Behind the zodiac animals there are often many things with deep roots in Chinese cultural aesthetics, the mouse represents the strong vitality; the cow represents the strength of diligence; and the tiger represents the aesthetics of violence. So what kind of cultural aesthetic does the kind and cute little rabbit represent? By interpreting the word "rabbit", we feel an important feature of Chinese culture: the feminine beauty.
The oracle 'rabbit' character is very cute (pictured below), with long ears, short tail, big head, fat body, and natural cartoon cuteness.
There are many cartoons and fairy tales with rabbits as the image. Because the rabbit is a non-aggressive animal, the courage is particularly small, as soon as it feels threatened, it quickly runs away, running very fast, we usually say faster than the rabbit"; in addition, the rabbit is also very careful, there is an idiom called "cunning rabbit three caves", the three here mean "more", indicating that the rabbit has left a lot of back roads for itself, reflecting the rabbit's caution.
In Chinese myths and legends, there is a jade rabbit on the moon that pounds medicine. The moon is a symbol of yinness, and the jade rabbit is as white as jade, accompanying Chang'e on the moon. Over time, jade rabbit became synonymous with the moon.
The word "rabbit" in Jin Wen (pictured below) is still a cute rabbit image, and it is more cute than the oracle bone. This cute feminine image is actually shown in Chinese culture.
The creamy little student in Peking Opera is a kind of display. The four famous Dans in Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng, are all men. This is the feminine beauty of Chinese culture. Feminine beauty is not blindly feminine, but to have a heroic and martial spirit, the most typical is Zhou Yu in Peking Opera. The historical Zhou Yu is handsome and dashing, lupine scarf, on the horse can fight, down the horse can play the piano. However, on the Peking Opera stage, Zhou Yu is in addition to being heroic and dashing, his speech and singing voice are all sharp fake voices, and there is also a lot of feminine flavor in his personality.
Not only on the stage, but also in the history of literature, the image of the talent has the characteristics of feminine beauty.
Sima Xiangru in "Feng Qiu Phoenix", Zhang Sheng in "The Tale of the West Chamber", Tang Bohu in "Three Laughs", and Jia Baoyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are all handsome and personable images of young students.
There are also beautiful men in ancient China, like Pan An who "throws fruit and wins the car" and Ji Kang who "will fall on the jade mountain", all of which have some feminine beauty embodied in the body, which is completely the image of some small fresh meat. In fact, Chinese culture still likes this handsome and elegant image of a man.
The shape of the "rabbit" character of the Stone Drum Script (as shown in the figure below) has undergone great changes, gradually developing in the direction of symbolization, and when it comes to the rabbit character of the seal text, the shape is already very similar to the current "rabbit" character.
Feminine beauty is a school of Chinese calligraphy. In addition to the majestic calligraphy style, there is also a feminine and flowing style. The calligraphy of the Jin Dynasty, represented by Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, has a euphemistic and subtle gesture, which is beautiful and healthy, and also reflects the feminine beauty.
The picture below is the "rabbit" character in calligraphy cursive, the round and rolling cuteness is less, and the feeling of dashing and handsome is still there.
Rabbits, gentle and supple, and rich and handsome, are the embodiment of the feminine beauty characteristics in Chinese culture. Contemporary society, especially in the entertainment industry, has a lot of small fresh meat sought after, and it is not difficult to explain if you think about it carefully, which should be a continuation of China's promotion of feminine beauty since ancient times.
Do you also have male friends around you who are full of feminine beauty? How do you get along with such a friend? Welcome to comment on the message.