The cattle ploughed the fertile fields and grew, and the tigers roared and the mountains strode forward. At the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, the auspicious and mighty tiger came to mind, and I began to write about tigers.
Tigers are big cat carnivores, in addition to aliases such as "Big Worm", "Yin Beast", "Yin Ke", "Howling Wind Son", etc., there are also the good names of "General Ban Yin", "White Front" and "White Front General". The main people living in the mainland are the Siberian tiger and the South China tiger.
In the zodiac, although the tiger ranks third, its position in people's minds is second only to the supreme dragon. As the saying goes, the clouds come from the dragon and the wind from the tiger. The tiger, mighty, brave, fierce and powerful, is a veritable king of the hundred beasts.
For thousands of years, in Yangyang China, the tiger has been a symbol of power, status, strength and bravery. In ancient China, the soldiers who were in charge of the army used the soldier's symbol to make a tiger shape out of copper, which was called the "tiger symbol". The Tiger Charm was divided into two, half of which was stored in the imperial court and half held in the hands of the commander-in-chief. Only when the two are combined can the army be mobilized.
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties opened the branch to take the scholars, people have called the golden list of the imperial examination "Dragon and Tiger List" and the title of the gold list "Standing on the Dragon and Tiger List". Being on the Dragon and Tiger List is the greatest honor of a reader's life, and it is also a lifelong pursuit. Therefore, in the "Augmented Sage Text", there is a sentence that reads, "Once you first ascended the Dragon and Tiger List, you will be in the Phoenix Pool for ten years".
Throughout the ages, many celebrities have admired tigers, liked to draw tigers, and loved to write tiger characters.
In China's modern history, Zhang Zuolin, the "King of Northeast China", liked to write tiger characters. Once, Zhang Dashuai wrote a tiger letter to the Japanese in the mansion. Drop: Zhang Zuolin's hands are black. Someone pointed out that it was "hand ink", and Zhang Dashuai laughed and said: "For Japan, I will not give up any land!" Although he was a warlord from a reckless background, in terms of national righteousness, Zhang Zuolin was able to reject Japan's territorial claims to northeast China with the fierceness of a siberian tiger, defend the dignity of the country, and show the bravery of Chinese tiger to the fullest.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the tiger's whole body is a treasure. Tiger bone, tiger eyes, tiger meat, tiger skin, and even tiger urine and tiger dung are all traditional Chinese medicine materials. This view has long been confirmed by Li Shizhen. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", the whole body of the tiger can be medicated, especially the tiger bone can be used with precious Chinese medicine to warm the kidneys and replenish the yang, strengthen the muscles and bones, fill the lean marrow, and activate the muscles, and have a peculiar effect on the treatment of old rheumatism, arm and shin pain, waist and leg failure and other diseases. Of course, these have become a thing of the past, and the international community has long banned the use of Tiger Pharmaceutical in the form of law.
Tiger has made significant contributions to the development of Chinese language and literature. It has left a brilliant chapter in the annals of Chinese language and literature. Because of the presence of tigers, many idioms and idioms have been created that feature or are related to tigers. For example: Dragon Walking Tiger Step, Dragon Leaping Tiger Foot, Dragon Eye Tiger Eye, Fierce Tiger Wing, Deep Mountain Tiger, Dragon Dragon Tiger, Tiger Wing, Dragon Tiger Wing, Dragon Tiger, Dragon Roaring Tiger, Gate Tiger Zi, etc., like a bright pearl shining eternal light in the treasure house of the Chinese language.
Tigers also appear in different literary styles with different images, and through the shaping of masters such as Liu Zongyuan, Shi Nai'an, Wu Cheng'en, etc., tigers have left a rich image of personality in the gallery of Chinese literary images, making the literary image gallery more colorful.
Tiger also made great contributions to the development of the cultural undertakings of the Yanglian as the essence of the country. From ancient times to the present, there have been many links based on different images of tigers. There are tiger words that describe the prosperity of the Taiping Dynasty, such as "the mountains and rivers unify the dragon day; the four years enter the year of the tiger." There are tigers that praise bravery and might, such as "Three Armies Tiger Festival; "There are tigers who write about the dangerous terrain or dangerous situation, such as "standing on the tiger and the dragon, the clouds under the white clouds and the clouds; watching the sky and sitting on the ground, the milky way between the stars and the moon." There are tigers that symbolize auspiciousness, such as "Dragon and Tiger Mountain in the true prime minister; the living gods and immortals on the Qilin Pavilion." There are tigers as metaphors for fierce greed, such as "When human flesh is eaten, it is impossible to distinguish the leather of tigers, leopards, dogs, and sheep; when the skin of the earth is shoveled, there is no hair of the swamp of the stream." "These Tiger Leagues dot the Gardens of Yanglian Hundred, which are rich in Chinese cultural characteristics.
After all, tigers are large carnivorous beasts, and it is their nature to be ferocious and bloody. It is impossible not to eat poultry and livestock, it is impossible not to eat people and hurt people, so it is often hated and cursed by people, and even hunted and killed. At this time, the tiger is the embodiment of cruelty, ferocity, and ruthlessness. According to the Book of Rites, Confucius crossed the side of Mount Tai and found a woman crying and beating her chest and feet in pain. Confucius learned that the woman's father-in-law, husband, and son had been killed by tigers. Confucius asked, "If this is the case, why doesn't your family leave here?" The woman replied, "There are no harsh decrees here." Confucius said to the students, "Remember, harsh government decrees are more ferocious than tigers." In this story, Confucius uses the metaphor of a ferocious tiger to harsh government.
For hundreds of years, especially since the last century, due to the indiscriminate hunting and killing of tigers by humans and the serious damage to the ecological environment, the number of wild tigers has decreased sharply, and some tigers have become extinct. According to statistics, there are about 3,200 wild tigers in the world, of which about 30 are South China tigers. Therefore, it is urgent to save and protect tigers globally.
In the Year of the Tiger, I hope that human beings will enhance their awareness of environmental protection and take active actions, so that tigers can continue to multiply and thrive under the careful care of human beings, and that the king of the hundred beasts will be displayed in the animal kingdom as soon as possible.
As the old saying goes, tigers "can fight and frustrate sharply, and eat ghosts." "For thousands of years, in the minds of the Chinese nation, tigers have acted swiftly and powerfully, and they have been the protectors of the town house, the exorcism of evil spirits, and the protection of fertility and wealth, and the mascot of the land of Shenzhou. In the Year of the Tiger, I hope and firmly believe that the mighty and courageous "General Banyin" will surely devour all the ghosts of the new crown, ensure the prosperity of our Shenzhou country, the prosperity of the people and the strength of the country; the descendants of Wei I Yan Huang will be full of tigers and tigers, and everyone will be prosperous, healthy, and developed.
Author Deng Xiaohong.
【About the Author】
Nanyang descent, real name Deng Xiaohong, male, Han, Hunan Qidong people, bachelor degree, Qidong County Siyuan Experimental School Chinese first-class teacher, Qidong County Writers Association Vice Chairman, County Poetry Association member, Hunan Writers Association Teachers Branch member, Chinese Essayists Association member.