Author Wang Tianxiang authorized the release
Today, we have crossed the threshold of the Year of the Tiger. So with the vitality of the tigers and tigers that come to the face, talk about tiger culture.
In the past three decades, news reports about Siberian tigers have become the main body of all wildlife reports. Why?
This is not only because the Siberian tiger has once gone from prosperity to decline or even on the verge of extinction; not only because the Siberian tiger has returned to the northeast since the state made great efforts to restore the ecological environment and protect the Siberian tiger, and has multiplied rapidly and expanded the population; not only because the Siberian tiger is the largest individual tiger among the nine tiger subspecies in the world; more importantly, the tiger culture has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The tiger is a symbol of dignity, might and good fortune.
★ Siberian tigers are the largest of nine tiger subspecies
When did tigers originate? According to archaeological findings, tigers originated in the South China Tiger distribution area of East Asia 2 million years ago, and then moved in two directions: one into southwest Asia and one into the Indonesian archipelago.
How many kinds of tigers are there? In the process of spreading and multiplying to other parts of Asia, the tiger evolved into 9 subspecies: the South China Tiger, the Siberian Tiger, the Bengal Tiger, the Indochinese Tiger, the Malay Tiger, the Sumatran Tiger, the Balinese Tiger, the JavanEse Tiger and the Caspian Tiger.
Siberian tigers are also known as Siberian tigers, Russian tigers and Amur tigers in Russia, North Korean tigers in North Korea, and Goryeo tigers in South Korea.
The Siberian tiger is the largest carnivorous cat in existence, with adult males weighing an average of 500 pounds, a body length of about 2.3 meters, and a maximum length of 2.9 meters (including tail length). The average weight of the tigress is about 350 pounds, and the body length is about 2 meters. The head of the Northeast tiger is large and round, and there are several black stripes on the forehead, which are very similar to the word "king", so it is known as the "king of the jungle" or "the king of the hundred beasts".
★ Where does the name of the Siberian tiger "King of the Hundred Beasts" come from?
Why is the tiger known as the king of the hundred beasts? This comes from several reasons:
First, tigers are the most individual of all cats. In the animal kingdom, mass is an overriding advantage. In nature, the strong are respected!
Second, tigers are mighty, athletic, ferocious, and brutal. It is not only large but also powerful. It can bite old cattle with more than a thousand pounds of deadly power and break its throat in one bite. It can jump up to 2-3 meters high and jump up to 8-10 meters or even farther. Even bears, known as forest lux, tigers can feed on them. The ferocious wild boar is even more delicious in the mouth of the tiger. Another nickname for tigers is "Pig".
Third, the tiger's cry is majestic and loud, like rolling thunder, generally up to four or five miles away. If it is late at night and the sound of the empty valley is transmitted, then the roar of the tiger will not stop the sound for ten miles! The sound of the tiger roaring in the mountains sounds very poetic, but to the animals, it is a death notice, or it is better to escape far away.
Fourth, the tiger looks beautiful. It not only has well-built limbs, a well-proportioned figure, a long whip-like tail, a round cat-shaped head, but also a brownish yellow coat color, black stripes decorating the whole body, and more importantly, the "king" character composed of those black stripes in the middle of the head, which shows the power of the king.
★ The tiger is a symbol of dignity
In the world's human culture, the tiger is a symbol of dignity in several religions.
In the Taoist culture that has influenced China for thousands of years, tigers are revered and considered protectors of the Dharma:
Portrait of Zhang Tianshi.
It is believed that Zhang Tianshi, who has great supernatural powers, although he holds the Seven-Star Sword, his mount is a black tiger. Legend has it that this tiger was able to cast down demons and eliminate harm to the people.
Marshal Zhao Gongming, the most revered god of wealth in China, is also mounted by a black tiger. Therefore, the Black Tiger was called the "Black Tiger Xuantan General".
In "Journey to the West", there is a Yaochi Queen Mother who represents the highest power of women, she can invite the Jade Emperor, the originator of Taoist Buddhism, the Eight Immortals of the East Sea and all the famous immortals in the world, she can afford to hold a peach festival, but her messengers and mounts are also tigers.
Marshal Zhao Gong, the god of wealth. This figure is copyrighted by the Internet
According to folklore, the Queen Mother Niangniang was able to order the Heavenly Soldier Heavenly General to forcibly abduct the Weaver Girl in the human world, so that Niu Lang had to use a basket to carry a pair of children to chase them to the Tianhe River, and then she pulled out the silver hairpin on her head, and with a stroke of her hand, a wave of heaven appeared in front of Niu Lang, thus cutting off the happiness of the marriage between Niu Lang and the Weaver Girl. Her mount is also a black tiger, so another name is called "Black Tiger Goddess".
Statue of the Queen Mother
In Taoism, the tiger is also revered as the god of the four directions, namely the white tiger in the four elephants of "Left Green Dragon, Right White Tiger, Former Suzaku, and Later Xuanwu", with the direction of the west. Thinking about Jiang Ziya, the Taigong who could summon wind and rain and sprinkle beans into soldiers, he arranged the formation with the four elephants of green dragon, white tiger, suzaku and xuanwu.
In Taoist folk beliefs, the tiger is also the mount of the land lord. In ancient times, when all the people of Li were sacrificing at the Land Temple, they must sacrifice tigers. Tigers are revered as "Tiger Masters".
The tiger culture in Chinese Taoism is the core of the Chinese tiger culture. The essence is sacredness and dignity.
Statue of Jiang Taigong.
★ The tiger is a symbol of might
Why are people afraid of tigers and respect tigers? Because the tiger is mighty and invincible, it is symbolized as "mighty" in traditional Chinese culture.
The army is the cornerstone of a country and an indispensable national heavy weapon. So, the tiger is first and foremost a symbol of military power. The ancient monarch's seal of moving an army was the "Tiger Charm"—a tiger cast in bronze or gold. However, it can be divided into left and right pieces from the middle.
The Tiger Symbol, also known as the Soldier Symbol, is the proof of the ancient emperor's dispatch of troops and is a symbol of military power. The left half of the Tiger Charm was given to the general, and the right half was kept by the Emperor. Only when the two Tiger Charms are combined, the bearer of the charms can gain the power to dispatch troops. If the tiger symbol does not match the left and right, it must be forged. The bearer must be a rebel!
Qin Dynasty Tiger Rune
Therefore, in ancient times, the marshal who led the troops to the expedition was called "tiger marshal", the general who led the troops to charge the front was called "tiger general", and the army with extraordinary combat ability was called "tiger and wolf division".
Therefore, the ancient poems left behind also have many good sentences praising the mighty tiger, such as the couplet given by King Li Jin of the Tang Dynasty and Zhou Dewei: "Liu Yingchun tests the horse, and the tiger tent talks about the soldiers at night";
Tang Dynasty. Li Bai's "Eleven Songs of yongwang's eastern tour": "The dragon and the tiger are in the imperial state, and the emperor Jinling visits the ancient hill." ”
Tang Dynasty. Li Shangyin's "Ma Song": "The empty smell of the tiger brigade spreads the night, and there is no return of the chicken people to report the chips." ”
Southern song dynasty. Xin Renjie's "Yong Yu Le Jingkou Beiguting Huaigu": "Jinge Iron Horse, swallowing like a tiger." ”
But the most magnificent and most emblematic of military strength is Chairman Mao Zedong's Seven Laws. The People's Liberation Army occupies Nanjing: "The tiger is victorious over the past, and the world has been turned upside down. ”
★ The tiger is a symbol of good fortune
When was China's tiger culture born? According to research, as early as 5,000 years ago, tiger culture was born in the folk.
The Tiger Totem actually predates the Dragon Totem by many years. This is the mighty and fierceness of the tiger that the ancestors experienced from the hunting activities, which gave rise to worship and respect as a tribal totem.
Tiger paper cut
There is a "tiger greeting" activity dedicated to tiger sacrifices in the Book of Rites. Ancestors believed that tigers were the protectors of agricultural production. Wild boars specialize in harming crops, and tigers specialize in eating wild boars. Even if the wild boars on the land of China are plagued today, the peasants are worried, because the Siberian tiger, especially the South China tiger, is extinct, and without the "pig" to suppress the wild boar, the wild boar will flood unscrupulously, so it will harm crops, hurt people and livestock, and even sneak into the city.
In folk, there are tigers in the zodiac, tigers in the window flowers cut and pasted, tigers in steamed flower buns, tigers in ceramic sculptures, tigers in blown sugar men, and tigers in the New Year paintings. In order to let children grow safely and strongly, women in many places specially make tiger head hats and tiger head shoes for children, and even embroider tiger head hoods, tiger head pillows, and cloth tigers.
Cloth Tiger – Tiger toy
In the language of the Chinese people, there is no shortage of idioms with tiger characters: tiger tiger shengwei, tiger qi, living dragon and live tiger, fox false tiger wei, wolf swallowing tiger swallowing, such as tiger wings, longtan tiger cave, adjusting the tiger away from the mountain, tiger looking at the eye, dragon pan tiger, descending dragon and tiger, releasing the tiger to return to the mountain, conspiring with the tiger, talking about tiger color change, fighting tigers, playing for the tiger, riding the tiger is difficult...
There are also those sayings with strong vitality in the spoken language of the people, such as: painting a tiger is difficult to draw a skin and a bone, there is no tiger or monkey on the mountain to call the king, two tigers will be injured when they fight, drawing a tiger is not an anti-dog, tiger head and snake tail...
★ The Siberian tigers are back in the Great Northeast
In the past, due to over-logging of forests, due to over-hunting of wild animals, the living environment of tigers was fragmented, there were fewer and fewer animals that tigers could use as food, and tigers themselves were over-hunted, so the South China tigers in the birthplace of tigers were extinct, and there is still no news. In the 1980s, the state spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to investigate the tracks of Siberian tigers, and even if the helicopter instrument searched, only a few vague traces of tigers could be found. The conclusion is that the Siberian tiger is on the verge of extinction!
However, after the state strengthened the protection of the ecological environment and strictly prohibited hunting, the Siberian tiger returned. In February 1998, in Liuli Ditun, Huangsongdian Town, Jiaohe City, Jilin Province, the first to find three families of farmers grazing cattle being killed by tigers; a few days later, traces of Siberian tigers were found in the snow in the Guanmen Gongzi River in Jiaohe City; soon after, Zhang Jun, Li Guixiang, and Luo San, farmers from Beigou Village, Xinnong Township, Jiaohe County, witnessed an adult Siberian tiger passing through the tobacco stubble field of cattle, passing through the Zhoujia Orchard, passing through the Xinnong Reservoir, and crouching in the poplar forest for two hours.
Since then, the foothills of Wanda Mountain, Zhang GuangcaiLing, Changbai Linhai... Reports of the discovery of Siberian tigers in various places have been continuously published on CCTV and major media across the country.
Since then, reports of Siberian tigers reappearing in mountain forests, Siberian tigers eating cattle, Siberian tigers killing horses, Siberian tigers catching dogs, Siberian tigers catching sheep, Siberian tigers encountering people, and Siberian tigers fighting with people have been reported endlessly. Many departments even set up far-infrared cameras in the mountains and forests even captured footage of the tiger family of the tigress with two or three young tigers.
The tiger is back! In the 24 years from the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar in 1998 to the two Year of the Tiger in 2022, the number of Siberian tigers from the rare number of returns to 27 in 2019 has now been no less than 50, which not only shows that China's Siberian tigers have returned, but also shows that the team of Chinese Siberian tigers has grown!
We can proudly say that the Siberian tiger has returned, and the Chinese tiger tiger is born and will be wei! I hope that everyone can greet the Year of the Tiger, strengthen the tiger's might, and increase the tiger's morale. The old man tiger is not reduced, the middle-aged tiger is soaring, the young tiger is spirited, the child is tiger head tiger brain, the woman works like a tiger girl, life is still Sai Chanjuan's good, must not be a mother...
(About the author: Wang Tianxiang, a senior journalist and writer from Qingdao, Shandong, has lived in the snowy plains of Linhai in Northeast China for more than 50 years, published 42 monographs such as novels, written more than 200 episodes of TV series, created dozens of special TV films such as history, culture, scenery, and documentaries, published hundreds of articles in various newspapers and periodicals, and published more than 1,000 online articles. ）
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