黄河叙事·上:关于它的泛滥和治理的历史札记

Narration of the Yellow River(Part Ⅰ):Historical Notes on its Flooding and Governance

“讲好黄河的故事”需要多学科研究的贯通或整合。在地质学的视野里,它是青藏高原隆起和黄土高原形成后的产物,是最多只有15万年历史的年轻的大河。在地理学的视野里,它通过泥沙携带和“善淤、善决、善徙”的习性而塑造了华北平原,进而在截至20世纪中期以前不断地重塑着那里的地貌景观。在考古学的视野里,它成就了古老的“中国”和中华文明,也因此成为“中华民族的母亲河”。在历史学或水利史的视野里,它是有文字记载以来频频泛滥的“害河”,是北宋以来历代王朝的心腹之患,也深刻影响到“黄泛区”人民的生存和生计,而针对其治理引发的一系列连锁效应则使它成为充满政治性的“政治之河”。

From a geological perspective,the river is the outcome of the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the formation of the Loess Plateau,a young river with a history of only 150,000 years at most.From a geographical perspective,it shaped the North China Plain with sediment carrying and its frequent silting,flooding and diverting characteristics,and continuously reshaped the landscape until the mid-20th century.From a perspective of archaeology,it has nurtured ancient China and Chinese civilization,and thus become the"mother river of the Chinese nation".From perspective of history or water conservancy history,it is a"harmful river"that has been frequently flooded in written records,a serious trouble for the successive dynasties since the Northern Song Dynasty,and has profoundly affected the survival and livelihood of people in the flooded area.Thus a series of chain effects triggered by its governance have made it a"political river".