List of high-quality authors
Historical records record: After the Yellow Emperor defeated Emperor Yan and Chiyou, he toured the Quartet, "in line with Busan", extracted some elements from the totems of various tribes, and recombined them into a new image - dragon, that is, the Yellow Emperor made a dragon.
Archaeological findings show that in the Chahai site in Liaoning, the "dragon of stone piling" unearthed more than 8,000 years ago is far beyond the era of the Yellow Emperor in the history books, so there must have been a "Chinese dragon" before the Yellow Emperor.
The problem is that the historical records record that the Chinese dragon originated from the Yellow Emperor, and the archaeology shows that there was a Chinese dragon 8,000 years ago, and the two are obviously contradictory, so the historical records completely misunderstand the origin of the Chinese dragon? In fact, modern archaeology has also found some "abnormal" situations, which are roughly the same as the historical records of the origin of Chinese dragons in some aspects, which is puzzling!
Regarding the image of the dragon, the phoenix is described in the pre-Qin "Erya", but the image of the dragon is not described. Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty believes that the dragon is "the head of the horse and the tail of the snake", Ban Gu believes that "the dragon has no horns, it is said that it is a snake and has feet, and the veins and veins are good on the wall, and it is a lizard that is not guarding the palace", and Xu Shen believes that "the dragon, the length of the scale insect, can be dark and bright, can be small and huge, and can be short and long".
Dong Yu, a painter in the early Song Dynasty, believes that the image of the Chinese dragon is "horns like a deer, a head like a cow, eyes like a shrimp, a mouth like a donkey, a belly like a snake, scales like a fish, feet like a phoenix, a beard like a human, and ears like an elephant." ”
The "Erya Wing" compiled by Luo Yuan of the Southern Song Dynasty records that the image of the Chinese dragon is "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." ”
Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Ming Dynasty recorded: In addition to the characteristics of the Song people, there are also "beards next to the mouth, pearls under the chin, and reverse scales under the throat".
Judging from the literature, the image of the Chinese dragon is constantly changing, more precisely, it is constantly plumping, not static. The image of the Chinese dragon that we are familiar with today was mainly finalized as late as the Tang and Song dynasties.
From the perspective of modern archaeology, the dragons of prehistory, pre-Qin, Qin and Han, Tang and Song dynasties, and Ming and Qing dynasties are also very different. For example, the picture above is a stone pile plastic dragon at the Chahai site in Fuxin, Liaoning, which is about 19 years long7 meters, known as the "first dragon in China", and the difference between today's Chinese dragon is clear at a glance; There is also the "dragon" in the dragon and tiger tomb in Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province (left in the picture below), which is made of mussel shells, which is very different from today.
Therefore, comprehensive archaeological and documentary records show that the Chinese dragon we are familiar with today is composed of several animal forms in different time and space, and has been supplemented and modified, and the original dragon is very different from today's dragon.
Over the past 8,000 years, the image of the Chinese dragon has been changing, but modern archaeological findings are unusual in that there has been a major change in the image of the prehistoric Chinese dragon.
About 5,000 years ago, the image of Chinese dragons such as the Hongshan culture in the north, the Lingjiatan culture in the south, and the Liangzhu culture all underwent major changes. For example, the jade dragon of the Hongshan culture, that is, the "C-shaped dragon", combines animal characteristics such as deer eyes, snake bodies, pig noses, and horsehairs; The jade dragon of Liangzhu culture is also a synthesis of a variety of organisms, and scholar Zhu Naicheng believes that "Liangzhu dragon is a major source of Chinese dragons".
In short, the archaeological discovery of the Chinese dragon, 5,000 years ago, from Liangzhu to Erlitou, from Hongshan to Sanxingdui, the image of the dragon began to complicate, began to synthesize a variety of biological images, which is just like the history of the "Chronicles" said "in line with the dragon". What is even more striking is that the archaeological discovery of the transformation of the image of the Chinese dragon is about the same time as the era of the Yellow Emperor in the history books.
Therefore, about the origin of the Chinese dragon, the historical record originates from the Yellow Emperor Hefu to make a dragon, which is certainly wrong, but the time of the "Hefu to make a dragon" and the prehistoric transformation of the Chinese dragon image is about the same, which is worth **. Perhaps, about 5,000 years ago, the Yellow Emperor was one of the people who "improved the image of the dragon", and his deeds have been passed down. Perhaps, the reason for the great change in the image of the dragon in prehistoric China is roughly related to the alliance of multiple tribes as stated in the historical records.
In modern times, under the influence of the West, many Chinese people have questioned the ancient history of China, even Dayu and the Xia Dynasty have questioned and even denied, not to mention the five emperors earlier than Dayu. However, judging from the great changes of the Chinese dragon in prehistory, which is highly similar to the "Yellow Emperor made a dragon" in the historical records, the inheritance of Chinese history may be longer than we imagined, so the ancient deeds in the history books cannot be easily questioned and denied.
In addition, when reading Chinese history, there are many puzzling points, the Book of Rites says that the ancient Ru Mao drank blood, Zhou Li said that the ancient knotted rope and ruled, as well as slash-and-burn farming, drilling wood for fire, etc., are all descriptions of the ancient society by later generations, which is the history that objectively existed in ancient times, but the problem is that the recorder has long been far away from this social scene, so how can he know so accurately? Obviously, some deeds of antiquity should be passed down, so that future generations can describe antiquity so accurately, so it is no wonder that Sima Qian, who pursued "real records", recognized the existence of the Yellow Emperor and other five emperors.
It is in line with the dragon-making, Ru Mao drinking blood, knotting ropes, slash-and-burn farming, drilling wood for fire, etc., which truthfully reflects the ancient history, which shows the longevity and authenticity of Chinese civilization, and Sumerian civilization, ancient Egyptian civilization, ancient Greek civilization, etc., why lack these ancient memories? This is clearly a topic worth pondering.