Dahe Bao Yu video reporter Liu Ruichao
"The forest dark grass is frightening, and the general leads the bow at night." Ping Ming looked for white feathers, not in the stone edge. This is a poem by the Middle Tang Dynasty poet Lu Lun (Lu Lun was the brother-in-law of the Middle Tang poet Li Yi, who later moved to Zhengzhou), writing a classic story of Li Guang, a famous general of the Han Dynasty, who walked in the mountains at night, mistook the stone for a tiger, shot it with an arrow, and went to look for it in the morning, found that it was a stone, and the arrow had disappeared into the stone. Li Guang, the Tiger General, and the Mountain Stone also became the Tiger Stone.
The Year of the Tiger is approaching, and various stories, allusions, and interpretations about the tiger can be described as overwhelming. On January 29, the Reporter of Dahe Bao Yu Video reporter learned that in order to welcome the arrival of the 2022 New Year of the Lunar New Year and enrich the festive life of the general public, the "Tiger Leaping Dragon Xiang" Chinese Tiger Culture Hundred Pavilion Joint Exhibition sponsored by the Zhengzhou Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics and co-organized by the Zhengzhou Erqi Memorial Hall and the Nanyang TangWangfu Museum was officially launched in the underground exhibition hall of the Zhengzhou Erqi Memorial Hall.
The content of the 100 pavilions group exhibition is in the form of pictures and text, and the content is divided into 10 major topics, summarizing the origin of the tiger, the subspecies of the tiger, cultural traceability, totem worship, precious cultural relics, culture and art, etc. Interested friends, you can go to the underground exhibition hall of the Erqi Memorial Hall to learn more.
【Origin】The ancestor of the tiger is the ancient Chinese cat At least 1 million years ago, it intersected with the Lantian people
Tigers are well known to be cats and also big cats on Earth. So, what animals were its ancestors?
According to the understanding, the tiger originated in China, and the ancestor is the ancient Chinese cat three million years ago. About two million years ago, in the dense temperate tropical forests of northwest China, the initial form of the modern tiger was formed.
By comparing the paleontological fossils found in the early years in Lantian Gongwangling, Shaanxi Province with that of modern tigers, its characteristics are already very close. According to paleomagnetic stratigraphy, at least more than 1 million years ago, tigers lived with the ancestors of humans, the Lantian people.
Since then, more Mesopleistian tiger fossils have been found, confirming that tiger footprints have spread throughout the eastern half of China as far as 600,000 years ago.
In recent years, a large number of tiger fossils have been found in Zhoukoudian in Beijing in North China and Yanjinggou in Wanxian County, Sichuan Province, in South China. Among them, 46 tiger fossil individuals have been found in Yanjinggou alone, indicating that the ancestors of modern tigers were active in Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan in the early days.
【Development】The tiger developed westward and southward from northwest China and eventually evolved into 9 subspecies
Tiger is a collective name, specifically there are many branches. It is understood that with the change of climate, tigers, like other animals, have undergone a process of evolution, differentiation and migration. About half a million years ago, tigers gradually developed from northwest China to the west and south.
To the west, through Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and the countries of Central Asia, it reached northern Iran and the southern Caucasus. However, due to the obstruction of the Caucasus Mountains, it was unable to pass through the Arabian desert and did not enter Africa and Europe; the southward branch was divided into two branches, one branch entering the Korean Peninsula, blocked by the Korean Strait, and failed to set foot on the Japanese archipelago.
Another branch enters the Indochina Peninsula through North China, Central China and South China. Once here, it split into two groups, one west through Myanmar and Bangladesh to the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula, and the other continuing south along Peninsula Malaysia, crossing the narrow Strait of Malacca and landing on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali.
Over the course of time, tigers spread throughout Asia and evolved into nine subspecies, namely the South China Tiger, the Siberian Tiger (Siberian Tiger), the Bengal Tiger, the Indochinese Tiger (Southeast Asian Tiger), the Malay Tiger, the Sumatran Tiger, the Balinese Tiger, the JavanEse Tiger and the Xinjiang Tiger (Caspian Tiger).
Due to living in different regions, they form some differences in individual size, thickness and thickness of body hair, thickness and thickness of coat color, the number of stripes, and the thickness of tails.
There were once five subspecies in China, including the South China Tiger, the Siberian Tiger, the Bengal Tiger, the Indochinese Tiger and the Xinjiang Tiger. However, around the middle of the 20th century, the Xinjiang tiger, the Javan tiger and the Balinese tiger gradually became extinct.
【Culture】 Clouds from dragons, winds from tigers How did the left green dragon and the right white tiger come from?
"Wu Song... Stumbling, straight through the woods... But I was about to go to sleep, only to see a fierce wind coming... It turns out that in the world, the clouds are born from the dragon, and the wind is born from the tiger. Everywhere the gust of wind passed, I could only hear a thud behind the chaotic tree, and a large white-fronted insect jumped out..."
This is the classic clip of Wu Song fighting the tiger in "Water Margin". The tiger not only appears in literary works, but the image of the tiger occupies a prominent position in the historical development of China for thousands of years, often along with the dragon, and its status can be described as pivotal.
There is a saying in the Zhou Yi Qiangua Wen: "The cloud is from the dragon, and the wind is from the tiger". The dragon flies in the sky, the tiger travels on the ground, and the combination of the tiger and the dragon become a symbol of majesty and strength and a typical form of beautifying authority, which is a god that people worship and fear.
At the same time, the tiger also plays the role of chasing away demons, cowardly cults, and town houses, constituting a national customs and cultural characteristics full of vitality and vitality.
In ancient times, the ancestors of China lived in a vast land centered on the Yellow River; the tribes with dragons as totems were generally concentrated in the east, the tribes with tigers as totems were generally concentrated in the west, the tribes with suzaku or phoenix as totems were generally concentrated in the south, and the tribes with Xuanwu, that is, turtles and snakes, as totems, were generally concentrated in the north. Thus, the orientation represented by the four spirits was formed.
The connection between the four spirits and orientations stems from ancient astronomy. In order to carry out agricultural production and determine the agricultural time, the ancestors developed astronomy based on "visual time". They first discovered bright stars, then grouped neighboring stars and named their constituent images after similar animal figures, forming twenty-eight stars.
They also divided Zhou Tian into four areas, named after four directions, called the East Palace, the West Palace, the South Palace, and the North Palace, collectively known as the Four Palaces, and each palace had seven stars. Later, the four animals of the green dragon, the white tiger, the suzaku, and the xuanwu represented the four palaces, and the four spirits evolved into the "gods of the four directions".
Among them, the White Tiger is the Western Palace, including the Seven Houses of the West, namely 16 stars of Kui Su, 3 stars of Lou Su, 3 stars of Stomach Su, 7 stars of Pleiades, 8 stars of Bi Su, 3 stars of Qiu Su, and 10 stars of Betelgeuse.
【Worship】 The tiger has "five virtues" and has become the first choice for many tribal totems in ancient societies
In Chinese culture, the tiger is a symbol of bravery and might, driving away evil spirits, suppressing ghosts and disasters, and auspicious and peaceful. The totem worship and cultural legends about tigers have become a cultural phenomenon for the Chinese nation to communicate with people and gods, connect with nature, pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits, and live endlessly.
The ancestors of the tiger and the ancestors of the Chinese humans roamed in the barren mountains and forests at the same time, giving birth to a colorful fur and a majestic majesty. Tiger culture has gradually emerged in the long process of human beings competing with tigers for living space, and in the relationship of opposites and dependence.
In ancient society, people tamed and hunted animals, and it was difficult to hunt and tame beasts, and humans worshiped them like gods, hoping to minimize disasters and be protected and blessed.
People worship some ferocious animals as totems, such as figurative animals such as tigers, turtles, bears, eagles, and figurative animals such as dragons and phoenixes, tianlu, and unicorns. The tiger is the king of the hundred beasts, a symbol of strength, might, and domineering, and naturally becomes the spiritual totem chosen and relied on by many tribes.
According to the understanding, Tiger Ye, one of the animal gods of folk belief, is mostly enshrined in the temple as a god beast with the protector of the Dharma, commonly known as Tiger Ye Gong, Tiger Ye General, and is the mount of many gods such as land gong, Baosheng Emperor, Xuantan Zhenjun God of Wealth Zhao Gongming and so on.
In the process of tiger culture development, people summarize the excellent qualities of tigers, endow them with five virtues, and highlight their personality and character.
The tiger is full of great righteousness, with the wind of the king, and the word "king" is generated on the forehead, which is "righteousness". The tiger is the king of the hundred beasts, and the territory he commands will leave its own scent mark and swear sovereignty, guard the territory and protect the territory; except for hunting for the needs of survival, never bully and bully and hurt the living beings at will, and wantonly invade other lands. It is known as "keeping" morality.
Tiger Yi's strong physical strength, dominating the jungle in all directions, with wisdom and skill to hunt and hunt, is for the "wisdom" virtue. In the cruel competition for the survival of nature, the tiger is invincible and invincible, and it is for "courage" virtue to live alone at the top of the food chain.
The clouds awaken from the dragon, the wind from the tiger, the tiger roars from the mountains and forests; people perceive the indescribable mysterious power from the tiger's body and turn it into a totem; the tiger leaps and dragon xiang calls it "enlightenment" virtue.
【Related】100 Halls Group Exhibition The exhibition is in the form of text and pictures
According to the understanding, the content of the "Tiger Leaping Dragon Xiang" - Chinese Tiger Culture" 100-hall group exhibition is in the form of text and pictures, summarizing the origin of the tiger, the subspecies of the tiger, cultural traceability, totem worship, precious cultural relics, culture and art, etc.
The dahe newspaper Yu video reporter learned that the museum that joined the joint exhibition can be described as the north and south of the river, the inland east and west. These museums are stated to be jointly organized with the Nanyang Tang Dynasty Palace Museum.
So, what is the Nanyang Tang Dynasty Palace Museum? According to the understanding, the Nanyang Tang Dynasty Museum is located in the old city of Wangfu Mountain Scenic Area, more than 600 years ago, the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang sealed his twenty-three sons Zhu Ju in Nanyang, opening the Nanyang Ming and Qing Dynasties economic and cultural development, after years of change, the Tang Dynasty now only leaves a Wangfu Mountain.
Since its establishment, the Tang Dynasty Palace Museum has organized 20 exhibitions on different themes and delivered more than 100 temporary exhibitions to more than ten provinces in the mainland, giving play to the cultural publicity and education functions of the museum.
Source: Dahe Newspaper Yu Video Editor: Qu Ke