General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized that through the continuous efforts of several generations of scholars, the research results of major projects such as the Chinese civilization tracing project have proved China’s millions of years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history and more than 5,000 years of civilization history. Chinese civilization has outstanding continuity, outstanding innovation, outstanding unity, outstanding inclusiveness and outstanding peace. Shangshan culture is an important demonstration of our 10,000-year cultural history, showing awe-inspiring innovation, and it is also an important starting point for the origin of continuous civilization in the Yangtze River basin.

　　Tens of thousands of years ago, modern people with common genes have spread all over the world. But around 10,000 years ago, only a few people domesticated wild crops with outstanding innovation, completed the agricultural revolution and started the process of civilization. China’s ancestors of uphill culture are among them.

　　The cradle of other primitive civilizations in the world is the Nile in ancient Egypt, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the Near East, and the Indus River in India, covering only a few hundred thousand square kilometers. The geographical cradle of Chinese civilization is vast and diverse. The cradle of China, which is only the core area of early civilization, covers an area of nearly 3 million square kilometers. A diverse environment naturally nurtures diverse people and cultures. Since the origin of agriculture, it has shown the characteristics of multiple competing innovations and development. The ancestors of the north cultivated the earliest millet and millet in the world; Ancestors in the Yangtze River valley and its adjacent areas domesticated the world’s earliest cultivated rice.

　　About 20,000 years ago, the ancestors of Immortal Cave in Wannian, Jiangxi Province burned the world’s earliest pottery and began to collect a large number of wild rice for food, which opened the prelude to the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic in the Yangtze River basin and its adjacent areas. Around 10,000 years ago, the uphill culture in Jinqu Basin of Zhejiang Province really took the step of agricultural revolution.

　　The most solid evidence comes from carbonized rice particles. It may be that the rice accidentally fell on the side of the fire pit during cooking, and the rice was carbonized by barbecue. Although it was incomplete, it still retained the precious information of early rice farming. The small protuberance at the end of rice husk, called spikelet axis, is used to connect the trunk of rice husk and rice ear. The spikelet axis of wild rice is not developed. When the rice is ripe, the spikelet axis is difficult to bear the load and naturally breaks, and the rice falls to the ground, waiting for germination and growth again in the next year. The fragile spikelet axis is a delicate design of nature, which ensures the species reproduction of wild rice. When collecting wild rice, human beings will not pick up the fallen rice grains in the muddy water, but pinch the rice ears and eat the rice that is still preserved on the rice ears because the spikelet axis is relatively strong. Therefore, all rice seeds sown by human beings have strong spikelet axis genes. After long-term artificial intervention, the spikelet axis of rice will become stronger and stronger, and it will not fall off naturally, which is beneficial for human beings to collect and eat.

　　Abundant rice remains, including carbonized rice, rice husk, spikelet shaft and other different parts, have been unearthed at Qiaotou site in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, with a total of more than 50,000 samples. The spikelet axis showed obvious domestication characteristics, indicating that rice farming had started around 10 thousand years ago, and the planted rice had become an important food source. In the analysis of soil samples in the lower cultural layer, rice phytolith with domestication characteristics was found, and the follow-up study may trace the agricultural origin of China back to an earlier period. At present, rice farming has fed 60% of the world’s population, which is a great contribution made by Chinese civilization to the survival and development of mankind.

　　The agricultural revolution is an epoch-making change from directly obtaining food from nature to transforming nature, domesticating animals and plants, and actively producing food. It not only greatly improves human survival ability, but also directly leads to profound changes in lifestyle, social organization and ideology. Relying on cultivated land makes settlement an inevitable way of living for agricultural people. During the hunting and gathering period, the natural mountains, rivers, lakes, wild animals and plants were all shared resources by the whole community. After the emergence of settled agricultural villages, cultivated land and grain produced are more likely to be converted into private property of pioneers and cultivators. Compared with hunting and gathering, the harvest of crops is more predictable. With more manpower and more sweat, you can get more harvest. Crops are also more conducive to long-term storage and provide survival guarantee when natural food resources are in short supply. These characteristics of agriculture are conducive to the accumulation of private wealth and are more likely to cause polarization between the rich and the poor. A more stable food source will inevitably bring about population growth, the expansion of community size, and ultimately promote the development of social organizations.

　　Qiaotou site is a typical representative of settled villages in the origin of rice farming. The village covers an area of 20,000 square meters, surrounded by carefully planned trenches, column holes of dry-column buildings that have been lived in the trenches for a long time, pits for storing food for a long time, pottery, stone tools, animal and plant remains left over from long-term life, and tombs for burying the dead, which reflect rich content of settlement life.

　　A stable and leisurely life will naturally lead to the development of culture and art. The pottery of Shangshan culture presents amazing elegance.

　　At that time, the process of making pottery was quite complicated. The brown clay tire of the pottery blank will be immersed in white mud and gently taken out, and the body has become white. Mud is made of clay containing silicon and aluminum, which is the raw material for making porcelain later, and is called "cosmetic soil". The white body will be immersed in the red mud again, dyed into warm red, and after firing, it will form a unique "mountain red". There are quite a variety of pottery, including large pots, flat chassis, pots, cans and foot-circling devices. There are many hollows on the circle foot of the circle foot device, not for practicality, but for beauty. The elegant neck and well-proportioned abdomen of the high-necked bottle are not inferior to the highest level porcelain in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

　　The ancestors who went up the mountain even scratched the red pottery with white colors, drawing various images and symbols. This is the earliest painted pottery in China, revealing profound spiritual information. There is a magic pattern on each side of the neck of a pottery jar. There are two kinds of patterns, and the patterns in symmetrical positions are the same. In the first pattern, there are three broken short lines, one continuous short line in the middle and two broken short lines on it. The following three breaks are exactly the same as the Kun hexagrams in the eight diagrams, and the two paragraphs above are exactly the same as the earthquake hexagrams, and the lower Kun is shocked, which is the "Yu" hexagrams in the sixty-four hexagrams. The second pattern consists of six short broken lines, and a long arc is sandwiched between the two broken lines. If you don’t consider this long arc with unknown meaning, it seems to contain six hexagrams. The broken line has the same meaning as the broken line, and the six hexagrams are all broken lines, which are the divinatory symbols of Kungua. Of course, it is difficult for us to say that 9000 years ago, the profound meaning and all the divinatory images of Zhouyi had been formed. But such similarity is hard to explain by coincidence. We can at least speculate that the Yijing-style way of thinking has sprouted in that distant era. Other typical decorations, such as grouped dots, "sun" patterns and triangular patterns on the top, are also not realistic or add "aesthetic feeling", but more like abstract stippling to convey mysterious meaning. Its true meaning is still difficult to decipher, but it is more intriguing than realistic images.

　　The social development mode based on rice farming laid by Shangshan culture has far-reaching influence. Archaeologists poetically describe the process of civilization in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River as "climbing a mountain, crossing a bridge, passing a ferry and coming to a beautiful continent surrounded by mountains and water". Around 8000 years ago, the cross-lake bridge culture rose in Ningshao Plain, and rice farming further developed. The formation of Hemudu culture around 7000 years ago marked the maturity of rice farming. Yuyao Shi ‘ao Site found the largest, oldest and most well-documented ancient rice field in the world, which was tens of thousands of square meters in Hemudu culture period and continued to be used until Liangzhu culture period more than 5,000 years ago. Different from millet agriculture, which basically depends on the weather, large-scale rice farming has high requirements for farmland water conservancy facilities, so it also promotes social development more effectively. The rise of Liangzhu culture is marked by the large-scale construction of water conservancy facilities. The water conservancy facilities around Liangzhu ancient city are huge and complex, which can effectively block the once-in-a-century flood, regulate the flow of more than 100 square kilometers of rivers, irrigate rice fields and form an efficient transportation network. Carbonized rice remains equivalent to nearly 200 thousand kilograms of rice were found in the core area of Liangzhu ancient city. It is precisely because of the highly developed rice farming that the ancestors of Liangzhu successfully built the earliest national political organization of Chinese civilization and became the most powerful demonstration of Chinese civilization for 5,000 years.

　　The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader proposed to "promote the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese civilization, activate its vitality, carry forward the cultural spirit that spans time and space, transcends the country, is full of eternal charm and has contemporary value, and make the cultural relics collected in museums, the heritage displayed on the vast land and the words written in ancient books come alive, so that Chinese civilization, together with the colorful civilizations created by people all over the world, can provide correct spiritual guidance and strong spiritual motivation for mankind". As an important demonstration of the origin of rice farming in the world and the ten thousand-year cultural history of China, and an important starting point of the origin of Chinese civilization, the important value of Shangshan culture goes without saying, and its cultural remains are very promising in ontology protection, value interpretation, achievement display and utilization. With the further development of archaeological excavation and multidisciplinary research, the construction of related ruins parks and museums, and the implementation of more creative publicity and display strategies, it is believed that Shangshan culture will become an increasingly eye-catching cultural brand, providing a far-reaching cultural foundation for Zhejiang’s Chinese modernization.

　　[The author is the deputy director of the Institute of Ancient History, China Academy of Social Sciences]

Photo courtesy of China Weitong

　　On June 9, 2008, Zhongxing-9 was lifted by the Long March-3 B rocket and became the first real dedicated TV direct broadcast satellite in China. It has been more than 11 years since this flight. In the past 11 years, China’s first generation direct broadcast satellite space segment system has grown from scratch, serving 140 million users, effectively bridging the digital divide and enabling sustainable development.

　　Constructing the Space Segment System of the First Generation Direct Broadcasting Satellite in China

　　In the 1980s and 1990s, the demand for radio and television services increased sharply in all walks of life, and the demonstration of direct broadcast satellite system was accelerated in China. In 2000, the project of direct broadcast of radio and television satellite was included in the high-tech project in the tenth five-year plan of the country. In January, 2005, with the support of the former State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the scheme of the same orbit, the same frequency band, the same capacity and the same coverage for Xinnuo-2 and Zhongxing-9 satellites was adopted. At the same time, the space segment system of China’s first-generation satellite live broadcast was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and started to be implemented, and China Weitong was responsible for the specific management and operation.

　　Looking back 11 years ago, Jiang Longcheng, who was then in charge of the payload of China Satcom Zhongxing No.9, was filled with emotion: "I have been with it from preliminary design, key design to supervision." Zhongxing 9 is like a daughter in her own boudoir.

　　According to Jiang Longcheng, the live broadcast satellite system has the advantages of wide coverage, high transmission quality, low receiving cost and convenient maintenance. China has a vast territory, complex terrain and a large population. Direct broadcast satellite is the most effective means to realize the listening and watching of radio and television in the old, young, marginal, poor and vast rural areas.

　　Different from other satellites, the direct broadcast satellite needs repeated coverage optimization design to effectively cover the whole territory of China. However, for the first time, a high-power amplifier was used in Zhongxing No.9, and its effective radiation power met the requirements of China direct broadcast satellite system, which enabled more than 97% of the residents in China to directly receive satellite radio and television programs from China using a 0.45-meter small-aperture antenna.

　　As the confident Jiang Longcheng expected, less than one month after the launch, on July 5, Zhongxing 9 opened four transponders to transmit 45 sets of TVs and 43 broadcasts, and entered the trial operation stage; On August 6th, nearly 7,000 satellite TV receivers in Xizang were transferred from Asia-Pacific IIR to Zhongxing 9, marking the official opening of the direct broadcast satellite service in China. In the same month, the coverage of Zhongxing 9 was tested on the spot, and 27 test sites including Altay, Xisha, Mohe and Pulan were selected. The results showed that Zhongxing 9 had good performance.

　　In 2013, in order to ensure the safe broadcast of the live satellite service, avoid the systematic risk of the operation of Zhongxing 9 Lone Star and ensure the safe broadcast of radio and television programs watched by hundreds of millions of people, China Satellite Communication restarted the construction of Zhongxing 9A (Xinnuo 2 replacement star). Zhongxing 9A also added the South China Sea beam, which solved the problem that it is difficult for military and civilians in the South China Sea to watch TV. On June 19, 2017, the domestic broadcast live star Zhongxing 9A was launched, and then it undertook the task of safe backup of Zhongxing 9 live star.

　　Serving 140 million users to bridge the digital divide

　　A few hundred meters away from xichang satellite launch center, in the depths of Daliangshan Mountain, is Mayelin Village where Yi people live together. Although it is only a few hundred meters away, the members of the Zhongxing No.9 test team stationed at the launch site and the villagers in Mayelin Village have very different information acquisition. The experimental team members from big cities know radio, television and internet like the back of their hands, but many villagers who have lived in the deep mountains for generations have only been to Mianning County as far as possible, and there are almost no channels to understand the outside world.

　　In this way, an invisible digital divide lies in the Great Liangshan Mountain, and the broadcast satellite Zhongxing 9/Zhongxing 9A launched from here provides an effective technical means for narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, eliminating the digital divide and building information fairness and justice.

　　Through the live satellite of Zhongxing-9 and Zhongxing-9A, a "pot" for receiving satellite signals to the outside world was set up on the roofs of remote villages in Daliangshan. The people in rural Xizang witnessed the grand occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games that year, and more compatriots in remote areas were able to hear and see the care and voice of the CPC Central Committee for the first time.

　　The direct broadcast satellite "every village is connected" and "every household is connected" projects have effectively covered 595,000 administrative villages, meeting the needs of 140 million users to listen to and watch radio and television programs, exceeding one third of the total number of radio and television users in China. The problem of "difficult, expensive and poor" coverage of rural radio and television in China has been fundamentally solved, and the quality, level and viewing effect of rural radio and television coverage have been greatly improved.

　　Up to now, rural users in China can listen to and watch 17 sets of central radio programs, 17 sets of central TV programs, 27 sets of provincial radio programs and 41 sets of provincial TV programs through Zhongxing 9 satellite, and Xinjiang, Xizang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou and Hainan have achieved satellite transmission and directional coverage of programs in their own provinces (regions) or cities.

　　Beginning in 2018, the dual-star backup of central radio and television programs and minority language programs will be gradually realized through China Satellite 9A. At the same time, the South China Sea beam on the satellite will be used to provide radio and television programs of the central and some coastal provinces to the people in the South China Sea.

　　Promote model innovation and empower sustainable development.

　　In recent years, the direct broadcast satellite system has explored new focal points and ways to achieve radio and television services to the overall national work and meet the people’s beautiful spiritual and cultural needs, focusing on the positive actions of building a well-off society in an all-round way, accurately helping the poor, revitalizing the countryside and enriching the people, and has also played a very good role in helping the poor and helping the wisdom and improving the level of rural civilization.

　　Facing the first generation live broadcast satellite system that has been in operation for 11 years, starting the replacement satellite project is the next task of China Satcom. In addition, the innovative exploration of direct broadcast satellite business model is also a topic.

　　Although the direct broadcast satellite has greatly improved the radio and television public service in remote rural areas, under the situation that the number of users of direct broadcast satellite service has increased rapidly year by year, the transponder rental rate has improved, but the high-quality transponder resources have not been fully utilized.

　　Jiang Longcheng, who is now the technical director of China Satcom Business Operation Center, has taken a longer-term view of the direct broadcast satellite business that he has devoted half his life to. He hopes to increase the use of direct broadcast satellites, especially promote the business application in key areas, accelerate the implementation of the value-added business plan, and tap the value of many users in various directions.

　　"For live broadcast satellites, only by giving full play to their excellent performance and benefits can we meet the needs of the people for radio and television services more widely, which is also the direction that live broadcast satellites should work hard in the future." Jiang Longcheng said. (Hu Wei Wu Lin)