How to interpret Chinese prehistoric legends

1. It is a painful reflection that the history of Chinese civilization from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties only lasted up to five thousand years. The ancient Chinese history before the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, inferred from archaeological excavation materials, was at least nearly 2 million years long. In these long years of millions of years, the ancestors of the Chinese nation must have had too many, very important, shocking, and war-fighting historical activities. However, the legends about China's prehistoric human activities are rare. , for example, Pangu created the world, Nuwa refined stones to mend the sky, Houyi bent her bow to shoot the sun, Kuafu rushed to chase the sun, and Dayu led the people to control floods. The Chinese nation has an extremely long prehistoric civilization, and the ancestors must have experienced too many major historical events. Therefore, the ancestors must want to tell future generations some important historical facts that happened at that time. Why are there not many historical legends reflecting the important activities of our ancestors of the Chinese nation? The author suspects that it is probably because of these legends that have been handed down, the historical events reflected in them occupy an extremely important position in the development history of the Chinese nation. Is it because these events are so important and so true that our ancestors thought it necessary to let their descendants pass them on from generation to generation? Is it possible that many of the legends that are treated as myths by our descendants and are often just used to ridicule the ignorance of our ancestors are actually very important and battle-ridden history that our ancestors of the Chinese nation experienced personally? What about real events? Is it because we don’t know what they are talking about that we regard them as illusory imagination and purely literary creations? Even the so-called literate and knowledgeable intellectuals of our generation will no longer be able to tell our descendants these ignorant and boring myths and legends from childhood? If these legends about human activities in early prehistory of China were not myths at all, but very important, shocking, and real historical activities that the ancestors of the Chinese nation experienced personally, then we would not They laugh at the ancients for being so ignorant, and blame themselves for how superficial people are today.

2． Correct mentality: As descendants of our ancestors, what stance and method should we use to re-examine and interpret many historical legends that have long been regarded as myths by future generations? Have you ever tried your best as a child to express something clearly, but adults couldn't understand it anyway, and even made a big joke? Here, I will tell you an incident that someone once wanted to express clearly when he was a child to let you guess and see if you can guess what the real incident I described is. A five-year-old little girl ran home panting and said: Dad, Mom, go and see, there is a big, big turtle crawling towards our house! There are two feet, moving and crawling. Mom asked: Turtle? Big? How old? The girl pointed to the Eight Immortals table in front of the hall and said, "It's so big. Here, it's so big." No, it's bigger than a table. It doesn't have four legs, only two. Two feet in the middle, crawling every move! My parents were confused after hearing this, and had no idea what their daughter was talking about. After three or five minutes, the big turtle really crawled to the door of the house. When the adults saw it, they all laughed and bent over.

Excuse me, what is this big turtle with two legs that is as big as the Eight Immortals Table that the little girl is talking about? Don't even know what the Eight Immortals Table is. Unexpectedly, it is impossible for you to guess it correctly. But the little girl really didn't lie. She basically didn't lie to adults.

It turned out that a local farmer was carrying a rice cube for threshing rice and passed by her door. His head and body were blocked by the rice cube, and only his two feet were visible. Walking through it step by step with difficulty. This was actually a very common phenomenon in rural areas of southern China twenty or thirty years ago. I think this discussion is already very concrete, but in today's rural areas, things like rice are extremely rare, and only relatively backward areas just have them.

Those who grew up in big cities and have no idea what rice is, naturally they are still confused and confused after hearing it, right? If some legends describing the historical activities of China's prehistoric ancestors are not purely literary creations or imaginary myths, but are realistic representations of extremely simple historical events, what kind of attitude should we, as descendants, have? Mentality, how should we read and listen in order to roughly understand the true connotation reflected in these legends? The author's stance in re-interpreting is to use deep self-reflection, to use the curiosity of childhood, to listen carefully to the stories of the ancestors, to transcend time and space, and to return to the distant past millions of years ago. Go to the era they lived in, truly feel the world they lived in, and watch the major activities they did over the past millions of years that should really be understood by our descendants.

In the distant ancient times, our ancestors lived in a harsh natural environment. How could they be so idle and bored as civilized people in a civilized society, making up sets of yellow and gray things? , white things to deceive the world? Therefore, the author first firmly believes that our ancestors had no reason to deliberately create so many illusory myths to deceive our descendants. Therefore, the author interprets many ancient legends that have been regarded as myths. First of all, I dare not easily regard them as fictitious pure literary works, let alone regard them as ridiculous myths, but first regard them as something we still have. A true record of certain events that are not obvious.

Secondly, the ancient ancestors who told us about their historical activities and legends were still in their infancy in the history of human development. With this understanding as the premise, the author treats the ancestors who told these historical legends to future generations as children who have just learned to speak. This is because our ancestors did not have rich vocabulary and poor expression ability. , we must be able to withstand the eagerness for quick success as an ordinary person under the impact of the wave of commodity economy, and be able to calm down the restless mood of contemporary people who are full of fears and illusions about the future. We must give up treating the ancients as insane or mentally retarded. The outdated ideas of the past, especially the absurd idea that the ancients were good at being teachers and concocting weird theories to deceive future generations, must not only listen calmly and carefully, but also rack their brains and think deeply, and go back to the distant past to Take a look at the environment at that time for yourself, and then make a reasonable inference to understand and imagine what the ancestors were telling us in detail.

3. Wrong Concepts As contemporary people, we will inevitably encounter many obstacles when reading ancient Chinese cultural texts. The first reading obstacle encountered is the meaning of words, which requires good literary skills. The second is to understand the social background at that time, which requires rich historical knowledge. As long as one of these two items is still lacking, reading the many texts handed down by the ancients is undoubtedly like reading a book from the sky, full of fog and incomprehensible.

The Chinese nation has a long history, with millions of years of prehistory. Our ancestors must have left too many historical relics for our descendants. Regarding many historical legends in ancient China, we cannot easily find a good excuse to ignore them just because we don’t use our brains, don’t change our minds, and can’t see why! These are nothing but myths! It is a product of imagination! It is a pure literary work of fantasy! It’s a wonderful way to pin one’s ambitions! Besides, the predecessors said that this is a myth, and I am no stupider than contemporary people. I don’t see any mystery in it, so naturally there is no mystery! Future generations, they are also human beings, and their heads must be similar to mine. It is certainly impossible to see any new ideas from these rags, and it is impossible to put forward opinions that are contrary to mine. If we look at China's historical and cultural heritage with this ideological concept, many historical treasures left by the ancestors of the Chinese nation will inevitably pass us by. Even if you enter the treasure, you will return empty-handed. Yu Zhihong