Research on Ancient Chinese Civilization

Author: Li Xueqin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: What is the question of the origin of civilization? The question of the origin of civilization is when and where humans, under what objective and subjective conditions, escaped their natural animal state and how they transitioned from the natural animal state—or what we call the barbaric state—into human civilization. Today, the topic I will discuss is "Tracing the Origin of Chinese Civilization," which consists of three parts: The first part will discuss the significance of studying the origin of civilization; the second part will talk about the origin and achievements of the "Project for the Stratigraphic Dating of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties," a step in exploring Chinese civilization; the third part will share my personal thoughts on how to explore the origin of Chinese civilization and the path of its development. Let's first discuss the first question—the significance of studying the origin of civilization.
Marx once said in his works: "We only know one science, which is history. History can be divided into natural history and human history." This means that the study of natural sciences belongs to the realm of natural history, while the study of humanities and social sciences belongs to human history. Human history and natural history are continuous, encompassing the entire universe up to the process of human development.
Now, it appears that from the development of the universe to the development of humans, there is a series of origin questions. For example, one major issue that scientists are currently striving to explore is the origin of the universe. After the origin of the universe, there is the question of the origin of the Earth and the solar system it belongs to, as well as the Milky Way. Following that, there is the question of the origin of life on Earth. After the origin of life, there is the question of human origin. These are all significant issues in scientific research.
I believe we should pay attention to the fact that after the origin of humans, there is another question—the origin of human civilization. The question of the origin of civilization should be considered as significant as the origin of the universe, the Earth, life, and humans. It is a major topic of scientific research and has always been a significant issue of concern for academia.