The Book of Songs was produced in a geographical and ecological environment that was completely different from the existing one, thus directly affecting the lifestyle of our ancestors. It not only records the hearts and emotions of the people of that era, but some chapters also record the geographical information of the time.
The geographical information recorded in "The Book of Songs" includes the geographical environment, rich phenological experience, weather phenomena, settlement and city site selection, the concept of earth shape and the thoughts of crustal changes, etc., which reflects the people's thoughts at that time. Geographic knowledge level.
The "Book of Songs" records the geographical environment at that time. For example, "Daya·Han Yi" contains: "Yi Yi Liangshan, Wei Yu Dian." Fu Fu, there are bears and tigers, and there are red leopards and yellow turtles.
The translation of this passage is: The lofty Liang Mountains are so high and steep, and Dayu once governed them. It's a pleasure to be in Korea. There are plenty of water sources all over Sichuan. Bream and silver carp are fat and big, and doe and fawn gather together. There are bears and bears in the mountains and forests, as well as lynxes and tigers. The precious brave skin was sent as a contribution, and the red leopard and yellow scorpion were also sent to Beijing.
Some people say that the Liangshan Mountain in the poem is in Hancheng, Shaanxi Province, while others say that it is Shijingshan Mountain in Beijing today.
The poem describes the geographical environment at that time. There were wide rivers and many lakes, in which many bream and fish were swimming around. Groups of deer, their cries resounding throughout the wilderness. Bears and brown bears infest the forest. Lynx and tigers appear and disappear on the edge of forests and grasslands. This is a scenery of forests and grasslands, with extensive lakes and swamps and many wild animals.
The chapter "Daya·Sangrou" describes the flora and fauna near Haojing, "Looking at the middle forest, you can see the deer." It means, look at the vast forest and how happy the deer are playing. There were indeed few people and many animals here at that time.
The "Book of Songs" records are also confirmed in "Mencius Teng Wengong", which says that King Wu of Zhou once "drove tigers, leopards, rhinoceros, and elephants away from them." It can be seen that in the Yellow River Basin in the early Zhou Dynasty, There are even many wild animals in the suburbs of Beijing.
At that time, agriculture was booming in the vast area of ??the Yellow River Basin, and human society was about to intervene and affect the native geographical environment on a large scale. Therefore, the records in the Book of Songs are meaningful for restoring the original geographical appearance of my country's Yellow River Basin before large-scale intervention by human activities.
In ancient times, rich phenological experience was accumulated, which was also recorded in the Book of Songs. It is said that the poem "Bin Feng·July" was written in 1100 BC. When the Duke of Zhou was assisting King Cheng of Zhou, he was young and did not know the difficulties of agricultural production throughout the year, so he explained the knowledge of agricultural phenology to him in detail.
The poem "Bin Feng·July" is a typical chapter reflecting the phenological experience in the Book of Songs, covering every month of the year.
In the first month, we start to repair the hoe and plow; in February, we cultivate and worship our ancestors; in March, we prune the mulberry branches; in April, polygala grows seeds; in May, we hear the sound of grasshoppers springing their legs; in June, weavers flutter their wings. Eat plums and grapes; in July, shrikes are chirping, crickets are in the fields, and you can eat melons, boil sunflowers and beans; in August, you cut reeds, weave hemp, beat red dates, and pick gourds; in September, you gather autumn pockmarks and build a threshing floor. When frost begins to fall, women sew cold clothes, and crickets come through the door, and then crawl under the bed; in October, the leaves fall from the trees, and they go to the fields to harvest rice, clean the threshing floor, and put the crops into the warehouse; in November, they go up to the mountains to hunt for raccoon dogs; in December, the hunters gather, and continue Practice hunting skills.
The seasons in the poem have both weekly and lunar calendars. The content of the poem reflects the thorough understanding of the germination, flowering, heading, and tillering stages of insects, fish, birds, animals, and many plants at that time, and used this to determine agricultural production activities so that they are accurate. Farming time is in line with the season.
Among the celestial phenomena records in the Book of Songs, the most outstanding scientific contribution is the chapter "Xiaoya·Zhiyuanzhishi", which contains the poem: "The moon has left at the end of the day, and the waves are pouring." It means: , the moon moves, and as soon as it leaves the Hyade star, it will rain heavily.
This wonderful astronomical and meteorological phenomenon was recognized by our ancestors more than 3,000 years ago and recorded in poetry. Moon phases have always been closely related to precipitation.
The changes in the moon phases are caused by the changes in the positions of the sun, the earth and the moon. Whenever the moon moves away from the position of the Hyades, it will cause strong winds or hurricanes, which will bring heavy rains.
This astronomical and meteorological phenomenon has also been similarly recorded in ancient classics such as "Shang Shu Hong Fan" and "The Art of War".
In addition, "Xiaoya·The Turn of October" records: "At the turn of October, the new moon is Xinmao. The sun has an eclipse, which is also ugly. The moon is dim on that day, and it is dim on this day. "Now the people are mourning."
It means that from the end of September to the beginning of October, it is the first day of October. A solar eclipse suddenly occurred in the sky. It was really a big scandal. The moon is dim and colorless, and the sun has lost its light. Nowadays, all the people in the world are extremely sad and cannot restrain themselves.
The solar eclipse recorded in the poem occurred on September 6, 776 BC. This is the world's earliest record of a solar eclipse.
From the songs in the Book of Songs, it can be seen that people at that time had a clear understanding of various weather phenomena.
"Beifeng·North Wind": "The north wind is cool, and the rain and snow are cool." "The north wind is blowing, and the rain and snow are falling." It means that the north wind makes the whole body cool, Rain and snow are falling all over the sky; the north wind blows fiercely, and rain and snow are flying all over the sky.
"Xiaoya·Xinnan Mountain": "The sky has the same clouds, and it is raining and snowing.
"It means that the sky is full of thick clouds, and rain and snow will fall one after another.
"Xiaoya·April": "In April, there will be summer, and in June, there will be heat. "Autumn is miserable and full of flowers." "The winter sun is fierce and the wind is blowing." "It means that April is the beginning of summer, and the heat is only in June. The autumn wind is bleak, and as soon as it arrives, the flowers and trees will wither and the leaves will fall. Winter is cold, and the blowing wind will be cold to the bones.
"阘 "Feng·Hospit": "The Chao is in the west, and the rain from the Chao is admired. "It means that there is a rainbow hanging in the early morning in the western half of the day, and it will rain most of the day from morning to noon.
"Xiaoya·Gu Feng": "The wind blows in the valley, the mountains are cuiwei, and there is no grass. , No tree will wither. "It means that the foehn wind blowing from the valley is hot and dry. Wherever it goes, no grass will die and no wood will wither.
In these poems, many concepts of weather phenomena are When used correctly, it also expresses the cause and effect and process of the correlation between some weather phenomena.
The Book of Songs also contains records of settlement and city site selection, as well as residential area planning
"Daya·Gongliu" praises the achievements of Gongliu, the twelfth generation of King Wen of Zhou. He led the Zhou people to move to Bindi, and then he went to inspect the terrain and choose a settlement site.
Gongliu climbed to the top of the mountain. , and stood on the flat ground, choosing a place with abundant water resources and spacious terrain, where hundreds of springs gush out, and small rivers pass through it, with mountains as its back, so he let the Zhou people settle down here. /p>
Gong Liu led the people to reclaim and level the land on the south slope of the mountain, and used springs for irrigation. They built cities and houses on the higher platform. There was a large flat land near the high platform for farming.
This poem reflects that our ancestors have been able to determine the direction. The "Book of Songs" says: "There is a skip in the south of Wei and a bucket in the north." "Nanji and Beidou use the position of stars to determine the direction. Use this to determine the direction and determine the four seasons of the year. It also reflects that the Gongliu era was able to choose the geographical environment for agricultural development and urban construction.
The concept of the shape of the earth and the changes in the earth's crust in the "Book of Songs" reflect the ancients' thinking and understanding of geographical phenomena.
"Xiaoya·The Turn of October" recorded in 780 BC. The big earthquake that happened in 2008: "Ye Ye shook with electricity and was restless. Hundreds of rivers are boiling, and mountains and hills are crumbling. The high bank is the valley, and the deep valley is the mausoleum. "It means that the thunder and lightning roared and shone, and the sky was restless and the earth was restless. The rivers were boiling, and the mountain peaks collapsed. The high banks turned into deep valleys, and the deep valleys turned into peaks.
This This phenomenon is related to what Zuo Qiuming, the historian of Lu State in the late Spring and Autumn Period, recorded in "Guoyu" Volume 1 "Zhouyu": "In the second year of King You, all three rivers in the west were shaken... It was the same year when three rivers were exhausted and Qishan collapsed." In time and earthquakes The phenomena are all consistent.
"Xiaoya·Zhengyue" records: "It is said that the sky is high and the cover is high, and one does not dare to be in a state of disarray; it is said that the earth's cover is thick and that one does not dare to be in the ground. "It means that people say how high the sky is, but I am afraid of bending my waist. People say how thick the earth is, but I am afraid of standing on tiptoes. It reflects the idea that the sky and the earth are thick at that time, and it also reflects the concept of the shape of the earth.
In the Book of Songs, conceptual names have been formed for different landform types, such as mountains, hills, hills, mountains, plains, Xi, Zhou, Zhu, etc. Those covered with plants are called "Qi"; Those without vegetation are called "岵".
According to the different landforms, adjectives are added to the type name. For example, "Dunqiu" is a single hill; "Aqiu" is higher. Hills, etc. This shows that people had formed a rough classification concept for surface forms at that time.
In addition, there were also different classifications for lakes and swamps, such as marsh, swamp, cold spring, fat spring, and sill. Concepts such as springs.
The Book of Songs also records the relationship between terrain and plants. For example, it is recorded that the presence of one plant in a plant community must be accompanied by another.
《 The names of trees and shrubs were created in "The Book of Songs". For example, "Zhou Nan·Ge Tan" says "Yellow birds fly and gather in shrubs"; "Zhou Nan·Han Guang" says "There are trees in the south, so don't stop thinking about them"; "Xiaoya·Lumbering" said that "the trees are tinkling, and the birds are singing, coming out of the valley and moving into the trees". In addition, the "Book of Songs" also recorded the parasitic phenomenon of plants for the first time. Place names can be roughly divided into four categories: mountain names, water names, city names, and country names.
Take mountain names as an example. The mountain names in the Book of Songs are different from country names and city names, and they are relatively stable today. Those that can be confirmed include "Nanshan", which is Cao Nanshan in the southeast of Cao County, Shandong Province; "Zhongnan", which is Zhongnan Mountain in the southwest of Shaanxi Province; "Ao", which is now Aoshan in Xingyang, Henan Province; "Qi" , in Qishan County, Shaanxi Province; "Han", in Nanzheng, Shaanxi Province and other mountain names
It is meaningful for the study of my country's development of mountainous areas
In short, " The Book of Songs is the earliest collection of poems in the history of Chinese literature. The geographical information reflected in it is very rich and is an indispensable and important historical material for understanding ancient Chinese geography.