The dragon, one of the important totems of the Chinese nation, has extremely important symbolic significance. Chinese the origin of the worship of dragons, the specific time is not verified, but the earliest can be traced back to primitive society, with a long history.
After entering feudal society, the dragon evolved into a symbol of the Son of Heaven.
In this ancient and long history, the lofty status of the dragon has remained unchanged for eternity. "The Son of Heaven Bude will lead to peace, and the Linfeng Turtle Dragon will first be auspicious."
In addition to worshiping dragons, the ancients also worshipped phoenixes, also referring to symbols of imperial power. However, in the past dynasties and dynasties, when it comes to the worship of the phoenix, no one can compare with the Chu people.
In the more than 800 years of chu history, the most striking and common totem is the phoenix. The Chu people "turned the road blue wisps to enlighten the mountains and forests", creating countless splendid civilization heritages for future generations.
With the scientific excavation of various types of Chu cultural relics excavated by archaeologists, the Chu people revere fengshang chi, worship fire and worship the sun, and like witches and ghosts, which can be seen in bronze, lacquerware, jade, wood, silk fabrics, etc.
For example, the mixture of people and gods on the lacquer painting, the dragon pan phoenix on the embroidery, and the mottled and scattered colors on the bronze ware reflect the cultural spirit of the Chu people, referring to the deer antler standing crane and the tiger seat phoenix bird frame exhibited in the Hubei Provincial Museum today.
But a piece of Chu cultural relics to be shared today not only reflects the Chu people's reverence for phoenixes and witches, but also reflects the free and vivid aesthetic imagination of the Chu people, amazing romance and wildness. Today, a Warring States painted lacquered wooden coffin in the "Eight Hundred Years of the Chu Kingdom" exhibition of the Hubei Provincial Museum is breathtaking and stunning.
The coffins used by the nobles of the Chu State were generally painted with lacquer, and the lacquer coffin decoration reflected the customs and characteristics of the Chu people who believed in witches and good ghosts. Unearthed in 1986 at Tomb No. 2 of Baoshan mountain in Jingmen, this lacquered coffin is 184 cm long, 46 cm wide and 46 cm high, and is the coffin of Zuo Yin Shao of the Chu State.
The cover, side panel, baffle and bottom plate of this coffin are all whole wood, and the side panels, baffles and bottom plates are joined with dovetail mortise, and the cover plate is fastened with the coffin body.
The totem pattern on the outside of the coffin is painted with red, yellow and gold dragon and phoenix patterns. The main part of the cover and the two side panels are six units, each of which is painted with four dragons and four phoenixes, or dragon double phoenixes.
The dragon is a double body, black body with golden scales, coiled into a rounded square. The phoenix spreads its wings and tail, draws it in black and red, and has yellow body and black feathers. The overall pattern is a four-square continuous structure. The head and foot baffles are painted with deformed dragon and phoenix patterns.
The coffin is painted with a rigorous composition and smooth lines, with black, red and yellow as the main colors. The phoenix is red, echoing with the Chu people Shang Chi Chongri.
Personally, I think that it is the most eye-catching of all the Warring States lacquer coffins unearthed so far, more colorful and imaginative than the coffin of Marquis Yi of Zeng, and it is the best preserved dragon and phoenix coffin in the mainland, and the sharp contrast in color appears to be both magnificent and solemn.
Obviously, this is a beauty-loving people, full of romantic, magnificent imagination, whether alive or dead, the emphasis on what you carry is never ambiguous.
The embodiment of Feng Yu in the burial items shows that the Chu people are full of power to break away from the world, and their interpretation and pursuit of beauty, art, bronze casting, music, and literature have reached a mutual reflection with the ancient Greek culture of the same period.
The Chu people's reverence for the phoenix has many sources. One is the close connection between Chu Zu Zhu Rong's "essence as a bird"; the second is the close connection between the "animal partners" of the Chu State Witch And so on.
The Chu people who migrated from the Central Plains, while jealous of Chongfeng, also retained their worship of dragons. The performance of dragons and phoenixes in Chu Wu is very exemplary. Refer to the large number of bronzes excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.
Today, the "nine-headed bird" in the commonly heard saying "nine-headed bird in the sky, Hubei Yan on the ground" originates from the nine phoenix god bird of the Chu people, from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" written by the Chu people from the Warring States to the beginning of the Han Dynasty, which is the earliest document to record the image of the nine-headed bird.
The Nine Phoenixes are the nine-headed divine birds worshipped by the Chu people, "Phoenix, divine birds also ... See the great peace of the world". It is rumored that when Shao Hao and King Zhou Cheng ascended the throne, they vomited Feng feng to congratulate them.
With the development, the phoenix became more and more prominent in the spiritual totem of the Chu people, and later evolved into a symbol of wisdom. In the pre-Qin classics, there are many records of the Chu people comparing Feng to an outstanding figure, such as the Analects of The Microzi and the Zhuangzi World.
It can be seen that "the nine-headed bird in the sky and the Hubei Yankee on the ground" has the meaning of the wisdom and ability of the Hubei people, and also indicates the brave and fearless quality of the Hubei people.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the zhou dynasty's ruling power became more and more low, and the princely states began to fight, and the State of Chu was the most ferocious of them, and it was the southern power at that time.
After the King of Chu ascended, the "nine-headed bird" also became the domineering and aggressive nature of the Chu people, such as the momentum of "the Chu people disobeying the Zhou", which created the spirit of "daring to be the first" of today's Hubei people.
The Chu people revere the phoenix, the origin is quite deep, and to this day, the phoenix still has a splendid cultural and civilization inheritance in Chudi. The legacy of the Chu civilization displayed in the museum is even more eye-catching, and the Chu civilization has brought unprecedented surprises to archaeology and even art history.
In the eight hundred years of the Chu state, after the Chu people moved from the Central Plains to the south at the end of the Shang Dynasty, they finally dominated the side and won the hegemony. Recommend Hubei Provincial Museum, Jingzhou Museum, Hunan Provincial Museum, it will be unforgettable.