Information transmission is accompanied by the emergence of human society. In ancient China, in addition to face-to-face speaking, listening and walking to transmit information, the ways to transmit information mainly include the following aspects:
Sign with an object
According to ancient records and archaeological inference of cultural relics, the ancestors of primitive society probably adopted the method of transmitting information with objects. Some ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province, China were still in primitive society more than 60 years ago, and they had primitive ways of communication: among Jingpo people, people presented peppers to their friends to show that they were in big trouble. From this we can imagine how the ancients exchanged information.
Jieshengshi
There were no words in ancient times, and knots were used for memory. "Easy. Cohesion: "In ancient times, there was a method of tying ropes, and later sages changed it into a book contract." Confucius said, "Zheng Kangcheng, people tied the rope and put a note on the cloud. If this matter is tied up, this matter will be summarized. " Jin Gehong's "Bao Puzi Shi Jun": "If the boat and the garage can't work, the pen and ink will become knotted, and the latter is better than the former." According to ancient books, the method of tying rope is: "tying rope for big events;" Small things, sum up their tricks,
How much depends on the number of events "("Nineteen Yan Jia "), that is, according to the nature, scale or quantity of the events involved, different knots are made. Ethnological data show that some ethnic minorities still record objective activities by knotting in modern times. Today, no one keeps records in this way. However, for ancient people, these knots were the only clues they used to recall the past.
Drum command
The use of sound to transmit information has existed for a long time in ancient China. According to the records in the Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed in Yin Ruins, the earliest organized communication activity was to report the military situation on the border with sound by beating drums. In the Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there is a word "to drum" in the records about the military situation reported by the frontier fortress of Pan Geng in Shang Dynasty, which means "beating drums to give orders". According to textual research, most of the powerful enemies in the Yin and Shang Dynasties were in the west and north. On the border, the king not only sent heavy guards, but also set up bronze drums with a diameter of 2 ~ 3 meters and put them on high shelves, with soldiers waiting beside them. Once the enemy situation appears, the drum guard immediately beats the drum and expresses different contents through the interval rhythm of the drum. Drums came frequently, station after station, and quickly reported the emergency military situation of foreign invasion to the son of heaven. In the turbulent Spring and Autumn Period, there were many small vassal states. This method of transmitting information by drum has become the main means of combat communication, effectively playing the role of communication and ensuring that all countries can defend themselves in time and fight against the enemy. The book Han Feizi records such a story: Li, the king of Chu, once got drunk and played drums. The whole city's soldiers and civilians took up arms and gathered in front of the palace. Li, the king of Chu, suddenly woke up and quickly told everyone that this was a false alarm. In ancient times, China used "beating drums to March" and "ringing gold to retreat" to direct the war. When using chariots to fight, the main commander and the generals at all levels hang drums horizontally on their cars, and the rest of the chariots must charge according to the drums of the main commander. The intention and rhythm of charge are expressed by neat and heavy drums, and the command of retreat is conveyed by the sound of metal gongs that can penetrate the whole battlefield.
Huo Feng communication
As early as the Zhou Dynasty, China had a method of transmitting information by bonfire. As a primitive means of acousto-optic communication, bonfire served the ancient military war. From the border to the capital and the frontier line, a beacon tower is built at regular intervals to store firewood. When the enemy invaded, they lit bonfires one by one and called the police. When the princes of all walks of life saw the flames of war everywhere, they immediately sent troops to help and resist the enemy. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to guard against enemy invasion, the "bonfire tunnel" was used as the contact signal for border defense emergency. In the ancient history book "Zhou Li", it is recorded that "on the passage from the frontier to the hinterland of various countries, a beacon tower is built at intervals, one after another, with oranges on the stage and a cage filled with firewood on the head of the orange. When the enemy invaded, the beacon tower set off fireworks to convey the alarm. " Every night, the watchman lit the firewood in the cage and held it high, calling it a "lighthouse" to convey information to the leaders. During the daytime warning, the firewood piled up on the stage is lit, and the smoke is used to indicate the urgency, which is called "embarrassment". In order to make the smoke straight without bending, so that it can be seen from a distance, the ancients often used wolf dung instead of firewood, so it was also called wolf smoke. The Zhou Dynasty stipulated that when the emperor raised a bonfire, local governors must immediately lead troops to rescue and fight against the enemy. Laughing at Bomei people, Zhou Youwang is a "bonfire play vassal"
The story that eventually led to national subjugation is well known.
record
Jeff is a voucher for the ancient imperial court in China to convey orders, recruit soldiers and use it in various affairs. It is made of gold, copper, jade, horn, bamboo, wood, lead and other different raw materials. When in use, both sides hold half, and combine them to test the authenticity, such as military symbols and tiger symbols. Jeff in the pre-Qin period has many kinds, different forms and different uses. The earliest known Jeff can be traced back to the Warring States period, and some of them are used for tax exemption, such as the bamboo bronze festival of the Oroqen Banner. Some are used to send troops to fight, such as the tiger-shaped "Bi Dafu" bronze tiger festival; Some are used for postal transmission, such as the bronze Dragon Boat Festival of "Wang Ming Chuan", which looks like a dragon head. In addition, there are cows, bears, swallows and ducks. In the Warring States period, except for the Du bronze tiger charms unearthed in Chang 'an, Shaanxi Province, most of them are called knots rather than symbols. Khufu was also used in the Han Dynasty and generally followed the Qin system. After the song dynasty, cards were used. There are many kinds of Jeff in the past dynasties, and their inscriptions reflect the political and military system at that time.
Pigeons pass books.
Pigeons pass books, and everyone is familiar with it, because there is also the Pigeons Association, and long-distance pigeon flying competitions are often held. The homing pigeon won't get lost in a long flight, which stems from its unique function, that is, it can tell the direction by feeling the magnetic force and latitude. At present, there is no clear statement about the exact start time of carrier pigeon book transmission, but as early as the Tang Dynasty, carrier pigeon book transmission has become very common. There is a record of "Pigeons Pass Books" in Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" in the Five Dynasties: "When Zhang Jiuling was a teenager, he raised a group of pigeons at home. Every time I communicate with my relatives and friends, I only go to the pigeon's foot book department, follow the instructions and fly to vote. I was a flying slave when I was nine years old, and people liked to be surprised. " Zhang Jiuling was a statesman and poet in the Tang Dynasty. He not only used carrier pigeons to deliver letters, but also gave carrier pigeons a nice name-"flying slaves". Since then, homing pigeons have been playing an important role in people's communication life during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Kite communication
The kite we use for entertainment today played an important role as an emergency communication tool in ancient times. Legend has it that as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu's skillful craftsman, Lu Ban, once imitated the shape of a bird. "Cutting bamboo and wood thought it was a magpie and flew three days later."
The flying "wooden magpie" made of wood is the predecessor of kite. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun invented papermaking. People made a frame with bamboo sticks and then pasted it with paper, which became a "paper kite". In the Five Dynasties, when people made paper kites, they tied a bamboo whistle on them. The wind blows a bamboo whistle, which sounds like a kite, hence the word "kite". The original kites were made for military needs, mainly used for military reconnaissance or for transmitting information and military intelligence. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that kites gradually became an entertainment toy and spread among the people.
postal system
Post-horse relay is an early organized mode of communication. By the Western Zhou Dynasty, China had a relatively complete postal system. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the progress of politics, economy and culture, postal communication gradually became complete. A whole set of evacuation system was formed in Qin and Han Dynasties. Especially in the Han Dynasty, the documents delivered were graded, and the documents of different grades should be delivered by special personnel and special horses in accordance with the prescribed order and time. Sending and receiving these documents must be registered and marked with time to show responsibility. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei's greatest achievement in postal history was the formulation of postal orders. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the cause of evacuation developed unprecedentedly. The official postal transport line in the Tang Dynasty centered on Chang 'an, the capital city, radiating in all directions and reaching the frontier, with a post station about 30 miles away. According to the Six Codes of the Great Tang Dynasty, at its peak, there were 1 639 post stations in China, with more than 20,000 people specializing in postal services, including 1.7 million post soldiers. The post is divided into three types: land post, water post and waterway merger. Each station is equipped with a station house, a post horse, a post donkey, a post boat and a post yard. In the Tang Dynasty, there were also explicit provisions on the itinerary of the post station. Lu Yi's trotters walk six posts a day, that is, 180 Li, and then there are about 300 Aliri, and the fastest requirement is 500 Aliri. Pedestrians travel 50 miles a day; Sailing against the current, the river is forty miles, the river is fifty miles, and the other six miles; When it is good, specify 100 to 150 miles. The poet Cen Can wrote in the poem "A Judge on the Road to Longshan" that "after a post, the post rides like a Milky Way; Pingming sent Xianyang, the curtain and the top of the mountain. " Here, he compares the post horse to a meteor. On November 9th, 14th year of Tianbao, An Lushan rebelled in Fanyang. At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was in Huaqing Palace, three thousand miles apart. Within six days, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty learned the news, and the speed of communication reached 500 miles per day. It can be seen that the organization and speed of postal communication in Tang Dynasty reached a high level. In the Song Dynasty, all official documents and letters were called "delivery", and "express delivery shop" appeared. There is a bronze bell tied to the collar of the riding whistle in a hurry. Running on the road, ringing the bell during the day and lighting a fire at night, the person killed is not responsible. Shopping for horses, shopping for people, rain or shine, day and night. In the early years of Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei, an anti-gold general, was forcibly recalled to Lin 'an from the front with 12 gold medals by Song Gaozong. This kind of gold medal is a gold plate sent by express delivery, indicating urgency. The biggest feature of the post system reform in Qing Dynasty is the combination of "post" and "post". After the middle of Qing Dynasty, with the establishment of modern postal service, the ancient postal system was gradually eliminated.
Minxin bureau
In the southwestern provinces, there is a "horse meeting" to visit relatives and bring letters. According to legend, the farmers who moved to Xiaogan Township, Macheng County, Hubei Province, missed their hometown and made an appointment to send representatives back to their hometown every year to bring some local products and letters back and forth. Later, a people's letter bureau was gradually formed. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1403- 1424), Ningbo helped businessmen to establish a "People's Information Bureau". The People's Information Bureau is a private profit-making organization, whose business includes delivering letters and articles and handling foreign exchange. During the Tongzhi, Xianfeng and Guangxu periods of the Qing Dynasty, there were thousands of people's information bureaus all over the country.
In Asia, Macao and the Pacific where overseas Chinese live in concentrated communities, there are inland letter bureaus, shipping letter bureaus and overseas Chinese approval bureaus (Fujian dialect reads "letter" as "approval", so the overseas Chinese approval bureau is also the overseas Chinese letter bureau, which specializes in serving overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia). The larger People's Information Bureau has a headquarters in Shanghai, a business center, branches and agencies in various places, and the People's Information Bureau.
They also cooperated with each other to form a non-governmental communication network. 1928, the then Nanjing National Government held a meeting on transportation work and passed a resolution: "The People's Information Bureau was abolished in the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930)". At 1935, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau completely disappeared.