The Year of the Ox is coming, and the New Year is coming! For thousands of years, what is Chinese's favorite greeting on the occasion of the New Year? Is it the joy of the family, the Wishing you prosperity, or the wealth at the door, more than every year? What is Chinese's favorite mascot for thousands of years? Is it a golden toad, a cat, or a treasure pot or a fairy tree?
In order to send the audience the blessings of the New Year, Chengdu Museum specially launched a very "gold content" exhibition on the occasion of the Spring Festival - "Rich and Noble Changchun - Chinese Traditional Wealth Culture Exhibition", through more than 110 pieces / sets of cultural relics and light and shadow interlaced exhibition space, to introduce the origin and development of the god of wealth and folk fortune customs for the audience, systematically interpret the transformation and development of Traditional Chinese wealth culture, convey the moral core of wealth in benevolence and seeking wealth in righteousness, and reflect the prosperous scenery of Wufu Minfeng and Guotai Min'an. Send good wishes for the new year flowers blooming rich and noble, the next year of the mountains and rivers splendid.
Themed around wealth
Convey people's yearning for a better life throughout the ages
In the concept of traditional Chinese culture, the concept of "cai" has an important auspicious significance, which is often regarded as five mascots that can bring happiness and good luck to people, together with "Fu", "Lu", "Shou" and "Xi". The main reason why "cai" has an important auspicious meaning in people's minds is that "cai" plays an extremely important role in people's real life as an important living resource. Whether it is eating, wearing, living, or some important activities in people's social life, such as marriage, funeral, housing construction, medical treatment, employment, promotion, and study, all of them are closely related to "wealth".
Golden Cake Western Han Dynasty
Collection of China Finance and Taxation Museum
The importance of "wealth" has also led to the idea of praying for supernatural forces to obtain wealth, which further contributed to the emergence of the belief in praying for wealth. As early as the pre-Qin period, people had already expressed their yearning for wealth through divination, sacrifice, day selection, house visits, prayers, and other means. With the development of productive forces, the ancients often embellished patterns, ornaments and words on production and daily necessities to express their wishes, so that folk cultural relics have faith value in addition to their inherent aesthetic value and artistic value. During the Han and Wei dynasties, the popular cash cow funeral with the Sichuan Basin as the center reflected the idea of combining the idea of ascending the immortals with the desire to pray for wealth, hoping for wealth and longevity. At the same time, people's yearning for wealth is also increasingly pinned on daily life, and tiles, bronze mirrors, ceramics, and coins have become important carriers of prayer and belief. With the prosperity of the commodity economy, commerce urgently needs to seek support from traditional ethics, the belief in the god of wealth gradually rose in the Song and Yuan dynasties, developed and grew in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and established a set of customs and habits around the personified "god of wealth", which profoundly affected the people of later generations.
West Queen Mother Pottery Seat Copper Cash Cow Han
Collection of Guanghan Institute of Cultural Relics Protection
Because it caters to the secular psychology of praying for wealth and wealth, and gives spiritual comfort to the general public, it still has a fairly extensive and profound impact on ancient and even today's society. Therefore, in today's highly developed science and technology, the belief in praying for wealth is still prevalent. Choosing good fortune, praying for fortune for the gods, divination and measuring fortune, etc., whether in the countryside or the city, whether domestic or overseas, are not uncommon. Statues of the god of wealth are still sought after by society, and are increasingly enshrined in shopping malls, hotels, companies and ordinary people's homes, carrying people's desire and pursuit of wealth and a better life throughout the ages.
Compared with the prosperity and prosperity of the god of wealth in people's lives, the museum exhibition rarely introduces the folk culture behind it for thousands of years in detail and systematically. The "Rich and Noble Changchun - Chinese Traditional Wealth Culture Exhibition" selected hundreds of exhibits from many domestic cultural institutions, from the 250 grams of Han Dynasty gold cakes, to the bronze cash cow tree that hopes for the longevity of wealth, to the golden color bowl with "Rich and Noble Changchun" written on it, and then to the statues and hanging paintings of various gods of wealth, clearly outlining a development context about the traditional Chinese belief in praying for wealth for the audience. In addition, by integrating folklore and folk customs, the exhibition not only deeply explains the cultural connotation of the belief in the god of wealth, but also establishes a connection between the exhibition and the daily life of the audience, which arouses the emotional resonance of the audience. At the same time, the exhibition runs through the Spring Festival, and its beautiful meaning also caters to the audience's vision of a happy life in the New Year.
Exhibition hall
Cut into the god of wealth
Present the concept of social development and wealth behind the faith
In China's vast genealogy of folk gods, the god of wealth is a god that appeared later, and its origins can now be traced back to the Song Dynasty. During this period, the development and prosperity of the commodity economy greatly stimulated people's desire to get rich, and the "paper horse of the god of wealth" painted with the image of the god of wealth was widely used in society, providing fertile soil for the development of the belief in the god of wealth. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the further prosperity of the commodity economy and the continuous expansion of the scale of towns, the belief in the god of wealth gradually penetrated the hearts of the people, becoming a folk deity closely related to the lives of the people, and its scale also continued to grow and develop, in accordance with the changes in regions and customs, it continued to absorb new members, and finally formed a huge and complex genealogy of the god of wealth, as the giver and protector of wealth, enjoying the admiration and worship of the people for thousands of years, becoming a special phenomenon that attracted attention in the history of Chinese national civilization.
To this end, the "Rich and Noble Changchun - Traditional Chinese Wealth Culture Exhibition" also sorted out this complex genealogy and presented it to the audience in the form of visual charts. Through reading the genealogy, it is not difficult to find that the god of wealth in folk beliefs is not a god with a name and a surname, but a collection of various gods with very different origins and natures, some of which are created by human samples, and some of which are transformed from historical and legendary figures, including both civilian and military generals, as well as heroic warriors and rich tycoons. Although all the gods of wealth have been given the function of managing and giving wealth, according to the differences in regional culture and people's blessings, many "gods of wealth" have always maintained independent "personalities", reflecting the wealth ideals pinned on the gods of wealth by people of different classes, different fields and different industries.
Fortuna genealogy
In the genealogy of the god of wealth, the "god of true wealth" is dominated by the Taoist legendary figure Zhao Gongming, the famous general Guan Yu of the Shu state during the Three Kingdoms period, the historical figures Bigan, Fan Li, and Li Weizu, who benefited Sangzi, and is the main god of wealth in the genealogy of the god of wealth who is officially enshrined and widely worshiped by the people. For these gods of wealth who have great influence in the folk, the exhibition also cooperates with cultural relics to focus on their origins, deeds and customs to carry out a detailed and systematic introduction. Among them, the Taoist legend zhao gongming first appeared in the Jin Dynasty as a plague god, and the Ming Dynasty god and demon novel "Fengshen Yanyi" invited him to the "list of fengshen gods" and was respected as the god of martial wealth for future generations, becoming the most popular and influential god of wealth in folk beliefs; the other famous god of martial wealth was Guan Yu, a famous general of the Shu kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, known for his bravery, good fighting, loyalty, and bravery, and in the Qing Dynasty, he and Confucius respected the "martial saint" and became the almighty protector god, industry god and god of wealth. The god of literature and wealth is mostly the embodiment of famous courtiers, such as the impartial, loyal and incorruptible Bigan, as well as the strategists and giant Jia Fanli in the Spring and Autumn Period. The former was worshipped by posterity as the god of wealth because of his lack of heart and direction and fairness; the latter resigned from his official post and went into hiding after assisting King Yue to complete his hegemony, assumed the pseudonym Tao Zhugong, became rich in business, and was revered by posterity as the god of wealth and shangsheng.
At the same time, as a form of expression of the people's pursuit of wealth, the worship of the god of wealth reveals the attitude and view of the people on wealth. Looking at the above-mentioned influential gods of good fortune, it is not difficult to see that the moral qualities of fairness, justice, honesty, benevolence and righteousness have largely become the basis of their process of becoming gods -- Guan Yu is known as the god of righteousness and wealth, which is inseparable from his lifelong spirit of seeking righteousness and avoiding wealth and being brave and loyal; Bi Gan, who has been dug up, has been given the ideal and desire of justice and equality by the people because he has no intention and no direction; and the legend of Fan Li's three gatherings and three scattering of money and wealth reflects his generosity in abandoning wealth and his moral concept of not forgetting righteousness for profit. Moral qualities such as fairness, justice, honesty, and benevolence have become a kind of code of conduct, and the legendary figure based on it has been raised to the supreme position by the people and has become an ethical and moralized deity. This is also related to the wealth concept of "valuing righteousness over profit" that has long been advocated by ancient society. Under such a concept of wealth, the people replace the obsession with wealth with moral pursuit, regulate profit with traditional ethics and morality, emphasize righteousness in the means of obtaining wealth, and expect that the observance of moral norms can be exchanged for material returns. In order to deepen the audience's understanding of this traditional Chinese concept of wealth, the exhibition also provides a detailed introduction to the process of becoming a god of the god of wealth in conjunction with folklore.
In addition, the exhibition also exhibits related cultural relics with the theme of quasi-gods of wealth such as Taoist figures such as Liu Hai Toad, Land Gong, and Hehe Erxian. Most of the images of quasi-wealth gods are kind-eyed, festive and auspicious, and most of them are gods who are kind and gentle and protect one side, showing people's pursuit of virtues of "charity and charity, benefiting the township".
Dehua kiln white glaze and He'erxian porcelain statue of the Republic of China
Collection of Xiamen Museum
Take the exhibition as an opportunity
Look for the strong smell of the year hidden in the common memory
The pursuit of wealth has not only enabled the folk to create various legends of the god of wealth, but also formed various folk activities about the god of wealth in the folk, becoming an important carrier of the belief in the god of wealth. Since the rise of the god of wealth, the custom of offering wealth centered on the god of wealth has been continuously developed and enriched, such as four-hour worship, Spring Festival greetings, temple buildings, and reward gods... From the daily worship and prayer of wealth to the sacrifice ceremony of the New Year's Festival, the worship of the god of wealth has gradually become systematic and grand. Although different regions have their own different manifestations, every household places a soul that prays for fortune and well-being in the worship of the god of wealth, and also condenses a common cultural memory in the collective celebration of the god of reward.
Nowadays, the custom of worshiping gods has become increasingly simplified with the changes in people's lifestyles, but the god of wealth, as a symbol of wealth, still has considerable influence today and is also a popular auspicious symbol for the public. In this regard, the exhibition exhibits more than 20 traditional New Year paintings with a festive atmosphere from modern to contemporary, allowing the audience to experience the festive and lively New Year atmosphere while feeling the beautiful connotations.
At the same time, in order to match the theme of the Spring Festival and wealth, the exhibition deliberately selects a festive and peaceful red as the main tone in the exhibition design, supplemented by the rich colors of traditional folk New Year paintings, forming a vulgar and elegant style; dark gray with golden lines, and echoing with the cultural relics in the exhibition hall, appearing retro and calm. The curved veils, bright color blocks, arched foyers and traditional New Year paintings in the exhibition hall further add to the New Year flavor in the exhibition.
At the entrance of the exhibition and in the third unit of the exhibition hall, the exhibition deliberately set up a "punch card" device. The exquisite details of the traditional New Year paintings are magnified, the arched foyer is layered and fascinating, and the specially painted cartoon IP of the God of Martial Wealth is unveiled in the tail hall, where the audience can take photos and punch cards to record the beautiful moments of greeting the Year of the Tiger at the Chengdu Museum. In addition, the audience can post their favorite greetings on the big screen through the mobile phone mini program and promise the new year's wings.
It is reported that the exhibition will last until March 20, 2022.