Stills from Mirror Twin Cities
Recently, the film and television drama "Mirror Twin Cities" began broadcasting, due to the original is already hot and the enthusiasm of the starring fans, this drama has attracted a large wave of audiences as soon as it was broadcast. Although it is not the first time that a film and television drama about the theme of the Fishman has been brought to the screen, it is the first time that such a unique story setting and twisting storyline as "Mirror Twin Cities" have been seen. In "Mirror Twin Cities", the original author Cangyue fictionalized the continent composed of three countries: Haiguo, Cangliu and Kongsang, the continent is not peaceful, and there are power disputes everywhere, first by Kongsang to destroy Haiguo, and then by Cangliu to destroy Cangsang, resulting in the destruction of the mainland, and finally in order to return to the home garden, Haiguo and Kongsang decided to ally against Cangliu...
The fish people in film and television dramas are not the products of modern people's fabrications, so what kind of image do they have in the annals of history? Let's follow the clues left by the film and television drama to explore.
First, the characteristics of the fish people
In "Mirror Twin Cities", the male protagonist Su G is the son of the Sea Emperor, in order to obtain the Sea Soul Orb and successfully rescue the clan trapped in the Xinghan Yunting, he chose to sneak into the Xinghan Yunting alone. As for what is a Sea Soul Orb? It is said to be a magic weapon that can lead the clan back to their homeland, and with it, they can retrieve the power of the Dragon God and obtain the power of the Dragon God.
Here, he met Bai Ying, the lord of Khlong Sang County. In the play, Bai Ying is a kind and chivalrous person, although she is the lord of Kongsang County, she does not look down on the Fish People, and even sympathizes with the suffering of the Fish People. Therefore, in the Xinghan Cloud Garden, she resolutely and resolutely helped Su G.
After their formal encounter, Bai Ying returned the tears she found, the pearls, to Su G, and she said: "The fish people turned tears into beads, or let the tears return to the sea." ”
This is indeed the same as the fish people we have heard of, as long as the tears of the fish people fall, they will turn into pearls. This is also recorded in ancient books, and the Jin people Ganbao's "Search for God" volume XII writes: "Beyond the South China Sea, there are fish people, who live in the water like fish, do not waste weaving achievements, and their eyes cry, they can produce pearls." "Roughly speaking, in the sea outside of Namhae County, there are creatures like fish, living in the water like fish, they are constantly weaving things, and their tears can turn into beads. It is also mentioned in the "Natural history": "There are fish people in the south China Sea, who live like fish, do not waste weaving, and their eyes can cry beads." ”
Film and television drama "Mirror Twin Cities" clip: Bai Ying returns the teardrops
After the two of them parted ways, Su Yi got up and went to the metamorphosis pool, hoping to enter it to find the Sea Soul Orb. In the play, it is introduced in this way: "After going down the metamorphosis pool, you will be forced to incarnate, and turning male and female is no longer our choice, we must survive the pain of bone erosion and suction, and find the sea soul beads at the bottom of the pool." ”
According to this, there is no gender distinction between the fish people, they can choose to become men or women, from the later plot we can know that they will generally be transformed into the opposite gender of the person they love, and the fish people can only love one person in their lifetime, which means that once they have made a choice, they will no longer be able to change their gender.
Film and television drama "Mirror Twin Cities" fragment: the reincarnation of the fish people
This view is also recorded in ancient books. The Taiping Guangji wrote: "The sea mermaid, the East China Sea, the large one is five or six feet long, like a person, eyebrows, nose and mouth, claws, and heads are all beautiful women, all of which are sufficient." The skin and flesh are as white as jade, scaleless, with fine hairs, five colors of light and soft, one or two inches long. Hair like a ponytail, five or six feet long. The female form is no different from that of the husband and woman, and the widows in the sea are more common and raised in the pond. When you have intercourse, you are no different from people, and you don't hurt people. The "people mentioned in it" are all beautiful women. In the author's opinion, it is because the fish people have long hair and a good face, so they are mistaken for "beautiful women"; and the later mention of "the female shape is no different from the husband and woman" and "when it is mated, it is no different from the person", which can show that the fish people have gender. However, the above does not prove that the fish people have a metamorphosis, nor can it explain the credibility of the metamorphosis of the fish people. However, perhaps the collection of historical materials is insufficient and some are missing.
In short, in the eyes of the ancients, the general characteristics of the fish people are good faces, pleasant voices and tears, which should be unquestionable.
Fish people
2. The dwelling place of the fish people
In the film and television drama "Mirror Twin Cities", the male protagonist Su Yi, as the son of the sea emperor, is the heir of the next sea emperor, and he carries a huge mission to lead the clan to return to Quanxian, return to the homeland, and let the heroic soul return to his hometown.
As we all know, the legend is that the fish people are a half-human, half-fish creature, they can live in the water, they can also transform into human form to live on land, but they can not leave the water for too long, otherwise they will die due to lack of water. Therefore, it is generally believed that they still live mainly in the sea.
So, where does "Quan Xian" in "Mirror Twin Cities" refer to?
According to the Southern Dynasty Liang Renfang's "Shu Yi Zhi", "The Fish People are Quan Xian, also known as Quan Ke. The South China Sea out of the silk yarn, the spring first submerged weaving, a dragon yarn, its value of hundreds of gold, thought to serve, into the water is not wet. From this, it can be seen that Quanxian may not be a place name, but another name for the ancients. Perhaps the original author cited it as the place where the fish people lived, and it has to be said that changing the nickname of the fish people to the name of the fish people's hometown is indeed very thoughtful and reasonable.
The Western Jin Dynasty naturalist Zhang Hua recorded in the "Natural history": "There are fish people in the South China Sea, who live like fish in the water, do not waste weaving achievements, and their eyes can cry beads." In the Tang Dynasty Li Xin's "Song of the Fish People", YiYun said: "The fish people weave underwater dwellings, and swim with the fish on the side of the body." This confirms that the ancients had no objection to the fish people living in the ocean, it should be noted that the above two records mentioned the "South China Sea", in ancient times " Nanhai " was actually "Nanhai County", is a name of the administrative division from the Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, because of its proximity to the South China Sea. Nanhai County's jurisdiction is bordering the South China Sea to the southeast, to the west to present-day Hezhou, Guangxi, and to the north, including parts of present-day eastern Guangdong, northern Guangdong, central Guangdong, and western Guangdong, and has jurisdiction over four counties (according to the Book of Han). Most of present-day Guangdong Province belonged to Nanhai County. According to this, "Nanhai County" may be the location of "QuanXian" in the film and television drama.
Ancient South Sea County
And as for where they really live, perhaps we will be able to know the answer when humans can explore the end of the seabed, when they can really find their tracks.
III. The Account of the Fish People in the Classic of Mountains and Seas
When it comes to ancient divine beasts, it must be impossible to avoid the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there are indeed records about the Fish People, and even classified the Fish People, including five kinds of "Red Fish, Mermaid, Ling Fish, Yu People (Mutual People), And Fish Women". Among them, the red squid is "like a fish and a human face", which is somewhat similar to the "dugong" that is now often mistaken for a mermaid; the mermaid "resembles a fish, four-legged, and its sound is like a baby", which may be a bit similar to our today's "baby fish" (also known as "salamander"); Lingyu "human face, hands and siblings, fish body, in the sea"; "human face and fish body, no foot"; fish woman "has a fish withered, known as a fish woman." Death is recovery. When the wind channel comes from the north, the sky is a great spring, and the snake is transformed into a fish, for the fish woman. Death is revival", which is more complex and has a certain mythological color.
mermaid
The Classic of Mountains and Seas also describes the voice of the fish people: "Among them, there are many red squids, whose shape is like a fish and a human face, and whose sound is like a mandarin duck, and they are not scabies." "It's obvious that the sound of the fish is very similar to that of the Mandarin duck." Eating without scabies shows that the ancients regarded mermaids more as "fish" and ate them like ordinary fish, which is not surprising why in many places there are legends that eating mermaid meat can live forever. After all, the legendary mermaid really has a relatively long lifespan compared to humans.
However, it is important to know that the Classic of Mountains and Seas can be strictly regarded as a collection of Zhiwei novels, most of which are fictional, so it cannot be confirmed whether the Fish People really existed in history.
Wen Shijun said
Through the analysis of the film and television drama "Mirror Twin Cities", it is indeed found that there are records of the fish people in history. The Fishman may not really exist in the world, but people's fantasies about the Fishman have never been interrupted. The fish people gradually became a symbol of Chinese culture and were used to promote beautiful shelters. In short, whether or not the Fish People really exist, the beautiful imagination that the Fish People give us is always there.
bibliography
Wang Jingzhi, "The World's Earliest Mermaid - Song Fish Jade Carving", Rong Baozhai, No. 5, 2004.
Tian Chun, "The Mutual Interpretation and Evolution of Ancient Chinese Mermaid Images and Legends", Journal of Fine Arts, No. 2, 2015.
Xu Yanli: "Is there a mermaid in the world?" New Education, No. 21, 2021.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Shuwu)
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