Why was Shangqiu so famous in ancient times?

Shangqiu is one of the famous "world famous mountains" in the history of China. It not only has a written history of more than 3,000 years, but also becomes a bright pearl in the Central Plains with its long history and rich material and cultural connotations. How did the name "Shangqiu" come from? Many domestic historians have discussed and studied this issue for a long time, and even overseas sinologists have written a long article about it, but there are still different opinions on this issue, and some opinions are even contradictory, which makes it difficult to solve this mystery.

More than 3,000 years ago, there were already "Shang", "Shang Zhong", "Greater Shang Yi" and "Qiu Shang" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The word "Shang" appears as a place name "Chinese businessmen" refers to the middle of east, west, north and south, and the middle refers to the direction; "Dayi merchants" refers to the capital of the center of Shang Dynasty and the land of Gyeonggi; Although "Qiushang" refers to a place name, it is not associated with today's "Shangqiu". The first time was Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period, in which Shangqiu was recorded in two places: First, it was nine years of "xianggong": "The fire of Tang Tao's family was in Shangqiu, so Xiangtu lived there." Second, Zhao Nian: The family had two sons, and Bo said that he was a scholar and a real person. After the emperor ignored it, he moved to Shangqiu and took charge of Chen. "These two places are stories of the late primitive society, in which Kui Bo moved to Shangqiu to worship Chen Xing, which was later called Shangxing. According to this record, the name "Shangqiu" existed at least in the Spring and Autumn Period, but whether this place name is today's "Shangqiu" is controversial in history. There are two main theories: one is "the theory of Song, Shang and Shangqiu", which is the textual research and explanation of Du Yu in Spring and Autumn Annals. Wang Guowei, a famous scholar in Qing Dynasty, praised this statement and further extended it to say: "The ancient Song Dynasty, whose real name was Shangqiu and Qiu Zhe Market, was also called Shangqiu in Song Dynasty, and was called Yin Ruins in the south of Huanshui, which was the seat of merchants in Song Dynasty". Second, Shangqiu is the villa of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which is Puyang today. It comes from "The Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the Book of the World": "Qi, move to Shangqiu. This is the market in Zhuan Xu ... Now Puyang is also. " No matter whether the ancient "Shangqiu" is in Shangqiu or Puyang today, it is not the theme of this paper, so we can leave it here for the time being, but from these records, we can see that "Shangqiu" existed as a place name from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period at the latest.

Let's start with "business". More than 2000 years ago, Sima Qian, a great historian of the Western Han Dynasty, quoted the Book of Songs in his masterpiece Yin Benji: "The mysterious birds were born", which means that Shang people claimed that their ancestors were born because of the mysterious birds appointed by heaven. This is an ancient myth and legend: According to legend, at the end of primitive society, a Wa family had two daughters: the eldest daughter was named Judy and the youngest daughter was named Jian Peijun. When they were taking a bath in the river, they saw an egg falling from the sky by a black bird, so Judy grabbed it and ate diced food. Later, they got pregnant and got a contract. Qi is the ancestor of the Yin people. In primitive society, due to low productivity, people often can't explain everything in nature, such as lightning and thunder, or even their own source of life, so they believe that a superhuman power is dominating themselves, which is human totem worship. The totem of Yin Shang clan may be a mysterious bird.

What is the mysterious bird? Traditionally, it is considered a swallow. "Chu ci? Wang Yi notes "Li Sao": "Ye Yan, the mysterious bird. Metaphysics means "black". Shan Li thought in the annotation of Zhang Heng's Thinking that "the mysterious bird is the crane bird". Because the crane stands out among birds, it is the first of all birds. Guo Moruo and others verified it as a phoenix, and Xu Shen in Han Dynasty said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Phoenix is also a bird of god. ""Zuo zhuan? In the seventeenth year of Zhao Gong, there was a saying: "I was born with a great ancestor and a small family, and the Phoenix bird is suitable, so I was disciplined by the bird, and I was an official of the bird teacher." Mr. Guo Moruo also thinks that the word "Shang" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is hieroglyphics, which "has a pointed head, two horns, a leg, a short tail and sometimes looks like a crutch". It is very vivid, and it is a strange animal like a monkey.

The ancestors worshiped by businessmen, Jun, Ju and Shun, were all one person, all animal-shaped ancestors of businessmen, and some people thought they were orangutans. The mythologist Yuan Ke thinks it is a peacock. He said: "Dijun, the god worshipped by the Yin people in the East, is a strange animal with a bird's head and two horns. Macaques have a body and only one foot. He often walks with a cane in his hand and bows his back. This is their ancestor God. " Judging from the pictographic meaning of "the mysterious bird", he thinks that this kind of "the first half of the phoenix is like a swan, the second half is like a unicorn, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish, the gift of a dragon, the back of a turtle, the chin of a swallow, the mouth of a chicken ..." has become a synthesis of birds, animals, reptiles, fish and other animals. Zhang Guangzhi of Harvard University believes that the upper part of the word "Shang" is a hieroglyph of "Xin", which represents the positive image of ancestors. The ruling class of Yin Shang Dynasty is a class with hats, which is in sharp contrast with the class with exposed braids at the bottom. The lower part of the word "Shang" is the word "C", which means that the upper part is a plane and the lower part has four feet. The image of ancestors can be placed on the altar of sacrifice. Some people think it is the image of the merchant totem "Shan Hai Jing"? "Wild East longitude" records: "There is a beast on it, which looks like an ox. It is pale and has no horns. When you step into the water, it will be a storm. " This place has become like a beast again. Some people think it is a legendary beast. Later, it was widely used in the decorative pattern of bronze wares in Shang Dynasty-Kuiwen, and the gluttonous decorative pattern in Xia Dynasty was also formed by two Kuiwen. Some people think that the mysterious bird is a rooster, and the merchant first took the rooster as a totem. It seems that even birds, animals and people can hardly reach a * * * knowledge at the very least, what's more, there are many versions of what bird it is!

Then, further, how can businessmen, businessmen and businessmen be called businessmen? There are several different opinions at home and abroad. As early as the 1920s, historian Xu Zhongshu pointed out in Notes on Chinese Studies: "The origin of businessmen is because they were not called businessmen before the Western Zhou Dynasty, but called' Yin'. After the destruction of commerce, the adherents of Yin were enfeoffed to various vassal States, and those who were good at business were assigned to Shangqiu area. At that time, businessmen were called "Jia". Businessmen value and are good at doing business. Because the Yin people were good at Jia and the Zhou people attached importance to agriculture, the Zhou people later despised the Yin people and called the buyers and sellers businessmen, which is why China called the businessmen "businessmen". Guo Moruo agrees with this statement, according to Shangshu? There is a passage in "Liquor Patent" that says: "The initiator began in, so it can be seen that in the minds of people in the early Zhou Dynasty, commercial behavior began in Yin, and for this reason, people who manage this behavior are called businessmen in later generations." Mr. Wang believes that the origin of Shangqiu is the Xia Dynasty, when Qi's son was sealed in Shangqiu, which was called Shang Guo, and the people in Shang Guo were called businessmen. Xiangtu, who was sealed in Shangqiu, saw Shangqiu's moderate location, wide and flat, and convenient transportation, so he invented a carriage to transport goods and trade with horses ... At that time, people from commercial countries followed suit and ran around to some small countries and tribes around to do business and engage in commercial activities.

Later, people in other small countries around gradually formed a habit of understanding. When they see people doing business, they think they are businessmen and call them businessmen, so "businessmen" has become synonymous with doing business. This is the origin of the name "businessman". Therefore, Shang country originated from Shangqiu, and "merchants" were born in Shang country. However, Mr. Hui Wu thinks in the book "The History of Ancient Business in China" that "after Zhou Wuwang's business perished, businessmen became the racial slaves of the Zhou Dynasty and were moved to other places, and were closely monitored and ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. The nobles of Shang dynasty could not engage in agricultural and handicraft activities like other slaves, so they took business as their main occupation. In the eyes of Zhou people, people who do business are businessmen. After the demise of the Shang Dynasty, people called people who were good at doing business businessmen.