Read the history of the picture view. He Xilin | Yunya Xian envoy: The Feather Man and Its Symbolic Significance in Han Dynasty Art

▲ Eastern Han Dynasty Gilded bronze feather man

In 1987, the Han tombs in the eastern suburbs of Luoyang, Henan Province, were excavated

Collection of Luoyang Museum

Han and Tang Dynasty Art,

Create a pattern, achieve a style,

In many fields to set a precedent for future generations,

The atmosphere of enlightenment of the future, the model of the tree era.

It constructs the image of the empire in a unique visual way,

depicts real life,

Created the afterlife world.

For nearly half a century,

Archaeological excavations advance rapidly,

Visual materials are emerging in large quantities,

It provided a new impetus for the study of han and Tang art history.

April 2022,

He Xilin, a professor at the School of Humanities of the Central Academy of Fine Arts

Books written by:

"Reading the History of Pictorial View, Archaeological Discoveries and Research on Visual Culture of the Han and Tang Dynasties"

Officially published.

The book includes it

The author has published ten articles over the years

Papers on the study of visual culture in the Han and Tang Dynasties,

and made supplementary amendments to it,

According to the theme and content, it is divided into three parts:

Image representation and ideological implications

Image identification and knowledge review

Image inheritance and cultural integration

The author aims

Through visual images and solid material remains,

Revealing its internal logic and motivation for creation,

In turn, the goal of reconstructing the historical experience is achieved.

This book focuses on the author over the years

Thoughts and experiences on issues related to han and tang dynasty visual culture,

The included papers deepen a number of research topics,

Expanding the horizon and pattern of art history research,

Also for the history of ideas, social history,

Academic support has been provided for the study of political history and cultural history.

▲Inner text

Introduction of the author He Xilin

Mr. He Xilin is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Humanities of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, and a leading talent in philosophy and social science of the national high-level talents "Ten Thousand Talents Program". He graduated from the Department of Art History of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1988 and stayed on to teach, in 1995 he studied under Professor Jin Weinuo for a doctorate in chinese art history, received a doctorate in literature in 2000, and was a visiting scholar in the Department of Art History and Architectural History of Harvard University from 2015 to 2016.

The author has long been engaged in the teaching and research of Chinese art history, art archaeology, ancient Chinese visual and material culture, published 5 monographs, published more than 30 papers, participated in the compilation of 10 textbooks, representative works include "Ancient Tomb Danqing: Discovery and Research of Han Dynasty Tomb Murals", "The Dimension of Immortality: History of Chinese Tomb Murals" (co-authored), "Compendium of Chinese Art History" (co-authored, the third edition won the first National Excellent Textbook Award).

▲ HeXilin

directory

On Image Representation and Ideological Implications / 001

The Road to the Heavenly Garden: Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb Lacquer Coffin Painting and Painting Of the Picture Path and Ideology / 002

Yunya Xian envoy: Yuren and its symbolic significance in Han Dynasty art / 027

Ethics and Faith: A Re-Exploration of the Sarcophagus of Northern Wei Portraits in the Minneapolis Museum of Art / 049

Moral Representation and Political Expression: Discussion on Issues Related to the Tomb of Tang Yanfei and the Mural paintings of The Tomb of Li / 089

Image Identification and Knowledge Review / 121

Luoyang Western Han Bu Qianqiu Tomb Mural Image Examination / 122

Luoyang Jinguyuan Xinmang Tomb Mural Image Interpretation / 138

The Mist of "Qilian Mountain": Rethinking the Tomb of the Sick In the Western Han Dynasty /155

The Generation and Review of knowledge of Chinese paintings of Fuxi and Nüwa / 173

Part II: Iconographic Inheritance and Cultural Fusion / 187

Hu Feng and Han Shang: Visual Traditions and Cultural Memory of Stone Burial Tools of Portraits of Central Asians in the Northern Zhou Dynasty /188

The Relics of the Former King of The Chronicles of a Generation: The Visual Tradition of the Sarcophagus of the Sui Tomb Portrait in Tongguo Village, Shaanxi Province, and Its Relationship to the Works of Court Craftsmen /220

Epilogue / 251

Excerpts from the content

Cloud Cliff Immortal:

The Feather Man and Its Symbolic Meaning in Han Dynasty Art

In Han Dynasty art, a figure with wings out of the shoulders, feathers on the legs, and big ears out of the upside down was common in Han Dynasty art. It appears widely in all aspects of Han Dynasty art, basically runs through the art of Han Dynasty, and constitutes an important motif. This image is the feather man mentioned in the literature, also known as the Flying Immortal.

"Chu Ci Yuanyou": "Still Yuren in Danqiu Xi, leaving the old hometown of the immortal." Wang Yi's note: "The Classic of Mountains and Seas says: A country with feathers, a people who do not die." Or: Man is enlightened, and his body is born with hairy feathers. Hong Xingzu added: "Yuren, Fei Xianye." "The concept of immortals is not uncommon in Han Dynasty literature, and flying immortals have a special symbolic significance in the world of Han Dynasty thought and belief.

01

The basic shape of the feather man is a combination of a man and a bird. This shape has appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty, Jiangxi Xingan Oceania late Shang Dynasty tomb excavated a feather jade carving, feather human face, bird beak bird crown, waist wings. In the Warring States period, many feather figures appeared on the bronze vessels of the portraits. For example, a hunting pot excavated from the Warring States Tomb No. 59 liulige in Hui county, Henan, the watch is decorated with a bird with a snake, a god of snakes, a feather man and a hunting image, in which the feathered bird is the head of the human body and the shoulders are born with wings. The fragments of portrait bronze artifacts excavated from the Warring States Tomb in Gaozhuang, Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province, also show the image of a feathered person, who is a bird's head, or a snake, or a hunting shot. Hubei Jingzhou Tianxingguan No. 2 Warring States Chu Tomb excavated a feathered phoenix bird paint lacquer wood carving, feather people head, bird beak bird claws, body wings (Fig. 1).

▲Figure 1 Wood carving feather man

Hubei Jingzhou Tianxingguan No. 2 Warring States Chu Tomb was excavated

So are the Han Dynasty Yu people related to the pre-Qin Yu people? Seeing the two views, Xu Zhongshu said: "The feathered man, the flying beast and the god of the snake are the earliest carvings, statues or legends in egypt, Mino, Babylon, Greece, India and other places in the West, that is, in the third or fourth millennium BC. "It is believed to have spread to the Amu Darya Valley in Central Asia in the fifth century BC and then into China. He also asserted: "Painting immortals in the shape of wings must not be the inherent imaginative style of the Chinese nation." And the Han Dynasty immortals "are all high-nosed and feathered, and the high-nosed Ming is a human race west of Elan, which is foreign, especially obvious."

Sun Zuoyun disagreed with Xu's view, believing that the Yu people were an inherent tradition of the Chinese nation. It is said that the images of the pre-Qin and the two Han Yu people are slightly different, the former is primitive in form, and the latter is more interesting, but the two are based on the same religious belief and artistic tradition, both born from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and the ideological root lies in the bird totem worship of the Dongyi ethnic group.

Did the Sengoku Yu people originate from the mainland, or did they lose from overseas? How much does the Han Dynasty Feather Man have to do with the Bird Head Feather Man on the Warring States Portrait Bronze? It is difficult to clarify with the current information. However, the statue of the Feather Man Riding The Phoenix Bird excavated from the Chu Tomb no. 2 of the Tianxingguan no. 2 in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, is undoubtedly the closest pre-Qin Yu figure to the Han Dynasty Yu people ever seen. This material provides new clues for the search for the direct origin of the Han Dynasty Yu people, indicating that the Han Dynasty Yu people may have been born out of Chu culture and are in the same line as the Chu Yu people, and their ideas may be rooted in the long-term way of eternal life and immortality in the middle and late Warring States of Chu.

In recent years, a large number of archaeological discoveries have revealed a wealth of image data about the Han Dynasty Yu people, and by combing through these images, it can be seen that the Han Dynasty Yu people are also mostly human-bird combinations, and occasionally see human-bird-animal combinations. Unlike the pre-Qin Yu people, most of the Han Dynasty Yu people had two large ears that were high above the top of their heads, which can be seen as a characteristic of the times. Its specific shape can be roughly seen in four categories: the first type, the human head, the shoulder back out of the wing, the legs of the feathers; the second type, the human head, the bird body bird claws; the third type, the bird (bird) first person, the body born wings; the fourth type, the human head animal body, the body born wings.

▲Figure 2 Bronze feather man of the Western Han Dynasty

Unearthed in Nanyufeng Village, Xi'an, Shaanxi

Among the four types of feather people, the first type has the highest frequency. For example, the small bronze statue of the Western Han Yuren excavated from the Hancheng ruins of Nanyufeng Village in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province (Fig. 2) and the Gilded Bronze Yuren Statue of the Eastern Han Dynasty (Fig. 3) excavated in the eastern suburbs of Luoyang, Henan Province, are all shaped like living wings, with large ears, strange appearance, and the overall appearance looks like a person.

This image is basically consistent with the characteristics of the immortals described in the early literature, such as the Chinese poem "Long Song Xing" saying that the immortals "have short ears and long ears", and the Huainanzi Daoyingxun says that the immortals are "deep-eyed and xuan-sided, tearful and iris shoulders, abundant and killed". Jin Gehong's "Baopuzi Inner Chapters on Immortals" also says that immortals "have the ears of Qiong Shu and are out of the head". "On Balance and Invisibility": "The shape of the figure immortal, the body hair, the arm into a wing, walking in the clouds..." Wang Chong's description can be read directly with the image.

▲Figure 3 Eastern Han Dynasty bronze feather man

Excavated in the eastern suburbs of Luoyang, Henan

The other three types of feather figures are rare. The second type of earlier example can be found in the Painting of the Han Tomb No. 1 mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province, which depicts two pairs of feathered people perched on the ornaments of wearing bi feathers, as the first pigeon. A similar image can also be seen on a bronze plaque with a circular ornamental coffin excavated from the Eastern Han Tomb in Jingkan, Wushan, Chongqing, and on both sides of the lower part of the bronze medal, "Heaven's Gate", there are human-headed bird-bodied feathers, and the feathers on one side are still in the shape of a combination of male and female double heads.

The third type of example can be seen in the upper wall of the Eastern Han Ancestral Hall at No. 3 Songshan in Jiaxiang, Shandong, where a feathered person kneeling next to the West Queen Mother is the image of the head of the bird in the Immortal Garden of the West Queen Mother.

The fourth type of example is found in the Western Han Mural Tomb in Luoyang, Henan Province, and the Eastern Han Portrait Stone Tomb in Nanyang Qilin Gang, where the feathers are all human-headed beasts and have wings.

02

Most of the images of Yuren that have survived to this day are from tombs, and the Han Dynasty burial chambers and ancestral hall buildings, coffin burial tools, and various burial items can be seen almost everywhere.

▲Figure 4 Mural

Xi'an University of Technology Western Han Tomb

The front of the ridge-top mural in the main chamber of the West Han Bu Qianqiu Tomb in Luoyang, Henan Province, depicts a feathered man led by a knot. Luoyang Shallow Wellhead Western Han Mural Tomb Main Chamber Ridge Top Mural Painting Painting a Dragon Flying Feather Man. At the top of the back wall of the Western Han Mural Tomb of Xi'an University of Technology in Shaanxi Province, there is a picture of a feathered dragon driving a dragon (figure 4).

The west wall of the tomb chamber of the mural tomb before and after Haotan Xinmang in Dingbian, Shaanxi Province, is painted with a picture of the Immortal Garden of the Queen Mother of the West, and there are bamboo shoot-like peaks and three mushroom-shaped high platforms, and the West Queen Mother sits on the middle high platform, accompanied by two maids. On one side of the high platform stands a feather, holding a canopy for the Queen Mother of the West; on the other side there is a jade rabbit and a nine-tailed fox on the high platform, and there is a toad under the stage. The lower part of the other side of the painting depicts a scene of spiritual music and dance; the upper part depicts going to the immortal, led by a man stepping on the clouds, followed by a cloud boat and several cloud cars driven by fish, rabbits, and dragons, and finally two crane riders (Feng 2:1).

▲Cover 2: 1

In Jingbian, Shaanxi Province, a mural tomb of Xinmang is painted on the top of the celestial deity, which shows images of running feather people and feather people driving cloud cars (Feng 2:2). The north wall of the main room of the Eastern Han Dynasty mural tomb no. 2 in Jinxian County, Liaoning Province, depicts a shengxian figure, and in the corner of the picture, a feather is seen, holding a sesame grass and stepping on a floating cloud, and is receiving the shengxian (figure 5). The tomb chamber of the late Eastern Han Dynasty mural tomb No. 2 dahuting in Mixian County, Henan Province, depicts the Cloud Heavenly Spirit, in which there are yu people who ride or ride on a celestial horse, or ride a white deer, or hold an immortal medicine.

▲Cover 2: 2

▲Figure 5 Murals

Liaoning Jinxian Yingchengzi No. 2 Eastern Han Tomb

Shaanxi Suide Forty Li Pu Yongyuan 4th year (92 years) Tian Qu tomb front room back wall horizontal forehead carved music and dance hundreds of plays, the sun and moon are arranged at both ends, the moon next to the carved xianting, see the West Queen Mother, attendants, nine-tailed foxes, three-legged wu, pounding medicine jade rabbit; the sun carved to the immortals, the two feathers riding deer leading, followed by a flying bird driving a cloud car, sitting on the two inside, the driver is the feather person (Figure 6).

▲Fig. 6 Portrait stone (rubbing)

Shaanxi Suide Forty Lipu Eastern Han Yongyuan Four-year Tian Qu Tomb

The top of the late Eastern Han Dynasty portrait stone tomb in Nanyang, Henan, depicts a feathered person playing Lingrui, with a lingrui in the center and a feathered person dancing on each side, one of which holds a sesame grass and a streamer (Figure 7). There are also images of feathered people riding beasts and feathered turtles in the tomb.

▲Figure 7 Portrait stone (rubbing)

Eastern Han Tomb of Qilin Gang in Nanyang, Henan

Shandong Anqiu Dongjiazhuang late Eastern Han Dynasty portrait stone tomb front room north wall east end square pillar see there are feather people, the top stone carved day, Lei Gong, rain master, wind Bo, electric mother, cloud gas, feather people. There are feathers on the east pillar and west wall of the south wall of the middle room, and there are feathers on the top slopes and capstones of the chamber, or holding shiba grass, or rokubo, or playing dragons. The west wall of the west room of the back room is carved with mountains, dragons, tigers, deer, elephants, fish, birds, feather people and hunting scenes, of which the feather people or waving Jiahe, or playing Lingrui, the north wall banner and the south slope of the roof of the room to see the feather people playing phoenix, feather people playing tigers. The north wall and the east wall of the east room of the back room see Yuren playing tigers and feather people playing deer; the west slope of the roof is carved with cloud cars, and there are Yuren riding tigers to open the road in front, and there are Yuren riding beasts in the back.

The east pillar of the tomb door of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in Yinanbeizhai Village is carved with the eastern prince and two medicine feather people, and the neutral pillar is also carved with a feather person. In the northern section of the west wall of the front chamber, a number of feathers appear in the north section of the front chamber (Fig. 8), and there are multiple feathers in the girder and octagonal Optimus Pillar and the upper end arch. In the middle room east wall horizontal-fronted fish dragon Man Yan play, a tiger feather man is seen, and the girder and octagonal Optimus Prime and the upper end of the bucket arch are engraved with images of the Queen Mother of the West, the Prince of the East, and the Feather Man Play Dragon and the Feather Man Play Phoenix.

Cangshan City Former Village Eastern Han Yuan Jia YuanNian (151) portrait stone tomb tomb door left column carved West Queen Mother, Yuren, Mountain, image and inscription "Three Pillars of the Hall ... Left has a jade girl and the Mountain (Immortal) people "coincide." The fence on the back wall of the back room is engraved with Suzaku, Phoenix Bird, White Tiger, and Feather Man, and the image corresponds to the inscription "Hou Dang Zhu Jue (Finches) vs. You Shan (Xian) People, Zhonghang White Tiger Hou Fenghuang (Phoenix)".

▲Figure 8 Portrait Stone (Rubbing)

Eastern Han Tomb in Yinanbeizhai Village, Shandong

In the Wuliang Ancestral Hall, the Former Stone Chamber and the Left Stone Chamber in the late Eastern Han Dynasty Wu Family Cemetery in Jiaxiang, Shandong, there are feathers in the three gables on both sides of the gables of the Ruiding West Queen Mother and the Eastern Prince Immortal Court. There are feathers on both sides of the upper wall of the roof of the front stone chamber, the inner niches of the back wall, and the upper part of the back wall. Feathers are also seen at the top of the left stone chamber, on the lower bars on both sides of the small niches on the back wall, and on the upper part of the back wall of the small niches.

Among them, the top stone of the former stone chamber is divided into four layers, the lower layer is carved with the Heavenly Emperor sitting in the bucket car, the worshippers and the carriages and horses rushing to the Heavenly Court, and the upper three floors are carved with Lei Gong, Feng Bo, Rain Master, Electric Mother, and The Dragon Rider and the Feather Man who drives the car. The three small ancestral halls of the late Eastern Han Dynasty on Jiaxiang Song Mountain are depicted on the wall railings on both sides of the West Queen Mother and the East Prince Immortal Garden, of which yuren are seen.

For example, on the west wall of the No. 3 small ancestral hall, the upper railing is carved with the West Queen Mother Xianting, and the West Queen Mother sits on a central mushroom-shaped pedestal, flanked by birds, toads, medicine jade rabbits and seven feathered people. One of them knelt next to the West Queen Mother with a cup, one of them held an umbrella cover for the West Queen Mother, and the other five feathers held Jiahe and ran and jumped (Figure 9). The upper part of the back wall of the no. 2 and no. 3 small ancestral halls is also engraved with feather people. A piece of Yongshou Three-Year (157) inscription stone that accompanies this batch of portrait stones reads: "There are clouds and immortals on it." ”

▲Figure 9 Eastern Han Dynasty Portrait Stone (Rubbing)

Shandong Jiaxiang Songshan was excavated

There is also no shortage of feather images on the burial chamber portrait tiles. For example, a Han portrait brick unearthed in Nanyang, Henan Province, depicts erlong wearing bi in the center of the picture, a feathered man driving a tiger on one side, and a running bull and a bear with teeth and claws on the other side. A portrait brick of the Eastern Han Dynasty collected from Yihe Township, Pengzhou, Sichuan, on which is embossed with the image of Yuren Liubo. A piece of Eastern Han portrait brick collected by Pengzhou Jiuzhi Township depicts a rider riding a deer ascending to immortality, followed by a feathered person, who holds up a medicine plate with one hand and stretches forward with the other hand, as if passing the immortal medicine, and the deer rider turns back and reaches out, as if receiving medicine (Figure 1 O).

▲Figure 1 O Eastern Han Dynasty portrait brick

Jiuzhi Township, Pengzhou, Sichuan

Images of feather people are also widely used on burial utensils. On the side of the third lacquer coffin table of the Mawangdui No. 1 Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, there is a picture of the Xiangrui of the Xianshan Mountain, which shows the three peaks of the mountain symbolizing Kunlun, as well as dragons, tigers, unicorns, phoenixes, and feathers. Changsha Shazitang Western Han Tomb lacquer coffin foot block painting Yuren driving tiger figure. On the sarcophagus of the late Eastern Han Dynasty portrait in Sichuan, the images of the feather people are particularly rich. On one side of the sarcophagus table of the Shuanghe Cliff Tomb at the mouth of the Pengshan River, the West Queen Mother Xianting is depicted, and there are the West Queen Mother, the three-legged Wu, the Nine-tailed Fox, the Toad, the Danding, the Medicine Bowl Bearer, and the two immortals who play and play the violin.

The side of the sarcophagus in Xinsheng Township, Pixian County, also depicts the Western Queen Mother Xianting, and the image of the immortal Liubo on the peak of the mountain is also seen (picture 11). On one side of the sarcophagus table of the Cliff Tomb of Jianyang Ghost Head is engraved images of the sun god, the moon god, the tree, the dragon, the fish, the bird, the carriage and horse, the feather man riding the beast, the feather man six Bo, etc., and engraved with inscriptions such as "sun and moon", "pillar baht", "white pheasant", "lili", "first (immortal) renbo", "first (immortal) man riding" and so on.

▲Figure 1 Eastern Han Dynasty portrait sarcophagus (rubbing)

Xinsheng Township, Pi County, Sichuan Province, was excavated

Images of feather people are also accustomed to funerary artifacts. The architectural site of the Western Han Weiling Cemetery in Xianyang Village, Shaanxi Province, unearthed a jade carving of a feathered man riding a heavenly horse, in which the feather man held the zhi grass in his hand, took the reins of the horse, and leapt into the clouds (Figure 12).

▲Figure 12 The Western Han Dynasty Yu people ride a pegasus jade carving

Unearthed from Xinzhuang Village in Xianyang, Shaanxi

A piece of wrong gold, silver and copper pipes excavated from the Western Han Tomb No. 122 sanpanshan in Dingzhou, Hebei Province, depicting images of mountains, clouds, feathers, dragons, tigers, deer, bears, cranes, rabbits, birds, phoenixes, and pegasus, as well as Hu people riding elephants, Hu people riding camels, riding and hunting (Figure 13).

▲Figure 13 Divine Xiangrui pattern copper pipe ornament unfolded

The Western Han Tomb No. 122 Sanpanshan in Dingzhou, Hebei Province, was excavated

The National Museum of China's Collection of the Western Han Dynasty "China Daning" Boju Mirror saw four gods, monsters, and feather people. The Palace Museum has a Han Dynasty Immortal Museum mirror with images of the Western Queen Mother Xianting, Yuren Shooting Tiger, Yuren Driving Fish, and Yuren Driving Birds (Fig. 14).

A transparent jade screen excavated from the tomb of Liu Chang, king of Zhongshan in the Eastern Han Dynasty of Dingzhou, Hebei Province, is carved with the Queen Mother of the West and The Feather People. A copper furnace from the Eastern Han Dynasty Boshan was unearthed in Nanyang, Henan, shaped like an incense burner on the top of a feather head. A pottery tree lamp was unearthed from the Eastern Han Tomb in Luoyang JianXi, which sculpted tigers, deer, monkeys, rabbits, frogs, feather people, etc., and sculpted dragons, cicadas, and feather people on the trees, and feather people either sat on branches or drove flying dragons. A pottery sculpture money tree seat was unearthed from the Hanya Tomb in Pengshan, Sichuan, with a feather at the upper end, and the feather man holding a sesame grass and driving a winged sheep.

▲Figure 14 Han Dynasty Immortal Bo Bureau Mirror

Collection of the Palace Museum

In addition to the burial system, feather people have also been found in the ruins of the palace. According to excavators, the bronze statuette of Yuren excavated from the Hancheng ruins in Nanyufeng Village, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was "about 5 meters south of the site of the North Palace Wall of Changle Palace." It was excavated in the accumulation of braised earth and rubble about 0.5 meters above the ground. Judging from its shape and excavation site, it may be an offering from the Western Han court." In addition, Wang Yanshou's "Lu Ling Guang Dian Fu" describes the Mural painting of liu Yu Ling Guang Hall of the Western Han Dynasty Lu Gong King Liu Yu Ling Guang Temple, which may also be a Feather Man, with which there are also Jade Girls, Hu People, Dragons, Tigers, Vermilion Birds, White Deer, And Xuan Bears. In addition, bronze mirrors, Boshan furnaces and other utensils, although from the tomb, are mostly not Ming utensils, but "living utensils" buried with them. There are various indications that the image of the feather man also existed in the daily life environment of people at that time.

Through the above evidence, the following understandings can be summarized:

First, the image of the feather man exists in the two major spatio-temporal systems of the living environment and the post-mortem homeland.

Second, in the tomb and shrine architecture, the feather people are usually depicted on the top of the tomb and the shrine or in the upper part of the four walls, as well as the banners and columns at the entrance of the tomb door or the entrance to the various chambers in the tomb, mostly distributed in the upper space of the building.

3. Yuren often appears in three types of image combinations: 1) soaring in the cloud sky, gathering with the gods of the heavenly court such as the Emperor of Heaven, Lei Gong, Rain Master, Feng Bo, and Electric Mother; 2) Haunting the Xianting, accompanying the Spirit Rui of the Jade Rabbit, toad, Nine-tailed Fox, and Three-legged Wu around the West Queen Mother or the Eastern Prince; 3) Playing in the Auspicious Birds and Beasts, playing with dragons, tigers, deer, vermilion birds, phoenixes, bears and other auspicious rui. The three types of images are sometimes independent and sometimes intersect, completely a supernatural realm.

Fourth, the behavior states of the feather people are commonly dragons, tigers, deer, horses, clouds (dragons, tigers, deer, fish, birds and other cars), dragons, tigers, phoenixes, deer, servants, and six bo. It is also seen driving cranes, fishing, elephant riding, winged sheep, playing pegasus, playing bears, shooting and hunting, playing the violin, blowing, pounding medicine, offering medicine, etc.

03

The inscription on the stone tomb of the portrait stone tomb in the former village of Cangshan City, Shandong, the inscription on the sarcophagus of the portrait of Ghost Head Mountain in Jianyang, Sichuan, and many Han Dynasty mirror inscriptions are clearly indicated, and the feather people are "immortals". So what is a fairy? The "Shi Ming Shi Chang Young" says: "The old and the immortal." Immortals, moving also, moving into the mountains also, so the word maker Pong Shan also. Xian Ye Zuo, "Sayings": "Tun, man looks on the mountain, from the mountain of man." It can be seen that the immortals are closely related to the mountains.

"Chu Ci Yuanyou": "Still Yuren in Danqiu Xi, leaving the old hometown of the immortal." Wang Yi's note: "Mingguang, that is, Danqiu ye." "The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of The Western Mountains": "Looking south at Kunlun, its light is raging, and its qi soul is soul." Guo Pu's note: "All the phosgene is full of radiance." "Therefore Danqiu, that is, Kunlun Qiu." In addition, the "Book of History and Feng Zen" says that there are three sacred mountains in the Bohai Sea: "Penglai, Abbot, and Yingzhou", and "all the immortals and immortal medicines are in the works".

Wen Yiduo believes that the immortals "ultimately return to the mountain, the Kunlun Mountain in the west." They later had a relationship with the sea, or for the sake of the three mountains on the sea." He also said, "Westerners believe that heaven is on their Kunlun Mountain, and ascension is ascension." ”

The Huainanzi Topographical Training says: "The hill of Kunlun, or the upper double, is the mountain of the wind, and the mountain that climbs without dying; or the upper double, which is the hanging garden, and the climb is the spirit, which can make the wind and rain; or the upper double, the heavens, and the god, is the residence of the emperor." From this, it can be seen that even Taiyi's Heavenly Court has not left the top of the Cloud Cliff. The combination of immortals and mountains created a transcendent world far away from the earthly world, beyond life and death, free and free, which was the paradise in the minds of the Han Dynasty.

Immortals are the masters who live in this extraordinary world, and their lives are recorded in the literature such as Zhuangzi Getaway, Huainanzi Yuan Daoxun, Huan Tan's Xianfu: not eating grains, inhaling cloud qi, eating jade liquor, Ruzhi grass, eating jujubes, stepping on clouds, and traveling in all directions. Han Jingming also saw: "Shang Fang Zuo (mirror) is really good, there are immortals on it who do not know old age, thirst for jade springs and hungry dates, wandering in famous mountains to collect sesame grass, floating in the world Ao four seas, Shou CoverEd Golden Stone for national security." As Gu Jiegang summed it up: the central concept of immortality, that is, immortality and freedom. As a flying immortal, Yuren has the general characteristics of a fairy, that is, immortality, freedom and happiness, and is a model of immortality and freedom.

However, most of the Yu people seen in Han Dynasty art do not seem to be relaxed and leisurely, and their state is always busy. This phenomenon suggests that the Yu people may be one of the immortals of the Han Dynasty, and in addition to having the general characteristics of immortals, that is, their own immortality and freedom, they may have a more important role and function.

Combining images and documents, it can be considered that the Han Dynasty Yu people shouldered three sacred missions, namely: first, to lead the immortals and give immortal medicines; second, to guide the qi to help longevity; and third, to entertain the gods and ward off ominousness.

In the above-mentioned image materials unearthed in the Han Dynasty, it is common for yuren to drive dragons, tigers, deer, pegasus, cloud cars, etc., many of which hold immortal grass that prolongs life, and some yu people hold symbols or festivals that symbolize the king's life. They shuttled through the top of the cloud cliff, guided by the list of immortals, the state was very urgent, and they felt that they were not enjoying the joy and comfort of the cloud tour alone, but struggling to attract sentient beings who were rushing to heaven. For example, the Chinese poem "Long Song Line": "Immortals ride white deer, and their hair is short and their ears are long." Guide me to Taihua, Lanzhi won the red building. Come to the master's door and offer a jade chest of medicine. The master took this medicine, and the body was healthy and strong. Whitening is darker and longer-lived. Later, Cao Zhi expressed a similar vision in the Flying Dragon Chapter. It can be seen that receiving the ascension of the immortals and giving the immortal medicine is an important mission of the Yu people.

The image of the Han Dynasty yuren often appeared among various auspicious birds and beasts such as dragons, tigers, deer, birds, and bears, or wandered and jumped, or bent and stretched, or gently lifted and soared, playing and dancing with the xiangrui. In these images, there is a clear interactive relationship between Yuren and Xiangrui, and the two seem to have some kind of sympathy and echo, and their behavior is very similar to the so-called qi guidance.

"Zhuangzi Deliberately": "Blowing breath, spitting out the old and the new, the bear through the bird Shen, just for the sake of life." This dao leads the people, the people who cultivate the form, and the good of the Peng Zu Shou examiners. "Huainan People Spiritual Training": "If you blow and breathe, spit out the old and na new, bear through the bird Shen, take a bath of the worm, look at the tiger, and be a person who cultivates the form." The Later Han Dynasty Book of Hua Tuo 's Biography mentions that Hua Tuo said: "It is a matter of guiding the ancient immortals, Xiong Jing Gu ... In order to seek difficult old age. I have one technique, the play of the five birds: one tiger, two deer, three bears, four hedgehogs, and five birds. ...... To be a guide. ”

The guiding techniques mentioned in Jin Gehong's "Baopuzi Neiwei Zaying" are dragon guidance, tiger guidance, bear jing, turtle pharynx, yanfei, snake flexion, bird stretch, ape evidence, and rabbit shock. "Baopuzi Inner Chapter · The Wei Zhi says: "Those who know the way of Tuna can only prolong their lives by practicing qi; those who know the law of bending and stretching can only guide them to grow old." "The yuren dancing with these auspicious rays is probably demonstrating the method of guiding qi that can not only strengthen themselves, but also help sentient beings to prolong their lives, and even immortalize and immortality."

In the above-mentioned images, it is also common to see the scene of Yuren appearing in the West Queen Mother and the East Princess Immortal Garden, especially the West Queen Mother Immortal Garden. Yuren serves at the side of the West Queen Mother, or holds up a canopy, or holds a messenger, or plays a violin, or plays a piano, and its role is obviously that of the West Queen Mother's retinue or messenger. In addition, it is also common for the Immortal Liubo to appear in the Western Queen Mother's Immortal Garden or other occasions.

Regarding the Six Immortals, one or two can be seen in poems of later times, such as Wei Caozhi's "Immortals": "The Immortals have six books, and they are in the corner of Botai Mountain." Xiang'e plucked the qinser. Qin Nu blows the flute. Nanchen Zhang zheng saw the "Immortal Chapter": "I have seen the jade girl laughing and throwing pots, and I have seen the fairy boy Xin Liubo again." Nan Chen Luyu's "Immortals Collect six works": "The nine immortals will rejoice, and the six books will entertain the gods." It can be seen from the literature that the Immortal Liubo has the meaning of self-amusement or entertainment of the gods.

In addition, the Han Dynasty mirror inscription is seen: "The new good copper out of Danyang, and the silver tin clear and clear." Left Dragon Right Tiger Palm Four Peng, Zhu Jue (Sparrow) Xuanwu Shun Yin Yang, Eight Sons and Nine Suns Rule Central, Carved Lou (Skeleton) Bo Bureau Go Not Yang (Xiang), Family Fortune Yi King. This in turn shows that as a cosmic diagram, the game has the function of warding off evil spirits. It can be inferred from this that the Immortal Six Bo also has the symbolic significance of eliminating ominousness.

Life and death is the eternal theme in the history of human thought, longevity and even immortality is the instinctive appeal of human beings, and the attempt to exceed the limit is the logical development of this appeal, and immortality is the special expression of this appeal in the thought and belief of the Han Dynasty. As a flying immortal, Yuren haunts the yin and yang realms, caring for the living and comforting the dead, which is not only an example of eternal life and long-term vision, but also a messenger to guide sentient beings and undead souls to fly up to the immortal world.

This article was originally published in Cultural Relics, Issue 07, 2010

Original title: Yuren and Its Symbolic Significance in Han Dynasty Art

▲Eastern Han Dynasty Feather man riding beast pattern bronze mirror

Collection of Shaoxing Museum

Epilogue to The History of Reading Pictures

Since I was admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1984, this year is the 38th year I have entered the field of art history and the 34th year of coaching. Publishing this collection is a review and summary of his own academic journey.

I remember that in 1986, I published the first short article in the "Cultural Relics Newspaper" (the predecessor of the "China Cultural Relics Newspaper"), and in 1987, I published the first paper in the magazine "Wenbo", and since then I have embarked on the road of academic research, and in the following years, I have made some preliminary discussions on the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum and the Bronze Ware of the Warring States Portraits. Looking back, the early papers were very young and had not yet begun. Since 1995, when he studied under Professor Jin Weinuo as a doctoral student in the history of Chinese art, he gradually gained some understanding. During this period, around the topic of the doctoral dissertation, touched a lot of materials, tried to discuss the early bronze art of Northern Eurasia, but also tried to discuss the early bronze art of Yunnan, but in the end due to personal ability, they had to give up, and finally chose to take the Han tomb mural as the object, and completed the doctoral dissertation "The Discovery and Research of the Han Dynasty Tomb Mural" in 2000.

Taking the doctoral dissertation as the starting point, the research in the following years has focused on the Han Dynasty, as well as the pre-Qin and Northern Dynasties, and the discussion objects include tomb murals, paintings, mausoleum sculptures, portrait burial utensils, and funerary utensils, mainly case studies, image examination, academic review, and also combing and reviewing the genealogy and generation process of visual culture related knowledge in the Han Dynasty. In recent years, my research interests and focus have shifted from the ancient to the Middle Ages, and I have discussed issues related to the visual culture of the tombs of the Sui and Tang dynasties of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although there are still many case studies, there are some changes in perspective and thinking, no longer stuck to the examination and interpretation of specific images, but try to reveal their visual, ideological, cultural and political implications from the macro historical pattern of cross-regional, cross-cultural and cross-religion.

This book contains 10 papers on the study of han and Tang dynasty visual culture published since 2000, spanning about 20 years. During this period, a large number of new archaeological materials have been unearthed, and new research achievements have emerged, so the content and views of some papers have been supplemented and corrected when collected this time, and they are divided into three parts according to the theme and content, namely, image representation and ideological meaning, image examination and knowledge review, image inheritance and cultural integration. The name "Reading the History of Pictorial View" is intended to show that the papers received in this book are not limited to the discussion of traditional art history and classics, but take the visual remains of archaeological discoveries as alternative historical materials, interpret and interpret them through mutual verification of pictures and texts, reveal their internal logic and creative motivations, reconstruct historical experience, and then observe and understand the relevant issues of ancient intellectual history, cultural history, social history and even political history.

For more than 30 years, I have felt the limitations of my knowledge and insufficient ability, especially the lack of literary and historical skills and corresponding academic training, so I have not written several decent articles, which is very ashamed. This collection barely made up 10 articles, and the level is uneven, if some of these research experiences are still valuable to the academic community, I will be satisfied. Along the way, I have been taught by many senior teachers and leaders, and have been encouraged by many colleagues and scholars. In my communication with students, I also deeply understood what "teaching and learning" is, and their questions often prompt me to constantly "recharge". First of all, I would like to thank all the teachers, friends and classmates who have taught and encouraged me. In addition, this book has been funded by the "Cultural Masters and 'Four Batches of Talents' project, and I would like to thank you for this. Finally, I would like to thank Peking University Press for its strong support, Zhao Wei and Liu Shuguang for their meticulous editing, and Mr. Qiu Tercong for their meticulous design.

Horsillin

2022.2.18

▲Inner text

Wen | He Xilin

Figure | arterial shadow Hexilin

The copyright of graphics and texts belongs to the original author or institution

Compilation | Shanxi Evening News all-media reporter Nan Lijiang

Audit | Fang Tianji

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Ancient murals in Shanxi

| dizzy Shanxi Ancient Liuli | "Golden Plum Bottle" and Shanxi

Shanxi Fahua

| Nanne water stone carving. Folk Force

Wrong golden bird seal copper go

. The legend of Youji | inlaid with jade glass with hooks. Wei Wenhou sighed

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