On the morning of November 3, Professor Yao Dali of the Institute of Chinese historical geography of Fudan University gave an academic lecture entitled "historical China: the process of development and formation of time and space" in the conference room on the third floor of the School of History and Culture. The lecture was presided over by Zhan long, Dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences of Henan University and professor of the School of History and Culture.

Professor Yao started from the meaning evolution and spatial change of "Zhong Guo". Yao said that "Zhong Guo" existed as early as the Shang Dynasty and had five meanings, and the scope of meanings expanded from small to large. He explained the meanings of "Zhong Guo" specifically with historical documents, so that students could have a clear and detailed understanding of the evolution of it. Then, Yao Dali discussed the formation process of China's spatial development from the perspective of biology and human evolution. He believed that Chinese people emerged from the "star-studded sky" archeological culture and took the lead in entering the early national stage from prehistory. He analyzed the reasons why the North pioneered breaking through the threshold of civilization: first, the land was easier to be reclaimed after the Yellow River was washed out; second, North China was close to the cultural transmission channel at that time, and frequent cultural exchanges with other regions greatly promoted the development of its own culture. Yao combed out the process of the Han civilization's expansion from the east to the west in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and pointed out that the frontier Empire rising from the Han and Tang Dynasties provided a new mode of State Construction for traditional China. At the end of the lecture, he analyzed the particularity of China with four millennia history and as a multi-ethnic country.

Professor Yao Dali's patient, detailed and vivid lecture gave students a deeper understanding of the formation of historical China and benefited us all. This lecture was successfully concluded.