On the jingzhou museum tour, there are some ancient cultural relics that make me have another doubt and thinking about the "dragon".
Before moving on to the topic, share a piece of childhood memory.
When I was a child, there was a grandfather who lived next door to a paper man, and he often told people to have a sense of awe, because there was a dragon in the sky.
One summer evening, when the weather changed suddenly and the sky was cloudy, the grandfather of the paper-tying man suddenly called out: "Dragon, a black dragon has revealed its tail." ”
Frightened, I quickly ran into the house, and I couldn't help but stick my head out to look at the sky, only to see that it was the momentum of "black clouds pressing down on the city", although I did not see the so-called "black dragon", but the old grandfather's shocked face is still unforgettable.
Are there really dragons in the world?
Sometimes I firmly believe that there is not, and sometimes I can't help but hesitate.
When I grew up, because of my love for history and culture, I often went to the museum to walk around and take a look, and I also saw a lot of cultural relics related to "dragons". Until a recent trip to the Jingzhou Museum, it suddenly recalled the past of my childhood.
As the capital of the Chu State among the "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons" and the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States", Jingzhou is the core area of Chu culture and one of the birthplaces of Chu culture. In that year, King Wen of Chu moved from Danyang to Dingding the capital of Ying, and served as the capital of the Chu state, also known as Ji Nancheng.
King Wen of Chu was a very accomplished king, and since he, the State of Chu has established absolute hegemony over the small countries in the Yangtze River Valley, and began to go north to the Central Plains to compete for the position of hegemony in the world.
In this process, the Chu kingdom gradually formed its own unique culture, not only the unique bronze casting process, the leader of the silk embroidery process, the dance of the stilted, the ingenious lacquerware craft, the profound philosophy of righteousness, the brilliant words, the magnificent and strange art, but also the jade culture that made me marvel and couldn't help but believe that there was a dragon in the world.
The jade exhibition hall on the second floor of the museum exhibits a total of 1364 pieces of jade, which were excavated from Xiongjiazuka, including ceremonial jade, pei jade, burial jade, and practical jade, with a very complete variety, of which dragon-shaped jade accounts for the majority.
These dragon-shaped jades are exquisitely crafted, exquisitely crafted, and uniquely shaped, which is overwhelming and amazing, with a typical local style of the Chu state.
More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese had a deep understanding and propaganda of dragons, the most mysterious of which was the dragon-shaped jade pendant of the gods and men.
The jade pendant consists of one person, two dragons, and two phoenixes. In the middle is a god man, wearing a robe, in a standing posture, with his arms open downwards, holding a dragon in each hand, the dragon's body is curled up and formed into an S shape, and a phoenix perches on the dragon's back.
Although this jade pendant was exhibited at the time, the remaining piece and related pictures are impressive.
To a certain extent, the god-man dragon reflects the parties' worship of the mysterious power of the dragon, and also shows that the parties hope that the powerful power of the dragon can be used by people and achieve the beautiful vision of the ascension of the immortals.
There is also a piece of divine man riding a dragon jade pendant, which is also thought-provoking.
The artifact is yellowish-green in color, and the surface is off-white. The dragon's body is W-shaped, decorated with grain, clouds and long-tailed paisleys. On the tail of the dragon stood a man with his hands in front of his abdomen, wearing a deep coat on the right side, small sleeves, and a square mesh pattern on the deep coat.
Some studies believe that the idea of immortality of the soul in the Culture of the Chu State gives people the pursuit of the soul to heaven, thus creating the image of people flying in the sky on a dragon.
Dragons, which have been considered to be beasts since ancient times, can be mysterious and changeable, and can be seen in many ancient documents and excavated cultural relics.
It is not only a symbol of imperial power in the feudal era, but also plays a role in the communication between the human world and the immortal world. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were a large number of winged dragon vessels, and even the green dragon also had wings in the pre-Qin ornamentation. The image of the dragon can be seen everywhere among the princes, nobles, and royals.
From this, can it be determined that the "dragon" actually has a trace in ancient times, otherwise why did it have the image and worship of the dragon thousands of years ago?
A piece of jade dragon excavated from the Hongshan cultural site in Inner Mongolia; a snake-like pattern was found on the device excavated from the Liangzhu culture in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province; there was a dragon-shaped clay pot from the Yangshao culture of Banpo in Xi'an... Chinese worship of dragons is at least five thousand years old.
However, from all the documents and cultural relics that can be found so far, there is no real hammer for "mortals to see the dragon", but it has its true appearance. Legend has it that nine animals are concentrated in one: the head is like a camel, the horns are like an elk, the ears are like a rhinoceros, the neck is like a python, the belly is like a mirage, the phosphorus is like a koi, the claws are like an eagle, and the palms are like a tiger.
Some people say that it evolved from snakes, and some people say that it is the evolution of dinosaurs, but many scholars believe that in ancient times, the "dragon" should be a large crocodile (crocodile), which is particularly sensitive to changes in natural air pressure, and when thunderstorms come, they will make a low roar.
Therefore, the ancients believed that it was a sacred beast that could call the wind and rain, and having never seen such a large and dangerous animal, they feared it and worship followed.
This kind of worship was more common in the society ruled by feudal dynasties, and people's spiritual needs for dragons increased, and the types (images) of dragons also increased. Such as captive cattle, foxes, gantus, mantis kisses, jingwei, etc., the so-called "dragon gives birth to nine sons, different".
With the passage of time, with the flow of the long river of history, the image of the dragon has slowly evolved into what we know today, and its description and portrayal are more detailed and specific, which is one of the most representative traditional cultures of Chinese civilization.
It's just that sometimes there are doubts about whether dragons really exist.