Study On The Environmental History Of Chu And Related Issues

This paper attempts to investigate the ecological environment of Chu and related issues in all dimensions.At present,ecological and environmental problems have become increasingly prominent and more attention has been attached to sustainable development.In domestic historian circle,researches on environmental history are in the ascendant.Among the research outcomes of regional environment,most of them are restrained in the administrative regions after Tang and Song dynasty and a few are confined to the archeologically cultural regions in Neolithic Period.However,achievements relating to geologically cultural regions in Axial Age are rarely seen.In the field of Chu study,there is no such an outcome which consciously applies the academic thought of environmental history and studies the relationship between Chu’s ecological environment and the Chu people in respect of subsistence economy,social politics as well as ideology and culture.Based on archeological literatures and documents,this paper attempts to extract information relating to ecological environment from studies of Chu,collate and study them at the primary stage and propose its own interpretative frame.Chapter one described the eco-environmental conditions of Chu from the perspective of climate,landforms,plants and animals,discussed issues such as the climate and phenology of Chu,its waterside settlements and buildings,as well as the practical values of plants and animals,with a view to recover the harmonious ecological landscape inside Chu where humans and nature welded together.Chapter two chose resources as its entry point and discussed the relationship between ecological environment and the politics of Chu.Political activities are connected with ecological environment by means of resources distribution,competition,occupation and utilization.Therefore,taking resources as the entry point is the main route to discuss the relationship between man and nature at the state level.This chapter started its discussion from the four resources of mountains,minerals,population and food and probed into the relationship between the ecological environment of Chu and its politics as well as relevant social activities.Chapter three took Wu,Dao and Sao as its starting point to explore the natural world from the spiritual level in Chu culture.This chapter explained the sacrifice and natural deities system of Chu people,their options on residence and animals as well as nature worship;it then summarized Taoist thought on ecology and compared it with that of Confucians;at last it studied images of plants,animals and water in literature such as Zhuangzi(庄),Lisao(骚),and Chu Bamboo Slips in Shanghai Museum(上博简).The remaining discussion was focused on Qin’s experience in adapting to and utilizing ecological environment.By comparing it with that of Chu,the paper was able to see the misstep of Chu and the good fortune of its people from the perspective of the third party.The author of this article believes that the ecological environment of the core region of Chu was featured by warm and moist climate,intersected lakes and rivers on the surface,flourish vegetation and abundant wild lives.The general ecological condition of it was superior to the north,but it was under-developed with sparse population.Effective utilization of river and lake landscape as well as easy access to ecological resources were important reasons of the rise of Chu,which assisted Chu to achieve the partial reunification of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.The tardiness of Chu on adjusting the man-land relationship led Chu on the way of decline and fall.The observation,adaptation and utilization of Chu people to the ecological environment of Chu land shaped the regional characteristics of Chu culture,which was reflected in the accumulation of ecological knowledge,the elucidation of ecological thoughts and the expressions of ecological images.