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Zhou Yi recorded: "Rigidity and softness are staggered, and astronomy is also;."Civilization ends, and so does humanity. Look at astronomy to observe the changes of time;Look at the humanities, in order to become the world. "See the dragon in the field (the green dragon astrology, it will rise from the horizon in spring), and the world is civilized". From this point of view, it is clear that Chinese civilization originated from "astronomy", then evolved into "humanities", and finally evolved into Chinese civilization.
Including Shangshu and other records, the ancestors looked up at the starry sky and discovered the relationship between the starry sky and time, so as to "observe the time", that is, the observation and agriculture are closely related. After mastering the "agricultural time", large-scale artificial cultivation agriculture began to appear. In fact, any civilization with developed agriculture must have a relatively developed time system, and ultimately have to resort to astronomy.
Historical books such as Zhou Yi and Shangshu all show that Chinese civilization originated from astronomy and from agricultural needs. The problem is that historical books are recorded by later generations, and often have the nature of "retrospective", in which there are inevitably deviations and even major mistakes
China is an agrarian civilization with an extremely long history, and modern archaeological discoveries are even more astonishing
The archaeology of the "Jade Toad Rock Site" in Daoxian County, Yongzhou, Hunan Province shows that it is at least 140,000 years ago, China had cultivated rice artificially, which is the world's largest, that is, the world's earliest agriculture began in China. The "Shangshan Site" in Pujiang County, Jinhua, Zhejiang, about 10,000 years ago, archaeological discoveries have found a lot of carbonized rice, as well as a complete chain of evidence for rice harvesting, processing and eating, indicating that large-scale cultivation had begun at that time. After entering the 10,000-year ago, the scale of rice cultivation in China became larger and larger, and gradually spread to Shandong, Henan and other places.
Unlike in the south, the development of millet in the north is dry-fed. Nowadays, the number of prehistoric millet remains found in Chinese archaeology is numerous, totaling no less than 100 places, in the earliest age, millet is about 10,000-8,700 years ago, millet is about 8,700-7,500 years ago, and then gradually became the staple food in the north, forming a pattern of "southern rice and northern millet".
Since most of China is located in the north temperate zone, the four seasons are distinct, and if you want to carry out large-scale agriculture, you must be able to determine the "agricultural time". Because the agricultural time cannot be determined, such as late sowing, the harvest is not ideal, or even the harvest is not good. Therefore, the emergence of large-scale agricultural planting must be due to the ancients mastering the agricultural time, and the most accurate way to determine the agricultural time at that time was to observe the time.
That is to say, 10,000 years ago, the ancestors had mastered a certain amount of astronomical knowledge, which was used to guide agricultural time, and then there was large-scale agricultural plantingIn other words, the need for agricultural development led to the birth of astronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomy and archaeology have supported this judgment to a certain extent.
In the Western historical narrative, ancient Greece was a nation that "looked up at the stars", but from an archaeological point of view, China was the real nation that looked up at the stars, and its long history is amazing
At the site of Jiahu Lake in Wuyang, Henan, more than 9,000 years ago, archaeological discoveries made of bones fork-shaped ware (see figure below) with smooth handles and bone tools similar to bone rulers. In this regard, modern scholars generally believe that it is "rules" and "rules", which shows that the Jiahu era has been "observing time". More importantly, the "rules" unearthed at the Jiahu site reflect that the invention time should be earlier, and the "observation time" should also be earlier, which is roughly consistent with the time of China's agricultural development.
Henan Puyang West Water Slope Site, 6,500 years ago, archaeological discovery of the Dragon and Tiger Tomb, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences member Feng Shi research pointed out: the ancient tomb reflects that the "Gaitian Theory" of the universe model has been established at that time, has mastered the diquintox, standing table photometry (observation is used at night, standing table is used for day) and so on.
Since there was a model of the universe 6,500 years ago (which does not mean that it only appeared at this time, and it may have been recognized even earlier), it means that there must have been a long accumulation of astronomical observations before. Obviously, this is also roughly in line with the timing of China's agricultural development.
It can be seen from the above that ancient Chinese astronomy began with the needs of agricultural development and has a history of 10,000 years.
But the problem is that simply looking up at the starry sky is actually meaningless, and it is necessary to observe the stars as accurately as possible, and understand the slight difference in the movement of the stars, so as to grasp the agricultural time accordingly, and even establish a model of the universe of the heavens. In this process, mathematical calculations and so on will be promoted, so in ancient China, "the number of days is not divided".
Because of the mastery of agricultural time, it comes from "heaven", so the worship of "heaven" arises. At the same time, those who master the observation of the phenomenon are "ordered by the heavens" and slowly become the "king", Yao Shun and others have mastered the ability and power of the observation time, and later dynasties often monopolize the observation of the time, and do not allow others to get involved. Therefore, the legitimacy of primitive religion and political power actually stems from astronomy.
In short, "astronomy" is a science in itself, and its emergence has led to mathematics, or it is also the source of Chinese writing, etc., and more importantly, it has played a role in triggering revolutionary changes in society, such as promoting the formation of concepts such as religion, politics, sacrificial systems, rituals, philosophy, and science. Interested friends can learn about ancient politics, religion, etiquette, etc., all related to astronomy.
More importantly, the origin, development, and formation of Chinese civilization, whether recorded in classics or archaeological discoveries, conform to the evolutionary logic of human civilization, have cause and effect, and can stand the test.