Chapter 33 3. Who represents China

Shang is also a "running the red light". Running a red light is not surprising, because this is his "historical mission". Just as Yao, Shun and Yu are the "Three Represents", Xia, Shang and Zhou are not the "Three Dynasties". The dividing line between Yao, Shun, Yu and Xia, Shang and Zhou is the birth of a country.Yao, Shun and Yu represent the previous tribal alliances, while Xia, Shang and Zhou represent the later primary stages: Xia is the initial stage, Shang is the exploration, and Zhou is the formation.After entering the Western Zhou Dynasty, the country was the country, no longer a tribe.But even in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were only city-states and no territorial states, let alone "centralization of power and unification of the world."Therefore, Xia, Shang and Zhou are not "dynasties", but "eras".

The era is always coming to an end, and centralization is the trend.Spring and Autumn is preparation, Warring States is experiment, and Qin and Han are completion.After that, the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties were adjusted, consolidated, enriched, and improved.Afterwards, the Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War, and the October Revolution came to an end, and this 133 era also came to an end, and China has come to where it is today. Different eras have different civilizations and cultures, and the same goes for Xia, Shang and Zhou. In fact, Xia, Shang and Zhou are not only three stages and three eras, but also three cultures and three civilizations.They were created by three ethnic groups: Xia, Shang, and Zhou.Of course, none of them was a nation at first, but a "tribe" at best.These three tribes should have originated roughly at the same time.Sima Qian said that Yu, the ancestor of Xia, Qi (read like Xie), the ancestor of Shang, and Qi, the ancestor of Zhou, were all "cabinet members" of the Yao and Shun alliance.This statement is not without shadow.Zhang Guangzhi said that it is entirely possible that the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and the Three Kingdoms coexisted.

strangeness!How can the three families coexisting be "three generations"? The key is "who represents China". What is "China"?The so-called "China" by the ancients is not a political concept, but a cultural concept, which means "the cultural center of the world".The geographical condition of this center is to be in the Central Plains, because this is "in the world" in the eyes of the ancients.The city built in this place is called "China". Of course, the so-called "Central Plains" has a larger scope; where "China" is located, it is also flexible.For example, Anyi, the capital of Xia Qi, was in Shanxi; Luoyang, the capital of Xia Jie, was in Henan; Bo (read Rubo), the capital of Shang Tang, was in Shandong;They all moved the capital many times, so Shang is also called "Yin" or "Yin Shang".Zhou had two capitals, one called "Zong Zhou" (Chang'an), in Shaanxi; the other called "Cheng Zhou" (Luoyang), in Henan.Anyway, wherever the capital of Xia, Shang and Zhou was, that was "in the world" and "China".

The question is, why should they have the final say? Because the overall national strength is the strongest. Culture has always been "following the trend".Whoever is the boss of the rivers and lakes, everyone will learn from him.What's more, the country with the strongest comprehensive national strength often also has the highest level of education, at least that was the case at the time.What's more, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties will also consciously promote it. The decent way of saying it is "to educate with civilization", or "culture" for short, is a verb.For this reason, they even did not hesitate to use force, first "martialization" and then "culture".Liu Xiang's "Shuoyuan Zhiwu Pian" made it very clear, "If the culture is not changed, then it will be punished."That is to say, I use civilization to educate you with good intentions, if you still refuse to repent, then watch the knife!

Culture is "peaceful evolution". Behind the peaceful evolution is the conquest by force.Therefore, the Shang and Zhou dynasties had to wage wars.However, only conquer, not destroy.The businessman's method is to expel first and then assimilate; the Zhou people's method is to settle first and then assimilate.In short, the so-called "three generations" are actually Xia, Shang and Zhou successively gained the dominance of culture and played the leading roles on the historical stage.The reason is that because of "coming from behind", this is the reason for "taking turns to sit in the village".

Obviously, the so-called "Middle Kingdom" is actually a "T-shaped station".The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties all have to come on stage and walk on the catwalk, serving as a model of Chinese civilization and setting an example for the surrounding nations. The difference is style.