Gong Yu is the oldest geographical document in China. It uses only 1 100 to describe the main mountains, rivers, soil, products and tributes in China clearly. Confucian scholars throughout the ages regarded it as the standard, that is, it is still the oldest and most valuable historical and geographical document measured by modern science. However, it is ancient. When was it written?
According to traditional records, Gong Yu is a summary of geographical knowledge accumulated by Dayu during his flood control, so it was written in Xia Dynasty. Shang Gong said that Dayu was divided into Kyushu, and he paid taxes according to the mountains, rivers and different lands. Xia Benji, Historical Records, recorded Dayu's flood control in more detail-"Left, right, four o'clock, to open Kyushu, connect Jiulu, vicious Jiuze, and Jiusan". Due to the shortage of food at that time, in order to "give more to each other to balance the princes", the method of "paying tribute to each other" was implemented to facilitate the exchange of mountains and rivers, and it was said that Dayu's flood control and planning of Kyushu began in Jizhou. Therefore, the compilers of Shangshu listed Gong Yu as a Xia book, believing that it was written in Xia Dynasty.
Gu Jiegang's comments broke this traditional concept and put forward that Gong Yu was written in the Warring States Period. It is believed that the author of Gong Yu wrote the backward system (five-clothing system) and the advanced ideal (Kyushu) together, which showed contradictions, especially the concept of Kyushu only appeared in the Warring States period, so that Gong Yu's writing era "clearly appeared in front of people". In addition, Gong Yu's place names such as "inside" and "outside" all appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period. Yangzhou is a state of Yue, and the border line reached Huaishang, after the destruction of Wu in 473 BC, but it was said that "there is only Yangzhou in Huaishang and the sea"; Liangzhou is the territory of Shu, which is obviously the geographical knowledge acquired after Qin destroyed Shu (3 16 BC). Besides, the Iron Age began in the Spring and Autumn Period and flourished in the Warring States Period. But Gong Yu recorded that Liangzhou's tribute was iron and sculpture, not steel, which was impossible in the Xia Dynasty. In view of the above reasons, Gu Jiegang proposed that Yu Gong was written during the period from the destruction of Shu in the Qin Dynasty (3 16 BC) to 280 BC, or at the beginning of the third century BC.
Gong Yu is a concise ancient geographical document. Although there are doubts about the date of its completion, it still maintains its classic position in China's geography.