Cover news reporter Zeng Jie
Why are there tigers and not "old lions"? Why were ancient urinals called "tigers"? Why did the ancients call amber "Tiger Ray"? Do you know all this cold knowledge about tiger culture?
In the Han Dynasty folklore work "Customs and Customs", it is recorded: "The tiger, the yang, the chief of a hundred beasts, can fight and frustrate sharply, and eat ghosts." "The Han Dynasty revered the tiger as the king of the hundred beasts, the embodiment of magical power, and the ancients had an incomparable reverence for it.
The tiger that roars between the mountains and forests is the top predator in nature and is known as the "king of the mountains". As the "chief of a hundred beasts", the tiger is an endemic species in Asia and an important part of biodiversity. Tigers are mighty, brave and strong, in the early days of human society is a beast in people's eyes, with the evolution of culture has become the beast of auspicious rui, people talk about tigers, worship tigers, draw tigers, cut tigers, forming a very distinctive Chinese tiger culture.
2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar, cover news launched the "Tiger Trick" series of planning, interpret the tiger culture in the cultural relics, talk about the cold knowledge of tiger culture, invite you to show the cute tiger around you, the new year, such as tiger wings, tiger tiger vitality.
Tiger tiger might
Who is more "cute" when the tiger goes down the mountain?
Previously, Sanxingdui No. 8 pit unearthed a bronze dragon with "tiger head tiger brain", which was instantly on the hot search, and was jokingly called "Sanxingdui launched the limited edition bronze dragon of the Year of the Tiger". The bronze is about 80 centimeters tall and has not been found at other sites of the Chinese Bronze Age.
Obviously it is a dragon, but it is a tiger's head, the forefoot is standing on the triangular base, the body is raised, and the overall shape is thick and driven, like a flying dragon descending from the sky.
In traditional Chinese culture, the dragon and tiger are inseparable beasts of auspiciousness. The tiger symbolizes authority, is endowed with a divine connotation, and has become a totemic mythical beast that people revere and worship in the new era. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, tigers were often decorated on bronze, jade and other utensils to highlight the sacred solemnity of the utensils.
Gold leaf tiger unearthed from Sanxingdui
The belief in tigers devouring ghosts appeared in the pre-Qin period and was popular in the Han Dynasty, and at the same time formed the custom of drawing tigers on the door on the Chinese New Year's Eve day to drive away evil spirits. The image of the tiger either appears alone or together with Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth, carrying the beautiful meaning of people driving away evil spirits and making a wide source of wealth.
In addition to the bronze dragon of the "tiger head and tiger brain", the major museums also have some tiger-shaped cultural relics, which can let people interpret the changes of tiger culture. Whether it is the inlaid turquoise bronze tiger type vessel of the Sanxingdui Site Museum, the bronze tiger button of the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, or the Warring States Tiger Pattern Copper Ge of the Sichuan Museum, the Shang Zhou Shi Tiger of the Jinsha Site Museum, who is the "cute" tiger in your mind?
Stone tiger unearthed from Jinsha
Patranafone
Why is amber called "Tiger Ray"?
Amber as an ornament appeared very early, more than 3,000 years ago in the Guanghan Sanxingdui site has unearthed an amber pendant. From the beginning of the Han Dynasty, amber ornaments gradually became the love of the nobles of the imperial palace, whether it was to reward the emperor's relatives, harem beauties, or the emperor's royal beads and literary play, there was a place for amber.
Speaking of amber, many people will think of the "Amber" article by the German writer Berger in the human-taught version of the language textbook. When the spider is ready to prey on the flies, it is wrapped in a huge pine resin, and finally, the ball of pine resin that rolls to the ground is precipitated by the vicissitudes of the mulberry field and becomes an amber.
Without amber, dinosaur fans might not have seen the Jurassic series of movies. For example, at the beginning of "Jurassic Park", a biological scientist extracted dinosaur blood from the body of a prehistoric mosquito from amber, and used DNA to breed dinosaurs, restoring the dinosaur world.
The word "amber" appeared earlier in China's ancient literature, and in the Western Han Dynasty thinker Lu Jia's "New Language and Daoji", there is a record of "amber coral, green feathers and pearl jade, mountains and waters, choosing a place to live". However, in other texts of the Han and Jin dynasties, amber is mostly called tiger ray. For example, the Book of Han reads, "Seal the cattle... Zhu Jie, Coral, Tiger Ray, Wall Drift", as well as "Tiger Ray" in the "Huayang Guozhi", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Pei Songzhi's note "Biography of Wei Luo Xi rong" and other expressions about "Tiger Ray".
Bronze tiger unearthed from Sands
The ancients called amber "Tiger Ray", in addition to the rumored story of fighting tigers, the masses have a deep foundation, but also stem from the ancients' worship of the tiger, the king of the hundred beasts, and the folk also have the saying that "the tiger dies, and the spirit turns into stone".
In addition to amber's misreading, there is also some cold knowledge in tiger culture, which is interesting to read, such as the Han Dynasty toilet was made into a tiger with an open blood basin and a large mouth, and because Li Guang shot Crouching Tiger and called the toilet "Tiger", expressing contempt for the tiger.
It's like a tiger
Tan your little tiger
The Year of the Tiger is coming, what cute tigers around you are unforgettable? Cover News issued a "Tiger Solicitation Order" to global photographers, inviting you to show the cute tigers around you.
You can walk into the Senucci Museum in France and visit the tiger-shaped tiger shaped treasure of the town museum; you can walk into the Bronx Zoo in New York City to shoot the thrilling scene of the tiger biting its prey; you can post the "Flying Tiger Map" created by Zhang Shanxiao for Chennault at the National Museum of the United States; you can also share the folklore of the Year of the Tiger in your area, cut a tiger window flower, or make a tiger head hat.
If you have a "cute tiger" around you, welcome to the cover news Green Banana community to publish the dynamics, use pictures or short videos to post the little tiger around you, you have a chance to win movie tickets and other New Year gifts.