and the south is considered the main one. The south source is named Sancha River, which comes from the Sangang Cave (also said Huayu cave) in Yancang Town, Weining County, Guizhou Province. The north source is named Liuchong River and it comes from the Dapo mountain in the northwest of Hezhang County, Guizhou Province. The two rivers flow across the mountains and meander eastwards to the confluence in Huawuji base in Qianxi County, and was together named the “Yachi River”, and flows eastwards. The two sources in the upper section are typical mountain-type rivers, with many deep canyons, developed karst landform, many karst caves and undercurrents. They flow rapidly with large drop, curved and narrow river channels, and dangerous shoals. Yachi River flows northeastwards to Wujiangdu in Zunyi, and it is called the “Wujiang River”. The middle section from Huawuji to Sinan runs through the Dalou mountains. There are many deep canyons along the way, with deep water and steep shoals. With huge drop, it is hard for navigation. The lower part downstream Sinan cuts through the Dalou mountains and Wuling Mountains and enters the Sichuan Basin and Wuling Mountain Area. There are canyons and wide valleys alternate with each other. The water surface is wide. With a large number of tributaries flowing in, the water volume increases greatly. There are still many dangerous shoals, but it is navigable. Among them, there is a 132 km gorge of Yanhe Tujia Autonomous County in Guizhou, at 18

Huang Jianmin. Study on Wujiang River Basin [M]. Beijing: Science and Technology Press of China, 2007.

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Photo 1.14 Misty rain of Wujiang gallery

the junction of Yunnan and Chongqing. The unique Canyon scenery forms a natural landscape gallery with “strange mountains, odd stones, clear water, dangerous shoals, ancient towns, lounge bridges, boat tracker channels and hanging tombs”. It is known as the “hundred mile Gallery of Wujiang River”, and the whole Wujiang River is also known as the “thousand mile Wujiang River Gallery” because of its wonderful and spectacular natural landscape along the way (Photo 1.14). Wujiang River is famous for its “natural dangerousness”, but its lower section was once the ancient golden waterway. In the middle and late Warring States period, Sima Cuo, a general of the Qin State, led 100,000 troops from Bashu area taking 10,000 ships downstream from Fuling where the Wujiang River joins the Changjiang River to capture western Hunan and Hubei area. Before the Tang Dynasty, the navigation conditions of Wujiang River were always good, but since then, due to frequent geological disasters, rock collapse from the mountains blocked the river channel, forming three dangerous shoals (Chaodi, Xintan and gongtan), resulting in poor navigation conditions. However, thanks to the river regulation and dredging of boat tracker channels in the dynasties, Wujiang River had still been used as the channel for Sichuan salt to Guizhou for a long time, and is still the most important part of the river channel of Sichuan connecting Chongqing and Guizhou. Wujiang River Basin has a subtropical monsoon climate. Thanks to the protection of mountains, it has a warm and humid climate without severe cold in winter and extreme heat in summer. The distribution of precipitation in the basin is uneven. The multi-year average annual precipitation of the whole basin is 900–1400 mm. The precipitation in the northwestern part of the upper section is less than 1000 mm, and that is more than 1200 mm in the south. The precipitation in the middle reaches is generally 1000–1200 mm, and that in the lower reaches is 1000–1300 mm. The rainfall is concentrated from May to September, and the precipitation in summer accounts for 40–55% of the annual precipitation. Moreover, since rainstorms occur frequently, flood comes early and the flood peak usually occurs in June and July, especially in the middle and late June. Due to the rainstorm and steep slope, the water flow is rapid, and the flood usually forms in a short time. The flood peak is

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relatively sharp and thin. However, in July and August, the area is usually controlled by subtropical high, resulting in high temperature and continuous sunny days, which is prone to summer drought.

1.3.5 Yuanjiang River Yuanjiang River, also known as “Yuanshui River”, is also called “Zhijiang River” because a famous poem by Qu Yuan. It originates from the plateau in the southeast of Guizhou, flows from west to east through Qiancheng and then northwards. It enters Hunan Province through Jinping and Tianzhu, and passes through Zhijiang, Huaihua, Luxi, Yuanling, Taoyuan and other places in Western Hunan, and flows into the Dongting Lake in Deshan Town, Changde City. It is one of the four Dongting tributary rivers (Xiangjiang River, Zijiang River, Yuanjiang River and Lishui River), with a total length of 1033 km. Its mainstream and tributaries flow through Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and Hubei provinces, with a drainage area of 89163 km2 . Among them, about 57.9% (51,600 km2 ) is located in Hunan Province and about 33.9% (30,269 km2 ) in Guizhou Province (Fig. 1.17).

Fig. 1.17 Sketch of Yuangjiang River system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:206

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Yuanjiang River Basin is located in the transition zone of the second and third steps in China, with a large east–west height difference and a natural fall of 1462 m. Most of the river basin is mountainous, with many rugged and dangerous shoals. Hongjiang and Lingjintan in Hunan as separation nodes, the main stream of Yuanjiang River can be divided into upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of about 547 km, 389 km and 96 km respectively. The upper section flows through Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau with an altitude of more than a kilometer. The mountains are high and narrow, with deep river valleys and curved and narrow river channels. The middle section flows through low mountains and hills. This section of the river valley becomes broader, and the water flow is gentle. The lower section flows across hilly area and alluvial plains. Since the terrain is flat, the channel is broad, and the water flow is slow. The terrain of the whole basin descends from west to east. It is separated by the Fanjing Mountains in the west from the Wujiang River, and by the Miaoling Mountain in the south from the Pearl River. It is separated from the Lishui River by the Wuling Mountain in the north, and separated by the Xuefeng Mountain from the Zijiang River in the east. It is in the shape of a rectangle descending from southwest to northeast. The water system is in a feather like shape, and the river network is dense. There are 22 tributaries with a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . There are more tributaries on the left bank, the drainage area of which is more than twice that of the right bank. Yuanjiang River has two sources, the south source and the north source. The South one is considered the main one. Longtou River, the south source, is also known as “Mawei River”, originating from Jiguanling of the Yunwu Mountains in Duyun City, Guizhou Province. Chongan River, the north source, is also known as “Zhuliang River”, originating from mountains between Majiang and Pingyue. The two rivers meander eastwards and converge in Kaili, and then is called “Qingshui River”. It flows eastward to Qiancheng Town, Hongjiang City, Hunan Province, merging with Wushui River and then is called “Yuanjiang River”. In the upper section, there are many deep canyons, valleys and steep slopes. The channel with bends is deep and narrow, and there are numerous tributaries. The middle section, from Qiancheng to Yuanling, runs through low mountains and hills, with valleys alternating with small basins. The river valley becomes gradually broader, and the water flow slows down. After receiving You River, the largest tributary of Yuanling River, its water volume greatly increases. The section from Yuanling to Taoyuan flows across the southern foot of Wuling, which is an area with low mountain and hills. The area downstream Taoyuan is the alluvial plain. The channel is broad, and the water discharge is huge. Since the water flow is gentle, it is navigable for barge boats with the weight of 80–150 tons. Yuanjiang River Basin belongs to subtropical monsoon climate zone. The climate is warm and humid. The average annual precipitation is about 1450 mm. The annual precipitation distribution is uneven. 2/3 of the precipitation is from April to August, and the flood peak usually occurs from May to July. The flood disaster may happen, if it meets the flood in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

1.3.6 Xiangjiang River Xiangjiang River, also known as “Xiangshui River”, originates from the Haiyang Mountain on the west side of Dupangling of the Nanling Mountains. It passes through Xing’an and Quanzhou in Guangxi Province, and enters Hunan Province in Douniuling, and then passes through Yongzhou, Qiyang, Changning, Hengyang, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan and Changsha, and flows into the Dongting Lake at Haohekou, Xiangyin County. With a total length of 856 km and a drainage area of 94,800 km2 , it is the largest River in Dongting Lake water system. Most of it is located in Hunan. It is the river with the largest flow and drainage area in Hunan Province. Therefore, Hunan is referred to as “Xiang” for short (Fig. 1.18). Xiangjiang River Basin is located in the south of the Changjiang River and north of Nanling Mountains. The terrain is generally basin shaped. There are mountains in the East, West and south. It is separated by the Luoxiao Mountains from the Ganjiang River in the east, and separated by Hengshan Mountains from Zishui River in the west. There is a Nanling Mountain in the south separating it from the Pearl River. Because of the military needs of the war against Xi’ou in the Qin Dynasty, Lingqu Canal was built to connect the Xiangjiang River and the Li River, and the Changjiang River and the Pearl River water system were linked ever since. It served the function of navigation till the 1930s, and nowadays, it is still beneficial for irrigation (Fig. 1.19). Fig. 1.18 Sketch of Xiangjiang River system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:206

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Fig. 1.19 Schematic diagram of Lingqu’s location

The interior of the basin is mostly hills, riverside plains or small basins. With developed and dense water network, there are 124 primary tributaries, of which 17 have a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . The water systems on the left and right banks are asymmetric, and the main tributaries such as Xiaoshui River, Leishui River and Mishui all come from the right bank. The drainage area on the left bank accounts for less than 1/3 of that of the whole basin, and most of the tributaries are relatively short. With Yongzhou and Hengyang in Hunan Province as the separation nodes, the main stream of Xiangjiang River can be divided into upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of 246 km, 290 km and 320 km respectively. The upper section flows through mountainous areas, with narrow river valleys, short tributaries and rapid water flow. The hills along the middle section are undulating, with small basins, continuous valleys and stable riverbed. There are many shallow hills in the lower section, with flat terrain, wide river channel, sediment laden riverbed and intermittent sandbars. Among them, the Juzizhou Islet (Orange Islet), is the largest. It is located in the middle of the Xiangjiang River and stretches for 5.4 km. It is only 140 m wide and 40 m at the narrowest place. It looks like a long dragon with the Yuelu Mountain in the West and Changsha City in the East. The mountain, water, islet and city are integrated into one and it has the reputation of being “the best river islet in the world”. The alluvial plain downstream Changsha covers a wide range and is connected with the estuarine plains of Zijiang River, Yuanjiang River and Lishui river (Photo 1.15). The Xiangjiang River Basin belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone, with a warm and humid climate, and the multi-year average annual precipitation is about 1436 mm. Due to the low latitude, the flood season starts early, and the highest flood peak can appear in April and the flood season ends in September.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Photo 1.15 Aerial view of the Orange Islet

With the completion of the cascade water conservancy projects in the main stream and many reservoirs in its tributaries, the flood peak of Xiangjiang River during the flood period has been effectively regulated. However the river islets in the middle and lower sections are in the process of continuous erosion and shrinkage. It is necessary to build artificial revetments to protect the river islet wetlands and maintain the stability of the shipping channels.

1.3.7 Hanjiang River The Hanjiang River, also known as “Hanshui River”, “Mianshui River”, “Xianghe River”, “Canglang River”, “Xiashui River” and “Baoshui River”, originates in the south foot of Qinling Mountains, passes through Mianxian, Hanzhong, Ziyang, Ankang, Xunyang, Baihe and other counties and cities from west to east, and enters Hubei Provincefrom Yunxi District of Shiyan City. After passing through Danjiangkou, it turns to the southeast, and passes through Xiangyang, Yicheng, Zhongxiang, Qianjiang and Xiantao. Finally, it flows into the Changjiang River at the Longwang Temple in Hankow, Wuhan. With a total length of 1577 km, it is the longest tributary of the Changjiang River. Its drainage area is 154800 km2 , second only to the Jialing River among the many tributaries of the Changjiang River. Actually, before the diversion of Fuhe River into Huanshui River instead of the Hanjiang River in 1959, the drainage area of Hanjiang River also ranked first among the tributaries of the Changjiang River. The main stream flows through Shaanxi and Hubei provinces, of which the main stream in Shaanxi is 657 km long and the main stream

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in Hubei is 920 km long. The tributaries are also in four provincial units of Gansu, Sichuan, Chongqing and Henan (Fig. 1.20 and Photo 1.16). The Hanjiang River Basin is located in the transition zone between the second and third steps in China, with many mountains and few flat lands. It has a large east– west height difference and a natural drop of 1962 m. With Danjiangkou Reservoir Dam and Nianpan Mountain in Zhongxiang as the separation node, the main stream of the Hanjiang River is divided into the upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of about 925 km, 270 km and 382 km respectively. The upper section is almost all mountainous and hilly areas, with steep slopes, rapid flow, deep water and many shoals. The middle section of the river flows through hills and open river valley basins, with wide and shallow channels and numerous islets and sandbars in the middle of the river. The lower section of the river flow through the Jianghan Plain, and the river channel is curved and gradually narrowed. It is easy to cause flood disasters. The terrain of the whole basin is opening to the southeast. It is separated from Jialing River in the southwest by the Daba Mountains, from the Yellow River Basin by Qinling Mountains, Waifang Mountains and Funiu Mountains in the north, and from the Huaihe River System in the East by Funiu Mountains and Tongbai Mountain in the East. Jianghan Plain in its southeast and it is the old land of ancient Yunmengze Lake. So far, there are still many rivers and lakes on Jianghan Plain with no obvious watershed from the Hanjiang River. The Hanjiang River has three sources: the north, the middle and the south. The north source, known as the “Jushui River”, originates from Zibai Mountains, Feng

Fig. 1.20 Outline of Hanjiang River system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:227

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Photo 1.16 The Intersection of Jianghan and Weihe Rivers

County, Shaanxi Province. The middle source, known as “Yangshui River”, comes from Beibozhong Mountain, Ningqiang County, Shaanxi Province (also believed to come from Qingnigou or Shizhonggou). The south source, known as the “Yudai River”, comes from the Zimulin in Jianzhuling of Ningqiang County, Shaanxi Province. According to the principle that the longest river source is considered the main one, it was originally determined that the Jushui River, the north source, is the main source of the Hanjiang River. However, through the research on the source of the Hanjiang River in 2011, it is argued that the middle one, the Yangshui River from Bozhongshan in Ningqiang is the source of the river19 . But after the investigation of the river source in 2014, some scholars proposed that the source of the Hanjiang River is Baohe river that has always been regarded as a tributary, which comes from a spring in a palm shaped mountain in Taibai County, Shaanxi Province20 . At present, people continue to explore the source of the Hanjiang River, just like the exploration of the source of the Changjiang River. Jushui River, the north source, flows southwards to Taoyuan and turns south. And it is called the Hanjiang River. The upper section from the source to Danjiangkou runs between Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains in a roughly east–west direction. It is a mountain river, flowing through valleys and basins. In most areas, the river valleys are narrow, and the drop is large. The current is rapid, and there are many dangerous shoals. Most of the canyons are located from Yangxian County to Shiquan County in Shaanxi Province, such as the famous Golden Gorge. There are many tributaries which are in the shape of asymmetric branches. There are more and longer tributaries 19 20

Lei Baoshou. Where is the Source of Han River [J]. Chinese Water Culture, 2017:(03). Shui Xiaojie. North Source and New Source [J]. China Three Gorges, 2015 (04).

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on the north bank. The main tributaries include Baohe River, Danjiang River, Tangbai River and Duhe River. The middle section, from Danjiangkou Dam to Nianpanshan, flows southeastwards through hills and broad basins. The river valleys become wider, and the riverbed is unstable with many river islets. When there’s floods, the river surface is 2–3 km wide. In the dry season, the river branches are densely distributed, and the river surface is only 300–400 m wide. It is a meandering type river. The lower section is from Nianpanshan to Hankow. From this section, the Hanjiang River flows into Jianghan Plain where the water flow slows down. It is a meandering river in the plain. The river channel is tortuous and gradually narrows (the width of the river upstream Qianjiang is about 800 m, and the width downstream it is only 300 m). The flood discharge capacity gradually weakens. In addition, affected by the Changjiang River, floods frequently occur. This area originally belonged to the ancient Yunmengze Lake. In ancient times, it was a flooded area. The river course often changed, and the location of the estuary to the Changjiang River also changed a lot. The last diversion in the middle of the Ming Dynasty brought the town of Hankow, the latest town of the three in Wuhan. The tributaries of the middle and lower reaches of Hanjiang River are short, which are in a grid shape. The Hanjiang River Basin belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone, which is located in the transition zone between the north and south climatic zones in China. The four seasons are more distinct than those of the tropical region in the south. Winter is dry and cold, and summer is hot and rainy. The multi-year average annual precipitation is about 700–1000 mm, showing a decreasing trend from southeast to northwest. The annual precipitation in the lower section can reach more than 1100 mm, and that in the middle and upper sections is about 800–900 mm and 700– 900 mm respectively. Generally speaking, in the lower section, precipitation from April to September is more than the rest of the year, accounting for 70–90% of that of the whole year21 . Spring flood may occur in late April, and the summer flood season is from late June to early August. The autumn flood season is from late August to early October. The water discharge of summer flood is usually large. Although the duration is short, the flood peak is high. Its summer flood often meets that of the Changjiang River. After the summer flood, the rain belt moves northwards, and the precipitation in the upper reaches of Hanjaing River sharply increases, which may cause autumn floods. It has the most typical characteristics of the pre-flood and postflood periods, and is the tributary in the Changjiang River Basin of which the flood season ends last.

21

Cai Shuming, Chen Guojie. Comprehensive Study on Rational Exploitation and Utilization of Resources and Economic Development of Han River Basin [M]. Wuhan: Hubei Science and Technology Press, 1997:168.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

1.3.8 Ganjiang River Ganjiang River was also named “Ganshui River” in ancient times because of the confluence of the Zhang (章) River and Gong (贡) River in Gan (赣) zhou city. It originates from Shiliaodong of the Wuyi Mountain area, Jiangxi Province and runs across it from south to north, passing Ganzhou, Wan’an, Taihe, Jishui, Fengcheng, Xinjian and Nanchang. It flows into Poyang Lake in Wucheng Town of Jiujiang City, with a total length of 823 km and a drainage area of 828 thousand square kilometers. It ranks first among the five rivers of Poyang Lake (Gangjiang River, Fuhe River, Xinjiang River, Raohe River, Xiushui River). The basin covers the area in Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Hunan provinces, of which 98.45% are located in Jiangxi Province, accounting for about 50% of the total area of Jiangxi Province. It is the mother river of Jiangxi Province (Fig. 1.21). Ganjiang River Basin is located south of the Changjiang River and north of the Wuyi Mountains. The terrain is mainly mountainous and hilly. The terrain gradually Fig. 1.21 Outline of Ganjiang River system. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Comprehensive Survey Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2003:243

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descends from south to north, and the riverbed of the main stream is flat. Ganzhou and Xingan as the separation nodes, the main stream is divided into upper, middle and lower sections, with a length of 312 km, 303 km and 208 km respectively. The water flow of the upper section is rapid, and there are numerous tributaries. The middle section first flows through gorges section with numerous shoals and rapid flow, and then flows across a basin. The river channel gradually gets widened and the water flow is gentle. The lower section flows across the hilly area and plains, with open river surface and many sandbars. The Ganjiang River Basin is separated by Wuyi Mountain from the water system in Fujian in the southeast, and by Dayu Mountain from the Pearl River in the south. It is near Fuhe River in the northeast, connects Poyang Lake in the north, and is separated by Luoxiao Mountain from Xiangjiang River in the west. It is in the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the distance between north and south is wider than that between east and west. There are numerous tributaries, among which there are 21 tributaries with a drainage area of more than 1000 km2 . The Ganjiang River has two sources: the east source and the west source. The east one is considered the main one. The east source, “Gong River” (formerly known as “Dongjiang River”, “Huichang River” and “Huhanshui River”), comes from Shiliaodong in Ganjiangyuan Village, Hengjiang Town, Shicheng County, Jiangxi Province. The west source, “Zhangshui River” originates from Dayuling, Guangdong Province. The two sources converge at Bajingtai in Ganzhou City from where the river is called “Ganjiang River”. The upper section of the river meanders through mountains, with deep streams and large drop. The river course zigzags, the water flow is shallow and rapid. There are many tributaries, which constitutes a typical radial water system. The section from Ganzhou to Xingan is the middle section. The section from Ganzhou to Wan’an flows through the metamorphic rock mountain area with deep riverbed and rapid current. There was the famous “eighteen shoals of the Ganjiang River”, which hindered the Trading Road of Dayuling for a thousand years, but now they no longer exist due to the completion of Wan’an Hydropower Station in 1989. Ganjiang River then flows into the Jitai Basin which is a low, hilly area. The river valley is wide and the flow tends to be gentle. Some canyons and shoals can also be seen. A section of the valley is especially narrow, so it is called the “Canyon River”. After regulation, the river downstream Ganzhou is navigable for ships with the weight of 500–1000 tons. The lower section of the river flows across low hilly area and valley plains, with wide river channel and large water volume. After passing Nanchang, Ganjiang River is divided into the east stream and the west stream by the Yangzi Island. The east steam can be divided into the middle branch and the south branches, and the west stream can be divided into the west and north branches. The four of them all have branches flowing into the Poyang Lake. The west branch is the main one and it flows into the Poyang lake after confluence with Xiushui River. The lower reaches is flat with a complex water network (Photo 1.17 and Fig. 1.22). Ganjiang River Basin belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone. The climate is warm and humid. The annual average precipitation is 1580 mm, and the annual precipitation distribution is uneven. The spring rain and plum rain are visibly heavy. It is hot and dry in summer and autumn. The rainstorm is concentrated from

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Photo 1.17 Ganjiang Gorge scenery

Fig. 1.22 Schematic diagram and aerial photograph of the reach at the tail end of Ganjiang River. Author’s own drawing. Source: Dou Hongshen, Jiang Jiahu. Five Major Freshwater Lakes in China [M]. Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China Press, 2003

April to June every year, and rainstorms brought by typhoons often occur from July to September, which may cause floods.

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Fig. 1.23 Distribution diagram of five freshwater lakes in China. Author’s own drawing. Source: Dou Hongshen, Jiang Jiahu. Five Major Freshwater Lakes in China [M]. Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China Press, 2003

1.4 Lakes There are many lakes in the Changjiang River Basin, which are widely distributed and complex in types. According to the statistics in the early 1980s, the lakes in the whole basin cover a total area of 15,200 km2 , accounting for about 1/5 of the total area of lakes in China. Most of them (with a total area of 14,000 km2 ) are distributed in the plain area in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. It is the area where the most concentrated distribution of freshwater lakes are located in China. There are more than 100 lakes with an area of more than 10 km2 on both sides of the Changjiang River, including four of China’s five major freshwater lakes, the Poyang Lake, the Dongting Lake, the Chaohu Lake and the Taihu Lake. The total area of lakes is 8752 km2 , accounting for 55.9% of that in the region22 . Hongze Lake, the other one of the five largest freshwater lakes, although belonging to the Huaihe River Basin, can also be regarded as a lake in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River considering that the main water volume of the Huaihe River is led into the Changjiang River waterway by the Sanhe Sluice and the close relationship between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers in historical periods. The five freshwater lakes are throughput type lakes with complete water systems (Fig. 1.23).

22

Dou Hongshen, Jiang Jiahu. Five Major Freshwater Lakes in China [M]. Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China Press, 2003:2.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

1.4.1 Dongting Lake Dongting Lake is located in the south of Jingjiang section in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the central part of northern Hunan. In normal times, the lake covers an area of 2691 km2 . It is the third largest lake (second only to Qinghai Lake and Poyang Lake) and the second largest freshwater lake in China. In the west and south of Dongting Lake, there are four rivers flowing into, namely the Xiangjiang River, The Zishui River, the Yuanjiang River and the Lishui River. In the north, there are Songzi River, Taiping River (also known as Hudu River) and Ouchi River to discharge water from the Changjiang River. Around the lake area, there are other small and medium-sized rivers such as Weishui River, Miluo River and Xinqiang River, which flow into the Changjiang River from Chenglingji after the lake’s regulation and storage. It is the most important regulation and storage lake of the Changjiang River. The terrain of the water system of Dongting Lake is higher in the east, west and south and descends to the north, which is an open horseshoeshaped basin, with a drainage area of 262,800 km2 , accounting for about 1/7 of the total area of the Changjiang River Basin (Fig. 1.24). Dongting Lake was formed by the Fault Depression of Yanshan Movement 70 million years ago and the Himalayan orogeny 40–30 million years ago. Since the Quaternary period (2 million years ago), Dongting Lake still shows the trend of shaking subsidence, forming a basin which is high in periphery and low and flat in the middle. The silt gradually deposited in the basin, and about 11,000 years ago

Fig. 1.24 Overview of Dongting Lake. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Daoqing. Atlas of Chinese River System (Revised edition) [M]. Qingdao: Qingdao Press, 2010

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(in the early Holocene), the alluvial plain has been formed. Due to the undulating topography, some small marshes were formed in the low-lying areas between the rivers. Around five thousand or six thousand years ago, with the warming of the climate, a vast area of basins along the north bank of the Changjiang River (the lower section of the Hanjiang River) and the south bank of the Changjiang River became a vast marsh which is called the “Yunmengze” in the pre-Qin classics. At that time, Dongting Lake was only a small lake with an area of 260 li in the southwest of Junshan Mountain(formerly known as the Dongting Mountain). Since then, with the continuous accumulation of silt in the Changjiang River and the Hanjiang River, Yunmengze continuously shrank, and the northern part of the Changjiang River became a swamp and then the Jianghan Plain. The marsh on the south bank of the Changjiang River was still large at first. However, in the Southern Dynasties, due to the continuous uplift of the riverbed of Jingjiang River, the Jing and Lun estuaries were formed on the south bank of Jingjiang River, and a large amount of silt accumulated in the estuaries. Dongting Lake became a group of scattered small lakes which can only be connected in the flood season. The shrinking trend of the lakes did not continue until the Tang and Song Dynasties, which has shown the trend of swampiness. At that time, due to the continuous uplift of the riverbed of Jinjiang River and the continuous construction of dikes, the river surface became narrower and the flood discharge was not smooth. When the flood passed the Jingjiang section, a breach was often formed on the south bank. The floods of the Changjiang River accepted by the Dongting Lake were far more than before. Although the floods carried silt, Dongting Lake was still growing. The lake extends westwards and southwards, which swallowed Chisha Lake in the west and connected Qingcao Lake in the south. After the Song Dynasty, the riverbed of Jingjiang River was still rising due to silt accumulation, and the water level was higher than that of the Dongting Lake. The phenomenon of river water flowing back into the lake occurred frequently. Every time, the breach of the Jingjiang River will raise the water level of Dongting Lake. Especially after the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the government adopted the water control policy of “sacrificing the south to save the north” by blocking the north breach of the river and diverting the river water to the south. Because a large amount of water and silt from the Changjiang River was poured into the Dongting Lake, the lake bed continuously rose, and the lake surface continued to expand. Under this background, the west and south Dongting Lakes were gradually formed. Two great floods in 1860 and 1870 successively flooded Ouchi and Songzi, thus water level of the Dongting Lake reached its peak. In the flood season, the lake can cover an area of 6000 km2 . However, due to the deposition of more silt, the sandbars in Dongting Lake would emerge in the dry season. Therefore, Dongting Lake entered a recession period. In addition, since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the increasingly intensive reclamation of the lake area also accelerated the shrinking trend of Dongting Lake. In the 1940s, it was divided into three parts: the West Dongting Lake (originally referring to some small lakes in the west of Chishan Mountain, now only Muping Lake and Qili Lake exist), South Dongting Lake and East Dongting Lake, and finally it became the second largest freshwater lake in China.

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Fig. 1.25 Schematic diagram of Dongting Lake Evolution since the late Qing Dynasty. Author’s own drawing. Source: Chen Lide. Atlas of Land Resources and Environmental Geology of Urban Agglomerations in the Middle Reaches of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 2017: 29. The deadline for photo materials is December 2015

As of 1995, the area of Dongting Lake was only 2623 km2 , less than half of that of its peak (Fig. 1.25). Since the end of the twentieth century, with the implementation of a series of important measures, such as banning felling natural forests, returning farmland to forests and lakes, leveling embankments for flood discharge, and resettlement of citizens, the silt deposition in Dongting Lake has been greatly reduced. “After the impoundment of the Three Gorges in 2003, according to the statistics, the silt flowing into the lake was only 30 million tons, of which 20.5 million tons came from the Changjiang River and 17.8 million tons came from the four rivers. The amount of silt accounts for only 22% of the annual average amount of that in previous years. By returning farmland to the lake and leveling embankments for flood discharge, the water surface of Dongting Lake is expanding again and its storage and regulation capacity are also increasing correspondingly”23 . The area of lakes connecting the Changjiang River has gradually expanded to 2691 km2 . The Dongting Lake belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone, and the climate is warm and humid, with the annual average precipitation of 1200–2000 mm. Generally, the precipitation is more than 1600 mm in mountainous areas and 1200–1600 mm in hilly areas and plains. The vast and developed water system and abundant precipitation make Dongting Lake the freshwater lake with the most water

23

Li Yuelong. A Brief History of the Evolution, Development and Governance of Dongting Lake [M]. Changsha: Hunan University Press, 2014.

1.4 Lakes Fig. 1.25 (continued)

Fig. 1.25 (continued)

51

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1 Nature of the Changjiang River

Fig. 1.25 (continued)

discharge in China. The average annual inflow water is 303.3 billion cubic meters, which is three times that of Poyang Lake and five times of that of the Yellow River. However, the annual distribution of precipitation is very uneven. The precipitation from April to September accounts for 60–70% of the annual precipitation. The maximum precipitation generally occurs in May and June, accounting for 13–20% of the annual precipitation. In some special years, it can even reach more than 40% of the annual precipitation, which is very easy to cause flood disasters. In normal years, the flood peaks of the four rivers and the four estuaries stagger. Since Dongting Lake can store and regulate the water of the four rivers and the Changjiang River. It can effectively alleviate the contradiction between the flood discharge capacity of Jingjiang River and the high volume of water from the upper reaches of the Changjiang River, so as to prevent the Jianghan Plain and Wuhan from floods. But if the water level of both rivers and the lake rise, serious flood disasters will be caused. For example, during the flood period of the Changjiang River in 1998, there were eight flood peaks around Chenglingji, of which the first three were caused by the floods of four rivers, and the last five were caused by the flood of the Changjiang River. From the fourth flood peak, due to the jacking influence between the Dongting Lake and the main stream of the Changjiang River at the high water level, the main stream of the Changjiang River and Dongting Lake exceeded the maximum flood level for many times at the same time, and it was a similar situation at the Poyang Lake area downstream. As a result, the worst flood disaster in the Changjiang River Basin history happened.

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Fig. 1.26 Overview of Poyang Lake. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Daoqing. Atlas of Chinese River System (Revised edition) [M]. Qingdao: Qingdao Press, 2010

1.4.2 Poyang Lake Poyang Lake is located in the south of Jiujiang section of the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the central part of northern Jiangxi Province. It covers an area of 3150 km2 during the normal water period. It is the second largest lake (second only to Qinghai Lake) and the largest freshwater lake in China. From west to east, Poyang Lake receives the water of five rivers, namely Raohe River, Xinjiang River, Fuhe River, Ganjiang River, Xiushui River, and some small rivers such as Boyang River, Xihe River (also known as Zhangtian River), Tongjin River. After being regulated by the lake, they flow into the Changjiang River at Hukou. Poyang Lake is an important water-collecting lake in the Changjiang River Basin. The whole Poyang Lake water system stretches across the plains at the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River and the mountainous area in southeast China. The central and northern parts of the lake area are low and flat, and are surrounded by hills. The terrain descends from periphery to the center and is open to the north between Jiujiang and Hukou. The drainage area reaches 162,000 km2 , accounting for about 9% of that of the Changjiang River Basin. As a typical seasonal freshwater lake taking in and sending out water, the lake surface of Poyang Lake varies considerably during the flood season and dry season. During high water level period (20 m high above sea), the lake covers an area of 4125 km2 , while in dry season (12 m high above sea), it only covers an area of about 500 km224 (Fig. 1.26). 24

Xie Zhendong, Shao Changsheng, Chen Lide. Poyang Lake’s Past and Present [M]. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 2018.

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Based on geology, landform and historical evolution of the lake basin, Poyang Lake can be divided into the south and north part by Songmen Mountain in Yongxiu. The south is the main lake area, which is wide and shallow and formed relatively late, while the northern area with deep gorge is a channel into the river, which was formed earlier. Poyang Lake evolved from the ancient Penglize Lake which spanned from the north to the south of the Changjiang River. Taibai Lake, Longgan Lake and Daguan Lake in the north of Changjiang River and the northern Poyang Lake in the north of Songmen Mountain in the south of the Changjiang River were all belong to Penglize Lake. Water and lands are alternated in Penglize where the ancient Changjiang River flowed. It was a flood plain in its middle reaches of the ancient times. In the Han Dynasty, the main channel of the Changjiang River moved southward to today’s location. The flood plain on the north side was gradually shrinking due to the decrease in incoming water, which, in the Six Dynasties period, was called “Leichi Lake”. Nowadays, there are only some lakes left, such as Longgan Lake and Daguan Lake. The northern part was still called “Pengli” in Six Dynasties Period, which is today’s North Poyang Lake. In the Southern Dynasties Period, it only covered the area around Songmen Mountain. However, due to the abundant water from the upper reaches and the jacking influence of the Changjiang River on the lower section of the lake and the flood backflush, the lake surface was expanding continuously. As a result, the south Poyang Lake surpassed the north Poyang Lake to become the main lake area, which has become a large lake in the early Tang Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the branch lake of Poyang Lake expanded, and the lake surface expanded southward. However, the lake bed became shallow and the isolated islands in the lake connected with the land due to the continuous silt accumulation and reclamation of land from the lake. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the reclamation of land from the lake became intensified, which accelerated the shrinkage of lake surface. However, the shrinkage trend of Dongting Lake surpassed that of Poyang Lake which replaced Dongting Lake as the largest freshwater lake in China (Figs. 1.27 and 1.28). The water system of Poyang Lake belongs to subtropical monsoon climate zone, with warm and humid climate, and the average annual precipitation is 1570 mm. The annual precipitation in the region is relatively even, decreasing from southeast to northwest, but the distribution in a year is uneven. Spring is wet and rainy, and 60% of the annual precipitation concentrate from April to June. It is the earliest water system in the Changjiang River basin that enters the flood season. In summer, it is generally sunny, hot and dry, but typhoons can also bring heavy rain. In addition, from July to September, due to the jacking influence and flood backflush of the Changjiang River and the frequent floods in the lake area, the flood season will often be extended to August or even September. The annual runoff of Poyang Lake varies little, which can effectively regulate and store the floods of the Changjiang River and replenish the fresh water in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River and the lake area. Especially in September and October every year, when the Three Gorges Reservoir reserve water, the water transported from Poyang Lake to Changjiang River increases, which greatly replenishes the water in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. For

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Fig. 1.27 Historical Changes of Poyang Lake. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wei Songshan, Xiao Huazhong. Exploration on the of Poyang Lake Basin Development [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press, 1995:11

many years, relying on its great natural purification function, Poyang Lake gives a full play to maintaining the ecological environment in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. However, in recent years, the decline of lake water quality caused by agricultural pollution, industrial waste water pollution, domestic sewage and sand mining at the bottom of the lake can not be ignored. Poyang Lake is suffering great ecological pressure, which is in urgent need of protection (Photo 1.18).

1.4.3 Chaohu Lake Chaohu Lake, also known as “Qiaohu Lake” or “Jiaohu Lake”, is located on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River and the central part of Anhui Province, between Hefei and Wuhu. It covers an area of about 780 km2 in

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Fig. 1.28 Comparison of Poyang lake surface between 1970s and current wet season. Author’s own drawing. Source: Xie Zhendong, Shao Changsheng, Chen Lide. Poyang Lake’s Past and Present [M]. Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 2018

normal water level period. It is one of the five largest freshwater lakes in China. Zhongmiao Temple (also known as “Shengmu Temple” or “Temple of Loyalty”) is located in a peninsula at the central part of the Chaohu Lake. Near it in the lake there are Mushan Mountain and Gushan Mountain on the island. With Zhongmiao Temple—Mushan Mountain—Qitou Mouth as the separation line, Chaohu can be divided into the east and west parts. Chaohu basin is adjacent to the Changjiang River in the east. The watershed of the Changjiang River and the Huaihe River is in its northwest. It neighbours Chuhe River basin in the northeast, and neighbours Chenyao Lake, Caizi Lake and Wanhe River basin in the south, with a total area of about 14,200 km2 (Fig. 1.29). The terrain of the basin is gradually lower from northwest to Southeast and inclined to Chaohu Lake. The river system in the basin is well-developed, and it has been known as “360 branches of the harbor accepting the water” since ancient times. The rivers flowing into the lake are mainly in the west and southwest of the lake area. There are 34 tributaries flowing into the lake, which flow southeastwards out of the east lake estuary and into the Changjiang River through Yuxi River (also known as “Yuncao River” and “Ruxushui River” in ancient times). In addition, Niutun River downstream Chaohu sluice is a flood diversion channel into the river. Besides Chaohu Lake, there is also a Huangpi Lake (23.3 km2 ) and a Baihue Lake (now reclaimed) in the area.

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Photo 1.18 As Poyang Lake enters its dry season in winter, Luoxingdun, a small island in the lake, comes out from the water

Chaohu basin is located in the transition zone of plates, which became a basin due to the Yanshan Movement. A rift lake was formed due to the fault depression which blocked the water from the northern foot of Dabie Mountains. From the end of the tertiary to the beginning of the Quaternary (5–3.5 million years ago), the lake surface reached the largest. It was near Shuanghe town of Lu’an in the west, reached Hefei City in the north, and connected Baihu lake of Lujiang in the south, covering an area of more than 2000 km2 . Since 15,000 years ago, due to the continuous inflow of a large amount of silt, the lake was shrinking continuously and was split to become the current situation. At present, the estuaries into the lake are getting increasingly silted up. Chaohu basin belongs to subtropical monsoon climate zone, with distinct four seasons, temperate climate and moderate rainfall. In spring, temperature is changeable. The rain is concentrated and Plum Rain season is well-marked in summer. The climate is temperate in autumn. There is only shore ice in winter, and the lake is hardly frozen. The average annual precipitation of the whole basin is about 1000 mm. The interannual distribution is uneven, and drought frequently occurs in hilly areas. The annual distribution is uneven, too. The precipitation is concentrated in summer in which heavy rain occurs frequently, and the polder area is prone to flood disasters. Due to the warm and humid climate in Chaohu Lake Basin and the fertile soil, the polder area is an agricultural area with high yield along the river in Anhui Province.

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Fig. 1.29 Overview of Chaohu Lake. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Daoqing. Atlas of Chinese River System (Revised edition) [M]. Qingdao: Qingdao Press, 2010

However, due to the reclamation of the land from the lake for a long time, most of the original river branches and bays have become polder areas, which greatly weakens the flood storage capacity of Chaohu Lake. Chaohu Lake is a shallow lake connecting the river. There is a large area of grassland along the bank and a variety of aquatic plants. The lake is rich in aquatic resources. However, the ecological environment of Chaohu Lake has been destroyed due to people’s reclamation. In particular, the Yuxi Sluice and Chaohu Sluice have cut off the channel connecting Chaohu Lake and the Changjiang River and obstructed the migration of fish between the river and the lake. As a result, the species of fish in Chaohu Lake decrease considerably. In addition, since the mid-twentieth century, Chaohu Lake has been suffering from serious water pollution. Since the 1970s, the degree of eutrophication of Chaohu Lake has ranked first among that of the five freshwater lakes in China, and even “water bloom”25 has appeared. After nearly 40 years of treatment, the water quality of Chaohu Lake has been improved, but the situation is still unsatisfactory.

25

“Water bloom” is a kind of natural algae in fresh water, which is a feature of water eutrophication. It often occurs in summer with high temperature, which is a kind of green or yellow phytoplankton floating on the water surface. They are concentrated in wind and waves, and sometimes form a thick layer of several centimeters. “Water bloom” which is washed ashore will decompose quickly and give off a bad smell.

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1.4.4 Taihu Lake Taihu Lake, formerly known as “Zhenze”, “Ju’ou”, “Lize” or “Wuhu Lake”, is located in a triangle-shaped area between the lower reaches of the Changjiang River and Hangzhou Bay, and at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. In normal water level period, the lake covers an area of 2338 km2 , which is the third largest freshwater lake in China. There are 48 islands in the lake. The combination of mountains and rivers forms a picturesque scenery (Fig. 1.30). Taihu Lake Basin is adjacent to the East China Sea in the east, and Qiantang River in the south. It is separated by Tianmu Mountains, Jieling Mountains and Maoshan Mountains from the Qiantang River, Shuiyang River and Qinhuai River in the west, with a total area of about 36,500 km2 . It is high in periphery and low-lying in the middle, forming a butterfly-shaped depression plain with Taihu Lake as the center. This special terrain leads to poor water discharge and frequent floods in Taihu Plain, so the continuous large-scale water conservancy project construction is the inevitable premise for the occurrence and development of local civilization. Liangzhu Ancient City in Hanzhou, the earliest large-scale water conservancy project in China, is located in the Taihu Lake Basin. It is also the earliest discovered dam system in the world with a history of 4700 to 5100 years. Liangzhu Ancient City site has been subscribed into the World Heritage List in 2019, which proves the 5000-year history of Chinese civilization with facts.

Fig. 1.30 Overview of Taihu Lake. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Daoqing. Atlas of Chinese River System (Revised edition) [M]. Qingdao: Qingdao Press, 2010

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The water system of Taihu Lake Basin is the last tributary water system of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, including hundreds of lakes, a large number of short rivers and the Huangpu River. With the line between the Zhihu port on the north bank of Taihu Lake and Changdou port on the south bank as the dividing line, the water system can be divided into two systems, the upper source system in the west and the lower branch system in the east, which are the influent zone and effluent zone respectively. There were three channels leading the water into the Changjiang River or the sea, namely the Wusong River, the Dongjiang River and the Loujiang River, which were called “three rivers of Taihu Lake”, discharging water to the east, south and north respectively. In the Tang Dynasty, the Dongjiang River and Loujiang River disappeared, and there appeared respectively 36 ports in the northeast and southeast which could discharge water into the river and the sea. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, due to the eastward extension of the coastline, the estuary section of Wusong River gradually got silted up (finally, the lower section of the river narrowed and was called Suzhou River). The ports in the northeast also needed to be dredged frequently to maintain the water supply. However, due to the repeated collapse of the banks and floodgates along the coastal areas in the southeast, the floodgates had to be gradually changed into weirs to prevent seawater. The situation of drainage blockage in Taihu Lake became worse and worse, and Suzhou, Songjiang, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou and some other places often got flooded. In the early Ming Dynasty, Fanjiabang, a small river, was built to connect the Huangpu area, which was used to guide the lake water into the sea. Then a series of artificial canals was built to dredge the water of Taihu Lake. In less than half a century, Fanjiabang became the Huangpu River, which replaced Wusong River as the main drainage channel in the whole basin. Today, the drainage system of Taihu Lake is still composed of Huangpu River and many artificial canals. The Taihu Lake Basin belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone with warm and humid climate, and the rainfall is abundant, with the annual average precipitation of 1120 mm. The annual distribution of precipitation is uneven. The rainfall in summer (June–August) is the most, accounting for 35–40% of the annual precipitation. In addition, the terrain is low-lying and the drainage situation is poor, which frequently causes floods. In addition, the Taihu Lake Basin, close to the eastern coast, often suffers from wind disasters, about twice a year on average. In addition to direct disasters, typhoons often increase the tide level at the Changjiang River Estuary and the sea level, resulting in the overflow of tides which may destroy dykes and flood farmlands and cities.

Chapter 2

The Cognitive History of the Nature of the Changjiang River

2.1 The Cognition of the Mainstream of the Changjiang River People’s understanding of the ecological situation of the Changjiang River is continuously developing. Taking the exploration of the main stream and source of the Changjiang River as an example, this chapter will show the evolution of the Chinese people’s cognition of the Changjiang river. Restricted by vision and measurement means, the ancient people had misunderstood the mainstream and the source of the Changjiang River with the social development and the improvement of productivity level, the understanding has gradually become clear.

2.1.1 The Confusion of the Changjiang River and the Han River Three or four thousand years ago, during the Xia and Shang Dynasties, early civilization flourished in the Jianghan Plain where the Changjiang River and the Han River converge. When the ancestors in Jing-Chu sailed across the lakes and rivers of Yunmengze, they were confused about whether the Changjiang River or the Han River is the main stream (Fig. 2.1). The middle reaches of the Han River are wide, of which the section near Xiangyang is 3000 m wide. During the flood period, the river surface can reach 2–3 km wide. While the middle reaches of the Changjiang River are 800–1200 m wide. So it was difficult for the ancestors of Xia and Shang Dynasties to judge which river is the mainstream only by eyes. Han River, as the longest tributary of the Changjiang River, is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. It was known as the “river from heaven” and “river from clouds” in ancient times. In the Book of Songs, the earliest collection of poems in © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_2

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Fig. 2.1 The Changjiang River and Han River on the map

China, there are poems related to the Han River in each section: Feng, Ya and Song. Among them, in scholars’ opinion, Zhounan and Shaonan are poetry in South China within the Han River Basin. Han River Basin is one of the core areas of Chinese civilization in the pre-Qin period. During the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu named Liu Bang as the governor of Han (controlling Ba, Shu and Hanzhong Area). Later, Liu Bang took Hanzhong in the Han River Basin as his base, and finally established the Han Dynasty. As a result, the Han River Basin became the birthplace of Han civilization, and the names of “Han people”, “Han (Chinese) characters”, “Han (Chinese) language” and “Han clothes” came into being. The important status of Han River in Han civilization directly influenced the Korean Peninsula. Around the fourteenth century, Yi Dynasty of Joseon named the river flowing across the core area of its territory as the “Han River” (in Korea). Many names of cities along the river were similar to those of famous cities in the Chinese Han River Basin, such as Danyang, Xiangyang, Jiangling and Hancheng (Seoul) (formerly known as Hanyang in Chinese). Han River, also recorded as “the River (usually refers to the Changjiang River)” in ancient times, is often seen in ancient documents. Prof. Shi Quan’s research shows that there are many records of mistaking the Han River as “the River” from the PreQin Dynasties to the Southern Dynasties1 . For example, it is written in Shih Chi that King Zhao made a southbound war and did not return, and died on “the River”. Whether this “River” refers to the Changjiang River or the Han River has always been controversial. The earlier written Bamboo Annals also recorded that King Zhao of Zhou had the southbound war. It is written that “in the 16th year of King Zhao, he attacked the Chu State (also called Jing) by crossing the Han River and met giant rhinoceros.” It is also recorded that “in the 19th year, the sky was extraordinarily gloomy and birds and animals like rabbits were shocked, and the whole army is 1

Shi Quan. New Exploration of Ancient Jing-Chu Geography [M]. Wuhan: Wuhan University Press, 1988.

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annihilated in the Han River area.” And there’s also the record of “in the last year of King Zhao, the night was clear, and five colors of light ran through the place in the sky where the king of heaven lives. In his year, the king had a southbound ware and did not return.” It is also recorded in the Mister Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals that “King Zhao of Zhou will have a war with Jing. When he returned, he crossed the Han River but the bridge collapsed and he died there together with Duke Cai.” It is also recorded in Shih Chi Zhengyi a quotation from Diwang Shiji: “The virtue of King Zhao went bad and he had a war southbound. He crossed the Han River when the boatman hated him and took him on a boat that was glued with wood. When the boat sailed to the middle of the river, the glue melted and the boat broke down. So the King and Duke Cai both died in the river.” Whether the cause of King Zhao’s death was the collapse of the bridge or the broken down of the glued ship, it can be confirmed that his death was in the Han River, so the “River” and “Han” in Shih Chi both refer to the Han River. This is an example of the ancients confusing the Changjiang River and the Han River. By the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the historical records had recorded the name of “Changjiang River”. However, according to several records in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, at least some scholars of the Sun Wu regime in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River believed that Han River was the upper reaches of the Changjiang River. According to the Biography of Lu Su in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, in a secret conversation with Sun Quan in 200 AD, Lu Su proposed that Sun Quan should base himself in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, to wait for the opportunity to annex Liu Biao’s armies and obtain all the Changjiang River Basin, and using this to seek control of whole China. At that time, Huang Zu was stationed at Xiakou on the bank of the Changjiang River (in today’s Wuhan), while Liu Biao was in Xiangyang on the bank of the Han River. Lu Su’s so-called “competing for the whole of the Changjiang River” was to seize what he thought was the upper reaches of the Changjiang River on the basis of his own occupation of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River, that is, the Han River section from today’s Wuhan to Xiangyang. In 208 AD, after Liu Biao died, Lu Su said to Sun Quan that the area of Jingchu was close to his reign so that if going northwards upstream the river they can control the area of the Changjiang River and the Han River. If they have these areas, they will have a foundation to become the emperor of the whole China. Compared with above, it further confirms Lu Su’s view that the upper reaches of the Changjiang River were the Han River located in the north, rather than the Jingjiang River section today. According to the Biography of Lv Meng in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, after the Chibi war, Liu Bei left Guan Yu to guard Jingzhou and Lv Meng from Eastern Wu plotted to seize it. He secretly told Sun Quan that he planned to seize Xiangyang and to defeat Guanyu in order to occupy the whole area of the Changjiang River. At that time, the central area under the control of Guan Yu in Jingzhou was Jiangling on the North Bank of the Changjiang River and Gong’an on the South Bank. According to the biography of Guan Yu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, it was said that “at the year of 220 AD, Guan Yu led the crowd to attack Cao Ren in Fancheng (in Xiangyang nowadays).” Xiangyang and Fancheng were located opposite each

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other on the banks of the Han River and were both important towns in the middle section of the Han River at the end of the Han Dynasty. Referring to Guan Yu’s being granted the Xiangyang prefecture chief after the Chibi war, it can be confirmed that Guan Yu still had Xiangyang at this time. So, Lu Meng’s idea of “full control of the Changjiang River” was likely to include both the section downstream Xiangyang of the Han River and the Jingjiang section of the present Changjiang River. This is another typical example of the ancients confusing the Changjiang River and the Han River. In the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the Yunmengze Lake between Changjiang River and the Han River further shrank and even disappeared. It evolved into lakes and ponds such as Dachan and Magu. Although the grand occasion of the connection of the Changjiang River and the Han River would still appear in the flood season in summer, the difference between Changjiang River and the Han River had become clearer most times. There were still sporadic records confusing the Changjiang River and the Han River in the early time of the Southern Dynasties. For example, the Record of Jingzhou written by Sheng Hongzhi in the Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties had recorded: “Xiangyang is the north port of the old Chu State. Crossing the River from Xiangyang, passing through Nanyang and leaving Fangguan is the way to Zhou, Zheng, Jin and Wei states. The “River” crossed in Xiangyang was obviously referring to the Han River. But generally speaking, the confusion of the ancients about whether the Changjiang River or the Han River was the mainstream had tended to be eliminated. However, due to the confusion between the Changjiang River and the Han River from the pre-Qin period to the Southern Dynasties period, there is a certain chance for the revision of the traditional interpretation of the geography of ancient Jing-Chu area since the early Tang Dynasty. Prof. Shi Quan, through clearing up historical materials and rigorous textual research, combining with on-situ investigation, came up with a series of new interpretations of ancient place names in the ancient Jing-Chu area. The core is that Yingdu, the capital of Chu, and its successor cities from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Qi and Liang of the Southern Dynasties were not on the side of the Changjiang River, “but in the west of the middle section of the Han River and the lower section of the Manhe River, which nowadays is in the south of Yicheng, Hubei. Accordingly, a series of famous mountains and cities in the ancient Jing-Chu area were also on the Yicheng and Zhongxiang plains on both sides of the middle section of the Han River”2 . If his theory can be confirmed, it will fundamentally change the historical place name system of Jing-Chu area accepted by the majority of researchers. Although his statement has not been generally recognized by the academics, it still greatly promoted the study of ancient Jing-Chu historical geography in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River, especially in the middle and

2

Institute of Historical Geography, Wuhan University.Mr. Shi Quan’s Academic Succession and Achievements [J]. WuJournal of Han University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 1998: (06).

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lower sections of the Han River. His theory remains to be further confirmed by relevant archaeological excavations. Institute of historical geography, Wuhan University: Mr. Shi Quan’s academic succession and academic achievements.

2.1.2 Minjiang River as the Mainstream During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States Period, China’s earliest geography book, Chapter Yugong of Shangshu (Book of Documents), had written: “the Bozhong Mountain led the Yang River eastwards, which became the Han River, and flowing eastwards being called the Canglang River and Sanshi River. It passed the Dabie Mountains and flowed southwards into the Changjiang River.” And “Minshan Mountains led the Changjiang River, with its tributary Tuojiang River in its east.” The book considers that the Han River is a tributary to the Changjiang River and Minshan Mountains is the source of the Changjiang River. The Classic of Mountains and Seas written in the same era had similar opinions. It wrote: “Minshan Mountains are where the River flows out. It turns northeastwards and flows into the sea.” Later, Xunzi (Hsun Tzu) wrote: “the River came from Minshan Mountain, at the source, the water can only float a cup.” Kongzi Jiayu (Family Analects of Confucius) also wrote: “the River originates from Minshan, and its source can float a cup.” These classics recognized that the Changjiang River originated from the Minshan Mountains. So later generations all believed it. In particular, after Emperor Wu of Han established the position of Shangshu (Book of Documents) the first of the Five Classics, and the opinion of Minshan being the source was more deeply rooted. For example, Huainanzi (Book of Prince of Huainan) wrote: “the River flows out of Minshan Mountains and flows into the sea in the East” (Fig. 2.2).

Fig. 2.2 Minshan guiding the river

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As for the location of the Minshan Mountains, according to the official history book of the Western Han Dynasty, the Geographical Records of Hanshu, it is recorded that “the Minshan Mountains locate in the Jiandidao of Shu County outside Xixiao, and it is where the River originated. It flows southeastwards into the sea at Jiangdu.” It clearly states that the Minshan Mountains locate in Jiandidao, which is, Songpan County in Sichuan Province nowadays. It is located east of Minshan Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Western Sichuan and is the source of the Minjiang River. Therefore, there is no doubt that the source of the Changjiang River considered at that time was the current Minjiang River. In a word, for quite a long historical period, the Chinese regard today’s Minjiang River as the source of the Changjiang River. From the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty, administrative units such as Jiangyuan County or Jiangyuan town were successively set up in the source area of Minjiang River, which means that the government recognized Minjiang River as the source of the Changjiang River. Until the 20th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1541), Luo Hongxian still clearly marked words such as “Minjiang River is the source of the river” on the Guangyu Maps (the earliest Chinese comprehensive atlas that can be seen so far).

2.1.3 Jinsha River as the Source The Jinsha River was known to the Chinese at the latest when Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty communicated with the Southwest residents. According to Ban Gu’s Hanshu, “the Shengshui River (Jinsha River) originates outside the territory of Suijiu in Yueqin county (now Yongsheng, Yunnan Province), and flows eastwards into the River in Bodao. It passes two counties, and flows 1400 li.” Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote in his Shuijingzhu (Commentary on the Waterways Classic): “the Shengshui River originates outside the territory. Shanhaijing said that Shengshui originated from the Basui Mountains. It flowed southeastwards and was divided into two rivers. One of them ran south along Maojiu Road road to Dazuo (now Miyi, Sichuan Province) and joined Ruoshui River (now Yalong River). From the downstream, it is also called Shengrui River.” In the 14th year of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty (641 AD), Princess Wencheng married and Srongtsen Gampo went to Baihai (today’s Zhaling lake, Qinghai Province) to meet the sending off team. Since then, there had been frequent exchanges between the inland area and Tibet Plateau for more than 200 years. The area of Tongtian River in Yushu in the upper section of Jinsha River was an important channel between the inland area and Tibet Plateau. Therefore, Chinese people knew more about Tongtian River in the upper section of the Jinsha River. In the Song Dynasty, due to the government’s policy in the southwest, Song people’s understanding of the mainstream and tributaries of the Changjiang River upstream the Dadu River section was often not as good as that of the people in the Han and Tang Dynasties. During the Yuan Dynasty, with the establishment of Provincial administration in Tibet and

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Pags-pa Lama titled the teacher of the Emperor, the exchanges between Tibet and central China increased, and the people’s understanding of the upper reaches of the Jinsha River greatly improved, confirming that it originated from Tibet. Geographical Records of History of the Yuan Dynasty wrote: “Lijiang is named after the River because Jinsha River produces Shajin (gold in sand). It originated from the Tibetan area.” In the 20th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1541 AD), Luo Hongxian first painted the Jinsha River Course in northern Yunnan in the Guangyu Maps. Although he is still limited to the classic theory of Minshan as the source area, he still drew a Huge Mahu Lake referring the Changjiang River source just like the source of the Yellow River. In the Zhengde years, there was even a map by Yang Ziqi that marked “the source of the Big River” on Minjiang River while marked “the source of the River” on Jinsha River. It showed that there were scholars in the mid-Ming Dynasty who recognized that Jinsha River should be one of the sources to the Changjiang River. By the fifth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1577 AD), Zhang Huang pointed out for the first time in his book Tushubian that the Minjiang River was not the source of the Changjiang River, and the Jinsha River was. There was still a conclusion that “the river originates from Minshan Mountains” in the map of the general situation of China’s Geography. So actually the views were not unified at that time. Decades later, Xu Xiake, a geographer in the late Ming Dynasty, followed the Jinsha River to Lijiang, Yunnan. After field investigation, he found that the Jinsha River was longer than the Minjiang River, and clearly pointed out that the Minjiang River was a tributary of the Changjiang River, and the Jinsha River was the main stream of the Changjiang River. However, because Xu Xiake had no official identity, his theory was not generally recognized by the people of the time. The important geography books in the early Qing Dynasty, Dushi Fangyu Jiyao and Yugong Zhuizhi both still had the old viewpoint. It was not until the gradual introduction of western advanced mapping technology that Emperor Kangxi officially affirmed Xu Xiake’s statement and the Jinsha River was confirmed as the source of the Changjiang River (Fig. 2.3).

2.2 River Source Investigation 2.2.1 Investigation of the River Source in the Kangxi Reign Although the Jinsha River was identified as the source of the Changjiang River during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722), the work of going deep into the QinghaiTibet Plateau and investigating the source of the Changjiang River was only started in the later period of Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi sent ministers to investigate the source of the Changjiang River many times. In the 57th year of Kangxi (1718 A.D.), China first adopted modern

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Fig. 2.3 Jinsha River as the source

surveying technology to draw the Huangyu Quanlan Maps,3 and drew the general orientation of the water system in the upper reaches of Tongtian River. In order to be more precise, in the 59th year of Kangxi (1720 A.D.), he again sent special ministers to investigate the upper reaches of Tongtian River. However, due to the bad weather and difficult traffic in the source area of the river, the ministers were unable to further explore the source, so they had to “look at the source and sigh” facing the dense river network at the south foot of Bayan Har Mountains, leaving the conclusion that “the source of the river is like a broom and widely distributed” (Fig. 2.4). It can be seen from Fig. 2.5 that the source of the Changjiang River at that time was “Muleiwusubila” (the earliest name in the upper reaches of Tongtian River), which originated from Basadongbualin (Basatonglamu Mountains, i.e. Tanggula/Dangla Mountains). This section is now called “Buqu” (Photo 2.1).

2.2.2 Buqu as the Main Source: Description of River Source Water System from Qianlong Dynasty to Modern Times In the 26th year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1761 AD), Qi Zhaonan, the Minister of Rites, wrote the Outline of Waterways, which described the source water system in more detail.

3

The Huangyu Quanlan Maps were drawn on a scale of 1:400,000–1:1,500,000. The whole country was composed of 28 sub maps, which were obtained from large-area field surveying and mapping, detailed and accurate, ahead of European countries at that time. The Huangyu Quanlan Maps was supplemented in the following years. There are 35 maps in the version of Fox. From the 12th map of the Source of Jinsha, Lancang and Other Rivers, we can see the characteristics of mountains and water systems at the source of Jinsha River drawn at that time.

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Fig. 2.4 Changjiang River source map according to Tan Qixiang’s Atlas of Chinese History. Author’s own drawing. Source: Tan Qixiang. Historical Atlas of China [M]. Beijing: China Map Publishing House, 1982

Fig. 2.5 Changjiang River source map according to the Map of the Source of Jinsha River and Lancang River in the Huangyu Quanlan Maps copied by Fox. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:26

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Photo 2.1 The Braided River system of the source region of the Changjiang River

First of all, it should be pointed out that although he had a considerable understanding of the source of the river, Qi Zhaonan, the ritual officer, still stubbornly maintained the old viewpoint that Minjiang was the source of the Changjiang River. However, the official book Daqing Yitong Zhi take the Jinsha River as the source of the river, indicating that the official status of the source of the Jinsha River has been recognized. Qi Zhaonan takes Basatonglamu Mountain as the source of Jinsha River, which is the same as the source of the Changjiang River determined in the Kangxi Reign period. However, he did not verify the mainstream and tributaries correctly the rivers upstream the Tongtian River. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, some scientific researchers still went deep into the source area of the Changjiang River, but limited by complex geographical conditions and harsh climate environment, and lack of more advanced and effective measurement means, there was no breakthrough in the understanding of the source of the Changjiang River (Figs. 2.6 and 2.7). During the Republic of China Period, scholars still argued about the source of the Changjiang River. They had roughly four views: the the Tanggula Mountains as the source, the Bayan Har Mountains as the source, two sources from north and south, or three sources. (1) Source from the Tanggula Mountains The Tanggula Mountains, also known as “Dangla mountains” or “Basatonglamu Mountains” and “Basadongbualin”. This viewpoint inherited the one since the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty that Buqu is the source of the Changjiang River. The representative works showing this point of view included the Complete Records of Chinese Geography (Part III) compiled by Kong Tingzhang in 1914, the Draft Plan for the Regulation from Hankow to Wusong of the Changjiang River published in 1920, the Map of Chinese Classification and Division of Provinces compiled by Yaxin Geoscience Society in 1931, and the Grand Dictionary of Geographical Names, the

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Fig. 2.6 Source of the Changjiang River on the Qinghai-Tibet Map in the Complete Map of the Qing Empire. Author’s own drawing. Source: The Complete Map of the Qing Empire, Qinghai Tibe [M]. Shanghai: Commercial Press,1905

Fig. 2.7 River source map drawn according to the Complete Map of China and Foreign Countries by Zou Daijun in 1907. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:29

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Fig. 2.8 River source map drawn according to the Grand Dictionary of Geographical Names. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:30

Local Culture and Humanities in the Northwest and the Water Conservancy Research of the Changjiang River published in 1931, 1935 and 1936 (Fig. 2.8). (2) Source from the Bayan Har Mountains “Bayan Har” is also known as “Bayan Hardeliben” and “Bayan Har Mountain”. This point of view holds that the Chumar River is the source of the Changjiang River. The representative works showing this point of view included: the New Map of the Republic of China compiled by Ding Wenjiang, Weng Wenhao and Zeng Shiying in 1934, China’s water Conservancy Problems and the 24-year Water Conservancy Construction published by the Commercial Press in 1935, the Survey Report of Sichuan and Guizhou Waterways in 1939, Cihai (bound edition) in 1941, and China’s Geographical Education Map written by Jin Qingyu in 1948 (Fig. 2.9). (3) Two Sources from North and South There are two views on the exact rivers of the north source and the south source. One takes Buqu as the south source and Chumar River as the north source, the other takes Gaerqu as the south source and the Tuotuo River as the north source. There are many works holding the former view, such as the Draft of Yushu County Annals, Cao Ruirong’s Qinghai Travel Notes in 1928, and He Minqiu’s Introduction to Chinese Geography in 1947. The only representative work holding the latter view is the Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Toponymy in China compiled by Zang Lihe and others in 1929.

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Fig. 2.9 River source map drawn according to the New Map of the Republic of China. Author’s own drawing. Source: Sun Zhongming, Zhao Weihang. Historical Process of China’s Understanding of Changjiang Source [J]. Journal of Yangzhou University (Natural Science Edition), 1984 (01)

(4) Three Sources This point of view generally believed that there are three sources: South, North and Middle. One view is that the middle source is Buqu, the south source is Dangqu, and the North source is Chumar River, such as Ma Hetian’s Investigation into the Northwest in 1936 (Fig. 2.10). Another view is that Tuotuo River is the middle source, Gaerqu is the south source, and Chumar river is the North source, such as Qinghai written by Zhou Zhenhe in 1938 (Fig. 2.11).

2.2.3 Tuotuo River or Dangqu: Modern Investigation and Debate on the River Source In the early days of the founding of People’s Republic of China, there was no time to accurately measure the area to the west of the Qinghai Tibet highway, so the publication of the maps still used the old data and made some revision. In terms of text, the south and north sources were more mentioned: the south source was the Muluwusu River (same site as Tuotuo River) originating from the north foot of Zurhen Ul Mountains; The North source is Chumar River, which originates from the east foot of Hoh Xil. For example, Chen Qiaoyi’s River of the Motherland and Hu Fu’s Basic Knowledge of Chinese Geography in 1954. By 1965, Cihai (draft)

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Fig. 2.10 River source map drawn according to Investigation into the Northwest. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:32

Fig. 2.11 River source map drawn according to Qinghai. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:32

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Fig. 2.12 River source map drawn according to the Atlas of People’s Republic of China. Author’s own drawing. Source: Atlas of the People’s Republic of China [M]. Beijing: Map Publishing House, 1972:52

was published, in which the description of the river source, in addition to still taking chumar River as the North source, it also pointed out that “Muluwusu river is the south source of the Changjiang River, which flows out of the north foot of Tanggula Mountain in the southwest of Qinghai, and its tributary Ulan Mulun River is the source of the Changjiang River, from of Zurhen Ul.” Till the publication of the Atlas of People’s Republic of China in 1972, the Tuotuo river on which was drawn just to the north foot of the Zurhen Ul Mountains (Fig. 2.12). In 1958, the Changjiang River Basin Planning Office (now known as the Changjiang River Water Resources Commission, hereinafter referred to as “the commission”) established the “Changjiang River Source Hydrological Survey team” in Chongqing Hydrological Station. The survey team successively set up hydrological stations along the Tuotuo River and Chumar River in June and July of that year and the following year, and carried out hydrological mapping in Deliechuka (now estuary of Gaerqu). Since 1969, by adopting the aerial photogrammetry method, 1:100,000 topographic map surveying and mapping was carried out at the source area of the river. In 1974, the aerial survey and mapping was completed, and it finally accurately reflected the real situation of the mountains and water systems in the source area of the Changjiang River. The Tuotuo River was finally noticed to have an upper section crossing the Zuerkenwula Mountains and having its source at the southwest side of Geladandong Mountains. The river direction of the source section of Gaerqu had also been corrected.

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In addition, detailed surveying and mapping in the Geladandong was carried out and the source of Tuotuo River is found out to be located between Jianggendiru and Gaqiadirugang. The above survey work provided basic data for the investigation of river source carried out by the committee (Fig. 2.13; Photos 2.2 and 2.3). In the summer of 1976 (from July 21 to September 9), the committee sent an investigation team to the source area of the Changjiang River to conduct a detailed investigation and research on the natural conditions such as the water system, hydrology,

Fig. 2.13 Water system map of the Changjiang River source area. Author’s own drawing. Source: Sun Zhongming, Zhao Weihang. Historical Process of China’s Understanding of Changjiang Source [J]. Journal of Yangzhou University (Natural Science Edition), 1984 (01)

Photo 2.2 Tongtian River

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Photo 2.3 Jianggendiru

landform, glacier and climate. It was confirmed that there are five large rivers at the source of the Changjiang River: Chumar River, Tuotuo River, Dangqu, Buqu and Gaerqu. The source of Tuotuo River was proved. Considering the length and the straightness and consistency of the upstream and downstream of the river, it was proposed that Tuotuo River was the main source. The subordination of rivers in the water system was reconsidered: Gaerqu was recognized as the tributary of Buqu according to the length of the river. Buqu was recognized as a tributary of Dangqu for the same reason. Dangqu and Tuotuo River converge in Nangjibalong, and downstream of which is Tongtian River. After the investigation, the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences set the total length of the Changjiang River at about 6300 km (surpassing the Mississippi River to become the third longest river in the world) according to the latest aerial survey map and considering the factors such as the extension of the estuary and the straightening of the Jingjiang River, and revised the length of the past (5800 km). In 1977, the committee completed the Report on Several Situations of the Source of the Changjiang River and submitted it to the Ministry of Water and Electric Power resources. Then Shi Mingding issued papers in Scientific Experiment, Geographical Knowledge and other journals to introduce the survey at home and abroad. On January 13, 1978, Xinhua News Agency officially reported the survey results of the source of the Changjiang River and announced that the Tuotuo River is the source of the Changjiang River (Fig. 2.14). In 1978, in order to collect data for the comprehensive utilization planning of the Changjiang River Basin and systematically introduce the Changjiang River to domestic and foreign researchers, the committee needed to further understand the basic situation of the source area of the Changjiang River. So they worked together with other sectors, and invited institutions such as the Institute of Plateau Biology of

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Fig. 2.14 Schematic diagram of river source investigation route in 1976. Author’s own drawing. Source: Shi Mingding. Unforgettable Investigation of the Source of Changjiang [M]. Wuhan: Changjiang Press, 2010:39

the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Lanzhou University, forming a photography and investigation team to go to the source of the Changjiang River again from June to September, so as to further understand the basic situation, the water system and characteristics of the source of the Changjiang River. This second survey found that there were some mistakes in the previous measurement data. The Tuotuo River on the map of Mariacuo should be 64.6 km long instead of 82.3 km on the 1976 version. Therefore, the Hydrological Bureau of the committed decided to remeasure the river in 1980. And it was not until 1987 that the Tuotuo River was officially recognized as the main source of the Changjiang River, while Dangqu and Chumar rivers were determined as the south source and the north source respectively. It was pointed out that the length of the main stream of the Changjiang River is 6397 km with the Tuotuo River as the source, 6403 km with the Dangqu River as the source and 6288 km with the Chumar River as the source. However, the fact that the river length considering Dangqu as the main source was slightly longer than considering Tuotuo River as the main source in 1983, and the fact that the drainage area of Dangqu River system exceeded the Tuotuo River system after re-recognizing the river source water system in 1976, both foreshadowed the debate in the future. In recent years, with the development of information technology and the improvement of investigation instruments and equipment, the frequency and scale of investigation in the source area of the Changjiang River have sharply increased. People now have an increasingly in-depth understanding of the three sources of the Changjiang River. The voice of taking Dangqu, which is longer by length and larger by water

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volume, as the main source of the Changjiang River has become louder and louder. At present, the exploration of the source of Tuotuo River and Dangqu continues, and people’s understanding of the source of the Changjiang River is deepening, which is an endless process.

Chapter 3

Overview of River Civilization

3.1 River Civilizations Hegel once said: “The true theatre of History is therefore the temperate zone; or, rather, its northern half, because the earth there presents itself in a continental form, and has a broad breast, as the Greeks say.”1 It is an indisputable fact that temperate zone—subtropical zone is the birthplace of civilization, especially near the 30°–35° latitude in the south of the north temperate zone. Because of its abundant hydrothermal resources, the four civilizations, namely the civilization of ancient Egypt, Babylon, India and China, were born there. It is worth noting that all of the four civilizations were born near rivers that can provide a sustainable supply for agricultural production, they all have their mother rivers: the Nile, the Euphrates and the Tigris, the Indus and Ganges, and the Changjiang River and the Yellow River. By comparing the civilization of the Changjiang River with other river civilizations near 30° North Latitude, we can more clearly examine the differences between the development mode of micro material culture and macro civilization caused by different natural and geographical conditions, and can explore the evolution of other river civilizations from the overall perspective and the development route of the Changjiang River from a global perspective.

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Hegel [1].

© CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_3

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3.1.1 Nile Civilization 3.1.1.1

“Egypt is a Gift from the Nile”

The Nile is the longest river in the world, with a total length of 6650 km. It is located in the eastern part of Africa, originating from the south of the equator, and flows northwards across 11 countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, southern Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. It finally flows into Mediterranean Sea. The Blue Nile and the White Nile are the two main tributaries of the Nile. Compared with the Changjiang River, the Nile is not only longer, but also covers a larger drainage area which is 2.87 million square kilometers, accounting for about 1/10 of the area of the African continent (Photo 3.1). The lower reaches of the Nile and the Changjiang River Basin are both located near 30° North Latitude, but the climate conditions are very different. Although both of them are controlled by the subtropical high, the Changjiang River Basin has abundant rainfall since the Hengduan Mountains in the west and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau blocks the warm and humid southeast monsoon from the Pacific Ocean at the east of the Changjiang River Basin. The average annual runoff of the Changjiang River is 960 billion cubic meters while that of the Nile River is only 72.5 billion cubic meters, which is far less than that of the Changjiang River. However, compared with today, the middle and lower reaches of the Nile Basin were still relatively warm and humid 9000–5000 years ago, in which the ancient Egyptian civilization was born in the last 1000 years of that period. The significant difference of climate conditions directly led to the difference of principle food crops. The ancestors of the Changjiang River Basin planted rice which was waterconsuming on a large scale, while the ancient Egyptians planted barley and wheat which were drought-resistant on the banks of the Nile. The rise of ancient Egypt is closely related to the Nile. The flooding Nile once brought great disasters to ancient Egyptians. But after figuring out the rules, the ancient Egyptians found that the fertile soil brought by the flooding Nile contributed to the growth of crops. In this long process, the ancient Egyptians have gradually built their own irrigation system, and accumulated rich knowledge of mathematics and geometry. The calendar of ancient Egyptian was also related to the rise and fall of the Nile. Unlike that the Changjiang River can receive water from tributaries in the whole basin, the Nile has no water supply after leaving Sudan and entering Egypt. Due to the lack of regulation of tributaries and lakes, the water volume of the middle and lower reaches of the Nile has more obvious seasonal characteristics than that of the Changjiang River. In June every summer, the tropical grassland climate area where the Blue Nile flows is controlled by the equatorial low pressure, and the precipitation is extremely abundant. From July to August, the river level continues to rise and reaches its peak in September. The residents in the Nile Basin can know the season by the color of the river: when the water of the Nile changes from clear to muddy, the flood will arrive; when the river turns red like blood, the river will overflow the

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Photo 3.1 Aerial view of the Nile Basin. Author’s own drawing. Source: 22. Jiang Shouming, Jia Wen. World River Civilization [M]. Jinan: Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2011:29

bank. After September, when the water level drops, there are only the humus from tropical plants and the silt full of rock salt from the Ethiopian Plateau left on the river banks. However, it is not easy to cultivate on the fertile silt. The dry season in Egypt is very long, and if enough water cannot be stored for farming before the flood recedes, it’s likely that there will be no harvest. Therefore, as early as 2800 BC, Egypt established the “Ministry of Irrigation” responsible for supervising the construction of dams. Around 2600 BC, Kafala Dam, one of the earliest dams in the world, and the earliest reservoir in the world formed in dam construction was built in Egypt. Kafala Dam is located 32 km south of Cairo, with a length of 106 m, and 11.27 m higher than the valley bottom. The two embankments made of stones on the dam foundation are 23.77 m thick, with a slope and steps outside. Between the

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two embankments, there is a 35.96 m long ditch which is filled with 60,000 tons of gravel from the river bed and adjacent hills, which is extremely concrete. The dam abutment still exists. Because of the regular flooding of the Nile, Egypt’s water projects need to be carried out year after year. In this process, Egyptians have accumulated rich knowledge of mathematics. In the Predynastic Period of ancient Egypt, (4500–3100 BC), the decimal system was already used. In its hieroglyphs, there are special symbols for one, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand and one million. The length units of ancient Egypt were based on human organs. The lengths of finger, palm, sole of feet and elbow were common length units. Egyptian mathematics had been able to calculate the area of many shapes, and also had calculated π to 3.16. In the papyrus documents of ancient Egypt, the methods of calculating the volume of hemispheres, pyramids and cylinders were preserved. The calendar and seasons of the ancient Egypt are also related to the fluctuation of the Nile. When Sirius rises with the sun together in the east, the day that the water level of the Nile rises will come. This day is the beginning of a new year in the Egyptian calendar. In ancient Egypt, there were 360 days in a year, which was divided into 12 months, 30 days each month, and 5 days were added to the end of the year. Although there was no leap month, it is quite accurate. There were three seasons in ancient Egypt, namely the flood season, the sowing season and the harvest season, which were also based on the flooding of the Nile.

3.1.1.2

Words and Beliefs

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs can be divided into holy script, cursive script and demotic script, all of which were used by priests and could not be mastered by civilians. Compared with Chinese hieroglyph, its development is quite different, and eventually die out in history. The priests who used hieroglyph were the “servants” of both religious and secular worlds. They were responsible for the temple and funeral affairs, and also participate in the rule of the secular world, just like the “Wu” and “Xi” in Chinese Zhou ritual system. There are many similarities between the ancient Egyptian divine system and that of the Chu area in the Changjiang River Basin. Because devout people believed in “afterlife”, the grave culture of ancient Egypt was also very prosperous. The hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt first appeared on pottery, seals and statues of Naqada Culture period II (3500–3100 B.C.), with phonetic symbols, ideographic symbols and other symbols with special meaning. The most formal writing style was “holy script”. The strokes were very exquisite, decorative and difficult. Monks used cursive script, also known as “hieratic script”. Compared with these two scripts, the “demotic script” was the simplest and appeared latest, about 700 BC. Different from the development of Chinese characters, the number of phonetic symbols of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs gradually increased in the process of development. On the basis of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Semitic people simplified them and create the alphabet. Chinese characters have retained its pictographic basis.

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Similar to the Chinese characters, ancient Egyptian characters also had similar character formation methods: pictograms, ideograms, phono-semantic compounds, transformed cognates and loan characters2 . The hieroglyphic symbols in ancient Egypt can be divided into two types: the symbols of objects (static objects) and the symbols of meanings (actions). There are more object symbols than that of meanings. Object symbols involved all aspects of daily life. For example, the eagle standing on the shelf symbolized the Eagle God, the corresponding number of vertical lines symbolized numbers, the images of animals symbolized animals. Symbols of meanings usually were actions, such as open arms symbolizing embracing, holding weapons symbolizing fighting, legs which are walking symbolizing crossing, etc. Chinese hieroglyphs had many similarities with those of ancient Egypt, such as the symbols of numbers, rain, eyes and so on. Due to cultural difference, many characters with the same meaning had quite different hieroglyphic symbols in Egypt and China3 . Ancient Egyptian phono-semantic compounds were different from those in China. Phonetic symbols did not indicate the pronunciation of the whole phono-semantic compound, but only partial pronunciation. For example, a stork was used to indicate the b sound, a snake on the top of the mountain represented the d sound, and a bird represented the tyw sound. Some of the transformed cognates in ancient Egypt could reflect the special geographical characteristics, such as using the plants only native to the south to symbolize the south, some could reflect specific things, such as using the sticks used by Libyans to symbolize Libyans, and some could reflect specific behaviors, such as using the scepter to symbolize ruling. There are many loan characters in ancient Egyptian, such as a duck for son, a rabbit for opening, a threshing ground covered with grains for time, a house for going out, etc. The priests in ancient Egypt were “servants” of both religious and secular world, responsible for the affairs of temples and funeral affairs, and also participated in the rule of the secular world, whose duties were similar to the “Zongbo”, “Wu” and “Xi” in Rites of Zhou. In ancient Egyptian, the priest meant a “pure man”. They can be divided into two kinds: temple priests and funeral priests. The priests in temples were divided into many hierarchic levels, such as the chief prophet, the deputy prophet, the prophet, the priest, and the deputy priest. This is quite similar to the rigid hierarchy led by “Zongbo” documented in the Rites of Zhou of pre-Qin Dynasty. In addition, similar to the duties of Zongbo who was responsible for the affairs of the royal clan, the priests of ancient Egypt also participated in the affairs of the secular realm, who had more power. In addition to religious affairs, the ancient Egyptian priests also participated in other activities. Most professionals, such as politicians, doctors and lawyers, were cultivated by the schools and libraries set up by them. They enjoy many privileges, including exemption from physical labor and paying taxes. When they were not working, they wore ordinary clothes, but still had the characteristics of priests: 2

Gong Yushu.A Comparative Study of Sumerian, Egyptian and Chinese Ancient Characters [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 2009:238-249. 3 Gong Yushu.A Comparative Study of Sumerian, Egyptian and Chinese Ancient Characters [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 2009:280-284.

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they shaved their hairs and held a staff. When they were in sacrifice activities, they wore different masks, brooches, wigs and cloaks made of animals according to their different levels and categories. In addition, ancient Egyptian priests often held various positions in the secular world. They can follow or be the substitute of the king in expeditions, be judges to hear cases, be ambassadors of the king, or go abroad following the king. With the enhancement of the strength of priests, it became more common for them to be a part-time official in the secular world. While monopolizing the power of communicating with gods, they constantly seized more secular power. The secularization of ancient Egyptian priests was a major feature of ancient Egyptian religion. The Nile not only gave Egyptians harvests, but also brought them deep fear. The fear of the floods of the Nile made Egyptians regard the Nile as a God. In addition to the Nile God, the ancient Egyptians also had various primitive worship of nature and totems, which made Egypt a polytheistic country. These gods have a complex pedigree with conflicts, such as the God of Ra, Amun related to the sun, Osiris related to the Nile, and so on. The ancient Egyptians believed that they would face the “judgment of the afterlife” after death, so they attached great importance to the preservation of their bodies, which contributed to the appearance of mummies and pyramids.

3.1.1.3

Architecture and Arts

The pyramids of ancient Egypt are all distributed in the wide area along the Nile. Every year during the flood season, the cargo ships would transport stones from distance to the pyramid construction sites, and then the workers would build a towering pyramid with those huge stones. With the construction of pyramids, various kinds of art, such as reliefs, sculptures, paintings, also developed, which became more flourished with the rise of temples. When we talk about the architectural art of the Nile Basin, the pyramids of ancient Egypt can not be ignored. The construction method of pyramids with Egyptian wisdom has always been quite mysterious. During the flood season of the Nile, Egyptian cargo ships transported huge stones weighing several tons to dozens of tons from the quarry to the construction site of the pyramids with the help of the flow and north wind. The pyramids in the shape of a square cone were designed and built during the reign of King Snefru of the Fourth Dynasty (2613–2494 BC). His son Khufu and his descendants built a group of pyramids in Giza, which still exists nowadays. Among them, the Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure are known as the “three great pyramids”. It took about 100 thousand craftsmen 20 years to complete the largest pyramid, the Khufu Pyramid. Temples began to replace pyramids as the main building form in ancient Egypt from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2133 BC to 1786 BC). In the New Kingdom of Egypt (1570–1085 BC), the building of temples reached its peak. Temple of Karnak is the largest temple in ancient Egypt. It was being built from the Ancient Kingdom

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of Egypt to the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC), with a time span of about 2000 years, the site of which still exists. With the same purpose of building pyramids and temples, ancient Egyptian sculptures and paintings were created for the eternal afterlife, that is, for the continued existence of the lives of the dead. So there are strict procedures and modeling rules. The statue of the Pharaohs must be dignified, powerful and tall. Most of the statues and portraits showed the frontal position. Even the profiles only showed the profile of heads but of chests. Eyes in the profiles were the same as those in portraits. Restricted by the monarchy and religion, “perspective principle” had never been introduced into the creation process of sculptures and paintings. The positions of people in the paintings were arranged on the basis of hierarchy. The higher the position, the bigger the image, which would be occupying the central position of the picture. Other people, no matter far or near, were all smaller. Generally, the body of a leading person can not be blocked by other people, otherwise his (or her) body in “eternal” will be incomplete. Therefore, the people in the paintings are all standing, and even trees can not be painted in the form of forests, which also stand one by one. The artists in ancient Egypt followed this principle. There were also exceptions. Many secular works in the Pharaonic era often broke the convention, reflecting the ancient Egyptians’ love for life and their pursuits of beauty and showing a strong realistic style. For example, the colorful statue of Queen Nefertiti (1355 BC) strictly followed the principle of being authentic. The Queen’s slender neck, thin face, eyes looking downward, and deep wrinkles on the edge of her closed lips all not only showed the elegance and dignity of the Queen, but also her personality. Statues show women’s natural beauty. The crown and necklace are gorgeous and glittering, the preservation of which relied on the dry climate in the desert (Photo 3.2). Another realistic work of this period is the statue of King Amenhotep IV of the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt. It shows people artistic beauty with “ugliness”, a vivid description of Amenhotep IV’s appearance and personality (Photo 3.3). Different from sculptures, the painting art in ancient Egypt flourished relatively late, and it was not until the Middle Kingdom period (2133–1786 BC) that it was widely used as kind of art. The pigments used in the paintings were all from minerals, which is the reason why the bright colors of many tomb murals are able to be preserved. Ancient Egyptians painted black with charcoal, brown, red and yellow with hematite, white with lime or gypsum, and blue with copper sulfate. At first, painters only used monochromatic colors. Later, they gradually learned to mix colored mineral powder with water, and used wax or glue to make mixture. The brush was made from the end of the reed stalk. Most of the paintings preserved are tomb murals. Before painting, a layer of gypsum or plaster was painted on the wall. After it got dried up, painters began to paint. Finally, a layer of wax or transparent varnish was painted on the picture to make sure that colors could be maintained for a long time. A variety of daily necessities and entertainments for a better afterlife are the important content of ancient Egyptian tomb murals. In the tombs of some nobles, there are murals showing farming, wine making, shipbuilding, poultry feeding, fishing, hunting, cruising, banquets and performing, reflecting the living

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Photo 3.2 Statue of Queen Nefertiti. Author’s own drawing. Source: Xu Zifang. Outline of World Art History [M].Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2016

conditions of ancient Egyptians. For example, the “three female musicians” in the mural of Tomb of Nakht were playing harp, guitar and two flutes respectively that were really elegant. The female musician plucking the guitar turned back to look at the one playing flutes, which was natural and vivid (Photo 3.4).

3.1.2 The Early Civilization of Tigris River and Euphrates River 3.1.2.1

The Natural and Geographical Conditions and Civilization of “the Two Rivers”

“The Two rivers” refer to the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, both of which originate in the Anatolia Mountains of the Armenian Plateau. In the early time, the

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Photo 3.3 Statue of King Amenhotep IV. Author’s own drawing. Source: Xu Zifang. Outline of World Art History [M].Nanjing: Southeast University Press, 2016

two rivers did not merge, but flowed into the Persian Gulf separately. Later, due to the continuous uplift of riverbed by the silt brought by the rivers, the estuaries of the two rivers moved southwards, and finally, they converged. The situation before the confluence was similar to that of the Changjiang River and the Yellow River Basins in China, but the length and basin area of them (the Euphrates River is 2750 km long with a drainage area of 673,000 km2 ; the Tigris River is 2045 km long with a drainage area of 375,000 km2 ) are less than those of the “two rivers” in China (Fig. 3.1). As a large river basin near the 30° north latitude, the climate of the Two Rivers Basin is dry, and the water mainly comes from the melting snow of high mountains and the spring rain of the upper reaches. After flowing into the plain, the Two Rivers

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Photo 3.4 The mural of three female musicians in the Tomb of Nakht. Author’s own drawing. Source: China Art Daily, April 27, 2013

lack water supply of tributaries. In addition, due to the evaporation of swamps, irrigation canals and leakage, a large amount of water is lost. The downstream river becomes narrower, and it is hardly navigable. The landform of the upper reaches of the Two Rivers is similar to that of the upper reaches of the Changjiang River, both of which are dominated by mountains and plateaus. There is a huge alluvial delta plain in the lower reaches, which is the birthplace of the ancient civilization of “Mesopotamia” called by ancient Greece. In Greek, “Meso” refers to “middle” or “between the two”, and “potamia” means “river”. So “Mesopotamia” means “land between rivers”. The Changjiang River is relatively longer and is regulated by a large number of tributaries and lakes. Therefore, the annual floods are relatively regular, and the water volume is relatively stable. However, due to the relatively short length of the Two Rivers, the water volume in the flood season is more likely to be affected by the rainfall and melting snow from the upstream mountainous area. Although the

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Fig. 3.1 Outline of Two Rivers Basins. Author’s own drawing. Source: 22. Jiang Shouming, Jia Wen. World River Civilization [M]. Jinan: Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2011:2

flood season is from March to July, the flood periods of the two rivers begin at different time: the Tigris River reaches its maximum water volume in April, while the Euphrates River reaches its peak in May. So it is difficult to predict the flood period. Thus, the first flood myth of human kind appeared in the basin of the Two Rivers, the prototype of the story of Noah’s Ark in the Old Testament, that is, the story about “the great flood”told by the ancestor of Gilagamish who was the king of Uruk in the Epic of Gilgamish: The Eleventh Tablet. In the long-term struggle against floods, the ancestors in the Two Rivers basin learned to build dams really early, and like the ancient Egyptians, they planted wheat on the fertile soil on both banks after the flood receded. In addition, before and after the flood period, there’s no rain in the major area of the Two Rivers basin for almost 8 months, so the local agricultural production relied heavily on the artificial irrigation system. The agriculture with irrigation in the basin began to flourish around 4000 B.C., and till the mid-4000’s BC, Sumerians had built a huge irrigation system in the Mesopotamian Plain at the southern end of the Two Rivers basin. The system consisted of canals, ditches, dams, weirs and reservoirs. Canals and ditches must be repaired frequently and dredged in time. Therefore, the government had set up a specific department responsible for managing the canals and ditches. Farmers used water from canals to irrigate their farmlands, then plowed with cattle. When the fields were dry, they hoed and raked the soil. Sumerians created splendid ancient civilization based on their developed irrigation agriculture. However, it is a pity that “the ancient Sumerians only knew how to irrigate, but did not know that it was necessary to completely drain the salt in the

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soil by filtering and transporting the salt with sufficient water. As a result, the salt in the local groundwater increased year by year4 . The problem of land salinization has been bothering Sumerians since the time of Sumerian Hegemony (about 2400 B.C.), which may be the reason why a large number of Sumerian cities represented by Gursu were abandoned in the late Babylonian period (about 1700 BC). The center of civilization in the Two Rivers basin moved northward to Babylon, and Sumerian civilization withdrew from the historical stage early. Since then, the problem of land salinization in the south of the Two Rivers basin had not been solved. There were still records of land salinization in the new Babylonian period. “The salinization of the land made the proportion of wheat which was not resistant to salt and alkali gradually decrease in the agricultural production in the southern part of the Two Rivers basin while the proportion of barley was increasing. At the same time, the yield per unit of barley also decreased with the problem of salinization becoming worse. When the land became a poor land which was not suitable for planting any grains, it was abandoned. The decline of agriculture made the ancient civilization of the Two Rivers inevitably withdrew from the stage of history5 . The Two Rivers basin is located in the central area of Asia Minor, the Iranian Plateau and the Arabian Peninsula, which is the area of today’s Iraq. It borders on the Armenian Plateau in the north (within today’s Turkey, Iran, Armenia and other countries), and the Persian Gulf in the south. It also neighbors the Zagros Mountains in the east, the Syrian Steppe in the west, and the Arabian Desert in the southwest. It is a transportation hub connecting the three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, which enjoys an important strategic position from ancient to modern times. In addition, the rivers in the alluvial plain in the south make the irrigation convenient and lands suitable for agricultural production. It is rich in clay, reeds, dates and fish. The natural conditions are far better than the barren plateaus in the north and east and the desolate deserts in the southwest. Therefore, it has become a cultural arena which the surrounding nationalities all wanted to occupy. Its civilization has always been of strong alternation and variability. In the second half of the 50th century BC, a group of black haired people came to settle here. They called themselves “ug-sag-gig-ga”6 (balck haired people)and the alluvial plain in the southern part of the Two Rivers basin as “ki-en-gir” (the place of civilized monarchs”. The Akkadian who later ruled the land called them “Shumer”. The word Sinarhe in Hebrew, Sngr in Egyptian and Sanhar(a) in Hittite all means the Mesopotamia area in the south.7 According to the archaeological data, Sumerians have round heads and straight noses and do not keep beard or hair. They absorbed some elements of the original Ubaid culture (5300–3800 BC) and experienced the 4

Wu Yuhong. Destruction of Ecological Environment and Collapse of Sumerian Civilization [J]. World History, 2001 (03). 5 Song Jiao, Li Haifeng. Analysis of land salinization in Ancient Two Rivers Basin [J]. Agricultural Archaeology, 2015 (30). 6 Hallo and Simpson [2]. 7 van der Toorn and van der Host [3].

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transition period from Uruk culture (3800–3100 BC) to Jemder Nasr culture (3100 BC–2900 BC). About 3000 BC, the Sumerians created the first highly developed civilization—Sumerian civilization in human history. Sumerians established a number of small slavery states in Mesopotamia. In the middle of the twenty-fourth century B.C., Lugal-Zaggis, the king of Umma, conquered the states in the south and established a united Sumerian state. Almost at the same time, a group of desert nomadic people speaking Semitic came from the northern end of Mesopotamia. They established an early state in Akkad, so they were called “akkadians”. They were hairy with long face, hook nose, possessing the similar features of modern Arabs. The Akkad State grew rapidly. At the end of the twenty-fourth century B.C., the Kingdom of Akkad, defeating the Sumerian State which had been united for a short time in the south, united the north and south Mesopotamia Plain, and became the first country unifying the Two Rivers basin. The first empire in human history, the Akkad Empire (2334–2154 BC) was established. Since then, the akkadians gradually absorbed the advanced culture of Sumerians, and the Sumerian culture spread to further areas with the activities of akkadians. The rule of Akkad Kingdom was not stable, and it was conquered by the Gutis in the east in less than two centuries. However, the Gutis from the Zagros Mountains (today’s area of Iran) did not rule the Two Rivers basin for a long time. In 2060 B.C., Ur, an Sumerian state, rose and reunified Mesopotamia, establishing the famous Third Dynasty of Ur. In the middle of the twentieth century B.C., Ur declined and was destroyed by Elamites and Amorites in 1955 BC. Since then, the Amorites have established many states in Mesopotamia, fighting with each other. It was not until 1758 BC that the kingdom of Babylon reunited the southern part of the Two Rivers basin (Photo 3.5).

Photo 3.5 Overview of Ur city site. Author’s own drawing. Source: Fang Nan,Qiu Yan.The Story of the River [M]. Beijing: Tuanjie Publishing House, 2007:45

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Like the Chinese civilization of the same period, the ancient kingdom of Babylon was also a centralized country. In the eighteenth century B.C., Hammurabi, the monarch of ancient Babylon, promulgated The Code of Hammurabi, which is the oldest existing written code in the world. The earliest known legal document in China is the Yunmeng Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slips in the late Warring States period unearthed in the Changjiang River Basin, which is about 15 centuries later than the Code of Hammurabi. The Kingdom of Babylon absorbed the civilization of Sumer and Akkad, so its civilization had developed to a new level, such as the improved irrigation system and bronze agricultural tools which were widely used. About 1750 BC, due to the death of Hammurabi, the Kingdom of Babylon gradually declined, and the surrounding nationalities invaded frequently again. The second, third and fourth dynasties of Babylon were successively established in the south of the Two Rivers basin of by Hittie in the north and Kassite in the northeast. Then the states in the Two Rivers basin were separated for a long time. It was not until the seventh century BC that the new kingdom of Babylon rose (626–539 BC). During this period, Assyria, a Semitic tribe in the north of the Two Rivers basin (including non-Semitic people), rose twice. From the end of the tenth century B.C., after more than two centuries of war, the Assyrians established a powerful empire across West Asia and North Africa, ruling the southern part of the Two Rivers basin and Egypt. It became the most powerful military empire in the world at that time. In 745 BC, the Assyrian Empire occupied Babylon, forcing the king of Babylon to pay tribute to Assyria and recognize its suzerainty. In 627B.C., Ashurbanipal, king of the Assyrian Empire, died, and the the longterm civil war began. The people in the south of the Two Rivers basin revolted under the leadership of Nabopolassar, a Chaldean (a Semitic branch). Nabopolassar allied with the Medes, a group of people speaking Indo-European language living on the Iranian Plateau, captured Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC. The Assyrian Empire was destroyed, and its territory was divided up by the new kingdom of Babylon established by Nabopolassar and the Kingdom of Medes. The new kingdom of Babylon occupied the southern part of the Two Rivers basin, Syria, Palestine and Phoenicia. From then on, the political center of the Two Rivers was transferred to the south again. In the following decades, the economy of the new kingdom of Babylon was prosperous, and the irrigation agriculture was developed. The traditional SumerianAkkad culture was revived to a certain extent, and unprecedented achievements were made in architecture, humanities and natural sciences. In 539 B.C., the new kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by the new Persian Empire. The period of independent development of ancient civilization in the Two Rivers basin came to an end, but it still influenced the later Jewish civilization, Persian civilization, Greek civilization, Roman civilization, Christian civilization and Islamic civilization.

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Cuneiform, Myths and Religious Beliefs

Sumerian civilization in the south of two rivers has made great achievements in the early stage of human civilization. Sumerians have the most “the earliest” in the world, such as the earliest city (Uruk), the earliest characters (graphic characters found on stones on Tell el-Oheimir), the earliest code (the Code of Hammurabi), the earliest school (Sumerian house of tablet writing) and library (the library of Ashurbanipi), and the earliest heroic epic (the epic of Gilgamesh), all of which were created by the Sumerians. During the period of Uruk Culture from 3800 B.C. to 3100 B.C., the Two Rivers basin gradually changed from a consanguineous chiefdom society to a city with official bureaucracies, armies and social hierarchy. Uruk is the earliest city in the world. “Uruk in 3500 B.C. covers nearly the same area of Athens in the fifth century B.C. and about one-half of the size of Rome in100 A. D., with a population of about 10 thousand people. It was the most densely populated human community at that time”8 . Its size grew continuously. By 3200 B.C., the population of Uruk reached 30,000 or even 45,000. It was the city with the largest population in the world at that time. The satellite villages and towns of it covered at least radius 10 km, forming a three-level population distribution pattern of a central city, subsidiary towns and rural residential areas. Archeologists discovered a small stone tablet at Tell el-Oheimir near Kish city site in Iraq of the Uruk period (about 3500 BC). It was engraved with pictorial symbols representing characters. This kind of pictorial characters was the earliest characters which have been discovered so far. After the discovery of the characters, the earliest clay tablet writings of about 3400 B.C. were found in Eanna District of Uruk. The cuneiform characters inscribed on clay tablets created by the Sumerians were the oldest discovered character system in the world. The earliest characters on the clay boards were not cuneus-shaped, but were only some plane pictures, which could be classified as pictographic hieroglyphs. However, due to the different writing materials and characters, there were great differences among the Sumerian hieroglyphs, the Egyptian hieroglyphs and the ones carved on turtle shells or bones in China’s Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The palette was made of stones or woods, and the texture was relatively hard. Therefore, hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt were carefully depicted or drawn with several colors sometimes. The turtle shells or bone plates, the writing material for the inscriptions in Shang and Zhou Dynasty in China, was also hard, which was easy to inscribe. The Sumerian clay boards were very sticky, and it was difficult to inscribe curved outlines. Therefore, the Sumerian hieroglyphs were mostly graphics with lines. These lines were only symbolic and pictorial representations of the objects. Moreover, the tools for clay tablet writing were usually reed pens with thin tips and thick tails, so a stroke was formed by a press of the reed pen on the clay tablets, which was in the shape of a cuneus or a nail. After hundreds of years of development, Sumerian

8

[U. S.] Christian et al. [4].

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hieroglyphic symbols gradually simplified, showing the shape of a cuneus, and eventually lost its pictographic features. With the evolution of civilization, cuneiform was widely used in many ancient civilizations and was spread widely. The first to borrow cuneiform were Elamites, who had been living in the mountainous area in the east of Sumerian territory (between Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau) since the 4000’s. Since the early period of 3000 BC, with the development of the communication among Elamite, Sumer and the later Babylon, the characters of Elamite began to have the shape of cuneiform. Later, with the increasing phoneticization of the language of Elamite, it gradually developed into syllabic characters. Since about 2000 B.C., cuneiform had also been adopted by the Hurriters in the northwest Mesopotamia, which was soon transmitted from the Hurriters to the nationalities of Asia Minor. Among these nationalities, Hitties, the ruling nationality, first accepted cuneiform. By 1300 B.C., the Ugarits in Syria developed their characters evolved from the cuneiform of the Two Rivers basin to the characters only composed of alphabets which were the oldest alphabetic characters in the Near East. They have already arranged the Semitic alphabets in a certain sequence at the time, which was later adopted by Europeans. Since Sumerians invented the earliest characters, which naturally led to the appearance of the earliest school in the world. As early as 3000 B.C., schools had appeared in the areas ruled by the Sumerians. In 1930’s, Pala, a French archaeologist, excavated a school in around 2100 B.C. in the city of Mali in the upper reaches of the Two Rivers. Some scholars even speculated that “this school was built in 3500 B.C., which was the earliest school in human history, a thousand years earlier than the royal school in Egypt in 2500 B.C.”9 . In addition, the Sumerians have also built the world’s first library for storing and collecting clay tablets. In the new Assyrian period (935–612 BC), Ashurbanipi, the Assyrian king (reign from 668 to 627 B.C.) built the famous Library of Ashurbanipi in the capital Nineveh, which was the best-preserved, the largest library with the most complete books among the unearthed ancient cultural sites. It is considered the first real “ancient library” in the world. Most of the collect books are inscribed with the name of Ashurbanipi, and there are notes in some of them indicating that they were revised or collected by the king. The collection involves various aspects, such as science and religion. Because they were made of clays, most of the books have been well preserved so far, which has made great contributions to the preservation of the earliest human cultural heritage. The books laid the foundation for today’s “study of Assyria” and enabled modern people to find cultural roots. Thanks to the cuneiform characters, Sumerians have made brilliant achievements in literature. Among them, Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest heroic epic in human history, is the most famous. The prototype of the stories took place between 2700 B.C. and 2500 B.C., and was handed down orally among the Sumerians. They were written down in the ancient Kingdom of Babylon (nineteenth-sixteenth century BC). One 9

Tan Qixiang. Ethnic Migration after the Yongjia Riot in Jin Dynasty [J]. Yanjing Journal, 1934 (15).

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of the most famous story is that the water god wanted to destroy human beings by floods, which is considered to be the prototype of the story of Noah’s Ark. In addition, there are more than 20 myths, 9 epics, more than 100 hymns, more than a dozen of aphorisms and prophecies, as well as a large number of elegies, fables, debates and essays in Sumerian literature preserved today. In terms of religious belief, the original religion of Sumerians was a natural religion, worshiping important natural phenomena in the universe, such as the sky, winds, mountains, groundwater in rivers, the moon, the sun, etc. In addition, they worshiped plants and animals. Among the many gods worshiped by the Sumerians, they especially worshiped the sky and stars, which was similar to the primitive worship of the ancestors in the Changjiang River and Yellow River basins in the pre-Qin period in China. From the 40th century BC to the twentieth century BC, the Sumerian Gods’ images began to take the shape of human beings. After that, most of the Sumerian gods were replaced by new gods. The power of national and local gods in Babylon and Assyria had increased, and their intervention in the world and society also increased considerably. The evolution from the primitive clan religion or tribal religion to the national religion in the slavery era was very similar to the religious belief development in the Changjiang River and Yellow River basins in pre-Qin of China, but the former one started far earlier than that of China. The biggest difference between them lay in their understanding of the world after death. Although there is no evidence that the ancestors of the Changjiang River and Yellow River basins had the idea of afterlife similar to that of the ancient Egyptians, the opinion that “death is as important as birth” has been deeply rooted in the minds of Chinese people. So they paid great attention to the construction of tombs with burial objects. The Sumerians in the south of the Two Rivers basin believed that the world after death was a dark, desolate and feeble underground world. After death, people would go to the miserable underworld. Therefore, unlike the Changjiang River, Yellow River and Nile basins, the burial objects of Mesopotamians were very few and simple.

3.1.2.3

Architecture, Art and Technology

In terms of architecture, due to the hot and humid climate, snakes and insects, frequent floods and lush vegetation in the Changjiang River Basin, it was necessary to build stilt style architecture made of woods. However, Mesopotamia was an alluvial plain which lacked stones and woods for construction. The main building materials were natural clay, reeds and shrubs. Therefore, in the Sumerian period, the local ancestors put the clay into the mold. When they became dry in the sun, they could be used to building the foundation and walls the house, and waterproof ceramic bricks were applied on the surface to prevent the wall from the erosion of moisture. Also in order to avoid moisture, floods and pestilence, most Sumerian houses were built on tall earthen platforms, which were very similar to those widely distributed in the Changjiang River and Yellow River basins in pre-Qin of China. In the Early Sumerian Dynasty (around 2800–2371 B.C.), most of the buildings were flat-roofed cottages

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made of reeds, shrubs and mud. Bricks dried up in the sun were used to building large buildings, such as ziggurats, temples and palaces. It is worth mentioning that ziggurats was a kind of unique architecture for worshiping gods. The ziggurats stood near the temples of the main local gods, which was mainly made of raw bricks and coated with asphalt mortar. It is the prototype of the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible. There are about 30 Mesopotamian ziggurats left today, which were built between 3000 and 500 BC. One of the most spectacular ziggurat is the “Babel Tower” built by Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 BC), the most famous monarch of the New Babylon Kingdom. It was located on the bank of the Euphrates River in the capital, Babylon city (about 90 km south of Bagdad city, the present capital of Iraq). It was a tall religious and sacrificial building, the top of which may serve the function of lookout. In addition, Nebuchadnezzar also built a garden on a trapezoidal terrace far away from the Euphrates River, which is known as the Hanging Garden of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world. The craftsmen built ponds, fountains and canals connecting with the Euphrates River, making it possible to plant flowers and green plants on the trapezoidal terrace in arid areas. The art in the basin of the Two Rivers was also quite developed, with exquisite works in sculpture, painting, arts and crafts. As early as 4000 BC, ancestors in the basin of the Two Rivers had created sculptures with national characteristics. Sumerian sculptures with various forms, whether round or relief, all had religious characteristics and served various religious functions in temples. Sumerian round sculptures are very distinctive. Most of them served religious purposes. The bodies of the statues are generally cylindrical, and they hold their hands in front of their chests. With eyes wide open, they show the devout, innocent and focused facial expression. A number of round sculptures are well preserved in the cellar of Abu Temple in Tell Asmar, which serves as the important reference for later generations to study the early Sumerian sculpture art. Among the sculptures, there is a tall god, Abu, and a goddess, the pedestals of which are engraved with signs indicating their identity. On the opposite side of the sculptures stood a row of prayers of different sizes and in different costumes (Photo 3.6). In the period of Akkad Empire (2334–2154 B.C.), the sculpture art of Mesopotamia developed rapidly. Akkad’s sculpture art enriched the simple models of Sumerian sculpture art. A portrait sculpture unearthed in Nineveh can be regarded as an example in this respect. It is considered the head of Sargon I, the founder of Akkad Dynasty. The face is authentic and simple, and the carving technique of hair and beard is unique and powerful. These carving techniques advanced on the basis of Sumerian stone carving (Photo 3.7). In terms of painting, murals account for the largest part in Mesopotamia. Murals were painted on the walls of most palaces and residences. Murals are far more popular in Mesopotamia than that in the Changjiang River Basin. The shapes of murals vary according to the size and use of the rooms. They were usually arranged in a horizontal strip pattern, covering most of the walls. Its contents are mainly about various patterns, animals, wars, hunting and portraits of Kings. However, due to the fact that the preservation of murals is directly related to the destruction of buildings,

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Photo 3.6 The round sculpture in the Abu Temple in Tell Asmar. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Boxiong. Dictionary of Appreciation of World Classical Sculpture Architecture [M]. Beijing: China Youth Publishing House, 2004

there are few well preserved murals that have been handed down to this day. The paintings which are well preserved in the Kingdom of ancient Babylon (about 1894– 1595 B.C.), are only the murals in the Palace of Mari, which depict the inauguration ceremony of the king of Mari (Photo 3.8). In terms of arts and crafts, metal carving and other kinds of arts and crafts were developed in the south of Mesopotamia. A large number of exquisite handicrafts, such as small bronze statues, golden daggers and scabbards, golden cups, golden bowls, golden helmets and musical instruments, are preserved. Sumerians were good at taking advantage of the unique toughness of gold to create exquisite and amazing handicrafts. Sumerian mathematics had a long history, and their achievements far surpassed that in the early Chinese civilization. Around 2000 BC, Mesopotamian arithmetic had developed into a highly developed written algebra. By the time of the period of ancient Babylon, the Babylonians had been able to solve the linear equations with one unknown, linear equations of two unknowns and unary cubic equations. They had also recognized some characteristics of the circle, such as dividing the circumference into 360 parts, and being able to calculate the circumference and area of the circle. In addition, different from the decimal system in ancient Egypt, ancient India and ancient China, Sumer was the only nationality in the world using sexagesimal. Later

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Photo 3.7 The portrait sculpture of Sargon I in the Museum of Baghdad. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhu Ming. Appreciation of Chinese and Foreign Sculptures [M]. Jinan: Shandong Education Press, 1993

Photo 3.8 Murals in the Palace of Mari. Author’s own drawing. Source: Yu Dianli. The Age of Enlightenment of Humanity: art and thought in ancient Mesopotamia [M]. Beijing: Forbidden City Press, 2016

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on, the Babylonians began to combine the decimal system with the sexagesimal so that all the numbers could be represented by only three number symbols. The concept of number position was a great discovery in the history of mathematics, which was even as important as the invention of alphabets. Because what they had in common was that they use several simple symbols to represent a large number of words or numbers with more complicated meanings. The Babylonians also had some knowledge of geometry. When they measured the land, they would first divide the irregular fields into different rectangles, triangles and trapezoids. They calculated the area of them separately at first, and then added them together. They have also mastered the Pythagorean Theorem and calculated that π was 3. Since then, in the fifth century AD, Zu Chongzhi, a mathematician of the Southern Dynasty in the Changjiang River Basin, first calculated π to the seventh digit after the decimal point. This record was not broken until the sixteenth century by the Arab mathematician Al-kashi.

3.1.3 Indus-Ganges Civilization 3.1.3.1

Civilization of Indus River Basin

The early Indian civilization originated in the Indus Basin. As early as 2300 B.C., the Harappan Civilization created by the Dravidian people rose in the Indus Basin. The culture of Harappan lasted for about 600 years, the source of which can be traced back to the two central cities, Harappan and Moenjodaro, established around 2500 BC. The two cities were 644 km apart with the same size (with the circumference of about 4.8 km and the area of about 850,000 square meters), being able to accommodate 35,000–40,000 people. The layouts and buildings in the cites were also very similar, which were divided into two parts: the acropolis and the lower city. The acropolis was built on the artificial platform (more than 10 m high) in the west of the city, and was surrounded by walls and defensive towers. There were public buildings, such as halls, baths (in the middle), granaries in it. Acropolis might be the place where senior officials and monks lived. Lower city was a residential area for citizens. The widest street was about 10 m wide. The main roads intersected or were parallel with each other, dividing thousands of brick houses on both sides of the streets into 12 rectangular areas. In the city, there were systems of water supply and sewerage which were as advanced as those in modern cities. In the Indus Basin, there are still dozens of ruins of ancient cities with neat streets, well-organized houses and advanced systems of water supply and sewerage. At that time, the scale of agriculture, copper processing industry, pottery industry, textile industry and transportation industry in Indus Basin was quite large, which fully proved that the Harappan culture had entered the bronze age. It was not until the second phase of Erlitou Culture (1705–1635 B.C.) (after the decline of Harappan culture) that China entered the bronze age. At that time, the Dravidians in the Indus Basin were able to make copper and bronze tools and weapons, such as axes, sickles,

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Photo 3.9 The site of Moenjodaro (meaning “Mound of death” in Indian language)

saws, knives, fishing hooks, daggers, arrows and spearheads. During this period, metal tools were rarely used in agricultural production, but manual craftsmen were skilled in both hot and cold metal processing, and they could make metal tools by welding. Relying on the developed agriculture and handicraft industries, commercial trade in Harappan has also developed. It not only had communication in economies with other Indian states or tribes, but also traded with people in the Two River basin in Western Asia (Photo 3.9). But around 1750 BC, Harappan culture suddenly declined and even died out. Scholars have not reached a consensus that whether its decline was caused by the large-scale invasion of other nationalities or by the natural disasters and ecological changes, such as desertification, floods and earthquakes. Two or three hundred years later, nomadic tribes speaking Indo-European language who originally lived in Central Asia and the Caucasus crossed Hindu Kush Mountains and invaded the upper reaches of the Indus. They called themselves “Aryans” (derived from Sanskrit, meaning “ascend” and “rise”, so the name means"noble”). At first, the Aryans who were still in the period of military democracy used the same weights and measures as that of the early civilization of the Indus Valley, which shows that the Aryans inherited and incorporated the Indus civilization. But during about 900 years, from the fifteenth century B.C. to the sixth century B.C., the Aryans gradually formed their own language, namely Sanskrit (classical Indian language). India thus entered the Vedic age, which was named after the holy book Veda documenting the history of this age. The original meaning of Veda was “enlightenment” or “knowledge”, which was a collection of hymns, scriptures and incantations used

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by the priests when they sacrificed to gods. Although it’s mainly about religion, it also contained some early Aryan history.

3.1.3.2

The Civilization of the Ganges River

The Ganges River is a sacred river in the hearts of Indians, the name of which in Hindi means “from heaven”. Its basin is as large as the Changjiang River. The source of the Ganges River is in the “roof of the world”, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the same place as that of the Changjiang River. The Changjiang River flows eastward from Geladandong (“high and sharp peaks in Tibetan”) into the East China Sea, with a total length of more than 6300 km, a drainage area of 1.8 million square kilometers, accounting for one fifth of China’s land area with a population of about 400 million people in the basin. The Ganges River flows from the southern slope in the west of Himalayas and crosses the North Indian Plain. It is divided into several tributaries which finally flow into the Bay of Bengal, with a total length of about 2700 km. More than 2100 km of the middle and upper reaches are in India, and more than 500 km of the lower reaches are in Bangladesh. The drainage area is 1.165 million square kilometers, accounting for 1/4 of India’s land area and 1/2 of Bangladesh’s land area. It is the most densely populated river basin in the world, with a population of more than 400 million people in the basin. In the lower reaches, the Ganges River converges with the Brahmaputra River, another big river in South Asia, forming the Ganges Delta with an area of 65,000 square kilometers. It is the largest delta in the world, exceeding the Changjiang River Delta, the second largest delta in the world, with an area of 50,000 square kilometers. It is an area with dense rivers and fertile soil. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a population density of more than 1200 people/km2 (the population density of the Changjiang River Delta is about 900 people/km2 ). Different from other river basins, including the arid basin of the Nile, basin of the Euphrates and Tigris River and Indus River near the 30° north latitude, the natural climate of the Ganges Basin is similar to that of the Changjiang River Basin, which is humid and rainy due to the monsoon. Moreover, the annual precipitation in the Ganges Basin is more than 1500 mm, which surpasses the precipitation of 1100 mm in the Changjiang River Basin. Especially Cherrapunji in the southern slope of the Himalayas, the annual precipitation of which can reach more than 10,000 mm, is known as the world’s rain pole. The Changjiang River Basin and the Ganges River Basin benefit from the high temperature and abundant precipitation, so the rice culture has developed very early. The hydrology situations of the Ganges River and the Changjiang River are quite similar. The upper reaches of the two rivers are characterized by rapid flow and huge drop. Both of the two rivers receive the inflow of many tributaries in the middle reaches, and the water volume increases greatly. With the terrain of the basin becoming more flat, the water flow of both rivers becomes more gentle. In the lower reaches, the topography of the two rivers become lower and more flat. Since the water volume increases and the river surface widens, two vast deltas are formed near the estuary,

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which are the first largest and the second largest delta respectively in the world. There are also some differences. The Ganges River is divided into many branches in the delta area, while there is only one wide main stream of the Changjiang River in the lower reaches. In addition, since the Ganges River Delta is funnel-shaped, storm surges are not easy to disperse, and tend to gather near the estuary, forming strong tidal water flowing back into the delta plain. From the eleventh century BC to the seventh century BC, the Aryans migrated eastward from the upper reaches of the Indus River to the Ganges River Basin, and the Ganges civilization began to flourish. The Ganges River Basin gradually replaced the Indus River Basin and became the political, economic and social center in the South Asian Subcontinent. The time of the shift of the center of civilization was much earlier than that of China’s economic and cultural center from the Yellow River Basin to the Changjiang River Basin, and the process was faster and the shift was more complete (after the southward shift of China’s economic and cultural center, the political and military centers were still in the Yellow River Basin for a long time) (Fig. 3.2). With the development of the Ganges River Basin, a number of cities with a certain scale emerged. Compared with the cities in the Indus Valley site, they were called the second urbanization of India. From the sixth century BC to the fifth century BC, there was a close relationship between the political development and urbanization in the Ganges River Basin. Most of the cities of the middle and lower reaches which were developing were located at the intersection of two main roads or along the river bank. These roads were not only the main arteries connecting cities and countrysides, but also the way for religious processions. Markets or commercial areas were often distributed near the main city gates. There were such commercial areas in Rajagriha

Fig. 3.2 Indus and Ganges Rivers

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and Sravasti, which indicated that these cities may be developed from markets. There were neither many large buildings nor grand acropolises and castles in the city. This layout shows that the rise and prosperity of cities in the Ganges River Basin during this period depended on economic activities, such as commerce and handicraft industries, instead of political and military purposes.

3.1.3.3

Religious Beliefs

The early Brahmanism in India was born based on the integration of Aryan culture and Dravidian culture. It is the precursor of Hinduism, forming in about the seventh century BC. During the development of Brahmanism, the caste system was gradually established. Brahmanism, the oldest religion in India, originated in the Aryan migration to South Asia. In the long-term coexistence and communication with the indigenous tribes, Aryan culture and Dravidian culture had experienced a process from conflicts, influencing each other to integration. Brahmanism was the product of the integration of the two cultures. Around the seventh century B.C., after the completion of four Vedic books and various Sanskrit books, Brahmanism became mature, and its characteristics also changed. From the early stage with Rigveda as the most sacred book and sacrifice as the center, it developed to a new stage characterized by the three principles of “Vedic Revelation”, “omnipotent sacrifice” and “Brahman supremacy”. The so-called “Vedic Revelation” refers to that the four Vedic books and the later Brahmana were regarded as “the divine revelation”, so believers must obey what in the books. These hymns were passed down orally by the priests and became the path for them to communicate with the gods in religious ceremonies. The priests became the communicators between people and gods, and the sacrificial custom became more and more popular. The authors of Brahmana were all the Brahman priests. For their own interests, they deliberately exaggerated the role of sacrifice and made the sacrificial rites very complicated. In their view, sacrifice was the solution to all the problems. Sacrifice could not only eliminate disasters and diseases, exorcize demons, ensure the victory of wars and the prosperity of the country, but also make the worshipers directly become the gods or the king of gods. At that time, there were various kinds of sacrificial rites, and the scale became larger and larger. Among the complex royal sacrifices, the most famous and important one is “asvamedha” (a hindu vedic ritual of horse sacrifice). The ceremony lasted three days, while the preparation for the ceremony lasted more than one year or even two years. There were four Brahman priests, four wives of the king, 400 attendants and a large number of believers attending the ceremony. The so-called “Brahman supremacy” means that the Brahman priesthood held a supreme position in the religious and social life at that time. The Brahman priests tried their best to advocate the omnipotence of sacrifice. In fact, what they really wanted was to show their ability and improve their status through sacrifice. They were

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not only in charge of various sacrificial activities and responsible for the creation of various sacred poems, hymns, incantations and myths and legends, but also undertook the task of imparting Vedic classics and sacrificial knowledge. Therefore, with the prevalence of sacrifice, Brahman priests became not only the masters of religion, but also the monopolists of culture and knowledge. They often regarded themselves as the communicators between mortals and gods, and became the “mortal gods of the secular world”. In addition, in social life, Brahman priests also enjoyed various privileges, such as receiving alms, exempting from taxes and death sentence after committing major crimes. Because of the special status of Brahmans, the religion they controlled was called “Brahmanism”. During the development of the Ganges River Basin, non-Aryans have been absorbed into all levels of the Aryan society. Like the non-Aryan priests, some of the chieftains of the conquered tribes were also absorbed and obtained a high status in the Aryan society. In order to maintain the new ruling order, the ruling class of ancient India gradually established the caste system with the help of the cultural hegemony of Brahmanism. By the end of the Rigveda period, Indian society had been divided into four classes: Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. At the same time, Manavad Harmasastra also stipulated their duties and occupations. According to the caste system, all members in the society were divided into four levels: the first level was Brahma who had the priest nobility and hold the divine power; the second level was Kshatriya, the ruling class, who were in charge of military and political power; the third level was Vaisya who were the ordinary people in villages composed of farmers, herdsmen, handicraftsmen and merchants; the fourth level was Sudra, the major part of which was conquered indigenous people, including slaves, laborers and servants. The four levels originated in the process of Aryans’ contact with other nationalities and exotic cultures. The ethnic group was called “Varna” in Sanskrit, which originally meant “pure”. Later, its meaning gradually changed to “ethnicity”, “clan” or “category”, which represented different social groups, such as Brahman Varna and Vaisya. It was translated into “Zhongxing” in Chinese. Later, there were a large number of “Untouchables” outside the caste system. Their social status was extremely low and their situation was even more miserable. They were oppressed pariahs suffering severe discrimination. There were four castes in India in a broad sense, but after long-term evolution, there were actually more than 3000 castes and subcastes. Different castes have different social status, rights, obligations and lifestyles. Their basic characteristics are as follows: first, the occupation was hereditary, which means the occupation of each caste was fixed; second, a rigid in-caste marriage system wad implemented in all levels, which means people of different castes could not intermarry. In addition, the legal status of the four castes were unequal, and there were also boundaries between different castes in religious and social life. In particular, the boundary between the first three castes and the Sudra was the most strict, for instance, they could not even sit and eat together. Although the caste system had distinct features of hierarchy and class oppression, at that time, the division of the four castes skillfully coordinated the conflict caused by the polarization within the Aryan tribe and served as the door for people from

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other nationalities to join the system. It provided ideological guidance for people of different cultural backgrounds to participate in the economic life of the society without conflicts. This system developed from the clan society and preserved the relative independence of each caste. The leaders of each caste were elected by the caste members rather than appointed by tribal leaders. The status of each caste was sanctified by religious purity so that the conflicts between them could be eliminated, which greatly limited the power of tribal leaders. In the sixth century B.C., with the increasingly fierce social contradictions in the Ganges River Basin, various conflicts between the new and old societies were extremely prominent. The conflicts between the old and the new powers were also reflected in the ideology. The Sramana Movement at that time showed the ideological conflicts. The so-called “Sramana Movement” referred to the various ideas against the caste of Brahman and the spiritual weapon controlled by them, Brahmanism, at that time. The word “Sramana”, which means doing good things and stopping doing bad things, peace of mind and pure ambition, is a general term for non-Brahmanic religious sects and schools of thought. At that time, a group of new liberal thinkers emerged, who dared to deny and oppose the three major principles of Vedic Revelation, omnipotent sacrifice and Brahman supremacy, and spread new ideas. These people lived a different life from the Brahman priests. They were extremely dissatisfied with the doctrines, etiquette and the caste system of Brahmanism, and had their own different views on the universe and life. They also organized many new Sramana groups to publicize their beliefs and opinions among the masses. Among them, Buddhism was one of the most influential representatives of the Sramana Movement, which was a new religion emerging in the anti-Brahmanism movement. Its founder is Siddhartha Goutama who was the prince of the kingdom of Kapilavastu (in today’s southern Nepal). After the founding of Buddhism, Buddhists revered him as “Sakyamuni” meaning “the sage of the Sakya” or “Buddha” meaning the “enlightened man”. The Buddha mainly roamed around the Ganges River Basin to spread Buddhism. In his missionary work, he established a religious organization— Sangha. The participants were mainly businessmen, craftsmen and urban civilians. Buddhism represented the interests of people in commerce and industry with increasing power from the caste of Kshatriya and Vaisya. These new social forces were extremely dissatisfied with the monopoly of power, corruption and various privileges of Brahman, and hated the doctrines of Brahmanism and the sacrifice based on slaughter. Therefore, many thoughts in early Buddhist theories were against Brahmanism. First of all, it denied the authority of Veda and opposed the Brahmanism theories that divinities dominate everything and everything in the world is created by divinities. On the issue of the origin of the world, Sakyamuni put forward a new theory, that is, the theory of origin. It denied the theory of Brahmanism that everything in the world is created by divinities, and contained the atheist view. He believed that everything in the world was determined by “karma”. “Karma” refers to “condition” and “relationship”. He believed that everything in the world was the cause and effect and condition for each other. All things and people in the world were temporary which were formed on the basis of karma. He believed that there was no eternal entity or soul at all,

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which was a deny to the existence of divinity, the unchanging spiritual master in the world. Secondly, Buddhism also opposed Brahmanism’s theory of “omnipotent sacrifice” by denying the opinion that pleasing divinities by sacrifice can obtain liberation. It advocated eliminating ignorance and desire relying on morality and spiritual cultivation, so as to obtain liberation. Thirdly, on social issues, Buddhism opposed “Brahman supremacy” and proposed that the four castes were of the same origin and color. In addition, Buddhism also opposed the custom of killing animals to sacrifice to gods in Brahmanism, and regarded “abstinence from killing” and “vegetarianism” as two important commandments. Generally speaking, Buddhism was between the two extremes, namely unrestricted individualism featuring self-indulgence and absurd physical asceticism. Its doctrine was mild and could be accepted by most people in society, so it flourished steadily. After the death of Buddha, Buddhism has gradually become the main religion in India, and the position of Brahmanism has been weakened. Since then, the influence of Buddhism gradually extended beyond South Asia. Buddhism spread widely and flourished in ancient China. The depiction of “480 temples in the Southern Dynasties” in the poem and the process of repeatedly advocating and destroying Buddhism by the central government all reflected the great influence of Buddhist civilization from Southern Asia on China. As for some countries and regions in Southeast Asia, Buddhism has even become the main religion. However, in India, the influence of Buddhism was weakening. In the fourth century A. D., Brahmanism was strongly supported by The Gupta Dynasty and 15 emperors of the dynasty believed in and supported Brahmanism. As a result, Brahmanism flourished again. In the seventh century, the king of Harsha Empire worshiped and supported Buddhism, but he did not dislike Brahmanism. In the competition with Buddhism and other religions, Brahmanism had further incorporated the ideas of Buddhism and other religions, and had undergone great changes to what is called “Hinduism” today. Since then, Hinduism has always been the mainstream religion in India, and more than 80% of Indians nowadays still believe in Hinduism. Hindus regard the Ganges as holy river, and believe in that bathing with in the holy water of the Ganges can wash away their past sins. In the holy cities along the river, such as Haridwar, Allahabad, Nashik and Ujjain, the grand event, Kumbh Mela, is held every 12 years. At that time, more than 100 million Hindus will bath in the Ganges10 . Because the Kumbh Mela is the greatest religious festival in India, Ganges is regarded as the greatest religious river by Hindus, which plays an important role in their spiritual life (Photo 3.10). There had been a so-called Yunnan-Burma Ancient Road (the Southern Silk Road) connecting the Ganges River Basin and the Changjiang River Basin for a long time. And then during the Western Han Dynasty, China successively opened up 10

Kumbh Mela starts on January 9 and lasts for 42 days. The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad is held three years after that in Haridwar, and the festivals in Nashiq and Ujjain are held in the same year or in the two successive years. In addition, Ardh Kumbh Mela is held every six years in Allahabad and Haridwar, and a small ceremony is held every three years.

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Photo 3.10 The Ganges bathing

the Northern Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road along the east coast. Buddhist culture and Buddhist statues in the Ganges River Basin were introduced into China through these three major corridors. Since the Yunnan-Burma Ancient Road was put into use earlier, the Changjiang River Basin was the first area where the art of Buddhist statue emerged in China. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period and the Western Jin Dynasty, China’s Buddhist art was mainly in the Changjiang River Basin, while in the north, no Buddhism related relics of the same period were discovered, including in the area of Silk Road and the Yellow River Basin. As far as we know, the earliest Buddha figure with a clear chronology in China is the bronze Buddha statue of money tree in the fourth year of Yanguang in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 125), which was found in the Three Gorges area of the Changjiang River Basin, while the earliest one in the north of China was the gilded bronze statue of Sakyamuni in 338 A. D., which was more than 200 years later than that in Changjiang River Basin. At that time, the main style of Buddhist statues in the Changjiang River Basin originated from the Kusana Empire of ancient India, which was mainly influenced by the school of Mothura, and was partly influenced by Gandhara. With the vigorous development of Indian Buddhist statue art in the Changjiang River Basin, the Buddhist architecture in the Changjiang River Basin was also influenced by the ancient Indian Buddhist architecture. Up to now, the earliest image of pagoda which has been discovered in China is from a brick relief in Shifang, Sichuan Province. On the brick relief there were pagodas alternate with Bodhi trees. This was the Buddhist buildings in the early period of Buddhism in China. It retains the

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majority of the original nature of the pagoda and confirmed the existence of pavilionshaped pagodas recorded in historical books. In addition, the earliest Pagoda in China that can be verified by literature was the pavilion-shaped Borobudur Temple built in Xuzhou by Zou Rong in the late Eastern Han Dynasty11 . According to literature, the structure of the pagoda was “composed of the upper part covered with gold plates and the lower part, the double tower, with halls and pavilions, which can accommodate more than 3000 people”12 . The unearthed object and the document in the same period can prove that the pavilion-shaped pagoda was the earliest form of pagodas in China. In India, the origin of pagodas, the pagodas of the same period were still the traditional pagodas with a domed roof. The number of similar pagodas in northern India began to increase in the Gupta period (320–600 A. D.). It proves that once the pagodas were introduced into China, their style was integrated with the traditional style of architecture in China, and the pavilion-shaped pagodas with Chinese style were formed. Their architectural form and symbolic significance also began to spread widely in China. By the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, pagodas had been widely distributed in China. It is also worth mentioning that in order to adapt to the tradition of burial in China, an underground structure of pagodas appeared, the underground palace, which were used to preserve the Buddha bones. As one of the early river civilizations near 30° north latitude, the Changjiang Civilization has its own characteristics because of its different natural conditions and geographical location from the above—mentioned river basins and Yellow River basins.

3.2 The “Occurrence Line of Human Civilization” Across the Changjiang River Basin The Changjiang River, the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, is located on the northern edge of the subtropical zone and the area run through by 30° north latitude, the occurrence line of human civilization. Generally speaking, compared with other major river basins nurturing human civilization, the advantages of the Changjiang River basin can be analyzed from three aspects: natural conditions, geographical location and civilization marks.

11

Xie Zhicheng. Images of Pagodas on Han Dynasty Paintings Bricks in Sichuan [J]. Sichuan Cultural Relics, 1987 (04). 12 (Southern Dynasty · Song Dynasty) Fanye.Houhanshu (The History of the later han) [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2000:73.

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3.2.1 Natural Conditions 3.2.1.1

30° North Latitude

It is a major feature of the Changjiang River basin that the 30° north latitude line runs through it. Controlled by the subtropical high, most of the areas near the 30° north latitude are arid and rainless. For example, the Indus River Basin in the northwest of the Indian Subcontinent is a hot and dry desert zone. In the west of the Indus River Basin, the Iranian Plateau which has nurtured the ancient Persian civilization is also quite arid and rugged. In the west, the Euphrates and Tigris River basins are dry and rainless to. Further westwards, it comes to the northern part of the Arabian Desert. And further westwards, it is the Sahara Desert, the largest arid zone in the world. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, it comes to the Colorado Desert stretching from the central and western North America to the southeast of California. The Changjiang River Basin is an exception in East Asia. It is a vast area with abundant rainfall. The average annual precipitation of the whole basin reaches 1126.7 mm13 . Since the uplift of the Hengduan Mountains in the west and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau blocks the warm and humid southeast monsoon from the Pacific Ocean in the east, the Changjiang River Basin becomes an exceptional area near the 30° north latitude with abundant rain. It has two essential conditions for the development of civilization: abundant fresh water and abundant thermal energy. The Changjiang River Basin is an area possessing superior natural conditions not only in China, but also in the whole world. So why, near the 30° north latitude, do other areas also become the birthplaces of civilization besides the Changjiang River Basin?Because the Indus River, the Euphrates and the Tigris River and the Nile, which flowed across those ancient countries, provided water for irrigation in those arid areas in subtropical zone. The origins of these rivers were areas with abundant rainfall. For example, the Indus River originates from the west side of the Himalayas where there is abundant rainfall and melting snow. The river flows southward across the arid zone with thermal energy. With the irrigation of the river, the Indus River Basin became the birthplace of Harappan Civilization, the oldest civilization in India. The ancient Persian civilization with both nomadic and agricultural properties born in the Iranian Plateau also benefited from the irrigation of the Karun River in the southwest. The Zagros Mountains, the birthplace of the river, also have relatively rich precipitation and melting snow, which also provides water for irrigation in some area of the Iranian Plateau. Further westwards, it comes to Mesopotamia, the main source of water of which comes from the abundant precipitation in the mountains of east Asia Minor. The Two Rivers flow from north to southeast and has nurtured the Mesopotamian Civilization. Further west, there is Egypt in North Africa, the development of civilization of which also benefited from the Nile. The Nile originates from two regions with abundant rainfall—the Ethiopia 13

Zeng Xiaofan, Zhai Jianqing, Jiang Tong et al. Spatial Characteristics and Evolution Trends of Annual Precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin [J]. Journal of Hohai University (Natural Sciences), 2008 (06).

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Plateau and the East African Plateau. After the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, it flows northwards and nurtured the Egyptian civilization in the east of the Sahara Desert. Different from the above river basins, the Changjiang River Basin has abundant rainfall, so it has a direct supply of water and thermal resources. The river network composed of its mainstream and tributaries can be used not only for irrigation (Dujiangyan in Sichuan Province as an example), but also for navigation. It is obvious that the unique ecological environment of the Changjiang River Basin is the reason of its superior natural conditions, which makes it have great potential for civilization development.

3.2.1.2

The Excellent Conditions for Agricultural Production

The first group of ancient civilizations born near the 30° north latitude was all based on wheat farming, including growing barley and wheat. The ancestors in the Yellow River Basin also mainly planted drought-resistant millet. The Changjiang River Basin, which is rich in water and thermal resources, became the origin of rice farming in paddy fields in the world. In addition, because the warm Ganges River Basin with rich rainfall is also suitable for rice planting, and there was a certain scale of rice planting industry in the lower reaches of the Indus River during the Harappan culture, the academic community has been debating whether China or India is the birthplace of domesticated rice. The theory that India is the origin of rice was the main theory from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of twentieth century. Recently, more and more archaeological discoveries have proved that the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River not only had rice farming remains dating back more than 10,000 years, but also were the areas with the most concentrated rice farming sites in the Neolithic age, while the rice farming remains in the Ganges River Basin can only date back less than 4000 or 5000 years. So the opinion that “Changjiang River Basin is the origin of rice” gradually becomes the main view in the international academic community (Photo 3.11). The development of rice farming in the Changjiang River Basin has been through three stages, and the period about 10,000 years ago is the germination period of rice farming. For example, based on the discovery in Yuchanyan Site and Xianrendong Site, the ancestors in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River not only hunted, but also began to try to cultivate rice at the same time. The period about 5000– 9000 years ago was a long development stage. The period about 8000 years ago was the early stage of the formation of rice farming. The main body of social economy was collecting and hunting, and rice planting was a supporting production activity. However, there had been settled tribes relying on primitive rice farming, and the scale of rice farming gradually expanded. During the period of Pengshantou Culture about 7700–9100 years ago, a large number of grains appeared to be planted in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River Basin. During the period between 5300 years ago to 7000 years ago, the Hemudu Culture in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River was still in the formation process of rice farming. The collection

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Photo 3.11 The specimen of cultivated rice unearthed in the Yuchanyan Site (about 12,000 years ago). Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhang Shuo. Large Rivers and the Origin of Rice Agriculture [J]. Fossils, 2018 (02)

and hunting could not be completely replaced, although the scale of rice farming was expanding gradually. The varieties of rice were constantly improving, and rice paddies equipped with irrigation facilities (marking the emergence of paddy irrigation system) and many agricultural tools for managing rice paddies fields appeared. And even pictures depicting the rice harvest were engraved on some pottery. In the Liangzhu Culture period around 5000 years ago, rice farming finally replaced hunting as the main body of social economy. Plows were widely used by the Liangzhu ancestors, and its production level far surpassed that in the Yellow River Basin. There was a considerable increase in rice production. In the late period of Liangzhu culture, the average yield of rice paddies at Maoshan site in the north of Hangzhou Bay was 141 kg, which was 2.5 times of that of Tianluoshan site in the early Hemudu culture and was almost the same as that of the paddies in the southeast in the Han and Wei Dynasties (150–181 kg). From 2011 to 2012, an ash pit filled with a large amount of carbonized rice was found on the east slope of Mojiaoshan site, which may be the result if two conflagrations. The ash pit covers an area of 600–700 square meters, with a thickness of about 40 cm. Assuming that one dry grain weighs 15 g, then we can figure out the loss of rice in two conflagrations was 10,000–15,000 kg. So about 4000–5000 years ago, a mature rice farming society was gradually established in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River Basin. Compared with dry farming agriculture, such as wheat and millet farming, rice farming requires much higher topographic conditions and irrigation techniques. Wheat and millet can be widely planted in low mountains and hills, while rice

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farming requires well-organized fields and ridges, and the fields must be flat, otherwise seedlings will suffer from drought or flooding. In order to grow rice, people must first reconstruct the terrain and set up irrigation and drainage facilities to ensure irrigation in dry season and drainage in rainy season. A lot of manpower and agricultural technology were needed to support the rice farming, so the ancestors in the Changjiang River Basin could only first grow rice in valley plains in hilly area which was not prone to floods. With the increase of population and the progress of technology (especially the improvement of flood control measures), they gradually expanded the rice farming to the low-lying plain areas, and larger settlements had been set up. In addition, different from the relatively extensive management mode of dry farming, rice farming required higher technology and more careful management, and even the processing of rice was much more difficult than that of wheat, millet or corn. Therefore, it is more likely for people engaged in rice farming to be careful and skilled, which could help the development of some handicraft industries requiring high skills. This might explain why there were so many exquisite jades, lacquer wares and silk fabrics in the Liangzhu culture, the handicraft of which was far superior to the products of other cultures of the same era14 . In addition, because the Changjiang River Basin is not far away from the Yellow River Basin, the communication and exchange among the civilizations of the two basins was relatively convenient, the rice and other crops from the south was introduced to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Meanwhile, the millet and other dry land crops in the north were also introduced to some hilly areas with high terrain which was not convenient to be irrigated in the Changjiang River Basin. The agricultural production which was increasingly developing in the Changjiang River Basin had laid a solid economic foundation for the construction of many prehistoric civilization centers. The world famous “China’s first city” is the Chengtoushan site located in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. “The first construction of the city dates back to the first stage of Daxi Culture, more than 6000 years ago”15 . The earliest (6500 years ago) rice paddies which are well preserved were found in the site, which proved that the economic basis of the city construction came from the accumulation of long-term rice farming. 30–40 sites of the early cities in the late Neolithic age were discovered in the Changjiang River Basin. Most of them cover an area of 200–300 thousand square meters, for example, the largest Liangzhu ancient city covers 3 million square meters, and the Shijiahe ancient city in the middle reaches covers 1.2 million square meters. Generally, there were large moats outside the city, most of which were connected with natural rivers. They can not only be used for defense, but also for water transportation. At the same time, the cities in Yellow River Basin at the same time not only covered smaller area, but also had smaller or even no moats. 14

Yan Wenming. Seeking the Source of Civilization: Selected Works of Yan Wenming [C]. Beijing: Capital Normal University Press, 2017:58. 15 Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.Chengtou Mountain in Lixian County:Excavation report of neolithic sites [M]. Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2007:13.

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The emergence of cities is one of the three symbols of the beginning of civilization. It can be seen that the beginning of the Changjiang River civilization was not later than that of the Yellow River civilization, and even occupied an advantageous position in the early stage of civilization, which were all based on highly developed rice farming. In addition, the warm and humid Changjiang River Basin is also the hometown of silk and tea. About 7500–5000 years ago, it was hot and rainy in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River which was very suitable for the growth of silkworms and mulberries, so it became the birthplace of silk. The archaeological data in recent years has proved that as early as 6000–7000 years ago, ancestors in the Changjiang River Basin began to use animal fibers and plant fibers, such as silk, hemp, and pueraria, to weave clothes. In 1973, a number of primitive textile tools about 7000 years ago were unearthed in the Hemudu site, such as weft bone knives, bone shuttles, wooden twisters and ceramic spinning wheels. In the winter of 1977, a vessel engraved with four silkworm pattern was unearthed together with a piece of pottery with the pattern of silkworm eating leaves. It can be seen that the ancestors in the Changjiang River Basin at that time already could carry out primitive manual weaving work, and “completed the stage of knowing the wild cocoon and silk worms, and it was not far away from using them16 . Around 3000–2000 BC, mulberry trees in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River were widely distributed, contributing to the occurrence of silk fabrics. In 1956 and 1958, many silk fabrics about 4700 to 4140 years ago were unearthed at Qianshanyang Site17 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. These are the earliest silk objects known in the world18 . They are all made of silk produced by silkworms. The silk culture in the Changjiang River Basin came into being almost the same time as Chinese civilization. The warm and humid environment is suitable for the growth of tea trees. The Changjiang River Basin with abundant water and thermal resources is an ideal place for growth and reproduction of them. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, old tea trees which are hundreds or even thousands of years old in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places in the Changjiang River Basin have been continuously discovered, proving that China is the origin of tea plants in the world. At present, the earliest tea remains in the world were discovered in the strata 6000 years ago at the Hemudu cultural site in Tianluoshan, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. More than 20 tea tree remains with roots and short stems were still in upright shape when unearthed. They were arranged in a row in two plots, which showed that they were planted artificially. In 2008, it was identified as a cultivated tea plant in Camellia by Japanese paleontologists. At the end of that year, according to the study of the China Tea Research Institute, this tea plant remains contained theanine which can only be found in tea plants. So it confirmed that the artificially cultivated tea plant in 16

Wei Dong.Study On the Origin of Sericulture in China from the Yangtze River Delta. Agricultural History of China, 1983 (01). 17 The site was officially named “the origin of silk in the world” in June 2015. 18 At present, the oldest tea trees are two arborescence tea trees, one is 2700 years old and the other one is 2500 years old, found in 1996 in Longtan, Qianjiazhai, Jiujia Town, Zhenyuan County, Yunnan Province. The former one is 25.6 m high, and the latter one is 19.5 m high.

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Tianluoshan site is the oldest tea plant found in the world so far19 , proving that the lower reaches of the Changjiang River are also the birthplace of tea culture.

3.2.1.3

Water Conservancy Projects

Compared with the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates River and the Indus River, the climate conditions with abundant water and heat resources not only contributed to the early development of rice farming in the Changjiang River Basin, but also aggravated river flooding. This is also the main reason why rice farming in the Changjiang River began in the hilly areas. The situation of the Nile, the mother river of ancient Egypt, is totally different. The rising, overflowing and falling of the Nile are very regular. In June every year, the monsoon from the Indian Ocean makes the Ethiopian Plateau in the upper reaches, which causes the water level of the Nile to surge. The river water in the lower reaches gradually overflows dikes and spreads to the opposite bank since July. The flood reaches its peak in September, and both banks become swamps. In November, the river falls. Since over 2000 km-long of the river of the lower reaches flows across the Sahara, there are no tributaries flowing in. In addition, the climate is hot and dry, so the evaporation capacity is huge, which reduces the water volume. Moreover, the downstream river channel is flat and broad (usually 15–20 km wide), which weakens the water potential, so it is difficult to cause floods. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians were not afraid of the flooding of the Nile. Instead, they held a grand “Flood Festival” in August annually to thank the Nile for bringing fertile soil and water. In the face of periodic floods, the ancient Egyptians only had to move to high places temporarily and return to the river bank after the flood subsided. They sowed wheat seeds on the fertile silt and quietly waited for the next year’s harvest. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians did not attach great importance to the construction of large-scale flood control and water drainage conservancy projects. They only needed to build the irrigation system to meet the demand of wheat plants for water in the dry season. In addition, because the lower reaches of the Nile are broad and the current is gentle, ships in the upper part of Egypt can float down the river, while the ships in lower Egypt can use sails to sail up by taking advantage of the north wind. Therefore, thanks to the Nile waterway, the relationship among the oases in Egypt was very close in early period, which also became an important reason for the early unification of ancient Egypt. The construction of the pyramid also relied on the Nile to transport huge stones to the site. However, the floods in the Changjiang River Basin featuring synchronization of high temperature and rich precipitation often break out in summer and autumn. The flood season lasts for half a year, and the water volume is more than ten times that of the Nile. Since the water potential was very large, even ancestors skilled at boating did not dare to take a risk in the large tributaries and the mainstream. Therefore, in the prehistoric period of relatively low productivity, in order to avoid floods, most of 19

Zhou Ying. Origin of Silk -- Qianshanyang in Huzhou [J]. Journal of Silk, 2006 (06).

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the ancestors in the Changjiang River Basin chose to settle down near the first or even the second or third grade tributaries, and spared no effort to build the flood control and water diversion projects. Therefore, the early civilizations in the Changjiang River Basin were scattered everywhere, and the prehistoric civilization of the upper, middle and lower reaches developed relatively independently. The focus of water conservancy projects in various regions was flood control. Since the 1990s, Chinese archaeologists have been embarking on excavating the dam site, Tangshan site, from Liangzhu site in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Since 2009, 10 dam sites have been unearthed successively, which together with Tangshan site constitutes a complete water conservancy system. From July 2015 to January 2016, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology carried out carbon 14 test on these dams. The results show that these dams were built between 5100 to 4700 years ago, belonging to the early and middle period of Liangzhu culture. The history of water conservancy in China was generally considered to start from the legend of “Dayu regulating the flood” about 4000 years ago. The discovery of Liangzhu water conservancy system is a major breakthrough in the study of water conservancy history in ancient times. “It is also the earliest dam system preventing floods in the world. It is in sharp contrast to the water conservancy system in the form of channels and water cellars in Egypt and Mesopotamia, which mainly aimed at water diversion. They reflect the different characteristics of wetland agricultural civilization and dry farming agricultural civilization in water regulation system”20 . The continuous constructions of water conservancy projects for flood control and diversion in the Changjiang River basin have formed the tradition of taking advantage of the river’s situation. In the Spring and Autumn Period, canal projects in the Changjiang River basin, such as Yunmeng Canal, Chaofei Canal, Xuxi Canal, Xupu Canal, Baichidu Canal, Ancient Jiangnan Canal, Hangou Canal and Heshui Canal, made full use of natural river channels, supplemented by excavation, connection and renovation. Before the Warring States Period, when the Minjiang River entered the Chengdu plain from the mountains near Guanxian (today’s Dujiangyan City), the turbid water velocity dropped sharply, resulting in sediment deposition and silting up of the riverbed, forming overhanging rivers and often causing flood disasters. In late Warring States Period (about 256 BC), Li Bing, minister of Shu of Qin State, through on-the-spot investigation, built in the Minjiang river a water-dividing dike, ceding forty percent of Minjiang river, forming an Inner Minjiang River. Making full use of the tilt from northwest to southeast of Chengdu plain, the project led in water by digging a mountain gap (Baopingkou). It then flowed to the east and southeast, dividing into multiple streams, and each stream was divided into numerous ditches, forming a dense irrigation network, which not only reduced the flooding of the outer river in the west (the original Minjiang river course), but also ensured the irrigation of the water network area supported by the inner river in the east. In addition, Li Bing also built a sand-discharging weir in the middle of the water diversion dike 20

Wang Ningyuan, Liu Bin. The Survey of the Water Control Engineering on the Periphery of the Liangzhu Ancient City in Hangzhou [J]. Archaeology, 2015 (01).

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to block flood and sediment, and to further control the inflow flow and sediment in the inner river. Finally, the tributaries of the inner river returned to the Minjiang River mainstream at the estuary of Pengshan River and continued to flow south. The Chengdu plain, which was irrigated and free from flood, quickly rose to become the granary for Qin State to unify the whole country, accelerating the first unification of ancient China. The Dujiangyan project, integrating flood control, irrigation and water transportation, is conserved till now under the maintenance and repair of the people from all dynasties. It is the oldest and only large water conservancy project without damming that is being used up to now and being kept completely. It is known as the originator of the world water conservancy culture, and has been listed on the World Heritage List in 2000 by UNESCO. After the Qin State unified China, by scientific site selection and ingenious use of altitude difference, the Lingqu Canal was built to connect the Changjiang River and the Pearl River water systems (see related discussions in Sect. 1 of Chap. 6 for details). However, the flooding of the Changjiang River was far less severe than that of the Yellow River in history. The precipitation in the Yellow River Basin is low (the precipitation in most areas is between 200–650 mm, and the average annual precipitation is 476 mm), the annual average water volume into the sea is 58 billion cubic meters (from July 1919 to June 1975), counting only 6% of that of the Changjiang River. However, the seasonality of precipitation is more obvious than that of the Changjiang River (70% in June to September). And since the number of tributaries and lakes is much less than that of the Changjiang River21 , the frequency of flood disasters is higher. Moreover, the Yellow River flows across the Huangtu Loess Plateau, the largest loess accumulation area in the world. In history, due to the gradual cooling of climate and the continuous destruction of vegetation on the Loess Plateau, the annual average sediment concentration in the Yellow River reached 37.8 kg/m3 , and the average sediment discharge was 1.6 billion tons (according to the data from 1919 to 1960)22 , which was more than 77 times of that of the Changjiang River and far ahead of the Colorado River (27.5 kg/m3 and with annual sediment discharge of 136 million tons), the river with the second most sediment concentration in the world. Only 1/4 of the sediment carried by the Yellow River flows into the sea, and the rest accumulates in the channel of the lower reaches, which greatly raises the water level of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, making it gradually become a suspended river (generally 3–5 m higher than the ground on both sides, and the highest level up to 10 m) with high possibility of breach and diversion. It is also an important reason why flood disasters in the Yellow River Basin are more severe than those of the Changjiang River. Therefore, in history, floods occurred frequently in the upper, 21

There are only more than 40 main tributaries of the Yellow River, and there are almost no tributaries flowing into the lower reaches of the Yellow River due to the suspended riverbed. 22 General Editorial Office of Huanghe Annals of Yellow River Water Resources Commission. Annals of the Yellow River:Overview of the Yellow River Basin [M]. Zhengzhou: Henan People’s Publishing House, 2017:88.

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Table 3.1 Floods of the Changjiang River in different centuries23 Frequency level

Century 10

11

12 2

1

Big flood

4

1

5

General flood

3

4

Total

7

5

Catastrophic flood

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20 (till 1990)

2

2

2

5

6

3

1

7

5

7

8

14

21

10

8

8

14

24

21

19

16

35

17

12

9

21

31

30

29

35

62

middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, among which the problem of breach and flooding in the lower reaches was the most serious. According to statistics, during the 2500 years from 206 BC (Western Han Dynasty) to 1949, the lower reaches of the Yellow River burst more than 1500 times and changed its course 26 times, of which 9 times were relatively large in scale and lasted for longer time. There used to be 7 estuaries in the sea, reaching Jingu in the north and Huaihe River in the south and forming a flooded area of 250,000 square kilometers. In addition, due to the great annual difference of precipitation, the drought in the Yellow River Basin is also very serious. From 1766 BC to 1944, 1070 droughts were recorded in history. During the 2096 years from 185 BC to 1911 in the Changjiang River Basin, more than 200 floods were recorded, which means there’s one flood every ten years in average. Flood disasters in the Changjiang River Basin were not as serious as those of the Yellow River, but it also increased to one time every 3–5 years in modern times. Droughts in the whole basin were rare in history and mainly occurred in the form of seasonal regional droughts. The droughts influencing relatively larger areas occurred every two or three years, which were more obvious in the upper reaches than in the middle and lower reaches. In addition, different from the Yellow River, of which the lower reaches have almost no tributaries flowing into, there are many lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River (covering about 21,000 square kilometers, accounting for 97.8% of the total Lake area in the Changjiang River Basin) that can efficiently regulate the water volume of the main stream of the Changjiang River and greatly weaken the impact of flood and drought disasters. This is also one of the important reasons why the Changjiang River has gradually replaced the Yellow River as China’s economic and cultural center and nurtured more populations (Table 3.1).

3.2.1.4

Orientation Features

The early civilizations of the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates River and the ancient Indus River, which were born near the 30° north latitude, developed gradually in a 23

Yangtze River Water Resources Commission of Ministry of Water Resources. Flood and Drought Disasters in the Yangtze River Basin [M]. Beijing: China Water Resources and Hydropower Press, 2002:31.

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relatively closed region. With the increase in the communication among different regions in the same basin, the cultures of the basins mentioned above began to be consistent. However, with the advancement of civilization and transportation capacity, the disadvantage brought by its superior geographical location to the original civilization gradually appeared, which was the greed of the surrounding ethnic groups. For example, around 3000 B.C., the Sumerian people in the southern part of Mesopotamia took the lead in creating the first highly developed civilization in human history—Sumerian Civilization. After hundreds of years of integration among different states, the unified Sumerian State was formed in the middle of the twentyfourth century B.C.. But it was occupied by the Akkad Kingdom from the north at the end of the twenty-fourth century B.C., thus forming the first empire in human history, the Akkad Empire (2334–2154 BC). The rule of Akkad was not stable, and it was destroyed by the Guti people in the east in less than two centuries. After that, there was a brief revival of Sumer, the occupation of Elamites and Amorites, the civil war of the Amorites, the reunification of the Kingdom of Babylon, and the occupation of the Assyrians in Mesopotamia. At last, in 539 BC, the new Kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by the emerging Persian Empire, and the independent development of ancient civilization in Mesopotamia came to an end. Because of its prosperity, wealth and geographical location, Mesopotamia where a splendid early civilization was created became an arena of civilization for all ethnic groups in the ancient Middle East, but the civilization died out inevitably. Another example is the Indus River Basin, which was invaded and finally occupied by the northern nomadic tribe, the Aryan people. The ancient Indian civilization was interrupted early and started a new civilization process under the leadership of Aryan people. Only the ancestors of the Nile civilization maintained their dominant status for a long time. Egypt in the lower reaches of the Nile is now an important transportation channel connecting Asia, Africa and Europe. However, from the perspective of external environment of transportation in ancient times, there were desert areas near both sides of the lower reaches of the Nile (Arabian Desert in the east and Libya Desert in the west), the Nubian Desert and the first waterfall of the Nile in the south, and the coast without harbors at the delta area in the north. In the early period of human civilization with limited traffic conditions, the history of ancient Egyptians happened in this belt-shaped relatively closed river valley. From the second half of 4000 B.C. to 332 B.C., there were 9 periods and 31 dynasties, including the Former Dynasty, the Early Dynasty, the Ancient Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom, the Third Intermediate Period and the later Dynasty. During this period, the power of ancient Egypt crossed the Sinai Peninsula and extended to the Canaan Plain. It was also once occupied by its neighbor in the south, Nubia, and the Hyksos and Assyrians from western Asia for a short time. However, the dominant ethnic group was always the ancient Egyptians who were short and thin with straight black hair, deep eye sockets and slightly hooked noses. However, after being occupied by the Persian Empire in 525 B.C., the situation had changed greatly. Egypt in the lower reaches of the Nile

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was no longer a relatively closed world, but a strategic place to connect Europe, Asia and Africa. After over 100 years, the state of Egypt was only restored once for a short time in the Persian civil strife, but was soon merged back into the Persian Empire. In 332 BC, Alexander conquered Egypt, and Greek became the official language of Egypt. Ancient Egypt was gradually assimilated into the Hellenistic world. The ancient Egyptian civilization was gradually replaced by foreign civilization, and the indigenous people gradually moved away from their native land and were replaced by Arabs. In contrast, the topography of East Asia where the Changjiang River Basin is located is relatively closed. Because of the inconvenient transportation in the basin, the activity areas of residents of Ba-Shu, Jing-Chu and Wu-Yue were relatively fixed. Since Han Dynasty, especially after Tang Dynasty, with the development of productivity and transportation, exchange among ethnic groups inside and outside the Changjiang River Basin had been increasing. All regions were open to each other and had been nurtured by heterogeneous civilization and had also continuously exported their own culture. In the process of continuous cultural absorption and export, all regions of Changjiang River Basin not only maintained their cultural features, but also integrated into the common Chinese Culture. In the course of history, the Changjiang River has repeatedly protected Chinese civilization.

3.2.1.5

Marks of Civilization

Generally speaking, the appearance of metal tools, characters and cities are the marks of the occurrence of civilization. But to be specific, each civilization has more or less some technical and artistic characteristics, so there are also some unique civilization marks. For example, pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs in the lower reaches of the Nile, clay tablets with cuneiform and seals (lithography and cylinder seal) of Mesopotamia, early cities with strict planning and advanced water supply and drainage systems in the Indus River Basin, bronzes and turtle and bone Inscriptions in the Yellow River Basin. Jade productions can best represent the early civilization in the Changjiang River Basin. The Neolithic jade products in the Changjiang River Basin were discovered in Baodun Culture, Sanxingdui Culture and Jinsha Culture sites in the upper reaches, Daxi Culture, Xuejiagang Culture and Shijiahe Culture sites in the middle reaches and Hemudu Culture, Majiabang Culture and Liangzhu Culture sites in the lower reaches. Among them, jade ware and jade culture in Liangzhu Culture is the most typical. It is known that as early as 7000 years ago, the ancestors of Hemudu in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River used fluorite (with bright colors, some of which can emit fluorescence, similar to jade) to make decorations. Up to 6000 years ago, the ancestors of Songze already knew how to use amphibole jade. In the Daxi Culture of the middle reaches, some jade ornaments already possessed zigzag patterns on the outer edge. There were also small ornaments with the relief of human faces and human-shaped round sculptures. The production of jade became more exquisite, and the shape of the jade ware was very regular. Later, the Qujialing Culture and

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Shijiahe Culture followed the tradition of jade making in Daxi Culture, among which the exquisite and dedicate pieces of jade accounted for the major part. Many jade ornaments were in the shape of human faces. The peak of prehistoric jade culture in the Changjiang River Basin was in Liangzhu Culture. During the period of Liangzhu Culture, social productivity had made great progress. The strong economic foundation (by rice farming) supported the large-scale construction of early central cities and nurtured various handicraft industries. The production of jade ware was more specialized. Liangzhu jade had a wide variety and was exquisite. Its use was not only limited in primitive religion, but also closely linked with political power and large-scale ritual activities. Groups of jade used in rituals have appeared, symbolizing the identity and status of the owners and highlighting the level and scale of the settlement. Jadeware of Liangzhu Culture covered 20–30 varieties. Among them, Cong, crown-shaped ware and jade ornaments on sticks were first created by Liangzhu Culture. Bracelets, cone-shaped, crown-shaped and trident-shaped jade ware were special and account for a large part. Huang, tube, cone-shaped pendant, Jue and various string ornaments and ending ornaments were also common. The jade of Liangzhu Culture served the function of symbolizing social status. Most of the jades were unearthed in high-grade tombs, which were extremely delicate and made by professional craftsmen. However, the jade in the tombs of ordinary people was smaller in both number and size and simpler in shape. According to the statistics of scholars, “the jade which was discovered in Liangzhu Site and Sidun site occupy 2/3 of jade in Liangzhu Culture, while only 1/3 of jade objects were found in other sites”24 . In particular, the jade ware unearthed in the Liangzhu Site was the largest in number and the most complete in types, which can clearly indicate its central position in civilization. Jadeware has become the embodiment of the civilization mode of Liangzhu Culture. In order to ensure the stability and operation of social organizations, Liangzhu ancestors made groups of jade as ritual objects. In the high-grade tombs of Liangzhu Culture, groups of jade ritual objects can be usually discovered, which may be the symbol of the trinity of owner’s military power, divine power and financial power. Among them, jade Cong was the core of a group of jade ritual objects, so it was large in quantity, complicated in production process and the largest in size. “Only Cong can be engraved with the pattern of divinity which was the necessary content of Cong. The structure of Cong and the relationship between Cong and divinity are fully reflected in the large Cong unearthed in Fanshan (M2:98)”25 “The king of jade Cong” of Fanshan, which is of large size,26 high quality and exquisite carving, is the symbol of the outlook on universe of Liangzhu people. It 24

Guo Mingjian. A Preliminary Study on Jade Industry in Liangzhu Culture [J]. East Asia Archaeology, 2019. 25 Fang Xiang Ming. Group of Ritual Jades and Liangzhu Cultural Pattern [J]. Museum, 2019 (02). 26 The overall height is 8.9 cm, the outer diameter of upper shot surface is 17.1–17.6 cm, the outer diameter of lower shooting surface is 16.5–17.5 cm. The outer diameter of perforation is 5 cm, and the inner diameter is 3.8 cm.

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is in the form of a cylinder tangent to a square prism inside, with an inner cylinder hole, which represent heaven and earth respectively, and the perforating hole in the middle is the channel, the main pillar and the rotating central axis. This design of Cong can produce dynamic rotation effect through symmetrical top–bottom double pattern on each side and corner. In the middle of each side plane, there are two identical god-beast-bird pattern bas-reliefs arranged up and down. The bas-reliefs are extremely complex and exquisite. Each pattern, looking very dignified and sacred, has three parts: the top part is a god with a crown and a set of armor, the middle part is a beast face with round eyes and tusks, the lower part is the claws of bird. At the left and right sides of each god-beastface-birdclaw pattern there is a group of simplified half god-beastface and simplified bird, which is symmetric by the edge and can constitute a complete pattern together with the other half on the adjacent plane. The combination of simplified patterns and bird patterns echoed the main god-beastface-birdclaw pattern and look simple and clear. They highlighted the idea of “connecting heaven and earth”, and the pursuit of harmony between heaven, earth and man in Liangzhu. The owner of the “king of jade Cong of Fanshan” may be the wizard responsible for communicating with the gods of heaven and earth. The jade ware of Liangzhu Culture makes the marks of the occurrence of civilization in the Changjiang River Basin different from those of other river civilizations near the 30° north latitude (Photos 3.12 and 3.13). In addition, the other two symbols of civilization have been found in the cultures of the Changjiang River valley at the end of the Neolithic Age (the period when copper and stone were used together, about 5,500–4,000 years ago).

Photo 3.12 Fanshan m12:98 Jade Cong

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Photo 3.13 Symbols on the Fanshan m12:98 Jade Cong

Currently copper products and raw materials were only found in the Shijiahe Ruins in middle reaches of the Changjiang river. The quantity is large and their distributions are quite concentrated. It shows that the copper smelting process should be mastered before the Shijiahe culture27 . The prehistoric city sites of Neolithic Age excavated in the Changjiang River Basin are abundant and with excellent achievements. The most well-known ones are Sanxingdui City Site in the upper reaches, Chengtoushan City Site in the middle reaches and Liangzhu Ancient City Site in the lower reaches. More than 20 prehistoric city sites of different sizes have been discovered in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. The birth of its city sites (for example, “The First City in China”, Daxi Culture City Sute in Chengtoushan, Hunan Province, dating back more than 6000 years), the emergence of city groups and the emergence of the central city sites are all earlier than those in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. As for the ancient city of Liangzhu, its huge scale, complete capital structure and peripheral water conservancy project, residents within specific social class differentiation (see Chap. 5), complete sets of jade ritual vessels and the symbols carved on the pottery in South Lake in Yuhag, all make it confirmed to be a typical early city.

27

Ren Shinan. Exploration on the Origin of Civilization in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River // Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Huaxia Civilization and Inheritance Collection [C]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1996.

References

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References 1. Hegel GWF (2001) The philosophy of history. In: Sibree J (Trans) Batoche books, Kitchener, p 97 2. Hallo WW, Simpson WK (1971) The Ancient near east: a history. Harcout, Brace, Jovanovich, New York, p 28 3. van der Toorn K, van der Host PW (1990) Nimrod before and after the Bible. Harv Theol Rev 83(1):1–29 4. Christian D, Brown CS, Benjamin C (2016) In: Yaohui L (Trans) Great history between nothingness and all things. Beijing United Press, Beijing, p 188

Chapter 4

Cultural Division

As the total creation of human material and spiritual civilization, culture has the characteristics of both time and space. People call the discipline of studying the evolution of the epochal character of culture the cultural history, and the discipline of studying the spatial distribution of culture the cultural geography. These two disciplines have the value of independent existence and the history of independent development. However, time and space are two inseparable forms. And epochal character and regional character are also two interdependent attributes of culture. Only by comprehensively observing these two attributes and investigating their interactive relationship can we truly grasp the depth and breadth of the culture created by mankind. In this sense, the integration of history and geography is imperative. China has a long history. Its cultural evolution and regional development show a graceful appearance. In order to gain a complete and profound understanding of Chinese culture, we must do more specific regional investigation, including special research on the culture of the river basin, so as to provide a solid foundation for synthesis and abstraction. China’s cultural history has a profound accumulation in this regard. Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, vividly described the products and cultural characteristics of the different regions at that time in his Shih Chi. Liu Xiang, a scholar at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, divided the whole territory of the Han Dynasty into several regions. Prime Minister Zhang Yu ordered his subordinate Zhu Gan to introduce customs according to regions. Geographical Records of The Book of Han, written by Ban Gu, a historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, integrated the above achievements and made‘ a “regional division” of China at that time, recording local customs and drawing a living picture of cultural and regional characteristics. Taking the Book of Han as a sample, the official history of all dynasties had set up geographical records, taking the territory of each dynasty as the scope, the administrative region system as the outline, describing mountains and rivers, products and customs in different articles, forming a research tradition of cultural areas. As for the investigation of river basins, Chapter Shuidi of Guanzi, which was completed in the Warring States period, was the earliest work. Starting © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_4

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from Records of Rivers of Shih Chih, many official histories and local chronicles had special articles describing rivers and their regulation. There are also monographs on the analysis of rivers such as Shuijingzhu (Commentary on the Waterways Classic) by Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It described in detail more than 1000 rivers, among which the Yellow River and the Changjiang River are the key rivers, as well as relevant counties, cities, products, customs Legends, history, etc. These articles have laid a solid foundation for watershed research. As the spatial classification of culture, cultural areas are determined by three factors: nature, society and humanities, which are integrated into regional cultural characteristics in the historical process. Cultural areas are not static and solidified, but are evolving over time. Generally speaking, the natural factors that constitute the cultural area change slowly, but the social and cultural factors migrate rapidly. Wang Fuzhi often used “the Chi of the sky moving south” and “the Chi of the earth moving south” to express the movement of the cultural center, and his so-called “Chi of the sky” and “Chi of the earth” does not specifically refer to the natural Chi, but the synthesis of nature, society and humanities, which more contains social and humanistic factors. The upper, middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River Basin can be divided into Ba-Shu culture, Jing-Chu culture and Wu-Yue culture, which were created by ancient Ba and ancient Shu people in the upper reaches, ancient Chu people in the middle reaches and ancient Yue people in the lower reaches. The other river civilizations in the world were mainly created by a single nation or ethnic group, or different nationalities in different historical periods, developed in the river basin, and then spread widely. The Changjiang River civilization was created by different ethnic groups in different regions of the basin at roughly the same time. The upper limit of regional culture in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River can all be traced back to the late Neolithic age. By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the scope of each cultural area was relatively fixed, forming their own stable and distinctive cultural characteristics (Fig. 4.1). Since Qin and Han Dynasties, with the regional characteristics becoming more prominent, the division of cultural zones of the Changjiang River Basin had become more detailed. Qiang-Zang Culture and Dian-Qian Culture emerged in the upper reaches, Hu-Xiang culture emerged as a branch of the Jing-Chu culture in the middle reaches, and Gan-Wan culture formed in Anhui and Jiangxi in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. So after subdivision, there are seven cultural areas in the Changjiang River Basin, including Qiang-Zang, Dian-Qian, Ba-Shu, Jing-Chu, Hu-Xiang, Gan-Wan and Wu-Yue. These distinctive regional cultures continued to develop and blend. They not only constituted an important part of Chinese culture, but also expanded their influence overseas through the maritime Silk Road, promoting the formation of the Chinese cultural circle covering east Asia, Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.

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Fig. 4.1 Cultural division of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River in the pre Qin period

4.1 Upper Reaches: Qiang-Zang Culture, Dian-Qian Culture and Ba-Shu Culture 4.1.1 Qiang-Zang (Tibetian) Culture The Qiang-Zang cultural zone, which is closely related to the Changjiang River culture, mainly refers to the cultural area of the basins of Jinsha River, Yalong River, Dadu River among the Hengduan Mountains and the river valley corridor in the upper section of Minjiang River. It was the place where ancient Di-Qiang people lived. About 4500 years ago, the Di-Qiang people who lived in the mountain plateau of the upper section of the Minjiang River migrated to the plains along the Minjiang River. After entering Chengdu Plain, they became the ancestors of Shu people, while those who stayed in the Minshan Mountains were called the “Ranmang”. The ancient Qiang people are the “Qiang” and “Qiang Fang” recorded on tortoise shell and bone inscriptions. The activities of Qiang people recorded in the inscriptions were roughly in today’s eastern Shaanxi Province, southern Shanxi Province and western Henan Province. However, the Qiang people may be widely distributed in the west of Shaanxi Province. The ancient Qiang people consisted of people from different ethnic groups. Tibetans in the later generation should be the descendants of some ethnic groups of Qiang people, and others gradually integrated with Han people, such as the Jiang family who lived in the Weihe River Basin and the Di nationality which was prosperous for a time in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Because of the low temperature and sparse vegetation, the Qiang people who lived in the west of China build houses with stones, which were called “Shishi (stone buildings)”or “Qionglong

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(watch tower houses)”. This kind of “Qionglong” made by stones are several stories or even over ten stories high. It had both the accommodation and defense functions. This form of building was later brought to the Chengdu Plain by the ancient Shu people, and expanded to Sichuan and Chongqing area with the eastward movement of Shu people. It even had influence on the buildings in Guizhou, Yunnan and even Southeast Asia. Qiang people usually built their villages in the place close to both the valleys and mountains. It was convenient for them not only to get water, but also to build watchtowers, which reflected the national character of Qiang people who were brave and good at fighting. Most of the watch towers were in the form of quadrangle, hexagon, octagon, and most of the existing high watch towers are in the form of quadrangle. The plane is usually in the shape of a square or the Chinese character “回”. The vertical plane is in the shape of a square cone. The ancient Qiang-Zang society was in the stage of primitive tribal alliance for a long time, one of their customs was revenge. According to the Old Book of Tang, “revenge is especially important for the Qiang people. If one does not succeed in revenge, he will be having an unkempt appearance, in bare foot and only eat simple fare. Only when the enemy is killed can he return to normal. “In modern times, the revenge tradition can still be seen in the custom of “fighting enemies” of Yi, Yao, Miao and Zhuang minority groups. The revenge always lasted generations. If one party succeeded in revenge or they called for reconciliation, oath for peace should be sworn between the two parties to stop the killing. If the two parties wanted to reconcile, one party must make compensation, and there would be an official responsibility for the affairs of reconciliation to judge based on the “Qiang law”. The compensation was money or sheep and horses. The simplest way to take the oath was to break the arrow. Generally, according to the classic, animals should be killed, and liquor would be mixed with the blood of these animals, such as chickens, pigs and dogs, which were put into the head bones. People took the oath to stop revenge and drank it. The oath among the chieftains even needed to sacrifice humans. In history, the Qiang-Zang people often made reconciliation and alliance with the regimes in the Central Plains. The Tang Dynasty allied with them eight times, and the ceremonies were solemn. Stone monuments were erected to document the events. Due to the area where Qiang people lived was relatively closed, Qiang people still maintained their original religious beliefs and worshiped nature and ancestors. What was different was that all the divinities worshipped by Qiang and Tibetan peoples had no fixed image, but were integrated into the worship of white stones. The worship of white stones was not derived from the natural stones, but from the white color. The God of White Stone was originally the personification of the Qiang god of heaven or the ancestor god, and then became the representation of all gods. The white stones, as the embodiment of the gods, must be clean ones. Generally, they should be placed by Shibi (wizard) and drenched with the blood of chickens, sheep or cow’s to represent to the gods. In the Qiang villages, white stones, as the embodiment of gods, were everywhere. Stones in different places represented different gods. Stones on the mountains or on the top of the village stood for the God of heaven or the God of the village; stones in the field represented the God of the field; stones piled up in the

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form of a tower which was placed in the soil was for the Spirit of Ancestors, and with branches beside it was the God of the earth. Three or four white stones placed side by side in front of shrines represented respectively the God of house, the God of home, the supernatural beings, and the God of crops. Five white stones standing on the roof in a row represented respectively the God of Heaven, the God of Earth, God of Mountains, Goddess of Mountains and Guan Yu the Sacred King. The white stone worship of Qiang people had a long history, and its origin is still controversial. It can be traced back to the ancient Qiang people’s custom of burying white stones in tombs, or may be related to the northwestern nomadic people’s custom of advocating the white, or originated from the ancient fire worship or snowy mountain worship. The origin of worship of white stones can be found in the Qiang epic, The Battle Between Qiang and Ge: on the way from the northwest prairie to the upper section of Minjiang River, the God of Heaven helped the ancestors of Qiang people by throwing down three white stones and turning them into three snowy mountains, which blocked the attack of “devil soldiers” (namely the Geji people) and saved all the people from danger. After the ancestors arrived at the upper section of the Minjiang River, they were helped by the God of Heaven many times and defeated the Geji people with white stones. Then, the ancestors were able to rebuild their homes and live and work in peace. In order to express their gratitude to the God of Heaven, The Qiang used the white stones to represent the god and worshiped them. Up to now, there are still rows of white stones in the Qiang villages (Photo 4.1).

Photo 4.1 Tibetan women preforming, shot by Liu Jianlin

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4.1.2 Dian-Qian Culture “Dian-Qian culture, also known as Yunnan-Guizhou culture, is the material and spiritual culture created and developed by people of all ethnic groups in southwest China. “The Dian-Qian culture consists of Dian culture and Qian culture, which is closely related and relatively independent. In terms of region, most of the area of Guizhou (Qian) belongs to the Changjiang River Basin, while only the south bank of Jinsha River in the north of Yunan (Dian) is located in the Changjiang River Basin. The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is relatively closed in geographical location, and its culture is different from the neighboring culture of Ba-Shu and Jing-Chu. The composition of ethnic groups in this area is diverse. In ancient times, they together had a name “Southwest Yi”. Records of Southwest Yi of Shih Chi wrote by Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty was the earliest book which recorded the history, culture and social life of Dian and Qian. Southwest Yi was widely distributed, and the lifestyle and customs of different ethnic groups varied a lot. Among them, Yelang and Dian were two larger ethnic groups, people of which all put hair into buns and lived by agriculture. Guizhou Plateau began to communicate with inland Chinese culture earlier. In the middle of the Warring States period, King Wei of Chu sent Zhuang Qiao to get the area of Ba and Qian. Zhuang Qiao reached the Dian Lake. It has a total area of 300 Li, around which were fertile land covering an area of thousands of Li. Zhuang conquered this area and it then belonged to the Chu State. Afterwards, Jing-Chu culture began to be introduced into Dian-Qian area. Later, Qin people occupied this area, blocking the retreat way of Chu troops in the Dian Lake. Zhuang Qiao and his army had to stay in the Dian Lake area and live together with the ethnic groups there for a long time, and the customs also integrated. After the State of Qin finished its unification of China, it built roads (namely “Wuchi Road”) connecting the Central Plains and the area of Southwest Yi, and assigned local officials to manage them. Later, because of wars, the communication between Southwest Yi and the Central Plains was ineffective. Later, the army of the Han Dynasty arrived in the area of Southwest Yi, and the local of chiefs Southwest Yi wanted the central government to assign officials to manage the area. Since then, the Southwest Yi has been under the administration of the central government, and their communication with the outside world was built again. Thus, the Dian-Qian area was able to incorporate the culture of Ba-Shu, Jing-Chu, Wu-Yue, the Central Plains, and even Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the rich and colorful culture of Dian-Qian was formed. In particular, since the Ming Dynasty, an unprecedented number of Han immigrants entered Yunnan and Guizhou, changing the local ethnic composition. The central government gradually implemented direct rule over the southwest territory by bureaucratization of local officers. The Han immigrants and the local residents of all ethnic groups communicated and integrated with each other. The cultural exchange between Dian-Qian and the outside world has been strengthened unprecedentedly, and today’s Yunnan and Guizhou people were gradually formed.

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By the Qing Dynasty, Xie Shenglun had taken Yunan and Guizhou as a whole and carried out cultural research on it. However, while being deeply influenced by Confucianism, most of the DianQian people still maintained their characters of being brave and enthusiastic, and the local Han people were also influenced by the customs. In addition, although the ethnic groups are mixed in this area, they still kept their own communities. Therefore, although the majority of the population in the area of Dian-Qian has been Han people, the culture of Dian-Qian is a kind of mixed culture. What mentioned above are what Dian and Qian culture share in common and the main characteristics of them differ from other regional cultures. On the land of Yunnan and Guizhou, the festivals and various songs and dances of ethnic groups can best reflect their customs. For example, one of the customs of people of Tujia ethnic group living along the Wujiang River Valley is contending to be the first one who gets the water after the chicken’s first crow on the first day of the new year. After getting the lucky water, they will burn incense to their ancestors. The family members, will be sitting around the fire roasting Ciba (a kind of food made of sticky rice), and listening to the sound of birds. In the view of Tujia people, every bird is in charge of one kind of crop. Therefore, the sound of birds is the symbol of fortune. They like to plant trees around their houses to attract birds. Another example is people of Yi ethnic group who is widely distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. Their ancestors believed that fire was the flower of the sun and the soul of their ancestors. A grand “Torch Festival” will be held on June 24 every year, with a history of more than 1000 years (since the Han Dynasty). At that time, people will get up early to sacrifice animals to their ancestors. When night falls, dressed in new costumes, people hold high torches to walk around the fields, praying for a bumper harvest. There are also a series of cultural activities, such as singing, dancing, playing Kouqin (a reed instrument), playing Yueqin (a plucked string instrument), horse racing, bullfighting, sheep fighting, cockfighting, wrestling and beauty contest. The Torch Festival lasts three days. On the last night, people gather torches into a pile of huge bonfires and sang and danced around the bonfire, which is the climax of the Torchlight Festival (Photos 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6).

4.1.3 Ba-Shu Culture Ba-Shu culture was created by the Ba people who migrated to the eastern part of Sichuan Basin and the Shu people who lived in the Western Sichuan Plain for a long time. It was a regional cultural community in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River in the Pre-Qin period of China. The two ethnic groups of Ba and Shu have their own origins. Their cultures have different characteristics, but also related to each other. Through continuous traffic construction (mainly refers to the construction of plank roads), the terrain restrictions of Sichuan Basin were broken, and they began to communicate with the outside world. In the process of absorbing other culture

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Photo 4.2 A three-day carnival in the torch festival of Yi people

and spreading local culture, the connotation of Ba-Shu and Chinese culture was constantly enriched. In the late Warring States period, Qin State conquered the BaShu area, and the economic and cultural exchanges between Ba-Shu and Central Plains became more convenient, and Ba-Shu culture became one of the core subjects of Chinese culture. Ba-Shu cultural zone, with Sichuan Province and Chongqing City as the center, covered the area of southern Shaanxi, western Hubei and part of Yunnan and Guizhou. There were many tribes living in this area. They can be roughly divided into two groups. In the east of Sichuan, there were tribes of Ju, Cong, Rang, Yi, Dan and Ba; in the west of Sichuan, there were Bo, Qiongdu, Zuo, Xi, Ran, Mang and Shu, of which Ba and Shu are two main ethnic groups in the two major groups. (1) Ba people and Ba Culture The origin of Ba people is mysterious. Generally speaking, they lived in the upper section of Han River or Qingjiang River in Western Hubei in the late Shang Dynasty. They were called “Ba Fang” in Tortoise and Bone Inscriptions, and were once an affiliated territory of the Shang Dynasty. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Ba people took part in the war between King Wu of Zhou Dynasty against King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. Recorded by Shang Shu, there were four groups related to Ba people taking part in the Muye Oath-taking Rally, namely Mao, Wei, Pu and Peng. “The king of Wu conquered Yin and granted his clansman as the viscount of Ba”. From then on, the relationship between Ba and the Zhou Dynasty in the Central Plains became closer and closer. Zhan Huanbo, a senior official of Zhou Dynasty, pointed out that

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Photo 4.3 An elderly Naxi person living in Lijiang, Yunnan Province

“the area of Ba, Pu, Chu and Deng is our southern territory. From the Spring and Autumn period, Ba people moved eastwards along the Han River, and once allied with the State of Chu to destroy the State of Yong. After the break-up of the Ba-Chu alliance, the Ba people turned to the southwest and lived in the area of Qingjiang River in Western Hubei. After moving upstream Qingjiang River, they entered the mountainous and hilly area in the east of Sichuan Basin at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, and gradually merged with the local aboriginal people, such as Pu, Cong, Ju and Gong, forming the Ba clan group. The area controlled by them

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Photo 4.4 Yi women laugh and chat in Dali, Yunnan province

Photo 4.5 Smiling Yao women

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Photo 4.6 Villagers pull strong buffaloes to an annual bullfight festival in a small village in Guizhou province

area reached Yufu (today’s Fengjie) in the east, Bodao (today’s Yibin) in the west, Hanzhong in the north and Qianfu (today’s Qianzhong and Fuling) in the south. The Ba clan often migrated. They mainly made a living on fishing and hunting instead of agriculture like ancient Shu People, and their farming began late. There were few large-scale agricultural central settlements in their living area. There are no sacrificial heritage, such as sacrificial houses covering the area of hundreds of square meters, pebble sacrificial platforms and public prestige buildings, similar to those in the sites of Shu culture. The material basis of Ba people’s rise was the numerous salt springs in their territory. In order to fight for and protect salt springs, Ba people not only had endless internal disputes, but also needed to be on guard against the Chu people. In the middle of the Warring States period, there was a long-term battle between Ba and Chu over salt springs. Finally, the three major salt springs of Ba were lost. From then on, Ba began to decline. Soon after (in 316 B.C.), they were attacked and destroyed by the Qin army who also destroyed Shu. Ba people lived by fishing, hunting and gathering. They like to live near water and salt springs. The scattered tribes migrated among hilly area and valleys. Therefore, they were brave and good at fighting. In the struggle against beasts and other tribes, they have developed a kind of vigorous dance, namely the Bayu dance. They would have the Bayu dance together before wars. Weapons account for the largest part of remains of bronze objects. The willow-shaped swords, daggers, spears, arrowheads and crossbows are common objects in Ba tombs.

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In terms of religious belief, Ba people were similar to their neighbor, Chu people. They believed in ghosts and respect witches. Their legends of “goddess of salt water”, “Wushan Goddess” and white tiger myth have been handed down to today. Ba people believed in tigers as their ancestors, and most of their bronze musical instruments “Chunyu” had tiger buttons, which were not found on the similar ones in the Central Plains. Due to the dense river network in Sichuan Basin, the people of Ba-Shu lived by water, especially the ancestors of Ba people who lived by fishing for a long time. Therefore, Ba people had fish worship and sacrificed with fish, and were usually buried in boat-shaped coffins. In ancient times, Ba people were named Ba because they had a very close relationship with fish in their life and the pronunciation of “fish” was “Ba”. Many names of places in Ba include the character “Yu” (meaning fish in Chinese), such as Yufu. Yufu also was one of the ancestors of the Shu people. A 142 cm long “Yufu golden stick” was unearthed from Sanxingdui Site, which is the longest golden stick found in the world. Fish worship was the common belief of Ba-Shu ancestors in ancient Sichuan Basin. In terms of living customs, because of the humid climate and snakes, insects and beasts in Ba-Shu, the ancestors of Ba-Shu liked to build houses on trees. Since then, the natural trees had been gradually replaced by timber piles, which had evolved into houses with columns and the overhead ground floor where people lived on the upper floors, namely the Diaojiaolou. Comparing Ba-Shu, this house building culture of Ba people is more distinctive. In Ba area, there were many Diaojiaolou widely distributed at the foot of mountains and on river banks. The worship of tigers and fish and their living custom remained unchanged till the Tang Dynasty. The funeral custom, boat-coffin burial, of Ba people was distinctive. The earliest boat-coffin tombs were found in Baolunyuan Site in Zhaohua County, Guangyuan and Dongsunba Site in Baxian county (today’s Dongsunba in Tongguanyi, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing). Both of them are vertical earth pits, which are about 4.5–6 m long and 1–1.5 m wide, with only one boat coffin in each pit respectively1 . The heads of two boat coffins face the river. The coffins in tombs are densely and well arranged, especially those in Dongsunba. Boat-coffin burial was once considered to be the unique funeral custom of Ba people. However, with the discovery of a large number of boat coffins in Dayi, Guanghan, Mianzhu, Shuangliu, Pengxian, Chengdu, Pixian and other places in Chengdu Plain, it has been proved that the boat-coffin burial was a common funeral custom of Ba-Shu ancestors. In addition, the funeral custom of Ba people also includes overhanging coffin burial, that is, after the death of their relatives, people buried their bodies in coffins, and hung them down the mountain with ropes to place the coffins on the wooden piles inserted into the cliffs. The funeral custom of overhanging coffin burial and boat-coffin burial existed in different areas. So far, boat coffins have not been found on the cliffs in the area of eastern Sichuan where Ba people lived. The funeral custom of overhanging coffin 1

Feng Hanji, Yang Yourun, Wang Jiayu. Ancient Ship Coffin Burial in Sichuan [J]. Acta Archaeologica Sinica, 1958 (02).

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burial continued for a long time. Even nowadays, people can still see the relics of overhanging coffins on the cliffs when passing the Three Gorges by boats2 . (2) Shu people and Shu Culture The main ethnic group in the Western Sichuan Plain was Shu people whose ancestors were Di-Qiang ethnic group living in the mountain plateau in the upper section of Minjiang River. Then, they moved along the Minjiang River to the plain area. People who stayed in Minshan Mountains was “Ranmang” of Han Dynasty. About 4500 years ago, the emigrants entered the Western Sichuan Plain and merged with the local aborigines to form the early Shu people. Their economies changed from fishing and hunting economy to farming, and they created Baodun culture, the source of Shu culture. The Baodun Site excavated in 1996 witnessed how Sichuan stepped into the threshold of civilization. From then on, the ancient Shu people went through the Sanxingdui Civilization in Guanghan and the Jinsha Civilization (also called Shierqiao Civilization) in Chengdu. It was not until the end of the Shang Dynasties that the name of Shu appeared in the tortoise and bone inscriptions. Its territory covered today’s southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan. It was a great state in the southwest at that time, and had frequent contact with the Yin and Shang Dynasties. At the end of Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou prepared his conquest over King Zhou of Shang. King Wu was supported by many tribes in Ba-Shu area. After the Zhou Dynasty replaced the Shang Dynasty, the relationship between people of Shu and Zhou continued to become increasingly closer. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Shu people still continued to offer gifts to the emperor of Zhou. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, Du Yu ruled Shu, “with Baoxie as the front door, Xiong’er and Lingguan as the back doors, Yulei and Emei as city walls, and Jiang, Qian, Mian and Luo as pools, with Wenshan as animal pasture and Nanzhong as garden.” The splendid culture was created in the area with Chengdu Plain as the center. Its territory connected with “Ba in the east, Yue in the south, Qin in the north and Emei and Bozhong Mountains in the west”. Since then, the eastern border of the ancient Shu cultural zone retreated to the middle of Sichuan because of the invasion of Ba people into Sichuan, but they expanded their territory a lot in the west. With the westward movement of Di-Qiang groups from the upper section of Minjiang River, their way of housing, “Qionglong”, was introduced into the Ba-Shu areas. There were many stones in the upper section of Minjiang River. “Qionglong” means “stone buildings” mentioned above. It was a kind of watchtower made by stone several stories or even over ten stories high. It was similar to Diaojiaolou dwelling, but its defense function was better. With the eastward movement of Shu people, the distribution of Qionglong gradually expanded from Western Shu to today’s Sichuan and Chongqing area. It also had influence on the buildings in Guizhou, Yunnan and even Southeast Asia (Photo 4.7).

2

Feng Tianyu, He Xiaoming, Zhou Jiming. History of Chinese Culture [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Century Publishing Group, 2005:283-284.

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Photo 4.7 Watchtower and village by Sidney D. Gamble during 1917–1919 in Zagunao in Lixian County, Sichuan Province

In terms of living customs, Shu people were similar to their neighbors, Ba people. For example, Ba-Shu residents generally had a unique hairstyle called “Zhiji” or “Zhuiji” by the people in Central Plains. However, the agricultural production of Shu people was more developed than that of Ba people, so their civilization was more advanced. As early as 4800–2600 years ago, the ancient Shu people created the Sanxingdui culture, which is known as the “source of Changjiang River civilization”. Sanxingdui Site in Guanghan is the ruins of ancient capital from Longshan period to the late Shang Dynasty. A large number of high-grade cultural relics, such as bronze statues, which are not found in China and other parts of the world, have been unearthed. The historical information contained in them is no less than that on the sites of Erlitou (Xia Culture), Yinxu (Shang Culture) and Zhouyuan (Zhou Culture). It is a distinctive bronze civilization. Sanxingdui Site shows the world a long lost rigid state system of ancient Shu city-state and the core content of ancient Shu cultural zone, which indicated that the ancient Shu city-state country had been established. Sanxingdui Culture was mainly composed of indigenous culture and incorporated with a large number of foreign cultures. The cultures they absorbed included not only that in the Yellow River Basin and the Changjiang River Basin, as well as Yunnan, Guangxi and other cultures, but also that in ancient India, Central and Western Asia. A large number of sea shells, bronze statues of marine creatures and ivories with Western Asian features unearthed from Sanxingdui site have proved this point. It is undoubtedly the starting point of the “Southern Silk Road”. Through this ancient

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road linking China and the west, the ancient Shu culture was able to communicate with Myanmar, India and Pakistan, and even many ancient countries in Central and Western Asia, which enriched the Chinese civilization. In order to open up the economic and cultural communication channel with the Central Plains, the ancient Shu people, with their hard work and wisdom, built a thousand-mile plank road in the mountainous area of Qinling Mountains. The construction of the plank road began not later than the Warring States period. The plank roads can be divided into earth plank roads and stone plank roads. The earth plank roads were built in dense forests. The construction of the stone plank roads was far more difficult. First, some diamond-shaped deep holes on the precipice were dug with tools, then stone piles or wood beams as supports were inserted, at last, wooden boards or stone slabs were paved on them. In order to avoid the erosion of wood beams or planks caused by the rain, the Shu people often built pavilions on the top of the plank roads. After the Qin Dynasty unified China, the traffic construction between Shu and the Central Plains was further developed. Since then, the construction of roads and plank roads in the later dynasties continued. Finally, a transportation system, the “Shu roads”, with seven north–south corridors was formed, through which the Ba-Shu culture and the Central Plains culture were closely connected. From west to east, the north line included Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road and Ziwu Road, and the south line incorporated Jinniu Road, Micang Road and Lizhi Road (Photos 4.8, 4.9). (3) The management of Ba-Shu and its back feeding to Guanzhong Area The arrival of Qin people in the middle and late Warring States period had brought strong impact to its society and advanced techniques and culture to Ba-Shu area, and the local economy and culture developed rapidly. Before Li Bing built the Dujiangyan, the superstition that young women should be given to the River God as tribute still prevailed in Shu due to the frequent floods, which meant that young women should be thrown into the river every year to please the River God, so as to prevent the occurence of floods. However, with the construction of Dujiangyan, this bad superstition was gradually abolished, and the agricultural production in Chengdu Plain has become increasingly prosperous, laying the material foundation for Chengdu to become the “land of abundance”. People in Dujiangyan area were grateful for Li Bing’s contribution to water control, so the custom of performing “bullfight” in spring and winter is still retained nowadays to commemorate Li Bing’s victory over the River God. In addition, Li Bing also led the ancient Shu people to dredge rivers to facilitate water transportation, control floods, and further exploit salt wells. Under the governance of Li Bing and other people in Qin State, the social production in Ba-Shu area developed greatly, which has provided abundant manpower and material resources for Qin and Han Dynasties to unify China. The Han Dynasty inherited the political system of Qin Dynasty, and Ba-Shu, under the administration of the central government, further developed. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Wen Weng, the governor of Shu area, further improved the Dujiangyan project. The Han Dynasty also assigned an official in charge of water conservancy in Dujiangyan. The irrigation system of Dujiangyan

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Photo 4.8 Bronze tree from Sanxingdui site

had been well maintained, ensuring the agricultural production of Chengdu Plain. In the early period of the Western Han Dynasty, the crops produced in Ba-Shu once relieved the famine nationwide. Since the Han Dynasty, with the wide use of iron agricultural tools, the reclamation efficiency of Ba-Shu area had been greatly improved, and the cultivated land area had been expanded unprecedentedly. The agricultural yield was more diversified. In addition to the traditional millet, rice was also planted on a large scale. They further exploited salt springs and developed forestry industry with citrus as the major part and handicraft industry with silk weaving industry as the major part. The most representative is Shu tapestry.

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Photo 4.9 Bronze mask from Sanxingdui site

Chengdu was the tapestry center of Qin and Han Dynasties. After the Qin State conquered Shu, officials in charge of tapestry industry were assigned in Chengdu, so Chengdu got the reputation of “Jinguan city”. The beauty of Shu Brocade has been discussed as early as the Western Han Dynasty. Thanks to the prosperity of social economy, Ba-Shu in the Han Dynasty had completely gotten rid of the backwardness in the Warring States period, and became the gathering place of the literati. In the early Han Dynasty, Wen Weng, governor of Shu, strongly advocated education and sent local officials to study in the capital. After they got the qualification of “doctor” and returned to shu, they were assigned as teachers or to local important positions to teach Shu people. In addition, Wen Weng also set up an official public school in Chengdu. As a result, “learning in Shu” was well known in China. BaShu area became the origin of official public schools in China, and its culture was increasingly prosperous. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ba-Shu which were relatively stable became the richest area in China due to the wars in the Central Plains. Zhuge Liang called it “the land of abundance”3 . At that time, after Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang led a large number of scholars from the Central Plains to Shu, and later it received more than 100 thousand refugees from the northwest and a large number of Liao people from the south. They greatly promoted the economic, social and cultural development of Ba-Shu. Unfortunately, the social development of Ba-Shu had been stagnated for a long time due to the turbulence and disputes in the Three Kingdoms Period, the Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. However, due to the Shu area was relatively closed, the style of its literature was not 3

Yuan Tingdong. Historical Investigation on the Origin of "The Land of Abundance" [J]. Social Science Research, 1985 (01).

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affected by the rhythmical prose popular during the Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, but retained the pragmatic style of Confucianism of the Han Dynasty. At that time, in Ba-Shu, scholars like Qiao Zhou, Fan Xian, Wei Yuansong, Chen Shou and Chang Qu all had famous works and had a profound influence on the study of Yi and the compilation of official history and local records in China. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, ordered Yang Su to train troops and build ships in east Sichuan. Later, with the support of Ba-Shu troops, he quickly destroyed the isolated Chen Dynasty and restored national unity. Not long after, the Sui Dynasty was destroyed, and China went back into chaos. After the capture of Chang’an, Li Yuan sent his armies to immediately capture Ba-Shu. At that time, China was facing the crisis of famine and chaos, and only central Shu was rich in food, which could be transported to the Guanzhong area for famine relief. The rich land of Ba-Shu once again helped China to be unified. After the government of the Tang Dynasty restored social stability, the Guanzhong area was still short of food for a long time. It was the food supply from Ba-Shu area that helped Tang Dynasty become prosperous. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the economy of Ba-Shu, especially Chengdu, developed rapidly again, regaining the reputation of “land of abundance”. During the period of the An Lushan-Shi Siming rebellion, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Emperor Xizong after Huangchao’s invasion of Tongguan in the late Tang Dynasty both fled to Chengdu since the area of Ba-Shu was wealthy. During the Tang Dynasty, Chengdu was the economic center of southwest China, nurturing and protecting the last central dynasty with its capital in Guanzhong. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the development of literature of Ba-Shu reached its peak. In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Zi’ang initiated the style of Tang poetry, vigorous and majestic. The poems of Li Bai, a poet in the flourishing period of the Tang Dynasty, often celebrate the joys of nature with brilliance and great freshness of imagination, who is known as the poetic genius in China. In the middle and late period of the Tang Dynasty, Li Dingzuo collected the achievements of 35 schools studying the Book of Changes in the Han Dynasty, and completed the Annotations of Book of Changes. Ba-Shu is likely to be the first area where woodblock printing appeared in China. The earliest existing block printing in China is the Mahashvara Dharani Mantra excavated from Tang tombs in Chengdu, which was printed no later than the late Tang Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, unlike the literati in other places who followed the style of writing of the Five Dynasties, those in Ba-Shu still learned from the essays and prose of the Western Han Dynasty and regarded them as the guideline. What they learned was quite in line with the purpose of the “Ancient Literature Movement” advocated by Han Yu and other scholars since the middle Tang Dynasty. The three major academic schools in the Northern Song Dynasty were “Shu School” represented by Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe, “Luo School” (Neo-Confucianism) represented by Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, and “New School” represented by Wang Anshi. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were two great masters of Neo Confucianism in Shu Area, namely Zhang Shi and Wei Liaoweng. Zhang Shi not only inherited Shu Literature, but also went to Changsha to establish Chengnan Academy and initiated

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the “Huxiang School”. He, Zhu Xi and Lv Zuqian were called “three sages in Southeast China”. Wei Liaoweng who highly praised Zhu Xi’s Neo Confucianism wrote the Essentials of the Nine Classics to promote Neo Confucianism. As an official, he helped Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi be granted posthumous titles, which greatly enhanced the reputation of Neo Confucianism School and laid a foundation for Neo Confucianism with supremacy in later generations. The culture of Ba-Shu reached a peak in the Song Dynasty. According to statistics, there were 27 prime ministers from Shu in Song Dynasty4 . There were more than 2500 kinds of Ba-Shu literature in Song Dynasty, which was more than twice the total number of Ba-Shu literature before. The number of Ba-Shu literati in Song Dynasty ranked sixth in China after Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Henan and Jiangsu, which was the period with the most literati form Ba-Shu5 . At the end of Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, the social economy of Ba-Shu was devastated, and the cultural development tended to stagnate. It was not until the end of Qing Dynasty that it was revived. In the early twentieth century, the “Baolu (Railway Protection) Movement” broke out in Sichuan. The local traditional gentry class once again showed their mainstay role. They, rising from agricultural society and the imperial examinations, became the leaders of the urbanization lifestyle. They carried out a series of cultural reforms, issued discipline and notices to protect the freedom of speech, freedom of publication and association of people. They adopted western democratic, social and cultural theories to guide the modernization of Ba-Shu culture. They issued notices to abolish the wearing customs in Qing Dynasty, encourage people to have their braids cut and ban opium and cigarette houses, in order to promote and advocate the modernization of social life. Under their guidance, the national and democratic consciousness gradually penetrated into the society, which became an essential feature of modern Ba-Shu culture. The radical “urbanized elites” in Ba-Shu, following the constitutionalism reform of the Qing government, led the comprehensive movement involving economy, politics, culture and ideology. Finally, it has made great contributions to the occurrence of the 1911 Revolution and the major changes of the political system. Thus ancient Ba-Shu culture began its early modernization.

4.2 Middle Reaches: Jing-Chu Culture and Hu-Xiang Culture 4.2.1 Jing-Chu Culture The Chu people in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River established their country in the during the period from late Shang Dynasty to early Zhou Dynasty. 4

Lan Yong. Historical and Cultural Geography of the Southwest[M]. Chongqing: Southwest Normal University Press, 1997:88. 5 Zeng Daxing. Geographical Distribution of Chinese Litterateur in the Past Dynasties [M]. Wuhan: Hubei Education Press, 1995.

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Its origin can be traced back to Zhurong and Sanmiao in the ancient legend era. From the perspective of cultural morphology, Chu culture was the integration of the culture of Central Plains and the southern aboriginal culture. The Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period were the heyday of Chu culture, during which brilliant philosophical views, wonderful literature, exquisite handicrafts and unique folk custom were enhanced together with the brilliant culture in other regions. With the expansion of Chu State, the pioneering, innovative and inclusive Jing-Chu culture had been enriching itself by absorbing other cultures and spreading their own culture. Since the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, Jing-Chu culture expanded eastwards, which had a profound influence on the cultural features of Cai, Xu, Shu between the Changjiang River and the Huaihe River, and also influenced Wu-Yue culture at the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Thus the culture of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River was preliminarily integrated and improved, laying the cultural foundation for the southward shift of the cultural center in later generations. Jing-Chu culture covered the area of Hubei, Hunan and part of Henan, Anhui and Jiangxi. It’s located in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. Because of the fertile soil in the Jianghan Plain and thousands of lakes, such as Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake and Honghu Lake, it has gained the reputation of “land of fish and rice” for a long time. In 1993 and 1995, four grains of rice dating back 10 000 years ago were found in Yuchanyan Cave Site in Daoxian County, Hunan Province. They are the earliest known cultivated rice in the world. Based the rice farming, Chu in the pre-Qin period gradually developed and became powerful, and dominated the southern land. In the early Spring and Autumn period, they established their own state. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, they once dominated the Central Plains, and their culture also became mature period with unique characteristics. With the strengthening of Chu’s power, Jing-Chu culture spread widely to the upper and lower reaches of Changjiang River, Huaihe River Basin, Yellow River Basin and even Lingnan area, forming the southern branch of Chinese culture. (1) An overview of Jing-Chu culture At the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, Yu Xiong, a descendant of Zhurong Tribe and chief of Jing tribe of Mi family, established his country in Jingshan area with capital in Danyang (now Zigui, Hubei Province). Xiong Yi, his great grandson, was granted the land of Chu during the reign of King Cheng of the Zhou Dynasty, with Chu as the national name. Chu is the birthplace of Taoism. Laozi, the founder of Taoism, was a native of Chu State. In terms of geographical environment, Chu is rich in natural resources and foods. Lao Tzu used to work as an officer responsible for documenting history. Since he knew that the world was always in change and he lived in Chu where food supply was abundant. He devoted himself to exploring “Dao (Tao)” instead of the daily life. Laozi conceptualized “Taiyi” as the noumenon of the universe, from which a set of philosophical theories was developed. In the later development, the school of Laozi’s thought was divided into two branches: philosophy of Zhuangzi and Jixia Jingqi theory. Among the pre-Qin

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philosophers, Laozi was the first to emphasize the importance of human beings in nature. However, it was Zhuangzi who really highlighted the status, dignity and value of an individual based on human nature. In the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, material civilization was developing rapidly. Wealth, enjoyment, desire and ambition, and power were growing at the same time. The contradiction between civilization progress and moral decay stimulated thinkers to put forward various ideas to change the situation at that time. Confucianism tried to adjust interpersonal relationship to prevent the “degradation of the world”, while Taoism, especially Zhuangzi, called for the return of human nature by emphasizing the value of individual. The return of human nature referred to the return to primitive society from which man came and the return to the original nature of individual. In this respect, Laozi only yearned for “a small country with a small population”, while Zhuangzi was more thorough and wanted to return to the primitive era in which “they knew their mothers, but did not know their fathers. They dwelt along with the elks and deer. They ploughed and ate; they wove and made clothes; they had no idea of injuring one another”. The representative of Jixia Jingqi theory in Chu was Qu Yuan. During the heyday of Jixia Academy, Qu Yuan had been to the state of Qi twice and learned the theory of Jixia Jingqi. Jingqi refers to a kind of subtle material of the spirit. Qu Yuan’s concern about the country and the people and his dignity were the reflection of Jingqi, which finally caused the tragedy of Qu Yuan drowning himself in Miluo River. The literature of Chu was magnificent, among which Zhuangzi’s prose and Qu Yuan’s poetry were the best. Romanticism was their common feature. In Chu State, there were magnificent scenery and various ethnic groups. The history of Chu was full of conflicts between ignorance and civilization, loyalty and treachery. All of those factors contributed to literary romanticism. For example, the 33 chapters of Zhuangzi with excellent imagination are a typical classic of Romanticism in Chinese literature. Qu Yuan’s poems are highly praised by poets. His major literature works which fully expressed his emotion and aspiration include Lisao, Jiuzhang, Jiuge, Tianwen and so on. Qu Yuan created the unique literature style of “Chuci”, which served as a model for later poets to appreciate and imitate (Photo 4.10). The handicraft techniques of Chu culture were mainly bronze smelting and casting, silk weaving and lacquering. Tonglushan Copper Mine in eastern Hubei Province is the oldest and largest copper mine in China. Its exploitation began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and reached the peak in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. Archaeological discoveries show that at that time, the Chu people had mastered a complete set of technologies for copper exploration, mineshaft construction, mine drainage, mineral processing and smelting. According to the total amount of slag in the site, the output of copper was as high as nearly 100,000 tons. In 1978, a set of bronze chime bells was unearthed in Suizhou, Hubei Province, which is exquisite in form and delicate in patterns. Its pure acoustics, beautiful timbre, accurate scale and the setting of semitone all show the perfect combination of music theories mastered by Chu people and the exquisite bronze craft.

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Photo 4.10 Dragon boat race in Zigui, Hubei Province, hometown of Qu Yuan

Chu people began silk weaving later than people in Wu-Yue area, but its handicraft skills finally surpassed that of Wu-Yue. In 1982, a large number of silk fabrics were unearthed from tomb No 0.1 in Mashan, Jiangling, Hubei Province. According to their weaving methods and structures, they can be divided into eight categories, namely Juan, Ti, Sha, Luo, Qi, Jin, Tao and Zu, which almost include all types of silk fabrics in the pre-Qin period. Among them, 21 pieces of silk fabrics were embroidered with the pattern of loongs and phoenixs, with grass, leaves, flowers and geometric patterns as the supplementary patterns, which were gorgeous and mysterious. The silk fabrics unearthed from tomb No 0.1 in Mashan can best reflect the superb skills and aesthetic taste of the silk culture of Chu State. The number, varieties, colors and patterns, and weaving techniques of silk fabrics amazed the world. Therefore, the tomb No 0.1 in Mashan is known as the underground “treasure house of silk” of the pre-Qin period. Chu’s developed silk production capacity and superb weaving technology gave birth to the silk manuscripts and silk paintings with the characteristics of Chu culture. The silk painting depicting a person with a loong and a phoenix unearthed from Chu tomb in Chenjia Dashan in Changsha in 1949 is one of the earliest and best preserved portraits in China. The comparison of the dynamic depiction of the loong and phoenix and the static depiction of the person in the painting is strong, which gives the painting artistic tension. The Chu silk painting depicting persons riding loong and phoenix unearthed in 1973 in Zidanku in Changsha also caused sensation at home and abroad. In addition, many silk paintings have been unearthed from tomb No 0.1 in Mashan and other Chu tombs, indicating that by the late Warring States period, people of Chu had begun to use silk as the material for painting. This tradition

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of Chu people was inherited by painters of different generations in the Changjiang River Basin, all of which were the treasures of the cultural history of Chinese silk. Lacquer was produced in large quantity in Chu, and the lacquerware made by Chu people was of various types, delicate, light and durable. Chu people painted lacquer on the frameworks made of wood, bamboo, “Jiazhu”, leather, rattan and so on to make various kinds of lacquerware, including furniture, containers, beds, musical instruments, weapons, burial objects and decorations. The delicate and durable lacquerware brought great convenience to the life of Chu people. A large number of lacquerware objects were unearthed from tombs of different sizes, including the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, tomb No. 1 and 2 in Tianxingguan, tomb No 0.2 in Baoshan, tomb No. 1 and 2 in Wangshan, and tomb No. 1 in Tengdian. Among them, more than 20 pieces of drums with tiger-shaped bases and phoenix-shaped drum stands unearthed in the Chu tombs of Warring States period in Jiangling, Xinyang and Changsha are the most representative. The drum bases are two symmetrical lying tigers back to back, and the drum stands are in the shape of two phoenixes, which are vivid. The drum body is painted with black lacquer and decorated with the red, yellow and black exquisite paintings, which makes the drums mysterious, and it seems that they were used to communicate with the heaven. Chu people had unique customs, that is, they believed that they were the descendants of the God of Sun and the heir of the God of fire. So they believed that the east was sacred, and they always wore red clothes, which was also the sacred color in their culture. The Chu people established their own political power and created their own culture between the northern China and the southern aboriginal tribes. After experiencing lots of hardships, they became a warlike nationality with strong patriotism. The concept of patriotism, loyalty to the king and the memory of ancestors prevailed in Chu. The deep reverence of the ancestors’ achievements led to the extremely devout worship of gods and ghosts of Chu people. Excessive worship was very popular in the State of Chu. Associated with this, the status of Wu (witches and wizards) in Chu was far higher than that of other nationalities in the Spring and Autumn period (Photo 4.11). (2) Spread of Jing-Chu culture Jing-Chu culture had multiple origins. About 6000–4000 years ago, Shijiahe culture emerged in the middle reaches of Changjiang River. However, at the end of the period, the increasingly flourished culture of Central Plains moved southwards, obstructing the independent development of primitive civilization in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. The intervention of Central Plains cultural factors fundamentally changed the cultural structure of the middle reaches of the Changjiang River, making the early culture of Jing-Chu gradually turn into a variant of the culture of Xia and Shang Dynasties in the Central Plains. At the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the descendants of Zhurong tribe and the Mi tribe of Jing who went south from the Central Plains established their country in the Jingshan area. Because of the long-term communication between the Jing people and the ancestors in Central Plains, their culture had obvious features of Central Plains. Since then, they had long-term coexistence with the aboriginal residents,

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Photo 4.11 Chime of Marquis Yi of Zeng website of Hubei Provincial Museum and Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. http://www.hbww.org/home/Index.aspx

such as Chu and Baipu ethnic groups. Therefore, the Jing people’s culture absorbed not only the culture of Shang and Zhou Dynasties of the Central Plains and the culture of Chu in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, people of Zhou went south and established some principalities in the basin of the Han River to control the Chu state. In the long-term confrontation and exchange between the two states, Jing people absorbed a lot of Zhou Culture and created the early Jing-Chu culture together with people in principalities in Zhou Dynasty and indigenous people in Changjiang and Hanjiang River basin area. In the early Spring and Autumn period, the powerful Chu State occupied the leading position of the early Jing-Chu culture. By further absorbing the Central Plains culture and integrating the local culture, Jing-Chu culture was completely transformed. A complete cultural system absorbing customs of local aboriginal people with ritual civilization as the core was established. Its cultural level was at the leading position in the Changjiang River Basin, and not weaker than that of countries in the northern Yellow River Basin. With the expansion of Chu State, Jing-Chu culture has been continuously enriching itself by absorbing other cultures and spreading it. Principalities of Zhou Dynasty originally belonged to the system of Zhou culture, but since the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, they gradually succumbed to the Chu State with increasing military power, and were finally merged into Jing-Chu cultural zone. Since the Spring and Autumn period, the flourishing Jing-Chu culture had spread to other areas. To the north, through the Han River and its tributaries, Jing-Chu culture entered the two core areas of ritual civilization in the Central Plains, namely Guanzhong Plain and Nanyang Basin. The integration of the culture in Central Plains

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and Jing-Chu culture generated Chinese culture. To the east, along with the expansion of Chu territory, Jing-Chu culture deeply influenced Huai culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River and Wu-Yue culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. To the west, Jing-Chu culture was imported into Ba-Shu area. To the south, a large number of Chu people entered Hunan, and after the long-term integration with the local Pu and Yue people, the southern Chu people appeared who created a splendid southern Chu culture. Jing-Chu culture mainly influenced cultures in north and east. In the early Spring and Autumn period, people of Chu devoted themselves to fighting against the dukes in Central Plains, but they were hindered by Qi and Jin states. Therefore, after the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, Chu mainly expanded its territory to the east. Cai, Shu, Xu and other states in the Jianghuai region were the first to be attacked by Chu. Meanwhile, Jing-Chu culture also had a profound influence on the local culture. State of Cai, a principality of Zhou Dynasty located in the middle and upper reaches of the Huaihe River, was an inevitable way for Chu people to expand eastwards. The culture of Cai state was influenced by Chu culture earlier than other states. The burial objects in the tomb of Marquis Zhao of Cai Sate in the early fifth century B.C. were the same as those in large Chu tombs. The patterns on bronze wares were the same as those in the Chu tombs at Xiasi in Xichuan. The pattern was a prominent feature of the decorative art of Chu bronzes. In addition, a large number of lacquerware objects with patterns with the features of Chu were buried in the tomb of Marquis Zhao. After controlling the state of Cai, people of Chu continued to move eastwards along the Huaihe River to the states of Shu nationality in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River and Xu Sate in the lower reaches. It finally annexed the states of Shu in the late Spring and Autumn period. Since then, the aboriginal culture of states of Shu had gradually disappeared and was replaced by Jing-Chu culture. For example, according to archaeological discoveries, the original Li (one of its cooking and sacrificial utensils) was replaced by those in Chu-style, and the white gypsum mud application in tombs and lacquerware of Chu were introduced into states of Shu nationality. Almost at the same time, the state of Xu, which was quite developed in bronze culture, was also obviously influenced by Chu’s culture. As a result, the whole Huaihe River Basin was integrated into the Jing-Chu culture. Since the late Spring and Autumn period, the communication between Chu and Wu-Yue on the south bank of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River has increased considerably. Wu Sate, with Taihu Lake Basin as its core, because of the closeness to the Changjiang River, was influenced by Jing-Chu culture earlier. The burial objects in tombs of Wu Sate in the late Spring and Autumn period had already the features of Chu’s culture. The traditional mound tombs without coffins in Wu State gradually disappeared and were replaced by the tombs featuring deep pits and an increasing number of coffins. Around the coffins there was white and green gypsum mud, which were the features of Chu’s tombs. The types and combinations of bronzes in tombs also had the characteristics of Chu. The custom of Wu tombs also had a profound influence on Chu tombs in turn. Grave mounds appeared over Chu tombs in the Warring States period, which

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was characteristic of Wu’s tombs. Under the two-way influence of culture, the burial customs of Chu state and Wu area gradually became similar. The State of Yue was influenced by the Chu culture later than Wu State, but it was not later than the late Spring and Autumn period. At that time, the mound tombs and mound tombs with stone rooms with the characteristics of Yue State had been gradually replaced by the tombs with vertical pits and wooden coffins with Chu’s features. However, due to the long-term existence of the Yue regime, compared with the Jianghuai region, the customs of tombs of the Wu-Yue states from the late Spring and Autumn period to the early and middle Warring States period still retained aboriginal culture factors and were not completely substituted by Chu’s customs. In the late Warring States period, the State of Chu defeated the State of Yue and occupied most of the former land of Wu. In addition, after the capital of Chu was shifted eastward, especially after the second shift to Shouchun, Chu finally realized the effective control of the land between the Changjiang River and the Huaihe River and further occupied a large area of land on the south bank of the Changjiang River. Therefore, a large number of Chu people migrated in Jiangdong District where Wu Sate was in, and the process of Chu culture assimilating Wu culture accelerated. Cultural exchange is a two-way process. While Jing-Chu culture was assimilating Wu-Yue culture, Wu-Yue culture had also exerted influence on Jing-Chu culture. The westward spread of advanced shipbuilding, water conservancy, metallurgy and casting technology in Wu-Yue areas contributed greatly to the enhancement of Chu’s national strength. The Yue style tripod with three legs towards outside had a great influence on the evolution of the shape of the Chu type pot with appendages. Bronze wares with Wu’s pattern, the shoe-shaped bronze weapons and musical instruments with Yue’s style were gradually spread and became popular in Chu. In addition, Wu-Yue’s hair ornaments and face ornaments, loong and snake worship also had a profound influence on Chu people’s clothing, beliefs and artistic creation. From late spring and Autumn period to the end of the Warring States period, Chu and Wu, Yue had been in confrontation for nearly 400 years. Therefore their folk customs shared a lot in common. It can be seen that Jing-Chu culture in the late Warring States period enriched itself by absorbing the culture of Wu-Yue in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River and Cai, Xu and Shu in Jianghuai area. At that time, the cultures of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River were also integrated and improved, and laid the foundation for the later southward movement of economic and cultural center. (3) Evolution In 278 B.C., Since Bai Qi, a general of Qin Dynasty, captured the capital of Chu, and Chu people moved eastwards, the core area of Chu was occupied by Qin people. It was inevitable for Chu culture to be changed or replaced by Qin culture. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Chu group headed by Liu Bang won the final victory, and the Jing-Chu culture was revived. Some regional features of Chu culture gradually became the common features of Han culture, such as respecting Taiyi and the east, worshiping witchcraft, and the popularity of Han Fu which originated from Chuci.

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However, in order to maintain cultural unification, the Western Han Dynasty followed the Qin political system, so the Jing-Chu culture gradually merged into Han culture and became the regional culture in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed all schools of thought and respected Confucianism only, Confucianism spread rapidly in the area of Jing-Chu. By the late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucianism gained orthodox status in the northern part of Jing-Chu and the inland counties. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was in chaos, and Jingzhou remained stable. A large number of scholars from the north came to the south. The administrative center of Jingzhou, Xiangyang, once became the academic center of the whole country, and Jing-Chu culture flourished at that time. After that, Wei, Shu and Wu fought hard in Jingzhou, and the local population migrated out, so Jing-Chu culture declined. At the end of the Three Kingdoms, He Yan, a native of Nanyang, Jingzhou, integrating Confucianism with Taoism, created the metaphysics which was very popular in Wei and Jin Dynasties, some concepts of which became the basic category of middle ancient Chinese philosophy and provided an opportunity for the spread of Buddhism. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the monk Dao’an from north went to Xiangyang in the south. In order to adapt to the local metaphysical atmosphere, he gave philosophical and metaphysical connotations to Buddhism. After several debates among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the local Confucian philosophy became more speculative, and Buddhism began to have Chinese characteristics, which greatly accelerated the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. After the Yongjia Disturbance in the Western Jin Dynasty, the northerners moved to the south, and the agriculture of Jing-Chu area revived. The culture of Jing-Chu absorbed a lot of cultural factors of Central Plains and became more prosperous. At the same time, the change of administrative system and region division caused by the confrontation between the north and the south has greatly promoted the cultural exchange and integration among some areas of Jing-Chu and their neighboring regions. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the literary atmosphere in Xiangyang became strong again, and the tradition of Chu, such as the worship of witchcraft and ghosts and the excessive sacrifice, was maintained. In 755 A. D., An Lushan-Shi Siming rebellion broke out in the north, and people in the north moved to the south again on a large scale. As a result, Jing-Chu culture revived again. With a new round of integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, Jing-Chu had become an important area for Buddhism. Zen, Buddhism with Chinese characteristics, had a great influence in Jing-Chu area. Later, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi, who all had been relegated to Jing-Chu area, put forward the theory of “Daotong (orthodoxy of the Dao)” and “the impersonal Tian (sky and the highest dominator). They initiated new Confucianism in Jing-Chu area, which was the origin of Neo Confucianism in Song Dynasty. With the completion of the southern shift of China’s economic center in Song Dynasty, the development of Jing-Chu culture accelerated. The further integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism led to the appearance of Neo Confucianism, and Hu-Xiang School became a famous school of Neo Confucianism. In the early

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years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Shi was in charge of the Yuelu Academy where there were thousands of students. Therefore, Hu-Xiang school expanded to a large scale. Hu Xiang culture, which was originally a branch of Jing-Chu culture, began to flourish. In the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolian rulers did not trust Han scholar-bureaucrats, and they believed in Buddhism and Taoism instead of Confucianism. Most of the excellent students could not become officials, so what they could do was only teaching. Therefore, academies flourished, and there are 23 academies in Hubei Province. Compared with the Song Dynasty, the local academy education had made great progress, extending from the eastern Hubei and Jianghan Plain to the northwest of Hubei Province. Neo Confucianism proposed by Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi was still popular in Jing-Chu area. At the same time, with the encouragement of the rulers, Taoism and Buddhism also rose rapidly on the land of Jing-Chu. The Changchun Taoist Temple in Wuchang and Hongshan Temple were built at this time. In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the hilly land in northern Hubei where it was not difficult to cultivate, there were diked fields and sand fields suitable for the cultivation of plains with water network in the Jianghan Plain. The cultivated land area of Hubei Province increased rapidly, and the grain yield increased significantly. The proverb that “Bumper harvests in Hubei and Hunan alone are enough for the whole nation” appeared at the latest during the reign of Emperor Hongzhi (1488–1505). Hubei and Hunan, replacing Suzhou and Huzhou, became an important production base of grain in China. At the same time, Hubei’s circulation of commodities also developed. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Hankow developed rapidly relying on the convenient water transportation of the Changjiang River and the Han River, and gradually became a national distributing center of commodities. By the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Hankow had become an important commercial center, together with Peking, Foshan and Suzhou. However, with the development of commodity economy and the rise of commercial towns, the folk customs in Hubei and Hunan in Ming and Qing Dynasties tended to be extravagant again. With the rapid development of economy, all kinds of cultural thoughts in Hubei and Hunan in Ming and Qing Dynasties flourished. After the Hu-Xiang School in Hunan in the Song Dynasty, the Edong School was born in Hubei in the late Ming Dynasty. The Edong School was a branch of Taizhou School of the Philosiphy of Mind proposed by Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming. Its representative Li Zhi was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Wang Yangming and Buddhism. He regarded himself as heretic and criticized Neo Confucianism. He denied the way of thinking that taking Confucius’s view as the unchangeable truth. He was against the hierarchy system, and opposed the superiority of men over women and policy of physiocracy and restriction of commerce. He put forward the theory of childlike innocence, which means the true heart and authentic thoughts and feelings. He developed the Lu Jiuyuan-Wang Yangming’s Philosophy to the extreme. His theory was put into practice by the School of Gongan, and Yuan Hongdao, the representative of this school, put forward the idea of “expressing one’s nature without being restricted by rules”, opposing the trend of imitating the literary style of the ancients, and taking enlightenment

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as the philosophical basis of literary theory, which had a profound influence on the literature of the late Ming Dynasty. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Wang Fuzhi, who lived in seclusion in Shichuanshan, Hengyang, Hunan Province, devoted himself to comprehensively deepening the theoretical thinking of Confucianism and completed the speculative transformation of Confucianism. He promoted traditional Chinese philosophy to the highest level. As a result, the early enlightenment thoughts in the Ming and Qing Dynasties flourished. In addition, the large-scale immigration in Ming and Qing Dynasties (from Hunan and Hubei to Sichuan and from Jiangxi to Hubei and Hunan) and the development of commodity economy greatly promoted the population flow of Hunan and Hubei, making which a place where people from all over China live and mixed together. In addition to retaining the custom of “believing in witchcraft and ghosts and caring out excessive sacrifice”, people of Jing-Chu also absorbed the culture from all over the country. For example, Hankow incorporated the customs of Wu, Yue, Sichuan and Guangdong. The folk literature and art in Hunan and Hubei became increasingly rich. It was in this atmosphere that the Han Opera was developed. (4) Modern transformation The modern transformation of Jing-Chu culture officially started after the second Opium War, about 20 years later than those cities along the southeast coast and earlier than that in the north and the west. The modern transformation of Jing-Chu culture was on the second phase in the modern cultural history of China. The Tianjin Treaty signed during the second Opium War (June 1858) stipulated that treaty ports should be added, and Hankow was one of them. At that time, the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River were the place where the Taiping Army and the Qing Army fought fiercely, so it was not realistic for Hankow to open as a port. However, a British warship set out from Shanghai and crossed the area controlled by the Taiping Army. In December, it reached Hankow to inspect the three towns of Wuhan and met with Guanwen, the governor of Hunan and Hubei. In early March 1861, British officials and businessmen arrived in Wuhan by water and met Guanwen to ask for trade. In the middle of March of the same year, British counsellor Harry Parkes and James Hope, the admiral of the navy, leading four warships, came to Wuhan to meet with Guanwen and signed the Clauses of British Concession in Hankow with the Hubei government. This was the beginning of Hankow port. Subsequently, the first British Consul in Hankow came to China, followed by France to set up a consulate in Hankow and a large number of businessmen from Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany and other countries. Starting with the establishment of Shunfeng Brick Tea Factory in Hankow by Russian businessmen in 1863, foreign capitals successively set up factories with machines in Wuhan, which was the beginning of modern industry in Jing-Chu area. In January 1862, Jianghan Customs House was established responsible for the affairs of foreign trade and tax. Since then, Hankow had gradually become a transportation hub and the largest commodity distributing center in Central China. The function of Wuhan’s three towns as “the thoroughfare of nine provinces” had been fully developed, which contributed to the development of commodity economy and modern industry and

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commerce in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Hankow’s foreign trade volume ranked second in the country after Shanghai. The economy had made great contributions to the development of modern culture and education, and Wuhan became the cultural center in Central China. In a word, the opening of Hankow port in the early 1860s was the beginning of the modern social and cultural transformation of JingChu. This showed that it was the external environment that promoted the modern transformation of Jing-Chu culture. Another important feature of the modern transformation of Jing-Chu culture was that the transformation was led by the government. The government behavior was the leading driving force of the transformation. Zhang Zhidong, the representative of Westernization Movement, had been the governor of Hubei and Hunan for almost 20 years. During this period, he developed industries, culture and education, and trained the New Army. As a result, Hubei became a leading province in modernization in China. When Zhang Zhidong governed Hubei Province, under his leadership, Lugouqiao—Hankow Raiway, Hanyang Ironworks and the four bureaus of textile, cotton, silk and flax were established, and the New Army was trained, all of which were progressive practice in the country. In the field of culture and education, in order to cultivate talents, Zhang Zhidong reformed schools and sent a large number of students to study in Japan. As a result, Hubei Province became a leading province in culture and education, and Zhang Zhidong also became famous for his “knowledge of learning”. Therefore, in 1903, in response to the imperial edict, Zhang went to Beijing to formulate the regulations of running schools. The Gui-Mao school system was the first modern education system to be implemented in China. The system was first put into practice in the schools of Hubei Province. During the 20 years from the end of the Westernation Movement (1890s) to the first ten years of the twentieth century, the cultural and educational transformation in Hubei directly promoted the modern transformation of Jing Chu culture. The growth of modern intellectuals was closely related to the establishment of new schools and the trend of sending students to study abroad. The cultural and educational transformation in Hubei initiated by Zhang Zhidong made this relatively closed province in central China a place where a large number of talents stood out. In ancient times, there was a saying that “Chu is a place rich in talents”, but it referred to the Chu in pre-Qin era. There were not many famous talents from Hubei from Han Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. Liang Qichao once pointed out that “Hubei is convenient in transportation but poor in talents”. He also said that “Hubei is a place where businessmen gather instead of talents”. This was the commentary on the talent situation in Hubei before the end of Qing Dynasty. However, by the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, a considerable number of talents stood out in Hubei, especially the eastern part of Hubei Province. In the eastern part of Hubei Province, the famous scholars who stood out in the first half of the twentieth century include philosopher Xiong Shili, geologist Li Siguang from Huanggang, politician and economist Wang Yanan, and ideologist Yin Haiguang from Huanggang, philologist Huang Kan and writer Hu Feng from Qichun, poet and scholar Wen Yiduo and ideologist Xu Fuguan from Xishui, and intellectual historian Tang Yongtong from Huangmei.

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The direct reason for the emergence of a large number of talents in modern and contemporary times was the cultural and educational transformation during Zhang Zhidong’s supervision of Hubei Province. The new intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China all once studied in the new schools reformed by Zhang Zhidong. For example, Huang Xing, a revolutionist, Zhang Jixu, an educator and Wang Baoxin, a local chronicler, came from the Lianghu Academy; Wu Luzhen and Lan tianwei were from Hubei Wubei Academy. Huang Kan sponsored by Zhang Zhidong studed in Waseda University in Japan, and Wen Yiduo went to study in the United States. It was Zhang Zhidong who set up new schools send students to study abroad that helped Hubei students step into the cultural palace of China and even the world and transform from traditional scholars to new intellectuals. The ancient Chinese culture transmission was from northwest to southeast, which started in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, developed in the two Jin Dynasties and was completed in the Song Dynasty. In modern times, the direction of cultural transmission was just the opposite: from southeast to northwest. This is because Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang were the first places to be influenced by modern western civilization. The first group of people who “opened their eyes to see the world” and then “sought truth from the west” emerged in southeast coastal areas, such as Lin Zexu and Yan Fu form Fujian, Hong Xiuquan, Hong Rengan, Zheng Guanying, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Sun Yat Sen and He Qi from Guangdong, and Feng Guifen, Wang Tao, Ma Jianzhong, Zhang Jian from Jiangsu. With the emergence of these figures, modern industries and commerce, modern culture and education, and modern political movements also developed in the southeast coast and overseas Chinese society, and expanded to the mainland with momentum, forming a movement direction from south to north and from east to west. Compared with the southeast coastal areas, the north and northwest were relatively closed and backward in modern times. However, the provinces in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River, especially Hubei and Hunan (that is, the area of Chu), are located in the middle zone between the southeast where people were more openminded and civilized and the northwest where people were more conservative. The whole modern China has been involved in the “struggle between the old and the new”, and Hubei and Hunan were in the center of struggle. As Hubei students in Japan said at the end of the Qing Dynasty that modern Hubei was “the most important place in our country where there are the most intense competitions”, and “the place with the most intense competitions will become the place with the most prosperous civilization”6 . This is not a boastful theory. In the early twentieth century, Wuhan rose as the industrial and commercial center after Shanghai, and then became the revolutionary center after witnessing the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911. These struggles have cultivated Hubei student’s philosophical thinking and exposed them to both the ancient thoughts and modern thoughts. For example, Xiong Shili devoted himself to the Revolution of 1911 in his early years, and after witnessing the political corruption of the Republic of China, he devoted himself to integrating Confucianism 6

Zhang Jixu. Discussion on Hubei Students Community [J]. Hubei Students Community, 1903 (01).

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Photo 4.12 Wuhan Changjiang bridge, shot by Liujianlin

and Buddhism, which was an important contribution to modern Chinese philosophy. Another example is Wen Yiduo, who studied Chu Ci and the Book of Songs with the help of sociology theories of Chicago School. Integrating western and Chinese knowledge as well ancient and modern theories, he demonstrated the characteristics of scholars in the era of transformation (Photo 4.12).

4.2.2 Hu-Xiang Culture In a broad sense, Hu-Xiang culture can be regarded as a branch of Jing-Chu culture. Although the State of Chu was established in the Jianghan Plain in the north of the Changjiang River, its influence had extended to the south of the Changjiang River in the early Spring and Autumn period, and entered the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River and the central part of Hunan Province in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period. At the turn between the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, it had extended to the south of Hunan. People of Chu had lived in Hunan for over 500 years and already incorporated the local culture into their own cultural system, creating the splendid southern Chu culture. The tens of thousands of funerary objects unearthed from more than 8000 Chu tombs in Hunan can show us the southern Chu culture nowadays. The Hu-Xiang culture in a modern sense originated directly from the revival of Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhou Dunyi, a native of Hunan Province, first put forward the philosophy of mind and Li (a natural law—it is the fundamental ordering pattern of the world that determines the essence of all things), becoming the “master of Dao”. Incorporating the theories of Taoism and Buddhism, he figured out the evolution pattern of the universe, which has laid foundation for the development of Neo Confucianism. In Tongshu, Zhou Dunyi took “sincerity” as the highest moral and ethical realm according to the theories from the I Ching and Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean), and further analyzed the universe schema in his “Taiji Diagram Theory” together

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with the scope of “Cheng (sincerity)”, “Ji (good chance and bad chance)” and “De (love, propriety, reason, communication, keeping harmony, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith)”. Just as Zhu Xi commented that Tongshu was an interpretation of Taiji Diagram Theory. The theories showed that Neo Confucianism constructed the ethical philosophy on the basis of the theoretical achievements in the cosmology and epistemology of Taoism and Buddhism. Later, Zhou Dunyi’s disciples, Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, two brothers from Hubei Province, also paid great attention to absorbing the thoughts from Buddhism and Taoism when building their own ideological system. For example, the theory of “natural Li” proposed by Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi was based on the concept of Zen. In terms of self-cultivation, Cheng Yi advocated that secular disturbance and worries should be ignored so as to achieve inner tranquillity. The theory was also on the basis of Zen. The theory of human nature was based on the concept of Taoism, which emphasized Qi. It can be seen from that Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, after fully absorbing the thoughts of Buddhism and Taoism and integrating them with Confucianism, put forward the concept of “Tianli (natural Li)”, and further constructed a complete ideological system including the philosophy of nature, epistemology and human nature. At the transition of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasty, “during the Jingkang Incident, scholars fled from the Central Plains and gathered in Jing-Chu”. Hu Anguo and Hu Hong, father and son who fled to Hunan Province, actively spread Neo Confucianism. Because it was born in Hunan and also mainly spread in Hunan, their school of Neo Confucianism was called “Hunan School” or “Hu-Xiang School” by Zhu Xi. In the early Qing Dynasty, Huang Zongxi formally recorded “Hu-Xiang School” in his book “Song Yuan Xue’an”. Later, Hu Hong’s disciple, Zhang Shi, founded Chengnan Academy in Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan Province). He gave lectures in both the Yuelu Academy and Chengnan academy. There were thousands of students, and dozens of students were well-known, which greatly expanded the ideological system and scale of Hu-Xiang School. Zhu Xi, Lv Zuqian and other great scholars once had discussions with Zhang Shi who was highly praised by them. As a representative and master of Hu-Xiang School, Zhang Shi, together with Zhu Xi and Lv Zuqian, was called “three sages in southeast China”. Since then, Hu-Xiang culture had begun to develop independently. Even in the late Southern Song Dynasty and in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties when Zhu Xi’s Neo Confucianism was popular, Hunan scholars still established the HuXiang Neo Confucianism system with Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi of equal importance as the founders. Different from the general scholars of Neo Confucianism who only talked about unrealistic theories, the Hu-Xiang School was concerned about politics, people’s livelihood and social development, which featured the combination of theories and practice. The tradition of emphasizing the theory application in the real society was handed down from generations to generations among Hunan scholars, forming a distinctive style from the Neo Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties and Han Study in Qing Dynasty.

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In the late Qing Dynasty, in face of western culture and ideas, Hu-Xiang culture maintained its own inherent characteristics, and also absorbed modern western culture and studies. Shortly after the end of the Opium War (1842), Wei Yuan, a native of Shaoyang, wrote the book Hai Kwoh Tu Chi, which widely quoted ancient and modern works, historical records and comments at home and abroad. It introduced in detail the historical and geographical knowledge of 90 countries in five continents, including Britain, Russia, the United States and Spain, with the Appendix of pictures of western modern weapons and various maps. He, putting forward the slogan of “learning from foreigners to fight against foreigners”, became the first man in China advocating to learn from the West. Wei Yuan’s proposals were later approved by Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, the leaders with progressive ideas of Hunan army, and was put into practice. The Westernization Movement began, in which modern factories were built, translation offices were set up to translate western technology books, new schools were built and students were sent to study abroad. Later, a large number of revolutionaries emerged, such as Tan Sitong and Chen Tianhua, who played an important role in the social and cultural transformation of modern China.

4.3 Downstream: Gan-Wan Culture and Wu-Yue Culture 4.3.1 Gan-Wan Culture Anhui (Wan) and Jiangxi (Gan) provinces, especially the northern part of Jiangxi and southern part of Anhui, at the intersection of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River, was located at the “head of Wu and feet of Chu”. They were the typical subcultural areas. The culture in the area closer to Jiangsu and Zhejiang was similar to Wu-Yue culture, while the culture in the area closer to Hunan and Hubei was similar to Jing-Chu and Hu-Xiang culture. Its early cultural features were more vague and difficult to define. Because the natural conditions and cultural environment of the two provinces are similar, from the perspective of the division of cultural zones in the Changjiang River Basin, they are named Gan-Wan cultural zone. Comparatively speaking, Gan culture was formed earlier. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the northerners immigrated southward on a largescale. The cultural atmosphere in Jiangxi was gradually strengthened, and Lushan Mountains, together with Jiankang, became a cultural exchange center of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. In the early Tang Dynasty, Wang Bo wrote Preface to Tengwang Pavillion, which showed that the local culture was flourishing. After the An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion, the northern society was in turmoil, while cities in Jiangxi, such as Hongzhou and Jizhou, were “stable and rich”. So a large number of northern immigrants came to seek refuge. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the government of Southern Tang Dynasty set up Lushan National Academy in Bailudong. At that time, official schools nationality were

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closed, but the academies in Jiangxi flourished. As a result, Jiangxi was gradually changed into the cultural center of the whole country. In the Song Dynasty, a considerable of schools sprang up in the northern cities and counties in Jiangxi Province, which ranked first in both quantity and quality in China. According to the Local Records of Jiangxi, during the Northern Song Dynasty, a total of 54 academies were founded in Jiangxi, which trained a large number of talents, including more than 1700 Jinshi. Jiangxi scholars began to get excellent grades in the imperial examinations. In Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the number of students from Jiangxi who passed the imperial examinations all ranked in top five. However, since they paid too much attention to the imperial examinations, the development of Jiangxi’s culture was obstructed. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Jiangxi scholars had resisted the introduction of Eastern Zhejiang Practical School into Jiangxi, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, science and technology were also resisted. Therefore, after the prosperity of Jiangxi culture in Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it had declined since the end of Ming Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, with the last group of northerners’ southward migration and the further popularization of local academic education (82 academies in total), Jiangxi’s economy and culture reached its peak. At that time, academies in Jiangxi, such as Bailudong Academy, Xiangshan Academy and Bailuzhou Academy, were not only the cradle for talents who achieved excellent grades in imperial examinations, but also the base promoting and inheriting academic theories. Zhu Xi further developed and spread his Neo Confucianism thoughts by giving lectures in Bailudong Academy and discussing Dao with Lu Jiuyuan and other scholars. In the Song Dynasty when Neo Confucianism was flourishing, Jiangxi’s agriculture and handicraft industry also developed, especially the rise of porcelain industry. Jingdezhen rose and became the center of China’s porcelain industry, and the porcelain culture in Jiangxi developed significantly. In addition, Jiangxi’s mining, smelting and casting industry was also very developed in Song Dynasty, and became the base of copper mining and copper coin casting. Jiangxi’s water and land transportation, with Poyang Lake as the center, was very convenient, and its commercial activities were more prosperous. Thanks to the Poyang Lake, the main and tributaries of the Changjiang River and the Grand Canal, commercial groups in Jiangxi could reach the major cities and towns in China by water, and became as famous as Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren (Wang Yangming) once worked as the governor in Luling County, Jiangxi Province, for six months. During this period he applied his academic thoughts to administrative practice. Since then, Wang’s theory of mind has spread all over China. Among the schools who inherited Wang’s theory, the Jiangyou (Jiangxi) School was the most distinguished. Therefore, in Huang Zongxi’ s opinion, the lifetime achievements of Wang Yangming in academic thoughts were maintained in Jiangxi. The prosperous “Jiangyou School” can be regarded as the last peak of Gan culture. In addition, according to the History of the Ming Dynasty, there were 115 famous Confucian scholars in China at that time, including 35 from Jiangxi. Since the end of Ming Dynasty, the conservative nature of Jiangxi culture has been rising, which has restrained cultural exchange.

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The prosperous Jiangxi culture gradually declined. After being influenced by the culture of neighboring areas for a long time, the features of the local culture were undermined. Anhui, the north neighbor of Jiangxi Province, is located in the intersection area where the Changjiang River and Huaihe River converge (once including the Yellow River). The local culture is also easy to be influenced by the culture of the neighboring areas, the composition of which is more complex. In the long history, the cultural center was shifted from its northern part to its southern part and three cultural circles with different characteristics, namely Huaihe culture, Wanjiang culture, and Huizhou culture, have been formed. The Huaihe River culture was located along and in the north of Huaihe River. It was mostly influenced by the Yellow River culture. Wanjiang area generally refers to both sides of Anqing section of Changjiang River Basin, mainly including plains along the river and mountainous area in Western Anhui. Its cultural center is located in Anqing and Tongcheng. The “Tongcheng School” founded by Fang Bao, Liu Dakui, Yao Nai and others in the Qing Dynasty was the largest prose school in the Qing Dynasty, and Zeng Guofan, a minister in the late Qing Dynasty, was also a member of this school. The Tongcheng School with Yi Fa (Yi refers to the central ideas of an article; Fa, to literary forms and artistry) as the symbol was also called “Tongcheng Ancient Article School”, which advocated the unity of philosophical connotations, textual criticism and writing skills. It can be regarded as a brilliant summary of ancient Chinese literary theories. Fang Bao’s thoughts on governing the world were inherited by the later scholars of Tongcheng School, and were promoted by Yao Nai and his disciples since the late Qing Dynasty. He began to pay attention to the West and learn western learning, showing the precious spirit of cultural introspection. After the Second Opium War, Wanjiang Area became a pioneer of modern industrialization with the establishment of Anqing Ordnance Station by Zeng Guofan, the opening of treaty port in Wuhu, and Anqing becoming a port for foreign ships, which further encouraged the view of the people of Wanjiang to learn in order to serve the world, thus making Wanjiang culture flourished in modern times. Li Hongzhang, Liu Mingchuan and other powerful ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, and Chen Duxiu, the leader of the new culture movement and one of the founders and early leaders of the Communist Party of China, had a profound impact on the modern trend of Chinese culture. Huizhou was called “Shezhou” and “Xin’an” in ancient times. It was renamed Huizhou in 1121AD. It was located at the junction of Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. Its administrative division remained stable in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, which provided good conditions for the formation and development of its cultural system. Huizhou was originally a part of Western Zhejiang Province, the prototype of Zhejiang Province. It originally consisted of one prefecture and six counties. After the Revolution in 1911, the prefecture was abolished, while the counties were kept (the name of Huizhou was still used till Huangshan City was established in 1987). Today, the area of Huizhou belongs to both Jiangxi Province and Anhui Province (Fig. 4.2). Huizhou was rich in mountains and did not produce grain, but it has lush forests and extensive tea gardens. Every year, a large quantity of grain was transported to

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Fig. 4.2 Outline of Huizhou Prefecture in Ming and Qing dynasties. Author’s own drawing. Source: Gao Shouxian. Huizhou Culture [M]. Shenyang: Liaoning Education Press, 1993:3

Huizhou via the Xin’an River system, and the local timber and tea products could also be transported to other regions. Therefore, there has been the tradition of doing business in Huizhou since ancient times, and Huizhou Merchants were as famous as Shanxi Merchants. The “group of Huizhou Merchants” had been formed by the early and middle Ming Dynasty at the latest. During Chenghua period from 1465 to 1487 A. D., they began their salt business, and ushered their golden age after defeating Shanxi and Shaanxi Merchants. They made their commercial miracle of “no town without Huizhou Merchants. In the late Qing Dynasty, an official system of transporting and selling tea and salt by the credence was implemented, and Huizhou merchants failed to arrest their decline with salt business as their main business. In Huizhou where commerce was emphasized, its culture and education were not behind. On the contrary, they greatly relieved the contradiction between Confucianism scholars and merchants. In addition to doing business, Huizhou people also actively participated in the imperial examinations, and many of them successfully passed the exams. According to the statistics, there were 452 Jinshi in literature in Huizhou in Ming Dynasty, accounting for 1.82% of those in the whole country. There were 684 Jinshi in literature in Qing Dynasty, accounting for 2.55% of the total, and there were 112 Zhuangyuan of Manchu and Han Nationalities in Qing Dynasty, in which 19 were from Huizhou, accounting for 17% of the total. At the same time, a large number of great scholars, such as Jiang Yong, Dai Zhen, Yu Zhengxie and Ling

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Photo 4.13 Hongcun Village at night in Huangshan, Anhui Province (World Cultural Heritage Site)

Lingkan, emerged in Huizhou. They created the “Puxue” of Huizhou focusing on theory and academic methods, which had a profound influence on Chinese modern culture. Many Huizhou aristocratic families deeply influenced by Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao and Zhu Xi’s Neo Confucianism also took an active part in doing business, and the clan power of Huizhou in Ming and Qing Dynasties became increasingly strong because of the success of commercial activities. In the 15th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1536 AD), officials were allowed to establish ancestral temples of their own families. Since then, many aristocratic families in Huizhou had spared no effort to build ancestral temples. With the strong financial support of Huizhou merchants, more and more clan branches in Huizhou were divided, and more ancestral temples were built. A large number of high-quality Huizhou ancestral temples have been preserved so far and become the important representative of Huizhou architecture (called “three wonders of Huizhou ancient architecture” together with folk residence and memorial gates). Huizhou people’s characters of carefulness, filial piety, diligence and respect for literature and education have been preserved together (Photo 4.13).

4.3.2 Wu-Yue Culture The Wu-Yue culture in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River originated from the Hemudu Culture and Liangzhu Culture in the Neolithic age. Wu-Yue area was

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temperate in climate, and abundant in precipitation, with fertile soil and densely distributed water network. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, rice cultivation in Wu-Yue area was developed. Glazed pottery, the ancestor of porcelain, appeared in this area, and it was also the hometown of silk. The bronze sword casting skills of Wu-Yue were advanced, and the two warlike states rose successively. In the late Warring States period, the State of Chu defeated the State of Yue. More than a hundred years later, Qin Dynasty conquered the area of ancient Yue nationality, and the culture of Wu-Yue was incorporated into the Chinese culture. (1) Development history In the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, Wu-Yue states covered the area of today’s Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern part of Anhui and northeastern part of Jiangxi. Its culture originated from Hemudu Culture and Liangzhu Culture in the Neolithic age, about 7000 years ago and 5300 years ago respectively. It is the birthplace of rice farming in China. The co-existing Wu culture and Yue culture were created by Gouwu and Yuyue nationalities respectively. Gouwu referred to Wu, and Yuyue referred to Yue. Both of them belonged to “Baiyue” (the ancient Yue nationality),7 in which Gouwu ancestors were first distributed in today’s Jiangsu, southern Anhui and northern Zhejiang, and co-existed in the southeast of Taihu Lake with Yuyue people, while Yuyue took Kuaiji (today’s Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) as the center. Historical records and archaeological discoveries have proved that the Wu area where people of Zhou went in the late Shang Dynasty was in today’s Ningzhen, Jiangsu Province. The culture brought to the south by the Zhou people and the local Hushu Culture8 were constantly integrated, forming the later Wu culture. The Yue culture in the south also began to be influenced by the culture from the Central Plains. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, Yue people even took the initiative to pay tribute to them. In the late Spring and Autumn period, Wu State established its capital in Gusu (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province), and Yue State established is capital in Kuaiji9 (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province). Due to the continuous wars between Wu and Yue, Wu culture and Yue culture further integrated with each other, forming the regional culture in southeast coasts. The southward migration of the Zhou people brought advanced farming, building, casting and other techniques and ritual civilization from the Central Plains to the State of Wu, the national strength of which gradually enhanced. In the middle period of the Spring and Autumn period, “after Shoumeng succeeded to the throne, the State of Wu began to be powerful, and he firstly called himself the King of Wu State.” And Wu began to communicate with Jin State. Therefore, the state of Jin sent officials to teach Wu people the skills of archery and riding. Since Wu people had gained battle 7

Baiyue is widely distributed in Southeast China, South China and northern Vietnam. Hushu culture rose in the early Shang Dynasty, belonging to bronze culture. 9 After he ascended the throne, Gou Jian moved his capital to Pingyang (now Pingyang County, Wenzhou City). 8

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skills of the Central Plains, their military strength increased greatly. During the reign of Guang, grandson of Shoumeng, the State of Wu was more powerful. Wu Zixu was assigned to build the Grand Helv City with eight gated on land and eight gates on water. The grand city contained an inner city, which laid the foundation of today’s Suzhou city. Since then, the state of Wu, with the support of Jin State, repeatedly attacked its enemy, Chu state, in order to exhaust its military power. In 506 B.C., the armies of Wu conquered the capital of Chu at one stroke and almost destroyed the state of Chu. The power of the State of Wu reached its peak. But soon after, the civil war in the State of Wu began, and the State of Qin sent troops to assist Chu, which forced Wu’s armies to withdraw. When the State of Wu rose to be a new power, Yue, which had been affiliated to Wu, also became powerful and formed an alliance with Chu. During the war of Wu attacking Chu, the State of Yue took the opportunity to attack Wu and got rid of the control of Wu. The competition for hegemony between Wu-Yue began. In the early days of the competition, the State of Wu once successfully annexed the State of Yue. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, had to surrender to Fu Chai, the king of Wu. However, after returning to Yue, to achieve his ambition, Gou Jian has endured many hardships, and finally he revived his country. In 473 BC, Yue destroyed Wu, and the territory of Yue extended to the north of Huaihe River, becoming the last hegemony in the Spring and Autumn period. After the middle of the Warring States period, the national strength of Yue gradually declined. In 334 BC, the State of Chu defeated the State of Yue, killed its king Wujiang, and annexed the former land of Wu. As a result, people of Yue were defeated and no longer unified. In 222 B.C., Wang Jian was sent by the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty to destroy Chu, and most of the area of Yue was then under the rule of the central government. After Qin State defeated the six states, the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to attack the Yue Areas. After five or six years of hard fighting, the lands of Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi were all annexed by Qin, and Wu-Yue culture was integrated into Chinese culture. (2) Cultural characteristics Wu-Yue area was temperate in climate, and abundant in precipitation, with fertile soil and densely distributed water network. Different from the dry farming in the Central Plains with millet and wheat as the main crops, the rice planting in Wu-Yue area reached a high level during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. Rice culture was an important part of Wu-Yue culture. Chinese and Japanese scholars generally believed that the Japanese rice culture originated from the area of Wu-Yue in China. As early as 7000 years ago in the Hemudu Culture period, Wu-Yue ancestors had successfully cultivated rice. In the Majiabang Cultural Site 5000 years ago, many grains of rice were unearthed. According to the archaeological identification, the ancestors of Majiabang had already planted two kinds of rice, namely Xian rice and Jing rice. The appearance of Jing Rice rich in protein was an important milestone in the history of rice cultivation. In the Spring and Autumn period, the output of rice in Wu-Yue area was very high. Rice and fish were the most prominent feature of dietary culture in Wu-Yue.

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At that time, glazed pottery, the predecessor of porcelain, had already appeared in Wu-Yue area where agriculture was developed. Wu-Yue people all used pottery utensils to cook. The difference was that Wu people mainly used Li, while Yue people were accustomed to using Ding. Taking Lizhu Tomb of the Warring States period in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province as an example, hard pottery accounted for 50.7% of the total pieces of unearthed pottery and porcelain, and the proto-porcelain accounted for 46.7%, the proportion of which was quite high. The shape imitated that of the sacrificial bronze ware at that time, and the quality was close to the standard Celadon ware of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The ancestors of Wu-Yue were good at weaving Ge cloth. In the late Spring and Autumn period, when the State of Yue was defeated, Gou Jian gave 100,000 pieces of Ge cloth to Fu Chai as the tribute. It can be seen that the output of Ge cloth in Wu-Yue was very high at that time. Since the Han Dynasty, porcelain, silk and tea produced by Wu-Yue became important goods on the Maritime Silk Road. Chinese culture also spread to other countries and regions, especially the Japanese islands, Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, through the goods produced in Wu-Yue. During the Spring and Autumn period, the bronze sword casting skills in Wu-Yue area were unique. Sword of Goujian unearthed in 1965 is exquisite in patterns and gorgeous in decoration. After more than 2000 years of erosion, it is still extremely sharp. In addition, masters of sword casting in the state of Wu have also forged famous swords, Gangjiang and Moye, and the spear of Fuchai. Ouyezi of Yue also forged famous swords, such as Yuchang, Qingying and Zhanlu. The sharp bronze swords was an important factor in the rapid rise of Wu-Yue, which also reflected the national personalities of Wu-Yue. They were resolute, brave, war-like and not afraid of sacrificing for their own states. When Wu-Yue fought, they often chose the Sishi (men who volunteered to sacrifice for the state) to fight in wars. Goujian even sent Sishi to the front of the Wu armies to shout and commit suicide in order to undermine the Wu army’s morale. After that, the armies of Yue took the opportunity to attack and defeat the Wu armies. Later, Fuchai copied this method to order Sishi to commit suicide in front of Jin troops to boast their morale. The national character of being brave and willing to sacrifice was not only related to the bad natural environment, but also related to the strong atmosphere of primitive religious worship of witches and ghosts in the area of Wu-Yue. From ancient times to today, the atmosphere of worshiping ghosts and divinities is always strong in WuYue. The ghosts in underworld frequently appeared in the local operas. Under the influence of such a strong primitive religious atmosphere, the ancestors of Wu-Yue believed that doing good things in this life could make them reincarnate, thus forming their national characters. Wu-Yue had their own distinct customs, too. Haircut and tattoo were one of the customs in Wu-Yue, and when they wore clothes, the right collar was on the left collar (opposite to that of the Central Plains). In 1974, several pieces of cultural relics with Wu-Yue style were unearthed from the Chu Tomb of the Warring States period in

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Changsha, Hunan Province10 . Among them, a human figure on a dagger proved the dressing custom of Wu-Yue people. Compared with people in the Central Plains, ancestors of Wu-Yue more liked to decorate their bodies. They not only liked to cut their hair (ancient Chinese people used to keep long hair) and make various hairstyles, but also liked to mark tattoos on their skins with the shape of loongs. The reason why Wu-Yue people liked tattoos, on one hand, was the remain of the totem worship in the ancient clan era, on the other hand, was for the practical purpose, since people of Wu-Yue “often stayed in the water, they had their hair cut and mark tattoos on their bodies to look like a loong, so as to protect themselves in the water. “ In addition, Wu-Yue people liked to paint their forehead with colors extracted from minerals and dye their teeth black, which were all the decorative arts of human bodies that were not found in the Central Plains. It showed the unique religious beliefs and aesthetic taste of Wu-Yue ancestors. The area of Wu-Yue was humid, so most of local ancestors lived in houses with columns beneath the first floor. The river network was dense, and the main means of transportation was boats. Wu and Yue had powerful navy, which had become a sharp weapon for them to fight for hegemony. In order to give full play to its advantages in water, the State of Wu built several canals, the most well-known of which are two: Xuxi River and Hangou River. To go on the war westwards against Chu, King Helv of Wu ordered Wu Zixu to build the Xuxi River connecting Gusu, the capital of Wu, with Taihu Lake and Changjiang River. In 486 BC, to conquer Qi in the north, King Fuchai of Wu ordered to build Hangou River to connect the Changjiang River and Huaihe River, which was the origin of the Grand Canal. In 485 BC, the navy of Wu even sailed over the sea to attack the Qi State. After Yue destroyed Wu, Goujian, the king of Yue, moved his capital to Langya, relying on a powerful navy. The navy of Wu who defeated the State of Cao and Wei, Zheng He’s seven voyages, and the modern Jiangnan Shipyard were all influenced by the tradition of boat building in Wu-Yue. During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, although Wu-Yue culture was deeply influenced by the Central Plains culture, it could still be regarded as an aboriginal culture. Its language was too unique to be understood by their neighbors, the people of Chu. In the middle and late Warring States period, after Chu defeated Yue, Chu culture poured in, and the two cultures integrated with each other and gradually became similar. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the further influx of immigrants from the Central Plains and under the long-term governance of the central government, the culture of Wu-Yue gradually became a regional type of Chinese culture. (3) Elegantization and Modernization In the pre-Qin period, Wu-Yue culture was rough. The characters of being brave and willing to sacrifice and the customs of haircut and tattoos were regarded as an aboriginal culture, which was quite different from the mainstream culture of China. 10

Gao Zhixi. Several Yue Style Cultural Relics Found in Hunan [J]. Cultural Relics, 1980 (12).

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After the cultural input after the occupation of Chu state in the middle and late Warring States period and the immigration and governance in Qin and Han Dynasties, its cultural features gradually changed and integrated into Chinese culture. After Qin destroyed the other six states, in 210 B.C., the First Emperor of Qin went to Kuaiji Mountain to offer sacrifices to Dayu, the aim of which was to educate people and rectify folk customs. Under the continuous edification of the central dynasty, local people of Wu-Yue began to be aware of etiquette and gradually became more civilized just like people in the Central Plains. By the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the main symbol of Yue Culture in archaeology, Gouyao, the unique musical instrument of ancient Yue, and the custom of “haircut and tattoos” had disappeared in the ancient land of Wu-Yue. The language of Wu-Yue was also strongly impacted by the language from the Central Plains, and eventually evolved into a Chinese dialect, Wu dialect, in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, most of the officials in the counties in Wu-Yue were scholars from the Central Plains who went to the south. After generations of development, their descendants gradually became big clans in Wu-Yue. For example, Lu Xun, who defeated Liu Bei in the battle of Xiaoting in the Three Kingdoms period, was the descendant of Lu lie, a scholar in the Central Plains in the Western Han Dynasty, who was appointed as the magistrate of Wu County in the south. Family Lu gradually became a big clan in this area. After the middle Western Han Dynasty, iron farming tools began to be used in Wu-Yue area, and agricultural production developed. At the turn of Western to Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was in chaos, and many people fled to Wu-Yue, which greatly promoted the social and cultural development of Wu-Yue. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as the core area of the rule of the Wu State, a large number of elites from the Central Plains depended on the group led by Sun Quan, the economy and culture of Wu-Yue were boosted again. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the government was moved from the Central Plains to the Wu-Yue area, and a large number of northerners moved southward, the number of which was far larger than before. The scholars from the Central Plains brought metaphysics and idle talk to Wu-Yue. The early warlike character of Wu-Yue was gradually replaced by the cultural style of elegance brought by the scholars from the Central Plains. Due to the rapid increase of population, the contradiction between excessive population and insufficient land use appeared. The production mode in WuYue had changed from extensive agriculture to fine agriculture, which has greatly changed the life style and thinking mode of people in Wu-Yue. It is another important reason why Wu-Yue culture became elegant. During the Six Dynasties, Taoism was widely spread in Wu-Yue area, which changed the local primitive religious belief. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the uprising of Sun En and Lu Xun in the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang was in the name of Taoism. They severely cracked down those corrupt families of power and expanded the access of poor students to rise in the Southern Dynasty. At the same time, Buddhism also rose in Wu-Yue. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism began to merge, which enriched the connotation of Chinese thought. As a result, the folk customs of Wu-Yue became more civilized and elegant.

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With the re-unification in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the culture of Wu-Yue and Central Plains further integrated, and it was more obvious that the economic and cultural center was likely to move to the south. After the An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion, China’s economic center shifted to Jiangnan, the south bank of lower reaches of the Changjiang River, and the social economy of Wu-Yue developed rapidly. In the Five Dynasties at the end of Tang Dynasty, Jiangnan remained relatively stable and prosperous, and its culture was still developing. A large number of artistic talents emerged in Wu-Yue, such as Li Yu, the King of the Southern Tang Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Liangzhe Province (an administrative region in Jiangnan Area) became the richest area. At that time, the national output of grain was 6 million dan (measurement unit in ancient China) per year, and that of Liangzhe Province accounted for a quarter of the total. Because of the prosperous economy and social stability, the population of Wu-Yue increased rapidly. In 1102 AD, there were 20,264,307 households in China, while there were 1,975,041 in Liangzhe Province, accounting for 9.6% of the total in China and ranking first in all the provinces in China11 . According to statistics, there are 548 figures recorded in the “biographies” of the History of Song Dynasty, including 136 from Zhejiang, 88 from Fujian, altogether 224 from the ancient Wu-Yue area, accounting for 40.86% of the total. There are 45 figures recorded in “Taoism” and “Confucianism”, including 14 from Zhejiang, 11 from Fujian, altogether 25 from Wu-Yue, accounting for 60.98% of the total. There were 65 prime ministers in the Song Dynasty, including 22 from Zhejiang, 8 from Fujian so altogether 30 from the ancient Wu-Yue Area, accounting for 46.15% of the total. There were 502 famous poets in Song Dynasty, including 138 from Zhejiang, 63 from Fujian, altogether 201 from the ancient Wu-Yue Area, accounting for 40.04% of the total. There were 222 famous painters in the Song Dynasty, including 69 from Zhejiang, 15 from Fujian, altogether 84 from the ancient Wu-Yue Area, accounting for 37.84% of the total12 . In the Song Dynasty, Wu-Yue, especially Zhejiang in the Southern Song Dynasty, overwhelmed other regions in talents. With the long-term prosperity and stability of the society of Wu-Yue, the population sharply increased, and the culture was prosperous. The atmosphere of emphasizing education prevailed in Wu-Yue where there were many academies, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty when the government in Central Plains once again moved southwards. Lv Zuqian’s Lize Academy became the representative of the Eastern Zhejiang School. In the confrontation with Neo Confucianism, the Eastern Zhejiang School was divided into Jinhua School, Yongjia School and Yongkang School. Each school took their academies as the bases to spread their own academic ideas, and the academies in Wu-Yue were very prosperous for a time. The profound accumulation of Confucianism in Wu-Yue also contributed to the foundation of Lu Jiuyuan’s Theory of Mind. With the prosperity of academies, the block printing and 11

Liang Fangzhong. Statistics of Household Registration, Fields and Field Taxation in Chinese Dynasties [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1980:124,155. 12 Fang Rujin. The Great Development of Zhejiang Culture in Southern Song Dynasty [J]. Journal of Zhejiang Normal University(Social Sciences), 1986 (01).

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the book collection industries were also flourishing, which greatly promoted the dissemination of academic ideas and the preservation of documents. Because of the prosperity of Jiangnan culture and the southern migration of Song Dynasty, a large number of elegant and smart gardens, such as the Canglang Garden and Wuxing Garden were built in the area of Wu-Yue, which undermined the leading position of northern garden building arts. In Southern Song Dynasty, which established its capital in Lin’an (now Hangzhou), economy was developed and cities were prosperous. Lin’an, completely replacing Kaifeng in the Central Plains, had become the political, economic and cultural center of the whole country. During the battles between the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, the WuYue area suffered less damage, so Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were still the most developed agricultural areas in China in the Yuan Dynasty. Wu-Yue culture continued to become more elegant. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Wu-Yue had become China’s academic, cultural, artistic and entertainment center. During the Ming Dynasty, economic crops, such as cotton, flax, mulberry trees, were widely planted. In Wu-Yue area, the area planting cotton, flax and mulberry trees expanded rapidly. Suzhou, Songjiang, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou became the central areas. At that time, in the rural areas of Wu-Yue, sericulture and cotton industries had replaced crops planting to become the main industry. Farmers sold their silk and cotton products in the market in exchange for the food and materials for production they needed. As a result, a large number of markets, such as the mulberry market, the silkworm market, the silk market, the cotton market and the rice market, appeared on the main roads near the countryside, and some of them even developed into towns. The economic prosperity of towns and the growth of townspeople stratum had given birth to the townspeople literature marked by the emergence of a large number of popular novels. Popular novels developed from Pinghua in Song Dynasty and operas in Yuan Dynasty. They broke the formal constraints of Han Fu and rules of poetry in Tang and Song Dynasties, focusing on describing the folk life, so they could better arouse the feelings of ordinary readers. At the end of Ming Dynasty, the writing of short stories flourished, with the books of Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu from Wu-Yue as the outstanding representatives. During the Qianlong period in the Qing Dynasty, the vernacular fictions of Wu-Yue became more mature. Wu Jingzi’s The Scholars and Cao Xueqin’s The Dream of the Red Chamber are closely related to Wu-Yue culture. Wu Jingzi, born in Quanjiao County, Chuzhou, Anhui Province, belonging to the Wu-Yue cultural zone, moved to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, living near the Qinhuai River. He was a native scholar in Wu-Yue, and his The Scholars was a representative of Chinese ironic literature. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many Jinshi were from Wu-Yue which was prosperous in economy and developed in education. According to statistics, “more than one out of every seven Jinshi in the Ming and

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Qing Dynasties came from Jiangnan”13 . However, the literati of Wu-Yue also played important roles in the drama of imperial examinations. The Scholars mainly satired the immoral behaviours of many scholars in Wu-Yue. Cao Xueqin’s great grandfather Cao Xi, grandfather Cao Yin, father Cao Yong, and uncle Cao Fu had been working as officer of weaving of Jiangning for 58 years. They were responsible for purchasing materials, such as silk for the royal family in Jiangnan, who were deeply trusted by emperors of Qing Dynasty. During Emperor Kangxi’s five southern expeditions, Cao Yin received and served him for four times, taking the official mansion of Jiangning Weaving as the palace. So his power flourished. Cao Yin was the leader of Jiangnan literati. Cao Xueqin, born in such a powerful family with strong academic atmosphere in Jiangnan, had been deeply influenced by Wu-Yue culture. Even though he later moved to Beijing and his family declined, his childhood life was still the rich resource for his writing. Finally, Cao Xueqin wrote the delicate and elegant masterpiece, The Dream of the Red Chamber, based on his early life, which was a typical work influenced by Wu-Yue culture. Since modern times, as the main battlefield of the Opium War, people of Wu-Yue was early threatened by modern western civilization. They have realized their own shortcomings and began to learn from western countries. A large number of modern factories sprang up in Wu-Yue area, which greatly expanded the vision of Wu-Yue people. It was the prelude to the modern transformation of Chinese culture. This wave of learning from the West had gradually expanded from Wu-Yue area to the whole country. When learning advanced technologies, people with progressive ideas in Wu-Yue also began to learn from western culture. Shanghai and Ningbo, the two treaty ports in Wu-Yue region, made the most outstanding achievements in learning from and spreading western culture and technologies. With the national economic center and south China cultural center gradually moving to Shanghai, “Shanghai style culture” rooted in Wu-Yue culture was increasingly accepted by people. The so-called “Shanghai style culture” is a kind of compound culture which is the integration of the local Wu-Yue culture, the culture from other Chinese places and developing in Shanghai and the western culture after Shanghai was opened as a treaty port. It was very modern and of urban features. After Shanghai was opened as a treaty port, a large number of foreign missionaries came to Shanghai. They set up schools on a large scale, which promoted the modernization of Shanghai’s education. A large number of foreign books and journals were introduced into Shanghai, which had triggered the rise and competition of Shanghai publishing industry. The prosperous economy and diversified cultures have promoted the development of Shanghai’s popular culture. Great progress had been made in film, drama, diet, sports, science and technology. A large number of immigrants from southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang came with the elegant Wu-Yue culture, and various foreigners had brought fresh overseas cultures. Shanghai embraced all kinds of cultures which have collided and integrated for decades. Finally, in the works of Beijing Writers 13

Fan Jinmin. Analysis on the Number, Regional Distribution and Characteristics of Jinshi in South China in Ming and Qing Dynasties [J]. Journal of Nanjing University(Philosophy,Humanities and Social Sciences), 1997 (02).

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in 1920s, Shanghai culture with both the domestic and foreign features was given the name “Shanghai School”. In the eyes of the scholars of the “Beijing School”, the “Shanghai School” was undoubtedly rebellious and innovative. As Cao Juren, a well-known journalist and writer in Shanghai in the Republic of China, appropriately commented: “Beijing School is classical, while Shanghai School is romantic; Beijing School is like a lady in a big family, while Shanghai School is like a modern girl”14 . Since the 1920s and 1930s, the open Shanghai style culture rooted in Wu-Yue culture had striken a balance between the traditional and foreign culture, and between the elite and popular culture. The essence of Shanghai culture was being enterprising and open-minded, which was fully reflected in all aspects of Shanghai style culture. For example, literature with Shanghai style had incorporated urban and rural features, the modern and the traditional style as well as the popular and the elegant style, forming the pluralistic literary style of Shanghai School. Another example was that the Peking opera with Shanghai style originated in the Peking Opera Reform Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, and it had formed its own artistic characteristics by 1940s. Similar to the local Peking opera, Peking Opera with Shanghai style also emphasizes artistic imaginary, impressionistic and exaggeration in performance. Different from the local Peking opera, Peking Opera with Shanghai style was closer to the reality and has distinct features of the region and era. Shanghai style culture, rooted in Wu-Yue and learning from western countries, was a prominent representative of openness and inclusiveness of modern Chinese culture. With the great revolution in 1920s, some modern writers, such as Ding Ling, Ba Jin, Pan Hannian, created revolutionary literature with Shanghai style themed on Shanghai. Zhang Ailing, a female writer who grew up in the New Culture Movement, consciously got rid of the westernized style advocated by the new literature and comprehensively absorbed the nutrients of diversified “local customs” in Shanghai to write novels with Shanghai style based on urban folk culture. She has striken a balance between tradition and modernity, the local and the urban, and helped

14

Cao Juren.Beijing School and Shanghai School [N]. Shenbao, 1934-1-17.

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Photo 4.14 Humble administrator’s garden in Suzhou in late autumn (world cultural heritage site)

the emerging Shanghai style culture continue to enrich itself. Since the reform and opening up, the Shanghai style culture inspired by the spirit of time has become more open-minded. It takes its initiative to lead China’s economic development and social progress and to enhance China’s cultural self-confidence. It has become a distinctive culture style in China or even in the world (Photo 4.14).

Chapter 5

The Civilization Evolution

5.1 The Mother River of Chinese Civilization The evolution of civilization is closely related to the natural environment. However, when human beings are involved in the utilization and transformation of nature, the subjective initiative of human beings plays an increasingly important role in the development of civilization. Therefore, civilization advances in the interaction between nature and humans. The ancestors of the Changjiang River Basin, relying on the good natural conditions and their own wisdom, had created various regional civilizations since the Neolithic age, such as the early agricultural civilization in the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang: Hemudu Culture and Liangzhu Culture, the Qujialing Culture in the Jianghan area and the later Longshan Culture in Hubei Province, and the Daxi culture covering the area from the western part of the middle reaches to the eastern Sichuan in the upper reaches. Its civilization was no later and weaker than that of the Yellow River Basin. The emergence time of growing crops was even slightly earlier than that of the Yellow River Basin. There is no doubt that both the Changjiang River and the Yellow River are the mother rivers of Chinese civilization. The original recognition of the Yellow River civilization as the mother river was because of the focus of the investigation at the initial stage of modern Chinese archaeology. The modern archaeology started in the early twentieth century in China. The first field archaeology was carried out in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The discovery of Neolithic cultural relics of Yangshao, Longshan, Dawenkou, etc., and the excavation of the ancient cities of Shang and Zhou dynasties has provided evidence for the documents in Shangshu, Zuozhuan, and Shih Chi that pre-Xia, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were originated from and flourished in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, it was finally confirmed by scholars that the Yellow River Basin is the birthplace of Chinese culture. Later, when archaeological work was carried out in the Changjiang River Basin, people realized that the Neolithic civilization in the Changjiang River Basin was not later and weaker than that of the Yellow River Basin. In the 1970s, the Hemudu culture was discovered in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. Its domesticated rice can be © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_5

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traced back to 7000–8000 years ago. Then, relics of rice culture were found in the sites of Liangzhu and Majiabang in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, Qujialing in the middle reaches, and Daxi in the upper reaches, all of which have a history of 5000–6000 years. In Yuchanyan, Daoxian County, Hunan Province, the domesticated rice with a history of more than tens of thousands of years has been discovered1 , which appeared earlier than the domesticated millet in the Yellow River Basin with a history of 8000–9000 years. Therefore, the history of “rice culture” in the Changjiang River Basin is not shorter than that of the “millet culture” in the Yellow River Basin. Scholars have reached a consensus that both the Changjiang River Basin and the Yellow River Basin are the birthplaces of Chinese culture. The civilizations of the two basins appeared independently and had different patterns, and then developed in parallel, showing different features. From the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, the civilizations of the two basins have a complete cultural development sequence respectively. Generally speaking, the Yellow River civilization is represented by the cultural zone of the Central Plains in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The culture of this region developed in the sequence of Laoguantai culture, Cishan culture, Yangshao culture and Longshan culture, while the cultures of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River developed respectively, in the sequence of Sanxingdui culture phase 1–4 in the upper reaches, Pengtoushan culture, Chengbeixi culture, Daxi Culture, Qujialing culture, Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches and Hemudu culture, Majiabang culture, Songze Culture and Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches. The latest archaeological discoveries show that the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan, the civilization center in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River, existed 4800–2600 years ago2 . The first to fourth phases were continuous in the stratum, so the culture of Sanxingdui was also continuous. The Sanxingdui culture reached its peak in the second to third phases (4100–3200 B.C.), and the city walls covered an area of about 3.5 sq. km. The number, size and form of bronze and jade objects unearthed from the sacrificial pits were the peak at that time. They provide access for people nowadays to seeing the developed bronze civilization of the Changjiang River Basin three or four thousand years ago. Among them, hundreds of bronze statues in different sizes are the most amazing. Their figures were quite different from those in the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. They might have been influenced by the civilizations of Central Asia and Western Asia, indicating that the Changjiang River Basin had embraced cultures from the outside world in the early Bronze Age, which can be called a wonder in the history of human civilization. According to the archaeological discoveries of the newly found fourth phase (3200–2600 B.C.), at that time, the city walls were still being repaired and strengthened, and the scope of the city was still expanding. The cultural accumulation was 1

Zhu Naicheng. New Discovery and New Thought of the Cultural Remains in the Early Neolithic Age of China [J]. Southeast Culture, 1999 (03). 2 Gao Dalun. Length, Width and Height of Ancient Civilization in Sanxingdui Site [J]. Sichuan Cultural Relics, 2016 (06).

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still rich, and there was no sign of decline. The city with an area of 3.5 sq. km was still the largest among the capitals of states in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The scope of the ruins was second only to Zhouyuan and Fengxi in the Yellow River Basin, and it had the longest history among the civilizations in the Changjiang River Basin in the Neolithic Age. The Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River (about 4600– 4000 years ago) had developed into a civilized society not later than about 4200– 4000 years ago. Compared with the jadeware unearthed in the site or Daxi culture (6400–5300 ago) and Qujialing culture (5300–4600 ago), the number of jade objects unearthed in Shijiahe cultural site has increased rapidly, which were as exquisite as those of Liangzhu culture (5300–4200 ago) and Hongshan culture (5300–4500 ago). The jade carving of Shijiahe culture has not only reached higher level in technology, but also formed its own characteristics in artistic style, which can be described as “viewing the macro from the micro and seeking perfection from the tiny”3 . Numerous small and exquisite human face statues, animal face statues, jade cicadas, jade birds, Jue and Huang shaped jades and others especially small statues of gods had been unearthed. Similar statues were also unearthed in the sites of Shang and Zhou Dynasties in the Yellow River Basin. Take Fuhao Tomb from the middle of Shang Dynasty for example, jade phoenix, which was very similar to the Phoenix shaped jade pendant of Shijiahe, was unearthed. Meanwhile, Zhang (a kind of jade) in the style of Longshan culture from Central Plains had also been unearthed in Shijiahe site. All these above indicate that by the time of Shijiahe, cultural exchanges had occurred between the Changjiang River and the Yellow River basins, especially that “the cultural relationship between the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the middle reaches of the Yellow River were much closer and more similar than that between the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the upper or lower reaches of the Changjiang River”4 . In addition, with the discovery of many pieces of copper greenstone, copper slag and several pieces of copper artifacts in Dengjiawan site, it indicates that the middle reaches of the Changjiang River should have entered the Bronze Age before then. It is particularly noteworthy that there were cities that could best reflect the level of civilization in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River at that time5 . The ancient city of Shijiahe in Tianmen, Hubei Province, was the representative of the cities. Its area reached 1 million square meters, which was five times as large as Chengziya of the Longshan Culture. It was the older and largest city site known in the Longshan era. A considerable part of the city walls and moats of this site are still preserved and its irregular rectangular outline can be seen from the ground. The 3

Zhang Xuqiu. Jade Wares of Shijiahe Culture [J]. Jianghan Archaeology, 1992 (01). Yan Wenming. The Dawn of Civilization in the Yangtze River [M]. Wuhan: Hubei Education Press, 2004:14-15. 5 Ren Shinan. Exploration on the Origin of Civilization in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River [C] // Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Huaxia Civilization and Inheritance Collection. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1996. 4

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construction of such large walls and moats required a powerful organization to recruit and organize a large number of men, who mainly came from the vast countryside outside the city. The ancient city was built and abandoned about 5 thousand years ago and 3 thousand years ago respectively. There are residential areas, religious sites and large-scale housing sites in the city that should be the political center. The form of housing had developed from single room style in the Period of Daxi Culture to multiple room style or three-room suites, which not only showed the improvement of productivity, but also reflected the increase of population and the strengthening of collective organizations. There are many settlement sites around the ancient city of Shijiahe. Their functions were different and most of them were agriculture or pottery handicraft industry. “It shows that the society at that time was a civilized country with Shijiahe city as the center, with urban–rural differences, social division of labor and class stratification”6 . However, what is puzzling is that Shijiahe culture did not continue completely. Panlongcheng Bronze culture, which followed, obviously belonged to the Shang Culture or the late Xia culture coming from the north. At present, there is still no final conclusion on the extinction of Shijiahe Culture, either due to the northern people’s attack to the south, or due to the impact of floods. The lower reaches of the Changjiang River mainly refers to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Rice farming had been quite developed as early as the Hemudu culture about 7 thousand years ago (7000–5300 B.C., mainly distributed in the NingboShaoxing plain on the South Bank of Hangzhou Bay). It was good at making bone utensils, whose farm tools were mainly bone spades (wood spade has sustained) and the livestock (mainly pigs and dogs) was dependent on agriculture. Bird shaped and bird patterned ivory carvings were conspicuous, showing the sun worship of Hemudu people (Fig. 5.1; Photos 5.1 and 5.2). It was once considered as an instrument for a long time, and the current research suggests that it is a textile tool. Apart from Hemudu culture, Majiabang culture (7000–6000 B.C., taking Taihu Lake area as the center), Songze culture (6000–5300 B.C.) and Liangzhu Culture (5300–4200 B.C.) developed from Majiabang culture (7000–6000 B.C.), of which the development was parallel but borrowing cultural elements from each other, were also dominated by rice farming, and the farming techniques were constantly improved (Fig. 5.2). Liangzhu culture, which inherited Songze culture and absorbed the advantages of Hemudu and other regional cultures, was the peak of early civilization in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. It wa mainly distributed in the present area of Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai, with Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou around the Taihu Lake as the center. It was also distributed in the Shaoxing Plain and Zhoushan Archipelago in Ningbo, yet this view is still in controversy (Fig. 5.3). The small triangular stone plow discovered in Songze Culture period had been quite common in Liangzhu Culture period, which showed that Liangzhu culture had entered the stage of ploughing agriculture in an all-round way. However, “Plowing was widely practiced in China in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring 6

Jiang Linchang. Research on Ancient Civilization of China [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Publishing House, 2005:326.

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Fig. 5.1 Geographical location of Hemudu site. Author’s own drawing. Source: Zhou Ying wrote. Beautiful deeds, the beautiful old world: Liangzhu culture and the origin of Hangzhou [M]. Beijing: Contemporary China Press, 2002:25

Photo 5.1 Ivory carving butterfly shaped utensils with the pattern of “two birds towards the sun” unearthed from Hemudu site. Author’s own drawing. Source: Lin Huadong. Preliminary Study on Hemudu Culture [M]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 1992

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Photo 5.2 Open bone tubes made from bird limb bones. Author’s own drawing. Source: Lin Huadong. Preliminary Study on Hemudu Culture [M]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 1992

Fig. 5.2 Distribution of Majiabang-Songze site. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wang Bin. Research on Majiabang Culture [D]. Shanghai University, 2019:26

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Fig. 5.3 Distribution of Liangzhu culture. Author’s own drawing. Source: Chen Tongbin. Research on the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Cultural Heritage "the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City" [J]. Chinese Cultural Heritage, 2019(04)

States Period, which was much later than Liangzhu culture. Liangzhu culture was the first to realize ploughing, which not only promoted the development of agriculture, but also led to the general prosperity of economy, society and culture”7 . The prosperity and development of economy enhanced the division of social labor. The social structure of Liangzhu Culture tended to be complex with social class division, with social life in a strong organization and order. A large number of social members engaged in unproductive labor were committed to the construction of high platform cemeteries, palaces and religious sacrificial sites, and the production of utensils needed for various cultural and ceremonial activities. The emergence of large-scale jade ritual vessels was a start to the Chinese ritual society. It is no exaggeration to say that Liangzhu culture was the prelude of Chinese civilization and it had entered the threshold of civilization. The whole society was composed of settlements in a multi-layer pyramid structure. The top of the structure, the Liangzhu Ancient City, was located in the west of Liangzhu Site group, Pingyao Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, with a total area of 3 million square meters.

7

Yan Wenming. Seeking the Source of Civilization: Selected Works of Yan Wenming [C]. Beijing: Capital Normal University Press, 2017:411.

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Liangzhu Ancient City, discovered in 2006, is one of the largest urban site of the late Neolithic Age discovered in China, and it is also the first prehistoric city site found in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Archaeologists have successively discovered the Outer City with an area of about 8 million square meters, which proved that Liangzhu Ancient City was a complete capital structure of three concentric structures of palace city, inner city and outer city. It was the origin of the threefold structure of the capitals in Chinese historical period (Fig. 5.4). The Site of Liangzhu Ancient City (including Yaoshan Site and peripheral water conservancy project, with a total area of about 14.3 sq. km) has been approved to be included in the World Heritage List on 6 July, 2019. From 2009 to 2015, archaeologists also confirmed that there was a large-scale complete peripheral water conservancy project in the northwest and north of the ancient city consisting of 11 dams with a controlled area of 100 sq. km. The carbon

Fig. 5.4 Structure of Liangzhu ancient city. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wang Ningyuan. Survey and Excavation of the Water Conservancy System in Liangzhu City and Surroundings [J]. Study on Natural and Cultural Heritage, 2016(05)

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Fig. 5.5 Speculation on reservoir area formed by high dam and low dam. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wang Ningyuan. Survey and Excavation of the Water Conservancy System in Liangzhu City and Surroundings [J]. Study on Natural and Cultural Heritage, 2016(05)

14 data of the 11 dams dates back 5100–4700 years8 , which almost doubled the age of China’s large-scale water conservancy relics. It is the earliest existing large-scale water conservancy project in China, as well as the earliest and largest flood control dam system in the world. “It is a distinctive contrast to the water conservancy system in the early civilization of the Nile River Basin and the Tigris and Euphrates Basin, which were mainly for the purpose of water diversion, with channels and water cellars. It reflects the different characteristics of wetland agricultural civilization and dry farming agricultural civilization in water management systems”9 . Liangzhu ancient city was built on a shallow swamp. After the completion of the water conservancy project, it also had an important function of waterway transportation apart from flood prevention (Fig. 5.5). Archeologists completed the analyze of the internal structure and functional area of Liangzhu ancient city in 2017, confirming the river water network system in Liangzhu ancient city, as well as the functional layout of palace area, royal mausoleum area, storage area and workshop area. Combined with the special drilling investigation around the ancient city, it was confirmed that there was no rice field 8

Liu Bin, Wang Ningyuan, Chen Minghui. From Archaeological Site to World Cultural Heritage: The Value Identification and Protection of Liangzhu Ancient City [J]. Southeast Culture, 2019 (01). 9 Wang Ningyuan, Liu Bin. The Survey of the Water Control Engineering on the Periphery of the Liangzhu Ancient City in Hangzhou [J]. Archaeology, 2015 (01).

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within the outer city of Liangzhu ancient city, and the residents in the city were mainly aristocrats and those engaged in various handicraft industry of making jade ware, stone tools, lacquerware and bone ware. So it is proved that Liangzhu ancient city had a clear urban function, and in the Liangzhu era there was a clear distinction between urban and rural areas. This fully shows that the social organization and technical level of Liangzhu culture at that time was far in excess of the concept of settlement and ethnic group. The recent archaeological data reflected the situation, there did exist a grid structure in the Liangzhu society with Liangzhu ancient city as the “center” and connecting all the “local” areas, which was the rudiment of a regional state. Similar to the Yan-Liao area in the north in the same period, Liangzhu also featured large sacrificial sites as its civilization characteristics. Most of these altar sites were built on top of the mountains and were in a three-layer square platform shape, which was built layer by layer. A large number of Jade Congs was unearthed inside. The Jade Cong was modeled to symbolize the earth outside, and to symbolize the heaven inside. It was the magic tool to connect heaven and earth. This square multi-layer altar was the central place of this ancient civilization with chiefdom nature which highly concentrated in theocracy, political power and military power. Meanwhile, its careful design and careful construction fully reflected its degree of civilization. However, it is inexplicable that the large platform sacrifice of Liangzhu culture was not inherited by the subsequent culture, but retained some traces in the altar of earth of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Liangzhu Culture suddenly declined about 4300–4200 years ago. The large-scale high platform altars and other ceremonial buildings were abandoned, complete sets of jade sacrificial vessels and their Taotie patterns disappeared, flat and thin perforated stone axes were also significantly reduced, and group of engraving characters were rare. What is the cause? Flood, sea invasion, war, or the deviation of civilization’s development direction led to its own decline? There is no final conclusion so far. But there is no doubt that Liangzhu civilization is the dawn of Oriental Civilization. Depends on a series of huge Liangzhu site found that Chinese civilization has been confirmed in five thousand years. The establishment of Liangzhu civilization enriched the content of early civilization in the world, and will provide new materials for the study of early civilization in the world. It should be and will become the common cultural heritage of all mankind10 . At the end of The Shang dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, Chu culture in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River rose to prominence. It retained the essence of Zhou’s civilization and integrated the characteristics of aboriginal culture, which was more magnificent, fresh and vivid. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it got rid of the shackles of Zhou style bronzes and formed the unique shape and colorful decoration of the Chu style bronze ware style. In the Warring States Period, the style of Chu Ci represented by Qu Yuan’s Lisao was created. It broke away from the four character sentence pattern in the Book of Songs, and developed 10

Zhao Ye. Liangzhu: A model of early Chinese civilization [J].Cultural Relics in Southern China, 2018 (01).

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a grand style and a well-organized sentence pattern, which had become one of the two great sources of Chinese literature and deeply influenced the whole Han cultural circle.

5.2 The Southern Movement of the Economic and Cultural Center The Changjiang River and the Yellow River are both the mother rivers of Chinese civilization, and they had made brilliant achievements in early civilization. But, the economic and cultural development level of the Yellow River basin had far exceeded that of the Changjiang River basin from the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the end of the Western Jin Dynasty. The core area of Han culture had for a long time been in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin. Itself and its largest tributary, the Wei River, formed an axis in the east–west direction. Several famous ancient capitals of China, such as Chang’an, Luoyang and Kaifeng, were all distributed on this axis. However, since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, northern China was subjected to huge impacts one after another from the nomadic people. With the development of productivity and the progress of technology, the advantageous natural conditions in the South had become increasingly prominent. wChina’s economic and cultural center was gradually shifted from the Yellow River Basin to the Changjiang River Basin.

5.2.1 The External and Internal Causes of Southward Migration (1) External Cause: War There are many objective factors that lead to the southward shift of China’s economic and cultural center, such as the change of natural environment (including climate, hydrology, vegetation and soil, etc.) and the migration wave brought about by the forces of wars, of which the latter was undoubtedly the most direct and main external cause. Nowadays, 45.29 million “Hakkas” distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Taiwan and other provinces as well as Southeast Asian countries, which are composed of Han people who migrated south from the Central Plains during the Qin and Han dynasties. Hakka history vividly illustrates the movement of Chinese culture from north to south. The first big wave that forced China’s economy and culture to move southward was the Yongjia Rebellion and the nomadic ethnic groups entering the Central Plains. In the fourth century, the political corruption of the Western Jin Dynasty led to the Bawang Rebellion. Liu Yuan, a Hun nobleman (?–310 A. D.) established a separatist regime, which was the first time that the nomadic people controlled the Central

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Plains. In the fifth year of Yongjia of Emperor Huai of Jin Dynasty (311 A.D.), the armed force of Liu Yuan’s Han regime attacked Luoyang, capturing Emperor Huai and killed more than 30 thousand people in Luoyang. It was known as “The Yongjia Rebellion” in history and hit hard to the economy and culture of the Yellow River basin. The ensuing struggle within the nomadic groups was even more debilitating for China. The Yellow River Basin had been seriously damaged. After “The Yongjia Rebellion”, the political chaos and the huge pressure of war forced the Han people to move southward on a large scale. According to Tan Qixiang’s estimation, “till the end of the Song Dynasty, there were about 900 thousand people moving to the south”11 , accounting for about one sixth of the population of the Southern Dynasties. There were three routes for the northerners to move to the South: the western route following the Jinniu Road from Guanzhong to Sichuan, the middle route following the Han River from Guandong to Jingzhou and Xiangyang, and the eastern route following the Hangou Canal or the southeastern branch of Huaihe River from Qingzhou and Xuzhou to Jiangdu and other places. All the destinations were in along the Changjiang River. Han Nationality spread the northern culture to the south, which greatly promoted the development of the customs and civilization in the south. A large number of labor input made the economic development of the south immediately presented a new situation. From the overall situation, economic power of north China was still far more than the south north, for example after Northern Wei established there was a rapid recovery of the economy, profoundly showing the strength of the north. And the cultural level of the north still has an advantage. However, as soon as the south was developed, its economy developed rapidly thanks to the benefits of climate and water transportation. By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the balance of power between the north and the south was broken and the economy of the south began to surpass that of the north. The second big wave that forced the economic and cultural center of China to move southeast was the “An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion”. The Tang Empire declined from then on, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were devastated and destroyed. The subsequent fragmentation and political instability caused the nobles to move southwards on a large scale again. The southward migration of northerners this time also divided into eastern, middle and western routes. The eastern route enters Huainan and Jiangnan area from Huabei Plain. The middle route enters Nanyang and Xiangyang from Guanzhong and the west of Huabei Plain. The western route enters Hanzhong and Ba-Shu from Guanzhong. Among them, a considerable part of the immigrants from the eastern and the middle routes will continue to move southwards. As a result, the population of the southern states and counties increased rapidly, and the economy gradually surpassed that of the north. South of the Changjiang River had become the “national fate” of the Tang Dynasty. By the Northern Song Dynasty, the economy of the Changjiang River basin had far surpassed that of the Yellow River 11

Tan Qixiang. Ethnic Migration after the Yongjia Riot in Jin Dynasty [J]. Yanjing Journal, 1934 (15).

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basin. Fan Zuyu, a historian in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, bluntly pointed out: “the root of the state lies in the southeast.” In the last years of Renzong of Song Dynasty, Luoyang was an important cultural town. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi was engaged in lecturing all their lives, and their activities were centered in Luoyang. Most of the important officials retired or semi-retired, or resigned because of political disagreement were settled in Luoyang. However, in the Northern Song Dynasty, the cultural center obviously tended to the South. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi gave lectures in Luoyang, but most of their disciples were from the south. Therefore, when Cheng Hao sent his great disciple Yang Shi back south, he said, “my Dao is going to the south.” Ci poetry was the main body of Song Dynasty literature. As far as the region was concerned, its style, theme and emotional appeal all had the characteristics of “Southern Literature”. In the northern Song Dynasty, the early scholars such as Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Zhang Xian, Liu Yong and so on, were all from the south. While in the later period, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Zhou Bangyan, Li Qingzhao and so on, mostly grew up in or around the Jiangnan Area. Calligraphy and painting flourished in the Song Dynasty, just as Yang Weizhen’s Preface to the Drawing and Painting Encyclopedia said: “calligraphy flourished in Jin Dynasty, painting flourished in Tang Dynasty, calligraphy and painting in Song Dynasty are integrated.” At that time, among the painters and calligraphers, there were many people from the South. Printing was a key industry of spreading culture. Most books of Song Dynasty were printed in Hangzhou. The Song version book handed down were mostly from the Jiangnan area. The cultural atmosphere in the Jiangnan region was very strong. The “Jingkang Incident”, which broke out in 1126, finally gave a final impetus to the southward movement of the cultural center. In that year, Jin conquered Song’s capital Bianjing and ruled the north for more than 100 years. The Song Dynasty, like the Jin Dynasty in the Yongjia Rebellion, had to cross the Changjiang River to the south. People from the Central Plains helped each other southward, with a population of tens of millions of people. The southward migration route was similar to that after the An Shi Rebellion, but the immigration population was larger and deeper. Only in 1141, the number of people from the north to the south before the Peace Treaty of Shaoxing reached 5 million12 . At that time, Shandong cultural figures such as Li Qingzhao, Zhao Mingcheng and Xin Qiji all went south during this period. Taking this opportunity, the center of Chinese culture shifted completely from the Yellow River Basin to the Changjiang River Basin. (2) Internal Cause: Technological Progress In the long historical period, the reason why the Changjiang River Basin had been able to replace the economic and cultural center of the Yellow River Basin, besides the direct impetus of the mass migration from north to south brought about by previous wars, was that the continuous and deeper development of the former’s superior physical and geographical conditions, with the progress of production technology. In other 12

Wu Songdi. Emigration from the North and Social Change in the Southern Song Dynasty [M]. Taipei: Wenjin Press, 1993:137.

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words, with the progress of production technology, the Changjiang River Basin with better natural and geographical conditions would eventually replace the Yellow River Basin and become the economic and cultural center of China. The Changjiang River Basin and the Yellow River Basin were both large river basins with abundant water and heat, so they had become the two major sources of Chinese civilization. Among them, the Changjiang River Basin in the south had more abundant water and heat resources. However, in view of the climate from the end of primitive society to the end of Shang Dynasty, the productivity level that the Chinese ancestors could achieve was more suitable for the development of the northern Yellow River Basin. In the middle Holocene, the global climate was warming, and the Changjiang and Yellow River Basins were warmer and wetter than they are now. The Yellow River Basin was densely forested. Warm loving animals mainly living in the south of the Changjiang River now, such as buffalos, elephants, river deers, bamboo rats and so on, were widely distributed in the Yellow River Basin. At that time, the Yellow River Basin was less threatened by low temperature and drought. The hot and humid Changjiang River basin was home to a large number of tropical animals and was often seriously threatened by floods. Under the conditions of primitive agricultural technology at that time with mainly wood and stone farm tools, simple agricultural technology and low cost of labor, millet farming in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, relying on the fertile and loose loess and irrigation of the Yellow River and its tributaries, developed vigorously through intensive cultivation, and the early civilizations extended and gradually integrated. In the Changjiang River Basin, however, because the red soil there was relatively compact, the labor and technical requirements of leveling land and water diversion irrigation for rice planting were large, and the rice production mode that the labor and technology could achieve at that time was relatively extensive and was often threatened by floods, the agricultural output of the Changjiang River Basin was less than that of the Yellow River Basin. This difference in agricultural production continued for a long time after entering the bronze age and it was not until the emergence of iron farm tools and a series of irrigation and drainage tools, flood control methods and the progress of agricultural production technology that the hydrothermal advantage of the Changjiang River Basin gradually became apparent. In addition, it should be pointed out that during the nearly 5000 years of the transformation of the agricultural production center of China, the climate of China was in an evolution to be drier and colder overall. It made the ecological system of Yellow River Basin relatively fragile, while the Changjiang River Basin had become more suitable for human habitation and agricultural development. Moreover, the soil erosion in the Yellow River Basin due to the overdevelopment also led to this result. After the Chinese civilization entered the bronze age, the copper resources in the Changjiang River Basin were rapidly developed. For example, the establishment of Panlongcheng in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River 3500 years ago was based on the rich copper resources in the surrounding area. A large number of bronze wares of the Shang Dynasty unearthed at the site were not inferior to those unearthed in the Yin Ruins. From the perspective of agricultural tools unearthed, stone tools were still the main ones, however, it was quite difficult to develop the local firm

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red soil. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the state of Chu in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River occupied Tonglushan Copper Mine. It not only produced a large number of sharp weapons and exquisite sacrificial vessels, but also produced lots of production tools with far better performance than wooden and stone ones, which created the brilliant and splendid Jingchu culture and making Chu the first powerful government in the Changjiang River Basin to take the crown of the Central Plains. By the late Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Chu had begun to use iron wares, and most of the unearthed iron wares were production tools. The appearance of a large number of iron wares with superior performance undoubtedly showed a great improvement in the productivity level of the Changjiang River Basin, which was not only conducive to the development of red soil, but also conducive to the construction of large-scale water conservancy projects (such as Quebei, Hangou Canal, Dujiangyan, etc.), which further promoted the agricultural production in the Changjiang River Basin. But generally speaking, in that time and for a long period of time thereafter, the promotion of iron farming tools and the construction of water conservancy projects in the Changjiang River Basin were still weeker than those in the Yellow River Basin. Rice Farming in South China was still relying on burning the remains before farming, and pouring the water in the fields for irritation. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, rice production in the Changjiang River Basin got rid of the burning tradition and started intensive cultivation. Moreover, some areas began to use ox plowing, seedling transplanting and double cropping rice appeared, and the irrigated agriculture mode was gradually becoming mature, which laid the foundation for the future agricultural development in the Changjiang River Basin. During the Six Dynasties, irrigation and flood control in the Changjiang River Basin developed further, such as Jingjiang Dike construction in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Poyang Lake Dike and Sluice construction in the Southern Song Dynasty. The rich water and heat resources in the Changjiang River Basin were developed to a large extent, and an important agricultural production area was formed that could compete with the Yellow River Basin. Moreover, there was a breakthrough in shipbuilding and large-scale shipping began in the Changjiang River Basin. In order to connect the waterways, canals were built everywhere. For example, in the Three Kingdoms period, Wu dug the Gangdu to connect the Qinhuai River and the Jiangnan Canal, making Jianye (now Nanjing) a central city connecting the Changjiang River with the Wu Area, thereby commerce rose rapidly. During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the astronomical calendar, which was closely related to agricultural production, had a great breakthrough. Yu Xi discovered the phenomenon of precession in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Zu Chongzhi of the Southern Dynasty introduced Yu Xi’s theory of precession into the calendar (namely the Daming Calendar). Sui and Tang Dynasties followed the calendar, which has greatly helped the agricultural development of the Changjiang River Basin. In the Southern Qi Dynasty, Zu Chongzhi also applied the mechanical principle to the ship manufacturing, and invented the “thousand mile ship”, which was self-propelled and travels more than 100 L a day. It was a pity that his skills were not widely spread.

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The government of the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to farmland and water conservancy projects, raised the construction of water conservancy to the legal level, and established a relatively complete water conservancy management organization, thus opened up a large number of fertile farmlands in the Changjiang River Basin. Especially after the An Lushan—Shi Siming Rebellion, Huainan Province and Jiangnan Province in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River became the financial and tax supply bases of China. Its water conservancy undertakings developed vigorously and agricultural production became increasingly prosperous. In the middle Tang Dynasty, Quan Deyu pointed out that “if the fields of the Changjiang River and Huaihe River basins have a good harvest, they may offer food to several other provinces. So the the overall plan of China calculates on the southeast.” In the late Tang Dynasty from the practice of long-term paddy cultivation, people in Jiangdong also improved the plows to Quyuan (curved) Plow (also named Jiangdong plow), significantly lowered the force point of the plow, reducing the farmer’s physical exertion, and making full use of the ox labor, which greatly improved the farming efficiency. “The old Chinese walking plow has been developed and fully finalized”13 . Quyuan Plow had been used until the early days of the founding of New China. In addition, the methods of rice–wheat multiple cropping system, teaforest intercropping and fish-grass rotation system appeared in the Jiangnan Region in the Tang Dynasty, which not only made full use of the rich water and heat resources in the Changjiang River Basin, but also maintained the ecological balance, and the agricultural production in the rice faming area in Jiangnan was flourishing. In the Song Dynasty, the farming tools for paddy fields in the south of the Changjiang River were relatively complete. There were special tools for raising rice seedlings, crushing soil, and clearing rice. The technology of multiple cropping (double cropping rice or rice and wheat) was also relatively mature. Moreover, polder fields14 were popular in Jiangnan Region at that time. Zhancheng (Champa) rice, introduced from Vietnam at the end of the Tang Dynasty, was also widely planted in the Jiangnan Region, and the yield of rice there was greatly improved. Therefore, since the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the proverb “Harvest In Suzhou and Huzhou, abundant in whole China” had been widely circulated. To sum up, from the spring and Autumn Period to the Song Dynasty, the Changjiang River Basin, with the progress of technology and more favorable natural conditions, gradually surpassed the Yellow River Basin in agricultural production and became the base of China’s food and financial supply. Since then, the pattern of agricultural production in the Changjiang River Basin had changed a little. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the polder technology was spread to the middle reaches of

13

Yang Ronggai. New Exploration of the Quyuan Plough. Agricultural Archaeology, 1988 (02). “Polder field” refers to the field made by constructing of dikes in low-lying areas to enclose the fields in the middle, which is suitable for planting high-yield rice.

14

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the Changjiang River and was called Yuan (embankment) field.15 After the middle of Ming Dynasty, Yuan fields were generally built on the plains of Hunan and Hubei, and the yield of rice was increasing. Meanwhile, due to the prosperity of industry and commerce in the Jiangnan Region, tea, mulberry, cotton, fruit trees and other economic crops were widely cultivated, thus its rice supply had to be relied on Hubei and Hunan. Thus, from the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the saying that “Harvest In Huguang, abundant in whole China” began to appear. The Dongting Lake Plain and Jianghan Plain replaced the Taihu Lake Plain and became the most important commodity grain base in the country. Moreover, the silk and cotton textile industries in Jiangsu and Hangzhou developed day by day, and capitalism sprouted.

5.2.2 Signs of Southward Migration The signs of the southward migration of economic and cultural centers since the Wei and Jin Dynasties were as follows: (1) The Reversal of the Population of the North and the South and the Proportion of the Imperial Examinations When the Yellow River Basin dominated China as the political and economic center, the development of the Changjiang River Basin had made tremendous progress. In the Western Han Dynasty, the registered residence in the north was three to one more than that in the south.16 In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it became seven to five,17 and the gap between the north and the south was greatly narrowed. In the later period of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was four to six, which completely established the population pattern that the south more than the north18 . The peak of the population gap between the north and the south appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, when the long war caused great losses to the Yellow River Basin. In the 27th year of Zhiyuan (1290 A.D.), more than half a century since the Yuan Dynasty replaced the Jin Dynasty, the ratio of the number of people e between the north and the south was only one to seven, and it did not recover to two to three until the late Ming Dynasty. The ratio of population between the north and the south in the late Qing Dynasty was roughly the same as that in the late Ming Dynasty. Take the imperial examination as an example. In the Tang Dynasty, the number of scholars passing the imperial examinations were dominated by the northerners, 15

“The embankment field is a kind of high-yield water conservancy field surrounded by embankments and equipped with drainage and irrigation facilities in the area of two lakes, plains, rivers and lakes.” 16 In 2 A.D., there were more than 42.99 million people in the north and 14.6 million in the south, with a population ratio of three to one. 17 In 140 A.D., there were more over 28 million people in the north and 19.89 million in the south, with a population ratio of seven to five. 18 Ge Jianxiong. History of Population Development in China [M]. Fuzhou: Fujian People’s Publishing House, 1991:190.

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while starting from the Song Dynasty the situation was the contrary. The number of scholars who passed the exam from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces had already ranked the most among the provinces in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The excellent performance of the scholars from the Changjiang River basin in the imperial examination forced the royal court of the Ming Dynasty to change the way of exams, by carrying out which separately in the north and south and setting out limited quotas in both regions. However, there was still a gap between the north and the south according to the statistics of the top candidates in the geographical distribution. From Hongwu Reign to Wanli Reign in the Ming Dynasty, there were 244 scholars ranked top 3 in the exams, including 215 from the south, accounting for 88.11%. (2) The Change of Capital Axis from East to West and from North to South Since the Shang Dynasty, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, also known as the Central Plains, was the most fertile region in the country and it was close to the center of the imperial territory and it was also a battleground that strategists must contend for. To occupy the Central Plains meant to seize the whole China. Therefore, from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, the capital of the country had been changing among the cities on the Central Plains. Today’s Anyang, Xi’an and Luoyang have been chosen as the capital for many times, for this reason. However, the capital of China in the Tang and Song Dynasties had a general trend moving from the west to the east. After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty constructed the Tongji Canal and moved the capital from Chang’an to Luoyang, Emperor Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty also moved the capital to Luoyang. In the Northern Song Dynasty the capital was further moved eastwards to Kaifeng to be closer to the canal. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, agri-nomadic nationalities such as Khitan and Nvzhen in Northeast China began to rise, and the key section of the conflict between farming and nomadic nationalities had been transferred from the western part to the eastern part of the Great Wall. In addition, the silting of the Grand Canal and the flood of the Yellow River caused the Guanzhong Area and He-Luo Area to lose their control over China, whether in politics, economy, military affairs, or transportation. After the shifting of the capitals of the Song Dynasty, Chang’an, Luoyang, Kaifeng and other ancient capitals had no strong function of internal and external control, so that neither of the capitals of Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties was located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Chang’an’s name was changed Anxi and Xi’an (in which Xi means west), which symbolically indicates that it had retreated from a capital to an important city. The capital of the Southern Song Dynasty was in Lin’an, which is Hangzhou today. In as early as the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was known as “first state in the southeast”. Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty developed even more rapidly. By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin’an had 390 thousand household registration and 1.24 million population. Hangzhou also has the most beautiful West Lake. The grateful and colorful natural landscape after literati’s

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descriptions were more fascinating. Suzhou was also very prosperous at that time. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, it had a registered household of 400 thousand, which was regarded as an earthly palace with abundant resources. Fan Chengda stayed in Suzhou and Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty. He couldn’t help but praised “Just as there is paradise in heaven, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth” in the Local Records of Wu County. At that time, Bianjing and other cities in the north were desolate. Suzhou and Hangzhou were not only rich and prosperous, but also serve as cultural center. Taking the Song Dynasty as the division, the capital of China moved mainly along the east–west axis before, and then moved mainly on the north–south axis. Southern Song Dynasty established its capital in Lin’an, and Yanjing was the capital of the Jin Dynasty. Dadu served as the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, while Zhu Yuanzhang established the capital in Nanjing. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, usurped the throne from his nephew, Emperor Jianwen, and became Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. He moved the capital to his base, Beiping, and renamed it Beijing. From then on, Beijing had become the capital of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Taiping Tianguo and the Republic of China successively set their capitals in Nanjing. However, on the whole, the southward movement of economic center does not mean the southward movement of the political and military center. In addition to economic factors, the establishment of the military and political center were influenced by many other factors, such as the ideal geographical location to rule the whole nation, the habitual selection of capitals, and the strategic consideration for resisting the Northern nomadic tribes in ancient China. As a result, most of the dynasties whose economic centers have been moved to the south still retained their capitals in the north. However, the military and political center in the Yellow River Basin relied on the taxes from southeastern China. In order to adjust the pattern that “political center in the north and the economic center in the south”, the canals from north to south were constructed since Sui Dynasty, the aim of which was to support the political and military center in the north with the Changjiang River economy. For example, the capital of Yuan Dynasty was established in Yan (Beijing), “and numerous prefectures and guardians and people all depend on the Jiangnan region.” As the old Beijing proverb goes “the Forbidden City floated from the Grand Canal”, the goods and material supply of Beijing in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties was heavily dependent on the Southeast financial tax goods transported by the Grand Canal. “Northwest soldiers” and “southeast wealth” together constitute the two pillars of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the Changjiang River Basin was undoubtedly the main export place. After the transfer of the economic and cultural center from northwest to southeast, the development of the Changjiang River Basin started its expansion from the lower reaches to the middle and upper reaches. It can be seen from the transformation from the Southern Song Dynasty proverb “Harvest In Suzhou and Huzhou, abundant in whole China” to the Ming and Qing Dynasty proverb “Harvest In Huguang, abundant in whole China.” The most important grain base in China expanded gradually from the Changjiang River Delta during the Southern Song Dynasty to the middle reaches

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of the Changjiang River with fertile land and water and heat resources in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. (3) Southernization of Political Center The change of the birth place distribution of the representative figures in the political center was an external manifestation of the shift of cultural center. During the Three Kingdoms, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, although the Jiangnan regions was the political center of the Dynasties which set their capitals south and its economy was developed to a certain extent, its cultural development was relatively backward. There was also a corresponding lack of talents and the central government was basically monopolized by northerners. According to Chronology of the Generals and Ministers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty compiled by Wan Sitong, there were 15 Shangshuling, 40 Shangshupuye and 31 Libu Shangshu (Book of Documents) (all high level officials) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, of which 12, 30 and 24 were northerners. Southerners were traditionally looked down upon. It was similar in Tang Dynasty. According to the Genealogy Table of Tang Prime Ministers, there were 369 Zaixiang (prime minister) in the Tang Dynasty, belonging to 98 clan groups, of which nine out of ten were northerners. During the reign of Emperor Taizu and Taizong in the Northern Song Dynasty, almost all the ministers were northerners. To Zhenzong and Renzong Reigns, Wang Qinruo (from Linjiang) and Ding Wei (from Suzhou) entered the core of the regime, and the southern people began to be Zaixiang. After the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, more and more southern people became Zaixiang. There were 24 Zaixiang from Zhejiang: four in the Northern Song Dynasty and twenty in the Southern Song Dynasty. According to the statistics of the Prime Ministers of Ming by Huang Dahua of Qing Dynasty, there were 163 Neige Daxueshi from the beginning of Yongle Reign to the end of Chongzhen Reign in the MIng Dynasty, including 27 from South Zhili, 26 from Zhejiang, 22 from Jiangxi and 11 from Fujian, accounting for 53% of the total. (4) The Southward Movement of Academic Center The academic center from the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty was located along Luoyang, Zhu River and Si River, while that of the Southern Song Dynasty moved to Fujian. In the Tang Dynasty, Fujian was known as a place with poor culture with “no Confucius scholars”, but in the Southern Song Dynasty, academic culture developed rapidly. Since the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Yang Shi, a native of Fujian, was educated by Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, and returned to the south, thereby Fujian became the center of Song studies. Zhu Xi’s family was from Anhui, but he was born in Fujian. He lived his life and died in Fujian, thereby his studies was called “Fujian studies”. Important figures in Daoxue School, such as Hu Anguo, Luo Congyan, Li Dong, Cai Yuanding, Cai Shen, Huang Gan, Zhen Dexiu, etc. were all from Fujian. Zhu Xi was very sensitive to notice the southward movement of China’s academic center. He once sighed, “is it not that the sky is whirling and spinning, Fujian and Zhejiang are in the center instead?” Huang Zhongzhao and Zhang Huang of the Ming Dynasty spoke highly of Fujian’s status as the academic center and regarded

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Fujian as Zou and Lu in the Pre-Qin Dynasties. From the Southern Song Dynasty to modern times, the southern academicians always led the trend of Chinese academic and the center of academy stays in the south. According to the records of Confucianism and literature in the History of Ming Dynasty, there were 115 famous Confucian scholars in China at that time, including 35 from Jiangxi, 26 from Zhejiang, 18 from Nanzhili (now Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai), and 9 from Fujian. The number of the four Southeast provinces accounted for 76.5% of the total number of scholars in China. According to the records of scholars and studies in the Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty, there were 203 famous Confucian scholars in China at that time, of which 170 were from the Jiangnan Region, accounting for 83.7% of the total number in China19 . According to statistics, there are 693 important talents in the Qing Dynasty, including 485 people from the Changjiang River Basin (Fujian Province is included in other regions), far more than 100 people in the Yellow River Basin, among which 185 were from Jiangsu, 114 from Zhejiang, 57 from Anhui and 41 from Hunan, ranking in the top four in terms of the number of talents in all provinces (Table 5.1)20 .

5.3 The Development Route of Chinese Modern Culture The rising status of the Changjiang River Basin in Chinese civilization was closely related to the development route of modern Chinese culture. The occurrence and development of modern Chinese civilization was from southeast to northwest. The first Opium War took place in the eastern coastal area. The earliest five treaty ports were all located in the southeast coast, in which only Shanghai, located at the estuary, belonged to the Changjiang River Basin. After the second Opium War, there were cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River opened as the treaty ports. Then, foreign powers started the Changjiang River route, which not only facilitated their trade in the mainland of China, but also greatly strengthened the connection between the cities along the Changjiang River and accelerated the formation of the city belt along the Changjiang River. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Shashi and Chongqing in the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River were also forced to open up, and there had been a large number of treaty ports along the Changjiang River. After that, the Qing government opened five commercial ports along the Changjiang River. During this period, officials of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty also begun to learn from the West since the 1860s to develop China’s modern 19

Zhu Haibin. Bird View of China: Chinese Cultural Geography [M]. Shenyang: Shenyang Press, 1997:70. 20 Wang Huichang, Wang Yunhai, Yu Yifeng. Talent Geography in the Yangtze River Basin [M]. Wuhan: Hubei Education Press, 2005:131.

9

The Changjiang River Basin

Gansu

2

Ningxia

3

5

6

Shanxi

Shaanxi

3

3

Tianjin

17 5 11 17 6 10 29 11

Shanghai

Zhejiang

Anhui

Jiangxi

Hubei

Hunan

SIchuan

2

2

2

1

1

5

11

9

8

32

82

10

141

Science and Technology (person)

Jiangsu

1

3

5

10

3

Hebei

Beijing

20

2

11

6

Shandong

Henan

The Yellow River Basin

Culture (person)

Military and Political (person)

Basin/Province

Table 5.1 Statistics of talents in Qing dynasty

2

1

2

7

16

24

Economy (person)

1

1

3

1

1

Others (person)

2

1

3

8

6

4

9

3

2

1

Rank (person)

1

2

11

10

6

8

21

9

33

18

41

20

16

57

114

17

185

101

Sum (person)

485

17.2

82.8

Comparison between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin ( 100 % )

(continued)

69.9

14.5

The proportion in the country (%)

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(person)

Other Regions

Table 5.1 (continued)

17 2 16 1 16 6

Taiwan

Guangdong

Xizang

Guangxi

Yunnan 235

10

Fujian

10

Guizhou

Liaoning

5

Chongqing

377

4

3

15

7

2

2

67

3

4

1

6

8

1

10

5

7

694

10

19

1

34

2

28

14

12

5 108

100

100

15.6

5.3 The Development Route of Chinese Modern Culture 197

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industry. The Changjiang River Basin was the most important area. Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other key figures of the Westernization Westernization all once served as the local governors of the cities in the Changjiang River Basin for a long time. Western machines and technologies were introduced by them into the cities they governed, making the modern industry and commerce of the Changjiang River Basin obtain the leading position in China. The two most important industrial and commercial bases in modern China are the Changjiang River Delta with Shanghai as the center and the intersection area of Changjiang River and the Han River with Wuhan as the center. In 1911, the Revolution of 1911 broke out in Wuchang, overthrewing the corrupt and backward government of the Qing Dynasty in less than three months. During this period, Shanghai provided most of the economic assistance, and then the Republic of China established its capital in Nanjing. The close cooperation of the three cities along the Changjiang River changed the society of modern China. Since then, the Changjiang River civilization has realized its modernization amid the struggle and collision between different social classes, between the old and the new culture, and between the Chinese and western culture. At the same time, the Changjiang River played a very important role in the process of Chinese social modernization.

5.3.1 The Expansion of the Area with Treaty Ports and the Development of Ship Routes The increasing status of the Changjiang River Basin in Chinese civilization is related not only to its good natural conditions and the full utilization and development of natural conditions by the ancestors in the river basin, but also to the development route of the Chinese modern culture. The occurrence and development of modern Chinese civilization is from southeast to northwest. The first Opium War took place in the eastern coastal area, so most of the area in the Changjiang River Basin was not affected. Only Shanghai, Zhenjiang and Nanjing, three cities along the Changjiang River in the delta area, were in the war. In the Treaty of Nanjing, the five treaty ports which were forced to open up in the treaty were all located in the southeast coast, in which only Shanghai was at the estuary of the Changjiang River. On November 17, 1843, Shanghai was opened up officially as the treaty port. On November 29, 1845, Britain established its residence in Shanghai and later it evolved into the concession. In 1848 and 1849, American and French concessions were established successively in Shanghai21 Before Shanghai became the treaty port, its position in the shipping industry of southeast coast was inferior to Fuzhou, Xiamen and Ningbo. However, with the opening of Shanghai, groups of western ships with advanced equipment sailed into Wusongkou and entered Shanghai county along the Huangpu River. By 1853, the 21

On September 20, 1863, the British and American concessions in Shanghai were merged into the Public Concession.

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western fleets had extended their route from Guangzhou (Hong Kong) to Shanghai, and Shanghai’s shipping industry on the southeast coastal route became a part of the modern international shipping route. Then, due to the influence of the Taiping Rebellion, more and more Chinese coastal transshipment business began to use foreign ships and navigate directly from Southeast Asia or Hong Kong to Shanghai. Around 1860, thousands of foreign ships sailed into Shanghai port every year, while the total import and export volume of Xiamen, which had a more developed shipping industry before, dropped to only 1/40 of that of Shanghai. With the foreign and domestic business center moving into Shanghai, it became a hub of the navigation network in the southeast coast. The modern shipping system with Shanghai as the hub had been initially established. During the period between the two Opium Wars, although the shipping industry in the southeast coast, especially in Shanghai, had changed a lot, the traditional shipping industry of the Changjiang River remained relatively stable, and only a small number of foreign ships sailed into the Changjiang River. However, after the second Opium War, among the ten treaty ports which were forced to open up, four (Hankow, Jiujiang, Nanjing and Zhenjiang) were located in the Changjiang River Basin. The treaty ports had reached the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River from the coastal areas, making the traditional shipping industry of the Changjiang River and inland rivers suffer a strong impact for the first time. They would finally undergo transformation in capital and technical structures. The treaties between the Qing government and Britain, France and other countries stipulated that foreign missionaries could freely preach in the mainland, foreigners could travel and do business in the mainland, foreign warships and merchant ships could enter the whole Changjiang River and all treaty ports, disputes between Chinese and foreign people should be heard by the consulates and Chinese officials, and tariff laws should be modified for the tax reduction for merchant ships. After the signing of the treaty, Hankow, Jiujiang and Zhenjiang were all opened up as treaty ports in 1861, while Nanjing, under the control of the Taiping Army at that time, was opened up in 1899. Then, foreign powers started the Changjiang River route, which not only facilitated their trade in the mainland of China, but also accelerated the formation of the city belt along the Changjiang River (Photo 5.3). In 1861, Britain took the lead in setting up consulates in Zhenjiang, Jiujiang and Hankow, and then foreign ships entered the ports. On March 7, 1861, the ship of British Dent & Company first sailed from Shanghai port to Hankow port. Since April 1861, the ship “Rocket” of Augustine Heard & Co., an American company, had shuttled between Shanghai and Hankow, thus developing the earliest Shanghai-Hankow route. Since then, the number of foreign ships on the main stream of the Changjiang River had been increasing. By 1872, ships of 13 foreign shipping companies had shuttled between Shanghai and Hankow. Among them, the American shipping company of Russell & Co was the biggest. It almost monopolized the Changjiang River shipping from 1867 to 1872. In 1873, China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company founded by Li Hongzhang was established, and ships sponsored by Chinese capital also began to sail on the Changjiang River. Subsequently, ships from Japan, Germany,

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Photo 5.3 Ships on the Bund of Shanghai, shot by Austrian photographer Raimund Stillfried von Rathenitz in the 1870s

France and other countries also successively began to sail on the Shanghai-Hankow route. In 1876, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Yantai. Yichang and Wuhu along the Changjiang River were opened up as treaty ports, and Anqing, Shashi, Hukou, Wuxue, Luxikou became the quasi treaty ports.22 Chongqing also allowed British people to live. In 1890, China and Britain signed the Supplement to the Treaty of Yantai, which stipulated that Chongqing should be opened up as a treaty port. Then British merchants immediately started a shipping route from Yichang to Chongqing. The route allowing the navigation of foreign ships was further extended to the upper reaches of the Changjiang River. In 1895, China and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which forced Shashi and Chongqing in the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River to open to Japan. Japan was allowed to do business and build houses and factories here, and Japanese ships were allowed to navigate. The treaty also stipulated that Japanese ships could sail from Yichang to Chongqing. As a result, treaty ports were pervasive in the Changjiang River Basin. British, French, American and Japanese ships could directly sail from Shanghai to Chongqing, so markets in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River had been involved in the international market. In the face of the continuous opening up of treaty ports along the Changjiang River by foreign powers 22

In the Treaty of Yantai, Datong, Anqing, Hukou, Wuxue, Luxikou and Shashi were designated as docking docks for foreign ships, and British personnel were allowed to live in Chongqing and to inspect British business affairs in Sichuan Province. At the same time, foreign goods in the concession were exempted from Lijin (a kind of tax payment).

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in order to get more political and economic interests, some people of vision in the Qing government began to advocate taking the initiative to open commercial ports to safeguard sovereignty and develop economy. Therefore, after 1898, the Qing government took the initiative to open five commercial ports along the Changjiang River, including Wusong, Yuezhou, Wuchang, Xiaguan and Pukou. The trade among the ports along the main stream of the Changjiang River greatly promoted the flow of goods and people, and stimulated the emergence and development of modern industries in cities. There was one logistics center, Shanghai, and five intermediary ports, namely Zhenjiang, Wuhu, Jiujiang, Hankow and Chongqing. It took only three days for a steamship to reach Hankow from Shanghai, while it took 20 days for a wooden boat. Relying on the convenient steamshipping, 80% of import commodities were sold to the mainland from Shanghai, while the mainland’s import and export goods were transported to Shanghai through the five intermediary ports to complete the transaction. Thanks to the steamships, the Changjiang River served as a fast passage to modern society for China.

5.3.2 The Rise of Westernization Movement and the Prosperity of Industry and Commerce in the Changjiang River Basin After the failure of the two Opium Wars, more and more officials with progressive ideas began to admit the huge gap between China and foreign powers. From the 1860s, the Westernization Movement began to learn from the West. Changjiang River Basin was undoubtedly the most important area in developing China’s modern industry. Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other key figures of the Westernization Westernization all once served as the local governors of the cities in the Changjiang River Basin for a long time. Western machines and technologies were introduced by them into the cities they governed, making the modern industry and commerce of the Changjiang River Basin obtaining the leading position in China. Zeng Guofan was the initiator of the Westernization Movement and China’s modernization. In 1861, Zeng Guofan founded the Anking Ordnance Factory, the first modern military factory in China, which mainly produced bullets, gunpowder, Chinese cannons and foreign weapons. At first, this military factory was just a simple and small workshop, but what it produced were modern ships and guns. Moreover, experts with modern scientific knowledge, such as Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang, were employed as engineers, so it became the origin of modern Chinese industry. In 1862, the first steam engine in China was successfully developed by Hua Hengfang and Xu Shou and his son. On January 28 of the following year, Anking Ordnance Factory successfully built China’s steam ship. This ship was small in size and not fast in speed, but it was the first modern ship made by Chinese independently. It indicated the beginning of China’s modernization and was a masterpiece of Anking Ordnance Factory.

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In 1862, Li Hongzhang, another representative of the Westernization Movement, set up the Shanghai Foreign Artillery Bureau in Songjiang. He employed the retired British officer Macartney Halliday to produce cannonballs. It was the first industrial enterprise in modern China and the earliest arsenal in China. At the end of the next year, the factory was moved to Suzhou city with the Huai Army and was renamed “Suzhou Gun Bureau”. In 1865, because of the promotion of Li Hongzhang, the factory was moved to Nanjing and renamed “Jinling Manufacturing Bureau”, with 7000–8000 craftsmen. In September of that year, Li Hongzhang submitted a proposal to the government to purchase a foreign machine factory in Shanghai and renamed it “Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau”, which eventually developed into the largest ordnance factory in modern China, namely the Jiangnan General Machinery Manufacturing Bureau. In the course of China’s modernization, Jiangnan General Machinery Manufacturing Bureau was not only the first modern industrial enterprise, but also the “mother factory” of modern mining industry, military industry and science and technology in China. It had made great contributions to the transformation of China from an agricultural society to an industrial society. Under its leadership and with its support, a large number of industrial and mining enterprises had sprung up, such as Shandong Machinery Bureau, Sichuan Machinery Bureau, Daye Iron Mine, Xuzhou Coal Mine, Mohe Gold Mine, etc. Together with Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau, they laid the foundation of modern Chinese industry. In 1872, Li Hongzhang founded the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company in Shanghai, and then successively set up branches in Tianjin, Hankow, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Westernization School not only set up military industries, but also began to set up civil industries, and the enterprises established were not only run by the government, but were sponsored and run by the businessmen and supervised by the government. China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company was the first enterprise after this change. At that time, foreign powers had seized the right of navigation on China’s sea and inland rivers and monopolized China’s shipping industry to carry out predatory trade. In this way, they have made high profits. The establishment of the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company was originally to expand financial resources and solve the financial problem of military industry, but it did play a role in “revitalizing commerce and resisting foreign merchants” to some extent. Not long after it was established, some foreign navigation companies in China, such as Swire Shipping Co.,Ltd. and Messrs Jardine Matheson & Co. from the Britain and Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. from the US, jointly tried to destroy the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company by significantly reducing freight charges. Li Hongzhang took countermeasures, such as raising official funds, increasing the allocation of grain and carrying official goods, to fight back. As a result, the company turned losses into profits, and Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. was forced to withdraw from the competition. In 1877, China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company purchased all the industries of Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. Navigation Company, including ships, docks and the office building located at No 0.9 of Shanghai Bund, becoming

5.3 The Development Route of Chinese Modern Culture

203

the largest navigation company and breaking the monopoly of foreign powers on China’s shipping industry. Because of the influx of foreign capital and the Westernization Movement, the industry and commerce in the Changjiang River Basin had developed. The two most important industrial and commercial bases in the middle of modern China were located in the Changjiang River Basin, namely the Changjiang River Delta area with Shanghai as the center and the intersection area of the Changjiang River and the Han River with Wuhan as the center. Shanghai’s modern industry and commerce started earlier. After it was opened up as a treaty port, to expand business, foreign powers immediately came to Shanghai to set up companies, expand shipping routes and volumes, set up banks and factories, while it was the Westernization Movement that started the modernization of Wuhan in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. In the 1840s and 1950s, after entering Shanghai, foreign businessmen immediately set up a large number of ship repairing and manufacturing factories and export processing factories, with the purpose of improving the transportation capacity of ships and getting more of China’s cheap export commodities. During the first ten years after Shanghai’s opening, foreign businessmen set up 12 ship repairing and manufacturing factories in Shanghai successively. In 1860s, there was a large-scale development. By the 1890s, British shipyards, S. C. Farnham & Co. and Nicolson & Boyd Co., were growing rapidly, employing 2200 workers respectively, which monopolized the industry. In the late 1850s, foreign businessmen began to set up silk filatures in Shanghai, and filature industry had become an important industrial sector for foreign powers by the end of the nineteenth century. In addition, there were export processing industries, such as egg processing, leather making, ginning and machine packaging. By the end of the nineteenth century, Shanghai’s industry and commerce had been deeply involved in the international market. In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan was signed, and foreign powers were officially allowed to establish factories on a large scale in China. As a result, foreign industrial capital flowed in and set up factories in Shanghai. The number of enterprises and the scale of investment increased considerably, and the industry categories diversified. The total volume of foreign industrial capital in Shanghai increased rapidly from less than 10 million yuan in 1895 to 400 million yuan in 1936, which was 2.5 times of Shanghai’s national industrial capital in the same period. They dominated in the cotton industry, cigarette industry, beverage and food industry, machine manufacturing industry and public utilities23 . During the period from the opening of Shanghai to the outbreak of Anti-Japanese War, Shanghai had always been the city with the most concentrated foreign industries among the treaty ports of the Changjiang River. According to Japanese survey data, Western countries, including Britain, the U.S., Germany, France, had set up 183 factories in Shanghai alone, accounting for about three-quarters of the total number of factories in China by western countries. After the signing of the Treaty 23

Zhang Zhongli. Research on Modern Shanghai City [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 2008:342.

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of Shimonoseki, although foreign investment in other treaty ports of the Changjiang River had also increased significantly, only dozens of factories were set up successively24 . Most of them were in Hankow, and the rest of them were located in Chongqing, Zhenjiang, Nanjing and Shashi and other places. For foreign industrial capital, Shanghai was more attractive than other treaty ports along the Changjiang River. According to the data of 1931, Shanghai’s foreign industrial investment accounted for about 70% of the total foreign industrial investment in China25 . The influx of foreign capital was of great significance to Shanghai’s urban modernization, which made it an outstanding example in the process of modernization of cities along the Changjiang River. Under the continuous impact and stimulation of foreign capital, domestic industries in Shanghai was also gradually rising. For example, from the mid-1860s to the early 1890s, the industries established in the Westernization Movement sprung up, represented by the Jiangnan General Machinery Manufacturing Bureau founded in 1865 and the Shanghai Mechanical Textile Bureau in 1889. The former was the first modern military industry in China, while the latter was the origin of the civil industry run by businessmen and supervised by the government. However, their capital was far less than with foreign capital, which only accounted about 40% of the latter. In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki stipulated that “The Japanese should be allowed to engage in all kinds of craft manufacturing in treaty ports”26 , which made the domestic cotton textile industry which the Westernization School tried best to protect loss its protection, and foreign capital flowed in. In just five or six years, Britain, the United States, Germany and other countries had set up 41 factories with a capital of more than 100,000 yuan in Shanghai, accounting for more than 45% of the total number of factories they have built in China27 . Domestic industries had suffered great impact. However, they still resolutely got involved into the fierce competition with international capital and had obtained a place in the competition before the Revolution in 1911. In the 1920s and 1930s, Shanghai developed into a relatively prosperous national manufacturing center. A large number of domestic industrial products produced in Shanghai were transported to the treaty ports of the Changjiang River and all over the country through the trade between ports. Shanghai’s domestic industries were the examples for those in treaty ports of the Changjiang River and even those in the country. Different from Shanghai where foreign capital-funded industries flourished, the modern industrial construction of the three towns in Wuhan was mainly led by domestic capital. Hankow was the largest tea trading market in Chinese mainland in the middle of the nineteenth century. After it was opened up as a treaty port in 24

Wang Jingyu. Data of China’s Modern Industrial History: first half of the Second Album [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 1957. 25 Luo Dunwei. Observing the Economic Power of Countries in China from the Perspective of Industry [J]. Chinese economy, 1934, 02(05). 26 Wangtieya. Compilation of Chinese and Foreign Old Testament Chapters[M].Beijing : Life · Reading · New Knowledge Shop,1957:616. 27 Wang Jingyu. Data of China’s Modern Industrial History: first half of the Second Album [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 1957:711.

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1861, about 20 foreign companies from Russia, Britain, Germany and other countries began to start tea export business in Hankow. Among them, the strength of Russian merchants was superior. In 1873, Russian merchants moved two tea processing plants from the tea producing area near Hankow to Hankow and built modern tea factories with steam engines. Since the 1880s and 1990s, egg processing had become a new hot spot in the Changjiang River Basin for foreign investors. By 1893, there had been six foreign egg processing plants invested by Germany, France and Belgium in Hankow. After 1895, German, British and Japanese businessmen set up new egg factories in Hankow28 . By the end of the nineteenth century, the export of Hankow’s egg powder had ranked first in China. The development of the egg plant of International Export Company Kiangsu was the fastest. Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, its annual output of iced and dried eggs reached 7000 tons, accounting for half of the total egg exports in Central China. Although many foreign businessmen came to set up factories in Hankow after it became a treaty port, which made Hankow the city with the second most foreign factories after Shanghai, its scale was still far smaller than that of Shanghai. Before the 1890s, the domestic modern factories did not develop a lot. The real beginning of the modern industries of Wuhan was the period when Zhang Zhidong was governing Hubei Province. On November 26, 1889, Zhang Zhidong, one of the representatives of the “Westernization School” in the late Qing Dynasty, formally became the governor of Hubei and Hunan on the next day he arrived in Wuchang. During the 18 years (1889–1907), Zhang Zhidong served as governor of Hubei and Hunan for three times. The implementation of new policies proposed by Zhang Zhidong was the beginning of modern industrial construction in Wuhan. On June 3, 1890, Zhang Zhidong set up the Hubei Railway Bureau and began to prepare for the establishment of iron works and gun factories. On October 22, 1893, the world-famous Hangyang Iron Works was established in the north of Dabie Mountain (Guishan Mountain) in Hanyang. Before Benxi Iron & Steel Group began ironmaking in 1915, Hanyang Iron Works was the only iron and steel enterprise in China that adopted the new method of ironmaking. Since then, while continuously producing high-quality iron and steel, it also contributed to promoting the spread of new metallurgical technology in China, which promoted the modernization process of the Changjiang River Basin and even the whole China. In the summer of 1895, not far from the Hanyang Iron Works, the reconstruction of Hubei Gun and Artillery Factory which was oonce severely burned in conflagration was completed. In June of the following year, Hubei Gun and Artillery Factory was put into production and began to manufacture Mausers with the calibre of 7.9 mm and load of five bullets, which was the imitation of M1888 from Germany and named Hanyangzao. It was a famous military brand in modern China. After the factory was put into production, the production scale continuously expanded, and the varieties of ordnance increased. By 1904, more than ten branches had been built, including 28

Wang Jingyu. Data of China’s Modern Industrial History: first half of the Second Album [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 1957:295.

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factories of guns, artillery, cannonballs, gun frames, machinery, steel powder, with more than 4500 employees. Zhang Zhidong’s advised the government to change the name to Hubei Arsenal. In 1908, the factory was renamed Hangyang Arsenal at last. The establishment and development of Hanyang Arsenal laid a solid foundation for China’s modern ordnance industry and promoted the development of civil industries. At the same time, Zhang Zhidong also established four bureaus, including the textile bureau, the cotton mill bureau, the silk filature bureau and the flax bureau, and a relatively complete system of modern textile industries was formed, making Wuhan the largest textile industrial center in Central China. In addition to the large enterprises, such as iron and steel, military, textile enterprises, Zhang Zhidong also set up a series of small and medium-sized factories, such as Baishazhou Paper Mill, Hubei Needle and Nail Mill, Wuchang Leather Mill, Hubei Felt Mill, Hubei Official Brick Factory, etc. In addition to developing modern industries, Zhang Zhidong also set up schools, sent students to study abroad and trained the new army of Hubei, making Wuhan another base of Westernization Movement and a modern metropolis after Shanghai and Tianjin. Before Zhang Zhidong governed Hubei, the total volume of direct foreign trade in Hankow was no more than millions of Tael (the monetary unit in ancient and modern China), but it exceeded 35 million Tael in 1905 (under the governance of Zhang Zhidong for more than ten years). The highest indirect foreign trade volume was 42 million Tael in 1880, and it exceeded 100 million Tael in 1904. Under the administration of Zhang Zhidong, Hankow quickly transformed from a medium-sized ancient town to a modern metropolis. It became China’s second largest treaty port after Shanghai, known as “Chicago of the East”. When Zhang Zhidong governed Hubei, some influential private enterprises were born successively, which initially laid the foundation of Hubei’s modern industrial system. After undergoing the Revolution in 1911, Hankow was rebuilt rapidly and the national industries were flourishing. In 1920s and 1930s, domestic cotton industry and flour industry in Hankow already had a considerable scale. Hankow was the second largest center of modern cotton industry and one of the six bases of producing flour by machines in China. In the process of modernization in which China was forced to open up, the Changjiang River became an important channel for western powers to grab more economic benefits because of its convenient transportation and the developed traditional economy on both banks. However, the Changjiang River with convenient water transportation had also become the development route for modern Chinese culture. In this process, relying on the Changjiang River waterway, a network for commodity circulation has been built among treaty ports along the Changjiang River, with Shanghai and Hankow as the representatives, thus realizing the sharing of industrial raw materials and industrial products. It contributed to promoting the economic and social development in these cities, and finally a political, economic and cultural corridor along the Changjiang River was formed. China’s modern civilization gradually spread from the southeast coast to the northwest inland, from cities along the river to the corridor along the river and to the economic hinterland of the Changjiang

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River and at last to the vast inland of China. The Changjiang River had become an important development route of China’s modernization. What was worth noting was that the opening sequence of the treaty ports in modern China was almost the same as that in the reform and opening-up since the twentieth century. At the beginning of the reform and opening-up, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen were the first group of cities designated as the special economic zone, which are located in the same region, the southeast coastal area just like the treaty ports opened in 1842, including Guangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Xiamen. In 1984, 14 coastal cities, including Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai, became the first group of costal open cities. I is similar that after the second Opium War, the coastal cities, including Yingkou, Tianjin, Yantai, Shantou, Qiongzhou (actually opened in 1876), Tainan and Danshui, were forced to open up. The difference was that in the 1860s, four cities along the Changjiang River, including Zhenjiang, Hankow, Jiujiang and Nanjing (actually opened in 1899), were also opened up. However, in the reform and opening up, the establishment of open cities along the river was later. In February 1985, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council designated the Changjiang River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Southern Fujian Delta as the coastal economic open zone, ushering a new era of opening up in the Changjiang River Basin. “1980s witnessed the rapid development of coastal cities, while 1990s is witnessing the development of cities along the river.” In 1992, Chongqing, Wuhan, Yueyang, Jiujiang and Wuhu in the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River were the first of cities approved as the “open cities along the river.” The 1990s is the key period of China’s economic development in an all-round way. At that time, the main task of the opening-up strategy was to “to further open the cities along the Changjiang River with the leadership of Pudong in Shanghai.” The five cities in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River were surrounded by nearly 100 small and medium-sized cities with a population of hundreds of millions people, which was a vast inland economic zone. They, cooperating with Shanghai, made full use of the waterway of the Changjiang River and served as markets for each other. They have initially formed an open belt along the Changjiang River. Giving full play to their strong radiation ability to spread the achievements of opening-up to the mainland of China, they promote the balanced development of the economy in the east, the middle and the west, which play the same role as that of the open cities along the Changjiang River in the nineteenth century. At the same time or later, 13 cities along the national boarder, including Heihe, Hunchun, Manzhouli, Erlianhaote and Dandong, and 18 inland provincial capitals, such as Shijiazhuang, Nanchang, Changsha and Chengdu, were opened up in succession. A new opening-up pattern of wide-range and multi-levels extending from coastal area along the Changjiang River to inland area had been initially formed in China. In this process, the Changjiang River had once again become an important development route for China’s opening-up.

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5.3.3 The Evolution of Changjiang River Civilization and the Transformation of Modern China In October 1911, the Revolution of 1911 broke out in Wuchang, which overthrew the decadent Qing government in less than three months. There were political, economic and cultural reasons for the outbreak of the revolutionary movement which has changed the society of modern China. Among them, the spread of modern western institutional civilization and culture played a crucial role. Since the opening of Shanghai, western culture had moved westwards along the Changjiang River, and finally produced revolutionary achievements in Wuhan in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. From 1845 when British concession was established in Shanghai to the early twentieth century, western powers established 11 concessions in the cities along the Changjiang River from east to west. These concessions became the showcase of the western institutional civilization. The Chinese people who had been under the rule of autocratic system for a long time saw the advanced western urban management system and the political system of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, and learned a series of terms of modern western system, such as taxpayers, rights and obligations, and elections. When their horizon was broaden, they started to reflect on the huge gap in institutional civilization between the West and China, which has cleared up some obstacles for the westward spreading of western culture along the river. As a result, cities along the river became the dominant force of introducing western learning to China in the late Qing Dynasty. Among these concessions, those in Shanghai were the earliest, with the largest area and the greatest influence. Therefore, Shanghai naturally became the first city and the base of importing western culture. More than half of the translations of western books with profound influence and significance were published in Shanghai, no matter the books concerned natural science, applied science or social science. For example, before 1860, the London Missionary Society Press in Shanghai, the largest press publishing academic works in China, successively published a large number of scientific books, such as Elements of Analytical Geometry, and of the Differential and Integral Calculus and An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics. The books published by it ranked first both in quantity and quality in China. After 1860, treaty ports were gradually pervasive in the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River, and foreign concessions continued to move westward along the river. Therefore, Western learning, by ships of foreign merchants, began to spread along the river from Shanghai to the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River. Thus, the Changjiang River system evolved into the transmission route of modern western learning. According to statistics, 1889 kinds of Chinese and foreign newspapers and journals were published in China in the late Qing Dynasty, of which 638 were published in cities along the Changjiang River, accounting for 33.8% of the total29 . 29

Xiong Yuezhi, Shen Zuwei. Cities along the Yangtze River and China’s Modernization [J]. Historical Review, 2000 (04).

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With the continuous introduction of western learning, people with progressive ideas in China began to abandon the idea that China was superior than other countries. Wei Yuan and Hong Rengan, who lived in the Changjiang River Basin, began to use “Yang” instead of “Yi” (both of them refers to foreigners, while the second one is negative). In 1858, Article 51 of the Treaty of Tianjin clearly stated that the character “Yi” was forbidden in any official document. Although the Chinese were forced to stop using the character, it also reflected the change of Chinese people’s understanding of the West. Therefore, from 1860s, some officials in the Qing government who advocated learning from the West were called “Westernization School.” In order to fulfil the self-strengthening purpose, they launched a “Westernization Movement” in which advanced western military equipment, machinery production and science and technology were introduced. This movement originated during the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion in the Changjiang River Basin. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang who gained real power in the war later became local officials in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River and all carried out Westernization Movement in their respective administration areas. In the later period of the Westernization Movement, the area governed by Zhang Zhidong, Hubei and Hunan, were also in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. Therefore, naturally, the Changjiang River Basin became the base of the Westernization Movement. With the further development of Westernization Movement, Westernization School not only learned the advanced objects from the West, but also began to learn western ideology and culture. In order to cultivate more talents who were proficient in western advanced technology, Zeng Guofan, governor of Jiangxi and Jiangnan Province, twice submitted proposals to the Qing government in September 1870 and January 1871, requesting to send students to study in the United States. In January 1872, Zeng Guofan, together with Li Hongzhang, put forward a plan of sending students studying in the United States, which finally approved by the Qing government. It was the origin of the trend of government sending students to study abroad. It gradually became a fashion among people with progressive ideas at that time. At the same time, westernization officials also set up various modern schools in China to teach western languages, technology and military knowledge. In 1895, the Qing government was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, which declared the failure of Westernization Movement. In the later social innovation and reform, the theory of evolution had been introduced into China and had been preliminarily spread. The theory of “civil rights and equality” and the proposal of “enlightening the people” had also appeared. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the discussion about the nation, the democratic state and the “transforming slavery to citizens” were springing up, forming a trend of ideological emancipation. At this stage, under the administration of Zhang Zhidong, a relatively complete modern industrial system had been established, and a group of intellectuals was formed because of educational reform in Hubei, which was the preparation for the outbreak of the Revolution in 1911 in transportation, economy and personnel. During Zhang Zhidong’s govern in Hubei, he gradually reformed the old style academies, set up a series of modern schools, and sent excellent students to study abroad, which made Hubei’s modern education in a leading position in the country.

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The measures of developing education also included the establishment of libraries and education exhibition halls, the compilation and translation of western books, the establishment of the official Hubei Printing Bureau, and the establishment of the Map Bureau. The more influential measure was the establishment of Hubei Official Newspaper with the purpose of “publicizing folk situation, enlightening people and introducing western learning.” Since then, private newspapers had sprung up like mushrooms. In this trend, a large number of groups of new scholars appeared in Hubei in the early twentieth century. They were “rich in knowledge and thought, and could understand the purpose of revolution”30 . Before the outbreak of Wuchang Uprising, they had organized numerous revolutionary groups. Many of them joined the new army of Hubei and publicized revolutionary ideas in the army, which made the new army gradually changed from the backbone of defending the Qing government to the revolutionary core of overthrowing the Qing government. Therefore, on October 10, 1911, taking advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Qing army going to Sichuan to suppress the Road Protection Movement, the Hubei new army in Wuchang resolutely raised the uprising flag against the Qing government. With the help of the geographical position of Wuhan which was the central transportation hub, the revolutionary flame quickly spread throughout the country. During the Revolution in 1911, Shanghai provided most of the economic aid, and then the government of the Republic of China established its capital in Nanjing. Relying on the Changjiang River waterway, the three cities along the river cooperated closely and changed the society of modern China. Although the Revolution in 1911 overthrew the feudal monarchy that ruled China for more than 2000 years, Yuan Shikai once again restored the autocracy and even became the monarch. After Yuan Shikai’s death, China fell into the state of civil strife and separation, and various social trends of thought rose. Among them, radical democracy, scientific socialism and neo conservatism in culture appearing in the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement and had great influence on later generations. At that time, China’s modernization had pervaded Beijing and its neighboring area, and Beijing became a new cultural center like Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities along the Changjiang River. For example, Chen Duxiu, the founder of the New Youth (LA JEUNESSE), was born in Huaining, Anhui Province (now Anqing City, Anhui Province) on the north bank of the Changjiang River. Most of the authors of the journal, such as Hu Shi, Liu Bannong, Yang Changji, Ma Junwu, were also from the provinces in the Changjiang River Basin. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the trend of westernization, innovation and revolution in the Changjiang River Basin had cultivated a large number of new intellectuals in the provinces along the river. It is particularly noteworthy that during over ten years from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, the number of students studying in Japan and the United States from various provinces in the Changjiang River Basin accounted for 70% of the total number of students

30

Yuan Shuyi, Sun Huafeng, Li Bingxin. Complete Works of Zhang Zhidong :Book Six [M]. Shijiazhuang: Hebei People’s Publishing House, 1998:4163.

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studying abroad. This could explain why the majority of the authors of New Youth were from the provinces in the Changjiang River Basin. These new intellectuals from the Changjiang River Basin firmly maintained and expanded the achievements of the democratic revolution and severely refuted the fallacies of attacking democratic ideas and denying the republican system. They did play a role in establishing new ideas and eliminating decayed ideas. New Youth and its colleagues launched a literary revolution to eliminate the old literature that hindered the spread of new ideas, and spread the ideas of science, democracy and freedom to the whole country. At that time, besides Beijing, the cities in the Changjiang River Valley like Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha and Chengdu were the regions where the new culture movement was the most active. From 1920, scientific socialism began to spread widely in China. First of all, articles on scientific socialism were published in the New Youth, and a column on socialism was also set up. At the same year, journals, such as the Communist Party, the Labor, Huoyou appeared successively in Shanghai, which not only introduced Marxism and scientific socialism, but also explicitly regarded the working class as their readers. In addition, presses, such as New Youth Press, had also published a variety of books about Marxism and socialism. In this situation, a group of intellectuals who believed in Marxism formed rapidly in the Changjiang River Basin, and the early Communist groups and research organizations of Marxism emerged. With the help of the Communist International and the Russian Bolshevik party, in August 1920, Communist groups were established in Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha and other places along the Changjiang River Basin almost at the same time. In July of the following year, Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu, Chen Tanqiu and others held the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. It is worth noting that among the 13 representatives attending the meeting, 11 were from the provinces in the Changjiang River Basin. The new intellectuals in the Changjiang River Valley took the lead in China in publicizing socialism and establishing the Communist Party of China. In 1923, they united with the revolutionary democrats headed by Sun Yat Sen, and the climax of the first domestic revolution came.

Chapter 6

Water Transportation

The Changjiang River which has a large water volume and a wide range of runoff, ran across more than half of China from west to east, forming a large water network with many tributaries on its north and south sides. For thousands of years, the ancestors in the basin had connected the natural water network into “golden waterways” which were navigable. By the end of 2015, the navigable mileage of the Changjiang River and its tributaries reached 65,000 km, accounting for 51% of the total navigation mileage of inland rivers in China (127,000 km). Since 2005, the freight volume of its trunk has been ranked first in the world. The Changjiang River is the busiest river in navigation in the world. The development of Changjiang River water transportation is a glorious history of human wisdom and superior natural conditions.

6.1 Canal Projects in Ancient Times The Changjiang River has a long history of water transportation. As early as seven or eight thousand years ago, the ancestors of Hemudu and Kuahuqiao in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River were the pioneers of boating. In 1973 and 1977, archaeologists successively discovered seven exquisite crafted paddles with a history of 7000 years in the Hemudu Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, proving that the Hemudu people at that time already had advanced shipbuilding technology. Apparently the appearing time of canoes in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River and coastal areas should be hundreds or thousands of years earlier. In addition, a boat-shaped pottery was found near the wooden paddle, which could also prove that Hemudu people had began to use boats. Then, another canoe 8200–7600 years ago was unearthed from the Kuahuqiao site, Xiaoshan in Hangzhou from 2001 to 2002. The canoe was moored at a small port of a lake (now dried up). The northeast end of the canoe was fully preserved, and the bow upwarps. The hull is covered with black coke, which proved that the ancestors of Kuahuqiao carved the whole pine wood into a hull with burning. In addition, from © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6_6

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the various relics around the canoe, it can be seen that this is a processing site for transforming the canoe into a outrigger canoe that can navigate on the lakes and even offshore areas. This is enough to prove that as early as 8000 years ago, some ancestors in the Changjiang River Basin had replaced simple wooden (bamboo) rafts with more stable boats, and even had the ability to sail in the vast waters. From then on, the ancestors in different regions of the Changjiang River Basin started sailing their boats with better performance and more stable structure from small rivers gradually to the larger tributaries and even to the main stream of the Changjiang River. A water transportation network in the south of the Changjiang River with densely distributed mountains, forests and lakes had been built. With the development of water transportation network, the ancestors of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River naturally tend to live in the places with higher terrain near the berth of boats. For example, the Liangzhu Culture Sites 5300–4300 years ago were located in the places with developed waterways, which faced the water and with mountains on the back. The boat making technology was relatively mature, and the boats were larger in size and more complex in structure. Liangzhu people skillfully shuttled between Taihu Lake Basin and Qiantang River Basin by boats, connecting the settlements together. They created the splendid Liangzhu civilization which is the evidence of the 5000 year history of Chinese civilization. In order to better develop water transportation, the work of river regulation was essential. In order to connect among another river systems, the artificial canals also came into being. However, the early construction of canals made use of natural river channels with supporting measures, such as excavation, connection and regulation, instead of purely relied on manual excavation. Limited by labor and techniques, most of the early canals were small ditches connecting with each other, which were not recorded in history. The first large canal recorded in history was the Yunmeng Tongqu in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River in the mid Spring and Autumn period. By then, the increasingly powerful State of Chu had controlled the middle and lower reaches of the Han River and a vast area in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. However, there was no direct waterway between the middle and upper reaches of the Han River and the middle reaches of the Changjiang River. The personnel and goods along the Han River needed to go down the Han River to today’s Wuhan, and then went upstream along the Changjiang River to reach the capital of Chu, Jinan City, at the Jingjiang River section (now the north of Jingzhou City), which was very inconvenient. When the Chu army moved northward into the Central Plains, a large number of materials had to be transported along the route of Changjiang RiverWuhan-Han River, which would obstruct the long-term combat of the Chu army in the Central Plains. In order to solve the above problems, around 601 B.C., under the leadership of Sun Shuao, a canal connecting the middle reaches of Changjiang River and that of the Han River was going to be built. Sun Shuao made full use of the original natural river. He lead Jushui River into Yunmeng and a 87 km long east–west canal was built, connecting Jushui River and Zhangshui River, the Changjiang River tributaries, and Yangshui River, the Han River tributary. It greatly facilitated the water transportation between the Changjiang River and Han River. Later generations

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Fig. 6.1 Diagram of Yunmeng Tongqu

called it “Yunmeng Tongqu” (also known as “Chuqu”, “Jinghan Canal”, “Jianghan Canal”, “Yangshui Canal” and “Zixudu”). Not long after the completion of Yunmeng Tongqu, King Zhuang of Chu led a well prepared army to the Central Plains in 597 B.C., defeating the Jin State, the Lord of the states in the Central Plains, and achieving Chu’s hegemony (Fig. 6.1). Since then, Yunmeng Tongqu and the subsequent canals connecting Changjiang River and Han River had been silted, dredged and expanded for several times. They played a role in connecting two rivers for a long time and got silted (some river sections were still navigable) till the end of Qing Dynasty (1911). In 2014, the water diversion project from the Changjiang River to the Han River was officially put into use, and the modern “Jianghan Canal”, the largest artificial canal in contemporary China, connected the two rivers again (Fig. 6.2). After King Zhuang of Chu, the northward expedition of Chu was obstructed and they began to expand eastwards. They gradually captured a large area between the Changjiang River and the Huaihe River. The Chu people dug a “Chao-Fei Canal” on the newly occupied land, connecting Shishui, a tributary of Chaohu Lake, with Feishui, a tributary of the Huaihe River. In the Three Kingdoms period, the ChaoFei Canal was still very important. The navies of State of Wei and Wu often fought along this canal. After that, its status was gradually replaced by Hangou, and finally abandoned after the opening of the Grand Canal (Fig. 6.3). At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the State of Wu in the lower reaches of the Changjiang River rose. In order to fight for hegemony, under the leadership of King Helv of Wu and his son Fu Chai, six canals, including Xuxi, Xupu, Baichidu, ancient Jiangnan Canal, Hangou and Heshui, with Taihu Lake as the center were built. The canals not only made great contributions to the victory of Wu in wars, but

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Fig. 6.2 Diagram of Jianghan Canal

also facilitated the water transportation between the lower reaches of the Changjiang River, that of the Huaihe River and that of the Yellow River (Fig. 6.4). Xuxi, also known as “Yandu”, was a canal for military use connecting Taihu Lake and Changjiang River established under the leadership of Wu Zixu. Before the opening of Xuxi, If the Wu Navy wanted to attack Chu Army in the north of the river, they had to enter the sea from Lize (Wusong River), and then to go upstream to Ruxukou, and to cross Chaohu Lake before entering the Huaihe River Basin. The distance was extremely long, and they might be in danger on the sea and rivers. At the end of the sixth century B.C., King Helv of Wu ordered Wu Zixu to dig through the East Dam to connect Shuiyang River, a tributary of the Changjiang River, and Jingxi, a tributary of Taihu Lake. After the completion of the project, the navy of Wu could started from Gusu, the capital of the state, and sail westwards into Taihu Lake. Then, they sailed along the Jingxi, passing Yixing and Liyang, and entered Xuxi at Dingbu. Through the lakes of Gucheng and Shijiu and Shuiyang River system, they could reach the Changjiang River. Crossing the river in Wuhu, they entered the Chaohu Lake and Huaihe River basins through Ruxukou. It not only greatly shortened the voyage to the Huaihe River, but also enabled the Wu navy to avoid the danger on the rivers and sea. In 506 B.C., the Wu army attacked Chu through Xuxi waterway. After five victories, they captured the capital of Chu, Ying (Jinan City). More importantly, the canal greatly facilitated the water transportation among the Taihu Lake Basin and the Changjiang River and Huaihe River basins. In 495 B.C., in order to fight against the increasingly powerful Yue State in the south, King Fuchai ordered Wu Zixu to dredge the water discharge channel of Taihu Lake and build it into the Xupu Canal connecting Taihu Lake in the west and the sea

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Fig. 6.3 Diagram of Chao-Fei Canal. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wei Songshan, Xiao Huazhong. Exploration on the of Poyang Lake Basin Development [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press, 1995:243

in the east. It not only helped Wu fight against Yue, but also facilitated the overseas trade. In the same year, following the order of Fuchai, king of Wu, a canal from Gusu, the capital of Wu, to Hezhuangshan (now Yanguan Town, Haining, Zhejiang Province) on the north bank of Qiantang River was built to attack Yue State, which was called “Baichidu” or “Baichipu”. In 494 B.C., the army of Wu attacked Yue through Baichidu. Goujian, the king of Yue, surrendered, and the State of Yue was almost destroyed. After the victory in the war against Yue, Fuchai began to prepare for the attack of the Central Plains. First of all, he dispatched workers to dig a number of canals to connect the natural lakes with the adjacent canals built before. Thus, the army of Wu could move northward from Gusu, pass Taibodu and turn northwestwards in Wuxi, cross the ancient Furong Lake, and reach the Changjiang River. This was the ancient Jiangnan Canal, which was the first built section of the Today’s Jiangnan Canal (Fig. 6.5).

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Fig. 6.4 Diagram of Xuxi and Xupu. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wei Songshan, Xiao Huazhong. Exploration on the of Poyang Lake Basin Development [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press, 1995:244

After dredging the ancient Jiangnan Canal, King Fuchai of Wu dispatched workers to excavate the “Hangou” in 486 B.C. It connected the Changjiang River in the southwest of Hancheng City (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province), with a deep ditch in Shugang area, and connected Bozhi and Sheyang Lake (Shebei) in the northeast. Then, it turned northward to connect the Huaihe River at Mokou (now Huaian). This was the first canal project to connect the water systems of Changjiang River and the Huaihe River. However, the project was completed in a hurry, the navigation capacity was limited, and the channel was circuitous and with a long distance, so it could not be put into military use immediately. In 485 B.C., the navy of the State of Wu went northward to attack the State of Qim, still taking the way of the East China Sea (Fig. 6.6). Not long after that, in order to continue to contend for hegemony with the State of Jin, since Sishui River was close to Jishui River, a tributary of the Yellow River, Fuchai ordered workers to excavate a water channel to link them in the north of Huaihe River (now the boadering area between Henan and Shandong), which connected the basins of Huaihe River and the Changjiang River with the Yellow River Basin for the first time. Because its water came from Heze, it was called “Heshui” in later generations. After Heshui Canal was put into use, in 482 B.C., Fuchai led his navy

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Fig. 6.5 Schematic diagram of ancient Jiangnan Canal. Author’s own drawing. Source: 61. Zheng Zhaojing. History of Water Conservancy Technology in Taihu Lake [M]. Beijing: Agriculture Press, 1987:167

Sailing along the Jiangnan Canal, Hangou and Heshui, and finally met the Jin army in Huangchi on the south bank of Jishui River (now the southwest of Fengqiu, Henan), thus achieving his ambition (Fig. 6.7). At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, a series of connected canals built by the State of Wu for military activities not only helped Wu achieve its hegemony, but also connected Taihu Lake Basin with Qiantang River Basin in the south and the Changjiang River, the Huaihe River, the Yellow River and the Jishui River in the north for the first time, which greatly facilitated the water transportation between the north and south and laid a solid foundation for the final connection of the Grand Canal (Fig. 6.8). During the Warring States period, after Shang Yang’s political reform, the State of Qin rose abruptly. It took only 130 years to capture Ba-Shu, annex other six states, and occupy the land of Baiyue in the south, which formed the preliminary territory of contemporary China. In order to meet the needs of wars, the Qin people built a number of water conservancy projects, many of which not only had the functions of flood control and irrigation, but also facilitated water transportation. For example, the Dujiangyan built by Li Bing, the governor of Shu in the late Warring States period (see Chap. 1 “tributaries Minjiang River” for details). The most famous canal built by Qin people for water transportation is Lingqu. Lingqu, known as “Qinzaoqu” and “Douhe” in ancient times, was also known as “Xianggui Canal” and “Xing’an Canal” in modern times. It was located in Xing’an

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Fig. 6.6 Diagram of Hangou. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wei Songshan, Xiao Huazhong. Exploration on the of Poyang Lake Basin Development [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press, 1995:246

County, Guilin, Guangxi Province. It was put into use in 214 B.C, with a total length of 36.4 km. However, it connected the water systems of the Changjiang River and the Pearl River. Since its completion more than 2000 years ago, Lingqu has been an important waterway for water transportation between the north and the south of China (Fig. 6.9). In 219 B.C., the First Emperor of Qin, who had completed his great mission of unifying the other six states, dispatched Tu Sui leading 500,000 soldiers to attack the Baiyue area. They were divided into five troops to travel through Nanling Mountains. However, due to the tenacious resistance of the Yue Group, especially the Xi’ou people, and the military supply difficulties caused by the mountains, the Qin army was once in crisis. According to Huainanzi (Book of Prince of Huainan), in this battle, the Qin army suffered great loss, and their general Tu Sui was also killed by the Baiyue people in Guilin, Guangxi. In order to solve the problem of army

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Fig. 6.7 Diagram of Hezhui. Author’s own drawing. Source: Wei Songshan, Xiao Huazhong. Exploration on the of Poyang Lake Basin Development [M]. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press, 1995:248

provisions supply, the First Emperor of Qin Dynasty “dispatched Shi Lu to lead workers to dig a canal to transport grain”. Then, Shi Lu dispatched a group of workers to the Nanling Mountains for investigation. They found that Xingan County, not far from the northeast of Guilin, was the best place to dig canals. There located two of the five ridges of Nanling Mountains with high terrain, namely Yuechengling and Dupangling, which were located in the northwest and southeast of the county. There were also Haiyang Mountains running through the southeast of the county, and the terrain of the narrow strip between Yuechengling and Haiyang Mountains was relatively low (later called “Xianggui Corridor”). In the east and west of Yuechengling, there were two rivers, Xiangshui River and Lishui River. The Xiangshui River flowed northwards into the Changjiang River, and the Lishui River flowed southward into the Pearl River. There was a small tributary on the left bank of Lishui River called “Shi’an River”, which was only 1.6 km away from the bank of Xiangjiang River near Gaotang village in Xing’an town. However, in the middle, there was a hill more than 300 m wide and only 20 m high, which was called “Linyuanling”, “Yuechengqiao” or “Shi’anqiao”. If the hill was dug through, Xiangshui River would connect with Lishui River, and the grain of the Qin army could be transported southward from the Changjiang River Basin directly to the front line. However, there was a problem: the bank of Xiangjiang River on the east side of the hill was more than 4 m lower than that of Shi’an River. If the workers dug through the hill straight at this location, the Shi’an River with small water volume would flow

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Fig. 6.8 The Grand Canal

into the Xiangshui River. As a result, the ships transporting grain would get stranded because the Shi’an River was so shallow or even sometimes dried up. If Xiangshui River was to be diverted into Shi’an River, it was necessary to build a dam more than 5 m high on the Xiangshui River near Gaotang village to raise the water level. This was very difficult to complete under the technical conditions at that time, and the tense war never allowed such a long-term project. Therefore, the workers continued to explore the upper reaches of the Xiangshui River, and finally found a pond named Mei Pond (now Fenshui Pond) which was formed by the Haiyang River, a tributary of the Xiangjiang River (about 4.2 km away from Shi’an River). It was 1.1 m higher than the Shi’an River. The water surface was wide and the water flow was gentle, so it was suitable for building dams and could accommodate many ships transporting grain to meet. Therefore, It took four or five years for the Qin workers to build a dam, dig a ditch connecting the Mei Pond with the Shi’an River and widen the river

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Fig. 6.9 Schematic diagram of Lingqu Canal water system

channel. Finally, in 214 B.C., the Xiangshui River was successfully diverted into the Shi’an River to connect with the Lishui River. The grain boats of the Qin people were able to cross the Nanling Mountains to reach the front line. The Qin army defeated the residual Xi’ou people in Guangxi and the Luoyue people, successfully occupying the Lingnan area. Lingqu water conservancy project in Qin Dynasty was mainly composed of the canal hub and the main canals (the south canal and north canal). Located in the Xiangshui River, the canal hub was composed of Huazui (an artificial watershed dam), a large and a small river blocking dams serving the function of raising the water of Haiyang River and diverting it into the south and north canals. Huazui was a dam made of stones with the function of water diversion connecting with the large and the small river blocking dams. It was located in the area upstream the dam of Fenshui Pond. Huazui was destroyed in 1885 and rebuilt 30 zhang (the length unit in ancient China) downstream the original site in the following year. Its shape was changed Huazui can divide the Haiyang River into two branches. Thirty percent of water flowed into the Lishui River through the south canal (33.15 km long) on the left side, and seventy percent of water flowed into the Xiangshui River (3.25 km long) through the north canal on the right side. The topography of the river section where Huazui was located was higher than that of the north and south canals. Ships needed go upstream to reach Huazui, and then could sail downstream after bypassing Huazui. The large and small river blocking dams were arranged in the shape of herringbone (Chinese character “人”), which could enhance the pressure resistance of the dams and cut off the Haiyang river. In dry season, the water level could be raised to form

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a pond to make the river navigable. In the flood season, the surplus water could overflow the dam and flow into the Xiangjiang River to relieve the flood disaster in the lower reaches (Fig. 6.10). The main canal of Lingqu divided into the south canal and the north canal. The south canal is the main project of diverting water from Xiangshui River to Lishui River, with a length of 33.15 km. Among them, more than 20 km of the channel used the old Linghe River channel, so the project was named Lingqu. Because the channel is the combination of artificial channel and the natural river, the width and depth of each section of the channel vary greatly: the narrowest part is only 6 m wide, and the widest part is up to 50 m wide, with the water depth of 0.2–3 m. Most of the

Fig. 6.10 Schematic diagram of main project of Lingqu Canal. Author’s own drawing. Source: Chen Lu. Shi Lu: The Lingqu Canal Joins the Xiangshui River and Lishui River, The Three Gorges of China, 2014(06)

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canal sections are more than 7 m wide and the water is 0.6 m deep. The north canal is 3.25 km long and 13–15 m wide in general. It was artificially excavated and meanders into the Xiangshui River (with two S channel sections in succession) to slow down the flow and raise the water level to ensure navigation. The south and north canals all have dams to divert excessive water. The Qin people also set up a 1.7 km long dam between the south canal and the old channel of Xiangshui River to separate the water from Xiangjiang River, both sides of which were made of monolithic stones. Because it was built in the Qin Dynasty, it was called “Qin Dam” in later generations. After Qin Dynasty was destroyed, Lingqu was still in use, and was often repaired to improve its function, which became the unique water conservancy project in the world. For example, 37 ship locks (named Doumen in ancient China) were set up in the south and north canals successively in later generations, which were used to raise water level and reserve water for navigation, which could be regarded as the predecessor of modern ship locks. They have two main functions: one was to adjust the water surface and water depth of the channel to facilitate navigation; the other was to store the water in the Fenshui Pond by the north and south ship lock and Hua Dyke during the dry season of the Haiyang River, and then discharge the water according to the navigation requirements, so as to prolong the navigation time of the Lingqu in the dry season. There is no final conclusion on the time of the construction of Doumen. The earliest written records about it was the Records of Lingqu written by Yu Mengwei in the Tang Dynasty, which recorded that before 825 A.D. Doumen was already built. Doumen was usually set in the place where the water was shallow and the flow was rapid. A semicircular Doupan (stone dike) was built on both sides of the channel, and a groove for rod was chiseled in the middle stone of each dike. The bottom of the canal was vertically inserted with stone bars, which was called “seabed”. A stone hole (called “fish eye”) was drilled in the middle of the “seabed”, which was used for oblique insertion of steep bars. The Doumen is generally 5–6 m wide, and the largest Doumen is 7.1 m wide. In addition to the navigation function, in the Tang Dynasty, dykes and irrigation facilities were built on the banks of Lingqu to guide water to the paddies. Lingqu played an increasingly important role in irrigation. Huilong Dike and Haiyang Dike were built on the north canal during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1723–1735) to ensure the safety of irrigation. After Guiyang-Huangping Expressway and Hunan-Guangxi Railway were put into use in 1928 and in 1937 respectively, The function of water transportation of Lingqu came to an end, and irrigation became its main function.

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6.2 The Han River: A Link Between the Changjiang River and the Yellow River Han River, with a total length of 1577 km, is the longest tributary of the Changjiang River (its drainage area also ranked first among the tributaries of the Changjiang River before the diversion of Fuhe River in 1959). It originates at the southern foot of Qinling Mountains. Its main stream runs across Hanzhong Basin of Shaanxi Province from west to east, flowing southeastwards across Jianghan Plain of Hubei Province and joining the Changjiang River in Wuhan. Its tributaries extend into Gansu, Sichuan, Chongqing and Henan provinces. Han River has a long history as a link connecting the Changjiang River and the Yellow River. In the Neolithic age, although the primitive cultures in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the Yellow River had their own distinct characteristics and origins, they still had close relations. Frequent exchanges and mutual integration brought many common factors to the cultures of the two places, and they often learned from each other in the forms of objects. For example, in the late Neolithic age, influenced by the Wangwan culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, objects with square patterns and rope patterns began to appear in the Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River; and the objects with hollow patterns and looping feet appeared in Wangwan culture, influenced by the Shijiahe culture. The artifacts of the early, middle and late Neolithic Age unearthed in the middle reaches of the two river basins all showed the signs of cultural exchange and integration between the two places. In this process, the Han River Basin must have played an important role as a link. According to the the Chapter Yugong of Shang Shu written in the Warring States period, in the legendary era of Yu, the tribute of Jingzhou in the middle reaches of the Changjiang River should be transported by boats along the Changjiang River and its tributaries, Tuojiang River, Qianjiang River and Han River to reach the upper reaches of Han River. Then they were transported to Luoshui by vehicles (now Yiluo River in Henan Province) and to the Nan River (ancient people called the boundary river of Shanxi and Henan as Nan River or Yu River, which belongs to the water system of the Yellow River.) It shows that the Han River had been the most important waterway connecting the Changjiang River and the Yellow River by the late Warring States period. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, five copper Jie (transportation pass in ancient China) were unearthed in Anhui Province, including two boat passes and three vehicle passes. These passes were granted by King Huai of Chu to his son, Duke Qi of E, whose appanage was in Hubei, for waiving traffic taxes. The boat passes stipulated exact routes of Qi’s merchant ships. Known from the route of the boat engraved on it, the Han River Basin had been an important water channel connecting Guanzhong Area, the Central Plains and the State of Chu at that time, with high economic and military value. Qin and Chu had wars for several times, and he Han River played an essential role in transporting food. The two states fought repeatedly for Hanzhong in the upper reaches of the Han River. The battles in Danyang and Lantian, which took

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place in 312 B.C., were the turning point of the destinies of Qin and Chu. Chu was defeated and lost Hanzhong, falling into a national crisis, which made Chu unable to compete with Qin any more, while Qin could easily destroy Chu. The army of Qin in Hanzhong, sailing along the Bajiang River by boats, went down along the Han River relying the abundant water in summer. In four days, they could reach Wuzhu which was adjacent to Ying, the capital of Chu. In 279 B.C., general Bai Qi of Qin led his army down the Han River to the hinterland of Chu. He captured Yan, the co-capital of Chu (now in the southeast of Yicheng in Hubei Province) and Deng (Dengcheng in Xiangyang, Hubei Province), and Ying the next year. Chu was forced to move its capital to Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan Province) and the gradually declined. However, Qin fully occupied the Han River Basin and controlled the main roads of all directions, which laid a solid foundation for the future reunification. Since then, in all the ages of war, the Han River Basin had always been a strategic place. For example, the persistence or final collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty were closely related to the occupation or lost of Xiangyang and Fancheng, the important towns in the middle reaches of the Han River. From the Qin Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, the capitals of the central dynasties moved along the east–west axis, roughly in the line of today’s Longhai (Lianyungang to Lanzhou) Railway in the Guanzhong and Central Plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Although there were canals between the Changjiang River, Huaihe River and the Yellow River, and the Grand Canal was also opened in the Sui Dynasty, the Han River had always been an important channel for the transportation of the tax grain from the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River to the capital, especially when the Grand Canal was not in a good condition. In the early Han Dynasty, the water transportation mainly relied on the Yellow River and its tributary Weihe River, but the distance was long and there were many obstacles. The government of the Western Han Dynasty took various measures to alleviate the difficulties in transporting the tax grain to the capital city, including adopting the idea of building the Bao-Xie Channel, which was related to the Han River (Fig. 6.11). The proposed Bao-Xie Channel was 400 miles shorter than the Shu Road. The Baoshui River connected with the Han River and Xieshui River connected with Weihe River, both of which could transport grain. The grain from the east of Yao Mountain could be gathered in Nanyang and transported along the Tangbai River to the Han River. Then it could go upstream along the river to its tributary, Baoshui River. Then, the grain could be transported ashore at the upper part of Baoshui River. From there to Xieshui River, the grain could be transported by vehicles. Then the grain could be transported by boat again downstream the Xieshui River to the Weihe River. This proposal was approved by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and tens of thousands of people were dispatched to build the Bao-Xie Channel, the length of which was more than 500 Li. After the construction, the distance for transporting the tax of the grain was made shorter, however, the water flow was too fast and the riverbed was rocky, which was not suitable for water transportation. Although it was difficult for water transportation on a large-scale due to the limitation of waterway conditions of the Bao-Xie Channel, the importance of Han River in connecting the north and south

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Fig. 6.11 Diagram of Bao-Xie Channel in Western Han Dynasty. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, changjiang institute of survey, planning, design and research. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2004:259

was still proved. As a great effort of the Western Han Dynasty to communicate the basins of the Weihe River and the Han River, the building of Bao-Xie Channel was still attached great importance by the government of he Han Dynasty. Especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, rebellions often appear in Western Qiang Area. Bao-Xie Channel, as a traffic hub for the central government to control Ba-Shu, its use was still permitted by the emperor till the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since then, Bao-Xie Channel had been one of the most important transportation routes between Sichuan and Shaanxi. In the Tang Dynasty, in order to open a waterway connecting the Han River system to Chang’an (today’s Xi’an), Emperor Taizong tried to get the Baoxie waterway through again in 648 A.D. However, due to the frequent rockfall on both sides of the Baoshui River in summer and autumn, it was too late to clean up in winter and spring

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so the construction was undone. Because the Weihe River waterway was obstructed at that time, land transportation was the only way in the west of Tongguan. After Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne, there had been food shortage in Guanzhong. During the 33 years of Emperor Gaozong’s reign, he had to “visit” Luoyang, the eastern capital, seven times because of food problems. When Wu Zetian was in power, she directly changed Luoyang into the capital of the whole country and began to live in Luoyang. His son, Emperor Zhongzong, moved back to Chang’an after he ascended the throne. However, in 709 A.D., famine threatened Guanzhong again, and officials suggested that the emperor should move back to Luoyang again. In order to solve the problem of grain transportation into Guanzhong, Emperor Zhongzong accepted the suggestion of Cui Shi, the governor of Xiangzhou, to build the Dan-Ba Canal. Danshui River and Bashui River are tributaries of Han River and Weihe River respectively. The distance between the two sources was only about 10 Li or more, but the elevation gap was large. So it was not easy to build the waterway. Finally, tens of thousands of workers who participated in the project died, and the newly built channel was destroyed by flood (Fig. 6.12). Although the three attempts in the Han and Tang Dynasties to communicate the Weihe River and Han River all failed, it could be seen that the Han River was of great significance to the capital that located in Guanzhong. Taking the Danjiang River as an example, it originated in the northwest of Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, and flowed southeastward into the Han River in Dangjiangkou. It had been an important waterway connecting Guanzhong and the middle reaches of the Changjiang River since ancient times. For example, in the late Warring States period, Danyang (now the intersection area of Danjiang River and Xishui River in Xichuan County, Henan

Fig. 6.12 Diagram of Dan-Ba waterway in Tang Dynasty. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, changjiang institute of survey, planning, design and research. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System[M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2004:260

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Province) where Qin army and Chu army fought was the starting point of Danjiang water transportation. If Qin occupied Danyang, it could use the Danjiang River and Han River to transport the military grain, so that it could attack the hinterland of Chu. The core area of Chu would always be threatened by the sudden arrival of Qin troops, so King Huai of Chu send almost all his troops to fight back. In Eastern Jin Dynasty (354 A.D.), Huanwen made his first northern expedition. Starting from Jiangling (now Jingzhou, Hubei Province), they first arrived in Xiangyang by boat through Yunmeng Tongqu, then entered Junkou (in the west of Junxian County, Danjiangkou, Hubei Province). They went up against the Danjiang River and arrived in Nanxiang. Then, going ashore, they moved westward from Xichuan to attack the Guanzhong area controlled by the Qianqin regime. After the An Lushan-Shi Siming Rebellion, due to the chaos in the eastern region caused by wars and warlords, the tax grain from the southeast could not be transported to Chang’an through the Grand Canal and the Bianshui River. Therefore, the Han River became the most important waterway. There were two main routes for transporting materials from the south to Xiangyang and then to Chang’an. The first route was to go upstream the Han River by small boats from Xiangyang to Yangzhou (now Yangxian County of Shaanxi Province, on the north bank of Han River), and then going ashore to Liangzhou (now Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province) to cross Qinling Mountains through Bao-Xie Channel to Chang’an. The second route was to go along the Danjiang River to Shangluo area and then to Chang’an by land. The Han River— Danjiang River waterway became the lifeline for the capital in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the capital continued to move eastwards to Kaifeng, relying on the supplies from the south by water transportation. Among them, most of the supplies from the lower reaches of the Changjiang River could be transported through the Grand Canal, while it was inconvenient to transport the supplies from the middle and upper reaches of the Changjiang River through it. At that time, the “Nan-Xiang Road” (between Nanyang and Xiangyang) had been a famous channel since ancient times. After long-term development and regulation, the channel of the Baihe River, a tributary of the Han River, was relatively unobstructed. Moreover, the section of Baihe River from Xiangyang to Nanyang was an important waterway transporting grain in Song Dynasty. Therefore, at that time, the idea of building a canal to directly connect with the capital naturally occurred to the officials in charge of grain transportation. Therefore, in 978 A.D., Cheng Nengxian, the transportation officer of Luoyang, proposed to build a channel from Nanyang to Fangcheng in the source area of the Baihe River to lead the Baihe River northwards to the capital through the Caihe River, of which the predecessor was the Honggou Canal connecting the Yellow River and the Huaihe River built by Wei State in the Warring States period. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty adopted the proposal and ordered tens of thousands of workers to construct. However, the terrain of Fangcheng was too high for the water to reach, and after the flash flood the project failed (Fig. 6.13). Although the canal projects directly connecting the Han River and the Yellow River failed again and again, the Han River was always playing an important role in

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Fig. 6.13 Diagram of Nanyang—Fangcheng Canal in Northern Song Dynasty. Author’s own drawing. Source: Hydrology Bureau of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, changjiang institute of survey, planning, design and research. Annals of Changjiang: Changjiang System [M]. Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 2004:261

water transportation in the Northern Song Dynasty. Ten years later, in 988 A.D., it was suggested that the Jinngnancaohe Canal (formerly known as Yunmeng Tongqu) and the ancient Baihe River should be rebuilt, so that supplies could be transported directly to the capital from Jingzhou. Although the re-opening of ancient Baihe River failed, the Jingnan Canal which connected the Han River had been successfully rebuilt, bringing convenience to ships and travellers (Fig. 6.14). In 1040 A.D., Ouyang Xiu submitted a proposal to the emperor, in which the first thing he advised was about water transportation. Learning from the march routes of the army of Emperor Gaozu of Han, and the army of Cao Cao, he believed that the Han River—Danjiang River waterway was of great significance, so he suggested that the old waterway be dredged. In this way, the supplies of cities along the Han River, such as Wuchang, Hanyang, Liangzhou, Yangzhou, Jinzhou (now Ankang) and Shangzhou (now Shiyan), could be transported to Nanyang via the Han River— Tangbai River waterway, and then transported to the Guanxi Area via Wuguan Road or Danjiang River. Then, the shortage of food in Guanxi could be relieved. Moreover, he also mentioned that trees along the Han River were lush, which could be used to build ships and vehicles. In the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to defense the Jin soldiers from the north, a large number of water conservancy ponds were built in Jingzhou, which constituted a

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Fig. 6.14 Diagram of Jinnan Canal in Northern Song Dynasty

large-scale water conservancy project for military use named Sanhai Bagui covering a wide area. The Jinan Canal and natural rivers had been integrated with each other without clear boundaries, and they were abandoned in the Yuan Dynasty, which greatly affected the water transportation of the Han River. Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties established their capitals in Beijing, and the transportation of supplies from Jiangnan mainly relied on the Grand Canal. The Han River no longer played the role as a hub of water transportation in maintaining national stability, but it was still a main waterway connecting the northwest, the Central Plains and the Changjiang River. In the middle of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Guanzhong, threatened by severe famine, was in bad need of food. Therefore, some people suggested that a canal should be built between Longju Village and Tongguan at the end of the upper reaches of Danjiang waterway, in order to solve the problem of transporting food to Guanzhong once and for all. This proposal was not adopted, and food was still transported from Xiangyang to Shangzhou via Danjiang River, and then transported to Xi’an by land. Although the canal was not built, it can be seen that the scale of water transportation of Danjiang River was still considerable in the middle of Qing Dynasty. In 1741 A.D., Shaanxi government made a major adjustment to the reclamation policy in southern Shaanxi, and a large number of immigrants from Hubei and Hunan and Jiangxi flocked to southern Shaanxi and Western Hubei. The population of Southern Shaanxi increased from only about 490 thousand in the middle of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, to 3.84 million in the early years of the reign of Emperor Daoguang. Local agriculture and handicraft industry flourished, which led to the rapid recovery and prosperity of the shipping industry on the mainstream of Han

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River. Among them, Ankang gradually became the largest cargo distribution and transfer center in southern Shaanxi and northwest Hubei.

6.3 Modern Shipping The river channel of the Changjiang River, starting from Shuifu in Yunnan Province, with a length of 2838 km is navigable, and the channel is not frozen all year round. It has always been the east–west shipping artery in China since ancient times. The Changjiang River has more than 7000 tributaries at all levels, of which more than 3600 are navigable. In addition, there are a large number of canals excavated in the past dynasties. Together with the main stream, they form a large water network reaching Sichuan and Guizhou in the west, the sea in the east, Henan and Shaanxi in the north, and Guangxi and Guangdong in the south. With great shipping value, it is known as the “golden waterway”. It was estimated by the scholars that before 1840, the number of China’s inland river boats with a carrying capacity of more than 50 tons was not less than 15,000–16,000, with a total carrying capacity of about 1.5 million tons. On the Changjiang River and its tributaries, it was estimated that the number of ships with a carrying capacity of more than 50 tons should not be less than 700–800. Taking the average of their carrying capacity (80–100 tons), their total carrying capacity was about 700,000 tons. Counting the salt ships, it would reach 8,000,000 tons1 . Before the first Opium War, the total carrying capacity of large sailboats in the Changjiang River Basin was more than half of that of inland river ships in whole China. The shipping of the Changjiang River was prosperous. However, till the second Opium War, the ships in most parts of the Changjiang River (except the area around Shanghai Port) were still made of wood and driven by manpower or wind. The modern shipping industry of the Changjiang River started and developed with the opening of treaty ports and the entry of foreign wheel ships. In other words, the Changjiang River’s modern shipping flourished in the colonization process. Although threatened by foreign navigation companies and in the national crisis, progressive officials in the Changjiang River Basin always spared no efforts to learn advanced western technology, manufacturing or purchasing modern ships by themselves, and they participated in the fierce competitions of modern shipping in the Changjiang River. In the competitions with foreign capital and struggled with domestic conservative forces, the shipping industry of the Changjiang River operated by the Chinese people independently, started its modernization.

1

Fan Baichuan. The Rise of China’s Shipping Industry [M]. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 1985:82-83.

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6.3.1 Foreign Ships Entering Shanghai Before the first Opium War, Shanghai, surrounded by numerous commercial towns and located at the estuary of the Changjiang River, had already developed into a prosperous metropolis as an inland river harbor with good hydrological conditions2 and an ideal coastal hub for commodities from south and north. However, restricted by the internal-oriented economy, not only maritime transportation but also the transportation of the Changjiang River was obstructed, which was mainly limited to the Taihu Lake Basin. At that time, the shipping center of the Changjiang River was Suzhou, which was connected with the Changjiang River, the Taihu Lake, and the Grand Canal. Most of the merchant ships going down along the Changjiang River took Suzhou as the destination. In the era in which inland river shipping was the main transportation mean, Shanghai, which was located at the estuary of the Changjiang River, could not be compared with Suzhou, which had a wide range of waterways. Shanghai began to flourish after it was officially opened as a treaty port on September 26, 1843. Among the five treaty ports that were first opened to the world, the other four treaty ports were located in the southeast coast, while Shanghai was not only located in the coastal area, but also connected with the vast Changjiang River Basin. With excellent geographical location and huge market potential, Shanghai soon stood out among the treaty ports opened in the same period. A large number of foreign merchant ships flocked in successively, and the foreign commodities imported through Shanghai Port gradually exceeded those of Guangzhou. By the early 1850s, Shanghai had become the largest foreign trade port and the economic center for European and American powers in China. In order to protect Shanghai, the colonists even fought against the powerful Taiping Rebellion. A large number of Chinese merchant ships and grain ships which took Suzhou as the destination before also turned to Shanghai. By 1860s, Shanghai had already replaced Suzhou’s position in inland river shipping and became the leading city of the Changjiang River’s modern shipping. At first, most of the foreign ships entering the port were wooden sailing boats, but with the increasing demand, the traditional boats in Shanghai port were gradually replaced by modern wheel ships with larger carrying capacity and faster speed. By 1870, the number of wheel ships in Shanghai port had surpassed that of wooden ships. They became the main shipping means. The number of traditional boats dropped sharply from over 3000 at its peak to nearly 200 in 18873 .

2

It was less affected by the tide, wind and wave, the water level drop was small, and there was no ice all year round. 3 Ling Gong. Shipping Development and Urban Transition in Modern Shanghai [J]. Journal of Social Sciences, 1996 (12).

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6.3.2 The Rise and Development of Modern Shipping Industry of the Changjiang River Before the second Opium War, the activity scope of foreign ships in China was still limited to the surrounding areas of Shanghai, which would not go beyond Wuhu. Moreover, the activities were strictly restricted by the Qing government. For example, if British ships privately traded in places which were not treaty ports, their cargo would be confiscated by the government. Foreign merchants could only take advantage of China’s civil strife to build small ships to go to the inland area, purchasing commodities such as silk, and transporting them to Shanghai by ships. Therefore, modern foreign ships had not yet had a strong impact on inland shipping in most areas of the Changjiang River. However, on June 26, 1858, the Treaty of Tianjin between China and Britain stipulated that new treaty ports along the Changjiang River should be opened, then foreign ships began to sail into the Changjiang River without restrictions. British ships could trade in any treaty ports along the Changjiang River. However, since the Taiping Rebellion army and the Qing army were fighting fiercely at that time in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River, among the four treaty ports along the Changjiang River which were stipulated in the treaty, except Zhenjiang, the other three cities had not been qualified to be opened as treaty ports. However, the vast market in the Changjiang River basin made the British people impatient. On the day of signing the Treaty on the Aftermath of the Articles of Commerce (November 8), a fleet consisting of five cruisers and gunboats, led by James Bruce, set out from Shanghai and marched through the area controlled by the Taiping Army (they even fought with the Taiping Army in Nanjing). It took them a month to reach Hankow. He visited the three towns of Wuhan for seven days and met with Guangwen, the governor of Hubei and Hunan. In November 1860, Frederick Bruce, the new British ambassador, and Prince Gong Yixin reached an agreement that they would not wait for the end of the war, and Hankow and Jiujiang would be opened as treaty ports. So far, there had been three treaty ports. According to the Treaty of Tianjin, only Jiangning (Nanjing) was left, which would not be opened until the end of the war (the opening was postponed to May 1, 1899 due to the war). On March 7, 1861, Wesley, a British officer and Weber, a merchant, arrived in Wuhan by the merchant ship “Yangtze” (the first merchant steamer from Shanghai to Hankow) to inspect and prepare for he opening. A dozen days later, British counsellor Parkes and James Hope, the commander of the navy, leading four warships, came to Wuhan to meet with Guanwen and signed the Clauses of British Concession in Hankow with the Hubei government on March 21st. This was the beginning of Hankow port. From then on, the Western powers seized the privilege of shipping on the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River. A month later, “Fire Dart”, the ship of Augustine Heard & Co. sailed to Hankow for the first time, When it returned to Shanghai, Augustine Heard, the boss of the company, could not help cheering that they have exploited the Changjiang River. Not long after that, foreign companies bought ships successively, and took Shanghai as the base to develop the Changjiang

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Fig. 6.15 Modern shipping route of the Changjiang River

Table 6.1 Ships regularly sailing on the Changjiang River in 18644

Name of ship

Gross ton

Company

Nationality

Fusiyarmca

1215

Dent & Co.

Britain

Moyune

1223

Fletcher & Co.

Britain

Fire Dart

678

Augastine Heard & Co.

America

Kiangloong

945

Augastine Heard & Co.

America

Express

489

Messrs Jardine Matheson & Co.

Britain

Rona

1215

Messrs Jardine Matheson & Co.

Britain

Fire Cracker

1040

Lidsay & Co.

Britain

Fire Queen

3801

Lidsay & Co.

Britain

Poyang

827

Olyphant & Co.

America

Takiang

609

Olyphant & Co.

America

Kiukiang

1065

Olyphant & Co.

America

Huquong

1339

Russel & Co.

America

Shanse

1006

Russel & Co.

America

Szcchuen

1006

Russel & Co.

America

Kiangse

1086

Russel & Co.

America

Chekiang

1261

Russel & Co.

America

River shipping industry. By 1864, there had been more than ten companies whose ships regularly sailed on the Changjiang River (Fig. 6.15 and Table 6.1). 4

Liu [1].

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The prejudice of various social classes in China against modern ships had been gradually eliminated since they were faster, safer and with higher carrying capacity. For example, it takes no more than three days for a steamer to get from Shanghai to Hankow, while it takes a civil boat at least 20 days. As a result, modern ships had been gradually accepted by the residents along the Changjiang River and became a popular means of travel, freight and postal communication. At the same time, the Chinese also began to imitate building modern ships. On January 28, 1864, Cai Guoxiang of Anking Ordnance Factory built China’s first wooden shell steamship, and its trial voyage on the Anking River section was successful. Zeng Guofan was very happy after the inspection, and decided to continue to manufacture more ships of this type with larger size. Later, through the unremitting efforts of Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang and others, the Jinling Inner Ordnance Office finally manufactured an enlarged paddle wheel wooden ship in April 1866. Only the iron used for the main shaft, boiler and cylinder accessories were imported, the rest of the materials were domestic. The hull of the ship was almost twice as long as that of the former one manufactured in Anking Ordnance Factory, and its speed nearly doubled. The hull had been significantly enlarged and the performance had been considerably improved. After the trail voyage, Zeng Guofan, who was quite satisfied, named it “Huang Hu” (a kind of bird in China), to praise that it could fly like a Huang Hu on the river. On September 15, 1868, the first modern ship made in China named “Tianji” was launched on the Huangpu River for the trial voyage, which had drawn wide attention of the society. The Church News in Shanghai reported that the former modern ships were bought from the foreigners, and this vessel was the first one made in China. “After experiencing the trial voyage in Nanjing, Zeng Guofan submitted a proposal to Empress Dowager Cixi, in which he spoke highly of the ship and planned to continue to build more sophisticated warships. He believed that this was the way for China to strengthen itself. In addition to the excellent performance of modern ships, which were convenient for the public and were of great benefit to national defense, the reason why Chinese capital began to embark on modern shipping industry of the Changjiang River was its huge profits. In 1861, Edward Cunningham, one of the stake holders of Russell & Co., estimated that at that time, the establishment of a navigation company only required three ships, which shuttling between Shanghai and Hankow once a week regularly could earn a profit of 342,000 dollars annually (at that time, one or two silver was equivalent to 1.35–1.43 US dollars). Soon, the huge profits of the shipping industry attracted many enthusiastic Chinese businessmen to participate in the investment, making most of the shares of many foreign shipping companies in the hands of Chinese people”. However, the activities of these foreign companies with Chinese investment were presided over by foreign businessmen and their agents, which served the interests of foreign businessmen. Therefore, Chinese investment had failed to change the nature of capital export to China of those enterprises. Chinese businessmen were “in a subordinate position in foreign shipping companies and could only share the residual of western capital. They played a role in helping western capital control Changjiang River shipping

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and enhancing the threat of western capital to China’s domestic shipping industry”5 . For example, Edward Cunningham, relying on the investment from Chinese businessmen, accumulated 1 million tael in one year (the capital of Chinese businessmen exceeded that of the American members of Russell & Co.), and then established Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. on March 27, 1862. Although the Chinese businessman is the largest owner of the enterprise, its articles of association and settlement contract clearly stipulate that the operation of the company was under the full control of Russel & Co. The huge profits of the Changjiang River shipping and the fact that the Changjiang River shipping was monopolized by foreign navigation companies had aroused the vigilance of some progressive people in China. In 1867, under the background that the shipping of the Changjiang River was monopolized by western navigation companies, especially Russell & Co., Rong Hong wrote a proposal in which he suggested that a new navigation company jointly owned by the Chinese people be established. Moreover, it was proposed that the company should possess four modern ships sailing on the Changjiang River and shuttling among treaty ports, so as to break the monopoly on the Changjiang River shipping. Zheng Guanying, a modern enlightenment thinker, once proposed the similar opinion in his book, Yi Yan. On December 23, 1872, Li Hongzhang, the leader of Westernization Movement, also pointed out in his proposal that shipping business at all treaty ports had been monopolized by foreign companies. It was necessary for Chinese businessmen to establish their own navigation companies, build their own warehouses and raise their own funds. “Li Hongzhang, who had real power, soon put his idea into practice. A month later, China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company was established, which broke the monopoly on the shipping industry of the Changjiang River by foreign navigation companies, marking the birth of China’s modern shipping industry. This was the earliest and largest domestic navigation enterprise in modern China with the longest history. Moreover, it was the first enterprise when the Westernization School began to set up civil enterprises instead of military industries, and it was the first one sponsored and run by the businessmen and supervised by the government instead of directly run by the government. After the establishment of China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company, two ships, Hanyang and Dongting, were dispatched to engage in the Changjiang River shipping. The foreign navigation companies soon stopped their rivalry and turned against the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company. Relying on abundant funds and advanced shipping equipment, as well as the superior routes, wharves and warehouses that had been established in China, they suppressed and marginalized the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company by all kinds of means, such as refusing insurance, price competition, customer competition and public opinion attack. However, supported by the Qing government, China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company had privileges in getting official funds, shipping commodities and paying taxes. Moreover, with the support of a large number of Chinese 5

Chen Jiang. Western Capital and the Modernization of Yangtze River Shipping in the Late Qing Dynasty. Quarterly Journal of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 1987 (04).

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merchants, it still won a place under the joint strangulation of foreign shipping companies. However, the suicidal price competition initiated by foreign shipping companies made themselves fall into financial crisis, especially Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. which had monopolized the Changjiang River shipping for many years. By 1874, Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. had lost its dominant position in the Changjiang River shipping. Moreover, the fall in stocks, the boss’s withdrawal of capital, and the fact that most of its ships were made of wood (at that time, iron ships were replacing wooden ships) made the situation worse. Finally, the company sold all its property to China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company at a high price of 2.22 million tael in 1877. Although the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company paid at least extra 500,000 tael, it eventually greatly increased its transport capacity. The company also took over the key areas controlled by Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. before along the river, so that it could remain invincible in the future competition with British shipping companies. However, it should be pointed out that although the rise of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, which was supervised by the government and run by the merchants, broke the monopoly of foreign capital on the shipping industry of the Changjiang River in the 1970s and 1980s, and continued to grow in the confrontation and compromise with the British and American navigation companies, the Qing government adopted a long-term policy of suppressing private navigation companies. So the domestic modern shipping industry of the Changjiang River could not develop. In the mid-nineteenth century, at the beginning of the rise of the Changjiang River shipping, a large number of Chinese merchants did not like to call themselves Chinese merchants, but were willing to follow foreign merchants because they were afraid of and did not trust the Qing government. After 1870’s, the request of Chinese merchants to engage in inland river shipping was also rejected by the Qing government. Even if the government reluctantly approved, there were still many restrictions. From 1877 to 1892, China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company signed the contract with the navigation companies of British China Steam Navigation Co. and Messrs Jardine Matheson & Co. four times, which stipulated the uniform price, and was obviously exclusive. The aim of them was to resist against other navigation companies and monopolize the industry. The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan in 1895 stipulated that Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou should be opened as treaty ports. Western powers had extended their shipping rights from Yichang to Chongqing, and further extended their power beyond the main stream of the Changjiang River to inland river basins and hinterland, so as to expand the market and seize resources. At this time, the restrictions of the Qing government on the domestic merchants who engaged in inland river shipping were alleviated. Then, domestic inland river shipping companies were allowed to expand their business to passenger and freight transportation, and to start new routes. However, the Qing government did not fundamentally lift the restrictions on domestic navigation companies, let alone encouraging and protecting them. In 1902, the Qing government still promised the foreign powers that the inland rivers where foreign ships were forbidden also prohibited Chinese ships. In addition,

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at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Japan, Germany and France strongly intervened in the market of Changjiang River, which not only further squeezed the market share of China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company, but also severely damaged the Chinese shipping industry at the initial stage. Nevertheless, the Chinese shipping industry in the Changjiang River Basin still had made some achievements. According to statistics, from 1901 to 1913, the number of large-scale Chinese navigation companies engaging in the Changjiang River shipping gradually increased to 15, and the Changjiang River shipping was taken over by these companies to some extent. Since the rise of shipping, the Changjiang River route had quickly become the most prosperous route among China’s three major shipping routes. It was estimated by the scholars that by 1913, there had been 31 ships (81,035 tons) on the Changjiang River (taking Shanghai-Hankow line into account only); 23 ships (27,355 tons) on the north coastal route; 17 ships (20,812 tons) on the southeast coastal route. By 1937, “there had been 41.966 million tons on the Changjiang River route, at least 29.67 million tons on the north costal route, and about 29.23 million tons on the southeast coastal route”6 . The transportation capacity of the ships on the Changjiang River accounted for more than 40% of the total of that of the whole country, which played a key role in the early stage of the Anti-Japanese War, undertaking the major strategic task of the great retreat. A large number of personnel, equipment in factories and materials were transported to the safe places by ships through the water network of the Changjiang River, which made a great contribution to the final victory (Photos 6.1 and 6.2). In addition, it should be noted that the destiny of old style sailboats of the Changjiang River in modern times was completely different from that of the traditional boats in Shanghai and other coastal ports. Due to the great development of commerce and trade in the Changjiang River Basin in modern times, the inland areas which cannot be reached by modern ships and the ports where foreign ships were forbidden under the treaties were navigable for traditional sailboats. In view of the large trade scale in the Changjiang River Basin, even in the normal season, the cargo transportation on the main stream of the Changjiang River often needed extra support of sailboats. In the dry season, the transportation of passengers and goods on some sections of the main stream of the Changjiang River even mainly relied on sailboats. Therefore, in a long period, the traditional civilian shipping industry in the Changjiang River Basin was developing instead of suffering a shattering blow.

6

Chen Zhengshu. Study on the Orientation of Transportation Investment in Modern Southeast Coastal Cities [J]. Historical Review, 1995 (04).

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241

Photo 6.1 Trackers on Tadong rapid (one of the rapids in the Three Gorges area), shot by British photographer Donald Mennie before 1926

6.3.3 A Glance at the Great Retreat of the Changjiang River in the Early Stage of the Anti-Japanese War—The Great Retreat from Yichang After the outbreak of the July 7th incident in 1937, Chiang Kai Shek delivered a speech at Lushan on July 17, which indicated the policy of resisting against Japan in an all-round way. Personnel, equipment and materials were transported by ships through the Changjiang River waterway to Sichuan, the strategic rear area, so as to prepare for the long-term war. The great retreat of the Changjiang River began with the withdrawal of ships of Shanghai navigation companies, such as the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company, to the Changjiang River. Before August 11, more than 72 ships with DWT over 200 tons had entered the Changjiang River. Together with the 2 captured Japanese ships and 26 ships with DWT over 200 tons from the Minsheng Shipping Company, there were more than 100 ships with DWT over 200 tons on the Changjiang River7 , ensuring the transport capacity of the westwards retreat of the factories in the southeast coastal areas. In the early morning of August 12, the naval command ordered to sink ships to block the river. A total of 31 ships were sunk to block the 7

Huang Zhenya. Panoramic Record of the Great Retreat of the Yangtze River [M]. Guangzhou: Guangdong People’s Publishing House, 2013:9.

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Photo 6.2 Steamship in Xietan, shot by British photographer Donald Mennie in 1920

channel in Jiangyin which was adjacent to Shanghai, so as to prevent the invasion of Japanese army. On August 13, the army of Republic of China took the initiative to attack the Japanese Army in Shanghai, successfully opening up the Changjiang River battlefield. From July 1937 to January 1938, a total of 1.273 million soldiers and a large amount of military materials were transferred eastwards through the Changjiang River to support the “Battle of Songhu” lasting three months, which won time for the large-scale westward withdrawal of national industries. Starting with this, the government of Republic of China organized resistance wars along the Changjiang River, exchanging space for time. Making full use of the Changjiang River waterway, in more than a year, the government successively organized a series of retreats, such as Shanghai retreat, Nanjing retreat, Wuhan retreat and Yichang retreat. A large number of people, materials, military and civilian factories along the coast, in the Central Plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River were retreated to Sichuan and Hunan, which laid a material foundation for the long-term war against Japan. During this period, the great retreat took place in Yichang, which was on an inevitable way to Sichuan. The event was as dangerous and significant as the retreat in Dunkirk.

6.3 Modern Shipping

243

The fleet of Minsheng Shipping Co. of Lu Zuofu was mainly responsible for the retreat from Yichang. In 1925, Lu Zuofu established the Minsheng company. In the summer of the following year, Minsheng company’s first steamer, Minsheng Wheel (with DWT of 70.6 tons), began to shuttle on the Jialing River. By 1935, all the Chinese shipping companies in the river basin from the upper reaches of Chongqing to Yichang had been merged into Minsheng company. In 1936, Minsheng company successfully defeated the shipping companies of Britain, America and Japan, occupying more than 60% of the shipping business of the Chuanjiang River, and rapidly developed into the largest and most influential private shipping enterprise in China. With the acceleration of the invasion of Japan, Lu Zuofu began to prepare for the war of resistance against Japan in terms of the Changjiang River shipping. In a year and a half after the autumn of 1935, Minsheng company ordered a total of 21 new ships in Shanghai. By the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese war in 1937, Minsheng company had possessed 46 ships with a total DWT of 18,718 tons, which laid a solid foundation for the wartime transportation of the Changjiang River. Shortly after the Lugouqiao Incident, asked by the government of the Republic of China, Lu Zuofu went to Nanjing to help the government draft the general mobilization plan for the Anti-Japanese war. He immediately left for Nanjing and called on the Minsheng company to prepare for the war. He gathered all ships on the YichangChongqing line to transport tens of thousands of Sichuan troops out of Sichuan to resist Japan, and began to organize the withdrawal of industrial equipment, materials and personnel from the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River to the southwest rear. On October 23, 1938, on the eve of the fall of Wuhan, Lu Zuofu flew to Yichang and took charge of the retreat in Yichang. At that time, there were more than 30,000 people and 90,000 tons of materials and equipment waiting in Yichang, the throat of the Changjiang River and the gateway to Sichuan, to be transported to Sichuan. These materials were extremely important and can be called the lifeblood of China’s wartime industry. At that time, the situation in Yichang was extremely urgent. The river section from Yichang to Chongqing with a length of 665 km was called “Xiachuan River” where there were many canyons and dangerous shoals. The current was rapid, and the flow direction was complex and changeable. Vessels with DWT above 1500 tons could not reach Chongqing directly, and could not sail at night. Therefore, all materials on those vessels should be transferred to small ships in Yichang. Moreover, at that time, the middle water level in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River could only be maintained for 40 days, during which large ships were navigable. In this case, Minsheng company could only transport 14,000 tons of materials during this period, so the transportation pressure was very great. After taking office, Lu Zuofu held an overnight meeting to analyze the situation and formulate navigation plans. The next day, Lu Zuofu gathered 22 ships of Minsheng company and 2 French flagged Chinese ships to shuttle between Yichang and upstream ports. Hundreds of homeless children were among the first group to board the ship. Lu Zuofu personally escorted them into the cabin. When the ship was leaving, the children sang aloud and waved their little hands to Lu Zuofu. All the people were moved. The materials in Yichang would be transported in groups according to their priority. Except for the

244

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most important and bulky materials directly transported to Chongqing, the rest were first transported to Wanxian or Sandouping, and then transported to Chongqing. In addition, Lu zuofu also presided over the meeting of the collection of wooden ship for transport, which collected 1,200 wooden ships to participate in the rush. Under the command of Lu Zuofu, Minsheng company made full use of those 40 days to transport all the personnel and more than half of the materials to the rear safely. In the following 20 days, Minsheng company rushed to transport more than 20,000 tons of important military equipment. It was not until the water level of the Changjiang River was too low to carry out large-scale transportation that the great retreat in Yichang came to an end. On the first day of 1939, Lu Zuofu was awarded by the government of the Republic of China. Since then, Minsheng company still made every effort to transport materials. By the end of January 1939, there had been only nearly 8000 tons of bulky goods left in Yichang (Photo 6.3). The withdrawal in Yichang at the end of 1938 was of great significance to China’s Anti-Japanese war. A large number of intellectual elites and a large amount of strategic materials were safely evacuated to the rear area, which made great contributions to the war and the construction in the rear area. In order to serve the country, Minsheng shipping company only charges 10– 20% of the normal fees, and even transported the children for free. However, it has paid a heavy price, including 16 ships being destroyed, 69 ships being harmed, 117 employees sacrificing themselves, 76 employees being injured, and the loss of a large number of factories, wharves, warehouses and equipment. Since then, Lu Zuofu’s Minsheng company continued to transfer personnel and materials in Yichang. By the time that Yichang was occupied in June 1940, more than 1.5 million refugees and 1 million tons of materials had been transported through Yichang to the rear

Photo 6.3 Ships of Minsheng Company, provided by Liu Jianlin

Reference

245

area. After the fall of Yichang, Lu Zuofu even went to Sandauping and other places near Yichang to organize the transportation of materials. On October 20, 1940, the Military Commission of the government of the Republic of China rewarded Minsheng company for its contribution to the retreat in Yichang.

Reference 1. Liu K-C (1988) Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China: 1862–1874. Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, p 37

Conclusions: Protection and Prospect

Nowadays, the development of Changjiang River civilization has entered a new stage. A new development pattern of “one axis, two wings, three poles and multipoints” of the Changjiang River economic belt has been established. “One axis” refers to an eco-friendly development axis along the Changjiang River relying on the golden waterway of the Changjiang River. By making full use of the functions of Shanghai, Wuhan and Chongqing, the axis will promote the gradient economic development from the coastal areas all the way upstream the Changjiang River. “Two wings” refers to two transportation channels distributed to the north and south of the Changjiang River, namely, Shanghai-Chengdu channel and Shanghai-Ruili channel, which are the development basis of the economic belt along the Changjiang River. By promoting the interconnection of the areas, the gathering capacity of the important cities in the hinterland of the north and the south of the Changjiang River are enhanced. “Three poles” refers to the three clusters of cities, including the cities in the Changjiang River Delta and the middle reaches of the Changjiang River and the cluster of Chengdu and Chongqing. Giving full play to the radiation function of the central cities, three growth poles of the economic belt along the Changjiang River will be developed. “Multipoints” refers to giving full play to the supporting role of many other cities and strengthening their economic ties and interaction with central cities to promote regional economic development. The economic belt along the Changjiang River covers 11 provinces (districts and cities), including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, which accounts for 21% of the national territory, 40% of the population and 47.6% of the GDP (data of 2017). It is the largest economic zone in China. Even in the world, it is also an economic zone in the river basin with the largest population, the largest industrial scale and the most complete urban system. Moreover, the economic growth rate of the Changjiang River economic belt is the highest in China. In terms of the economic growth rate of 31 provinces (districts and cities) in 2017, expect Shanghai and Jiangsu, the economic development of which tends to be mature, the economic growth rate of the other nine provinces and cities in the economic belt along the Changjiang River ranked among the top 13. Among © CITIC Press Corporation 2022 T. Feng et al., The Changjiang River Civilization, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4552-6

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248

Conclusions: Protection and Prospect

them, Guizhou ranked first with the growth rate of 10.2%, which shows that the economic growth momentum of the Changjiang River economic belt is still strong under “the new normal”. The economic belt along the Changjiang River has undoubtedly become the leader of China’s economic development. However, with the rapid development of economy, we should also realize the ecological pressure suffered by the Changjiang River Basin. At present, there are two most serious ecological problems in the Changjiang River Basin, namely water pollution and serious degradation of the function of water ecosystem. The pollution of water is most serious. There are three major water pollution sources in the Changjiang River Basin, which are industrial sewage, domestic sewage and agricultural sewage. Industrial sewage mainly comes from enterprises on both sides of the river. Many of them directly discharge the industrial sewage into the Changjiang River, forming a growing pollution belt near major cities along the Changjiang River, with a total length of more than 700 km. Domestic sewage mainly comes from kitchen waste and white pollution caused by the developing tourism without corresponding supporting facilities. In addition, due to the rapid development of Changjiang River shipping, ship pollution or emergence of water pollution also occur frequently, which also pose a great threat to the water sources of cities along the river. Agricultural sewage refers to a large amount of chemical fertilizer flowing into the Changjiang River, which results from the flooding of paddies by rainfall in wet season. It may cause the eutrophication of the Changjiang River water and reduce the ecological capacity of the Changjiang River. In addition to the deterioration of water quality, the function of water ecosystem of the Changjiang River Basin also seriously degrades. The river, which used to be the paradise for all kinds of freshwater fish, is gradually falling into silence. As early as 2006, Cao Wenxuan, a famous ichthyologist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, worried that “if the function of the water ecosystem of the Changjiang River continues to decline at the current rate, the freshwater fish in the river may be extinct within 40 years!” At that time, the output of fry of “four native fishes” (black carp, grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp) in the Changjiang River had dropped from 30 billion in the highest year to 400 million, and the fishing yield in the whole basin had dropped to about 100,000 tons, less than 1/4 of that in the highest year. A year later, the Yangtze River Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), the goddess in the Changjiang River, was declared functionally extinct. By 2012, the number of Yangtze finless porpoises which used to a common species in the river, had been reduced to 1040 due to the excessive damage of the ecosystem of the Changjiang River, and they are facing the crisis of reproduction. In the next ten years, if the water environment of the Changjiang River can not be effectively regulated, the spectacular scene of “finless porpoise jumping out of the water against the wind” will not been seen. What’s more, in the past, Yangtze hilsa herring, a kind of commercial fish in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang River, is also hard to find in the Changjiang River. In addition, the Changjiang River Basin also face many other problems, such as soil erosion, frequent mountain torrents and flood disasters caused by long-term

Conclusions: Protection and Prospect

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deforestation. At the same time, the lack of protection and cooperation and the fact that the number and size of the nature reserves along the Changjiang River are small, and the imperfect ecological management system along the river make it more difficulty to protect the ecosystem of the Changjiang River. As the mother river that nourishes and protects Chinese civilization, the Changjiang River Basin is not only the most important east–west axis in the development of land in China, but also an important carrier of ecological security. In order to protect our mother river and maintain the vitality of Chinese civilization, we must bear a new idea in mind, that is, “development in protection”. We should implement more ecological environmental protection projects and strengthen the construction of ecological corridors along the Changjiang River, so as to ensure the ecological security of the Changjiang River Basin and even the whole country. At present, the top priority for us is the restoration of the ecological environment of the Changjiang River. We should focus on environment protection instead of exploitation. “This marks a major strategic change in the construction of the Changjiang River economic belt. At the end of 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice which stipulated that from 2017, fishing would be completely forbidden in Chishui River Basin for 10 years. Chishui River has become the first pilot river to implement academician Cao Wenxuan’s proposal of “forbidding fishing in the Changjiang River for ten years”, which clearly shows the government’s firm determination to restore the Changjiang River’s ecology. On January 6, 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued a policy stipulating that “by the end of 2019, the withdrawal of fishermen in the aquatic organism reserves shall be completed; by the end of 2020, the withdrawal of fishermen in the water areas except the main stream and important tributaries of the Changjiang River. Fishing will be forbidden for 10 years.” The mother river, the Changjiang River, is about to enter a 10-year recuperation period. Over the past years, the concept of “giving priority to ecology and green development” has been widely accepted by the public along the Changjiang River, and has become the guideline of the development of the economic belt along the river. Although the water ecological environment in the Changjiang River Basin has been improved, the overall situation is still very serious. The industries with high risk of polluting water along the Changjiang River still exist, the damage of water ecosystem is still serious, and it is still difficult to guarantee the water ecological security. The provinces and cities along the Changjiang River still need further cooperation, and should continue to improve the laws and regulations and planning system of water ecological environment protection, continue to improve the protection system and collaborative protection system, and accelerate the construction of the detection and monitoring system of water ecology. There is still a long way to go for the construction of ecological civilization in the Changjiang River Basin. In the new era, we must give priority to ecology and green development to lead the development of Chinese civilization in an eco-friendly way.

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