Netizens in the history textbook, have seen a "Ma Ta Fei Yan" bronze cultural relics, in 1986 this bronze was also selected as a specific symbol of Chinese tourism; but about the naming of this ancient cultural relics, until today there is a great controversy, although the history textbooks call it "Ma Ta Fei Yan", and the original "Copper Galloping Horse, Ma Chao Fei Fei Fei, Tianma, Shen Ma", have been used as the name of this cultural relic; today, 49 years later, there are still people who are not willing to call it "Ma Ta Fei Yan", So how exactly should it be named?
Copper galloping horse "Ma Ta Fei Yan", is a valuable artistic relics of the Eastern Han Dynasty, excavated in October 1969 in Gansu Wuwei Leitai Han Tomb, it is 34 cm long about 45 cm, width 13 cm total weight of about 7 grams, handsome and tall chest, and the right hind leg under the foot, but also stepping on a bird; this exquisitely shaped cultural relics, containing the excellent wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people, and superb manufacturing technology level, immediately attracted widespread attention at home and abroad after excavation; but about its naming, There has been no consensus that satisfies everyone.
For example, the name "Ma Ta Fei Yan" was originally proposed by Mr. Wang Yi, an archaeology expert of the Gansu Cultural Relics Bureau, and also approved by Guo Moruo and the local cultural relics community, but two years later this cultural relic was sent to Beijing to participate in the exhibition, but it was introduced by the general name of the copper galloping horse, and then the "popularity" of this name gradually overshadowed the "Ma Ta Fei Yan", and the controversy also began to occur from this time, and slowly derived many "new school" titles.
The key to the controversy over the naming of this cultural relic lies in the galloping horse and the flying bird, some people think that the primary and secondary should be divided, mainly reflecting the theme of pegasus, and this pegasus is not a common thing, the Eastern Han Dynasty Zhang Heng in the "Tokyo Fu", there is a "Pegasus Half Han" saying, only this should take the name of "Ma Chao Dragon Sparrow"; However, there are still many scholars who say that the sense of speed of pegasus should be highlighted at the same time, but there is a debate about what kind of bird is under the horse's foot.
The shape of this bird is definitely a bird, but the use of birds is too general, so it is necessary to study what kind of bird it is; at this time, someone stood up and said that this bird should not be an auspicious bird, because the bird was trampled by the horse, giving people a feeling that the bird was conquered by the horse, for example, the "horse tatar Hun" statue in front of huo's tomb was used to express the conquest of the Huns, and the meaning of the horse "stepping" was similar to the saying of man, so this bird should be an evil bird.
However, opponents say that the designer of this cultural relic is not to reflect the conquest relationship between horses and birds, but to highlight the speed of galloping horses, racing through birds that are good at flying; and they also believe that this horse is not a pegasus, because the horse step is a typical "contralateral step", which is the common pace of horses on the ground, for which they also specifically studied the pace of horse racing, and after taking photos and repeatedly studying, they found that it was almost exactly the same as the posture of the bronze horse lady; therefore, this bronze horse is not a galloping form, and cannot be named after a galloping horse It is even thought that this horse is just a kind of performance by the mortal horses, and the designer only adds the birds under his feet to enrich the image.
Later, Mr. Fu Kui, an archaeologist at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believed that this cultural relic was undoubtedly composed of horses and birds, and the theme of the performance was the state of running in the air, the theme was galloping horses, and birds as a foil; and he also disagreed with the saying that galloping horses could not run "contralateral steps", because when horses were galloping, they would also run out of "contralateral steps", so it was appropriate to use copper galloping horses, so it should be named "flying birds and copper galloping horses"; Mr. Fu Kui's opinion, which is very pertinent and rational, is the most appropriate one so far But the voice of opposition is still accompanied by this artifact, how do readers think it should be named?
[References: Chinese Archaeology, Also the Name of the Copper Galloping Horse]