The tiger is one of the twelve zodiac signs, the third in line, and the earth branch is Yin, called YinHu. The tiger is known as the "King of the Hundred Beasts", not only because of the stripes on its forehead that resemble the Chinese character "King", but also because its strong, powerful and powerful image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
In the mainland, the origin of tiger culture is earlier, originating from nature worship and totem worship, and has a close relationship with the original culture of the mainland.
Siberian tiger photographed in the Leopard Country National Park in the Russian Far East
naturepl.com / Sergey Gorshkov / WWF
According to archaeological research, since the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, tiger culture has gradually shifted from "deification" to "for the use of rulers", such as the Shang Dynasty tiger-eating bronze pendant unearthed in Anhua, Hunan, and the tiger pattern decoration of royal artifacts.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the connotation of tiger culture underwent some changes, and its function as a symbol of royal power was further strengthened, such as the tiger-shaped ring shape on the chime of Marquis Zeng yi in Suizhou, Hubei Province, and the Du Hu symbol for dispatching troops and symbolizing military power unearthed on the outskirts of Xi'an [1].
Du Hufu Shaanxi History Museum
After the Qin and Han Dynasties, tiger culture increasingly entered the folk and became a social daily custom; in the Song Dynasty, the sacred tiger played the role of the five poisons in the Dragon Boat Festival, and every family had to wear a dyed summer dress with Ai Hu ornaments, and women would also tie Ai Hu on their heads.
The vigorous growth of tiger culture in the folk has also derived a variety of folk daily necessities, such as tiger-themed New Year paintings and paper-cuttings; children's clothing such as tiger head hats, tiger head shoes, tiger belly pockets, tiger pillows, tiger quilt covers, cloth tigers, mud tigers and other children's toys, people hope that children can grow up as strong and healthy as little tigers [2].
Painting a "five-colored rope" for the creation of a "mud tiger" (may 27, 2014)
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Xulei
On the occasion of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, Panda Jun and his friends launched an online "Welcome Blessing and Guard the Tiger" activity.
At Kuaishou, we invited four traditional handicraft artists to live-stream the creation of tiger clay sculptures, embroidery, paper cuts and sugar paintings, while Panda Jun will also share the story of wild tiger conservation.
The live broadcast starts at 4 p.m. today, and we are waiting for you in Kuaishou
On the Douyin platform, starting from the 30th of this month, Panda Jun will unite the rangers of an Earth Nature Foundation and tiger sanctuary to take you to experience the daily work of the rangers in the cloud and look for the traces of "tiger babies".
On Panda Jun's official Weibo, we will also launch a Tiger Group visit. Conservation experts from the world and rangers from the Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park will bring greetings from the Year of the Tiger. There will also be limited gifts to give, looking forward to your participation~
Citations:
[1] Ren Kuan, "Review and Reflection on the Study of Chinese Tiger Culture in the Past 40 Years", Journal of Yangtze University (Social Sciences Edition), November 2020, Vol. 43, No. 6
[2] Research on Chinese Tiger Culture, by Wang Jiuling, Northeast Normal University Press, 1998