2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the lunar calendar. In nature, the tiger is the "chief of a hundred beasts", often inhabiting the mountains and forests, is an endemic species in Asia, and is an important part of biodiversity. The mighty, brave and majestic tiger is memorable, and it is the auspicious beast in traditional Chinese culture, from the "king of the mountain" to the tiger of the totem, the white tiger, the fuhu tiger, the tiger of the town house, and the costume of the tiger's head and tiger brain, people talk about the tiger, worship the tiger, carve the tiger, draw the tiger, cut the tiger... It has formed a very distinctive Chinese tiger culture.
Starting from today, Upstream News launched the "Year of the Tiger and Talking About the Tiger" New Year series of reports, leading everyone to talk about tigers, draw tigers, see tigers, plastic tigers, cut tigers, sugar tigers...
▲ Chongqing Fulu Fortune Year Painting republic
The tiger is a beast that drives away evil spirits, and the "Customs and Customs" says: "The tiger, the yang thing, the chief of a hundred beasts, can fight and defeat sharp, and eat ghosts." The meaning of this sentence is that tigers are masculine animals that can catch and eat ghosts that belong to the yin.
On the occasion of the Arrival of the Year of the Tiger, the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing used more than 100 precious cultural relics related to the "tiger" to bring a cultural journey of "adding wings like a tiger" to the general public.
In this exhibition, there is no shortage of various "tigers" pasted on the door - the tiger of the New Year painting.
When did the tiger on the door rise? What is the meaning?
According to Du Zhiming, the curator of the exhibition, the belief in tigers eating ghosts appeared in the pre-Qin period and was popular in the Han Dynasty, and at the same time, the custom of painting tigers on the door on the day of the Chinese New Year's Eve was formed to drive away evil spirits.
The tiger image in the New Year painting is very delicate in detail. In this exhibition, there is a Painting of The Year of Chongqing painted during the Republic of China period. This painting is printed on red paper, and on the picture, Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth, holds a steel whip in his hand, straddling the black tiger, the tiger's eyes are round, the fire is shining, and the hair is erect like a steel needle, and the wind is majestic.
Yang Lian "daily into the gold ten thousand two, the time to recruit gold round thousand boxes", frieze batch "Fulu Fortune God". The title of the paragraph is "Shuowen", indicating that it is a printed matter of the "Shuowen Monthly Magazine".
▲ Shaanxi town house god tiger year painting Republic of China
As a Taoist protector of the sacred beast, the tiger sometimes appears alone, and has the effect of protecting peace and avoiding the intrusion of evil spirits. The image of the tiger sometimes appears with Zhang Tianshi and has the function of driving away evil spirits.
Zhang Tianshi is the title of Zhang Daoling and his descendants in the Han Dynasty, and the folk have evolved into the god of zhen evil, and according to legend, Zhang Tianshi's third eye can observe all the haunting activities of ghosts.
In addition to hoping for the safety of the family home, seeking wealth and blessings has always been a beautiful vision pursued by the Chinese people. Historically, there were many gods of wealth in Chinese folk, and Zhao Gongming, the god of martial wealth, who was widely worshiped with the circulation of the Ming Dynasty's "Fengshen Yanyi", was the most widely believed.
Zhao Gongming, also known as the Black Tiger Xuantang, since the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the tiger often appeared in front of the world as the mount of Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth.
▲Shanghai color printing Wu Cai Shen Nian painting the Republic of China
Among the New Year paintings on display, there is a color printed New Year painting, which depicts Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth, wearing a full body, holding a gold ingot in one hand, and a golden steel whip in the other, riding on the back of the black tiger with round eyes and open teeth, the black tiger has four claws or steps on round money, or grabs treasures such as red coral, and the whole picture is extremely powerful.
At the same time, the New Year painting is also inscribed with the words "a book of wanli", which means that the source of wealth is rolling in. Originally from the Shanghai Chen Zhengtai Nian Painting Workshop, the painting was brought to Kunming, Yunnan by Nian painters during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, so its value is not only in art.
The tiger, transformed into a totem, represents people's brave and belligerent faith, transforms into paper-cut New Year paintings, and even exquisite stamps, representing people's auspicious blessings for the New Year.
Upstream journalist Li Sheng photography Liu Li