On the morning of September 30, 2024, the 6th Tang Prize Sinology Award Masters Forum, co-organized by the Tang Prize Education Foundation, Academia Sinica and Taiwan University, was held as scheduled at the International Conference Hall of the Institute of Applied Mechanics, Taiwan University, with the theme "Jingwei China: From the Mainland to the Ocean". Xu Zhuoyun, winner of this year's Sinology Award and emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh, gave a pre-video presentation, and Wang Dewei, chair professor of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilization at Harvard University, presided over the presentation.

Speech venue (Photo by Chen Zitao)

First, Xu Zhuoyun reviewed the influence of Taiwan University on himself. After briefly recalling his study experience at National Taiwan University, Xu Zhuoyun emphasized the far-reaching influence of President Fu Sinian and his school motto,"Honest people to learn, patriotism and love people", on his own conduct and academic studies, that is, always be upright in character and care for Chinese civilization and mankind as a whole. self-requirement.

Subsequently, Chen Wenwen, President of Taiwan University, Zheng Yuyu, Dean of the School of Arts of Taiwan University, and Li Jie-en, Director of the Institute of History and Philology, delivered speeches one after another. After congratulating Mr. Xu Zhuoyun on winning the Tang Award, they respectively introduced Mr. Xu's experience in the Department of History and the Institute of History and Philology of Taiwan University. Deep concern and significant influence on the academic community in Taiwan. Among them, Chen Wenzen also pointed out that although Mr. Xu is elderly and physically inconvenient, he is still diligent in his academic studies and his charitable deeds of donating all the bonuses he received this time to promote the advancement of others are touching.

After summarizing the contents of the three speeches, Wang Dewei, the moderator of the symposium, first started with Mr. Xu Zhuoyun's works and introduced his outstanding academic contributions: by introducing social science research methods, he gradually constructed an interactive and intertwined system of ancient China history in various fields, regions, and classes, and finally formed its unique "Chinese historical perspective." Then, Wang Dewei successively talked about the importance of Mr. Xu's participation in promoting the establishment of the Sinology Foundation, his perseverance in pursuing academic research despite being physically inconvenient, and his good story with his wife Sun Manli. Finally, Wang Dewei once again congratulated Mr. Xu Zhuoyun for winning the award and called on all the history students present here to follow Mr. Xu's example and continue to forge ahead.

The actual scope of "Dayu Water Control"

After that, Xu Zhuoyun's special speech on "Jingwei Huaxia: From the Mainland to the Ocean" officially began.

At the beginning of his speech, Xu Zhuoyun went straight to the point and stated that he would analyze the relationship between the myth and legend of "Dayu Governing the Water" and the decline of Shandong Longshan Culture from an archaeological perspective, showing the important methodological significance of discussing historical changes from a geographical perspective.

He first started by introducing the report "Outburst flood at 1920 BCE supports history of China's Great Flood and the Xia dynasty" published in Science in 2016. Wu Qinglong believed that around 1900 BC, two barrier lakes were formed due to an earthquake in the Jishixia section of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The floods caused by the burst of the embankments flooded the lowlands in the middle and lower reaches. After the floods subsided, Dayu, the leader of the Xia people in present-day Shanxi Province, cleared up the remaining stagnant water. In this regard, Xu Zhuoyun believed that it was probably no coincidence that the Jishi Gorge mentioned by Wu Qinglong was consistent with the record of "Guiding River and Accumulating Stone" in Shang Shu·Yu Gong. At the same time, he also affirmed the academic community's suggestion that the water volume of the barrier lake could not cause the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to flood, and further raised the question of why only Dayu was immune from flooding.

Later, Xu Zhuoyun introduced the report "Holocene monsoon changes and abrupt events on the western Chinese Loess Plateau as revealed by accurate-dated stalagmites" published by Tan Liangcheng, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Environment, China Academy of Sciences, published in Geophysical Research Letters in 2020. Tan Liang measured the isotope of stalactites in Wuya Cave, Longnan, Gansu, in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and found that there had been continuous heavy precipitation here for 20 years around 4200 years ago, which is likely to be the cause of flooding in the middle and lower reaches. Xu Zhuoyun very much agreed with Researcher Tan's explanation, and supplemented the reason for the heavy precipitation in the area where Wuya Cave is located with the principle of sliding and heating up the air mass on the top of the mountain. Xu Zhuoyun also combined the water level line of the loess cliffs he had seen during his previous field inspection in Zhouyuan, Shaanxi Province, and the close connection between the wetlands and lakes formed in the Shaanxi-Gansu region due to the ability of loess to absorb and conserve water sources told by archaeologist Mr. Shi Xingbang. Guanzhong, the Dingdu of the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasties, and the Tuntian Juyan of the Han Army, believed that with the replenishment of the area it flowed through, the water volume of the Yellow River must be sufficient to maintain floods reaching the middle and lower reaches of the region. During this period, Xu Zhuoyun also recalled visiting Fenglingdu with his lover accompanied by Mr. Shi.

After clarifying the causes and scope of influence of the Yellow River flood, Xu Zhuoyun speculated on the actual scope of "Dayu Water Control" from the perspective of topography. The east and north banks of the middle reaches of the Yellow River are the Shanxi Plateau. Due to the relatively high height, floods cannot enter. Therefore, in fact, only the Yuncheng Plain, which is located in the southwest of the Shanxi Plateau, is affected by the floods. Considering that the south bank of the Yellow River is low and the soil is also water-absorbing loess, the flood water in the northern part of the Yuncheng Plain can be easily redirected back to the river channel with the help of the terrain to release floods to the south bank and downstream. As the loess along the way absorbs the flood, the flood's damage to downstream areas should be relatively limited. Therefore, in an era when the concept of "the whole country" had not yet been formed, the actual scope of Dayu's water control should be limited to the southern part of the Yuncheng Plain.

In addition, Xu Zhuoyun also added the myths and legends about Dayu's control of water and his wife Tushan's family that were spread in Sichuan. Considering that the source of the Yangtze River is not far from the source of the Yellow River, heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is likely to have also affected the Yangtze River Basin. Therefore, Xu Zhuoyun believes that this legend is evidence of researcher Tan Liangcheng's report.

To sum up, Xu Zhuoyun believes that integrating the research of the two researchers Wu Qinglong and Tan Liangcheng and complementing each other is a relatively complete analysis of Dayu's flood control myths and legends.

Finally, Xu Zhuoyun explained the rise of Dayu and the formation of the Xia royal power. Since the Yuncheng Plain, the core area of Dayu's rule, was not seriously damaged during the flood, the internal forces of the Xia people were integrated during the water control process, allowing Xia to continue to grow. This self-consistent interpretation system also confirms the statement that Dayu's power is mainly distributed in Shanxi. Dayu's successful efforts to calm floods in the southern part of the Yuncheng Plain will naturally inspire residents in the downstream areas to learn from the successful experience of Xia people to control floods in their own areas, thereby gradually restoring their own strength. As an emerging force in the west, Xia also became a challenger to the eastern forces. The two formed a competitive pattern in Erlitou and Taosi. In the end, Xia established an unprecedented hegemony. The legends related to Yao and Shun in the southern region are likely to reflect the historical fact that Xia's challenger was expelled. However, Xia was not a unified dynasty, and its control was unstable, but was in a state of coexistence with other forces.

Reasons for the decline of Longshan Culture in Shandong

After ending the discussion of Dayu's flood control myths and legends, Xu Zhuoyun changed the topic and began to analyze the reasons for the decline of Longshan culture in Shandong.

He started with the archaeological phenomenon of the decline of Longshan culture in Shandong. Archaeological data show that the settlements of the Longshan Culture in Shandong, which was located in the Bohai Bay area and once flourished for a time, rapidly shrank in scale and number, and many settlements were abandoned around 2000 BC. Archaeologists call this special phenomenon the "escape from Longshan" or "escape of Zhurong's eight surnames."

Later, Xu Zhuoyun gave a supplementary introduction to "Zhurong" from the perspective of ethnic origin. It is said that Zhurong is the god of fire, a family of sun, fire, and flying birds among the descendants of Zhuanxu. Sunlight, flying birds, and flame are the ethnic origin legends of the Eastern Yi in the Northeast, Hongshan in Shandong, and Yinshang in other sea areas. At the same time as Zhuanxu, there are legends about Taihao and Shaohao who named officials after birds and officials after clouds. Based on this, Xu Zhuoyun believed that Zhu Rong should be from the eastern Yi of the sea area.

However, according to scholars 'research, the eight surnames of Zhurong are generally distributed in present-day Henan and Hubei areas in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River. Faced with the difference between the source area and distribution area of the Zhurong ethnic group, Xu Zhuoyun believed that this was the result of Zhurong's departure from the coast of Shandong, and then analyzed the reasons for Zhurong's departure. Based on meteorological information reflected by a water cave with low latitude and high altitude in India, geographers found that around 4000 years ago, the climate in the low-latitude coastal areas of the entire Old Continent quickly became cold and dry, and lasted for a long time. Based on this, Xu Zhuoyun speculated that the climate deterioration on the Shandong Peninsula, which is controlled by the monsoon as well as India and has a higher latitude, is likely to be more severe at this time. This should be an important reason for the decline of the Longshan culture in Shandong and the departure of Zhurong's eight surnames.

At the end, Xu Zhuoyun briefly summarized the speech, that is, through the climate change reflected by the two water caves, he analyzed the actual scope of Dayu's water control and the reasons for the decline of Longshan culture in Shandong, two major issues in China history. Later, Xu Zhuoyun added that the bronze casting technology gradually developed by the Longshan Culture, which mastered high-temperature pottery making technology, was of great significance to the peak of bronze civilization. Finally, Xu Zhuoyun concluded the entire speech by re-emphasizing the importance of geographical concepts to historical research.

Xu Zhuoyun's discussion on the myth and legend of "Dayu Governing the Water" and the decline of Shandong's Longshan Culture is in fact a reflection within the framework of "Yi Xia East-West Theory" proposed by Mr. Fu Sinian, the founder of the Institute of History and Philology. According to "Xu Zhuoyun's Conversation", Mr. Fu always wanted to "have an explanation of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the study of the national cities of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and a comprehensive study of China culture." In addition, Xu Zhuoyun also followed Academician Li Ji of the Institute of History and Philology to study various important topics in the Bronze Age. This shows the influence of the academic tradition of the Institute of History and Philology on Xu Zhuoyun's academic studies. His later published books such as "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty" and "Qiu Gu Bian" were all discussions and responses to how the "Chinese State" formed, a topic of particular concern to all predecessors in the historical and linguistic institute.

In addition, as early as 1997, Xu Zhuoyun published "Where Is Liangzhu?" through "New History" The article analyzes the rise and fall of Liangzhu Culture from the perspective of geographical environment: After the large-scale "retreat", in order to desalinate saline-alkali land, Liangzhu Culture emerged a complex organizational system that transcends a single village. Combining Xu Zhuoyun's discussion of Liangzhu with his analysis of Dayu's water control and the decline of Longshan culture in Shandong, we may have a deeper understanding of the importance of his discussion of historical changes research methods from a geographical perspective.

Speech by Mr. Xu Zhuoyun (Photo Source: Video from the Sinology Hall of the 2024 Tang Award Masters Forum)

After Xu Zhuoyun's special speech, Du Zhengsheng, academician of the Academia Sinica, Zang Zhenhua, academician of the Academia Sinica and director of the Institute of Anthropology at Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, Gan Huaizhen, professor of the Department of History at Taiwan University, and Kong Lingwei, assistant researcher at the Institute of History and Linguistics of the Academia Sinica, successively talked with Xu Zhuoyun's speech.

"Land-oriented" China and its understanding of the ocean

Du Zhengsheng went straight to the theme. After clarifying China's mainstream sea and land awareness, he reviewed China's understanding of the ocean and its evolution in accordance with the context of historical development. China's geographical situation is "backed by mountains and faces water." The length of the land boundary line and the coastline are close, and the land and sea are balanced. However, he believes that China's history is actually a history centered on the mainland, and the leading force in its development is often the north, or "China." Different from the ancient Mediterranean civilization that was "sea-oriented", the mainstream consciousness in China's history was mainly "land-oriented", and exchanges occurred between farming and grassland peoples in struggle and confrontation.

Later, he sorted out China's understanding of the ocean and its evolution in different periods. According to the tribute contained in "Xunzi·Wang Zhi", the concept of "four seas" that appeared as late as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty did not actually refer to the real ocean, but the boundary of the "world" scope. Although the alchemists of Yan and Qi developed concepts such as "Big and Small Jiuzhou" in the face of the vast ocean, the kings of Yan and Qi sent people into the sea, and the Qin Emperor made five patrols to merge the sea in the middle and fourth directions, these were only unrealistic illusions with the main purpose of seeking immortals. During the Han and Jin Dynasties, Huo Qubing Feng Lang Juxu looked at the "North Sea". After the envoys of the Later Han Dynasty, Gan Ying heard that the "West Sea" had a relatively vague understanding of the "West Sea", and the South China Sea was gradually realized due to trade.

Characteristics of Xu Zhuoyun's Historical Research

Before the formal talks began, Zang Zhenhua first congratulated Mr. Xu Zhuoyun for winning the Tang Award and paid tribute to Mr. Xu for his continuous writing in his 80s. Later, he focused on introducing the characteristics of Xu Zhuoyun's historical research.

Zang Zhenhua pointed out that one of the characteristics of Xu Zhuoyun's historical research is that it transcends traditional historical research methods. Xu Zhuoyun's doctoral thesis,"Ancient China in Transition", introduced statistical methods into historical research for the first time, setting the beginning. Later, Zang Zhenhua closely followed the content of the special speech, emphasizing that Xu Zhuoyun's discussion of Dayu's water control and the decline of Shandong's Longshan culture based on geographical data was not the so-called "environmental determinism." Although Xu Zhuoyun emphasized the importance of geographical concepts to historical research, he always believed that historical development was the result of the joint action of multiple factors, and by no means just determined by the geographical environment.

Then, Zang Zhenhua took "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty" as an example and believed that another characteristic of Xu Zhuoyun's historical research was his attention to and familiarity with archaeological data, which few scholars today can match. Influenced by the French Almanac School, Xu Zhuoyun regarded archaeological culture as the lifestyle of ancient people, and therefore vigorously promoted the development of historical ecology.

Finally, Zang Zhenhua brought the topic back to Xu Zhuoyun's speech, adding archaeological support to Xu Zhuoyun's analysis. Zang Zhenhua introduced the Minhe Lajia site in Qinghai Province excavated by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2000 to 2001. A large number of human remains that died abnormally and had strange postures were unearthed at the site, and there were obvious faults and sediments brought by mudslides and floods in the strata of the site, indicating that the area suffered major disasters around 4000 years ago, which is consistent with the geographical and climatic data cited by Xu Zhuoyun.

China in the World

After reviewing Mr. Xu Zhuoyun's status and contribution to academic history in Taiwan, Professor Gan Huaizhen further expanded the research direction of China history "from the mainland to the ocean" advocated by him to "China in the world."

Gan Huaizhen pointed out that historical research in Taiwan after 1949 has inherited the new historical tradition of the mainland of China. On this basis, Xu Zhuoyun introduced social science research methods into history, so that the historical community has gradually accepted and fully utilized social science research methods since the 1980s. Gan Huaizhen also pointed out that with the continuous advancement of social sciences in recent years, the research of history will also reach a higher level.

Later, Gan Huaizhen quoted the preface to "Qiu Gu Bian" published by Xu Zhuoyun in the 1970s, and deeply agreed with the statement that "China's history is not only the history of a nation or a country", but also a "huge organization" and a "complex cultural system", and pointed out that today, when molecular biology has proved that modern Chinese people migrated from abroad, Chinese history research focusing on the interaction between China's political and cultural geographical regions since ancient times, The scope of research should be further expanded to include the connections between various geographical areas and extraterritorial areas. Gan Huaizhen believes that the expression "looking at China from the world, and then looking at the world from China" in Xu Zhuoyun's "Eternal Rivers" can be summarized as "China in the world." That is, based on the geographical perspective emphasized by Xu Zhuoyun, he added the research perspective of world history, and then changed the topic and introduced the topic into Gan Huaizhen's own research field-East Asian history. Gan Huaizhen pointed out that "History of East Asia" studies not only a larger region including China, but also a "sea world." The East Asian waters are a bridge between China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. Gan Huaizhen believes that this "sea world" was formed during the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty. The previous early civilizations such as Erlitou did have extremely close connections with the Western and northern civilizations. However, since the Han Dynasty, the center of Chinese civilization has changed. Gan Huaizhen successively quoted the sentence in "Longzhong Dui" that "Jingzhou occupies the Han and Mianshan in the north and benefits the South China Sea", the Gongsun family's control of East Asian waters in Liaodong, and the Shanghe map during the Qingming Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty, showing the close connection between China's rivers and oceans and the neglected world of China's maritime history.

Finally, Gan Huaizhen called on the majority of post-graduates to continue to follow Xu Zhuoyun's direction of China history research from the mainland to the ocean, and expressed his fullest confidence in future research on China history.

Kong Lingwei: Enlightenment from "Eternal Rivers" and "Jingwei Huaxia"

Before the formal talks began, Dr. Kong Lingwei expressed his gratitude to Academician Wang Dewei and the Tang Prize Foundation for inviting young scholars to talk with them to conduct academic dialogues among the three generations of the elderly, middle and young, and emphasized that this was a great encouragement to the majority of young people who learned later. Later, Kong Lingwei talked about the inspirations he received from Xu Zhuoyun's "The Eternal River" and "Jingwei Huaxia" respectively.

First of all, Kong Lingwei pointed out that "The Ancient Rivers" is a cross-generational general history of China with a world history pattern, which coincides with the research purpose of the Institute of History and Philology and the ideological significance of the Tang Award for Sinology. In the 1930s, Chen Yinke, the first director of the history group of the Institute of History and Philology, showed the diversity and inclusiveness of China in the Tang Dynasty in his article "Speculation of the Li Tang Clan." Sinology in the broad sense supported by the Tang Prize is a broad ideological topic that focuses on China in the cultural sense. It also takes on Sinology and "Krupulism" in the traditional sense.

As for "Jingwei Huaxia", Kong Lingwei believes that it is more diverse, intertwined and cosmopolitan than "Ancient Rivers", and more fully shows the intersection of history and geography and the intersection between different geographical areas. Xu Zhuoyun's book The blank space for the northwest and southwest regions also reflects the possibility of conducting more in-depth research of these areas. Furthermore, Kong Lingwei turned the topic back to the theme of "From the Mainland to the Ocean", taking his own research on Xizang and Xinjiang in Taiwan and "Juliu River" written by Qi Bangyuan as examples, emphasizing that inland Asia and the ocean world are compatible and mutually viewed, and are by no means binary opposition. After the frontiers are turned, it is the core of China's understanding of the outside world. Later, Kong Lingwei quoted Wang Dewei's article "Changes in Chinese Languages: A New Vision for the Study of Chinese Languages", arguing that the concept of "Chinese Yi Style" proposed in the article will help researchers transcend the limitations of contemporary nationalism and geopolitics.

Finally, Kong Lingwei quoted the sentences from Xu Zhuoyun's "Jingwei Huaxia" and summarized Xu Zhuoyun's "grand view of history" and his contribution to academic circles in Taiwan. Kong Lingwei emphasized the significance of Xu Zhuoyun's "cultural, social, and people-oriented" thinking, and Xu Zhuoyun's "grand view of history" developed from the "tradition of chronology" of the Institute of History and Languages.

After the talks, host Wang Dewei also specially invited Xu Zhuoyun's senior foot and Li Hongqi, professor emeritus at the City University of New York, to give a brief speech as the conclusion of this forum. Li Hongqi said that he was very happy to attend today's grand event. Xu Zhuoyun's speech was still very "inspiring" and believed that his preference for "big topics" was deeply influenced by Xu Zhuoyun.

On September 27, Li Hongqi published a congratulatory article titled "Storms and Rivers Waiting for the Bright Moon-He Xu Zhuoyun Won the Tang Award" in The Paper News and Private History. He hopes that the Tang Prize will surpass the Nobel Prize in East Asia in the future and plan for the sustainable development of regional academia. At the same time, he also expressed his expectation that the Tang Prize for Sinology will focus on "wisdom" in the sense of reason. Later, Li Hongqi compared the academic characteristics of Xu Zhuoyun with those of his other two teachers in the article, and pointed out the importance of Xu Zhuoyun's academic and educational background to his social history research. Finally, Li Hongqi emphasized the close connection between Xu Zhuoyun's growth experience and his love and care for the motherland.

(Special thanks to You Yifei, a teacher from Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan, for inviting him to write and providing valuable revision opinions.)