Historical geography is a carrier and foundation of historical culture.

As a huge and complex cultural entity, the regional differences in Chinese culture are very large.

The simplest division of this difference is to divide China into northern and southern parts.

According to physical geography, it is bounded by the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River (the Huaihe River is the southernmost large river among China's frozen rivers).

According to cultural geography, it is probably more reasonable and convincing to use the Yangtze River as the boundary since the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Bakker said: There are four main natural factors that determine human life and destiny: climate, food, soil, and terrain.

In addition, long-term cultural gene inheritance and precipitation have also greatly affected the cultural differences between northern and southern China.

Liu Shenshu, a scholar of the University of the Republic of China, said: "In the north, the soil is thick and the water is deep, and the people's livelihood is mostly practical. In the south, the water is vast, and the people's livelihood is mostly empty." The vast yellow land and black land in the north have magnificent scenery.

, the climate is dry and cold, the sky is high and desolate, and the vegetation is poor. In this environment, the characters' temperaments are thick, strong, bold, and rigorous.

In the south, there are criss-crossing water flows, clear mountains, gorgeous plants, warm and humid climate, and low-hanging clouds. In this environment, the characters' temperaments are mostly soft, delicate, agile, romantic, and shrewd.

The staple food of northerners is sorghum, soybeans and white flour, which has cultivated the tall and strong physique of northerners. At the same time, the cultivation of these crops requires cooperation among people, so the spirit of cooperation and political awareness among people are prominent.

Out.

Southerners eat rice as their staple food, so they have a smart mind. At the same time, "rice cultivation tends to promote the centrifugal force of dispersion rather than the centripetal force of cooperation" (Joyce White's words), so the southerners' indifferent personality of indifference to politics is

more prominent.

Lu Xun once said: The advantage of northerners is thickness, and the advantage of southerners is cleverness, but the disadvantage of thickness lies in stupidity, and the disadvantage of cleverness lies in cunning. In terms of appearance, it is better if northerners have a southern appearance or southerners have a northern appearance.

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Wang Guowei's evaluation of southerners and northerners is: "Southern people are cold and reclusive, northerners are hot and worldly, southerners are good at fantasy, and northerners are practical." Lin Yutang's words below are more able to capture the humanities of the north and the south.

Different characteristics: "The Chinese in the north are accustomed to simple and simple thinking and a hard life. They are tall and strong, have warm and humorous personalities, like to eat green onions, and love to joke. They are children of nature. In all aspects, they are more like Mongolians

, more conservative than the people in Shanghai and Zhejiang, they have not lost the vitality of their race. They have led to the generation of local separatist kingdoms in China. They also provide character materials for novels describing Chinese wars and adventures.

In the southeastern border, south of the Yangtze River, people will see another kind of people: they are accustomed to comfort, diligent in self-cultivation, sophisticated, mentally developed, physically degenerate, fond of poetry, and fond of comfort. They are sleek but underdeveloped men, slender but thin.

Women with neurasthenia. They drink bird's nest soup and eat lotus seeds. They are shrewd businessmen, excellent writers, and cowards on the battlefield. They are always ready to roll to the ground and cry before the outstretched fist falls on their heads.

Mother. They are the descendants of the well-educated Chinese families who crossed the Yangtze River with their books and scrolls in the late Jin Dynasty. At that time, northern China was invaded by barbarian tribes. "In my opinion, the northern culture was as noble and solemn as the mountains.

, honest, simple and magnificent, southern culture is as graceful, tender, delicate, elegant and dreamy as flowing water.

These are actually two heterogeneous parts of the same culture, just like a majestic and bold man and a gentle and beautiful woman, forming a perfect family.

If Chinese culture is divided in detail based on regional culture, it can be divided into many types. The main types include Yanzhao culture, Sanqin culture, Sanjin culture, Wuyue culture, Qilu culture, Guandong culture, Jingchu culture, grassland culture, Lingnan culture, Qinghai-Tibet culture

culture, Bashu culture, Yunnan culture, Western Region culture, Taiwan culture, etc.

In this book, we will conduct an in-depth observation and tour of some of these typical and representative regional cultures.

A humorous saying from historical celebrities and cultural geography: Let people from different countries write an article on the topic of elephants. The Germans wrote "The Thinking of Elephants" and the French wrote "The Love of Elephants".

The Russians wrote "Russian elephants are the greatest elephants in the world", while the Chinese wrote "The Ethics of Elephants".

Another piece of humor said: After a fire broke out in a building inhabited by various ethnic groups, the Jews were the first to carry out their money bags, while the legal people immediately rescued their lovers, while the Chinese desperately searched for their mothers everywhere.

These two humorous pieces vividly render out the rich national cultural characteristics hidden in the spiritual world.

A place of water and soil supports a person. Those who are close to vermilion are red and those who are close to ink are black.

Orange trees south of the Huaihe River can produce large, sweet tangerine fruits, but transplanted to the north of the Huaihe River can only produce small, sour tangerine fruits.

As iconic individuals painted with oil paint created by the secrets of human geography, historical celebrities have never been outside the womb of human geography.

If historical celebrities are compared to fish, human geography is water; if historical celebrities are compared to trees, human geography is land.

To talk about historical celebrities without the overall background of the intersection of nature and society in a certain area is tantamount to trying to find a fish in a tree.

Historical celebrities are a full manifestation of the "biggest symbol of the national spirit" in the deep regional human geography. At the same time, they also further repair and deepen the external functions of the human environment.