First of all, the two shifts of economic and cultural focus in history.
The so-called center of gravity is relative. Mr. Zheng put forward two criteria to judge the shift of economic center of gravity. First, the production development in the region where the economic center of gravity is located exceeds that in other regions in breadth and depth; Second, the development of production in the region where the economic center of gravity is located is sustained and stable, which not only dominates in a short period of time, but also has a trend of continuous dominance, and this advantage is inherited by future generations. This is mainly the identification of the economic center of gravity, and by extension, it can also be used for the investigation and identification of the cultural center of gravity.
1. Pre-Qin, Qin and Han Dynasties: the formation of the economic and cultural center in the middle reaches of the Yellow River
The oldest civilization center in China is also the most developed area in ancient economy and culture, mainly in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Ancient stone civilization first appeared in this area, and later painted pottery culture was distributed on both sides of the Yellow River. The base of black pottery culture is along the coast of Shandong, and Erligang in Zhengzhou and Xiaotun in Anyang all have cultural relics from the Yin and Shang Dynasties. This area is called the central country within the four seas and Kyushu of the Central Plains. It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period that Chu, which is adjacent to the Central Plains in the south, began to develop, and Wu Yueguo in the southeast started late. Economic and cultural development is mainly concentrated in the north. However, at the beginning, the economic and cultural focus of the alluvial plain of the Yellow River in the north was not concentrated in one place, but in at least two places-the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the downstream coastal areas. Later, the coastal areas south of Bohai Sea in the lower reaches of the Yellow River developed westward and merged with the civilized areas in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. This process can be called the integration of "dragon and phoenix culture".
The ancestors in the coastal areas east of the lower reaches of the Yellow River and south of the Bohai Sea made a living by fishing and hunting, and the totem they worshipped was "Phoenix". Wind is the god of wind, which is worshipped by people who fish and hunt, especially those who make a living by fishing. Because for coastal fishermen, what they are most afraid of is strong winds and waves, which are caused by strong winds, so they hope to have a superhuman natural force to control the strong winds. They saw that when it was calm, there were all kinds of waterfowl flying on the water. Once the wind and waves hit, the waterfowl disappeared. They have an opposite understanding of the reasons for the appearance and disappearance of wind and waves and waterfowl, and they think that the reason for calm is the existence of waterfowl; The storm raged because the waterfowl was not there. This is what Shuo Wen Jie Zi said when explaining the word "phoenix". The wind is the phoenix, the king of birds. When you see it, the world will be quiet. " When it didn't appear, it was dark and the wind and waves suddenly rose. This is how Feng's totem worship was formed. There are no birds like phoenix in nature, which are created by the images of various birds.
At the same time, the middle reaches of the Yellow River adjacent to the west belong to agricultural areas, and the totem worshipped is "dragon". According to Mr. Li Duan's explanation, no matter how dragons change, they can't get rid of the connection with water (Li Duan: From scratch, pp. 588-589, Yunnan People's Publishing House, 200 1 edition). Dragon is a water god and an evil thing of farming people. Because people engaged in agricultural farming cannot live without water, they are afraid of water, pray for irrigation and fear floods, so they hope to have a superhuman power to control water, including rain, snow and hail in the sky and rivers and lakes on the ground. Experts in the history of ancient culture believe that it may be that people saw lightning in the sky during a thunderstorm in summer, and the twists and turns of large and small rivers on the ground, combined with various animals common in farming environment, created the totem of "dragon". When explaining the word dragon, Shuo Wen Jie Zi said that the dragon is a dragon, which is "the shape of lightning head"; The previous Zuo Zhuan also said that "the dragon is also a water thing" and belongs to the god of water management. Shuo Wen Jie Zi further explained that the dragon is "the length of a scale worm, which can be quiet and bright, huge and refined." It can be short or long, especially its "spring equinox rises to the sky, autumn equinox dives into the deep" This half year in the sky is the season of thunder and lightning in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and it is also the rainy season, that is, the flood season, which needs dragons to take care of. Like the phoenix, the dragon is an animal that does not exist in real life, and it is the product of synthesizing various animal image characteristics. Dragon horns, such as horns, and dragon heads, such as horse heads, are all related to farming life and are the objects of worship in farming areas.
At first, two civilized areas, the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the south bank of Bohai Sea, coexisted and were isolated from each other. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties from 2 1 century BC to1century BC, people all over the country were "restless" and "not often barren" and often migrated on a large scale, especially in the middle period of Yin and Shang Dynasties. History says that "from Qi to the Eight Movements in the Tang Dynasty, I began to live in the Tang Dynasty". After the Eight Movements, Pan Geng moved back and forth 16 times, and then to the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Wang Guowei, a master of modern Chinese studies, explained the reason for people's migration in the Yin and Shang Dynasties as "avoiding floods" (Guan Lin (volume 12) "On the Contract of Eight Movements into Soup"); On the basis of Wang's theory, Mr. Fu thinks that the main reason for emigration is to overcome the problem of soil fertility degradation in the original residential area, and then move westward step by step along the south bank of the Yellow River (Yin People Traveling to Agriculture and Yin People Moving, Volume I of Chinese Economic History Series, Sanlian Bookstore, 1980 edition). Before the migration of Shang Dynasty, there were farming tribes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and even fishermen in the southern Bohai Sea. They moved westward together under the guidance of the king. In fact, they consciously gathered in the farming areas in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which was a change from fishing and hunting to farming.
With the end of the migration of Yin merchants, the Yin people settled in Bo, and the two civilized areas merged into one, forming a relatively developed agricultural civilization in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, that is, the Central Plains civilization in the history of China. From the formation process of this civilization center, we can see that the agricultural civilization in the Central Plains is based on the traditional agriculture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, absorbing and integrating the fishing and hunting civilizations in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the southern Bohai Sea from the east; As far as the Yin people are concerned, in the process of this migration, the semi-fishing-hunting-semi-farming tribe became an agricultural tribe. In other words, the ancient agricultural civilization in the Central Plains actually included the fishing and hunting civilization in the southern Bohai Sea.
This fusion process can also be said to be the fusion process of dragon and phoenix culture, and the process of phoenix approaching dragon. Therefore, in the customary appellation, the metaphor takes the dragon as the main body, refers to the conqueror, and later refers to the emperor or man; Phoenix is an object that describes being conquered and absorbed, and later it refers to a queen or a woman. Originally, the phoenix was male and the phoenix was female. When the queen or woman is mentioned, it should be called Phoenix for short. However, birds have the most beautiful male wings, while humans have the most beautiful female wings. Phoenix and phoenix are confused in gender, and phoenix is used to refer to the beauty of women.
Incidentally, during the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, two civilized areas were formed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and there was also a Guanzhong civilized area in the west, namely Weihe Plain and Bali Qinchuan. Chang 'an, the capital of Western Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty, is based on this background. Sima Qian said, "The land in Guanzhong accounts for one third of the world, ... and it is rich, even ranking sixth" (Biography of Historical Records and Huo Zhi (volume 129). It seems to be better than the Central Plains at that time.
It is more abundant, but it contains the problems of financial concentration and industrial and commercial development caused by political and military factors, not all of which are agricultural civilizations of natural economy. The origin of agricultural civilization in Guanzhong Plain is also very early, which complements the Central Plains civilization. It was only because of the existence and development of independent nature at that time that it did not move closer to the Central Plains like the Shang Dynasty. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, this area was still the political, economic and cultural center, but at the same time, the center had moved eastward along the Yellow River, and Luoyang was built as the eastern capital first, and then the Kaifeng center was formed; After the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the Qiang people's eastward advance to the west of Guanzhong, and the desertification problem in this area (the desertification problem here and now was discussed by Mr. Wang Zengyu at the annual meeting of Song History in June, 1994), the agricultural economy declined, and the development momentum of agricultural civilization in Guanzhong weakened, so did its influence.
From the point of view of getting through, the first shift of economic center of gravity was centered on the Central Plains. First, the merchants in the southern Bohai Sea in the east moved westward, and then the Guanzhong Plain civilization gradually descended along the Yellow River. * * * maintained and consolidated the agricultural civilization in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, making this area the national economic and cultural center from the pre-Qin to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, so that when it comes to the ancient civilization of China, it mainly refers to the agricultural civilization centered on it.
2. Tang and Song Dynasties: The economic and cultural center of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was formed.
The Central Plains civilization in the middle reaches of the Yellow River was unique until the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In fact, the most typical period is the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties. Starting from the Eastern Han Dynasty, the economic development momentum in the south began to accelerate, and the three countries of Wei Shuwu stood in the balance. From the perspective of economic history, it was based on the three major economic development centers at that time-Luoyang in the Central Plains, Chengdu in the Southwest, and Jiankang in the Southeast (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). In particular, the development of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River can maintain the Wu regime for more than half a century, which is unprecedented. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties all established their capitals here for 270 years. Coupled with the destruction and decline of the northern region in the same period, in contrast, the southeast region developed rapidly, competing with the north in terms of economy and culture, and the development of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River caught up with the Yellow River basin, forming a situation of confrontation between the north and the south in the history of China. This is the deep economic and cultural root of the confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, from the financial situation of the country, it became more and more dependent on the southeast region. The prosperity of economy and culture in Sui and Tang Dynasties is closely related to the development of southeast region and the expansion of national economic and cultural development region. Although the Grand Canal was opened by the Sui Dynasty in Zhuo Jun County in the north (now near Beijing), it was actually centered on Luoyang, and its main purpose was to transport grain and goods from the south of the Yangtze River to Chang 'an, Guanzhong, rather than strategic materials to the northeast. Especially in the Tang Dynasty, the economy, politics and culture of the north and the south were more closely linked, which further promoted the development of the south of the Yangtze River through exchanges between the north and the south. After the Anshi Rebellion in the mid-Tang Dynasty, the northern economy was severely damaged, and the national finance was more dependent on Jiangnan. Han Yu said that the situation at that time was "today endowed the world with 19 places in the south of the Yangtze River" (Volume 55 of Quantang Wen, Han Yu's Preface to Sending Poems to Luzhou). However, this does not mean that the economic strength of the north is only one tenth of that of the south of the Yangtze River at this time, but because from the Anshi Rebellion until the demise of the Tang Dynasty, the whole country gradually fell into the situation of the separatist regime of the buffer regions, among which the buffer regions of Hebei and the Central Plains were the most arrogant and unscrupulous, "with its land, its people, its army's armor and its wealth" (The Book of the New Tang Dynasty, Volume 50, Military Records), and they made their own tax system at will. But the buffer zone in Jianghuai area is different from that in the north. The army is small in number, mostly "Confucian and handsome", rarely conquering rebellion, and much more stable than in the north. Mr. Zhang Guogang pointed out that in the late Tang Dynasty, Jiangnan tax revenue accounted for nine tenths of the country. "In addition to Jiangnan rich, mainly here in Serenade, military spending is low, so the donation amount is large. In fact, at that time, the only economically developed areas in the southeast of China were Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Runzhou, Changzhou, Suzhou, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou and Mingzhou, including the Yangtze River Delta near Taihu Lake Basin, and the buffer zone in this area was called a "tax-type" buffer zone to provide taxes to the central government (Zhang Guogang: A Study on Buffer Zones in the Tang Dynasty, p.100-60 Judging from the actual development level, it is still a state of confrontation between the north and the south. It cannot be said that the development of Jiangnan has caught up with the north.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the five northern regimes changed in turn, one ate the other, and they were always at war. Southern countries, especially Wu, wuyue and Nantang in the south of the Yangtze River basically coexist at the same time-this is actually a continuation of the different styles of the two buffer regions in the late Tang Dynasty, because the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were mainly formed on the basis of the buffer regions in the late Tang Dynasty. During this period, the economy and culture of the north continued to decline because of the war, while the south, especially Jiangnan, got a chance to develop steadily again and really developed, and its position became more and more important. Mr. Zhang Jiaju has pointed out that the reason why the regime of the Later Zhou Dynasty was consolidated, and the reason why Zhou Shizong and Chai Rong dared to explore the Liao country in the north laid the foundation for the reunification of the Northern Song Dynasty was largely because they formulated the correct strategy-first south and then north, first conquered the Jiangnan area, and used the wealth of the Jiangnan area to provide military supplies for the Northern Expedition; Until the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was still based on the wealth of the south of the Yangtze River (page 7 of the first book of Mr. Zhang Jiaju). By this time, it can be said that the economic development of Jiangnan has surpassed that of the north, forming a new and larger economic and cultural center; From a national perspective, it can be said that the economic and cultural center of gravity has moved south. As for the specific time when the economic and cultural center of gravity moved south, historians have different opinions. Some think it is the late Tang Dynasty or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, some think it is the Northern Song Dynasty, and some think it is the time when the Southern Song Dynasty was established. In fact, the shift of economic and cultural center of gravity to the south is a historical process, which cannot be achieved overnight. From different angles and different industries, the time of moving south is not consistent. For example, the completion of the shift of the production center of gravity in the silk weaving industry to the south has reached the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (my essay "Analysis of the Causes of the Shift of the Center of Gravity to the South in Ancient China" and "Research on Chinese Economic History" 19 12). Therefore, it is not appropriate to pursue this specific time excessively, otherwise it seems to be accurate, in fact, it is even more inaccurate. It is enough to simply say "the time of Tang and Song Dynasties".
Second, the deep-seated reasons why the economic and cultural center of gravity moved southward in the Tang and Song Dynasties
The most obvious and important economic and cultural shift in ancient China was the southward shift in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Historians have analyzed and explained the reasons for this southward migration, which is generally believed to be caused by the war in the north. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties (even dating back to Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties), there have been constant wars in the north, mostly concentrated in Henan, Hebei and Shandong. As for Guanzhong, it became a frontier in the Song Dynasty due to the eastward advancement and desertification of foreign nationalities. As a result, the Central Plains and Guanzhong in the north lost their former glory. During this period, the Jiangnan area has been relatively calm, with fewer wars and famines, which provided objective conditions for the development of production. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a large number of people from all walks of life in the north moved south, which also promoted the development and progress of this area, thus forming a change in the economic and cultural status of the north and the south, and the focus shifted south. This tradition is reasonable, but in a word, war has a time limit. Before the Han Dynasty, there were few wars in the north and the south, but the economy and culture did not develop simultaneously. During the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were many wars in the north and peace in the south, and many northerners migrated to the south. According to this theory, the economic and cultural focus should be shifted at this time, but it didn't. Since the Yuan Dynasty, there have been fewer wars in the North and more wars in the South, but the economic and cultural focus has not turned back to the North. Therefore, war can only be the external condition for the economic and cultural center of gravity to move south, and should not be regarded as the main reason.
Another explanation is that the relocation of the capital, the political center of the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, led to the southward shift of the economic and cultural center of gravity. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, based on Guanzhong Plain, Chang 'an was established as the capital. Kaifeng and Luoyang, the capitals of the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, moved their economic and cultural centers eastward; In the Southern Song Dynasty, the capital moved to Hangzhou, which led to the shift of economic and cultural center of gravity to the south. In fact, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a similar transfer process from Chang 'an to Luoyang and from Luoyang to Jiankang (now Nanjing), but the economic and cultural center of gravity did not go south with it. Moreover, the capital of Beijing was built in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, so the economic and cultural center of gravity, especially the economic center of gravity, did not go north. It seems that the political and military situation was the first consideration when the ancient capital was established. Political and military forces can be used to distribute property, and there is no need to deliberately make the capital close to the economic center of gravity. The shift of political and military focus does not necessarily lead to the shift of economic focus (at most, it stimulates the consumption of the capital and leads to the development of consumer-oriented industry and commerce). When we examine the changes of economic and cultural center of gravity and political and military center of gravity in history, we should distinguish between masters and slaves and not turn consequences into causes. Moreover, we should also see an important phenomenon in the history of our country: many times, the economic center of gravity and the political center are misplaced. Before Sui and Tang Dynasties, the economic center of gravity was in the Central Plains, but the capital was in Guanzhong Plain. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the economic center of gravity shifted to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but the capital was in the Central Plains. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the economic and cultural center of gravity was still in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but the capital was in Beijing. Further observation will reveal that all dynasties with capitals in the south of the Yangtze River, where the economic center of gravity is located, are deformed and short-lived. Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was driven away by the Jin people. Zhu Yuanzhang built Nanjing as a stopgap measure, and Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing immediately after he ascended the throne. Hong Xiuquan didn't live in Nanjing for a long time ... The deep reason is not easy to explain, at least one thing: in the history of China, the political center and the economic center don't necessarily coincide, and most of the time they don't, and the change of the political center doesn't necessarily drive the transfer of the economic center. The same is true of the change of cultural center of gravity.
The deep-seated reasons for the shift of economic and cultural center of gravity to the south in Tang and Song Dynasties should be analyzed from the geographical environment. No matter how many credible examples people can cite, it shows that the geographical environment is the same but the social and historical processes are different, and human beings have conquered nature through transformation, but it is undeniable that no one can come to the conclusion that the influence of geographical environment should be excluded when investigating the progress of human social history. In fact, the more the natural economy accounts for a significant proportion, the greater the role of geographical environment; Even in modern times, people once thought that they could conquer and transform nature, and even be enemies of heaven and earth, thinking that "man can conquer nature." As a result, it was retaliated by nature, which led to a series of problems such as the destruction of ecological environment, the stagnation of economic development and the increase of natural disasters. This also enlightens us that we should pay full attention to the role of the natural environment when investigating the regional differences in social and economic development.
Clear the angle and basis for investigating the reason why the economic and cultural center of gravity moves south, and the problem will be relatively simple. We can make an analogy inference: among the four ancient civilizations in the ancient world (that is, the areas where the economic and cultural centers of gravity are located), although they are far apart and do not touch each other, they all have the same geographical feature as * * * *: they are all bred in a basin of a big river. The ancient culture of China originated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the ancient Indian civilization in the Ganges River valley, the ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile River valley and the Babylonian civilization in Mesopotamia (the gap between the two rivers), all of which were formed on the alluvial plain of the big river. By clarifying this similarity, we can get a basic understanding: that is, the economic and cultural center of ancient times (agricultural economy era) should have been born in the big river basin. In other words, a Okawamoto can breed an economic and cultural center, that is, a civilized region. Then, there are two big rivers in the vast territory of China-the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, which should form two economic, cultural and civilized areas; In the era of civilization (economic and cultural center) in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, there has been a potential civilized area in the Yangtze River basin. This civilized area appeared a little late, but once it appears, it will surpass the previously dominant Yellow River civilized area, because the natural geographical conditions of the Yangtze River civilized area determine its greater energy and more development potential.
The late development of civilized areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River may be mainly due to many ponds and lakes, hard soil and high requirements for farming technology. Unlike the yellow river basin in the north, where the soil is soft, the climate is mild and the four seasons are distinct, farming techniques are easy to master. In fact, about the same time as the Yellow River civilization came into being, fishery and agricultural production began to appear in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but the development speed was not as fast as that in the Yellow River basin. After the southward migration of northerners in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the end of Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, it brought more advanced farming techniques to the north. In addition, this area is relatively peaceful and there are few wars. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it developed greatly and became another economic and cultural center. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, especially in the Northern Song Dynasty, it has obviously surpassed the Yellow River Basin in the north and become the largest economic and cultural center in China, which is the shift of economic and cultural center to the south. Therefore, the existence of the Yangtze River is the fundamental reason for the formation of the economic and cultural center area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is also the fundamental reason for its inevitable transcendence of the Yellow River civilization; As for the second reason, war only objectively accelerated the development of civilization in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
In order to further illustrate the important issue that geographical conditions determine the shift of economic and cultural center of gravity to the south, we can also put forward two proofs. First, the situation of Sichuan and Sichuan area, Sichuan Basin naturally forms a complete closed area, which is another economic and cultural center in the south, but it does not merge with Jiangnan. Unlike the north, the economy, culture and politics are quite local. The second is the development of the Pearl River Basin. The Pearl River is the third longest river in China, and further south, it has the geographical and environmental characteristics of coastal areas. The climate is hot and the development is more difficult, so the development is relatively late and it was not developed until nearly a hundred years ago. The more modern it is, the more it shows its great energy. Although it can't be said that the economic and cultural center has moved south to the Pearl River Basin, it should at least be noted that from ancient times to the present, from south to north, China has formed three civilized areas in turn: Yellow River civilization, Yangtze River civilization and Pearl River civilization. The role of geographical environment should be an indisputable historical fact.
In the geographical environment, the river is a constant factor, but also a changing factor, that is, the change of climate conditions. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the climate in the north changed from warm to cold, which also promoted the economic and cultural center of gravity to move south.
Mr. Zhu Kezhen pointed out in his famous paper "Preliminary Study on Climate Change in China in the Last Five Thousand Years" that the 7th century, that is, the early Tang Dynasty, was a warm and humid era, which was called the "warm period" (China Science 1973 No.2). In recent years, Mr. Lan Yong's further investigation found that there was no ice and snow in Guanzhong area during the 300 years of the Tang Dynasty (some people said it was 19 years), when the temperature in Guanzhong was at least 1 degree higher than it is now (Lan Yong's Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Tang Dynasty History, China Historical Geography Theory Series, 2006,5438+0). It is estimated that the temperature in the whole northern area, including Shandong (east of Taihang Mountain), is higher than that in modern times. In the Tang Dynasty, the boundary of agriculture and animal husbandry in the northern region was roughly from the east of Yanshan Mountain to the lower reaches of Liaohe River. In the 8th century, that is, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the climate in this area changed from warm and humid to cold and dry. The cold air moves south earlier in autumn and later in spring. The climate zone is at least one latitude south than it is now (Man Zhimin's Study on Climate Change Stages in Tang Dynasty reached 1230, that is, in the late Southern Song Dynasty, even colder and drier. From the 8th century to13rd century, nomadic people in the north went south more frequently. Although every time nomadic people move south, there are specific reasons, but the fundamental reason of homosexuality is that the basic living conditions brought by the cold climate are threatened and they move south to find a way out. According to the records in Zi Tongzhi Bamboo Slips and Tang Xinshu, since the 8th century, the frequency of internal wars and southward migration of nomadic people in the north has obviously increased. This also indirectly promoted the shift of economic and cultural focus to the south.
Third, the stereotype of the difference between North and South after the economic and cultural center of gravity moved south.
Regional differences in social and historical development in China have existed since ancient times. "Historical Records" once summed up the local folk customs with concise sentences, such as simplicity, honesty, belligerence, rhetoric, lack of trust, etc ... According to sociologists' observation, the process of social history is different in different regions, and it has its own characteristics besides speed, which can be summarized as "regional differences in social development". After the economic and cultural center of gravity moved southward in the Tang and Song Dynasties, these regional differences had a most obvious change compared with before, that is, they formed a sharp contrast between the north and the south and were stereotyped. Before that, hundreds of miles of different customs, east, west, north and south have their own advantages. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it can be divided into two categories: North and South. Until today, when we talk about people's native place (in fact, we are talking about people's temperament and quality determined by their native place), we are still used to being divided into southerners and northerners, instead of being used to being divided into orientals and westerners as in the world. This distinction between the north and the south does not mean that Chen is casual, but actually means that the geographical environment of the north and the south determines the different temperament of people, and the different temperament of the north and the south determines all aspects of the differences between the north and the south in the society composed of people.
The different personalities of southerners and northerners
China used to use the Huaihe River to divide the eastern half of the territory into the south and the north. The north mainly refers to Hebei and Shandong in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which are basically inland areas. The south mainly refers to the Jiangnan area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, belonging to coastal areas. In the pre-Qin period, Yan Ying said: "Oranges are born in Huainan and oranges are born in Huaibei." Different natural geographical environments in the north and south determine people's different personalities. Most people living in the northern plains and mountainous areas have been guarding the loess all their lives, born and raised in Sri Lanka, and rarely have the opportunity to go out and communicate with the outside world. Unless there are special reasons such as war and famine, they generally don't go out, let alone leave their homes to make a living in other places, and have developed a stable and quiet character of "moving elsewhere" from generation to generation. Most people in this area make a living by farming, including people in mountainous areas. Commercial transactions are kept to a minimum, and the natural economy is absolutely dominant. The farming economy requires people to work hard, from helping their fathers and brothers when they are young, to becoming the main labor force when they are young, and doing things such as nursing yards and repairing farm tools when they are old. They have little leisure time and have worked hard all their lives, and they have developed the industrious character of northerners. On the other hand, the dependence of farming economy on the weather is not only in the sense of abundant droughts and floods, but also includes the labor content of four seasons determined by natural laws, that is, sowing in spring, hoeing in summer, harvesting in autumn and storing in winter. When sowing and harvesting a certain crop, it is absolutely necessary to adapt to the time, year after year, not to be ahead of time, not to be lazy, not to be out of season, and to produce corresponding results while working hard. Not only that, the experience in the production process will also be popularized and applied to the living society with the passage of time, which is passively obeying the fate.
Farming economy and industrial and commercial economy coexist in coastal areas of the south of the Yangtze River. The specific situation of farming economy is also different from that in the north. Good water conservancy conditions, warm climate, little difference between the four seasons, crops can be harvested for more than a year. In the north, crops were harvested once a year before the mid-Tang Dynasty, and the double cropping system was gradually popularized after the mid-Tang Dynasty, while in the south of the Yangtze River, there was a double cropping system as early as the Southern Dynasties, and it was already a triple cropping system in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Especially under the triple cropping system, the planting of crops is no longer one crop after another, but cross-planting, which requires flexible mastery of soil fertility, manpower and time, and more importantly, the initiative of relying on the weather to eat, both hard work and subjective initiative, and both hard work and wisdom. This is especially true for you who are engaged in industry and commerce. We can't rely on experience and season, we must seize business opportunities and take risks in the competition. Opening the market with excellent products requires smarter investment. The success of industrialists and businessmen depends on opportunities and means, and it is not enough to rely on hard work, thus forming a personality dominated by intelligence. In addition, they dare to take risks and prefer not to move, which is consistent with local farming methods and obviously different from northerners.
Although everyone's specific personality is not as unified as the above analysis, the general division and classification are still in line with reality. As mentioned above, the formation of different personalities between southerners and northerners is mainly due to the difference between the open and closed living environment. People in open areas, especially coastal areas, have made rapid progress, while those in inland closed areas have made slow progress. The contrast is extremely obvious. Take the area around the territory of China as an example. During the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, they were still called "four foreigners", namely, Xirong, Beidi, Nanman and Dongyi, all referring to people from the Central Plains (northerners). In the Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, especially after the economic and cultural center of gravity moved south, only Dongyi disappeared, and its progress rate caught up with and surpassed that of the northern Central Plains, while the other three directions were still ethnic minorities, with relatively backward economy and culture and backward social development until modern times. Although there are different factors at work in the progress of "Siyi", intuitive observation tells us that its natural geographical environment is definitely one of the important factors, because the rapid progress of Dongyi faces the sea, while the other three aspects are in the inland areas. If we do another comparative study, we can take Guangdong and Guangxi as examples. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangdong and Guangxi were an administrative region called "Guangnan", which was divided into Guangnan East Road (Guangdong for short) and Guangnan West Road (Guangxi for short) in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, both of which were wild places in Lingnan. After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Guangdong rose rapidly and became an important stage in the modern history of China, while Guangxi was still a relatively backward region dominated by ethnic minorities. It should be noted that Guangdong is near the sea in the south, while Guangxi has only a short coastline, most of which is in the inland areas. This can't be a coincidence.
The northern part is dominated by inland plains and mountainous areas, while the Bohai Sea coast does not play the same role as the southern coast, which determines people's personality and promotes the development of local social economy and culture. The reason may be that the Bohai Rim region is a concave closed bay, not a convex open bay like Jiangnan and Zhongnan. At the same time, it is also related to the regional characteristics of the coast. Jiangnan is backed by the fertile plain in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the sea and fields promote each other in production and concept, complement each other and develop rapidly; Bohai Rim region is not the best place to develop natural and economic conditions, especially in the northwest of the plain, close to Taihang Mountain and Yanshan Mountain. There are not many factors that promote and depend on each other. Inland agriculture exists independently. Looking outward after coastal development, the coastal development speed is not as fast as that of Jiangnan. This is probably the reason why the coastal development speed of Guangdong in southeast, central and south China is slower than that of Jiangnan and faster than that of Bohai Sea.
Southerners and northerners have different personalities formed in different production and living environments, which directly affects their behavior. Northerners are hardworking, quiet and obedient, while southerners are smart, active and adventurous, which makes them often make different choices in the same living environment, leading to different futures and destinies. We can make a comparison between the Taihang Mountain area with its back to the Bohai Rim region and the mountainous areas in southern Anhui and northern Fujian with its back to the south of the Yangtze River.
The living conditions of ancient residents in the depths of Taihang Mountain were extremely bad, such as lack of water and land, dependence on rain and so on, and the traffic was extremely blocked. However, the local people survived tenaciously, worked hard on barren hills for generations, and maintained their families' food and clothing with meager income, thus developing the Taihang spirit represented by Gong Yu. Most of them didn't think of going out of the mountains to make a living until the late 1970s. Just like the old foolish old man in the fable, there are two big mountains in front of his door. He would rather his children and grandchildren dig the mountains to clear the way than live elsewhere (for example, moving his family to the other side of the mountain). People in southern Anhui and northern Fujian are not like this. Apart from the lack of water, the land and barren land where they live are worse than Taihang Mountain. However, they are unwilling to struggle here. They chose to go out of the mountains and do business, becoming a well-known hometown of businessmen in the country, so that there is a saying that "no business without emblem" Gu's Disease Records of Countries and Counties in the World (Volume III)