Exploring the Early Water Culture and its Features of the Yangtze River Based on the Related Records of the Chu Area in the Bamboo Slips and Silk Books
The Chu Area was the centre of the early culture of the Yangtze River basin,and accordingly the water of the Yangtze River played a specially significant role in the emergence and development of the civilization in this area.Therefore,the specific geographic environment of this area produced its rich water culture,including water worship and related social customs.It has great significance to understand the relationship between water and the civilization in this area,which in return can help us to understand the early Chinese civilization.The records of the water culture in this area are mostly found in the bamboo slips and silk books rather than in the legacy of classics.Thus,the study of the bamboo slips and silk books has much academic significance because it can not only supplement the insufficient records of the existing historical documents but also reveal more detailed and reliably the water-related ideas,customs,rules and management in this area in those days as well as the true picture of that society.This study can also reveal the specific differ-ences between the early water culture and the later water culture in this area because the early water culture was generally related to the basic relationship between man and nature,forming a system of water culture in this area in early days that covered three aspects:the origin of the world and life,the ways for humans to continue life with a stronger fertility and body function and the ways to maintain hu-man livelihood.
water culturebamboo slips and silk bookswater worshipwater customChu Area
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