The dragon is the national totem of the Chinese nation. Chinese claim to be the descendants of the dragon, and the descendants of the dragon play a role in maintaining and centripetalizing. Dragon culture has become an important part of Oriental culture, making great contributions to human civilization and Chinese often proud.
But in fact, most of the Chinese don't know what a dragon really is. If a foreigner asks us, why do we claim to be descendants of dragons? I believe that many people should not be able to answer.
Regarding the image of the dragon, there are roughly two sources, one is from the crocodile, the other is from the snake, and now most experts believe that the dragon is a totem complex with the snake as the main body. It has the body of a snake, the head of a pig, the horns of a deer, the ears of a cow, the whiskers of a sheep, the claws of an eagle, and the scales of a fish. The image of the dragon is very much like a combination of multiple animals.
In the ancient clan society, the Huaxia people (the old name of the Han nationality) in the Yellow River Basin, which used the snake as a totem, defeated other clans, and at the same time absorbed the totems of other clans and combined them into dragon totems. In 1987, a large tomb in the early Yangshao culture, more than 6,000 years away from today, was excavated in Henan Province, and a dragon made of mussel shells was excavated next to the male tomb owner, which is the earliest dragon found so far.
In the period of slavery in xia, shang and zhou, it was the creative period of the rise and development of the image of the dragon. The "parts" of the dragon in this period are basically complete, including scales, eyes, horns, etc.
During the Yin Shang period, the dragon body was in the shape of a wrench, a dragon or a bi shape, and there were dragons with round carvings, round carved dragons landing on the ground in front of their feet, long tail coils, and several dragons had common characteristics of the times, namely:
1． The eyes are mostly the word "subject", as well as diamond-shaped eyes and round eyes.
2． The mouth is slightly open, and the round carved dragon still shows its teeth.
3． The back of the head has inverted mushroom-shaped horns against the neck, and some have crest teeth on the back.
4． The body is decorated with single hooks, double hooks or yang lines of cloud thunder, square diamond patterns or heavy ring patterns.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were three main forms of dragon patterns decorated on jade and various shapes of ornaments. There are single dragons, more commonly two dragons, dragons and phoenixes or dragons and human combinations, which are characterized by:
1． The eyes are mostly "subject" glyphs, as well as oval eyes and angled square eyes
2． The upper lip is rolled upwards, the mouth opens to spit out the lower curl of the long tongue, and a small pointed tip that resembles a large brace protrudes from the forehead, followed by a strand of floating mane, which can also be regarded as a horn or ear.
3． The use of large slash knives or large slash knives combined with the yin line to express the ornamentation.
4． Dragons are basically flaky eagles that look sideways, and dragons that have not yet been seen in round eagles have been seen.
In the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the shape of the dragon began to refine, the whole body has formed a flexible S-shape, full of vitality, the dragon of this period is often matched with birds, dragons and birds matched, so that the dragon with feet, and grew wings, can soar freely in the sky, but also added beauty to the dragon, in Changsha, Hunan Chen Family Mountain, Chu tomb unearthed painting "Dragon and Phoenix Figure Figure" is the development of dragon and bird match, they embody the dragon and phoenix for the tomb owner to lead the way to ascend to heaven feudal superstition.
The divine charm of the Chinese dragon is the highest artistic level of the two Han, Wei Jin and Tang, han dragon developed the connotation of the energy and tension of the Warring States dragon like a string, its form is either climbing, or descending, full of dynamic and lively vitality, which is particularly reflected in the portrait bricks and portrait stones of the two Han Dynasties, Wei Jin's dragon god form is both, proud of the bone, no longer flying like the Han dragon, but the tail and body flat, not rolled, appearing stable and elegant; its biggest feature is dashing and extraordinary, the same as the literati of metaphysics at that time, It has a super-dusty, immortal style of Dao bone, and the "Immortal Riding Dragon Map" of the Northern Wei Erzhu Tomb excavated from baosan of The Yang Pontoon Bridge in Jiangsu Province, which is a representative of this period.
Tang Long is graceful and luxurious, rich and luxurious, which has a close relationship with the economic development of the Tang Dynasty, the dragon developed to the Tang Dynasty, there was a new meaning, Tang Long has been far from satisfying the ability of Tengyun to ride the fog, and to overturn the river and the sea, into the main water palace, so the dry dragon has become a water dragon, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco often has a statue of Tang Gaozong era Taihang Mountain Xiude Temple square pagoda, painted a dragon in the waves churning pottery relief, is the earliest known water dragon map, and then the dragon fish match to prosper, The book records that the Tang Gold Cup unearthed in Xi'an in 1983 has a dragon fish play bead diagram, the shape is rare, there are wings without scales, one corner forward, one corner backward, is a rare mixed shape, and the most characteristic of The Tang Dragon is the standing dragon with its tail coiled around the hind legs, and the Tang bronze mirror and the war dragon diagram preserved on the gold and silver ware are quite complete.
The dragon of the Song Dynasty soared into the sky, majestic and high, which was a continuation of the Tang Dragon, with a sense of god, and the dragon's claws became the shape of a flywheel to show the speed of travel. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shape of the dragon was rich and colorful, and various forms were available, but they were not as vibrant as the previous dynasties, mainly reflected in the New Year paintings and woodblock paintings.
The dragon has undergone thousands of years of evolution and is deeply loved by the people of the mainland. Historically, no matter how dynasties change, the inheritance of dragon culture has always been consistent. The "dragon" is the symbol of the Chinese nation and the soul totem of our Chinese nation.
Author: Guoxue that little thing. Daily one read, you are insisting, if you like, welcome to support.
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