As the first unified dynasty in my country's history, Qin has become a very representative side of Chinese culture. Today, in some overseas countries, "Qin" is still their name for China. However, why is Qin called "Qin"? What is the original intention of "Qin"? We may have to look for this answer nearly three thousand years ago.
1. "Qin" rooted in the land
As a country name, "Qin" has long resounded throughout the world. But as a Chinese character, the original meaning of "Qin" has been forgotten by people for a long time. Nowadays, the commonly used dictionary of modern Chinese is opened. The definitions of "Qin" that ranks first are mostly "the name of the vassal state of the vassal state of the 1st Zhou Dynasty in China", "the name of the dynasty of China", or "another name of Shaanxi Province in China". But if we read " Shuowen Jiezi " carefully, and even explore the earliest word "Qin", we will have unexpected discoveries.
In "Shuowen Jiezi", Xu Shen interprets the word "Qin" as: " The country was enfeoffed after Bo Yi . The land is suitable for wheat. From wheat, it is pounded and preserved. One is Qin, the name of wheat." This points out the most important clue for us - "Qin, the name of wheat".
"Qin" has appeared as early as , Shang oracle bone inscriptions three or four thousand years ago. The shape of the font is generally composed of two "grains" and a pair of "hands", which resembles the movement of picking many "grains with both hands. Generally speaking, a "grape" can refer to a certain type of cereal family. Therefore, the oracle bone inscriptions of "Qin" are most likely to refer to some kind of grass that grows. The existence of both hands proves that this kind of grain is picked by people and the harvested results should be applied to the lives of the ancients - in other words, the original meaning of the word "Qin" should refer to a certain grain or planting and picking this grain.
2. Qin
So how do we link this kind of bushes to the familiar Qin ? The answer to this matter is actually hidden in Qin Feizi , which was 3,000 years ago.
Qin Feizi was a descendant of Elai (the eldest son of Fei Lian), an important official of the Shang Dynasty. He lived in the early years of his life in the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty during the reign of King Yi. It is probably out of personal preference that he has developed an extraordinary ability to raise livestock - especially horses. As King Xiao of Zhou urgently needed a large number of fat horses to resist the Rongdi in the north, Qin Feizi made his hobby into a career in one breath, and even had a fief dedicated to raising horses because of his contributions.
This fiefdom is the beginning of Qin State. Regarding "Qin", there are three common views at present: First, this land is rich in high-quality forage grass such as Qin, so there is first , Qin land, , and then Qin State; second, the place name of this fief has nothing to do with "Qin", but because Qin Feizi wanted to raise horses such as Qin, Qin was brought to this fief and became the new name of the fief; third, Qin Feizi had the title of "Qin" because of his good use of Qin grass such as Qin to raise horses, and his fief was naturally renamed "Qin".
In short, no matter how you understand it, the reason why Qin used "Qin" as the national name is closely related to Qin Feizi, the founding king of Qin ( vassal state of of the Zhou Dynasty , rather than the vassal states in later generations), and his good at using Qin's forage grass to raise horses. Later, Qin State, one of the vassal states, and Qin Dynasty , which unified the entire province of China, inherited the family business that Qin Feizi had ruined, so he also inherited the name "Qin".
3. Qin
Although King of Qin Ying Zheng finally relied on the military force of Qin, in the nearly seven hundred years of history of the Qin regime, Qin has also supported every development of this country as it was the first to support Qin's family.
As a grain, Qin's cultivation itself reflects Qin's agriculture. The products of Qin are also closely related to the livestock industry of Qin. For example, in the early days of , the traditional slavery economy of Qin gradually collapsed, and the country once fell into a trough of development.By the time of Qin Xiaogong , in order to fundamentally change this dilemma of Qin, Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Yang to raise "agricultural" and "war" to the height of national strategy: the Military Merit Title system that we are familiar with was actually the only two ways to obtain official titles at that time. The other way is to farm.
Because farming requires land and population, under the Qin State's "agricultural war" strategy, the newly seized population has become the tillagers of the original land of Qin State, and the original population of Qin State is mainly responsible for the newly acquired land. This objectively promoted the national integration and cultural development within the Qin State, and provided more and more food for the Qin State, allowing this vassal state, which was originally not included in the eyes of the six Eastern countries, to rapidly grow into an existence that can compete with the East in various fields such as culture and military, and even surpass the East. Some creations made by the Qin State to develop agriculture, such as Dujiangyan in Chengdu, are still playing an important role.
It is true that in many people's impression, the Qin State or the Qin Dynasty are both tough and more martial than the "Elegant East". But looking back at the Qin Dynasty's history of making a fortune, the growing Qin Dynasty and simple agriculture are also their foundations. Although the meaning of "Qin" is no longer just "Qin", Qin will always be Qin, just like there will always be green on the land.
