Soleilmavis presented this paper at the E-leader Conference held by Vienna University of Technology and CASA (USA) in Vienna in Jun 2016.
Abstract:
The name of Dong-Yi (Dong in Chinese means east) first appeared in the Shang Dynasty (about 1600-1046BCE), referring to those people who lived in the east of the Shang territory and did not surrender to the Shang, including the Shao Hao People and some people who came from exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao People; officially appeared on bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771BCE), stating that the Dong-Yi People were enemies of the Zhou Dynasty.
The Shao Hao People lived in the Shandong Peninsula and built one of the most important Neolithic cultures, Dong-Yi Culture, which later spread to the lower reaches of the Yellow and Huai Rivers. Its latter stage, the Longshan Culture (about 3200-1900BCE), spread to the areas of early Di-Qiang Culture, another Chinese Neolithic culture that originated from the middle reach of the Yellow River, and turned those areas into outposts of Longshan Culture. Thus Dong-Yi Culture greatly influenced ancient China and had the leading role in making the Yellow River Valley Culture the root of Chinese civilization.
The Shao Hao People also migrated to the Americas and Oceania during the Neolithic Age, where their culture had great influence. The ancient civilizations of Oceanic cultures, such as palae-Polynesian, palae-Melanesian and palae-Micronesian cultures; and American Indians civilizations, such as the Mayan civilization (about 2000BCE-900CE), the Aztec civilization (about 12th century - 15th century CE) and the Incan civilization (about 13th century - 15th century CE), all evolved from early Dong-Yi Culture.
This article briefly introduces certain historical records of the Dong-Yi People, including their origins, their history of cultivating wheat, their worship of bird totems, their relationship with other groups of Neolithic people, their racial characteristics, their migrations and the overall influence of Dong-Yi Culture upon subsequent communities.
Key words: Dong-Yi; Dong-Yi Culture; Neolithic Shandong Peninsula; Prehistoric American Indians; Polynesian; Chinese civilization; ancient civilization;
Introduction
Archaeologists and historians commonly believe that Neolithic China had two main ancient cultural systems: the Yellow River Valley Cultural System, which included Di-Qiang and Dong-Yi cultures, and the Chang-jiang River Valley Cultural System. Starting from the lower reaches areas of the Yellow and Chang-jiang rivers, these cultures spread to surrounding areas. Most small regional cultures of ancient China had faded by the end of Neolithic Age and the influence of the Chang-jiang River Valley Cultural System grew weaker. However, the Yellow River Valley Culture, with Dong-Yi Culture taking the leading rule, eventually became the mainstay of ancient Chinese civilization and developed to a much higher level.
Dong-Yi Culture was built by the Shao Hao People in the Shandong Peninsula. Its latter stage, the Longshan Culture (about 3200-1900BCE), spread to the areas of early Di-Qiang Culture, another Chinese Neolithic culture that originated from the middle reach of the Yellow River, and turned those areas into outposts of Longshan Culture.
The Shao Hao People also migrated to the Americas and Oceania during the Neolithic Age, where their culture had great influence. The ancient civilizations of Oceanic cultures, such as palae-Polynesian, palae-Melanesian and palae-Micronesian cultures; and American Indians civilizations, such as the Mayan civilization (about 2000BCE-900CE), the Aztec civilization (about 12th century - 15th century CE) and the Incan civilization (about 13th century - 15th century CE), all evolved from early Dong-Yi Culture.
The name of Dong-Yi (the literal meaning of the Chinese Character “Dong” is east) first appeared in the Shang Dynasty (about 1600-1046BCE), referring to those people who lived in the east of the Shang territory and did not surrender to the Shang, including the Shao Hao People and some people who came from exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao People; officially appeared on bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771BCE), stating that the Dong-Yi People were enemies of the Zhou Dynasty.
This article briefly introduces certain historical records of the Dong-Yi People, including their origins, their history of cultivating wheat, their worship of bird totems, their relationship with other groups of Neolithic people, their racial characteristics, their migrations and the overall influence of Dong-Yi Culture upon subsequent communities.
In the book “The Queen of the South in Matthew 12:42” written by Soleilmavis, there are more details about the Dong-Yi People, Dong-Yi Culture and how they influenced ancient civilizations of China, the Americas and Oceania.
Historical Records of Yi and Dong-Yi People
The Shuowen Jiezi character dictionary (121BCE) defined the Chinese character Yi, which consisted of “big” and “bow,” as “level, peaceful,” and “people of the eastern regions.” [1]
The earliest instances of Yi were inscribed on oracle bones dating from the late Shang Dynasty (about 1600-1046BCE). The Shang oracle bones spoke of a hostile country, written as Ren-fang or Shi-fang, located to the east of the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty called Yi People, who resided east of Shang, by the name of “Ren-fang” or “Shi-fang.”
The name of Dong-Yi officially appeared on bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771BCE). These records state that the Dong-Yi People were enemies of the Zhou Dynasty.
The Bamboo Annals records that there were two groups of people, named Huai-Yi and Lan-Yi, who belonged to the larger ethnic group of Dong-Yi People, during the Xia Dynasty (about 2070-1600BCE). [2]
The Book of Documents, or Shangshu: Yugong records that there were Niao-Yi in Jizhou; Yu-Yi and Lai-Yi in Qingzhou, east of Taishan Mountain; Huai-Yi between Qingzhou and the Huai River; and Niao-Yi (or Dao-Yi) in Yangzhou. [3]
The Book of the Later Han, or Hou Hanshu: Dong-Yi records: “There were nine ethnic groups of Yi in China. (“There were nine” was the equivalent of an English speaker saying “There were a bazillion.”) They were called: Quan-Yi, Yu-Yi, Fang-Yi, Huang-Yi, Bai-Yi, Chi-Yi, Xuan-Yi, Feng-Yi and Yang-Yi.” [4]
Literature, describing a pre-Xia Dynasty (about 2070-1600BCE) period did not use the character Yi. But during the Xia Dynasty, some groups of people were referred to as the Yi. For example, The Book of Documents: Yu Gong called people in Qingzhou and Xuzhou the Lai-Yi, Yu-Yi and Huai-Yi.
The Yi or Dong-Yi People were the Shao Hao People, who had many groups in the Shandong Peninsula and later established some nations during the Neolithic Age. The Lai-Yi People were one of the biggest tribes of the Shao Hao People, occupying a wide area of the Zi River Valley (today’s Zibo’s territory) and Wei River Valley (today’s Weifang’s territory) to the east. The Records of the Grand Historian: Second Xia Benji state, “Lai-Yi grazed in the Zi River and Wei River valleys; mulberry silk was full in their basket.” The Lai-Yi People founded the biggest nation Lai (?-567BCE), which occupied most areas of the eastern Shandong Peninsula. Lai was one of four ancient nations to occupy the Shandong Peninsula, along with Qi (about 1046-221BCE), Lu (about 1042-256BCE) and Ju (about 1046-431BCE). Ju was wiped out by the State of Chu (1042-223BCE) in 431BCE, later, Qi and Lu were wiped out by the Qin Dynasty (221-207BCE). It is believed that since the Shang Dynasty, the Lai People already included not only Shao Hao’s offspring, but also offspring from exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao People. The name of the nation, Lai, originated from wheat. That is to say, it was known as “the nation of people who planted wheat.”
The Records of the Grand Historian: Qitaigong Shijia also record: “At the early time of the Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wu (Ji Fa), the second Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, made his Prime Minister Lü Shang (also called Jiang Ziya, or Jiang Taigong,) the duke of Qi in Yingqiu (today’s Linzi of Shandong Province)… The King of Lai(1) fought with Lü Shang for Yingqiu … Because Zhou had just been established, they did not have the ability to make wars in the frontier regions. The Lai king fought with Lü Shang (also called Tai Gong) for the territory of Qi.” [5] The Chronicle of Zuo: the Sixth Year of Shanggong records: “In November, Qi wiped out Lai. The Lai People were moved to Ni.” According to Kong Yingda (574-648CE), a famous scholar of the Tang Dynasty who annotated The Chronicle of Zuo, “Ni was in the State of Zhu,” a minor state that existed in present-day Zoucheng County and Tengzhou of Shandong Province and had been an affiliate state of Lu. It was later annexed by the state of Chu during the reign of King Xuan of Chu (about 369BCE-340BCE). [6]
Jiang Ziya was from the Bei Qi (North Qi) People, who had the surname of Jiang and used to live in the northwest of the Qinghai Lake. When Jiang Ziya was made the Duke in Yingqiu, he chose Qi as the name of his territory in Yingqiu. The nation of Qi destroyed the Lai nation completely in 567BCE, killing the Lai king and many Lai people, burning the Lai capital and taking control of the whole territory. Not only the cities and temples, but all historical records of Lai were burned. Afterwards, only a little of the record of this ancient nation, such as words carved on bronze wares, survived. This war killed most of the Lai People. The remaining Lai people were forced to move to Ni County (today’s Tengzhou of Shandong Province) and founded a village, called Dong-lai(1) (Dong in Chinese means east), in the south of that region.
During the Zhou Dynasty, the central regime tried to annihilate Dong-Yi nations, but they did not control the east area of the Jiaolai River, today we call “Jiaodong Peninsula.” Today, the elevation of most areas around the Jiaolai River Valley is below ten meters, while Qingdao’s elevation is 0 meter. Around 6,000 years ago, the sea level was two to five meters higher than today’s present sea level; the Jiaolai River Valley was a sea strait. About 5,000 years ago, the Jiaolai River was a water channel, but the areas of the river valley were large swamps. The Jiaolai River had been a natural barrier for the remaining Dong-Yi People resisting the Zhou Dynasty.
Historical books, including Zuozhuan. Zhuanggong Fourth Year, record the State of Qi cracked the city of the State of Ji (in today’s Shouguang, east of Zibo and west of Weifang) and wiped out the main forces of Ji in 690BCE. Many bronze wares of Ji, discovered in Yantai and Laiyang, prove that the State of Ji moved to the west of the Jiaolai River after the war. There were also many bronze wares, which were made during about 1600-1046BCE but did not belong to Ji bronze wares, discovered in the Jiaodong Peninsula, suggesting there were ancient states of Shao Hao’s offspring in the east of Jiaolai River.
The attack of the Qi spelled the Shao Hao People’s doom. The Lai did not have the ability to make a nation in the west of Jiaolai River once again. The pure Shao Hao People, who used to have one of the most advanced ancient civilizations, no longer expand its territories to the west of Jiaolai River. Nevertheless, Dong-Yi culture, which greatly influenced China in the Neolithic Age, would continue to influence China in later times. The Shao Hao People tried to blend in with other people and continued to play the most important role in developing China’s culture.
Chinese Wheat and Barley came from Middle East and Dong-Yi People first brought wheat and barley to the lower reaches of the Yellow River, built wheat and barley farming cultures only in the Shandong Peninsula and eastern Henan Province during Longshan Culture.
The first domesticated crop is believed to have been einkorn wheat, a nourishing grain adapted from a wild grass species native to the Karacadag Mountains near Diyarbakir in southwestern Turkey. Scientists have examined the DNA of modern strains of einkorn wheat and found that it was more similar to einkorn wheat grown in the Karacadag Mountains than in other places. [7] Einkorn wheat had been first cultivated around 9000BCE at Nevalı Çori, 40 miles, or 64 kilometers, northwest of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey.
The world’s first emmer wheat, oats, barley and lentils evolved from wild plants found in Iraq. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant, with excavations in Iran dating back as far as 9600BCE.
Dated archeological remains of einkorn wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria, suggest the domestication of einkorn near the Karacadag Mountain Range. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800BCE to 7500BCE.
Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600BCE (at Cayonu) and 8400BCE (Abu Hureyra). With the exception of Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 dated remains of domesticated emmer wheat were found in the earliest levels of Tell Aswad, in the Damascus basin, near Mount Hermon in Syria. These remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, but brought the domesticated grains with them from an as yet unidentified location elsewhere.
The cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000BCE and Germany and Spain by 5000BCE. By 3000BCE, wheat had reached England and Scandinavia. Some scientists believed wheat reached China a millennium later.
Originally, scientists had believed that ancient China did not have appropriate conditions for wild species to hybridize naturally and then evolve to Triticum aestivum L (wheat). They believed that wheat and barley came from the Middle East only. However, the earliest Chinese cultivated wheat and barley was only found in late Neolithic archaeological sites. The earliest cultivated wheat in Neolithic China was found in the archaeological site of Guan Miao Di in Shan County, Henan Province (from about 5000BCE). This suggests that wheat and barley had come to China by 5000BCE, much earlier than was initially supposed.
Many Chinese archaeological sites have contained traces of cultivated wheat: Shan County of Henan Province (about 5000BCE) near the middle reach of the Yellow River; Jiaozuo County of Henan Province (about 2000BCE) near the middle reach of the Yellow River; Diao Yu Tai in Bo County of Anhui Province (near Henan) (about 1000BCE); and Min Le County of Gansu Province (about 3000BCE).
Scientists could not obtain significant evidence of cultivation of wheat and barley in China before 5000BCE. That lack of evidence was due to the temperature conditions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, which were not suitable for growing wheat and barley at that time.
In addition, wheat and barley were not widely cultivated in the Shandong Peninsula before 4000BCE. The reasons were as follows:
Climate warming resulted in rising sea levels when the Holocene began. The sea level was 120 meters lower around 20,000 years ago than it is today. Temperatures rose quickly between 20,000-6,000 years ago. After the ice sheets began to melt and retreat, the sea level rose rapidly. By the mid-Holocene period, 6,000 years ago, glacial melting had essentially ceased. [8] As of 6,000 years ago, the sea level near the Shandong Peninsula was two to five meters higher than it is today. A lot of what is dry land in the present Shandong Peninsula was under the sea. 5,500 years ago, the sea level was two to five meters lower than today and it rose back to its present level around 5,000 years ago. [9]
During the period between 20,000-5,000 years ago, the unsteady temperature levels created conditions that were not suitable for planting wheat and barley. Starting 5,000 years ago, temperatures rose slowly. The sea level came back up to the present level. The temperature in the Shandong Peninsula then became suitable for cultivating wheat and barley. Archaeological findings have proven that wheat and barley were widely cultivated in the Shandong Peninsula during the Longshan Culture (about 3200BCE-1900BCE).
It is clear that wheat and barley came from the Middle East, appearing rarely in archaeological sites in the lower reaches of the Yellow River from 5,000 years ago, but they were widely cultivated in the Shandong Peninsula during the period of the Longshan Culture. It strongly suggests that the Shao Hao People, who first built wheat and barley farming cultures, which were only in the Shandong Peninsula and eastern Henan Province during the Longshan Culture, were the first who brought wheat and barley to the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Shao Hao People moved to western and northern areas when the sea level was high and slowly moved back to their prior areas when sea level dropped. With the migrations of the Shao Hao People and exchanges with other peoples and cultures, wheat and barley cultivation then spread beyond the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River.
Although wheat and barley came only from Middle East, the Shao Hao People brought wheat and barley to the lower reach of the Yellow River and then spread its use to other regions as they migrated. These findings provide evidence that the Shao Hao People originated from the Middle East.
The Ancestral Worship Totems of the Dong-Yi People Were Bird-shaped.
At many prehistoric sites in the Shandong peninsula, archeologists have discovered bird-shaped pieces of art. A Neolithic site (about 4500BCE) in Beizhuang on Changdao Island of Shandong Province contained grey pottery GUI (small, open container) figures shaped like birds. To archaeologists, this suggests that the Shao Hao People worshiped bird totems.
Shanhaijing records many birds and bird totems in the areas where the Shao Hao People lived. Shanhaijing: Classic of the Mountains: East, on the geography of eastern China, records that the ancient Shandong Peninsula was biologically a “bird heaven.” There were so many birds: Qi Que, Chou Yu, San Qing bird, Jiu Jiu, the Luan bird, Huang bird, Qing bird, Lang bird, Xuan bird, Yellow bird, Li Zhu and Yi bird, etc. Some of these birds were said to predict weather or good and bad luck.
There were birds called Li Hu on the Lu Qi Mountain which were said to look like Mandarin ducks with human feet; when they appeared, water and soil loss would occur. There were also birds called Jie Gou on Yin Mountain, which looked like mallards with rat tails; when they appeared, pestilence followed. There were even birds which looked like chickens with rat hair; when they appeared, severe drought would occur.
Because of these legends of birds in the Shandong Peninsula, the Shao Hao People were associated with the ability to predict weather or good and bad luck through birds.
The Dong-Yi People in the Shang Dynasty referred to those people who lived in the east of the Shang territory and did not surrender to the Shang, including the Shao Hao People and some people who came from exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao People. The Shang’s ancestors were either offspring of the Shao Hao People or those people, who came from exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao People. The Classic of Poetry, or Shijing, records “God orders the Xuan Bird (black bird) to give birth to Shang,” suggesting those people who came from exogamy worshipped bird totems.
The Race of Dong-Yi People
Mr. Carleton S. Coon divided humanity into five races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, Capoid and Australoid. [10]
Many modern historians used to classify the Dong-Yi People as members of the Mongoloid race. However, archaeological discovers prove that the Shao Hao People bore resemblances to the Caucasoid race in general appearance. They were very tall people, with a high forehead, aquiline nose, pronounced facial whiskers, beard and bushy body hairs. Clearly the Shao Hao People shared genes with Caucasians.
In fact, archaeologists and scientists of molecular paleontology had discovered Caucasoid racial characteristics (HV genes) in DNA extracted from bones in ancient tombs at Linzi in Shandong Province, as well as archaeological sites of Dawenkou in Shandong Province (about 4000BCE) and Beizhuang in Changdao in Shandong (about 4500BCE). This offered clear evidence that the Shao Hao People and Caucasoid race shared genetic connection.
Li H, Huang Y, Mustavich LF and Zhang F, authors of “Y-chromosomes of Prehistoric People Along the Yangtze River, Human Genetic” (November 2007, 122(3-4):383-8), believe that the Neolithic residents of the Shandong Peninsula and some regions of eastern China (including parts of Henan, Hebei and Jiangsu) had clear Caucasoid characteristics. Those people might have come from the Middle East. [11]
At Beizhuang in Changdao of Shandong (about 4500BCE), archaeologists discovered a pottery mask with clear Caucasoid characteristics. [12]
Guo Moruo (1892-1978), former President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered that Shao Hao People, during the period of Dawenkou Culture (about 4100BCE-2600BCE), had luxuriant facial whiskers and beards, bushy body hairs, aquiline nose, thereby bearing some resemblance to the Caucasoid race in appearance.
Many Shandong Neolithic archaeological sites contained the bodies of tall Shao Hao People. Gu Cheng Ding in Qingdao (about 1000BCE), revealed individuals about 1.8 and 1.9 meters tall; Liang Wang Cheng of Pizhou in Jiangsu Province (about 3000BCE), bordering Shandong Province, held bodies more than 1.8 meters tall; Bei Qian Village of Jimo in the Shandong Peninsula (about 4000BCE), had individuals as tall as two meters.
The Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology and Molecular Evolution and Division of Anthropology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tokyo, made a co-study. They found that inconsistent with the geographical distribution, the 2,500-year-old Linzi population (in Shandong Province) showed greater genetic similarity to present-day European populations than to present-day East Asian populations. The 2,000-year-old Linzi population had features that were intermediate between the present-day European and the present-day East Asian populations, as compared to over-2,500 year old Linzi populations. [13]
Scientific research indicated incontestably that local residents in the Shandong Peninsula had Caucasoid race characteristics from the Neolithic Age until the late Spring and Autumn Period (about 770BCE-476BCE). After the Sui Dynasty (581-618CE) and Tang Dynasty (618-907CE), the Han People, or Han Nationality (the name of the ethnic majority in China since the Han Dynasty 202BCE-220CE) of the Shandong Peninsula, had on average far more Mongolian racial characteristics. This was because emperors encouraged large-scale migration throughout Chinese history, and as a result, there were a lot of exogamy between groups of people.
According to historical records, many Shandong historical figures had Caucasoid racial characteristics. Shanhaijing: Classic of the Mountains: West records that peoples, who lived in Mount Changliu in the Pamirs Plateau, respected Shao Hao, the ancestor of the Shao Hao People, as the “White King,” or “White Ancestor-God.” The word “white” suggests that Shao Hao had a clear Caucasoid racial characteristic - white skin.
From Shanhaijing, we know that Shao Hao’s offspring had clear Caucasoid racial characteristics. The exogamy between the Xi He women (Shao Hao’s offspring) and Di Jun men, gave birth to ten groups of the Ri People, who lived near the four lakes of Nanyang, Dushan, Zhaoyang and Weishan. Emperors of the Shang Dynasty used to live near this area. Whether the Shang’s ancestors were offspring of Shao Hao or exogamy between the Di Jun and Shao Hao, were still debated.
Shanhaijing also records that the Di Jun People were fathers of the Bai Min (the literal meaning of these Chinese characters were “white people”), suggesting the Bai Min’s mothers were from the Shao Hao People, so that the Bai Min People had Caucasoid racial characteristic - white skin.
Confucius (551BCE-479BCE), an offspring of the Shang Emperors, had clear Caucasoid racial characteristics.
Very tall (over 2.2 meters). The Records of the Grand Historian said: “Confucius was nine Chi and six Cun; everyone thought he was different and called him the tall man.” One Chi is about 23.2 centimeters; one Chi is ten Cun. However, some lacquer screen, which was found in the tomb of “Haihunhou” (Marquis of Haihun) dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (202BCE - 9CE), says that Confucius was seven Chi and nine Cun (about 182 centimeters).
Enhanced strength. Liezi said: “Confucius had enhanced physical strength and could lift the sluice of a city.” [14]
High forehead. Kongzi Jiayu said: “his eyes were like rivers; his forehead was high; his head looked like Yao; his neck looked like Gao Tao; his shoulders looked like Zi Chan; his lower body was three Cun shorter than Yu.” Zhuangzi said: “his upper body was longer than his lower body; he was humpbacked; his ears could be seen from the back.” [15]
The Records of the Grand Historian, says, “Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (256BCE-195BCE), had a high nose, high forehead, high brow-bone, significant facial whiskers and a beard,” bearing clear resemblances to the Caucasoid race in general appearance.
Clearly, the Shao Hao people had clear Caucasoid racial characteristics, but were they pure Caucasoid race or did they also have genes from Mongoloid race? I refer to the Shao Hao People as the Shao Hao Race in this book, to distinguish them from other, purely Mongoloid races of Neolithic people in China.
Dong-Yi Culture
Dong-Yi Culture was built by the Shao Hao People, first in the Shandong Peninsula, then spread to the Haidai region - the lower reaches of the Yellow and Huai rivers - and later spread to other areas of China along coastline during the Neolithic period. Dong-Yi Culture greatly influenced ancient China. The latter stage of Dong-Yi Culture, Longshan (about 3200-1900BCE), had spread to the territory of early Di-Qiang Cultures, including Cishan-peiligang (about 6200-4600BCE) and Yangshao (about 5000-3000BCE) and turned those areas into outposts of Longshan Culture. Dong-Yi Culture had the leading role in making the Yellow River Valley Culture, the root of Chinese civilization.
Many Chinese scholars assert that Dong-Yi Neolithic culture consisted of five evolutionary phases:
Houli Culture (about 6400-5700BCE),
Beixin Culture (about 5300-4100BCE),
Dawenkou Culture (about 4100-2600BCE),
Yueshi Culture (about 2000-1600BCE) and
Longshan Culture (about 3200-1900BCE).
Archaeologists and historians came to agree that the so-called Longshan Culture was actually made up of different cultures from multiple sources. Longshan Culture is now identified as four different cultures according to distribution areas and appearance - Shandong Longshan Culture (also called representative Longshan Culture, about 2500-2000BCE), Miaodigou Second Culture (about 2900-2800BCE), Henan Longshan Culture (about 2600-2000BCE) and Shanxi Longshan Culture (about 2300-2000BCE). Only the Shandong Longshan Culture purely came from Yueshi (Dong-Yi) Culture; the three other Longshan cultures were sourced from Di-Qiang Culture, but deeply influenced by Dong-Yi Culture. The Longshan Culture had covered the distribution areas of early Di-Qiang Culture, showing us clearly that Dong-Yi Culture had greatly influenced Di-Qiang Culture in the Neolithic Age.
Dong-Yi Culture was the Most Advanced Culture in Neolithic China
1) The writing system of the Dong-Yi is one of the oldest in Neolithic China. It was an important source of the Shang oracle bone script. Some of the characters continued to be used in modern Chinese writing, such as:
The Changle Bone Inscriptions, found in Changle, Qingzhou, Shouguang, Huantai, Linzi and Zouping in Shandong Province, belonged to Longshan Culture and are regarded as recording characters used in Neolithic China 1,000 years earlier than Shang oracle bone script. [4]
2) The Shao Hao People were the inventors of arrows in China. Zuo Zhuan and Shuowen Jiezi have records of this. Shuowen Jiezi: Shibu says, “In ancient times, Yi Mu started making the bow and arrow.” Liji:Sheyi says, “Hui made the bow and Yi Mu made the arrow.”
3) The Shao Hao People had great skill in making pottery. Longshan Culture’s eggshell black pottery is regarded as some of the best ancient Chinese pottery.
4) The Shao Hao People were the earliest users of copper and iron in Neolithic China.
5) The earliest human brain operation in Neolithic China was believed to be conducted about 5,000 years ago in Guangrao of Shandong. In an archaeological site of Dawenkou Culture in Fujia, Guangrao of Shandong, an adult male skull was discovered. A hole on the skull with very neat edges was believed by scientists to have been created by a craniotomy. The man recovered from the surgery and had lived for a long time after it, before he died.
6) The Shao Hao People developed etiquette. A code of etiquette in Longshan Culture, implied by artifacts, such as Ceremonial architecture, sacrificial vessels (Eggshell black pottery and Ritual Jade) and animal bones used to practice divination, shows social stratification and formation of the Shao Hao nation.
Dong-Yi Culture was the Root of Chinese Civilization
The Shandong Peninsula was the birthplace of Dong-Yi Culture, which had the leading role in making the Yellow River Valley Culture, the root of Chinese civilization. Dong-Yi Culture was the root of The Hundred Schools of Thought, literally All Philosophers’ Hundred Schools, which were philosophers and schools that flourished in the Shandong Peninsula and eastern Henan area during an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China from 770BCE to 221BCE. The Records of the Grand Historian: Taishigong Zixu lists six (1-6) major philosophies within The Hundred Schools of Thought. The Hanshu: Yiwenzhi adds four more (7-10) into the Ten Schools.
It could be said that the Shandong Peninsula was the birthplace of The Hundred Schools of Thought. Founders of most of The Hundred Schools of Thought were from the states of Lu, Qi, or Song, as well as other states located round today’s Shandong Province or near the Shandong Peninsula.
The founders of Confucianism, Kong Qiu (Confucius) and Meng Ke (Mencius), were from the State of Lu. So was the founder of Mohism, Mo Di (Micius) and the founder of the Miscellaneous School, Shi Jiao.
The founder of Legalism, Guan Zhong, was from the State of Qi, as was Zou Yan, the founder of the School of Yin-yang. Also, the founders of the School of the Military, Sun Wu (Sunzi) and Sun Bin (offspring of Sun Wu), were from the State of Qi.
The State of Song was the homeland of the founder of Taoism, Zhuang Zhou (Zhaungzi) and also the founder of Logicians or the School of Names, Hui Shi.
The founder of the School of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal (Alliances), Gui Gu Zi, was from the State of Wei (today’s Qixian of Henan Province), where is near the Shandong Peninsula.
Schools of Thought
|
Founders
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States
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Confucianism
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Kong Qiu (Kongzi or Confucius)
Meng Ke (Mengzi or Mencius)
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State of Lu
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Mohism
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Mo Di (Micius)
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State of Lu
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Miscellaneous School
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Shi Jiao
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State of Lu
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Legalism
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Guan Zhong
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State of Qi
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School of Yin-yang
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Zou Yan
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State of Qi
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School of the Military
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Sun Wu (Sunzi)
Sun Bin (offspring of Sun Wu)
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State of Qi
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Taoism
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Li Er (Laozi, or Lao Laizi)
Zhuang Zhou (Zhaungzi)
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State of Chu
State of Song
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Logicians or Names
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Hui Shi
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State of Song
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Diplomacy or Vertical
and Horizontal (Alliances)
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Gui Gu Zi
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State of Wei
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Liu Bang (256-195BCE), the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, who had clear Caucasoid racial characteristics, was an offspring of Shao Hao. Confucius (551-479BCE), who bore some physical features that might resemble those of Caucasians, was believed to have genes from the Shao Hao People.
The State of Lu, Song, Zhu and Wei were all near Tengzhou of Shandong Province, the residential areas of the remaining Lai People after 567BCE. (The State of Zhu existed in present-day Zoucheng County and Tengzhou, had been an affiliate state of Lu, and later was annexed by the state of Chu during the reign of King Xuan of Chu, about 369-340BCE.)
Li Er, or Laozi, was born in Ku County of the State of Chu, today’s Luyi County of Henan Province, about 210 kilometers to Tengzhou. Some historians, including Sima Qian, argued that Li Er was also Lao Laizi, the meaning of his name was an old teacher that named Lai. (Lao meant old. Zi was the honorific title to teacher, moral integrity or a man of learning.) By coincidence, the Chinese Character Lai of Lao Laizi was same with Lai, the last Shao Hao nation. Was it just the coincidence? or it hinted that Li Er was an old teacher who were offspring of the old Shao Hao nation of Lai.
Since the Qin Dynasty (221-206BCE) unified China, Qin set up several Juns (vassal states) in the Shandong Peninsula. After Qin, Liu Bang (256-195BCE) established the Han Dynasty (202BCE-220CE). The Han Dynasty was an age of economic prosperity, spanning over four centuries, widely considered the golden age of Chinese history. To this day, China’s ethnic majority refers to itself as the “Han People,” or “Han Nationality.”
The Hundred Schools of Thought formed the root of Han Culture. During the reigns of Emperor Wen (202-157BCE) and Jing (188-141BCE) in the Han Dynasty, the Empress Dou Yifang (wife of Emperor Wen, mother of Emperor Jing) enjoyed the books of Huangdi, Laozi (who wrote Dao De Jing) and Zhuangzi. Thus, these writings strongly influenced state policies. Emperor Wu of Han (156-87BCE) emphasized Confucianism, after accepting suggestions from Dong Zhongshu (179-104BCE), who was regarded as a great Confucian leader. During the Han Dynasty, the most practical elements of Confucianism and Legalism were taken and synthesized, marking the creation of a new form of government that would remain largely intact until the late nineteenth century. Han Culture emphasized Confucius, but never banned other ancient philosophers. Han Culture respected Confucius and all ancient philosophers as great teachers and thinkers. However, the Han Dynasty never created its own religions.
The Dong-Yi Culture and its successor, the Hundred Schools of Thought, were the roots of Han Culture. Han Culture started during the Han Dynasty (202BCE-220CE), was inherited and carried forward by Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) and lasted in China for more than 2,000 years. Han Culture became deeply rooted in the Han Nationality’s minds and all aspects of life.
The Dong-Yi People Emigrated to the Americas during the Neolithic Age.
Prehistoric Indigenous American People Came from Asia
American Indians stem from Neolithic peoples in northeast Asia. Because of this, American Indians were once classified as a Mongoloid race, but scientists found characteristics of their blood group that were totally different from Mongoloid characteristics and they are now considered their own geographical race.
According to a prevailing New World migration model, migrations of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge connecting the two continents and forming what is now known as the Bering Strait.
Researchers generally believe that the “Clovis people” were the first to reach North America, about 14,000 years ago. Nevertheless, discoveries unearthed at sites, like Meadowcroft in Pennsylvania, Monte Verde in Chile and Topper near the Savannah River in South Carolina, suggest that humans arrived much earlier and perhaps from an entirely different direction. The new consensus is that the earliest Americans were indeed from Siberia, but they preceded the later-arriving Clovis people by perhaps four to five thousand years. These seafarers first populated the New World by traveling along its western coastline. Unfortunately, possible coastal sites that might verify or refute the new hypothesis are now hundreds of feet below sea level.
The early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.
Scientists disagree whether humans migrated from Eurasia to the Americas in one wave or over several of them.
The American scientist Joseph Harold Greenberg (1915-2001) studied 1,500 American Indian languages, which he divided into three categories: Amerind (containing over a thousand languages), Na-Dene (which includes the Athabaskan languages, Eyak and Tlingit languages) and Eskimo-Aleut (spoken by a small group of people). He argued, in his 1987 book Language in the Americas, that all Indigenous American people came from northern Asia in a single wave of migration 20,000 years ago and developed three categories of languages, which gradually divided into thousands over millennia.
R.C. Williams studied proteins from 5,000 Indigenous American people. At the conclusion of his study, which took two decades, he agreed with Greenberg that Indigenous American Indian languages fit into three categories: Amerind, Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut. However, he thought these categories migrated from Asia in three waves. Amerindians came to America via the Bering Strait 40,000-16,000 years ago. The Na-Dene came to America 14,000-12,000 years ago. And the Eskimo-Aleut arrived in American about 9,000 years ago.
There are other opinions about the migration, such as that of Michael Gurr, who theorizes two waves of migrations and M.S. Mould, who believes there were four.
In Studying Prehistoric Human-face Petroglyphs of the North Pacific Region, Song Yaoliang discovered that Aleutians in northwestern America exhibit similarities in religion culture with Dawenkou Culture of the Shao Hao People. A great number of human-face petroglyphs, totally about 5,000-6,000 pieces, have been discovered in eastern Asia, mainly China. A few have been found in South Korea and the Heilongjiang River Valley in eastern Russia. Similar human-face petroglyphs also appeared numerously in the West Coast of North America, from Alaska down the west coast of Canada, through American states to northern California. There are more than 230 archaeological sites with more than 5,000 examples of human-face Petroglyphs in these areas. American scholars have divided American petroglyphs into nine distribution areas. The area of human-face petroglyphs is named The Northwest Coastal Petroglyphs. Song Yaoliang believed that 4,000 years ago, another large-scale migration of the Dong-Yi People brought these prehistoric human-face petroglyphs to America. [16]
The common view of the migration route was that it came via the Bering Strait. However, another theory suggests that people from East Asia moved to South Korea and then on to Japan, to the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands and then to North America during a period of low sea level. About 11,500 years ago, most parts of the Bohai Sea were land, as the sea level was forty meters lower than at present. Other scientists even argue that Amerindians came from East Asia on boats. Rising sea level and volcanic eruptions in the Aleutian Islands might have destroyed most archaeological remains.
The Dong-Yi People and Amerindians
G.E. Novick and his colleagues, scientists from the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University, conclude that close similarities between the Chinese and Native Americans suggest a recent gene flow from Asia, in Polymorphic Alu Insertions and the Asian Origin of Native American Populations, February 1998, Human Biology. [17]
D.C. Wallace examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in 87 Amerindians (Pima, Maya and Ticuna of north, central and southern America, respectively), 80 Na-Dene (Dogrib and Tlingit of northwest northern America and Navajo of the southwest northern America) and 153 Asians from seven diverse populations overall. Amerindian mtDNA was found to be directly descended from five founding Asian mtDNA and to cluster into four lineages, each characterized by a different rare Asian mtDNA marker. [18] The results demonstrated that Amerindian population (mtDNA) arose from one or maybe two Asian migrations distinct from the migration of the Na-Dene. In fact, other Amerindian populations are about four times older than the Na-Dene.
From archaeological remains, scientists had found that the prehistoric Amerindian was very tall. While apparently most ancient people were smaller than people living today, likely because of diet, some prehistoric Amerindians were six feet, or 180 centimeters, tall and bore some resemblances to the Caucasoid race in general appearance, such as high foreheads and aquiline noses, as did the Shao Hao People. Bone tests on the Kennewick Man’s remains have been shown to date from 7300BCE to 7600BCE. Kennewick Man, discovered in Washington State in 1996, was thought by many to bear some resemblances to the Caucasoid race. However, when scientists were unable to retrieve DNA for analysis, it was determined by the Secretary of the Interior that he was an American Indian. The Shao Hao People were the source of one or possibly two waves of migration from Asia to America during the Neolithic Age.
The early Shao Hao People migrated to North America during about 16,000-14,000 years BP, much earlier than the time when wheat had been first cultivated around 9000BCE in Turkey. The first to enter the Americas was not able to bring wheat. The cultivating wheat and barley spread to the Shandong Peninsula about 7000-5000BCE. Prehistoric Amerindians initially were located in the northern part of Northern America. The temperature there was not suitable for cultivating wheat and barley; as the Shao Hao People did. Even if some immigrants from northeast Asia had brought seeds of wheat or barley to America, they were unable to cultivate these seeds once they arrived.
Amerindians instead came to cultivate other foods, such as maize (cultivated about 5,000 years ago), potato, Cassava (Manihot), various types of beans, yam, peanut, tomato, cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, chilli, pineapple, avocado, strawberry, cocoa, etc.
Scientists believe West Coast Amerindian totem poles were not real totems, but only records of stories. Prehistoric Amerind worshiped bird’s totems, same as the Shao Hao People. In 1987, several bird-shaped artifacts were found not yet associated with any known civilization; they were possibly the original totems of the prehistoric Amerind. Bird stones were prehistoric, abstract stone carvings made by Amerind. The artifacts were a common inclusion in graves and thought to have ceremonial importance. Bird stones were possibly because of bird worshipped culture.
Feather war bonnets are the best-known type of headdress among American Indians. The Aztec and Highland Maya of Mexico were also famous for their feather headdresses. [19] Feathered war bonnets suggest a reverence for birds or bird sprits. The bird-shaped artifacts or feathered war bonnets suggest bird worship totems, same with the Shao Hao People.
The Mayan civilization (about 2000BCE-900CE) in modern Mexico, the Incan civilization (about 13th century - 15th century CE) in modern Northern Peru and the Aztecs civilization (about 12th century - 15th century CE) in modern Mexico, are three of the best-known ancient American Indian civilizations.
Dong-Yi Culture used to be the most advanced culture in Neolithic China. After the Shao Hao People had spread out to America, they maintained a leading position in their advanced culture and greatly influenced other ancient American people, just as they had in ancient China. It could be asserted that these three great ancient civilizations of American Indians evolved from early Dong-Yi Culture.
The Dong-Yi People Emigrated to Oceania during the Neolithic Age.
Prehistoric Oceanic People Came From Asia
Indigenous Oceanic peoples include the Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian people; they belong to two languages families, Papuan and Austronesian languages. (See details in Chapter 4)
Radiocarbon dating, evidence of deforestation and mitochondrial DNA variability within Māori populations suggest New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250CE and 1300CE, concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands. Recent investigations into paternal Y-chromosome analysis show that Polynesians were also genetically linked to peoples of Melanesia.
The “Out of Taiwan Model” suggests that the ancestry of Austronesian-speaking peoples, originated on the island of Taiwan following the migration of pre-Austronesian-speaking peoples from continental Asia between approximately 10000-6000BCE. Other research has suggested that, according to radiocarbon dates, Austronesians may have migrated from Mainland China to Taiwan as late as 4000BCE. A large-scale Austronesian expansion began around 5000-2500BCE. These first settlers may have landed in northern Luzon in the archipelago of the Philippines, intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines and into the islands of the Celebes Sea, Borneo and Indonesia. The Austronesian peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia sailed eastward and spread to the islands of Melanesia and Micronesia between 1200BCE and 500CE respectively. The Austronesian inhabitants that spread westward through Maritime Southeast Asia had reached some parts of mainland Southeast Asia and later on Madagascar.
Sailing from Melanesia and Micronesia, the Austronesian peoples discovered Polynesia by 1000BCE. They settled most of the Pacific Islands. They had settled Easter Island by 300CE, Hawaii by 400CE and New Zealand by about 1280CE. There is evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato, that they reached South America where they traded with the Native Americans. In the Indian Ocean they sailed west from Maritime Southeast Asia; the Austronesian peoples reached Madagascar by ca. 50-500CE.
This “Out of Taiwan Model” has been recently challenged by a 2008 study from Leeds University and published in Molecular Biology and Evolution. Examination of mitochondrial DNA lineages shows that they have been evolving within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) for a longer period than previously believed. Population dispersals occurred at the same time as sea levels rose, which may have resulted in migrations from the Philippine Islands to as far north as Taiwan within the last 10,000 years. The population migrations were most likely to driven by climate change - the effects of the drowning of a huge ancient peninsula called “Sundaland,” that extended the Asian landmass as far as Borneo and Java. This happened during the period following the last Ice Age, 15,000 to 7,000 years ago. Oppenheimer outlines how rising sea levels in three massive pulses caused flooding and the submergence of the Sunda Peninsula, creating the Java and South China Seas and the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia and the Philippines today.
New findings from HUGO (Human Genome Organization) also show that Asia was populated primarily through a single migration event from the south. They reveal genetic similarities between populations throughout Asia and an increase in genetic diversity from northern to southern latitudes. Although the Chinese population is very large, it has less variation than the smaller number of individuals living in South East Asia, because the Chinese expansion occurred very recently, following the development of rice agriculture - within only the last 10,000 years.
Polynesians arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea at least 6,000 to 8,000 years ago and modern Polynesians are the result of a few Austronesian seafarers mixing with Melanesians. Additional research reveals that Polynesians have Melanesian Y-chromosomal origins.
Adele Whyte is a part-Maori micro biologist who used mitochondrial DNA samples to trace her peoples’ origins back as far as mainland Asia. [20]
A study led by Dr. Geoffrey Chambers of Victoria University concluded that the ancestors of Polynesian people first migrated from mainland China to Taiwan and then moved on to the Philippines, the Pacific islands and eventually New Zealand. Chambers analyzed DNA data that had originally been collected for a study on genetics and alcoholism. The Y-chromosome results support a pattern of complex interrelationships between Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Polynesia, in contrast to mtDNA and linguistic data, which uphold a rapid and homogeneous Austronesian expansion. The Y-chromosome data highlight a distinctive gender-modulated pattern of differential gene flow in the history of Polynesia. [21]
Another scientist, Rebecca Cann of the University of Hawaii, led another study analyzing mitochondrial DNA. Unlike the Victoria University study, which had used nuclear DNA, Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother. Analyzing hair samples gathered from people all around the Pacific, the researchers concluded that there are three main subgroups of Polynesians: Tongic, Futunic and Samoic Outlier and Central Eastern. Interestingly, this genetic marker that distinguished the Polynesian sub-groups was also found in some Native Americans. Cann’s genetic study traced the Polynesian expansion from the Southeast Asian mainland sometime around 6,000 years ago. Cann theorizes that there were several waves of migration from Asia to the Pacific and that Micronesia was settled after Polynesia, contrary to what most anthropologists have claimed. [22]
Simon Southerton, now a senior researcher with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia, agreed with many other scientists studying mitochondrial DNA lines that American Indians and Polynesians were of Asian extraction.
A research project at the University of Texas Health Science Centre studied the Y-chromosomes of 551 men from Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The Y-chromosome is passed only from fathers to sons and so it is specific to males (unlike the mitochondrial DNA in the previous study). This research found that aboriginal Taiwanese carried distinctly different genetic markers than eastern Pacific Polynesians or southwestern Pacific Micronesians. The Texas study also found that the Micronesians/Polynesians were more closely related to Southeast Asians than to the Taiwanese. These findings cast doubt on the previous reigning theory that Taiwan was the ancestral home of Polynesians. The history of Polynesian migration will become clearer as new genetic analysis techniques are refined. [23]
“Indigenous Australians” is an inclusive term referring to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders. The Torres Strait Islanders are indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands, at the northernmost tip of Queensland near Papua New Guinea. They are culturally and genetically Melanesian people, as are the people of Papua New Guinea. Scientists believed that people came to Oceania and Australia by an extensive land bridge across the Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait. Between 16,000 and 14,000 years BP, the sea level rose rapidly about fifty feet within 300 years according to Peter D. Ward. [24] At the end of the Pleistocene, roughly 13,000 years ago, the Torres Strait connection began disappearing under the rising sea. Sea level stabilized near its present levels about 6,000 years ago, flooding the land bridge between Australia and New Guinea.
The term “Aboriginal” is traditionally applied to only the indigenous inhabitants of mainland Australia and Tasmania along with some of the adjacent islands, i.e.: the “first peoples.” A 2009 genetic study in India found similarities among archaic Indian populations and Aboriginal people, indicating a Southern migration route, with expanding populations from Southeast Asia migrating to Indonesia and Australia.
There is enough evidence to prove that Indigenous Oceanic People and Australians came from southeast Asia and that Polynesians, like American Indians, had a close blood relationship with one group of Asian people - the Shao Hao, for they both bore some resemblances to the Caucasoid race in general appearance. It can be concluded now that, Indigenous Oceanic People and Australians share an origin in the Shao Hao People. In their later history, they mixed with different racial groups, including Mongoloid race from China and those races from Africa.
Polynesians also had bird totems, akin to those of the Amerindians and Shao Hao People. Feather cloaks were commonly worn by Polynesians in New Zealand and Hawaii. A feather cloak was worn only by the leader of a special group of mourners during the obsequies following the death of a sovereign or an heir apparent. The number of chief mourners’ garments to be manufactured must have been limited, as only one was required for each royal funeral [25]. This ceremonial use of feathered garments has similarities with the feathers worn by the Shao Hao priests and suggests that Polynesians, like the Shao Hao, were a culture that worshiped bird totems.
Conclusions
This chapter has presented what the Shao Hao, later re-named Dong-Yi, contributed to human civilization, including the dawn of Bronze Age China, Oceania and Americas. I hope that this presentation will enable a discussion on the foundations of prehistory due to this overlooked people.
Even as the Shao Hao People built one of the most important Neolithic cultures, which greatly influenced ancient China, they built friendly relationships with older Chinese peoples in their early history. However, later on the Dong-Yi became the main adversaries of both the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty. The State of Qi eliminated Lai, the last nation of Shao Hao People, in 567BCE.
I hope that my work will initiate an inquiry as to the role of prehistoric migrations and more, of how the Shao Hao or Dong-Yi inspired cultures in China, Oceania and America, providing a new view as to how civilizations arose in these three areas.
In summary:
The Shao Hao People moved from the Middle East to the lower reach of the Yellow River and the Shandong Peninsula of China, later spread to other places of China and mainly settled near the northeastern, eastern and southeastern coasts of China during the Neolithic Age, then spread to the Americas, Oceania and the Arctic Circle. Furthermore, the Shao Hao built great cultures in those areas during the Neolithic Age. From the places of Shao Hao’s residence in Neolithic China, we can affirm that the Shao Hao People were seafaring people that enable them to cross the straits and moved to the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.
The Dong-Yi civilizations arose in the Shandong Peninsula of China in the Neolithic Age, spread to the lower reaches of the Yellow and Huai rivers and later during the stage of the Longshan Culture (about 3200-1900BCE), spread to the areas of early Di-Qiang Culture, another Chinese Neolithic culture that originated from the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It also spread to the Yangtze River Valley and as far away as today’s southeastern coast of China during the Longshan Culture.
I hope that my presentation sheds new light on this important people, who played a decisive role in the development of human societies worldwide. This manuscript is a step in that direction.
References:
[1] Shuowen Jiezi (literally Explaining and Analyzing Characters), often shortened to Shuowen, is an early second-century Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the Erya predates it), it is still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them (sometimes also the etymology of the words represented by them), as well as the first to use the principle of organization by sections with shared components, called radicals (section headers). Xu Shen (ca.58-147CE), a Han Dynasty scholar of the Five Classics, compiled the Shuowen Jiezi. He finished editing it in 100CE, but due to an unfavorable imperial attitude towards scholarship, he waited until 121CE before having his son Xu Chong presented it to Emperor An of Han along with a memorial.
[2] The Bamboo Annals, or Zhushu Jinian, also called the Jizhong Annals, is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins at the earliest legendary times (the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299BCE, with the later centuries focusing on the history of the State of Wei in the Warring States period. The original text was interred with King Xiang of Wei (died 296BCE) and re-discovered in 281CE (Western Jin Dynasty) in the Jizhong discovery.
[3] The Book of Documents (Shujing, earlier Shu-king) or Classic of History, also known as the Shangshu, is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of the pre-dynastic period and the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, though probably written during the Zhou dynasty. The Documents served as the foundation of Chinese political philosophy for over 2,000 years.
[4] The Book of the Later Han, also known as History of the Later Han or Hou Han Shu, is a Chinese court document covering the history of the Han Dynasty from 6 to 189CE. It was compiled by Fan Ye (398-445CE), and others in the fifth century during the Liu Song Dynasty (Former Song Dynasty, 420-479CE), using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources. The book is part of early four historiographies of the Twenty-Four Histories canon, together with the Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Han and Records of the Three Kingdoms. Fan Ye used earlier histories, including accounts by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, along with many others (some had similar names, such as the Han Records of the Eastern Lodge by various contemporaries throughout the second century, and the Records of Later Han by Yuan Hong from the fourth century), most of which did not survive intact.
[51] The Records of the Grand Historian, or Shiji, was authored by a Chinese historian named Sima Qian (145BCE or 135BCE – 87BCE) during the period of 109BCE to 91BCE. It became the standard for different dynasties’ governmental historians or emperor-appointed historians to edit or compile official historical books for each dynasty. Historians agree that Sima Qian did have fairly reliable materials at his disposal - a fact which underlines once more the deep historical-mindedness of the Chinese. His records are called true chronicles by historians. During the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912CE), the scholarly and talented Emperor Qian Long added The Records of The Grand Historian into the officially-edited 24 historical books and listed it as the top one.
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