About Chinese antiquity

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

"What has ever been created in five thousand years of Chinese history besides horrible agricultural implements that barely feed the growing population?" - Guo Moruo, First President of the PRC Academy of Sciences

About the beginning of the history of China

Among the many myths, there is one about the incredible antiquity of Chinese civilization. It is interesting that the Chinese themselves do not spread such legends.

Their legends about themselves speak of mythological heroes at most four to five thousand years ago. In the Near East, agriculture dates back at least to the nineteenth and thirteenth millennia to P. X., and in Egypt even to the thirteenth and twelfth millennia.

In addition, the early history of China is the history of the tribes of the New Stone Age, the "Yangshao Neolithic", or the culture of painted pottery. The pottery is really very characteristic, red and black painting on vases.

The culture got its name from the place of the first finds - near the village of Yangshao, on the banks of the Yellow River. The Yangshao Neolithic is common throughout northern China, between the ages of 2700 to 1700 B. C.

Initially, the Yangshao culture knows two domestic animals - a dog and a pig. Soon, another muscovy duck joins them. In addition to many vegetables, the Pra-Chinese also breed millet. This is a tall millet, the local species is Gaoliang. Chumiza is also an unpretentious variety of millet.

Even with such a limited range of plant and animal species, the Yangshao culture spreads to the north, to Manchuria, and to the southwest, to Xinjiang. In the east they are in the XIII-XII centuries before P. X. merge with approximately the same tribes of the Chengchziyai culture. But in the west … In the west, they come into contact with the population of eastern Fergana. That is, with the Aryan peoples.

Archaeologists and historians have firmly learned that all peoples are equal, and it is not good to talk about someone's advantage. They are very politically correct. For example, "The Yangshao culture owes its skills in the field of grain farming to earlier Western versions of a single series of painted pottery cultures in Eurasia." In a word, the Yangshao would not have taken place without the Aryan influence.

Around 1800 or a little earlier, the Yangshao tribes had a sheep and a cow … This is probably a very politically incorrect, very racist view … But what can you do! The people of the Yangshao culture do not have a buffalo domesticated in India.

The so-called Balinese cattle - banteng, domesticated in Southeast Asia, does not appear. Even the zebu, the humpbacked cattle of Northern India and the south of the Near East, does not appear. Finally, the sheep and the cow could not have been domesticated in China itself - there are no wild cows and sheep here.

The ancient Aryans impart animal husbandry skills to the Chinese people. Perhaps this conclusion is politically incorrect. But he is scientific and faithful.

They also teach the future Chinese to breed not only the wonderful indigenous Gaoliang and the incomparable plague, but also their Aryan wheat and barley.

Moreover, it was in the XIV-XII centuries before P. X. bronze appears in China. There is no period of using native copper, there are no long experiments with the use of copper tools and various alloys of non-ferrous metals, as in the Near East, in the Caucasus or in southern Siberia. Bronze came to China as a kind of finished product that can only be used. And the explosion began !!!

The period of the most ancient civilization in China, the Shang-Yin period, began. The name was given "in honor" of the two most powerful chiefdoms or states: Shang and Yin. During this period, there is already hieroglyphic writing, the number of hieroglyphs reaches three thousand. There is arable land, livestock breeding, cities appear.

“The pace of its (Bronze Age - A. B.) appearance and prosperity, a high level of bronze casting combined with a number of other important innovations, such as writing, the practice of building magnificent palaces and the construction of tombs, the art of stone carving, high-quality finishing utensils, jewelry and tools and many other accessories of an advanced civilization, suggest that the civilization of the Bronze Age in China (the Shang-Yin era) owes a lot to cultural influences from outside."

What are these undefined "influences" ?! The politically correct, politically literate author expresses himself a little more clearly: "Indo-European tribes could have played a certain role in the process of the genesis of Chinese civilization."

I will allow myself only one question: what, some other tribes, besides the Aryans, could play this role? What are they?

Shang-Yin and Zhou

And in parallel with the Shang-Yin culture, in the north of China and in the Ordos steppe belt “on the basis of sowing. cultures of painted ceramics developed an independent North Chinese culture of highly developed bronze … The tribes that left its monuments belonged to the non-Chinese population."

What kind of "non-Chinese population" ?! Aryan, dear reader, Aryan. These are tribes of farmers and pastoralists who worshiped the sun, fire and cow. We do not even know about them what we know about the Saks, Bactrians and Sogdians.

Even in later times, the Chinese despised "barbarians" too much to describe their society or their internal history. And in the XII-XI centuries before P. X. themselves differed very little from these barbarians.

The Aryans of Northern China migrated en masse to Southern Siberia, Transbaikalia and Mongolia. There from the XIV-XIII centuries to P. X. a new archaeological culture appears - the Kara-Suk culture.

And in China itself, just in the XI century, two important events take place: under the blows of the tribes of the Zhou coalition, the capital of Shang-Yin fell. The capital of Zhou in the modern province of Shaanxi is growing and becoming powerful and wealthy, while the former cities are desolate and destroyed.

The second event - a chariot appears in China. The Chinese scientists themselves believe that it appears "suddenly and unprepared." It is quite obvious that they did not borrow it from the Middle East. Actually, the Aryans also brought the chariot to the Middle East … But, firstly, China had no contacts with the Middle East at that time. Neither Aryan nor non-Aryan.

Secondly, in the Near East, horses were harnessed in pairs. Unlike the Middle East, quadrigues and triple teams are often found in China. In the Near East, chariots were depicted in profile. In the Aryan rock carvings, chariots were depicted in the plan "top view".

In the same way, the chariot is depicted on the hieroglyphs of the late Yin and early Zhou times - the time when the Chinese borrowed a horse and a war chariot from the Aryans.

Trifle? How to say … The same revolution in military affairs, which took place in the Near East a little earlier.

Soon the chariot appears in Korea. When describing Tangun, the legendary founder of the Korean state, official Korean historians mention chariots, and even "chariot spare parts."

A little bit later…

Chinese chronicles of the 1st millennium B. C. know in the north a number of Caucasian peoples. These are both Sulfur and Usuns, known to the Greeks under the name of Asins or Asians, Yuezhi (Yatii of the Greeks, poison of the Hindus). Chinese sources describe Usuns as people "with blue (green) eyes and red beards, similar to monkeys" (apparently with a hairy body, which is unusual for the Chinese).

The Xiongnu lived to the north of the Yuezhi. Their appearance was, if not purely Caucasian, then there was a lot of European in it.

In the VII-VI centuries BC. e. in the Yellow River basin, the Chinese fought the Caucasoid Di tribes. The Chinese mingled with them. Hence, the ancient Chinese sometimes had protruding noses and lush beards, and some legendary heroes also mentioned blue eyes.

It is not clear which of the peoples of the North of China invaded the core of China in the 7th-6th centuries under the name di. Was it one of them or some other Caucasian people? Unknown.

Chinese sources believed that the di lost the war with the Chinese and left China for southern Siberia. Whether this is so, it is difficult to say … But, in any case, finds of typical Scythian things were made in North China: huge bronze cauldrons with handles, triangular arrows, art objects of the "animal style". There are a lot of such items on the Yenisei, they are found in the Baikal and Transbaikal regions.

Do the finds in North China mean that the Scythians reached Ordos from Siberia? Or has one of the Scythian ethnic groups formed in China? Or the Scythian antiquities were borrowed by the Indo-Europeans from China, who themselves were not Iranian in language?

Anything can be assumed, we know too little for any confident statement.

In the same way, the Yuezhi left China, and later the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu state was both powerful and civilized enough; it resisted the Chinese onslaught for a long time. Only in 350 did the Xiongnu finally lose and were forced to leave North China.

Most often it is believed that the Xiongnu spoke the Turkic languages. But how is this known - a question without answers. But the Xiongnu is known for certain about the cult of the sun and the cult of cows. “Children of the Cows” - they called themselves the Xiongnu. On the last journey, the Xiongnu was accompanied by a cow. The sacrificial animal was placed along with the deceased, loading on it everything necessary for the deceased in another world. The cow led the Xiongnu to their ancestors.

The cult of the sun and the cow … Something very familiar … If the Xiongnu spoke the Turkic languages, the thread of cultural continuity stretches from the ancient Aryans who inhabited North China.

Indo-European footprint in Chinese culture

Cultural historians have established that horse breeding, chariots, myths and rituals associated with the horse were borrowed by the Chinese in the Bronze Age from the west, in particular the idea of the chariot of the Sun, carried by horses, of the constellation Ursa Major as a Cart, etc.

Linguists have established the early contribution of Indo-Europeans to the formation of Chinese cultural vocabulary, mainly the terms of cattle breeding, and Konradi confirmed the borrowing by analyzing situations with realities. In this Indo-European contribution, the names of horse (ta, so, compare Mongol, mori), goose (ngan, compare Japanese gan), fermented milk product or butter (lac <* klac) stand out.

These names come from the speech of the western outskirts of the Indo-European area. This layer of borrowings is also widespread in related Chinese languages, that is, it was possibly borrowed even before the separation of different languages of the Sino-Tibetan group and the separation of ancient Chinese from them.

Another layer of borrowings contains the names of dog (hbn <* kTen) and honey (* miet). It comes from the Tocharian language (ku, kwem; mit)! These borrowings are noted only in Chinese. This means that these are later borrowings.

And one more thing … The ancient Chinese were sure that dragons live in the rivers: huge, beautiful, bright creatures, guardians of waters. Dragons are able to transform into different creatures, including humans. They can be friends with worthy ones, and they can marry beautiful women, and children are born from them.

From time to time, the Chinese who lived on the banks of the Yellow River chose the "dragon bride": the most beautiful girl in their minds. They dressed the bride in a beautiful dress, gave her orders - what to ask the dragon … And solemnly celebrated the wedding: they drowned the "bride" in the Yellow River.

Perhaps the Chinese beliefs were determined by the nature of the Yellow River "mad river"? From time to time, a terrible river gnaws at the banks folded with loess, and a terrible flood begins, literally hundreds of thousands of people die, the fruits of many years of labor on canals, flood fields and dams are destroyed. Is the Dragon Bride an attempt to propitiate the elements with human sacrifice?

But, first of all, there are many such “wild rivers”. And the idea of dragons, the incarnations of these rivers, arose first on the Yellow River, and only then were transferred to other rivers in China and Southeast Asia. Let's say the Vietnamese talked about the dragon of the Red River.

Secondly, in the Neolithic era, the Yangshao did not make human sacrifices. They didn't believe in dragons. And in the era of Shang-Yin, they suddenly believed. Just when a powerful centralized state appeared in China, dams surrounded the Yellow River, the mad river became less frantic and dangerous …

Third, in addition to the water dragons, there were also air dragons. Volatile such, sometimes very dangerous. But they did not live in water, but in mountains, forests, sparsely populated areas. Like water dragons, they willingly communicated with people, rewarded the worthy, entered into romances with beautiful girls …

And fourthly, both the water and air dragons were not at all evil and cruel. Rather, they are wise and just, kind and reasonable.

One of the legends tells how a certain dragon Yellow He fell in love with a wife given to him by people, and how he let her go to see her relatives for a short time … The woman lost track of time, and it almost turned into a terrible flood: the dragon threw himself to the ground in despair, looking for a wife to bring her home. In spirit, this legend is very reminiscent of "The Scarlet Flower".

The dragon is a classic character in Aryan mythology. They talk about dragons in Europe, Persia, and Russia (the Serpent Gorynych is a typical dragon). There are dragons in the Caucasus … Or rather, in the Transcaucasia. Moreover, the Georgians have absolutely no idea about dragons, but the Armenians …

The Urarts already knew that water dragons are very useful and powerful creatures. Such - dragons - vishaps must be respected, appeased with sacrifices, and worshiped. If the Urarts built a new canal, they necessarily carved a stone image of vishap - the embodiment of a water stream.

Modern Armenians also know about such dragons and call them the same word "vishap". There is a legend about how the word "vishap" entered the Russian archaeological literature. Back in the 1920s, Russian archaeologists spoke of "water dragons" or "Armenian dragons". But his young Armenian wife bends over the shoulder of Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky:

- Ouch! Are you drawing a vishap ?!

Tug scientist and understood the name of the "Armenian dragon", and introduced its name into literature.

As for the Chinese, they creatively interpreted, expanded, altered in their own way the Aryan ideas about dragons … But it seems that they have preserved the ancient pagan idea of them as positive creatures. In Europe, dragons are rather unpleasant creatures.

And they have a vile disposition, and for some unknown reason they are hoarding treasures in their caves, and they burn and ravage entire cities - now in order to get more treasures, now out of sheer meanness. And the girls are being stolen, although it is no longer very clear why. Chinese dragons lived with women as with wives, and had children from them. Christians did not want to discuss sexual issues - they have the dragon of the river Loire makes a stolen woman his servant.

And the dragons of Scotland feed on maidens so directly. If at least 10% of the stories about such man-eating dragons are true, it is not clear how people in Scotland remained in general.

So the dragon in Europe does not cause much sympathy, and killing a dragon for a knight is the most glorious feat. Well! There is nothing new in the fact that with a change of faith, the former gods become demons - terrible, but at the same time disgusting. The disgusting dragons of Europe, the Serpents of the Gorynychi of Christian Russia - confirmation that the ancestors worshiped dragons. This is how faith changed - everything became completely different.

The Chinese, on the other hand, have retained the idea of "good" dragons. Very, very worthy creatures …

Perhaps this conclusion is politically incorrect, and even somewhere deeply indecent. But these ancient arias are still gimmicks! And here they were noted … In general, even the ancient Chinese civilization could not do without them.

And even somehow it is not very possible without them … If it weren't for the Aryans, it is still unknown how the development of culture would have gone in this corner of the inhabited world.