China is the homeland of the tiger, the tiger culture has a long history, and the Ba people regard the tiger as a totem.
From "talking about the discoloration of the tiger" to "the tiger is mighty", from worshiping the tiger, carving the tiger, painting the tiger to cutting the tiger, the feelings for the tiger have changed from diametrically opposed to harmonious symbiosis... Behind the evolution and inheritance of tiger culture, there are wonderful historical and cultural stories.
2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar, on January 26, the Special Exhibition of The Spring Tiger Culture jointly organized by five museums in Sichuan and Chongqing opened at the Jiangjin Museum, through pieces of bronze, stone carvings, calligraphy and paintings and other precious cultural relics related to tiger elements, to see how "tiger" this Year of the Tiger is.
▲ "Tiger Roaring Wind Born Backgammon - Nongyin Tiger Year Spring Festival Special Exhibition" exhibition hall
Chonghu: Tiger Button tells the story of Pakistan
Entering the exhibition hall, the bronze "heavy weapon" from the Warring States era attracted the attention of the audience, which is a typical artifact of Pakistani culture - the Warring States Bronze Tiger Button.
▲The Bronze Tiger Button of the Warring States is in the collection of the Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
▲The exhibition site is deeply concerned by the public
Ding Yanfei, curator of the Jiangjin Museum, introduced that the Warring States bronze tiger button was excavated from the site of Yong'an Town, Fengjie County, and is now collected in the Chongqing Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The first of the "four golds" (錞于, 錞, 铙, Duo) of the ancient music began in the Spring and Autumn Period, flourished from the Warring States to the early Western Han Dynasty, and was found in the Yangtze River Basin, South China and Southwest China. The ancients had the saying of "drumming to march, mingjin to collect troops", "mingjin" refers to the ringing of a type of metal instrument, hanging on a wooden frame for percussion when playing, often used in war to boost morale, when hitting, the sound is thunderous, echoing for a long time. The buttons used for hanging on the top are in a variety of styles, such as bridge-shaped and animal-shaped, among which the tiger button is believed to be an artifact of the ancient Ba people. The upper button is in the shape of a tiger, lifelike, not angry but threatening, and is another important example of the worship of the Ba people and the tiger.
According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" (Later Han Shu) Southwest Yilie Biography, the Ba people originated in the Western Hubei region around the Time of the Xia and Shang Dynasties, and the tribal leader "Wu Xiang" once led the tribesmen to expand their territory and defeat the goddess of salt water, and was revered as "Liu Jun". Legend has it that after his death, the soul of "Liu Jun" turned into a white tiger and was enshrined by future generations. Since then, the Ba people have used the white tiger as a totem, and the worship of the tiger has prevailed.
"It can be said that the White Tiger culture runs through the history of the Ba people and has a profound impact on the Ba people and the Ba di." Ding Yanfei said that in the historical evolution of thousands of years, the White Tiger culture has become an important spiritual totem of the Ba people, and has also formed the national character and life attitude of the Ba people who are brave and good at war, and have deep feelings and righteousness.
Carved Tiger: The collection of stone sculptures of the "Four Gods" was unveiled
People often say that the left green dragon, the right white tiger... As a traditional beast, the tiger often appears as one of the four gods. In the exhibition hall, a set of stone sculptures with four gods themes was watched. According to Ding Yanfei, this set of combined stone sculptures comes from the Song Dynasty, all of which are graded cultural relics, some of which are collected by the Luxian Song Dynasty Stone Carving Museum, and were assembled for the first time in this Sichuan-Chongqing joint exhibition.
▲Teenagers listening carefully to the explanations in the exhibition hall
The "Four Gods" are a common carving theme in ancient times, stemming from the belief in Chinese folk mythology that tigers and dragons are widely worshipped. During the Warring States period, the "Wenyan Biography" that explained the Zhou Yi believed that "the cloud from the dragon, the wind from the tiger", the wind and the clouds were harmonious, and the dragon and tiger corresponded, which was a good omen.
After entering the Han Dynasty, the green dragon, the white tiger, the suzaku and the Xuanwu formed the four-square divine beast, known as the "four gods" or "four elephants", which became the gods in folk and Taoist beliefs and appeared widely in tomb decorations.
Therefore, in traditional Chinese culture, the "king of hundreds of beasts" tiger not only has the great power to drive away evil spirits and avoid evil spirits and deter small people, but also has the auspicious meaning of "living dragons and living tigers" and "adding wings like a tiger".
▲Song Dynasty divine beast driving cloud stone carving, Jiangjin Museum collection
▲Southern Song Dynasty high relief white tiger stone carvings Collection of song dynasty stone carvings museum in Luxian County, Sichuan
Painting the Tiger: Painting the Tiger Masters shows the pride of the War of Resistance
In China's modern history, the famous tiger painter Yan Songfu had a deep relationship with Jiangjin.
Yan Song's father was a native of Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and after the "July 7 Incident", he took refuge with his family in Sichuan, and then moved to Baisha Town, Jiangjin County, where he taught at Jiangjin Middle School and Jiangjin Normal School in Sichuan, and in his later years served as the deputy director and honorary director of the Jiangjin County Cultural Center at that time. In his later years, Mr. Yan Songfu was good at painting cattle and tigers, and the inscription studio was "Xiaofeng Lou", which was known as "Yan Tiger".
"Making tiger paintings is not an easy task." Ding Yanfei said that tiger painting is one of the important themes of traditional Chinese painting, paying attention to "the shape is prepared and the atmosphere is complete", and there is an ancient proverb that "painting a tiger is not an anti-dog" to imply the difficulty of painting tigers. In terms of technique, Yan Song's father absorbed the method of famous parents of the past generations, using the method of ink to break through the color of the ink, so that the markings and the color of the fur ink blended together, and the unique painting method was deeply loved by people. Marshal Chen Yi once wrote a poem praising: "Father Song draws a tiger to draw its god, which can make the real tiger paper go up."
▲ "1981 Yan Song Father Fierce Tiger Chart Axis", Jiangjin Museum Collection
A total of 8 authentic works of Mr. Yan Songfu were exhibited this time, including vertical shafts, horizontal shafts, single and multiple pieces, and the types were very rich.
In addition, the Yibin Municipal Museum's collection "The Republic of China Zhang Shanxiao Set Up the Color Tiger Middle Hall" and the Shapingba Museum's collection "1928 Zhang Shanxiao Fierce Tiger Chart Axis" were jointly exhibited at the Jiangjin Museum at the same time. As the second brother of Zhang Daqian, Zhang Shanxiao is known as "Tiger Fool" in the painting world. According to historical records, in order to paint tigers, he also observed the dynamics and habits of tigers day and night in order to seek the authenticity and vividness of his works.
▲ "The Republic of China Zhang Shanxiao Set Up the Color Tiger Middle Hall" Yibin City Museum Collection
▲ "1928 Zhang Shanxiao Fierce Tiger Chart Axis", Shapingba Museum Collection
Tiger Cutting: Edutainment Chinese inheritance
At the exhibition site, the upstream reporter saw that many children were carrying out interesting paper-cutting activities accompanied by their parents.
"Paper-cutting is one of Jiangjin's intangible cultural heritage skills." Ding Yanfei said that the Jiangjin Museum took the tiger as the theme, provided children with interactive public welfare activities of print printing, ink painting and paper-cutting intangible cultural heritage skills, and also customized the Year of the Tiger cultural and creative calendar as a prize, hoping to let everyone feel the charm of traditional culture through edutainment.
"We are actively exploring formal innovation, hoping to stay away from didactic exhibitions so that the general public can see and play." For example, the Jiangjin Museum customized the "Wusong Fighting Tiger" comic strip in the form of a flop to allow the citizens to gain knowledge in their hands; in the scene arrangement, it restored Mr. Yan Songfu's inscription studio "Xiaofeng Lou", which is loved by young people as a photo punch card.
▲The "Wusong Fighting Tiger" comic strip flop in the exhibition hall of the citizen experience
▲After visiting the exhibition, young people experience traditional print printing
Ding Yanfei said that he hopes that through this special exhibition, more people can understand the inheritance of tiger culture.
Upstream news reporter Li Shu correspondent Yang Xue