What are the four origins?

Ancient Egypt, the two river basins, India and China are recognized as "four ancient civilizations" by the world. However, the formation mechanism, road model and characteristics of the four ancient civilizations are different. Comparing the similarities and differences between them is helpful for us to understand the characteristics and essence of the formation mode of ancient civilization in China.

(1) Egypt

The origin of Egyptian civilization is based on the Nile. The Nile is a long and narrow river with no broken geographical units, which provides a smooth passage for traffic and flood discharge. People depend on the periodic floods of the Nile to survive in this long and narrow basin. The periodic flooding of the Nile has created a habitat with high investment and high return for Egyptian settled agriculture, which complicates Egyptian society. In 5000 BC, an urban regime appeared in Egypt, and each city controlled a certain area of the flooded plain [1]. This pluralistic local center has no geographical barriers, paving the way for the establishment of a unified political system in the geographical environment. At the same time, the narrow living space has prompted ambitious local rulers to try their best to expand their support areas through unified activities, thus forming a unified centralized mechanism. Finally, in 365438 BC+000-3000 BC, King Mennis of Upper Egypt achieved reunification and Egyptian civilization was formed.

The Nile water flows from south to north, and the king of Upper Egypt can clearly predict the irrigation area in the north, laying the foundation for the reunification of Egypt. It also limits the fact that Egypt's bureaucracy is inward-looking from the beginning, focusing on the internal administrative system and departmental construction.

In a word, the narrow geographical environment of the Nile prompted the ancient Egyptian culture to choose a narrow strip, from south to north, a pluralistic and integrated civilization origin model. It is "a centralized mode of deifying enema".

(2) Two river basins

There are two great rivers on Mesopotamia Plain in West Asia-Tigris River and Euphrates River. The alluvial plain in the lower reaches of the two rivers is controlled by drought and little rainfall, and the abundant two rivers provide the only vitality for irrigated agriculture. But in fact, because the water level of the Tigris River is too low in peacetime and too high in flood season, it is difficult to use irrigation, so the residential areas are mainly concentrated in the Euphrates River basin. Irrigation is the lifeblood of local economic life.

About 5,000 years ago, people in Ubeid dredged the ancient channel of the Euphrates River, turned it into a canal, and established an irrigation network, which objectively required the emergence of social organizations beyond the single settlement level, and the society became complicated, which was manifested in the complexity of settlement form-the social population and settlements converged and merged with the central settlement. When this agglomeration process was completed in the middle of 4000 BC, cities appeared with the disappearance of surrounding settlements. This kind of city contains political, economic and religious centers, and citizens with professional division of labor live within the city walls and develop into a powerful political force. This is the so-called city-state, which is significantly different from what we call the "early state", mainly in the following three aspects.

(1) "primitive democracy"

As the irrigation system is the fundamental lifeline of the social development in the two river basins, as early as the prehistoric primitive rural commune stage, the irrigation right became an equal right of existence for commune members. When immigrants join the "two rivers" society and have to sacrifice their personality, dignity and labor in exchange for the right to use irrigation allowed by the aboriginal commune, foreigners will automatically become the lower class of society [2]. The social stratification of the two river basins is essentially the stratification of the whole nation, not the centralization of a few rulers, and tends to be divided by class. Therefore, when the city is successfully condensed, the original upper-class rural commune members become citizens with their irrigation rights, while the political, religious and economic privileges of a few military leaders have not been greatly developed. Of course, the political life of the city-state is a kind of "primitive democracy", represented by the patriarch of the extended family and reflecting the wishes of all citizens. Therefore, the city-state in the two river basins is essentially a "castle regime of hierarchical family commune", which is significantly different from the early class countries represented by the early dynasty and the ancient Egyptian dynasty. Therefore, whether the polis is one of the early forms of state with universal significance is worth thinking twice!

(2) the division of political power

The small area of the Euphrates River basin is limited by geographical fragmentation, so the pluralistic political system formed is also fragmented-city-state-city controls the surrounding small areas, and it is impossible to form a centralized political unity like the Nile immediately. On the other hand, the "hierarchical family commune-style castle regime" was born out of the primitive rural commune democracy, which essentially inhibited the development of centralization, so it was impossible to form political unity and the political pattern was bound to be fragmented.

(3) Late kingship.

Until the early dynasty around 2900-2400 BC, the big family with rich water and rich land kept buying land from the declining family, and economic growth became the backing of its political growth, forming the leadership of the wealthy aristocrats to the society, and the social transformation in the true sense of class differentiation officially appeared, laying the foundation for the establishment of kingship. This is the real early country. It is worth noting that the fundamental reason for the emergence of such countries is that large families realize it by buying land, which is quite feudal.

From 23,765,438+0 to 23,65,438+06 BC, Sagan, a Sumerian nation, began to conquer the city-state, or because of its old government or appointed officials, it completely broke the broken and dilapidated system of the city-state, formed a unified trade empire, and choked the traffic throats of Europe, Asia and Africa.

A century later, the great empire established by Sumerians was replaced by the Ur Third Dynasty established by Zagros.

The origin of civilization in the two river basins is similar to what Mr. Su called the "sustainable" model [3]. The transformation from the city-state to the early dynasty, from the great empire of Sumerian civilization to the third dynasty of Ur, is not the natural evolution of the same nation, culture, society and even civilization, but a completely different follow-up after the interruption. It is "a sausage mode in which a string of sausages and vermicelli are connected in series".

(3) Indus Valley

From 2600 BC to 65438 BC+0900 BC, "urban civilization" appeared in today's Pakistan and western India, covering 250,000 square miles of land. Urban planning is formal and rigorous, and it is an economic and political center with unified words, myths and symbols. But there is no sign of war conquest. It seems to be a trade and political alliance. The city wall may have flood control function. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and others believe that these cities may be city-states, which are neither Emirates nor controlled by kings or any centralized leaders. Businessmen, landlords and religious leaders constitute the leadership of this settlement [4]. Religion serves all communities in the city.

In the 600 years after 1900 BC, due to the diversion of rivers and the abandonment of trade routes, the civilization of the original trade and political alliance was easily eroded and declined, and the center of civilization moved to the Ganges River valley in northern India today. At this time, the Aryans in India completely replaced the primitive civilization in ethics, language and culture.

The whole picture of indus valley civilization is far from clear. According to the current data, it may also be a "sustainable" model [5].

(D) the characteristics of Chinese civilization

Based on the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Liaohe River, the origin of Chinese civilization has created many centers of origin of civilization with different cultural choices in a diversified ecological environment. The specific mechanism of complication in each central society is different. In the semi-arid and semi-humid areas in the north, farmland water conservancy projects are the mechanism of social stratification, while in the Yangtze River basin in the subtropical humid climate zone, the flood control system is the mechanism of social stratification. Regardless of the northern and southern regions, due to the long-standing stratification within the society and the fact that the origin of Chinese civilization is mainly concentrated in the plains below the second step of the East, there is no big geographical barrier and big broken geographical units, and the political power tends to be concentrated at least in cultural areas. Therefore, the process of China's civilization tends to transition from an emirate society to a mature early country, and there is little chance to enter the "primitive democratic" city-state in the two river basins.

China is located in the east of Asia, facing the Pacific Ocean and backed by Eurasia, with a vast territory, and its development space is definitely much broader than that of the Nile and the two river basins. Therefore, China's civilization model is more likely to be centralized than Egyptian and two-river sausage model.

Agriculture has always been the lifeblood of China's economy, and trade failed to occupy the position of social and economic subject in ancient times. Therefore, in the process of China's civilization, "urban revolution" may not be the most important. Therefore, China lacks the soil to form the "urban civilization" of ancient India.

During the Longshan period, Yao, Shun and Yu stood firmly at the exit of the Yellow River flowing from the Loess Plateau into the North China Plain, which prevented the Yellow River from swinging at will and brought predictable and rich water resources to the middle reaches of the Yellow River. One of the centers of the origin of this civilization has chosen a road of sustainable development and made steady progress. However, Shijiahe culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches, and Hongshan Culture in the earlier Liaohe River basin all collapsed or stood still because of the unsustainable development path, and finally formed a unique situation in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The integration process of Chinese civilization was officially launched, and the spider-web core radiation pattern of Chinese civilization was born.

After the formation of the central plains civilization core, it adopted the mentality of big river culture, gathered thousands of streams and absorbed hundreds of rivers, making the central plains culture as excellent as water. Get through Gong Yu No.9 Road, absorb the outstanding essence of the original origin centers of various civilizations into the Central Plains, and integrate the achievements of the Quartet, so that Chinese civilization will not die. Gong Yu Kyushu's bureaucratic system of division, five-service, nine-animal husbandry and eighteen-yue fully shows that the diplomatic and administrative means of Central Plains civilization are very different from Egyptian introverted bureaucratic system.

The diversity of ecological environment in the origin area of Chinese civilization has created the diversity of the origin of civilization; After the integration, the diversity of local culture has been fully preserved for a long time, providing diversified nutrients for the core of civilization from many aspects such as culture, politics, religion, thought and philosophy, thus maintaining the lasting vitality of Chinese civilization lacking in Egypt, the two river basins and even India, which is also the secret of the success of Chinese civilization, the only one that has never been interrupted since its birth.

In a word, China's model of civilization origin is a multi-dimensional and integrated cobweb model. From its origin to its formation, it has always been centralized, which is completely different from the "primitive democratic" city-state system in which citizens are the masters of the country.

Precautions:

Civilization before Greece and Rome. Yale University

News. 1989. Page 2 1-30.

[2] The same note [1], p. 30-4 1.

[3] Su: "A New Probe into the Origin of Chinese Civilization", Joint Publishing Company, 1999.

[4] Jonathan Mark Kennoye: The Birth of Civilization. In archaeology, January/

February, 1998. Page 54 -6 1.

[5] Same as Note [3].