See the new exhibition in the Year of the Dragon! The dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation, meaning auspicious and beautiful, and contains a mighty atmosphere. In 2024, the Year of the Dragon, the Shanxi Archaeological Museum (Taiyuan Confucian Temple) and the Shanxi Ancient Architecture Museum (Chunyang Palace) have launched a series of exhibitions full of "dragon elements", bringing a visual feast of "dragon" culture to citizens and tourists.
What is a dragon? How has the image of the dragon evolved? Why did the dragon end up being the unifying element of the nation? Let's take these questions and walk into the east exhibition hall of Sanjin Courtyard of Shanxi Archaeological Museum, walk into the world of dragons found in archaeology, listen to the stories of dragons in cultural relics, and feel the bloodline of "descendants of dragons".
Entering from the ceremonial gate of Shanxi Archaeological Museum, the exquisite and brilliant Lingxing Gate is facing the famous Taiyuan Confucian Temple, and the middle of the wall is inlaid with blue, yellow, and green three-color glazed firing of the Liuyun Seawater Double Dragon Playing Bead Pattern, the Double Dragon is vivid, and the appearance of the fire bead competition is very vivid, which makes people look forward to the upcoming exhibition journey.
Ascend the Pan Bridge, cross the Pan Pond, pass through the Dacheng Gate, and come to the third courtyard, after opening the red curtain of the East Exhibition Hall, what catches your eye is a dazzling array of dragon element cultural relics.
The exhibition is divided into:"The dragon has become a good way", "the dragon is a gift", and "the star is a divine beast".The three units exhibit more than 130 dragon-related cultural relics from prehistory to the Qing Dynasty more than 4,000 years ago, covering bronze, jade, gold, ceramics, stone carvings, murals, etc., systematically introducing the image changes of dragons in history.
The first "welcome host" near the entrance of the exhibition hall is a painted dragon plate, and the mottles and cracks on its body all show its longevity and vicissitudes, bringing people into that era of about 4,000 years ago.
InThe first unit, "The Dragon Becomes Wise".At the exhibition hall, several volunteers are talking about the formation process of dragons. "The formation of dragons did not happen overnight. Archaeological discoveries have found that there were already dragon-like patterns in prehistoric times; During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the dragon pattern went through the process from figurative to abstract, and the form and pattern gradually tended to be unified, and was widely used in the decoration of bronze and jade. 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. ”
With the introduction of the volunteers, the tourists carefully looked at the cultural relics rich in dragon elements in the display case, those from prehistoric dragon patterns, or from the pre-Qin dynasty.
InThe second unit is the exhibition area of "Holding the Dragon as a Gift".Some visitors stand for a long time in front of a set of clock display cases. "The culture represented by the rites was manifested in all aspects of the aristocratic life during the two weeks. During this period, a large number of jade and bronze ritual vessels decorated with dragon patterns appeared, and these exquisite ornaments not only played a decorative role with their artistry, but also highlighted the sacred attributes of the utensils by virtue of the divine characteristics of the dragon. Said the volunteer.
In the showcase of this unit, whether it is the dragon pattern jade of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the dragon-shaped four-way copper saving, the dragon pattern copper Yue or the dragon-shaped jade pendant of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, people can deeply feel the penetration and role of the ritual culture in the life of the nobles during the Zhou Dynasty, and let people once again get a glimpse of the corner of people's lives during the Zhou Dynasty.
With the deepening of the progress of the exhibition, the time scale of the cultural relics came to the Han Dynasty. InThe third unit "Xingxiao Divine Beast" exhibition area,The cultural relics on display gradually diversified, such as the stone pillar base of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the murals of the four gods of the Song and Jin Dynasty, the Qinglong, and the ...... of the beasts from the Tang Dynasty to the Five DynastiesEach cultural relic shows the process of the dragon being gradually placed on the socialized personality, with the help of the image of the mythical beast, the dragon pattern into the world, become the sustenance of the people to pray for Najib.
This white-glazed dragon handle cup is really exquisite, and every dragon feature on the small dragon-shaped cup handle has been carefully carved and completed, which is really worthy of the craftsmanship of the craftsman. In front of a separate display case, Mr. Zhang, a tourist, was full of praise for the Yuan Dynasty white glazed dragon handle cup in the display case, which attracted many onlookers.
The staff of the Shanxi Archaeological Museum said that every day someone will make a similar exclamation at this exhibition, which resonates with everyone, and in her opinion, this may be the unique consensus and tacit understanding of the "descendants of the dragon".
See the dragon in the field, and see the lord. "On the occasion of the Year of the Dragon, let's walk into the world of dragons found in archaeology, listen to the stories of dragons in the unearthed cultural relics, and be the descendants of dragons!
Nowadays, watching the dragon exhibition in the Year of the Dragon in the museum has become a hot topic in culture. If the cultural relics in the shape of the dragon in the Taiyuan Confucian Temple highlight the beauty of the utensils and the beauty of the modeling, then the dragon on the mural of the special exhibition of "There is a Dragon, the Spirit - Shanxi Dragon King Theme Mural Tour" in Chunyang Palace reflects social life and reflects the interest of humanity in the colorful colors.
The exhibition takes the mural of the Dragon King of Shanxi as the main line of the exhibition, which is divided into:"Exploring the source", "tracing the dragon" and "inheriting skills".The three parts, with 11 unique mural works, show the theme of the dragon king in Shanxi, and interpret the love and respect of the common people for the dragon in Chinese culture.
In the first part of the exhibition, "Exploring the Origins" and the second part of the exhibition, "Tracing the Dragon", a group of "docents" of different ages are very eye-catching. In front of each of the different mural display cases, the little "docents" talked about the origin of the Dragon King culture and the general situation of the Dragon King murals in Shanxi. Among them, the Qing Dynasty murals from the Dragon King Hall of the Jade Emperor Temple in Zhangcun, Jincheng City, located in the second exhibition hall, are vivid and interesting under the description of the little "docents".
It is understood that this is a study tour organized by parents from various schools. "As one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization, Shanxi has many dragon-related cultural relics, buildings and customs, and in the last few days of the winter vacation, we decided to take the children to visit all the exhibitions related to 'dragons' in Taiyuan, so that the children can feel the colorful dragon culture in this ancient land. According to Ms. Huang, a tourist, the children made sufficient preparations for this study tour, so they had the wonderful explanation we just saw.
The third part, "Inheritance of Skills", attracted more visitors, presenting the traditional mural making techniques and materials in Shanxi. The digital interactive display technology added to the exhibition also increases the interactive experience between the audience and the exhibits, and some of the murals illuminated by the "flashlight" are "alive" in the light source by sliding the electronic screen.
It is understood that visitors stay in this exhibition area for the longest time, because they can experience the beauty of Shanxi's traditional mural art more closely and immersively.
Shanxi dragon culture has a long history, Taiyuan dragon exhibitions are dotted, Yingze dragon elements are as bright as stars, Jiachen Dragon Year, come to Yingze to start a wonderful and surprising coexistence of "dragon hunting" journey!