For prehistoric times, history books often refer to ancient times, Archean times, or legendary times. Historians have different opinions about the time limit of the legendary era. The usual saying is: First, the upper limit is uncertain, and the lower limit is tentatively set before Pan Geng moved to Yin; Second, according to the Spring and Autumn Annals, Yuan Ming Pao, Guangya, Waiji and other books, it was 2.76 million years from the beginning of the world to Lu Aigong's hunting at the age of two, that is, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period; Third, the upper limit is the Yanhuang period, and the lower limit is Yu's accession to the throne; 4. From the beginning of Pangu to 84 BC1year (the first year of Western Zhou Dynasty). Why is this happening? Because when historians study this long period of ancient human history, most of them are based on some mythological records, and they have unearthed some limited relics of Paleolithic, Neolithic and Golden Stone Age. For example, there are so-called myths and legends such as Pangu's creation of the world, the dynasty's "building a nest with wood", Suiren's "drilling wood to make a fire", Nuwa's "refining stones to make up the sky" and "three emperors and five emperors". People are still not sure whether the legendary character exists, but what is certain is that it needs to be found underground. In 2002, the Pangu Cave was discovered in Yuanling County, Hunan Province. According to experts' research, this cave is Pangu Room. This amazing discovery is expected to fill a gap in the history of human evolution. Pangu is a man, not a god, and one of the founders of the Chinese nation. This paper intends to discuss Pangu, Pangu's reproduction, Pangu culture and related issues.

First, research on the legend of the world's founders.

When we study ancient history, we are faced with two problems: first, the ancestors of ancient humans; The second is the ancestor of creation. These two different concepts. The former focuses on the origin of human beings; The latter focuses on combing the world.

(A) about the ancestors of ancient humans

All ethnic groups in the world have many beautiful myths and legends about the origin of human beings.

The Bible says that after God created the sun, the moon, the stars, plants and animals, he made Adam, the ancestor of mankind, out of clay in his own image, and injected his soul into Adam's body, so Adam had life. God pulled out a rib from Adam while he was sleeping, and then made his wife Eve. Thus, Adam and Eve lived and multiplied and became the ancestors of mankind. In ancient China, there were also myths and legends about women cursing "fighting against loess to create human beings". Darwin's theory of evolution appeared in the19th century, which put forward a new view on the origin of human beings and broke the myth that God created man. Darwin believed that man evolved from monkeys. He also believes that the development of nature is the result of the continuous evolution from inorganic substances to organic substances, and plants, animals and humans have appeared. Accordingly, anthropologists believe that about 25 million years ago, Old World monkeys living in Africa and Asia were separated from the population that eventually evolved into apes. From160000 years ago to1100000 years ago, great apes (such as orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and apes) differentiated from small apes (such as gibbons and closed-toed monkeys), while humans differentiated from chimpanzees 7 million years ago. For a long time, scientists have been looking for the same ancestor fossils of large apes separated from small apes. In 2004, the American magazine Science revealed that an ape fossil was recently unearthed near Barcelona, Spain, which is 654.38+0.3 million years ago. Scientists believe that this ape is probably the last ancestor of all apes, including humans. China is one of the cradles of human civilization, and ancient humans are widely distributed in China. In the 1990s, a rare ancient human site was discovered in Longgudong, Wuxian County, Sichuan Province. After various tests, it was called "Wuxian people" 2 million years ago, belonging to the earliest Homo erectus in Asia and one of the earliest ancient humans in the world. 1975, ancient human fossils were found in Yunxian county, Hubei province, which were called "Yunxian people", about 1 10,000 years ago; 1965, an ape-man tooth was found in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, which was called "Yuanmou of Homo erectus" and was 700,000 years ago (it was identified as 6,543,800+7,000 years ago by archaeologists at that time, and then re-identified); 1963 to 1964, a human skull, maxilla and three teeth fossils were found in Lantian county, Shaanxi province, which was called "Lantian man", 800,000 to 750,000 years ago. 1929, an ape-like human skull fossil was found in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, called "Beijinger", which was 700,000-200,000 years ago; 198 1 year, a batch of ancient human fossils, including the most complete skull of China, were found in Hexian County, Anhui Province, which was quite different from that of "Beijingers" and similar to that of "Javanese", 700,000-600,000 years ago. During the period of 1964, a number of paleolithic cultural sites were discovered in Guanyindong, Guizhou, and 3,000 forged stone tools were unearthed. Scientists have determined that the cultural age of Guanyin Cave is similar to that of "Beijingers", and its early stage is earlier than that of "Beijingers". During 1984, a number of ape-man bones were found in Jinniu Mountain, Yingkou, Liaoning Province, including hand bones, foot bones, vertebrae, ribs and so on. This discovery is the first time at home and abroad. This is a group of precious fossils for studying human development. Experts call it "Jinniu Mountain Man", and its survival age is estimated to be 200 ~ 65438+ 10,000 years ago. Similar ancient human skeleton fossils and their living sites have been surprisingly found all over the world. All these archaeological discoveries are of great significance for us to study the development of ancient humans. What is certain is that these are the ancestors of ancient humans scattered all over the world.

The origin of human beings is not the focus of this article, so I won't go into details.

(2) Guan Gan, the founder of the epoch.

The so-called creation of the world is actually to organize, govern and transform the world. As you can imagine, the evolution from apes to primitive people is a long process. Even after differentiation, primitive human life is still the same as that of animals. They mingle with each other, collecting wild fruits, killing animals, catching color in the river, and being hunted by raptors and beasts. The difference is that you can talk and have a developed brain. According to the data, Neanderthals belong to late Homo sapiens in China, and their brain capacity is 1300~ 1500 ml, which is within the variation range of modern people's brain capacity. They can think positively, so they evolve faster. For example, for hard-shelled nuts, apes can't break them with their teeth and throw them away, while primitive humans can break them with stones and eat them. For another example, in cold weather, primitive humans learned to wrap themselves in grass feathers and skins to keep out the cold, and so on. It is through these small changes that primitive humans gradually broke away from the herd and became modern humans. In other words, there are always some capable people, elders or smarter people in the primitive population, leading people to change the status quo and seek new ways of life. These people are the heroes or saints in history.

The dictionary explains the creation as follows: ancient mythology says that Pangu's creation is the only thing that exists. The sky, that is, the universe, exists objectively and no one can open it. Pioneering is opening and innovation. It is a myth that Pangu opened the sky and the goddess filled it, but it is entirely possible for them to open up a new world. Creating the world is an exaggerated description of the new life of mankind. Therefore, later generations often use this expression to indicate that it has never happened before, or that it has changed for the first time in history. This epoch-making hero is found all over the world, but because there were no words at that time, most of them were handed down in fairy tales. The so-called myth is an ancient legend centered on godhead. Marx said: it is "the Enlightenment and the social form itself that people's fantasy is processed in an unconscious artistic way" (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume 2, p. 1 13). Laverg pointed out: "Myth is neither a liar's lie nor a product of meaningless imagination. They are a simple and spontaneous form of human thought. " Ancient myths and legends are based on the exaggeration and noise of art in social life, mixed with fantasy and fantasy, but they also reflect the historical image more or less. In the ancient legends of China, there were some great figures who taught people the skills of production and life, so that human beings got rid of the primitive life of eating and drinking blood and entered the period of civilized development. These great figures are what we often call epoch-making heroes.

The legend in China mythology about the creation of the world by ancient humans.

According to historical records, there is a universal law in the emergence and popularity of China myths and legends, that is, the closer the time is, the earlier the legends are; The longer the time, the later the legend. Before the Spring and Autumn Period, only the legend of Yu was widely circulated; Many other legends basically originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There are two reasons: during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, characters were widely used, and scholars' academic activities of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" were frequent. Countries compete for cities and land, expand their spheres of influence, move population, and broaden their information horizons, and many little-known things have come out one after another.

When studying prehistory, one thing needs to be explained, that is, the unit of society at that time was clan, and the clan names in myths and legends were often confused with people's names and could not be distinguished. Because there is often a magical and demigod figure as its representative between clans. He can represent not only when he is alive, but also after death. At first, the name belongs to an individual, but if he is very capable, he will become the name of the clan after death. Sima Zhen explained "The Son of Shaodian" and said: "The one who has Shaodian is the title of the vassal state, and his name is not human ... If Shaodian is the name of his father (Yan and Huang), will Huangdi be the son of heaven after more than 500 years? How long is it? " Shaodian gave birth to Emperor Yan and Huangdi, which means that these two clans were separated by Shaodian, not that these two emperors were Shaodian's sons. If this problem is clarified, we will not have any mistakes in understanding when we study ancient legends and historical materials of the pre-Qin period.

The legend about Yu. At the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, Yu legend prevailed. Song people, descendants of Zhou and Shang dynasties, said: Yu is not only an ordinary man, but also an epoch-making hero. According to the examination, Yu is a primitive clan name, which has been deified and circulated because of its great contribution to water control; It is possible that some natural phenomenon experienced by primitive people in the process of controlling water and avoiding water has been passed down as an incredible miracle. Therefore, the more reliable data of the Zhou Dynasty all mentioned the problem of "Yu". For example, "The Book of Songs, Xiaoya, New Nanshan" contains: "Believe in the mountains of Nanshan, and prestige is in the temple"; "The Book of Songs Wang Wen Yousheng" says: "Fengshui Dongzhu, Wei Yu achieved"; "Yi Shu Zhong Ming" said: "Salt has Kyushu, which is blocked by (soil); Xia Shu said, "Yu was in charge of water conservancy for thirteen years ..." Mencius said, "Yu was in charge of water conservancy for eight years, but he failed to enter for three times. "Of course, in ancient times, water conservancy was by no means something that individuals could do, but Yu was at least a leader in water conservancy, an ordinary chief engaged in water conservancy and an epoch-making figure in water conservancy, which was basically recognized by historians.

Legends about the Yellow Emperor. It began to spread in Xia and Shang Dynasties, and descendants of Xuanyuan offered sacrifices. Legend has it that he is the son of Shao Dianjia. "He is more than nine feet long, with complicated words, a tumor and a neck longer than the river" (The Book of Filial Piety, Searching for Gods). He is good at drawing water, and because of his surname, he lives in the hill of Xuanyuan (now northwest of Xinzheng County, Henan Province) and is named Xuanyuan. "The recipient state-owned bear" (at the foot of Songshan Mountain), also known as Xiongjia. Marry Leizu, the daughter of Xiling family, as a princess. He is a very clever and capable man. After Yan Emperor, he was honored as the son of heaven by the northern tribes (at that time, he was the leader of the tribal alliance), and was appointed as an official by Yun Chang, and placed around the prison to supervise various countries. It is also said that there were many inventions in the era of the Yellow Emperor: the bronze of the first mountain was used for casting ding, making boats and cars to help the economy, and making compasses to indicate the direction. His wife, Lei Zu, began to raise silkworms and manage silk, and his historian began to write about it. He occupied Japan, occupied the moon with long barbarians, made astrology in Wan Yi area, made musical instruments, made great efforts to make branches, and became the first official. The era of the Yellow Emperor is the end of primitive society in China, which reflects that our ancestors have indeed made brilliant achievements in the field of science and culture. Therefore, later generations called the Yellow Emperor the ancestor of Chinese civilization.

Legend of Emperor Yan. It was widely circulated in the Spring and Autumn Period. According to legend, Emperor Yan is a descendant of Shennong. Yan Di and Huang Didu are "sons of Shaodian" and "second brother". This is misinformation. In fact, the young couple married each other and gave birth to offspring. Later, they were divided into two families, Yan Di and Huangdi. Yan Di became a tribal leader 500 years before the Yellow Emperor. Because Yan Di and Shennong belong to the same clan, in ancient history, Yan Di and Shennong became one. This kind of housework originated in the Spring and Autumn Period, but there were many opponents. In the second century BC, they were still two people. In the first century BC, Emperor Yan and Shennong became one person. It's called Yan Di Shennong. But in the Three Kingdoms, historians separated them again. Qiao Zhou said: "From Shennong to Yan Di, the surname is 133." "amenorrhea" makes it more clear that Emperor Yan is by no means Shennong. Moreover, the legendary Emperor Yan in the Spring and Autumn Period had nothing to do with sowing a hundred valleys. Yan Di clan first rose in the south of the Yangtze River, and then moved from south to north due to floods. It developed in Jiang Shui, Weihe River, Shaanxi Province, married Xuanyuan family, and became the master of the Central Plains in its development, opening up the Yellow River culture. Yandi clan spread to VIII for about 520 years (recorded as 540 years in the History of Taoism). Emperor Yan was a tribal chief for 120 years, with outstanding achievements, and invented bows and arrows, axes and pottery. Create a chronicle of knots and lay the foundation for word-making; At first, weaving hemp into cloth and making clothes was a great leap from ignorance to civilized society. According to Sima Guang (Lu), what Emperor Yan did by himself was not enough to support himself, and it was easy to handle affairs. Moreover, whether there was a trade court or not, he taught the people to make Japan and China into a market, which was the origin and cornerstone of ancient trade development. As a banjo, it can spread all over the world. According to Huan Tan's New Theory, the banjo was founded as the source of ancient culture and art; In addition, it is said that he boiled seawater into salt and began to set up calendars, divide stars, divide day and night, and set up the sun and the moon. All these inventions have opened the source of Chinese civilization. The Huangdi clan, which was strengthened after Yan Di's family, was defeated in Hanquan, and Yan Di VIII returned to the south of the Yangtze River with the remnants to explore and manage the two lakes. From then on, Yanhuang "has its own half of the country" and created a splendid Yanhuang culture in the north and south. Emperor Yan lived to be 168 years old and died in Dinghai, Hunan. Yu Ding was not buried at the bottom of Changsha Tea House, which is now Luyuanpo, Yanling County.

Legends about Huang You. It was formed in the Warring States period about 2000 years ago. Legend has it that Chiyou is a beast with four eyes, six hands and horns on its head. It turned out to be the vassal of the Yellow Emperor. After the conflict with the Yellow Emperor, he parted ways and formed an alliance with nine other tribes to become the chief of the ancient Jiuli tribe. Fan Wenlan's "A Brief History of China" records: "Jiulidang is an alliance of nine tribes, and each tribe contains nine brother nations and eighty-one brother clans. Chiyou is the leader of Jiuli nationality, with 8/kloc-0 brothers, that is, 8/kloc-0 heads. Chiyou is also an epoch-making figure, and his main contribution is Five Soldiers Chiyou: Ge, Spear, Ji, Emirates Spear and Yi Spear (Book of Warring States Policy). Chiyou works as a staff, blade, halberd and scorpion ("Dragon Fish River Map"); According to the "Three Sages", "Since ancient times, King Chiyou opened up heaven and earth, collecting copper and ironmaking soldiers to promote production." It can be said that Chiyou is the ancestor of China weapons. The main purpose of Chiyou's creation of weapons is to resist the threat of the Yellow Emperor's tribal alliance. "Shan Hai Jing: Yebei Jing" contains: "Chiyou is a soldier and cuts the Yellow Emperor." Thus, in 2697 BC, "The Yellow Emperor and Chiyou fought in the land of Zhuolu. On the third day, Chiyou was foggy and the sergeant was confused. The Yellow Emperor ordered the wind vane to lead the South Locomotive to avoid the four directions, and then captured and killed Chiyou "("Tailan Guide "). This is the earliest war in China legend.

About the legend of Shennong. The work Shennong by Lian Shan, Shanshi Lie and Li Shan. According to the research of Qiao Zhou, a historian of the History of the Three Kingdoms, "After Nu Wa, the surname of fifty was Shennong; Shennong to Yan Di, surname 133. " "The History of Lu Chunqiu's Gods" contains: "The seventeenth Shennong has the world." It can be interpreted as the seventeenth generation of the clan, and it can also be interpreted as the seventeenth generation of this era. In the Jin Dynasty, Ji Chishao said clearly that "Shennong was born in the middle of Guizhou". According to research: 1. There is Shennong Cave in Pangu Township, Yuanling County (the cultural remains in the cave have not yet been excavated), and there are many folklore about Shennong living here. Xiannongtan and Shennong Temple are built all over the Yuanshui River Basin to worship Shennong, and Shennong Temple near Sanjiaoping in Yuanling still exists today. Second, Shennong, also known as Lianshan, improved Fuxi Bagua, called Lianshan Bagua, and pioneered Lianshan Yi. At present, there are eight temples in Lianshan, Huitong County, which basically correspond to the Eight Diagrams of Lianshan, namely, Dimu Temple (Kun), Shanmiao (Gen), Zhenjiang Temple (Kan), Fengmiao Temple (Xun), Leimiao Temple (Earthquake), Huomiao Temple (Li), Lianhuachi Temple (Right) and Pangu Temple (Dry). Moreover, there are 1 1 paleolithic sites found around Lianshan, and there are as many as 43 paleolithic sites in Qushui Valley (paleolithic sites are so dense that there is no precedent at home and abroad), which proves that ancient humans flourished here as early as10 ∽10,000 years ago, and these ancient humans may be Shennong. At the same time, many ancient place names and ancient relics have been found near Lianshan, such as Wang Yaodong, Lianhuatang, Xianren Cave and Tibetan Temple. The Hongjiang Temple, not far from Lianshan Mountain, is an early Neolithic cultural site. From 7,800 to 7,400 years ago, a large number of decorative pottery cultural relics were unearthed, including the sun and phoenix patterns of Shennong clan totem, the gods of Shennong clan leaders, the image of god dogs embedded in the ground, and sacrificial altars and Nuo sacrificial scenes painted on cultural pottery. These are all physical evidences of Shennong worship discovered so far in China. Therefore, Shennong's origin in the Yuanshui River Basin in central Guizhou is not groundless and imaginary. "Emperor Century" said: "Shennong lives in the south of fire." Later, due to the flood rate, the tribe moved northward, first living in Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan Province) and then developing to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. According to legend, during the Shennong period, there were more people and fewer animals, and food and clothing were insufficient, and diseases prevailed. Shennong then turned the wood into a coffin, rubbed the wood into thunder, taught the people to sow grains, and laid the foundation for farming. The Book of Changes says: "Fu didn't make it, Shen Nong made it, rubbed it as a coffin, and taught it to teach the world ...". He tasted oxaliplatin again, observed the suffering of water and soil, encountered 70 poisons a day, respected medicine and regarded it as the ancestor of medicine. Thus, Shennong has made outstanding achievements and is honored as Ren Huang. Shennong, Fuxi and Nuwa were called the ancient "Huang San" (see the life sprout in the Spring and Autumn Period).

The legend of Fu and Nu Wa. Fu, also known as the sacrificial star, plays the role of, rice and bag. Qiao Zhou said: "After Nuwa, the surname of fifty is Shennong", which shows that Fuxi and Nuwa lived in a very old era. In the Spring and Autumn Period and before, there was no Nvwa 、 Fuxi's word, which was unknown in the early Warring States period. In the mid-Warring States period, the legend of Fuxi Nuwa began to spread from south to north. The first book with a source was Zhuangzi. The reason is that in the mid-Warring States period, Chu forces went deep into Hunan, and Miao legends were gradually imported into China. Zhuangzi and his party were the first to be affected. Zhuang Zhou, the Mongols (now Shangqiu, Henan) were not southerners. In the north and south of the valley in the Song Dynasty, the transportation was convenient and they were naturally influenced by various aspects. By the end of the Warring States and the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the legend of Fuxi Nuwa was extremely popular. Fuxi became the head of state, and Nu Wa became the ancestor of mankind. According to legend, there are many animals in Mi Xi's world. He tied a rope as a net and taught people to use the field (hunting) to fish. It reflects the initial development of ancient fishing and hunting economy. It is also said that he married Nuwa's younger brother and sister to reproduce. Later, it was banned and a marriage system was established. Reflect the evolution of ancient internal marriage and external marriage. The prototype of the marriage legend between Fuxi and Nuwa is the most popular fairy tale in Yuanshui River Basin, Wugang and Shaoyang. It says: In ancient times, there was a great flood, and everyone drowned, leaving only the old man in Dongshan and his brother and sister in Nanshan. They got married to carry on the family line, and now people are their descendants. "Today, the first pair of ancestors enshrined in the local Miao ancestral hall are Nanshan brothers and sisters. This myth undoubtedly reflects the primitive blood hybridization. Ruiyifu, a historian, wrote an article in Anthropology Anthology entitled The Story of Miao Hongshui and the Legend of Fuxi Nuwa. The article writes: "Modern anthropologists have discovered that this is a Miao legend through field investigation. Accordingly, Miao people are all from Fuxi Nuwa. They are brother and sister, separated by the flood, so only two people survived. They are a couple, stretching human beings. "According to some legends, a man's name is Buyi, and a woman's name is Ku er. "Bu -i" is the archaic sound of Fuxi, and "Ku- er" is very similar to the archaic sound of "wa". The original meaning of the word "no" is ancestors; I is "one" or "first"; Bu Yi refers to the earliest ancestors. Therefore, the earliest ancestors mentioned by Miao people are Fuxi and Nuwa. Lu Ciyun's "Tunxi Fiber Records" in the early Qing Dynasty contained: "La Worship, Miao nationality, reported grass. Sacrifice a witch and build a Nvwa 、 Fuxi. According to Yi Jie Zhuan, "The ancients were the home of the kings of Qi. When they looked up, they looked up at the sky. When they looked down, they looked at the law and the land, watched the articles of birds and beasts, walked in the right place, and took things far and near, so they started gossip to understand the virtues of the gods and the feelings of all things. "Fuxi gossip is: three (dry), three (Kun), three (Kan), three (away), three (earthquake), three (root), three (training) and three (change). Researchers believe that gossip is eight symbols representing heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, water and mountains. According to archaeological research, the sites such as the Temple of Fire, the Temple of Thunder, the Temple of Wind, the Temple of Zhenjiang, the Temple of Genshan, the Temple of Mountain, the Temple of Mother Earth and the Temple of Lotus in Lianshan Township of Huitong County are consistent with the orientation map of Fuxi Bagua. It shows that Fuxi's roots are in the Yuanshui River Basin.

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