**: People's Daily Online.
Looking for the "dragon" cultural relics, painting the "flying dragon in the sky" painted dragon plate, and making the "Golden Dragon Yue Gu" woodblock New Year painting ......More and more people have left a place for museums in the planning of the Spring Festival holiday, and "Celebrate the New Year in the Museum" has changed from a loud slogan to a norm.
On the occasion of the arrival of the Year of the Dragon, Shanxi, a major province of cultural relics, launched two "Dragon Cultural Relics" exhibitions, where the public can get a glimpse of the origin of Chinese civilization from the evolution of more than 100 dragon cultural relics unearthed in Shanxi.
The children are serious about looking for the dragon element in the artifact. Photo by People's Daily reporter Wang Fan.
The dragon has been a symbol of the Chinese nation since ancient times, and it has been a totem worshiped by the ancestors since the beginning of civilization. In the long history of thousands of years, the Chinese dragon has evolved into a complex and changeable artistic shape with the unique meaning of oriental mystery.
Archaeological discoveries have shown that the formation of dragons did not happen overnight, and that dragon patterns appeared in prehistoric times. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the dragon pattern experienced a process from figurative to abstract, and the form and pattern gradually tended to be unified, and was widely used in bronze and jade decoration. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the dragon shape was basically stereotyped, and the form reached a new height, becoming a model for the change of dragon patterns in later generations.
Based on the collection resources, the Shanxi Archaeological Museum launched the "Seeing the Dragon in the Field - Shanxi Unearthed Dragon Cultural Relics Exhibition", with a total of more than 130 cultural relics on display, sorting out the dragon cultural relics unearthed in Shanxi since the Neolithic Age, covering bronze, jade, gold, ceramics, stone carvings, murals and other materials and expressions.
Dragon-shaped copper ring ornaments in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Photo by People's Daily reporter Wang Fan.
Among them, the jade dragon of the Shang Dynasty was ancient and simple; The Yanhou Zhidian of the Western Zhou Dynasty is decorated with the dragon pattern of Gu Shou, dignified and elegant; The stone dragon pattern of the Han portrait is free and unrestrained, the posture is like a turn, and the dragon shape has become mature. Different dragons appear in different cultural relics shapes, which is a feast for the eyes.
In the Shanxi Museum, the "Dragon Travels in China - Jiachen Year of the Dragon Zodiac Cultural Relics Exhibition" exhibits the "dragon image" of Chinese prehistory - the painted dragon plate unearthed from the site of the Tao Temple in Shanxi. In the cemetery of Tao Temple ruins, a total of 4 such dragon plates were unearthed, and these painted dragon plates 4,000 years ago have also won the reputation of "China's first dragon pottery".
Painted dragon plate unearthed from the site of Tao Temple. Photo by People's Daily reporter Wang Fan.
The inner wall of the dragon plate of Taosi is painted with red color to paint a coiled dragon, the snake body scales, the square head and the huge mouth, and the Jiahe contained in the mouth, indicating that the wind and rain are smooth, and the country and the people are safe. This dragon plate comes from the tomb of Tao Temple, on the one hand, it reflects the worship of the ancestors of Tao Temple to the dragon, and on the other hand, it shows that only the upper class of the elite can enjoy the "dragon weapon". With the dragon as a symbol, divine power and royal power reached unity for the first time in Tao Temple.
Based on the long-term field excavation and research of the Institute of Archaeology, the exhibition takes the New Year as an opportunity to see the theme of China's excellent traditional culture through the perspective of the zodiac. It is hoped that through the popularization of archaeological achievements, more public attention will be paid to archaeology and traditional culture. Fan Wenqian, president of the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said.
The museum offers a variety of social and educational activities and cultural and creative products. Photo by People's Daily reporter Wang Fan.
During the Spring Festival, the Shanxi Museum and the Shanxi Archaeological Museum will also launch hundreds of educational activities, inviting the audience to print New Year paintings, rub inscriptions, play ancient music, and paint landscapes and ......Feel the breadth and profundity of Chinese civilization. In addition, there will be hundreds of freshly baked cultural and creative products to meet the audience. Among them, cultural and innovative products with dragon elements are the most popular, covering stationery, ice cream, daily necessities, figurines and other types.