China in the pre-Qin period was the origin of eastern civilization, and the corresponding source of western civilization was ancient Greek civilization. From the period of Westernization Movement, a generation of leaders of Westernization Movement such as Yan Fu, Liang Qichao and Zhang Taiyan began to study the geographical differences between Chinese and Western civilizations. Since then, the comparison of the origins of Chinese and western civilizations has always been the focus of historians' research. The comparison of the geographical environment of the origin of civilization can be divided into the ratio of the overall geographical environment of the origin of civilization and the ratio of the geographical environment of the center of the origin of civilization.
1. The ratio of the overall geographical environment of the origin of civilization to the overall geographical environment of the origin of civilization is a range in which all the left and right areas within the geographical boundaries of a civilization are taken into account. From the geographical environment of the origin of China and Greek civilization in the pre-Qin period, it includes two dimensions: climate and the relationship between man and land.
1, Mediterranean climate and monsoon climate
Ancient Greece was close to the Mediterranean and basically had a stable Mediterranean climate; China, which originated in the East Asian continent and its coastal areas, has been in monsoon climate for a long time. These two kinds of climate have completely different characteristics, which makes the civilization origins of China pre-Qin and ancient Greece present different brilliance.
First of all, in terms of climate characteristics, the basic climate characteristics of ancient Greece with Mediterranean climate are mild and rainy in winter and hot and dry in summer. In ancient Greece, in summer (from vernal equinox to autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere), the precipitation only accounts for 20 ~ 40% of the annual precipitation, while winter is the month with the most precipitation in the Mediterranean climate, which makes the agricultural production in ancient Greece at a disadvantage. Precipitation and heat do not exist at the same time, which makes it impossible for two conditions that are crucial to crops to exist at the same time, which makes crop production in a relatively unfavorable situation.
parthenon
On the contrary, pre-Qin China, which was in monsoon climate, had a favorable impact on its agricultural production because of its "rainy and hot season" characteristics. As Yi Zhou Shu Zhou Yue Jie said, "Everything is born in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter, the heavens and the earth are just right, and the four seasons are polar, which just shows the advantages of monsoon climate in combining rainfall with hot days: rainfall and high temperature are synchronized, so that warm-loving plants can be planted in the north and south north north of the dividing line to meet the growth needs of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry plants, and temperature and moisture exist at the same time.
Secondly, from the perspective of climate distribution, the Mediterranean climate is widely distributed, which makes the whole Mediterranean coastal area have great similarity and homogeneity, which directly leads to its colonial advantage. In ancient Greece, many Greek city-states established many colonies along the Mediterranean coast, even as far away as the coasts of North Africa and Spain. The consistency of climate made it possible to create the same agricultural civilization and expanded the colonies of ancient Greece.
Compared with China in the pre-Qin period, the temperate zone in China is distributed from equator to cold temperate zone in turn, which is very beneficial to the establishment of many agricultural areas. Therefore, taking the Qinling Mountains-the north of Huaihe River as the dividing line, China in the pre-Qin period produced the difference between farming areas and animal husbandry areas.
2. The relationship between man and land
The Mediterranean region is surrounded by mountains, which is not conducive to communication with inland areas, but the maritime traffic in ancient Greece along the Mediterranean coast is extremely convenient. It is precisely because of the suitable navigation conditions in coastal areas that this area has become a famous navigation school, and western navigation civilization has developed here. The special Mediterranean climate makes Greece rich in wine and olive oil. This means that ancient Greece often conducted trade exchanges with foreign countries. With the development of economy, many world-class philosophers and dramatists have been born, such as aristophanes, the famous father of comedy.
Navigation culture
Compared with the Mediterranean, the coastal areas of pre-Qin China, located in the East Asian continent, are not only connected with maritime trade, but also connected with inland areas, and there is no mountain barrier. In terms of maritime transportation, there are not only maritime passages for foreign transportation, trade and cultural exchanges, but also the "Maritime Silk Road", and at the same time, it expands its own civilization.
In the pre-Qin period, Lingnan ancestors opened a trade circle with ceramics as the link in the South China Sea and even the South Pacific coast and its islands, and expanded their culture and influence by means of economy and trade. We also found sites belonging to Hemudu culture in Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang Province, and pottery belonging to Hemudu culture in the waters near Dazhushan Island, which is far away from the mouth of Bohai Bay in Zhejiang Province. This proves that people had available navigation technology at that time, crossed different sea areas and expanded civilization.
However, the marine civilization of China in the pre-Qin period was far less developed than that of ancient Greece, because the climate of Bohai Sea and East China Sea in China was changeable, whether in winter or in summer. Winter is often accompanied by strong winds, sudden drop in temperature and heavy snow; In summer, there are often strong winds and foggy periods at sea. Under the condition of poor equipment, these climatic characteristics made it difficult for the ancients in pre-Qin to sail long distances, and also had more adverse effects on the development of civilization in coastal areas of China.
2. The ratio between the geographical environment of the origin center of civilization and the geographical environment of the origin center of civilization refers to the main area where the main body of civilization is active, which has a vital influence on the growth and development of a civilization.
1, pre-Qin China: the plain of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
As the mother river of the Chinese nation, the Yellow River has always been regarded as the birthplace of Chinese civilization, and the plain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River has always been regarded as the most developed area in the pre-Qin period. This is because there are two necessary conditions for economic development in this area: land resources and transportation resources.
Jiuqu Yellow River
First of all, the plain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is very suitable for developing agriculture, which laid the foundation for the development of agricultural civilization in the pre-Qin period in China. First, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have dry climate, simple drainage and good soil quality, which is conducive to irrigation. Secondly, as a vast plain, from North China Plain to Guanzhong Plain, the potential land resources in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are actually very rich. Coupled with the characteristics of monsoon climate "rain and heat in the same period" and the diligence and labor of China people in the pre-Qin period, the agricultural civilization in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River has been continuously developed, which also confirms what Sima Qian said in the Biography of Historical Records and Huo Zhi: "Guanzhong is self-reliant, and the east is in harmony with the river.
Secondly, as the core civilized area of China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have always had convenient transportation, forming a water transportation system called Gongwang. The history book Shangshu Gong Yu also proves this point. From Jizhou's "Island Clothes, with Right Jieshi River" to Xuzhou's "Mysterious Fiber, Dragon". Floating on Huaihe River, Sihe River and Dahe River, and finally floating on Jishi River in Yongzhou. As for Longmen River and Xihe River, it will reach Weihe River. This is already a complete transportation network centered on the Yellow River area, which is completely different from the isolated land transportation in the core area of Greece.
2. Ancient Greece: Valley plains along the coast.
As mentioned above, ancient Greece originated in coastal areas, and the origin of its civilization is also closely related to coastal civilization. Naturally, the geographical environment of the origin center of Greek civilization is the coastal plain, which is also commonly known as the Aegean lowlands.
Aegean region
As a coastal area, Greece lacks natural land resources. It can be known from 1909' s Travel Guide for Badeck People in Greece that less than 18% of the total area of ancient Greece was used as cultivated land. Therefore, the output of ancient Greek mountainous areas is poor, which is not enough to produce farming economy. Coastal lowlands are easy to colonize because of their offshore advantages, so Greece had the conditions for colonial aggression before the Neolithic Age.
In addition, because there are no big rivers in Greece, and the Mediterranean climate is characterized by scarce precipitation in summer, many rivers dry up in summer. Therefore, Greek agriculture lacks natural irrigation resources and can't even meet its own agricultural production needs. Furthermore, because the civilizations of Greek city-states are blocked by the mountains on land, it is difficult to communicate, and the civilizations are constantly developing in a state of division, creating an ancient Greek country that cannot be unified. So that ancient Greece became Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Bulgaria and western Turkey, with different civilizations.
It is not only the separation of land and sea, but also the fragmentation of ancient Greek civilization. When people found it very difficult to communicate through mountains, they found a way to trade by sea. However, the road to sea is not smooth all the way. This difficulty is particularly obvious between islands, because the wind direction at sea is uncertain in winter, and even if the Mediterranean monsoon blows north in summer, it is extremely difficult to drive in this direction.
Ancient Greek cities
3. To sum up, it can be seen that the geographical environment difference of the origin of eastern and western civilizations is one of the main factors affecting the differences between eastern and western civilizations. Ancient Greece was located on the coast, and there was little communication with inland transportation, which naturally formed a historical situation that the polis could not be unified through separation. As the birthplace of Chinese civilization in the pre-Qin period, the plain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River had in-depth exchanges with the coastal areas and inland areas, which also laid the foundation for the formation of such a unified situation in China in the pre-Qin period.
This just proves that the evolution and development of a civilization is not accidental, but inevitable under the constraints of productivity and geographical conditions. Although the ancient Greek civilization and the pre-Qin Chinese civilization were completely opposite and different, one was a colonial civilization limited by resources and the other was a self-sufficient farming civilization, both of them were the most suitable ways that local ancestors could find under the conditions at that time.