The year 2000 is the Year of the Dragon. In the March issue of "Folk Culture", an article entitled "The Year of the Dragon-Listening to Folk Sayings" was published. In the article, the author tries to correct some misinformation about dragons, some of which are based on facts and are more reliable, such as "the year of the dragon is a year of many disasters" is "a false incident", which is good; However, this article also denies the claim of "descendants of the dragon", which lacks historical basis. The author casually rejects the scientific argument of Wen Yiduo's "Fuxi Kao", which is difficult to convince. The article says:
It is said that the Chinese are "descendants of the dragon" because the dragon is the "ancestor" and "totem" of the Chinese nation. In fact, this statement is a misconception of Chinese dragon culture.
And said: We say that the dragon is not the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and we are not "descendants of the dragon", which may make some people feel uncomfortable. However, this precisely means sobriety and progress. In fact, the cohesion of the Chinese nation is built on the vast and magnificent land and the long-standing, broad and profound cultural heritage, we have too many good things worth carrying forward, there is really no need to pour too much enthusiasm into this old dragon.
In the past, I have also heard a saying that the dragon is the symbol of the feudal emperor, and talking about the dragon means promoting feudal ideas.
Such views are due to misunderstandings due to the lack of understanding of the history of the creation of the dragon and the great unity between the dragon and the Chinese nation and the national spirit embodied by the dragon. Try to describe it.
First of all, let's talk about the relationship between "dragons and totems".
The article argues: "In China, there has never been a totem of the 'dragon'. It is said that Yin Totem is a bird, and the ancestors of Zhou were born of "giant traces". "Even then, it has nothing to do with dragons". Regarding Mr. Wen Yiduo's research on the dragon totem in the article "Fuxi Kao", he only said baselessly: "The facts have proved that this is just a speculation" and easily denied it. This is a very unserious and imprudent approach.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Wen Yiduo's "Fuxi Kao" was written on the basis of a careful study of a large number of ancient Chinese documents and many anthropological, ethnological and folklore survey materials and archaeological data. According to Mr. Ma Xueliang, vice chairman of the China Folklore Society and tenured professor of ** University for Nationalities, in 1938, he and Mr. Wen Yiduo and other teachers and students of the Southwest Associated Union formed the "Hunan-Guizhou-Yunnan Travel Group" and marched more than 3,000 miles on foot from Changsha to Yunnan. Mr. Ma followed Professor Wen to "collect customs all the way, visit the ancient and explore the secluded", "so that Mr. Wen and our students, who have lived in the study for a long time, are refreshed." These materials not only enriched his research on mythology and classical literature, but also aroused his interest in folklore, ethnology, anthropology, etc., so that his later academic research jumped out of the pile of ancient books, went deep into the people, collected a large number of first-hand information, combined with the confirmation of ancient books, and put forward many original insights." Then Mr. Ma talked about the relationship between the situation of dragon totem worship in the folk and Mr. Wen Yiduo's research
For example, he wrote the article "From the Statue of the Snake with the Human Head to the Dragon and the Totem", which originated from the stone statue of the human head and the body of the snake that we saw in a land temple similar to the Han Dynasty on the side of the road in a Miao village in Xiangxi. The stone statue is beautiful and lifelike, at that time Mr. Wen lingered in front of the stone statue for a long time, could not bear to leave, and said with a sigh that over the years, he has found a lot of ancient myths and legends from various ancient books, but there is no empirical evidence, and he can't imagine that he has found a real thing that can be confirmed today.
Isn't this the fact of a living dragon totem? How can it be said that "it has been proven that this is just a speculation"?
Of course, Mr. Wen's use of the living data of the "third database" at that time was an earth-shattering initiative in the academic world, which would inevitably arouse the disgust of some people, as Mr. Ma Xueliang said
Among the scholastic scholars who regarded themselves as "orthodox" at that time, not only could they not ascend to the "hall of elegance", but they were also regarded as deviant heresy. However, Mr. Zhu Ziqing enthusiastically praised this kind of mythological research as "opening up a new road for our academic circles", and it was along this road that Wen Yiduo wrote his famous treatise.
Indeed, the lack of anthropology, ethnology, folklore knowledge, it is difficult to understand the ancients' worship of totems such as snakes, dragons, tigers and turtles, and think that it is a dishonorable thing, so as to easily deny ancient history, and think that "exploring the historical footprints of the dragon" can only be traced back to the zodiac culture, because the dragon is one of the twelve zodiac signs, "since ancient times, no one has ever treated the dragon as their ancestors, people pay attention to the dragon, just because the dragon is the messenger of the sky, is the beast, is in charge of the rain power that is related to people's lives." The feudal emperor loved the dragon, and that was to deify himself and satisfy his political needs." Even think:
The term "descendants of the dragon" is a ...... that has been formed overseas and introduced to Chinese mainland in modern timesAmong these people who have crossed the sea, they are most familiar with the dragon temple in their hometown, and it is natural that the dragon is regarded as a symbol of China, calling themselves "the descendants of the dragon", in order to evoke a sense of belonging and cohesion, and cope with the harsh living environment. (See "The Year of the Dragon: Listen to the Folk Sayings").
In this way, the dragon totem formed in ancient times and the long history of the dragon's descendants are lightly wiped out. This disregard for history is truly disagreeable.
Historical facts are not subject to anyone's subjective wishes. Facts are facts, and Mr. Wen Yiduo's research has been ironclad. Decades of archaeological excavations and folklore, ethnology, and anthropological research have further confirmed the informativeness of Wen Yiduo's research.
Is the dragon a totem? Has China ever had a totem of the dragon?
Historical records and archaeological excavations have repeatedly proved that the dragon is the ancient totem of the Chinese nation, which is beyond doubt. I have already made some arguments in the book "The Light of Chinese Civilization" and the 150-episode TV series "Speaking of the Dragon", and now I can add a lot of materials.
First of all, let's explain what a totem is.
As early as 1903, when Yan Fu translated the book "General Interpretation of Society", he translated the word totem as "totem", and it has been used since then. It was originally a dialect of a tribe of North American Indians. The book Indian Travels, published in London in 1791, first introduced totemic beliefs. Since then, the word "totem" has become a common noun in the international academic community, and its meaning is:
Personal patron saint. (Lange & Söhne).
Both relatives and ancestors. (Fraser).
The emblem or emblem of the clan. (Morgan).
The ancestor of the clan and its guardian. (Sigmund Freud).
Believe in the image of an object with which you have a mysterious blood kinship. (Tokarev).
The ancestors of the group or some animal or plant related to it. (Cen Jiawu) (see He Xingliang, Chinese Totem Culture, China Social Sciences Press, 1992).
These definitions of "totem" are different, but the meaning is similar, mainly to say: primitive people can not distinguish the boundary between human beings and other living things or inanimate, and regard animals or plants, inanimate creatures, etc. as their ancestors or relatives - related figures, and use its image as the clan symbol, painted on the house, clothes and even their own body, so that the totem is easy to identify, so as to get its protection. That's what the totem is.
Although there is no such thing as a "totem" in ancient China, things that are totems are universal. This has become the consensus of the current academic community. Even the descriptions of the dragon totem are endless. For example:
Zuo Chuan: 17 years of Zhaogong": "Dahao's family is named after the dragon age, so it is the dragon master. "Dahao is Taihao, that is, Fuxi.
Wang Yi's "Chu Ci Tianwen" notes: "Nuwa has a human head and a snake body. ”
Wang Yi's son Wang Yanshou "Lu Lingguang Palace Fu": "At the beginning of ancient times, five dragons were like wings, the human emperor had nine heads, Fuxi had a scaly body, and Nuwa had a snake body. ”
Imperial Century": "Ku Xi ......."Serpent body and human head. "Nuwa's ......It is also a snake body and a human head. (Art and Literature Gathering, vol. 2, citation).
Liezi Yellow Emperor Chapter": "Ku Xi Clan, Nuwa Clan, ...... Clan."Serpent face. ”
Cao Zhi's "Praise of Nuwa's Painting": "Or the two emperors of the clouds, the head of the human head is snake-shaped. ”
Wang Jia's "Collecting Memories": "I saw a god again, and the snake body and human face were ......."The picture of Sheyu gossip ......That is, the Xihuang also. ”
Zhaoming's anthology "Lu Lingguang Dianfu" notes "Xuanzhong Ji": "Fuxi dragon body, Nuwa snake body. ”
It is reported that Yiduo "Fuxi Kao": "Lingguang Hall is the building of Liu Yu (154-127 BC), King Lugong. Fu Zhong depicts the murals in the hall that resemble the carved stones of the Wuliang Ancestral Hall. "Explaining" the statue of Fuxi Nuwa with a human head and a snake body, which has become the subject of architectural decoration in the early Western Han Dynasty, and its legendary origin can be imagined. ”
This kind of human-headed snake figure is now found in the Han portrait stone and portrait brick, and Mr. Wen Yiduo has cited many of them. Some also have the inscription of Lishu: "Fu Xi Cang Jing made the king at the beginning, and drew a hexagram and knotted rope to Li Haine." "There is no doubt that it is Fuxi.
Ancient dragons and snakes were mixed, and the dragon body and snake body were not evolved from the totem symbol?
Fuxi Nuwa is the earliest ancestor of mankind, and they are dragon bodies, doesn't it mean that their clan totem is a dragon? How can it be said that "no one has ever treated dragons as their ancestors since ancient times"?
Not only the Chinese ancestor Fuxi is the embodiment of the dragon totem, but also the groundbreaking Pangu is also recorded as the dragon body in ancient documents
The king of Pangu, the head of the dragon and the body of the snake, shh
The banner of the Xia people is the dragon flag, and the dragon is painted on the flag. This "Jiaolong" is likely to be the predecessor of the Fuxi Nuwa Jiaowei statue on the stone of the Han portrait. The legend of Jiaolong (the intersection of two dragons) was recorded in the pre-Qin Dynasty, and Shi Bo quoted the "Teachings" in the "Chinese Zheng Language" and said:
The decline of Xia, the god of praise, turned into two dragons to be the same as the royal court, and said: "Yu, the two kings of praise" ......
This praise person or that is, the descendants of Fuxi, and the totem of Xia is also a dragon, so after the death of Kun, "turning into a yellow dragon" is the totem of returning to the ancestors. The Chinese and Xia are the descendants of the dragon, and there is no doubt about it.
The Yellow Emperor is also a dragon. "Historical Records: Book of Heavenly Officials": "Xuanyuan, Huanglongti." Its note says: "The head of the human body is a snake, and the tail is handed over to the head." Yellow dragon body. It can be seen that the "yellow dragon body" is the "human head snake body", which is the image of the dragon totem. "Historical Records, Feng Zen Book" and Cui Bao's "Ancient and Modern Notes" volume both record the Yellow Emperor's "riding the dragon to the sky". "Huainanzi Tianwen Xun" notes:
* Soil also, its emperor Yellow Emperor, its Zuohou soil, holding the rope and controlling the Quartet, its god is the town star, its beast Yellow Dragon.
These are enough to show that the Yellow Emperor is also a dragon family, the descendant of the dragon, and the dragon totem.
The Yellow Emperor's brother Emperor Yan is of course also a dragon. "Historical Records: The Three Emperors" Sima Zhen added:
Emperor Yan, Shennong's family, surnamed Jiang, his mother is called Nudeng, the daughter of the Wa family, she is the concubine of Shaodian, and Emperor Yan was born with a sense of the dragon, and her body is ...... the head of a cow
The mother of Emperor Yan "felt the dragon and gave birth to Emperor Yan", of course he is the descendant of the dragon, but the dragon is the "head of the human body", which is worth studying. This myth and legend reflects that the Yandi Shennong clan was originally an agricultural clan of the ox totem, and merged with the python clan to form the dragon clan. We see the dragon characters on the oracle bone inscriptions, and some of them are pictograms of snakeheads and horns, which may be the totemic image of the Yandi clan. The agricultural character is a combination of "song" and "chen", and chen is the dragon. Agricultural clans or dragon totems. There is also a saying that Emperor Yan is Chiyou, the ancestor of the Miao people. The Miao people also have many customs of dragon totem. "Filial Piety and Aid to God" (Wei Wei Shu): "Shennong's snake body and bull head. "The dragon's horn may have been taken from an ox at first, and then it became a deer-antler.
The above historical records have fully proved that the oldest ancestors of China, in the minds of the ancients, were all dragon totems. From the groundbreaking Pangu, to the ancestors Fuxi and Nuwa, to the Yan Emperor Shennong, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, and the Xia Yu clan are all dragon totems - the descendants of the dragon, how can it be said that "no one has treated the dragon as their ancestors since ancient times"? That's too casual, isn't it?
Some people may think that totemic animals are generally real, while dragons are fictional composite animals and illusory animals in fantasy, and cannot become totems. In fact, this also cannot be a denial of the fact that the Chinese nation is "the descendant of the dragon."
Totems are inherently complex and diverse, with some clans having one totem and some clans having multiple totems. Totems also produce decomposition and fusion. For example, the book "Totemism" records that the Indians have a totem decomposition due to clan differentiation, and the differentiated sub-clans decompose the original totems of the mother clan, and each takes a part of it as its own totem, some take its claws, some take its horns, and some take its stomach, etc. Another example is the Aranda and Lorija tribes in Australia, where there are more than 400 totems, all of which use parts of some kind of animal's body, such as the tail, stomach, and fat of kangaroos. In ancient China, there were symbols or surnames of tiger heads and sheep's horns, or such relics. Morgan's Ancient Society also records the differentiation of one mother totem into several child totems. There is a chapter on the "Twelve Branches of Snow" in the ancient Chinese Yi epic "Leotey", which records that the snake clan divided into three totems: dragon, long snake and red-billed snake, and the frog clan divided into three totems: leprosy, red field chicken and little frog.
There are also totem compounds, such as ancient Egypt had a composite totem of eagle and crocodile. There are several totems in various ethnic groups in Oceania, such as Rosely Island, each clan has three totems, the main totem is a plant, and the second and third totems are birds and fish. And the Papuans have a primary totem and several secondary totems for each clan. The African Bambuti people worship not only the totem of their own clan, but also the totem of their wife's clan and the totem of those who perform the initiation ceremony together. The same is true of the Haida people of North American Indians (see Chinese Totem Culture).
This kind of situation where a clan and a family worship several totems is of course possible in ancient China. However, its expression has Chinese characteristics and embodies the Chinese national spirit. Different from the above split totems, such as the dragon totem is a composite totem composed of the big snake (python) as the main body and absorbing some organs of other totems, which has been well demonstrated in Mr. Wen Yiduo's "Fu Xi Kao" article, although it has a speculative component, but it is not a conjecture that lacks reliable basis, but a scientific inference with great rationality.
Taking 10,000 steps back, even if this speculation cannot be established, the fact that the dragon is a totem is absolutely true, and it is an objective fact based on many facts in literature and archaeology. In addition to the many facts and ancient documents cited by Mr. Wen Yiduo, we have added some of them earlier, and we can add a lot.
In the spring of 1971, the three-star Tala jade dragon discovered in Inner Mongolia is a cultural relic of Hongshan, no later than 5,000 years ago. It is a dark green jade carving of 26 centimeters, the body shape is curled and no feet like a snake, but the head is like a horse with a mane, and the mouth is like a pig, which is a composite image. In 1988, it was another Hongshan cultural site in Wengniute Banner, and a jade dragon was unearthed, which was similar to that of Samsung Tara, but the nose end was not a plane and not like a pig's mouth. The era is a little earlier, and it may be that the pig's mouth was changed later.
From 1987 to 1988, three groups of dragons made of clam shells were excavated in Xishuipo, Puyang County, Henan Province, which was once known as "the first dragon in China". The first group is a dragon and tiger pattern, with a mussel shell dragon on the right side of the main skeleton of the tomb, with its head facing north and its back facing west, and its body length is 178 meters, 067 meters. The dragon has front and rear claws, a bowed head, a curved neck and a long tail (the pattern is now preserved in the Chinese History Museum). The second group is 20 meters to the south. There are dragon, tiger, deer and spider motifs. The dragon and the tiger are connected as one, the spider is in the east of the dragon's head, and the image of the dragon is the same as before. The third group is in an ash ditch 25 meters south of the second group, with dragon and tiger motifs on the dirt. It is worth noting that this dragon is a human riding dragon, with the dragon's head facing east, with a high head, a long neck, a long tail, and a high foot, as if looking back. A man rides on the back of the dragon, one hand in front and the other in the back. In addition to the dragon and tiger, a bird with wings spread was also made of clam shells. There are also some scattered mussel shells in this ash ditch, which seem to be stars in the Milky Way. These three groups of animal motifs sit on the same horizontal plane and are all tombs and sacrificial relics. Its age is about 6400 years ago (135 years).
In 1993, in Zhangcheng Village, Huangmei County, Hubei Province, a silhouette of a giant dragon with pebbles was found, with a length of 446 meters, 228 meters. The head is bent and the neck is straight, the tail is curled, the back has three fins, the abdomen has three legs, and the single horn rises, like a soaring shape. There are also turtles (1. long.) nearby16 meters, 072 meters), snake (length 197 meters, width 047 meters, with a triangular head and a long body twisting), sheep (or deer) and butterflies. This dragon age is comparable to that of the Xishuipo mussel shell dragon, but it is more than twice as large. The dragon's head faces due west, making a bull's head, with a horn, the dragon's body is wavy, and the dragon's tail is rolled up. The dragon scales are made of river pebbles of various colors, sparkling and glittering. Above the dragon's back, there are also three constellations made of pebbles, which spread out in a straight line with the dragon's horns to the southeast.
From 1994 to 1995, at the Chahai site in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province, the earliest and largest stone pendulum dragon was discovered. The dragon is shaped from reddish-brown stones of equal size, with a body length of nearly 20 meters and a width of about 2 meters, with an open mouth and an arched back. Its age is seven or eight thousand years ago. There are dozens of house remains at the Chahai site, reflecting the characteristics of stable agricultural life. The dragon is placed on the south side of a large house with an area of about 120 square meters in the center of the settlement, and on the south side there are closely arranged tombs and sacrificial pits.
From the above image of the dragon 5000-8000 years ago, it confirms Mr. Wen Yiduo's argument: the dragon is a kind of totem of the ancient ancestors of China, and "the Yue people cut off their hair and tattoos to resemble dragons", "avoid the harm of dragons" and other documents combined with the investigation, it is completely certain that the dragon is the ancient totem of the Chinese nation, and we are all descendants of the dragon.
As for how the image of the dragon was formed, Mr. Wen Yiduo's speculation is also very reasonable. He believes that the dragon is dominated by the clan or tribe of the snake totem, and in the process of clan fusion, it absorbs part of the organs of other clan totems to form a composite dragon totem image. Other scholars have added that the big snake is a python, and the python is similar to the dragon ancient sound. In ancient China, there were many tribes that used snakes as totems, such as Ba (i.e., python, Zhang Binglin), Min, Man, and Ku Xi, all of which were snake totems, and they may all be descendants of the Taihao tribe (see ibid.). Later, many clans of the cow totem, tiger totem, frog totem, horse totem, chicken totem, deer totem, eagle totem, dog totem, fish totem, and lizard totem were merged and fused, so that the image of the snake was constantly changing, and finally the dragon was formed. The side glyph of the ancient dragon character retains the character "巳", which is the pictogram of the snake. There are many records of snakes and dragons being mixed. This kind of totemic fusion is unique to Chinese culture, and expresses the national spirit of Chinese culture - harmony (or the harmony of "concord and all nations").
This ancient totem has evolved continuously in thousands of years of historical development, and has become a symbol and symbol of the Chinese nation. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, it has been monopolized by the emperor as a royal image. Only the royal children can be called "dragon sons and dragon grandsons" and "descendants of the dragon", and others cannot trespass. But people still use dragons as metaphors for outstanding figures, such as "Jackie Chan", "Living Dragons and Tigers", "Dragons Walking Tiger Steps", "Dragon and Horse Spirit", "Dragons Among People", "Dragons Without Leaders" and so on. The dragon turned into a water god and was worshipped in the temple of the dragon king. From the Indian Buddhist scriptures, the dragon palace, the dragon girl, the dragon king and other images were introduced, and the dragon king and dragon girl all had a human form. Therefore, in people's minds, the dragon not only refers to the "true dragon son of heaven", but also refers to the water god dragon king, as an object of worship and faith. After the Xinhai Revolution, the image of the dragon was completely freed from feudal fetters, and the "descendants of the dragon" resumed the ancient tradition as a status symbol for every Chinese son. We are proud to have created this glorious cultural tradition for thousands of years. It is true that the ancient totems seem to be somewhat uncivilized today, but we cannot deny history, we cannot but see the development and changes of dragon culture, and we cannot but recognize the fact of "descendants of the dragon". It's not dishonorable, it's glorious. We must carry forward the spirit of the dragon, unite all nationalities and the people of all countries in the world, and march forward with confidence and courage to build a beautiful new world.
* Knowledge of literature and history).