There are many strange creatures in Chinese and foreign mythology, and now we are familiar with the Chinese dragon, phoenix, unicorn, Fuxi Nuwa, and foreign sphinxes in ancient Egypt, human heads and horses in ancient Greece, and so on.
It is said that the dragon has horns like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a neck like a snake, a belly like a mirage, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, palms like a tiger, and ears like a cow. The phoenix has a chicken-like head, a snake-like neck, a swallow-like chin, a turtle-like back, and a fish-like tail. The unicorn has a sheep-like head with a horn on its head;The body is like a musk deer, covered with fish-like scales;Hoofs like wolves;The tail is like a dragon;The whole body is colorful. Fuxi Nuwa is also very weird - a human head and a snake body. The image of the Sphinx in ancient Egypt was also bizarre - the body resembled that of a lion, but the face was a human face. A remy horse has a human upper body and a horse on the lower body.
These images were all produced by primitive humans. Today, we say that the human mind is free, but we can't imagine such an alternative thing
It turns out that the way primitive humans think is different from the way we think today. Our thinking is the first kind of thinking, and the thinking of primitive humans is primitive thinking.
There is a big difference between primitive thinking and modern thinking.
First of all, primitive thinking is based on imagery, while modern thinking is based on concepts. Primitive thinking is based on imagery, which makes primitive thinking inseparable from images. Present-day thinking is based on concepts, so present-day thinking can be detached from images.
Secondly, the thinking method of primitive thinking is to decompose and combine images, while the thinking method of modern thinking is the deduction and reasoning of concepts. The peculiar way of primitive thinking led them to decompose and combine the images of various creatures in reality, and it was this decomposition and combination that led them to create these strange images.
It can be seen that primitive humans created these strange creatures not because they wanted to be surprised, but because they themselves were not aware of their way of thinking.
The writing of this article refers to Lévi-Breuer's "Primitive Thinking" and Liu Wenying's "The Long Historical Origin: A New Exploration of Primitive Thinking and Primitive Culture".