Beijing, September 9 (Zhongxin Net) -- Xin Deyong, professor of history at Peking University and director of the Paleogeography and Ancient Documents Research Center of Peking University, recently launched his book "A Concise History of the Yellow River" by the Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triad Bookstore.
Xin Deyong's "A Concise History of the Yellow River" book cover. Photo courtesy of Sanlian Bookstore Press
The book is greatly updated on the basis of Xin Deyong's old work "A Brief History of the Yellow River", in addition to redrawing all historical maps and supplementing nearly 30 high-definition photos of the Yellow River and its cultural relics, it also adds a chapter "Searching for Ancient and Modern Characters". In addition, part of the painting "Yonggu Anlan Map of the Whole River" from the Qianlong period was selected as the cover, and the book binding was redesigned, and the new version will be published in hardcover form.
The book is divided into six chapters. The first two chapters "The water of the Yellow River rises from the sky?" The "Nine Yellow Flows Disorderly Injection" discusses the basic issues of the geography of the Yellow River, the former discussing the exploration and investigation of the source of the Yellow River Chinese over thousands of years, and the latter combing the changes of the Yellow River's course, focusing on the lower reaches of the Yellow River in the "Yellow Flow". The author uses his expertise in historical geography to present to the reader the six particularly significant diversions in the history of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, their causes and effects.
The middle two chapters "The Clear of the River, How Much Life Expectancy?" "Xuanfang Sai Xi Wanfulai" discusses the disasters caused by the Yellow Sand and the measures taken by China to control the Yellow River in previous dynasties. The authors point out that climate change and excessive human activities have caused vegetation degradation and ecological degradation in the middle reaches of the Yellow River (mainly in Jin-Shaanxi), which in turn led to silting up lakes and obliterating cities. Because of the many disasters of the Yellow River, since the legendary era of Dayu water control, Chinese history has been closely integrated with the management of the Yellow River. The author pointed out that the "blocking" of Cang and the "loosening" of Yu are not opposites, and they are coordinated with each other in the actual water control, and the specific methods of water control in later generations are more complicated, but the general idea is still "blocking" and "loosening" cooperation.
The last two chapters, "Ten Thousand Hectares of Golden Money" and "Scouring Ancient and Modern Characters" are the interaction between the Yellow River and Chinese civilization, the former focusing on water conservancy projects and canal systems, and the latter is a new addition to this publication, including three articles by Professor Xin Deyong in recent years, focusing on the relationship between the Yellow River and ancient Chinese culture and ancient Chinese history, increasing the weight of "human" activities in this book, and enriching the discussion of the relationship between the Yellow River and history and culture in this book. In Professor Xin Deyong's writing, major events in ancient Chinese history, such as the Hundred Families, Gou Jian moving the capital, Qin Shi Huang's tour, and Liu Xiang's struggle for hegemony, are all related to the Yellow River, which shows the historical significance of the Yellow River to Chinese.
Xin Deyong, Professor of the Department of History of Peking University and Director of the Research Center for Paleogeography and Ancient Documents of Peking University. Photo courtesy of Sanlian Bookstore Press
As a "small book for everyone" with moderate length and simple text, the book starts from the geographical significance of the Yellow River, and the core concern is the connection between the "mother river" of the Yellow River and Chinese civilization and Chinese, which is a good choice for understanding geographical knowledge and culture, and also provides a new way for the introduction of historical geography.
According to Professor Xin Deyong, after the update, it was renamed "Concise History of the Yellow River", and the focus of "Jane" is that compared with the extremely rich theme of "History of the Yellow River", the book can only select the most core issues to briefly explain, while "Ming" expects this book to write the above issues "concisely and concisely". (End)