——The third cultural flash tour of the four southeastern provinces during Golden Week
It was already noon and there was only half a day left. We hurriedly took a taxi and headed to Kuaiji Mountain.
Kuaiji Mountain is about 3 kilometers away from the center of Shaoxing’s old city, in the west area of ??the city. Slowly, I saw the rolling green mountains in the distance from the city buildings. The breath of nature became rich and my mood became ethereal. That mountain is Kuaiji Mountain.
In Shaoxing, what I want to visit most is Kuaiji Mountain, which is almost the origin of the Ouyue cultural coordinates. "Historical Records·Xia Benji" records: It may be said that Yu met with the princes in the south of the Yangtze River, calculated his merits and collapsed, and was buried in Kuaiji. Kuaiji is also an accountant.
It is said that this mountain was originally named Maoshan, but it was renamed Kuaiji because of the gathering of princes. I'm very confused about the pronunciation of the word "hui" in it. Why does it have the same pronunciation as the word "hui" in the current word "accountant"?
Dayu established his high prestige by controlling floods. In the ancient Chinese society where the abdication system was the main body, he was promoted to the leader of the world. Come to think of it, the area that was flooded at that time was also in the southeast area. It is said that there was archaeological evidence later. Dayu succeeded in controlling floods through dredging, and used Kuaiji as his base to manage the world and gather the princes. According to "Guoyu·Luyu": In the past, Yu sent a group of gods to the mountain of Kuaiji. Fangfeng came later and Yu killed them.
Sometimes I am confused. The cultural center of gravity in ancient times has always been in the Central Plains with the Yellow River as the axis. Why did the princes’ alliance choose the Kuaiji Mountain far south of the Yangtze River? At that time, this place was definitely a wild land. It was inconvenient to travel by boat and car. The aboriginal people were also classified as Baiyue people. Even Sima Qian was confused about this. The word "or yan" was used in "Xia Ben Ji" Two words, it can be seen that the fog of history is by no means clear to future generations. At that time, the various princes did not originate from enfeoffment, but were all loose leaders of clans and tribes. The Fangfeng clan was scattered in the area of ??Deqing, Zhejiang today. It had deep-rooted power geographically and should be one of the ancestors of the Baiyue tribe. , but his leader was killed because he ignored the authority of Dayu, becoming another example of "killing one to serve as a warning to hundreds" in ancient history.
The emperor's authority was established in this ruthless killing. The power of a society that had just emerged from clan ignorance was as powerful as the heavens; the alliance of tribal leaders could not be questioned because of the will of God. The simple social ideal of "the world is for the common good" became a creed in the slowly developing land of the Far East, integrating loose tribes or tribal alliances into a whole, creating a world, and the nations living on this land became The early Chinese tribe was formed.
After confirming the world, the old Dayu began to think about the final destination of his body. The rolling green mountains around us were half-covered in the clouds and mist, like a call from God. Therefore, Dayu told his descendants that Kuaiji Mountain should be chosen for his tomb.
However, the power during his lifetime had to be handed over. The rules of the abdication system required him to respectfully follow the ways of Yao and Shun and find capable people in the country who could take on important responsibilities. This candidate was quickly identified. He was Gaotao, the leader of the Dongyi tribe. He assisted Dayu in governing the world as a criminal coder and enjoyed a high reputation. However, Gao Tao unfortunately died young, and Dayu appointed Gao Tao's eldest son, Boyi, who was proficient in palace architecture... He informed the world through edicts, and the selection of the crown prince was accepted by all tribes. Then, Dayu quietly bid farewell to the world he controlled and said a long farewell.
He did not know that the Chinese tribal alliance, with the Xia tribe as a link, would eventually develop into the most populous nation on earth. Due to the limitations of their vision at that time, all the tribal leaders in the Far East believed that they lived in the heaven and earth and occupied the center of the universe. Although Kuaiji Mountain was far away from the Central Plains and in the southeast corner, it became a de facto mountain at this time. center of Eastern culture.
But I don’t know if Dayu had any selfish intentions, and his eldest son Qi was not ignored in the distribution of power, and he handed over the central Xia tribe to Qi. After Dayu's death, his successor Boyi guarded Dayu's tomb for three years as usual. During these three years, the affairs of the tribal alliance were also handed over to Qilai. In this way, by the time three years passed, things and people had already changed. Even the Dongyi tribes where Boyi belonged were bribed one by one by Qi, which severely challenged Boyi's authority.
Xia Qi was born to the Tushan family. His father had been traveling for many years after he was born. He grew up like an orphan. However, because of his prominent family background, he developed perseverance and lofty ideals. In this way, Xia Qi took control of the world at a young age, gradually became full-fledged, firmly grasped public power, and defeated Boyi's remaining forces through force. Later, after battles such as the "Battle of Gan", he completely controlled the world.
The cowardly Boyi felt that the situation was over, so he simply resigned from his position as the leader of the world and returned power to the son of Dayu. After Xia Qi's death, he directly handed over the public power to his eldest son Taikang. From then on, this power became private property and was passed down through the marriage relationship within the family. The abdication system evolved into a hereditary system, and the "public world" became a "family" system. The world”.
Xia Qi later moved the political center to the Central Plains. Before leaving Kuaiji, he built a Yu temple here and sent tribesmen to worship.
Several generations later, the descendants of Dayu who stayed in Kuaiji became withered, and the rule of the Xia Dynasty was constantly threatened by Dongyi forces, and the king was constantly exiled and killed... After a complicated process, During the massacre in the Central Plains, Dayu's great-great-grandson united with the remaining Xia tribe forces to regain power and win the "Shaokang ZTE". Feeling the great reputation of Emperor Gaozu, Shaokang saw that there were few Xia people in Kuaiji, so he sent his concubine Wu Yu to Kuaiji, where he built the Yu Temple again and enshrined Yu's mausoleum. As a result, this land was claimed by the direct descendants of the Xia tribe; as a direct descendant of Dayu, Wuyu, also known as Yuyue, established a hereditary vassal state in the Kuaiji area, which was called the Yuyue state at that time. This is the origin of the Yue state. Ouyue culture, as a branch of Chinese culture, started here.
Of course, there is also a saying: Kuaiji Mountain, where the princes were gathered at the beginning, was located in the Central Plains and should have intersected with the Dongyi Land; and the current Kuaiji Mountain was after Wuyu was enfeoffed to the Baiyue Land. Only then was it named, and an ancestral temple was built to enshrine it, and the mausoleum was set up here. This statement is very likely to be close to the original appearance of history. Therefore, in the early Bronze Age, the south was humid and densely forested, making it difficult to cultivate the land, and it was unlikely that the royal power of the world would deviate from the Central Plains.
As for the Mausoleum of Dayu located in Kuaiji Mountain in the southeast, due to the persistence and sacrifice of the power of the common branch of the Xia Dynasty, the importance of Kuaiji Mountain became more and more obvious in the hearts of the Xia tribes, and worshiping Dayu became the place where the princes The most sacred thing in the country.
More than a thousand years later, the State of Yue was defeated by the State of Chu. The remaining forces continued to move south along the southeast coast, and mixed with the indigenous people in various places to form different indigenous regimes. This is how the name "Baiyue" came into being. . The farthest branch of the "Luoyue" was active in what is now southern Guangxi and northern Vietnam, which was the Jiaozhi of China at that time (synonymous with "toe").
As the common ancestor of the Yue nation, Dayu has essentially become the common ancestor of the Chinese nation; his mausoleum has also been officially enshrined in all dynasties after the Qin Dynasty. Jishan has become an awe-inspiring sacred mountain in Chinese culture.
After entering the gate from the ticket office, you have to walk two miles and pass through a large body of water. The scene is quite beautiful and magical. The road leading to the valley also tried its best to create a deep and historical feeling, but the trees on both sides were not particularly lush. Entering the main scenic area, all the wall carvings, tripods, pavilions, altars and other objects displayed in the field of vision are not very old. They are all objects added by later generations based on the imagination of the situation at that time, and do not have the characteristics of cultural relics.
Climbing up the stairs, you will see the Xiangdian building. The interior and exterior plastering and paint application are all extremely new, and cannot capture the charm of time. It is said that the original Xiangdian building was completely destroyed as early as the late Qing Dynasty, and the new building shown in the eyes was built in 2008. In addition to the sacrificial tablets in the hall, there are also scenes of Dayu's flood control depicted by later generations on the walls on both sides. There is not much ancient meaning; only some stone tablets preserved in the Hall of Enjoyment carry some historical information and the vicissitudes of time. .
Next, it’s time to climb the mountain.
On the top of the mountain, you can see a statue in the distance. The copper and steel bones are quite textured, but it feels a bit thin. To put it disrespectfully, it looks like a robot, standing in the green bushes of the mountain. Looking into the distance, this is the sculpture of Dayu.
I was a little tired at this time because of the long journey.
But now that you are here, just climb up with a glance, there are more than a thousand steps. Fortunately, it didn’t take much time to go up. I walked through the bamboo forest and broad-leaved forest, and arrived at the sculpture out of breath.
When I get closer, I feel that the statue is not as thin as I saw from a distance. It is a classic image of Dayu holding a shovel in his hand and looking down at the sky. At the foot of the statue is the viewing platform, where tourists who go up the mountain gather. Looking at the formation, if Dayu had swung his shovel down, the ant-like crowd would have been thrown away like sand outside the sacred mountain and scattered into the city of Shaoxing. The lines of the sculpture are simple and rough, seeming to highlight personal power, and the face is carved into a glaring look, but the overall artistic skills are still very average.
From the viewing platform in front of the statue, you can have a panoramic view of Shaoxing City. It's just that the sky is gray at this time, and this cultural city with thousands of years of history is hard to see clearly.
With this statue, Kuaiji Mountain has an additional symbolic meaning. In this corner of the southeast, because of this ancient emperor, people feel that the center of gravity of Chinese culture is balanced. Since ancient times, Shaoxing's culture and education have flourished, and a large number of talents have emerged, such as modern Lu Xun, Qiu Jin, Cai Yuanpei, etc., all of whom have dominated the times. The Ouyue culture that gave birth to them began here. As the origin of southeastern culture, it radiated to all directions and bloomed brilliantly in Chinese history.
October 31, 2013
Published in the "Coastal Human Geography" column of "Modern Youth" in October 2017