Why did China's history begin in the pre-Qin period?

The Beginning of the History of the Motherland —— Pre-Qin Dynasty

(A), the pre-Qin historical concept and historical characteristics:

"Pre-Qin" is a long historical period before the Qin Dynasty swept the world and formed a unified multi-ethnic feudal country. This is the beginning of China's history and the source of Chinese civilization. Yuanmou man, about 6.5438+0.7 million years ago, is the earliest known ancient resident in China. Around 2070 BC, the Xia Dynasty was established in Yu, and China entered the era of civilization. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, social progress, production development and cultural prosperity. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is an important period of great social changes, with remarkable improvement of productivity, ethnic integration and cultural prosperity, which laid a solid foundation for the great unification of Qin and Han Dynasties.

2. Staging of ancient society

According to the archaeological stages, according to the materials and processing conditions of people's main production tools at that time, the period when stone tools were used was called "Paleolithic Age" and the period when stone tools were widely used was called "Neolithic Age". In the late Neolithic period, copper and stone were used together and entered the bronze age.

3. Well site system and packet system

Objective: To consolidate the rule of slavery.

Well-field system is a slave production relationship. From the perspective of ownership of means of production, it is a state-owned land system; From the position and relationship of people in production, slave owners forced slaves to collectively cultivate in the mine field; Judging from the distribution form of products, all the fruits of hard work have been deprived by slave owners. Well-field system is the economic basis of slavery and the reflection of the prosperity of slavery in the Western Zhou Dynasty in the economic field.

The enfeoffment system was the enfeoffment system of governors in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhou Wang granted a certain amount of land and population to the royal family, heroes and the first generation of nobles, so that they could establish vassal states and defend the royal family. Governors should obey Zhou Wang's orders, contribute property to Zhou Wang on schedule, and fight Zhou Wang. The enfeoffment system enabled the Zhou Dynasty to consolidate its rule and expand its territory. The system of enfeoffment is the superstructure of slavery and the reflection of the prosperity of slavery in the Western Zhou Dynasty in the political field.

4. "Bronze Age" and bronze casting industry in Shang and Zhou Dynasties

The "Bronze Age" is one of the times divided according to the development stages of human production tools in archaeology, and it is a historical stage between the "Stone Age" and the later "Iron Age". Bronze is a kind of copper-tin alloy with low melting point and high hardness. The appearance of bronzes shows that human beings have made great progress in metal smelting and casting technology, which is of epoch-making significance in the development of productive forces and the progress of civilization. In the bronze age, the use of stone tools could not be ruled out.

5. Oracle Bone Inscriptions

(1) and Oracle Bone Inscriptions are the records of divination in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. People in Shang Dynasty believed in ghosts and gods. In all administrative and daily affairs, we should explore the will of ghosts and gods by burning tortoise shells and observing the cracks in animal bones, and then write the conclusions of divination and the results of autopsy next to the cracks. The Zhou Dynasty also inherited this tradition. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's Oracle bone inscriptions were written and carved with tortoise shells and animal bones and some notes related to divination in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, so they are also called "Oracle Bone Inscriptions".

(2) Because the Shang kings always divined everything, every divination had a Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded the wars, ceremonies and agricultural events at that time, recorded the activities of the Shang kings and reflected the social life of the Shang dynasty. A large number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions are important materials for studying the history of Shang Dynasty.

(3) Among the recognizable Chinese characters, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the oldest writing system. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a relatively mature script, which has acquired the word-formation rules of the Chinese character "Liu Shu". Although the strokes and components of many characters have not yet been finalized, they are basically the same as today's Chinese characters. A large number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions shows that the Shang civilization has reached a fairly high level. Today's Chinese characters, developed from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, are the longest-used characters in the world.

(4) Oracle Bone Inscriptions was first unearthed in Yin Ruins in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province, and was discovered by scholars in the 25th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1899). In the 20th century, many scholars made textual research and research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and achieved fruitful results. At present, more than 150000 pieces of Oracle bones written in Oracle Bone Inscriptions have been unearthed, and the number of recognizable words is about 1500.