Judging from the oracle bone inscriptions excavated by archaeologists and the earliest documented records, as early as the early days of human society, the phenomenon of nature worship was very common.Because people lack scientific understanding of nature, they worship various natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, sky, earth, mountains, water, etc. as natural gods, so as to entrust people's spiritual and psychological prayers for nature.In the more than 400 mountains recorded in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, there are sacrifices of different specifications, which shows the universality of the worship of natural gods at that time. "Historical Records Fengchan Book" quoted "Zhou Guan" as saying: "The Son of Heaven worships the famous mountains and rivers in the world, the five mountains regard the three princes, the four dunes regard the princes, and the princes worship the famous mountains and rivers in their borders." It can be seen that at that time, the sacrifice of mountains and rivers had been divided into administrative regions and According to the hierarchy, emperors offer sacrifices to the Five Sacred Mountains and Sidu Mountains, local officials offer sacrifices to famous regional mountains and rivers, and common people offer sacrifices to local famous mountains and rivers.The Five Sacred Mountains refer to Mount Tai in the east, Mount Hua in the west, Mount Huo in the south (now Tianzhu Mountain in Anhui), Mount Heng in the north, and Mount Song in the middle.Sidu refers to four major rivers: Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River and Jishui.Corresponding to the five mountains, there are five towns (big mountains), namely, Yishan (Shandong) in the east, Kuaiji (Zhejiang) in the south, Wushan (Shaanxi) in the west, Yiwulu mountain in the north (Liaoning), and Huoshan in the middle (Shanxi).There are also nine towns. At that time, the whole country was divided into nine states, and each state had its own town.Among the worship objects of many mountain gods, famous mountains and great rivers have gradually become the representatives of nature, while the five sacred mountains and four blasphemy symbolize the entire land of China.

Worshiping the gods of natural mountains and rivers is a common phenomenon in the process of human development, while offering sacrifices to famous mountains and rivers and enshrining Mount Tai by the Son of Heaven is a unique phenomenon in the history of the development of famous mountains and rivers in China.Fengchan is a kind of etiquette activity for ancient emperors to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.Feng means that the emperor went to the top of Mount Tai to worship the sky; Zen means offering sacrifices to the earth on the hills at the foot of Mount Tai.The Fengchan activity has a long history, but there are historical records that Qin Shihuang climbed to the top of Mount Tai to worship the sky in 219 BC, and Liangfu worshiped the land on the hill at the foot of Mount Tai, and ordered Prime Minister Li Si to carve stones to record his achievements.Since then, the Fengchan activity has become a national ceremony that wastes money and people in feudal society.

The emperor enshrines Mount Tai, which includes offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, and the court offering sacrifices to Sidu also represents the rivers and rivers of the world.This has developed from the general worship of specific mountains, rivers and waters to the worship of those famous mountains and rivers full of symbolic significance.In this way, the famous mountains and rivers are separated from the ordinary objects of material utilization, protected, and worshiped as symbolic objects of sacrifice.This is the main function of the famous mountains and rivers in the pre-Qin period and the main form of the spiritual relationship between man and nature-sacrifice.

In the universal worship of natural gods, people's feelings and aesthetics for mountains and rivers have also sprouted among the people. For example, there are many poems praising the beauty of natural mountains and rivers, "Mount Tai's rocks are seen by Lu Bang", "Song Gao Weiyue, majestic Extremely high” and so on.Some scholars and thinkers also have new insights into the relationship between man and nature. For example, Lao Tzu and Zhuang Zi tried to explore the connection between heaven and man, and put forward the idea of ​​harmony between man and nature. , had a great impact.Confucius put forward the view of mountains and rivers that "the benevolent enjoy mountains, and the wise enjoy water". He believed that the images of mountains and water are similar to human virtues, so people appreciate mountains and rivers as aesthetic objects.This is called "Bide" in the history of landscape aesthetics.Bede's thoughts also deeply influenced the later generations' aesthetic consciousness of mountains and rivers.