中国古代“四洋”航路的史前基础

Prehistoric Foundation of Ancient China's“Four Oceans”Navigation Routes

环中国海古代分域发展的“四洋”航路,构成海洋全球化之前东亚海洋文化的传统格局。新石器时代夷、越先民,初创了从黄海之滨到南海北岸的原始海洋文化与初期航海实践,从近岸陆岛穿梭到远海、远洋逐岛梯航,见证于丰富的史前、上古沿海考古发现。夷、越土著先民多区系的原始海洋文化,是汉唐以来“四海”“四洋”分域航路发展的史前基础。从这个意义上说,以“海上丝绸之路”著称的中国古代航海与航路,并不是“丝绸之路”在内亚大陆“衰落”“堵塞”后的地理“转移”与陆海“变迁”的被动结果,而是环中国海海洋土著先民固有文化传统的延续。

The ancient regional development of the“Four Oceans”navigation routes around the China sea constituted the traditional pattern of East Asian maritime culture before the globalization of the oceans.During the Neolithic period,Yi(夷)and Yue(越)ancestors initially created an original maritime culture and early sailing practices from the coast of the Yellow Sea to the north coast of the South China Sea,which involved journeying from near-shore land islands to distant seas and islands,with evidence found in the rich prehistoric and ancient coastal archaeological discoveries.The multiple regional systems of the original maritime culture of the indigenous Yi and Yue people laid the prehistoric foundation for the development of the“Four Seas”and“Four Oceans”navigation routes since the Han and Tang dynasties.In this context,China’s ancient sea routes and navigation known as the“Maritime Silk Road”are not the passive outcome of geographic“transfer”and land and sea“change”after the“decline”and“blockage”of the Silk Road in Inner Asia,but a continuation of the inherent cultural traditions of indigenous maritime people around the China Sea.