The Yangtze River and the Yellow River, as the two mother rivers of the Chinese nation, are two important totems in the history of our country, representing the past, present and future of our country. Although in ancient times, the Yangtze River basin was not governed, and the ancestors did not have the strength to fight against the natural environment near the Yangtze River, so the Yangtze River basin is not as brilliant as the civilization born by the Yellow River except for the Bashu region, and the most famous is the Liangzhu culture.
The Yangtze River and the Yellow River, located in the north and south of our country respectively, not only represent the two ways of life in ancient China, but also represent two completely different civilization processes, because the natural geographical boundaries of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River make the products, geographical environment, topography and natural climate of the north and south have huge differences. Therefore, in ancient times, the south represented by the Yangtze River Basin, and the north represented by the Yellow River Basin, both in terms of development and starting speed, or the direction of development are very different, the north because of geographical reasons, although the land is not as fertile as the south, but the natural environment is more suitable for development and conquest, plus the climate is more suitable for human survival, so the development of early civilization is far better than the south, in many cases, the Central Plains civilization called the south barbarians.
However, with the improvement of productivity and the vicissitudes of climate change, people have the ability to develop and transform the fertile land of the south, and the rich and beautiful scenery of the south has developed rapidly, coupled with several dynastic changes and ethnic minority invasions, the south has surpassed the north in terms of economy, culture and social form, and to this day, the strength of the south is still far above the north.
The rise of the South naturally indicates the decline of northern China. And how did the north, which has long been the center of Chinese civilization, decline step by step?This is an epic of the development of human civilization drawn by hundreds of thousands of years of history. Speaking of which, the history of the decline of northern China can be traced back to many periods. Before the Tang and Song dynasties, northern China had been the political, economic, cultural, and military center of China. However, over time, starting with the Southern Song Dynasty, northern China gradually lost its status and influence.
The first effective development of the south should be the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, from the vicinity of Nanjing, to the Jiujiang and Jianghan plains, many important cities were built, and at the same time, many ethnic minorities in the region were swept away, which can be regarded as laying a solid foundation for the development of the south. Later, in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, after the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, the Central Plains scholars crossed the river in white clothes to avoid the scourge of war, bringing a lot of culture to the south. After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Rui established the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After that, there has always been a confrontation between the north and the south, and the south has continued from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, forming a unique flashy civilization. After the unification of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty vigorously developed the south of the Yangtze River, and it was this move that opened the fast track of the development of the south. During the Tang Dynasty, the southern region developed rapidly, and although it was not as good as the north, it had formed a multi-layered rich economic culture.
Later, in the late Tang Dynasty, due to the Anshi Rebellion and the secession of feudal towns, the northern region gradually lost control of ***. These turmoil led to serious damage to the social order and economic structure of the northern region, which led to a gradual decline in the economy of the northern region. At the same time, the southern region has gradually developed into China's new economic center due to a relatively stable social environment.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, the economic and social conditions in northern China had deteriorated further. Mainly due to the impact of foreign invasions and wars, especially the southward movement of the Khitan and Jurchen, which caused serious damage to the social order and economic structure of the northern region. Moreover, while the north was sinking, the Southern Song Dynasty was not idle and vigorously developed the south of the Yangtze River. It was between the two Song Dynasty that the economy of the southern region gradually developed, and the economic status of the northern region also declined further.
If the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty went hand in hand with the north and the south, then the southern part of China officially surpassed the north, which began in the Southern Song Dynasty. The north has been declining, and the frequent diversions of the Yellow River have added countless disasters to the people in the north.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the economic and social conditions in northern China had improved. However, with the advent of the Qing Dynasty, the economic and social conditions in the northern regions declined again. Especially in the late Qing Dynasty, due to the invasion and wars of foreign powers, the social and economic conditions of the northern regions suffered unprecedented damage. These upheavals led to a gradual economic decline in the north, while also causing serious damage to the cultural and social fabric of the north.
Until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Northeast established a perfect heavy industry system, coupled with the establishment of New China, most of the projects aided by the Soviet Union were concentrated in the north, which made the north become the industrial center of China, and there was a short-term economic and social prosperity, coupled with the development of coal, iron and oil resources, the northern economy created more than half of the country's economic output value in the early days of New China.
However, as the planning period retired from the stage of history, and in the modern period after the reform and opening up, the economic and social conditions in northern China also faced challenges. Although the northern region still accounts for a certain proportion of China's total economy, the economic growth rate of the northern region has slowed down significantly. This is mainly due to the relatively homogeneous industrial structure of the northern region and the lack of innovation and vitality in economic development. At the same time, due to the impact of environmental pollution and resource depletion, the sustainable development of the northern region is also facing severe challenges.
Next, let's analyze the historical reasons for the decline of the North.
1. Changes in climate and natural geographical environment.
China has developed from the last three generations to modern times, behind thousands of years of history, is the vicissitudes of the sea and the change of things, the climate and geographical environment have also undergone great changes, in ancient times, the earth's climate is much milder than modern, at that time there were tropical elephant herds in the Central Plains, so the climate of the Yellow River Basin at that time was similar to the climate characteristics of today's Jianghuai area, and the south was too humid and hot, coupled with mosquitoes and beasts everywhere, and it was not suitable for the ancestors to live and work in peace and contentment.
However, with the development of the times, the global climate began to decline periodically, and under the climate change, the precipitation in the north was seriously reduced, resulting in a large reduction in the yield of the northern land, and people began to pursue more suitable land for survival and cultivation, continued to reproduce and create, and began to move south with the change of climate. However, it is not only the farming people who move south, but also the ethnic minorities in the north, as the climate turns colder, especially during the Xiaoice Age, when the grasslands dry up, cattle and sheep are affected, and the nomads lose the materials to survive and need to struggle. will involuntarily pick up the ** in his hand, and under the call of the tribal leader, go south, go to plunder, and seek a glimmer of life.
Then every year of the grassland catastrophe, it is the key time period for the northern region of the Central Plains to suffer from the military disaster, and the southward plundering of the northern nomads, most of the time, will cause great damage to the Central Plains, and also lead to the development of the Central Plains civilization, with multiple faults. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Wuhu Rebellion led to the separation of the north and south of China for two or three hundred years, and many of the relatively backward civilizations in the north had a huge damage to the advanced Chinese civilization by stepping on the Central Plains, such as the Later Zhao regime established by the Qiang people during the Wuhu Rebellion, which almost caused a catastrophe to the northern Han people at that time. Corresponding to it, there was also the southward movement of the Khitan, Jurchen, Dangxiang, Mongol and other ethnic groups in the Song and Song dynasties, and the southward movement of the Jurchens and Mongols in the late Ming Dynasty.
In ancient times, the Yangtze River basin was dotted with many large lakes and marshes, such as Yunmengze, which encompassed almost the entire Jianghan Plain, and Peng Lize, which covered a large area of northern Jiangxi and western Anhui. Between the big rivers and lakes, it is not suitable for the development of agricultural civilization, so the Chu State during the Warring States Period was mainly reclaimed in the northern foothills of Dabie Mountain.
However, with climate change, the large lakes and swamps in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have silted up one after another, and after thousands of years of evolution, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the extremely rich Jianghan Plain, have been formed. This also gave many Central Plains people a good place to move south, from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jingzhou is located in the Jianghan Plain gradually became a rich granary, Nanyang, Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Jiangxia became densely populated treasures. In the Tang and Song dynasties, Jiangnan and Jiangxi were widely developed, and the degree of richness was comparable to the core area of the Central Plains.
2. The rapid development of production technology and means of production.
Production technology is always the primary productive force. As mentioned above, the climate in the south is humid, the land is already more fertile than the north, and the products are more abundant, and many areas can achieve two or even three crops of crops, and the cultivated grain is much better than the north in terms of yield and species.
In the pre-Qin period, the south was only a place inhabited by ethnic minorities, and the reason why it was disliked by the original Central Plains was that the production technology at that time could not overcome the climate and environment of the south, and there was no mastery of the means of production for large-scale cultivation in paddy fields, and there was no ability to build roads and infrastructure projects in the large rivers and lakes in the south, as well as dense forests and mountains. That's why the fertile land in the south is not planted, but concentrated in the four provinces of mountains and rivers.
With the improvement of technological capabilities, the south has been developed by generations of ancestors and has become a fertile soil suitable for human survival, while a large number of talents from the north have begun to move south, which on the one hand has strengthened the economic construction of the south, and on the other hand, it is bound to cause the north to decline.
3. Changes in economic physique.
After the establishment of New China, because the north is close to the Soviet Union, a large number of Soviet aid projects have been settled in the north, especially in the northeast, and almost every big city has several key projects. At that time, Northeast China and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei were the most important heavy industry centers in the country, and the workers of large state-owned enterprises in the north enjoyed the best welfare treatment, which was the envy of the whole country at that time.
However, with the advent of the 80s of the last century, the spring breeze of reform and opening up, like the Pacific monsoon, landed on the southeast coast and took the lead in nourishing the economy of the entire south. Light industry, manufacturing, and modern factories sprung up in the south, and soon became the most prosperous economic region in the country, while the reform of state-owned enterprises in the north was full of difficulties, and after the end of the planned economy era, they did not adapt to the market economy in time, a large number of large factories went bankrupt, and the wave of laid-off workers swept the northern region. Let's put it this way, only Beijing is left in the top 10 cities in terms of GDP in 2022, and only five cities in the top 20 are on the list, and Jinan, which ranks 20th, will fall out of the top 20. The contrast is so strong that the decline of the north can be seen.
In summary, the history of the decline of northern China can be traced back to several periods. Although the social and economic situation of the northern regions has improved during certain periods, the economic status of the northern regions in general has gradually declined. In order to achieve sustainable development in the northern region, it is necessary to take positive measures, including promoting the upgrading of industrial structure, strengthening environmental protection, and promoting innovation and vitality. Only in this way can the northern region be revitalized and revitalized and sustainable development can be achieved.