The Modern Transition Of The Yellow River Civilization

The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation and also the cradle ofthe Chinese civilization which means the Yellow River civilization constitutes theprincipal part and the core of this civilization.The television documentary ’The Elegyof the Yellow River’ in Nineteen eighties sentenced the Yellow River civilization todeath rudely by asserting that what the Yellow River could give us has already beengiven to our ancestors and the old body can not give birth to a new civilization.Itadapted to the trend from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization, but itscriticism to traditional culture was irrational and showed strong national nihilism.IT isthe continuation of the cultural controversy between china and the West whichoriginates in the May4th Movement of1919.The cultural controversy between chinaand the West is not only the main theme of cultural history study but also Attractsgreat attention of the party and the government In recent years.The decision of Theseventeen session of the six plenary session of the Communist Party of China and thereport of The eighteen National Congress of the CPC also stressed on building theexcellent traditional culture inheritance system and propagating the Chinese excellenttraditional culture.The innovations of this paper lies in the research perspective and methods.first ofall,study both the natural factors and the culture elements of the Yellow River.Thesecond,when it comes to time,pay close attention to the ancient Yellow Rivercivilization,the modern one and even the far future of it. The last,when it comes tospace,compares the civilization of the ancient Yellow River,the ancient Egypt, theancient India and the ancient Babylon.In the aspect of content,On the basis of the clear explanation on the fundamentalelements of the Yellow River civilization such as the river civilization,the FourRiver,the agricultural civilization, the industrial civilization, the cradle and the MotherRiver,study the specific relationship between the Yellow River and the destiny of theChinese nation and investigate the modernization of the traditional agriculturalcivilization represented by the Yellow River.The first two chapters focus on the basicform of the Yellow River civilization and the relationship between the Yellow River and Chinese nation which is followed with the study of the academic research on thethe Yellow River in modern history,the flood-prevention work of the Yellow River,theinfluence of the Yellow River flood on society,the modern transformation of the waterconservancy about the Yellow River,the modern transformation of the traditionalworship in the Yellow River,the understanding of the foreigner about the Yellow Riverand the evolution in the traditional cultural values of the Yellow River one by one.In ancient times, the Chinese civilization came from the Yellow River while Inmodern times, the Yellow River still had a profound impact on the modern history ofChina.during modern times,the Yellow river control showed the trend of transition fromthe traditional times to the modern times. First, Western River-control methodgradually introduced; second, Western scholars started to pay attention to the YellowRiver; Third, with students Studying Abroad and the establishment of modern schools,a lot of students who know both the traditional and modern methods to control theriver came up. however, because of the obstruction of the conservative forces, theapplication of the modern technology still remained in the theoretical level, such asobservation,experiments and writing books.Relief work gradually modernized. First of all, Folk gentryr assumed responsibilityof the post-disaster relief and the Western Church forces gradually penetrated into therelief efforts.Second, the relief measures gradually modernized. the Yellow Riverflood relief lotteries and other kind of Yellow River flood relief lotteries weregradually released. Modern newspapers started to report the condition of the YellowRiver flood.During the late Qing Dynasty and The Repubic of China, the Yellow RiverControl agencies changed frequently.the Qing Dynasty established the south Rivergovernor and The North River governor.In the early years of the Republic of China,the National Water Administration came up.After the establishment of NanjingNational Government,the Yellow River Conservancy Commission founded.The Yellow River is not only a natural river but also a river of culture. As themother river of the Chinese nation and the cradle of Chinese civilization, the YellowRiver has become a symbol of traditional Chinese culture.Due to cultural identity, the Japanese agreed that the Yellow River was the mother river of the Chinese nation, andshowed sympathy on the the decline of Chinese civilization in modern times.Yellow worship is an integral part of the Yellow River culture.Before the Ming andQing dynasties, the government enshrined in the "River blasphemy" as the only godof the Yellow River and the folk had faith in different kinds of Yellow River god, suchas the King and the General.Since the late Qing dynasty, the government began toinvest the folk god with rank, ignoring the "River blasphemy", so the official worshipsystem came into confusion.After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow Riverworship gradually lost theprotection of the national politics and the worship of river god was also characterizedas feudal superstition, slipping from the National Ceremony.Retro, tyranny and superstition are important features of the concept of traditionalChinese Yellow River civilization. The changes from Retro to evolution,autocracy todemocracy and superstitious to the scientific are the core content of the Modernizationof the Yellow River civilization.The study suggests that the agricultural civilization of the Yellow River in Chinanot only did not die, but also started the modern transformation from the inlandcivilization to the future marine one in modern times.