河图洛书
河图洛书是中国古代流传下来的两幅神秘图案，是中华文化、阴阳五行术数之源。传说伏羲时期，有龙马从黄河出现，背负“河图”；有神龟从洛水出现，背负“洛书”。伏羲根据该“图”“书”画成八卦，就是后来《周易》的来源。但现代科学一般认为它们是远古时代人民按照星象排布出时间、方向和季节的辨别系统，蕴含了深奥的宇宙星象之理，因而将它们誉为“宇宙魔方”。
河图和洛书分别是中国古代的天文与地理方位图，被广泛应用于中国古代科技。这两幅图包含着基本的自然数之间的算数逻辑关系，两者之间有着必然内在联系。河图的“河”指的是银河。河图最初的原型是一条白色旋转的龙，将银河画成白龙，围绕着中点运转，而这个中点是北极星。这幅图在后来演变成了一黑一白两条龙，逐渐成为了今人熟悉的太极阴阳图。洛书是脉络图，是表述天地空间变化脉络的图案，包括水平空间、二维空间，以及东西南北四个方向。
河图洛书的影响体现在中国传统文化的各个领域，汉语中的“图书”“图书馆”等词汇就源于此。2014年11月，河图洛书传说被列入中国国家级非物质文化遗产。
Hetu and Luoshu
Hetu (Yellow River Chart) and Luoshu (Luoshui River Script) are two mysterious diagrams passed down from the ancient times as the origin of the Chinese culture and the theories of yin-yang and five elements. Legend has it that in the period of Fuxi, a dragon horse surfaced in the Yellow River carrying on its back a mysterious diagram, known as Hetu, while a turtle surfaced in the Luoshui River carrying the other, Luoshu. Fuxi drew up bagua, or the eight trigrams, based on the two diagrams, which became the basis of Zhou Yi (Changes of Zhou) written later. In modern times, Hetu and Luoshu are generally believed to be the astronomical systems invented by the ancient Chinese to identify time, directions, and seasons. They are called the "magic cube of the universe" for the patterns of the universe and the stars and the profound principles contained therein.
Hetu and Luoshu, one being an astronomical diagram and the other a geographical one, were widely used in ancient Chinese science and technology. Both containing basic arithmetical logic, they are inherently linked. The He in Hetu actually refers to the galaxy, which was originally designed like a white dragon revolving around a central point – the North Star. Later this diagram evolved into two dragons, one black and the other white, and gradually became the Taiji Diagram familiar to the people of today.
Luoshu outlines the changes of heaven and earth and everything in between, including the horizontal space, the two-dimensional space, and the four directions.
Hetu and Luoshu have exerted great influence on the traditional Chinese culture. For instance, the Chinese words like tushu (book) and tushuguan (library) have stemmed from them. In November 2014, the legend of Hetu and Luoshu became a national intangible cultural heritage of China.
