In 1920, archaeologists excavated some animal fossils that have been 2 million years old in the Shichi area of Henan, and after the restoration, they are colorful, majestic, and a king character on the head is domineering, without their ancestors, the ancient Chinese cats are as short as the ancient Chinese cats, but they are very powerful and robust, they are the ancestors of china's South China tigers, ancient Chinese tigers. Today, around this group of tiger fossils that died 2 million years ago, I will tell you a history of tiger development in China's Spring and Autumn period.
In the primitive social period, tigers had a strong religious color in the eyes of Chinese, and the tribal leaders at that time used tigers as totems when they were born and lived in the shadow of tiger towns after their deaths. For example, in the Battle of Hanquan recorded in the book "Liezi", in addition to using the panda as a totem, the Yellow Emperor also portrayed a tiger on the totem to deter Emperor Yan. In "Zhou Yi", "the cloud from the dragon, the wind from the tiger" was used to represent the swiftness and might of the tiger. In 1987, archaeologists excavated a corpse on the west slope of Puyang, and on the body of the original tribal leader who had been buried for more than 6,000 years, a pair of mussel-shaped dragons and tigers placed in the direction of "East Green Dragon, West White Tiger" were found. From him, it can be found that even if a person holds power before he dies, he hopes to be as peaceful as ordinary people forever after death.
In the period of slave society, people encountered words and more ways to praise tigers. During the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, people followed the method of writing during the Three Emperors and Five Emperors period, writing tiger characters with the pictographic symbols of tigers, recording the king characters with the pattern of the king characters on the forehead of the tiger, and placing the image of the tiger on a bronze ware. For example, the tiger-eating bronze from the late Shang Dynasty vividly reflects the ruler's love for the majesty of the tiger during the slave society.
In the blink of an eye, the gears of time came to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and the symbolic role of tigers in force was more and more valued by rulers. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people began to use tigers to praise military generals. For example, in the Book of Poetry, Lu Song Panshui, people refer to ministers who are proficient in military affairs and have extraordinary divine martial arts as "Tiger Ministers", and the Shang Shu Mu Oath refers to Ji Fa's relatives as "Tiger Ben Three Hundred". In the Warring States period, the tiger symbol became a symbol of the ruler's right to command and transfer troops. The Du Hu Charm that appeared in the first season of "National Treasure" is a military mobilization charm that appeared in the Qin State during the Warring States period. Later, it was passed down from later generations to use.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the image of the tiger always made people dare to love and hate. In a book in China called "Tiger Hui", it is recorded that "the white tiger is harmful, and since the Qin Shu Bahan has suffered from it... The four counties of the Tiger Calendar harmed 1,200 people." It depicts the cruel scene of many tigers and countless killings in the Qin Kingdom at that time. Because of this, people often choose people with the ability to fight tigers as soldiers to recognize their might. For example, Bian Zhuangzi, the grand master of lu guo in the Spring and Autumn period of our country, once borrowed the tricks of a servant, sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, watching two tigers who had just finished eating cattle because of the conflicting interests, there was no time to take care of him, and then stabbed the double tiger and made a great contribution. Later, he died for the battle of Lu Guoli, leaving a good name on the "History". If the Qi people want to fight Lu Guo and see Bian Zhuangzi there, they must be afraid to pass by him, which shows how much his image of wisdom and bravery in fighting tigers is.
Of course, in addition to the image of might, the tiger has also left a symbol of motherhood in history. Mr. Jin Yong also used the female leopard to describe this story in "The Divine Eagle Hero", and the name of this story is called "Tiger Milk Yu Suo". In the "Left Biography", it is recorded that Dou Bobi's father and Yu Shi gave birth to a child named Dou Bobi. Later, after the death of Dou Bobi's father, Yu Shi took Dou Bobi back to her mother's house to live. During these days in his grandfather's house, Dou Bobi not only gained affection, but also gained love, he and his cousin fell in love with his grandfather's house and gave birth to a son.
When Dou Bobi's aunt heard that her daughter had given birth to a child out of wedlock, she was very angry, and in order to cover up the ugliness, she abandoned the baby boy near Yun Mengze. Near Yun Mengze, there was a tigress who had just given birth, and saw that a human baby did not eat it, but fed him. Soon after, Dou Bobi's uncle came to hunt near Yun Mengze, saw a tigress feeding a baby, and saw him pulling a bow and arrow and not dodging, which made Dou Bobi's uncle feel very surprised, thinking that the child was a god incarnation, so he brought the baby home.
Dou Bobi's aunt saw that the baby was still alive in the world, and was afraid, and hurriedly told her and her daughter what she had done and discussed, and Dou Bobi's uncle saw that the matter had reached this point, and could only give up and adopt his own grandson. After a year, he married his daughter to Dou Bobi. Because the Chu people called milk the valley and the tiger was the yu su, the child was named Dougu Yusu. Friends who are familiar with history will definitely remember that this child is Ling Ziwen, a more famous sage in the history of the Chu State later.
There are also many idioms about tigers, among which there are fox fake tigers that we often use in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During the reign of King Xuan of Chu, Yin Zhaoxi was full of power and dared to speak out and advise. King Xuan of Chu's close minister Jiang Yi often made rumors in front of King Xuan in an attempt to alienate King Xuan of Chu. One day, King Xuan of Chu said to his ministers, "The widows have heard that the princes of the northern region are afraid of Zhaoxi, is there such a thing?" The courtiers did not dare to answer.
After Jiang Yi heard about it, he hurriedly replied, "One day, a tiger caught a fox and was about to eat it, but was stopped by the fox. The fox said that he was a messenger sent by heaven, and all the beasts feared him. The tiger did not believe it, so he took the fox to inspect the hundred beasts. As a result, after the hundred beasts saw the fox, they were all frightened and lost all three souls and slipped away. The tiger thought that the beasts were really afraid of the fox, so they let the fox go, and where did they know that they were afraid of themselves behind the fox. Now the great king reused the Zhao Xi shirt, so the northern princes were afraid of him, and if the great king alienated him, the northern princes naturally returned to the great king. This theory of the heart is really killing people and not seeing blood, but Zhao Xiyi was not afraid after hearing about it, but continued to advise King Xuan of Chu, and as for his later fate, there is no record in history, which can only be left to us to guess.
Tigers are cute because they are domineering and full of tenderness; tigers are terrible, they are not afraid to hurt people, they are fierce and fast. As the object of the killing, it contributes its flesh and bones pitifully; as an image of literary and artistic works, it is occasionally very cute and cute, and it is addictive. Although the story about the tiger is temporarily over, the multi-faceted image of the tiger still remains in our hearts, because it will always be a symbol of the traditional culture of our country's rigidity and softness, and it is worth protecting and cherishing by every Chinese.