The waves of the dragon are high, and the roar of the tiger is far away. 2022 is the lunar year of nongyin, the traditional Chinese year of the tiger. In a speech at the 2022 World Economic Forum video conference in Beijing on January 17, President Xi Jinping said: "In Chinese culture, the tiger is a symbol of bravery and strength, and Chinese often say that the tiger is alive and the tiger leaps. In the face of the severe challenges facing mankind at present, we must be like a tiger, a tiger and a tiger, and bravely overcome all kinds of dangers and obstacles on the way forward... Let the sunshine of hope illuminate humanity! ”
The tiger is colorful and fierce, and is known as the "king of a hundred beasts". Li Shizhen quoted the description of the tiger in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" as follows: "The tiger, the king of the mountain beast, is like a cat and as big as an ox, a yellow-textured black chapter with jagged teeth and hooks and claws, a strong and pointed beard, and a tongue as big as a palm... The roar was like thunder, the wind was born, and the hundred beasts were terrified. This passage depicts the image and behavior of the tiger in a very vivid and vivid way.
At the beginning of the birth of the Chinese nation, there was Chinese culture. For thousands of years, tiger culture and dragon culture have coexisted and become an important part of traditional Chinese culture. The oldest tiger fossil was found in 2004 on the eastern slope of Longdan Village in Gansu, mainland China, and was named "Longdan Tiger" by experts, which is more than 2 million years old. The appearance of this "Longdan Tiger" fossil, known as the "Ancestral Tiger of China", shows that China is the birthplace of tigers and the homeland of tiger culture.
In myths, folklore, and various religions, the tiger is the object of worship. In Taoism, the tiger is a celestial star and the guardian of life; Buddhism has many stories related to tigers, the most famous of which is the story of Shakyamuni Buddha sacrificing himself to feed the tiger; the tiger, as the totem of some ethnic minorities, is worshipped. The Yi epic "Mei Ge" describes that the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the wind and rain, thunder and lightning, all incarnated in the tiger.
The tiger has always been worshipped by the Han people and is a symbol of justice, bravery and majesty. According to research, the image of the tiger also appeared in the ancient Qiang Rong tribe. The animal face of the Jade Chun in the Neolithic Liangzhu culture and the animal face on the Yin Shang bronze are similar to the image of the tiger, and to this day the Yi, Bai, Buyi, Tujia and other ethnic groups in the mainland still call the tiger their ancestors. The Han Dynasty regarded the tiger as the king of a hundred beasts. The White Tiger is one of the four great divine beasts of the Ancients, and the immortals often ascend to heaven by the White Tiger, which is the beast of Zhenxi. Since the Han Dynasty, the tiger has always become the favorite protector of the working people, and after a long period of historical evolution and development, the cultural consciousness of the tiger has become a common cultural concept of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, the image of the tiger was very admired. In the zodiac signs that are closely related to each Chinese, the tiger is one of them; the Yinshi in the twelve hours representing time refers to the time when the tiger begins to move in the middle of the day; the soldier symbol that can be dispatched in ancient military history is the image of the tiger, called the tiger rune; the tiger is also the totem of many clan tribes, the ancient Serbs, Xiongnu, Turks, Uighurs and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang worship tigers, the ethnic groups in the northeast region have customs such as tiger sacrifice, tiger gods, tiger worship, and the Yi, Tujia, Yao, and other ethnic groups in the southwest region. The Bai and other ethnic groups still have the legacy of tiger worship; Chinese tiger painting also has a long history, and all the dynasties have become famous for painting tigers well, the Jin Dynasty Wei Association, the Southern and Northern Dynasties Tao Jingzhen, Zhang Shengxuan, the Tang Dynasty Chen Qianhui, Zhang Suqing, Li Wan, the five generations of Li Guizhen, Li Yu, the descendants of Bao Zheng in the Song Dynasty, Bao Ding, Bao Gui, the descendants of The Song Dynasty, Zhou Gengyun, the Ming Dynasty, Chen Xiyin, Shang Xi, Shang Zuo, the Qing Dynasty has Qiu Tianmin, Gao Qipei, Chang Jun, etc., in modern times there are Zhang Shanzi, He Xiangning, Gao Jianfu, Liu Kuiling, Liu Jijie, etc., all of whom are famous tiger painters.
The tiger is not only a mighty and powerful beast, but its image also represents auspiciousness. In the countryside, many families also like to wear tiger head hats and tiger head shoes for their children, in order to avoid evil and auspiciousness.
Cultural relics carry splendid civilization and record a long history and culture. Jiayuguan, located in the prime location of the Silk Road, has been the throat of traffic between the East and the West since ancient times. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty and the Silk Road met here, the Central Plains and the Western Civilization collided, merged and developed here, leaving countless treasures on the land at the foot of the Tianxia Xiongguan, the winding Great Wall, the mysterious underground gallery, and the black mountain rock paintings that have been through the vicissitudes are all gifts of history to Jiayuguan. Among the many precious cultural relics in Xiongguan Land, there is no less "tiger" figure...
Let's first climb the world cultural heritage - Jiayuguan Guancheng to see the tiger in the Jiayuguan Guerrilla General's Mansion.
In the inner city of Jiayuguanguan, there is an official residence "Guerrilla General's Mansion", which is the residence and office of the guerrilla general, the highest military commander of the town guarding Jiayuguan. The Guerrilla General's Mansion sits north and faces south, with a plaque of "Guerrilla General's Mansion" hanging on the lintel, and a picture of the "Guerrilla General's Mansion" hanging on both sides of the gate: Hundred Camps Killing Storm, Nine Hidden Machines Tiger and Leopard Tao. It vividly depicts the tense atmosphere and war scenes of danger and fear in the border area. From the beginning of Rui Ning's tenure as the first guerrilla general during the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Guangxu Period when Li Zhenglu (book) was appointed, a total of 18 guerrilla generals guarded this world-wide Pass. Among them, 16 guerrilla generals were transferred from other places to this place, they left their homeland, uprooted their hometowns, led their subordinates to charge like fierce tigers, heroically killed the enemy, and defended Xiongguan and protected the national territory with their lives and blood, making Jiayuguan stand like a rock in the fierce wind of the desert Gobi for hundreds of years.
Entering the General's Mansion, in the chamber facing the gate, General Rui Ning and his civilian and military officials were discussing the war in front of the battle sand table, and behind the general with a twisted beard and contemplation was a tall screen, on which was a mighty descending tiger, symbolizing that the guerrilla general and his officers and men were brave and strategic, and when fighting, they were like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, and they were unstoppable!
Next, let's walk into the world's largest underground gallery and see the tiger in the ancient tomb of Wei Jin in the new city.
Tomb No. 5 Feeding Diagram (West Wall of the Front Chamber)
Tomb No. 6 is supplemented by the ring of the head
Tomb No. 7 Is complemented by a ring in the ear chamber
In the ancient tombs of Wei and Jin in Jiayuguan New Town, there are brick sculptures of the image of a white tiger on the gate tower of Tomb No. 5; there are two flat bricks above the feeding map on the west wall of the front room, and one on the bottom is painted with black, and the upper one is painted with a tiger head ornament; the standing bricks that symbolize the door on the upper floor of Tomb No. 6 are painted with tiger head rings; and the brick surfaces of Tomb No. 7, Tomb No. 12, and Tomb No. 13, which symbolize the door, are also painted with ring auxiliary heads, and the image is also a tiger's head; in addition, in the middle of the roof of Tomb No. 7, there is a square algae brick embedded in the middle of the tomb, and on the brick is the image of the four gods and beasts, including green dragons and white tigers , Suzaku, Xuanwu.
Tomb No. 7 is in the middle of the roof
The White Tiger is one of the four great divine beasts in ancient Chinese Han mythology and legends that are the most terrifying and powerful, and together with the Green Dragon, they are the gods of evil suppression. At the same time, the white tiger is also the god of war, with a variety of divine powers such as avoiding evil, praying for disasters, praying for prosperity and punishing evil and promoting good, getting rich and getting rich, and marrying good fortunes, and is a symbol of power and honor. In the traditional Chinese culture of the Han Chinese, the white tiger is one of the four elephants of the Taoist Western Seven Stars, the Twenty-Eight Houses of the Western Seven Lodges (Kui, Lou, Stomach, Pleiades, Bi, Qian, And San), its image tiger, located in the West, according to the Five Elements Doctrine, the West belongs to gold, the main killing, color white, so called white tiger. The White Tiger is also the god of autumn and is known as the White Emperor.
In the minds of the ancients, tigers were terrible and respectable. The terrible thing is that it will eat people and animals. And what is respectable is that it is so powerful that it can avoid evil spirits. In some ancient books, such as the Eastern Han Dynasty Ying Shao's "Customs and Customs and Rituals": "Draw the tiger at the door, the ghost does not dare to enter", "the tiger, the yang, the chief of the hundred beasts." Can hold on to setbacks and eat ghosts. Now the man has suffered a wicked encounter, and burns the skin of the tiger and drinks it. Striking its claws can also ward off evil. This test also. The ancients also believed that the white tiger was a kind of auspiciousness: "Virtue to birds and beasts."
Tomb No. 7 Carbon crystal stone print
In 1972, Jiayuguan Weijin Tomb No. 7 excavated a seal, made of carbonite, no button, there is a perforation on the side, the top has a yin carved tiger pattern, the front has a yin carved Suzaku, the back has a green dragon, the inscription: "Wang Xia Seal Letter", should be the private seal of the tomb owner. Some experts judged according to the content of the brick paintings in the tomb that the owner of Tomb No. 7 may be a military attaché, so the owner of the tomb with this engraved tiger seal should be a brave warrior who is good at war, brave as a tiger, and has made great achievements in battle, who once led his subordinates to charge into battle, heroically kill the enemy, and sprinkle his blood on the land of Xiongguan!
Let's take a look at the black mountain petroglyphs about tigers.
A total of three petroglyphs of tigers have been found in Montenegro petroglyphs. One of them is located in four groins, on the west wall of the ditch, 0.10 meters long and 0.09 meters high, and is carved. There is a tiger in the picture, with a large head, two ears erect, thin body and long legs, long tail mopping the ground, slowly walking north.
The other is located on the west wall of the mouth of the four-way groove, 0.60 meters long and 0.35 meters high, and is carved. There is a tiger 0.20 meters long and 0.15 meters high, with a silhouette carved out of the line, with a large head, a large mouth, a pair of pointed ears erect, a thick and short neck, a strong and unmarked body, four legs on the ground, the tip of the claws exposed, and a long tail.
The third is carved on a separate rock on the south slope of the banana ditch, 1 meter long and 0.90 meters high. It is a petroglyph with four motifs, namely a tiger, a camel, a horse, and a whip bearer. In the upper right corner of the picture there is a snake 0.10 meters long and 0.08 meters high; below the snake there is a camel with a length of 0.22 meters and a height of 0.13 meters; below the camel there is a whip bearer who is 0.12 meters long and 0.20 meters high, and the whip drives the horse on the left side that is 0.19 meters long and 0.10 meters high. In the upper left corner of the entire petroglyph is a tiger 0.25 meters long and 0.10 meters high, with its mouth open and its head bowed and its long tail rolled up, with four legs apart, ready for offense. The whole petroglyph depicts a vivid image, and the tiger in the picture is extremely powerful and lifelike, as if it is going to come out of the rock!
The image of the tiger appears many times in the petroglyphs, indicating that the Montenegro area was once a paradise for animals with dense mountains and dense forests and lush water and grass.
According to the dragon disk, the tiger is victorious in the past, and the land of Xiongguan shows a new look. The "tigers" in the cultural relics of Jiayuguan are precious treasures left to us by the ancestors who live in this land, they are the tigers that ward off evil and ward off evil, the tigers that leap from the dragons, the tigers that are mighty, indicating that 2022 is a year of social harmony and taking off, and showing that Jiayuguan will build an important symbol of the Great Wall culture, build a star city in the west, and build a provincial sub-center.
Source: Jiayuguan Silk Road Great Wall Cultural Research Institute