On The Causes Of An Interruption In The Early Civilizations Of The Lower Reaches Of The Yangtze River

During the late Neolithic period, the lower reaches of the Yangtze Riverhad created a brilliant early civilization, which even impetus to an enlightenage. Especially the Taihu Lake Area, which is the typical representation of theLiangzhu Culture. However, it is puzzling that when the Liangzhu Culture runto its zenith, it suddenly declined, the pace of the evolution of the earlycivilizations of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River also stopped. Thereason is that the result of the role of the Liangzhu Culture both internal factorsand external factors, and mainly in the internal factors.Dating back about4,500years, the Liangzhu Culture went into its latestage, and a series of acute social problems came into being. The Riceagriculture, which uses the stoneware as the main production tool, itsproduction potential had been gradually declined, and could not support thecontinuing complication of the social culture. The upper class of the LiangzhuCulture made great efforts to save the separated society, by expanding thewealth economy and advocating consumption, however they finally failed. Atlast, these inappropriate political and religious behaviors damaged theproductive capacity of the declining Rice Agriculture further. At this time, theability of the political cohesion of the Liangzhu Culture had lost, andseparation tendency continued aggravating. Here, the deterioration of thenatural environment made the declining Rice Agriculture even worse, and thesurrounding cultures slipped into the area, enhanced the complexity of theinternal contradictions in the society of the Liangzhu Culture. Finally, theLiangzhu Culture faced both external and internal problems, could notcomplete the transformation of society ultimately, and collapsed on the eve ofthe civilized society, which declared the ending of the first civilization climaxin the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.