To understand Cantonese culture, we must first understand the Cantonese ethnic origin. After understanding the Cantonese ethnic origin, it is not difficult to understand the reasons for the formation and coverage of Cantonese dialect.
There are two ancient Lingnan battle stories that can help us understand the changes in ancient society in the areas where Guangfu ethnic groups are distributed. One is that the commander-in-chief of the Qin Army, Tu Sui (sui), died in the guerrilla war of the South Vietnamese people, and the other is that Zhao Tuo cleverly devised a beauty trick to complete the great cause of the unification of South Vietnam. About 129,000 years ago, early ancient people (Maba people) appeared in Lingnan.
In 219 BC, Qin Shihuang sent Tu Sui as the commander-in-chief and led an army of 500,000 troops into five groups and marched to the south of the Five Ridges. Among them, one army was stationed in Yugan (now Yugan, Jiangxi), one army guarded Nanye (now Nankang, Jiangxi), one army guarded Tancheng Ridge (now Yuecheng Ridge, Guibei, Guangxi), and one army occupied Jiuyi Fortress (now Ningyuan, Hunan). Within the territory), there was also an army "located in the capital of Panyu" (near today's capital Panling, belonging to Lian County)" (the meaning of "located in the capital of Panyu" has been debated endlessly, and now it means "the capital is five hundred miles away". See " "Guangzhou Cultural Museum" 1993~1995 published Li Longzhang's "Discussion on the Founding Date of Panyu City and Related Issues". Under the attack of the powerful Qin army, the small Baiyue countries with scattered power had to withdraw from their tribal settlements and hide in the dense forests and deep valleys to fight guerrillas. After Tu Sui captured Panyu, he was eager to implement Qin's various systems, thinking that he could subdue the Yue people. However, the Yue people were unwilling to succumb to the violence of the Qin army and worked together to expel the foreign enemies. They used their knowledge of the terrain and their skills in water warfare and mountain climbing to set up ambushes. The advantage is that the Xiou people, who lurked in the mountains and forests during the day and made sneak attacks at night, also launched a major attack, killing the Qin army's corpses and killing their commander Tu Sui. This story shows the strength and good fighting spirit of the Lingnan natives. And the fundamental culture that does not succumb to violence
Chen Gongyin, one of the "Three Lingnan Masters" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, said in a poem, "The water in the five mountains floats in the sky." ("Climbing the Zhenhai Tower in Nine Days") , can be used to describe the geographical environment where the ancient Yue people lived.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Lingnan was still the world of the Baiyue people. The Bronze Age in Guangdong began in the late Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty, but this period was unearthed in contemporary Guangdong. There are only 5 bronze artifacts, but there are more than 1,000 bronze artifacts unearthed during the Warring States Period, many of which were cast locally. This shows that the productivity of the Baiyue people in Lingnan had developed to a certain extent during the Warring States Period.
In the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, the ancestors of Guangdong had economic and cultural exchanges with the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Central Plains. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Lingnan had close relations with Wu, Yue and Chu
During the pre-Qin period, there were Yue "small countries" in Panyu, Zhaoqing, Luoding, Qingyuan, Sihui, Guangning, Jieyang and other places in Lingnan, such as Panyu, Fulou, Yangyu and other small town-type countries. The "small country" was the result of the development of tribal alliances. Although it did not establish a unified state power in Lingnan, it was already the initial distribution center for trade goods.
Businessmen from Chu State in the north of Linghai often came here to trade and appeared. Language exchange phenomenon, so the mature Cantonese still has some Chu sounds. At that time, Panyu's precious commodities such as pearls, jade, rhino horn, and ivory were already famous in the Central Plains. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he not only wanted to expand his territory, but also Coveting Panyu's precious commodities, they sent troops to Lingnan.
After Tu Sui's death, the Qin army was still "a hundred-footed insect without stalemate". The Baiyue people had no choice but to resist the powerful Qin army. The two sides were in a stalemate. The trend of "the Qin army did not dismantle its armor for three years" was that at first the transportation from the north to the south of Ling was not smooth, which affected the supplies of the Qin army. Engineers dug a waterway in Haiyang Mountain, connecting the Xiangjiang River and the Lijiang River. It was called Qin Zhuo Canal, also known as Ling Canal (renamed Ling Canal in the Tang Dynasty). As a result, grain and grass could be transported from Lingbei to Lingnan, which solved the Qin army's supply problem. , enabling the Qin army to fight a protracted war.
Later, Qin Shihuang sent Ren Xiao as commander-in-chief, led Zhao Tuo and other generals, and sent out large ships to attack Baiyue in the south along the canal dug by the Qin Dynasty. The navy's participation in the battle enhanced the Qin army's combat effectiveness. In addition, while Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo were working step by step, they were good at appeasing the Yue people. With the combination of kindness and power, they finally gradually quelled the resistance of the Yue people. In 214 BC, Qin Shihuang unified Lingnan and established the three counties of Nanhai, Xiang and Guilin. Among them, Nanhai County is bounded by the South China Sea in the southeast, to Hezhou in Guangxi in the west, and Nanling in the north, including parts of eastern Guangdong, northern Guangdong, central Guangdong and western Guangdong. Most of today's Guangdong Province belongs to the Nanhai county. Nanhaiwei Renxiao built a city in Panyu, the county seat, which was known as Renxiao City in the world. This was the beginning of the construction of Guangzhou.
When Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo led their troops southward, Emperor Qin had already ordered a group of wanderers. Merchants immigrated with the army; after unifying Lingnan, Qin's garrison numbered 500,000; Nanhai County was established; in the first year of Qin II (209 BC), Zhao Tuo wrote to the emperor, asking for 30,000 women from husbandless families to come to Nanhai County to mend the soldiers' clothes. To take care of their lives, Qin II allocated 15,000 women. This series of measures greatly increased the number of "Zhongxian people" (Han people) in Nanhai County. They brought the culture of the Central Plains, as well as the advanced production tools and technology of the Central Plains, which further promoted the political, economic, and cultural development of Nanhai County. Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo adopted the policy of ethnic harmony to make the Han and Yue ethnic groups live in harmony. Due to the need for ethnic communication, aboriginal languages ??gradually absorbed ancient Chinese, and a prototype of Cantonese emerged.
When Ren Xiao was appointed Nanhai Lieutenant, Zhao Tuo was appointed Longchuan Order. After they ran Nanhai County for several years, rebels broke out in the Central Plains to resist the tyrannical rule of the Qin Dynasty. Ren Xiao saw that Qin had lost people's support and would be destroyed sooner or later. He also saw that Lingnan had a favorable terrain for supporting its own troops, so he had the idea of ??separatist rule.
Unfortunately, his illness prevented him from ruling the roost, so he had no choice but to pin his hopes on his confidant general Zhao Tuo. When Ren Xiao was critically ill, he entrusted Zhao Tuo to act as Nanhaiwei, and told him the plan to separate Lingnan, hoping that he would not miss the opportunity. Zhao Tuo happily accepted the order.
Zhao Tuo (some ancient books write him as Zhao) was originally from Dongyuan County, Julu County (today's Zhending, Hebei Province). He not only had military talents, but also political talents. After Ren Xiao's death, he first ordered the defenders at the Wuling Pass such as Hengpu, Yangshan, and Huangxi to block the passage to the north of the mountain to prevent northern troops from coming south. Then, the officials of the Qin Dynasty who did not obey orders were purged, and cronies were placed in important positions, laying the foundation for the establishment of the king and the country. In 206 BC, Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor and established the Han Dynasty, and the violent Qin Dynasty finally retired from the stage of history. The following year, Zhao Tuo sent troops to attack Guilin and Xiang counties. The legend of Zhao Tuo's clever trick shows that there was a fierce confrontation during his attack. At that time, the leader of Luoyue Kingdom, "Prince of Hou Shu", called himself "King Anyang" and was assisted by a "godman". Legend has it that this divine man named Gaotong made a divine crossbow that could kill 300 people with one shot! This magical weapon caused Zhao Jun to suffer consecutive defeats, so Zhao Tuo secretly sent the prince to sneak into the Anyang Palace. Because the prince was born with extraordinary talents and was eloquent, he made Mei Zhu, the daughter of King Anyang, very happy. In order to please Prince Shi, Mei Zhu stole the divine crossbow and gave it to Prince Shi to destroy, so Zhao Nong had to defeat King Anyang. This legend cannot be said to be absolutely true, but it also shows that it is not easy for Zhao Tuo to pacify Lingnan.
Zhao Tuo finally won over most of the Luoyue tribes through force attacks and wooing the leaders of the Luoyue tribe. He also divided Xiang County into two counties, Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen, and appointed the leader of the friendly Luoyue people as the chief executive, firmly controlling the original three Lingnan counties. From then on, a stable situation appeared in Lingnan. Around 204 BC, Zhao Tuo proclaimed himself the King of Nanyue, established the Nanyue Kingdom, and expanded Renxiao City in Panyu, the capital, which was known as Zhao Tuo City or Yue City in history. In 1997, the ruins of the Nanyue Imperial Garden were uncovered beneath the former Municipal Cultural Bureau on Zhongshan 4th Road in Guangzhou, which shocked the country and abroad. Experts speculate that the center of the Nanyue Palace Garden is within the current Guangzhou Children's Park. When the Nanyue Kingdom was founded, its ruling scope was: the northern boundary starts from the south of today's Sanjiang and Longsheng County in Guangxi in the west, passes through Yanguan, Gongcheng, and He County in Xing'an, and goes through Lianshan, Yangshan, Lechang, and Nanxiong counties in Guangdong. , then turns south through Lianping, Heping, and Jiaoling; its eastern boundary reaches the South China Sea from Yongding, Pinghe, Zhangpu and other places in Fujian; its western boundary is Huanjiang, Hechi, Donglan, Bama, Baise, and Debao in Guangxi today. It borders Yelang, Gouding and other countries; its southern boundary is to the east of the Truong Son Mountains in central Vietnam and to the north of the Daling line. The capital of Panyu is located at the intersection of the East, West and North rivers. Shipping has developed to a certain extent and has become a city where rhinoceros, elephant, poison, pearls, fruit cloth and other commodities gather. It attracts many merchants, and language exchanges increase, which promotes the prototype Cantonese changed further.
Due to the large number of Yue people, people living in Zhongxian County had no choice but to follow the local customs in the country. Zhao Tuo's attitude towards Yue customs is "If good things are good, follow them; if bad things are bad, then prohibit them." In order to establish a good relationship with Zhao Tuo, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty sent Lu Jianan as a lobbyist. When Zhao Tuo received him, he wore folk clothes and had his hair tied in his spine. Sitting on the ground with hands crossed. In addition to taking the lead in assimilating with Yue customs, Zhao Tuo also vigorously advocated intermarriage between Han and Yue. The Zhao family and the Lu family, a famous Yue family, became a good match between the Qin and Jin Dynasties, harmonizing the relationship between Han and Yue. He also promoted the languages ??and characters of the Central Plains, making Chinese culture occupy an important position in the country. As a result, the Yue language became more integrated with the Xia language, and the embryonic Cantonese language was further developed.
Later, some Yue people who had strong resistance to the people of Zhongxian migrated to the Xijiang River Basin or to Maoming, Xuwen, Hepu and even Guangxi in the southwest, which expanded the Cantonese-speaking area. Zhao Tuo pursued the policy of friendship and good neighborliness. The relationship with the Han Dynasty was only bad for a few years, and the rest of the time they had friendly relations. Zhao Tuo surrendered to the Han Dynasty in 196 BC, which legalized Han-Vietnam trade. The Central Plains region obtained the special products of the South Vietnam Kingdom, and the South Vietnam Kingdom also received agricultural production necessities provided by the Central Plains, such as iron tools and horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock. Later, when Empress Lu was in power, she discriminated against South Vietnam and cut off the supply of necessities produced by South Vietnam. In anger, Zhao Tuo regarded himself as the "Martial Emperor of South Vietnam" in the fifth year of Empress Lu (183 BC) and sent troops to attack Changsha. Empress Lu then sent troops to attack South Vietnam, but could not attack Lingnan. After Empress Lu's death, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty sent Lu Jia Nan again and said goodbye to Zhao Tuo happily. When Lu Jia returned to the court, Zhao Tuo paid tribute to Emperor Wen of Han with a batch of treasures. Zhao Tuo's "Book of the Emperor" brought back by Lu Jia was the earliest Lingnan literary work found in classics. Since then, the political and economic ties between Lingnan and the Central Plains have been strengthened again, which has led to the smooth development of Lingnan's economy.
Zhao Tuo lived for more than a hundred years and was one of the five masters of the Nanyue Kingdom. He was finally destroyed by the Han Dynasty in the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC). After the Han Dynasty destroyed the Nanyue Kingdom, nine counties were established in the south of Lingnan, including Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiuzhen, Jiaozhi, Rinan, Zhuya, and Dan'er. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng (106 BC), the Jiaozhi tribe was established to govern the above-mentioned nine counties. The administrative seat of the Jiaozhi tribe was located in Guangxin (Guangxin was the capital of Jiaozhou during the ancient Han Dynasty, located in present-day Wuzhou, Hezhou, Guangxi, and Fengkai, Guangdong). area, that is, the intersection of Xijiang River and Hejiang River). Historians believe that the name Guangxin means "the land of Guangdong should be widely spread with kindness and trust". Guangxin is located in the heart of Lingnan, at the intersection of the Lijiang River, the Hejiang River, and the Xijiang River. It is an important water and land hub, so it was valued by the Han Dynasty. Since then, Guangxin has developed as the political and cultural center of Lingnan for more than 300 years, and it has had a great influence on the development of Cantonese. During the Jin Dynasty, a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south to Lingnan, bringing Chinese from the Central Plains to Lingnan. In the Tang Dynasty, a poet chanted:
Northerners tend to avoid Hu in the south,
Southerners can still speak the Jin language.
In the Tang Dynasty, commercial exchanges became more prosperous in the Panyu area, and officials were demoted to Lingnan, which caused Cantonese to absorb many Central Plains sounds. At the same time, Cantonese has become more standardized and written in the process of development, forming a relatively independent language system.
Today's Cantonese still retains more of the Chinese pronunciation of the medieval era. Let's take a look at a five-character poem by Du Fu:
The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is full of spring and deep vegetation.
I am moved to tears by the flowers, and the birds are frightened by the hatred.
The war rages on for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold.
The white-headed scratches are shorter, and the lust is overwhelming.
When reading this poem aloud, Cantonese rhymes more than Mandarin. Because the four characters Shen, Xin, Jin, and Hairpin have the same rhyme in Cantonese pronunciation, but they have different rhymes in modern Mandarin pronunciation. In addition, Guangzhou people know that the word "dian" in "a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold" means "worth it", but northerners generally don't understand it. This is because Cantonese retains some medieval sounds and vocabulary. Cantonese still retains the four ancient tones, so it is easier for Guangzhou people to master the tones and rhymes of modern poetry.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Cantonese also matured in word formation, grammar, pronunciation, etc., and overall it was very close to the ancient language of the Tang Dynasty. Its pronunciation and vocabulary have generally laid the foundation for modern Cantonese. From the fall of the Tang Dynasty to the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun fell for 400 years. During this period, a large number of Central Plains Han people continued to go south to the Pearl River Delta through Zhuji Lane. This was the last time that the differences between Cantonese and Central Plains Chinese were narrowed. . The Tang and Song Dynasties can be regarded as the final period of Cantonese. Therefore, modern Cantonese can still correspond to the pronunciation of "Guangyun" in the Song Dynasty, but it is difficult to correspond to the pronunciation of ancient Chinese in the Yuan Dynasty or later. By the Southern Song Dynasty, Cantonese was far away from northern Chinese phonetically, and Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta became the main area where Cantonese was circulated. In the Yuan Dynasty, although a large number of officials and civilians who followed the small imperial court in the late Song Dynasty settled in the Guangzhou area and brought many northern languages, they did not have much effect. In the Ming Dynasty, Cantonese was roughly the same as modern Cantonese. As people interact more and more, Cantonese also absorbs some foreign words. As the number of Cantonese people going abroad and moving to Hong Kong and Macao increases, the influence of Cantonese has expanded.
How to explain the "Guangfu" of the Cantonese ethnic group? This is because the area around Guangzhou was known as "Guangfu" in the Tang Dynasty, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was Guangzhou Prefecture, with Guangzhou as its administrative seat. People in Guangzhou Prefecture were referred to as Guangfu people. What is the population mix of the Cantonese ethnic group? Scholars believe that the population combinations of the three major ethnic groups in Lingnan—the Cantonese, the Hokki, and the Hakka—were roughly formed during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Although they are all Han residents in Lingnan, they also have different cultural characteristics. Zhuji Lane immigration can be understood in both a narrow sense and a broad sense. In a narrow sense, it refers to the migration of Zhuji Lane itself and nearby residents; in a broad sense, it refers to migration through Zhuji Lane, including those who migrated through Zhuji Lane and immigrants in the narrow sense. The residents of Zhuji Lane can be divided into two types: in-migration and out-migration. In-migration refers to moving into Zhuji Lane and nearby areas from other places, while out-migration refers to leaving Zhuji Lane and moving into other areas.
1. The migration process of Zhuji immigrants from the weekend to the Song Dynasty points out that the main source of residents in Zhuji Lane is immigrants from Lingbei.
2. The historical facts of the southward migration of Zhuji Lane immigrants in the Song Dynasty. It was pointed out that the main reasons for moving south were government persecution, natural disasters, social unrest and wars during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The immigrants who migrated south are mainly residents of Zhuji Lane and Nanxiong Basin. Zhuji Lane is the real hometown of the immigrants migrating south, not a "transit station" or "just passing through" as some treatises say. 3. The real immigration of Zhuji Lane should have started after the establishment of Zhuji Lane in the Tang Dynasty, while the large-scale southward migration of Zhuji residents only began in the Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, the Zhuji Lane area had a superior environment and developed economy, attracting residents from the north and south. It was only because of unrest and war that forced migration occurred. Because it is located on a transportation thoroughfare, it is a battleground for military strategists. Whenever there is a war, it will inevitably cause migration, and a slightly longer-term war can cause larger-scale immigration. Therefore, there were several large-scale immigrants in the Song Dynasty, and by the turn of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, almost all residents moved south. The traffic arteries have brought economic prosperity, but the traffic arteries are also prone to frequent wars. This is the luck and misfortune of the people of Zhuji Lane. The prosperity of Zhuji Alley is due to traffic; the decline of Zhuji Alley is also due to traffic.
In the late Tang and Song Dynasties, wars were frequent in the interior of the Central Plains. In order to avoid the scourge of war and natural disasters, many clans came to Meilingnan via Nan'an (Dayu) in Jiangxi Province. In ancient times, the Lingnan region was a place of smog and a place where officials were relegated. In the chaos of war, these ancestors supported the old and the young, and went through many hardships to reach Nanxiong Zhuji Lane. They were not familiar with various conditions in Lingnan and did not dare to go south rashly. They had no choice but to settle down here and start a new business. After living there for several years or decades, they gradually adapted to the climate and living habits of the Lingnan region before gradually moving south to the Pearl River Delta. Therefore, many celebrities and prominent families there call Zhuji Lane "the hometown of Sangzi seven hundred years ago."
"Guangdong General Chronicle" records: "It is said that all the prosperous tribes in Guangzhou originated from here (Zhuji Lane)". According to the posthumous manuscript of Mr. Huang Cibo of Zhongshan, "The Migration of Ethnic Groups to the South in Zhuji Lane", there are family trees and genealogies that can be checked. There are 76 surnames and 166 ethnic groups who have moved south to the Pearl River Delta in Zhuji Lane, Nanxiong. According to the "Genealogy and Anthology of Nanxiong Zhuji Lane People's Migration to the South" (compiled by the Cultural and Historical Resources Research Committee of the Nanxiong County CPPCC and the Preparatory Committee of the Nanxiong Zhuji Lane People's Southward Migration Descendants Association), there are 27 surnames and 31 There are 103 surnames and 197 clans in total.