In Chinese culture, dragons are a very special existence: no one has ever seen them, but all Chinese people are very familiar with them.
As a tall totem with a history of thousands of years, the image of the dragon has undergone many changes, and there are many interpretations and exquisitenesses.
Since no one has seen it, it is not so much important to discuss how many claws it has, but rather its symbolic and metaphorical cultural significance.
Dragons, as we know them, are always "growing".
On the 23rd, Apple's new New Year's edition phone case rushed to the hot search: it was originally designed to cater to the Chinese market by a well-known illustrator to design a limited edition of the Year of the Dragon, but it sparked heated discussions among netizens about "the dragon should have several claws".
I have to say that the eyes of this session of netizens are very vicious, and the whole picture of this mobile phone case is brilliant and happy, but they found the problem of dragon claws at a glance.
The strange thing is that the "dragon" is so well-known in China, although no one has ever seen it, but it is very thoroughly studied.
The dragon is one of the most powerful and far-reaching cultural totems in China, and has a very high status in the hearts of the Chinese. For thousands of years, this mysterious animal has been widely and abundantly present in calligraphy, painting, carving, utensils, architecture, and clothing, and has become a representative element and symbol of Chinese culture.
Because of its long history, the image of the dragon has been evolving, from beast to snake, from ordinary to mighty, very changeable.
It is said in the "Interpretation of Words": "Dragon, the length of the scale insect." It can be dark and bright, it can be small and huge, and it can be short and long; The spring equinox ascends to the sky, and the autumn equinox dives into the abyss. ”
Rao Jiong explained: "The dragon is a thing, and the change is gratuitous, and the explanation is because of its supernatural spirit. ”
In a word, it's a god.
What the dragon looks like, no one knows. It is generally accepted that it is a combination of many things.
Dong Yu, a great painter of the Song Dynasty, studied dragons the most deeply, and even summed up a complete set of theories - "Painting Dragons". His summary of the image of the dragon is "three stops and nine likenesses": from the head to the item, from the neck to the abdomen, from the abdomen to the tail, three stops; The head is like a cow, the mouth is like a donkey, the eyes are like a shrimp, the horns are like a deer, the ears are like an elephant, the scales are like a fish, the beard is like a human, the belly is like a snake, and the feet are like a phoenix.
The Compendium of Materia Medica is also called "the dragon has nine likenesses", and has a more specific detailed description: the head is like a camel, the horns are like a deer, the eyes are like a rabbit, the ears are like a cow, the neck is like a snake, the belly is like a mirage, the scales are like a carp, the claws are like an eagle, and the palm is like a tiger. It has eighty-one scales on its back, with nine or nine yang numbers. Its sound is like a copper plate. There is a beard next to the mouth, a pearl under the chin, and an inverted scale under the throat. There is Boshan on the head, also known as the ruler wood, and the dragon can not be **.
Later, Wen Yiduo said in "Fu Xi Kao": The image of the dragon is based on the snake, and accepts the four legs of the beast, the head of the horse, the tail of the hyena, the horns of the deer, the claws of the dog, and the scales and whiskers of the fish.
It can be seen that no matter what kind of statement it is, the dragon is a super compound, an existence that does not exist in the world, and it is an image that ordinary people can't imagine even if they break their heads.
There is a famous "first dragon in China" in the National Museum of China, which is a jade dragon in the Hongshan culture period of the Neolithic Age, with a history of five or six thousand years, in the shape of a "C", which is the earliest shape of the dragon.
In the early years, the dragon was not too sacred, and it was often a means of transportation for the immortals, such as "riding the dragon to the four seas", and the emperor "riding the dragon in spring and summer, and riding a horse in autumn and winter". At this time, the status of the dragon is not much different from that of the horse.
The dragons of the Qin and Han dynasties already had considerable aesthetic value, and their images were relatively complete and mature, generally four-legged, clawed, scaly, horned, and some with wings.
The dragon pattern of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was more widely used, and appeared in a large number of buildings and household utensils. The Song people summarized the various dragon images of the previous generations, and the dragon images of this period began to be included in the artistic track, and gradually became disconnected from the theory of immortals.
The dragon became the exclusive domain of the royal family from Yuan Shizu, who ordered the people to ban the sale of dragon-tattooed fabrics. Yuan Renzong also ordered that ** clothing is not allowed to decorate dragons.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Jingdezhen kiln blue and white carmine red cloud dragon pattern amphora flat bottle.
The dragon of the Ming and Qing dynasties was more prominent in the color of imperial power, and it was the final stage of the dragon pattern, and the frontal dragon pattern was also created at this time. The dragon finally has a straight face: its eyes meet the viewer's, and its mouth opens in an angry roar, highlighting its solemnity and intimidation.
Therefore, the dragon we know today did not look like this at the beginning, but gradually became like this over thousands of years.
The three claws and four claws are all dragons, and the five claws are the highest.
How did dragons come about? Since it is so unusual, the dragon is certainly not simply "born by the dragon's mother".
The common folk saying is that "the snake becomes a python in 500 years, the python becomes a python in 500 years, the python becomes a python in 500 years, the python becomes a cockroach in 500 years, the cockroach becomes a python in 500 years, and the python becomes a dragon in 500 years."
Snakes, pythons, and snakes belong to three different types of snakes from small to large, and the Jiao has already given birth to scales, that is to say, half of the body has entered the dragon class, so it is often called "Jiaolong", but it lives in rivers and lakes, and has not yet entered the sea; The cockroach is already a real dragon, which has grown feet and lives in the sea; It was only when it arrived that it really had the iconic dragon horns; One step further, it is Ying Long, who has a pair of wings.
Since there are so many stages of dragon formation, it is difficult to determine how many claws a dragon has. Dragons have always had three claws, four claws, five claws and other different shapes, "nine like" said, whether "claws like an eagle" or "like a phoenix", all refer to birds, and most birds are four-clawed.
Tang Dynasty three-clawed one-horned golden dragon.
In fact, in ancient times, dragons were more likely to have three claws, sometimes with three claws on the front two legs and four claws on the back two legs. The most common porcelain ornamentation in the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties is the three-clawed dragon.
The Yuan Dynasty incorporated the dragon into the imperial system, and only then did it stipulate that the "five-clawed and two-horned" was the dragon, which meant that this was the most noble dragon and should be enjoyed exclusively by the royal family. The folk saying "five claws for the dragon, four claws for the python" was formed in the Qing Dynasty, mainly as the difference between the emperor and the subordinates on the clothing decoration, that is, to distinguish the "dragon robe" and "python robe", in fact, from the appearance of the dragon and the python are four-legged snakes, the shape is not very different, it is the same species.
China's earliest and largest Nine Dragon Wall, the Datong Nine Dragon Wall, was owned by Zhu Gui, the king of the Ming Dynasty, and the dragons on it were all four-clawed, so it was not called the "Nine Python Wall".
In keeping with the tradition of launching limited editions during the Chinese New Year, international brands such as AM I, Estee Lauder, and Dunh Ill have recently announced products for the Year of the Dragon, with dragon motifs featuring four claws. The dragon in the Year of the Dragon limited edition of British luxury brand M Aison K Itsuné has only three claws.
It is worth mentioning that the number of dragon claws varies from country to country. The dragons of North and South Korea have four claws, and the dragons of Japan have three claws. It is said that this was due to the restrictions imposed by the ancient Chinese emperors on the surrounding vassal states. The dragon on the flag of Bhutan is three-clawed and holds a huge pearl in the middle; The dragon in the national emblem pattern is four claws and five claws.
It can be seen that whether it is three-clawed, four-clawed or five-clawed, they all belong to the dragon family, but the five-clawed dragon may be more advanced, after all, everything in China must be talked about at a level.
From complex to simple, the dragon is the cultural belief of the Chinese.
Dragons play an extremely important role in Chinese culture. The so-called "I don't exist in this world, but the world is full of my legends", which is probably this realm.
The "four-clawed dragon" of the Apple mobile phone case has caused some netizens to complain, partly because its pricing from 498 yuan is somewhat out of the masses, and poor netizens are reminded that they will inevitably find some reasons to fight back. In fact, since no one has ever seen a dragon, it doesn't make much sense to discuss how many claws it has.
For most Chinese people, dragons are more of a cultural existence.
The first epigram of the Book of Changes is the dragon, the gentleman is like a dragon, dry all day long, thousands of years ago, the dragon is a supreme symbol.
Confucius said that I can understand birds, beasts, and fish, and I have ways to catch them, but I can't understand the dragon that rides the wind and clouds to the sky. ”
In the eyes of Confucius, Lao Tzu was like a dragon. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Wei and Jin Dynasties of the Three Kingdoms, talented people were all known as dragons: Zhuge Liang was called Wolong, Zhong Hui also called Ji Kang Wolong, Zhang Huazan Lu Ji and Lu Yun brothers were "Long Yueyunjin", and Xie Zhen called Xu Qian and Xu Shao brothers "the abyss of peace and public opinion, there are two dragons".
Wang Anshi's "Dragon Says" wrote: The dragon is a thing, can be combined and dispersed, can see potential, can be weak and strong, and can be slight. but it is not visible, so I don't know where it is; But they should not be animals, so they are different from cattle and sheep. Change and unpredictable, moving and untamable, it often harms people, but does not start to harm people, so it is benevolent and ......
Su Shi's poem "Yongjuni": Awe-inspiring and relatively dare to bully each other, and it is not strange to go straight to the sky. Root to the nine springs without bending, only the dragon in the world knows.
This poem was written by Su Shi to his friend Wang Fu, there are two hundred-year-old cypress trees in the courtyard of Wang Fu's house, they stand upright in the air, and the roots of the trees are deep into the ground and are not bent at all.
A dragon is a dragon that hiberns deep underground. This poem praises Wang Fu's high-spirited and bright character, but the two sentences in the poem, "There is no curvature from the root to the nine springs, and only the dragon in the world knows" were pointed out by political enemies Shen Kuo and Wang Qi as the hidden assassination of the emperor: the emperor is the dragon in the world, but Su Shi wants to look for the dragon under the nine springs, "It is better than this!" ”
Su Shi was imprisoned on death row in Yushitai for nearly five months, and 30 people, including Sima Guang and Su Zhe, were also arrested. This is the famous "Wutai Poetry Case". Of course, the "Wutai Poetry Case" does not refer to this poem alone, in fact, Shenzong does not fully believe that Su Shi has a great rebellious heart, but this "**" ended Su Shi's political pursuit, and since then he has turned to "Jianghai to parasitize the rest of his life".
Before the small seal, there were more than 40 ways to write dragons. For a long time, the strokes of this character were very complicated, and today's dragon, with only five strokes, is one of the most concise Chinese characters. The dragon from complex to simple is a taboo on the altar of the Chinese, and it is also a cultural belief.
Time is turning, and another Year of the Dragon is coming. For ordinary Chinese people, everyone has the ideal and pursuit of "the dragon travels and the family and the country", and should move forward on the road of life with a progressive attitude.
Reporter: Wen Tu Li Xuemeng Editor: Zhang Yu Proofreader: Cao Shuming.