Easy to learn and the ancient transportation industryWen Wang Wanshun
The word "transportation" has a very rich meaning in ancient Chinese philosophy. "Jiao" means that heaven and earth overlap and all things are handed over, while "Tong" means access, communication and exchange. In people's minds, "transportation" has a broader meaning, including not only "communication" and "communication" at the cultural level, but also "transportation" and "communication" at the technical level. "The Biography of Zhou Yi Tai Yi" said: "Heaven and earth are handed over and all things are connected, and the upper and lower are handed over and their like-minded people are also." "The intersection of heaven and earth is the greatest "communication", and it is the time when all things are "connected". According to the cosmology and values of "Heaven and Earth are intertwined and all things are connected" in "Zhou Yi", "traffic" is a state of heaven and earth, a role of nature, which is called the intersection of heaven and earth, and the traffic of all things. It has produced transportation and developed in all directions, which has played an important role in social production, exchange and distribution. According to the history of transportation in China, since the beginning of human writing, there have been records of human beings engaged in transportation activities. For example, the "World Road Map" [1] brings together 100 water and land routes in the Ming Dynasty, mainly recording the names and miles of water and land routes, as well as accommodation, products and scenery in various places.
1.Ancient water transportation.
While the ancient ancestors used natural rivers, lakes and seas for navigation, they dug artificial canals very early to connect natural rivers and expand the scope of shipping. Most of the ancient ancestors lived along the river. With the application of fire and stone axes, in order to meet the needs of life, the earliest means of water transportation - canoes were created. "Zhou Yi Department of Resignation" said: "The wood is the boat, the wood is the tree, the benefit of the boat is not passable, and the far-reaching is to benefit the world, and the cover is taken from all the water." It is said that hollowing out wood to form a boat, cutting wood to form a pulp, the convenience of the boat is to cross the river and wade the river, to reach the distance. The development of transportation in ancient times evolved from the development of ancient history. In ancient times, waterway transportation was the most convenient and lowest, as long as there was a boat to put into the water, so priority should be given to the development of water transportation. "The benefits of the boat are not passable, and the benefits of the world are far away. "The purpose of shipbuilding and oars is to communicate with each other and exchange goods, and people can reach far places, which can be conducive to a better life for people in the world. "Historically, China's shipbuilding technology has made a series of major achievements, and it once occupied a leading position in the world for a long historical period. In the Shang Dynasty, China has begun to manufacture wooden boats, in order to load weight, expand the superstructure above the deck, invented the ship for the boat, that is, two or more hulls in parallel together, the boat is an important means of water transportation in the Qin and Han dynasties, until the Northern and Southern Dynasties are still commonly used ships, it can be regarded as the distant ancestor of modern catamaran passenger and cargo ships. [2] With the advent of ships, a culture of water transportation was born. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, China dug the Hangou Canal; During the Qin Dynasty, the Ling Canal was dug to connect the Xiangjiang River and the Pearl River system; During the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal project running through the north and south was completed, which was the earliest, largest and longest canal in the world. After the Tang Dynasty, the sea gradually began. In the Song Dynasty, the use of compasses on ships greatly improved navigation technology, and ships carrying a variety of materials from Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and even the Persian Gulf. The Han Dynasty opened up the "Silk Road" with the West. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the construction of the Grand Canal[3], which ran through the north and south, was completed. In addition to continuing to excavate the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal for navigation, the Yuan Dynasty also opened up a shipping route based on shipping. The Ming Dynasty saw the peak of the shipbuilding industry, and the great navigator Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty made seven voyages from 1405 to 1433, communicating the material and cultural exchanges between China and many countries in Asia and Africa.
2.Ancient overland transportation
In ancient times, the ancestors carried them on their shoulders and carried them by livestock, and the animal cart appeared with the domestication of wild beasts by humans. It is also at least four or five thousand years old. "Zhou Yi Department Resignation" said: "Serve the ox and ride the horse, lead the weight to the far, benefit the world, and cover all the followers." With the development of water transportation, it is necessary to start developing land transportation. "Serve the ox and ride the horse", that is, the bison surrendered to become a domestic cow pulling a cart, riding a horse is riding a horse, serving the ox can lead the weight, riding the horse can go far, using animals to transport, so that the development of transportation into the civilized period. The invention of the axle and the emergence of the vehicle opened the prelude to the development of land transportation. The Yellow Emperor was the head of the Five Emperors of China, and according to the Taiping Yulan [4], the Yellow Emperor was the inventor of the vehicle, hence the name "Xuanyuan". "Historical Records Xia Benji" records that Dayu controls the water "to open Kyushu and pass through nine roads". In the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago, ancient transportation had developed. According to the oracle bone inscriptions and gold inscriptions, the Zhou Dynasty took the chariot soldiers as the main force of the army, and required all parts of the country to have flat and wide avenues to communicate, not only using "chariots and horses", "chariots" and "boats" and other means of transportation, and began to establish the "chariot passing" system (to the car is said to be transmitted, and the horse is said to be the man. Later generations are known as "post" stations, pointing at the delivery of official documents, transporting official goods and institutions for resting in the first place). During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wars were frequent, and many roads were built for chariots. After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he overhauled the road and issued a decree of "cars on the same track", stipulating that the distance between the two wheels on the vehicle should be changed to six feet, so that the distance between the wheels would be the same. In this way, it is convenient for vehicles to travel around the country. The chaotic traffic routes of the past have been renovated and connected, and a nationwide road has been built, so that vehicles can travel freely. Notes:[1] Written by Yu Yizi: Ming Dynasty "The Journey of the World", two volumes of classification "History Department" geographical version of the Qing manuscript.
2] Jin Qiupeng, Ancient Chinese Science and Technology, China International Broadcasting Press, 2010, pp. 110-111.
3] The Grand Canal was built in 486 BC and includes three parts: the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Zhedong Grand Canal, with a total length of 2,700 kilometers.
4] "Taiping Yulan" is a famous book of the Song Dynasty, compiled by scholars such as Li Fang, Li Mu, and Xu Xuan of the Northern Song Dynasty.
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About author:Wang Wanshun, born in Anyang County, Henan Province in 1950, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Zhengzhou University, retired cadre of Anyang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, senior Zhou Yi cultural scholar; Part-time researcher of the Institute of "Zhouyi" and Ancient Literature of Zhengzhou University, honorary president of Anyang Zhouyi Research Association, development consultant of Yili City, and the third most beautiful (erudite) old man in Anyang City; He has devoted himself to the study of "Zhou Yi" for nearly 30 years, and has written more than 1 million words of various works on Yi Xue's research and publicity, including more than 200 articles published in newspapers and periodicals (included by thousands of Internet platforms at home and abroad**), published books "Into Zhou Yi", "Yi Xue and Chinese Civilization", and co-edited "Words of Zhou Yi" with Yuan Jianguo, published by Zhengzhou University Press in 2022. He has given more than 100 lectures and professional lectures on the promotion of "Zhouyi" cultural knowledge in all walks of life in China.