Brief History Of Chinese Rhinoceros

In the historical period, the rhinoceros lived within the territory of China broadly. But with the development of history, the rhinoceros disappeared gradually. From understanding the rhinoceros to utilizing them in daily life, the ancient people played a unnegligible role in the extinction of the rhinoceros. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the relations between the utilizations and the distribution of the rhinoceros during the historical period. The results can provide historical experience and theoretical guidance to make a law to protect the rhinoceros. At the same time, the results are also useful for us to make policies or measures to protect and rescue the other precious wild animals, and to utilize the wild animal resources reasonably.The contents of this paper are as follows:Firstly, the reason for the topic, the significance on the study and the current research situations are illustrated in this paper. The number of the rhinoceros reduced quickly in the last centuries, and the rhinoceros has become one of the most endangered wild animals in the world. Although some countries have made a law to protect the rhinoceros, the number of the rhinoceros is still decreasing. We hope that we can learn a lesson from the disappearance of the Chinese rhinoceros. Because the research on the history of animals is still weak in the historical geography, this paper attempts to enrich the contents in the historical physical geography.Secondly, this paper discusses the applications of the historical literatures and methodology. The Chinese historical literatures are very rich, but a lot of literatures are pseudo-books. Some literatures even plagiarized the others. Therefore, it is indispensable to be of the spirit of seeking truth from facts and scientific methods to utilize the literature materials. We discuss the sources, principles and utilizations of the historical literatures in this paper. We first study the zoology and climate, and then collect the literatures to study the rhinoceros.Thirdly, the differences of the understandings about the rhinoceros between the Chinese ancient people and modern people are analyzed. The ancient people can recognize the figure and characteristics of the rhinoceros clearly. Although this recognition can't satisfy the modern biological standards, it is almost correct. Because the ancient people didn't classify the biology, it was inevitable to make some mistakes sometimes. The opinion that the "si" was the rhinoceros in the historical literatures is discussed. We are not for this main opinion in this paper. We study the differences between the "si" and the rhinoceros in terms of the horn, skin and living habits. Finally, we conclude that the "si" is a kind of animal which has a big single horn and thick skin. We also think that the "si" looks like the cattle and they are the gregarious animals.Fourthly, the distribution variation of the rhinoceros in Chinese history is studied. We have recovered the distribution of the rhinoceros in Chinese history in a certain extent, based on Wen Huanran's research results. According to the historical and archaeological literatures, this paper analyzes the possibility that the rhinoceros lived in the north of China in the history. The results show that the rhinoceros can't survive in that area. We think that the rhinoceros could live in the south of the Qin Ling Mountains and the Huai River.Fifthly, this paper also studies the utilizations of the rhinoceros in Chinese history. It analyzes the need and utilizations of the rhinoceros in different historical periods in terms of the shell, tribute, medicine, sculpture, hairpin, belt, axle, brush and comb, which were made of the rhinoceros horns. It also analyzes the trade and industry of the rhinoceros horns, and concludes that the Spring and Autumn Warring States period and Song period are the prosperous periods in which the people utilized the rhinoceros products most in Chinese history.Sixthly, the reasons that the rhinoceros died out in China in the history are presented. It concludes that the distribution variation and utilizations of the rhinoceros in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period and Song period play an important role in the extinction of the rhinoceros. At the same time, the distribution of the rhinoceros varied distinctly in the aforementioned periods. It takes the Szechwan basin as an example to illustrate that it is the people who led to the extinction of the rhinoceros in this areaFinally, we make some conclusions and suggestions to protect the rhinoceros effectively.