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The legend of the Spring and Autumn Ram recorded: "What is the saying of Wang Zhengyue?".Great unification also. Hanshu explained: "The Spring and Autumn Period is so unified, the six contract styles, and Kyushu is coherent. Among them, the eight words of "six contract winds, Kyushu coherence" tell us that the great unification is not a simple "great unification", and that ancient Rome in Europe is a geographical "great unification", and there is no real "great unification", so Europe has never had a real "great unification".
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ancients not only put forward the concept of "great unification", but also put forward the great unification of the specific system, such as Guan Zhong once said, "Hengshi is a name, Dou Hu is a measure, and the ruler is a system, Ge Bing once, the book has the same name, the car is on the same track, and this is also positive", among which the so-called "Zheng", Lu's Spring and Autumn Period recorded that "the king is one, and all things are right." One is rule, two are chaos".
The advent of any major change is often the first thought, and there is a theoretical basis for the change. The idea of great unification in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period prompted the emergence of a great unification dynasty, so the emergence of a truly unified Qin Dynasty, after which China changed dynasties, but the great unification has always been the mainstream.
The question is: Why did the idea of "great unification" appear in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and why was it able to achieve "great unification" for a long time?The reasons for this are obviously complex, but prehistoric archaeology gives us a source answer. More importantly, this is a clear difference from Europe, which explains why Europe cannot be unified, and why many Western scholars believe that only Chinese culture is more suitable for future mankind.
In 1981, Su Bingqi, a famous archaeologist, based on prehistoric archaeological discoveries, divided China's Neolithic culture into six major cultural zones in the article "On the Flora Types of Archaeological Culture", and put forward the civilization concept that the origin of Chinese civilization is "not like a candle, but like a sky full of stars". Obviously, this subverts the traditional perception that "Chinese civilization originated from the Yellow River civilization".
The so-called six major cultural regions are the six regional cultural circles distributed in China about 3000 8000 years ago, namely the northern Neolithic culture, the Eastern Neolithic culture, the Central Plains Neolithic culture, the Southeast Neolithic culture, the Southwest Neolithic culture, and the Southern Neolithic culture.
Since then, in the exchange with each other, the culture has gradually converged, and the history books say that the Yellow Emperor "fits the dragon and makes the dragon", which should reflect this historical process. Of course, there must be killing and conquest among them, and the Yellow Emperor Chiyou War, Yu Zheng Sanmiao, etc. may be related to this.
After thousands of years of exchange and integration, the northern, Central Plains, and eastern fauna converged to form the Yellow River civilization of the Xia and Shang dynasties, and the southwest, south, and southeast fauna converged to form the Yangtze River civilization, so the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are all "China's mother rivers". Eventually, the six major cultural faunas converged into the Chinese civilization.
To give an example: during the Warring States Period, Sima of the Qin State captured Bashu, but Sanxingdui archaeology found that the Sanxingdui culture is not only unique, but also closely related to the ancient culture of the Xia and Shang dynasties in the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, culturally, Bashu has long been deeply integrated with other regional groups.
In other words, the integration of the six major regional systems is the cultural foundation for laying the "great unification". Because the Zhou Dynasty divided a large number of princes surnamed Ji, objectively more conducive to the general unification of the culture of various places, at the same time, the princes of the Zhou Dynasty had strong strength, and realized the "geographical" unification of China (although there are many princes, but they all recognize China), on this basis, the idea of "great unification" came into being.
In 1988, during the International Conference of Nobel Laureates "Facing the 21st Century", some Nobel laureates pointed out: "If mankind is to survive, it must go back 25 centuries and learn from the wisdom of Confucius." It should be noted that the wisdom of Confucius did not begin with Confucius, but his inheritance and development of traditional Chinese culture.
In addition, many Western masters spoke highly of Chinese culture, such as Russell (pictured above) and Toynbee, who believed that Western civilization could not solve its own problems and that it must actively learn Xi Chinese culture (this view was first proposed by Liang Qichao), otherwise it could only self-destruct, among which Toynbee believed that "no country in Europe can have the vision and intelligence to save itself and all mankind." ”
The question is, why do many Western scholars view Chinese culture in this way, is it to "curry" favor with China?Obviously, it was not possible, because given China's national power at the time, these Western scholars did not need to curry favor with China. There are many reasons why they judge this way, but from the perspective of the integration of the six major regional systems in ancient China, there is one thing about Chinese culture that can never be compared with Europe and the United States, and that is tolerance.
The six major cultural regions have merged into the Chinese civilization, and the reverse is trueChinese civilization is a fusion of different forces and cultures, which determines that Chinese culture must be inclusive, and it is very inclusive, that is, "tolerance is great", otherwise it is impossible to successfully integrate.
Historical records record that when Jiang Taigong arrived in the country, the policy adopted was to "simplify the etiquette because of its customs", that is, while retaining the local culture, he also simplified some etiquette, among which "because of its customs" is tolerance. In fact, the princes of the Zhou Dynasty were basically in the local area, "because of their customs, similar records appear in Chinese history books one after another, and for example, when Zheng He went to the West in the Ming Dynasty, he was able to live in peace with other weak countries and tolerate their cultural customs, but he did not interfere or change according to the customs of the Ming Dynasty."
Unlike China, Europe and the United States emphasize "antagonism", their cultures are highly exclusive, they cannot live in peace with other civilizations, and they also impose their own cultures, just look at the history of the world in the present and in the past few hundred yearsAt the same time, there were also many contradictions in Europe and the United States because of the "opposite" culture, which led to the outbreak of World War I and World War II. Therefore, European and American culture cannot save mankind (when Europe and the United States gain power, non-European and American nations will inevitably cry in pain), and even Europe and the United States cannot even save themselves.
As for the other civilizations in the world, they are either exclusive religious cultures or civilizations that do not have any system, and it is naturally difficult to save mankind.
Finally, there are three thoughts on the topic of this article:
First of all, China's "great unification" was not achieved overnight, but had a long period of integration, which is a historical trend and belongs to a higher level of human civilization. The author believes that the reason behind this should be related to the need for a large population and collective cooperative labor in China's agricultural civilization, while the West belongs to the pirate culture or commercial culture, and pursues a "zero-sum game".
Second, the premise of "great unification" and "great integration" is "great tolerance", which can tolerate various cultures, customs, others or other ethnic groups, for example, there are different customs and cultures in various parts of China, and some are even very different. On the other hand, European and American cultures can't even achieve "great tolerance", how can we talk about saving mankind, how can we talk about Europe integrating into one country?
Third, we all know that the Western civilization, which has dominated the world for hundreds of years, has not only failed to save mankind, but has exacerbated conflicts and contradictions, resulting in a very dangerous world today. But if the world learns Xi Chinese wisdom and can tolerate the interests of others, other ethnic groups, other cultures, and others, it is obvious that if all disputes cannot be eliminated, it will obviously be able to eliminate at least most of them and make the world develop more peacefully.