Timeline of China: The Ancient Scrolls
Historical labels: phoenix, three-legged crow
The phoenix has been regarded as auspicious since ancient times, and the current image of the phoenix has been deified for a long time, and the image of the phoenix we see from film and television works and novels has no way for us to imagine the original appearance of the phoenix bird.
However, the deification of the phoenix was only a matter after the Warring States, and before the Warring States, the phoenix was only regarded as a bird, and before the earlier Shang Zhou, the phoenix was just a special bird.
After the Qin and Han Dynasties, no one has ever seen a phoenix, but through various legends and records, they can roughly imagine and speculate about what species the phoenix is. After the rumors, the phoenix became more and more ungrounded, and the mystery of the phoenix became more and more difficult to solve.
The birds do not arrive, and the river does not show the map
People in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties still saw the phoenix, and there is a passage in the Oracle of the Shang Dynasty:
"Jiayin Bu, whistle the pheasant, get the phoenix." C Chen, get five. ”
This is to say that the Shang King had people hunt pheasants with nets, and as a result, on the day of Bingchen, five phoenixes were captured.
There are also a few words in the oracle bone bu speech: "And B, Ming Phoenix", which means that when the ceremony of worshiping Zu Yi was held, there was a phoenix chirping next to it. It can be seen that the merchants have seen the bird of the phoenix, and this bird has a special meaning in their minds.
People during the Zhou Dynasty also saw the phoenix, and there is such a sentence in the inscription of the early Zhou Dynasty Jin Wen "Zhongding":
"Return to the phoenix to the king."
The "shengfeng" Guo Moruo here is interpreted as "living phoenix", so the meaning of this sentence is that someone gave a living phoenix to the King of Zhou, and the Zhou Dynasty Jin Wen inscription also has the record of "sheng phoenix".
The Year of the Prince's "Collected Remains" records that when King Zhou Zhao ordered that those who committed capital crimes could enter the feathers of Qingfeng to be exempted from capital crimes, and one feather was worth thousands of gold. This shows that the early Zhou people also saw the phoenix, and at that time the phoenix was already very scarce, so later there was the idiom of "rare horns".
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Analects recorded Confucius's words before his death:
"The birds don't come, the river doesn't come out of the map, I'm already a husband!"
Confucius said: In my life, I have never seen a phoenix or a river map, but my life is about to end. It can be seen that at least in the Spring and Autumn Period, the phoenix has disappeared in the Central Plains.
From this, we can tease out:
Before the Shang Dynasty, the phoenix was still a relatively common bird, and by the time of the Zhou Dynasty, it had become a rare animal on the verge of extinction, and by the late Spring and Autumn period at the latest, the phoenix had disappeared in the Central Plains, and even in China.
Jiu Shao Jiucheng, Feng Huang came to Yi
Before the Shang Dynasty, there were still many phoenixes in the Central Plains, and ancient books said that phoenixes came in droves at that time, and the White Tiger Pass said: "When the Yellow Emperor came, the Phoenix Emperor came to the sun, and there must be many."
Legend has it that when Dayu was successful in curing the water, a grand celebration was held, with the music presided over by the monk, and the flocks of birds and beasts danced with the music during the celebration, and finally attracted flocks of phoenixes to dance. - "Jiucheng Of Xiaoshao, Emperor Feng" (see Shangshu ▪ Yiji)
This should be the earliest ancient record of the phoenix, the male is called phoenix, the female is called phoenix, the earliest phoenix is different from the phoenix image we see now.
The early ancestors of the phoenix were called the "King of feathers", that is, the king of the birds, and a very direct reason was its huge size. The birds in our impression are relatively small, according to the records in the Han Dynasty, the phoenix is eight feet high (also said to be one and two feet), which is about 1.9 meters high when converted into the current size.
From the appearance, the phoenix looks very similar to the crane, and the "Mountains and Seas Through the ▪ South Mountain Classic" records:
"There are birds, shaped like cranes... The name is Phoenix. “
In ancient times, the crane was also a high-status bird, so it was also called "crane", and one of its significant characteristics was its long neck and a pair of large legs.
Crowned crane
In addition, in ancient times, there was a means of transportation called "Luan Cha", which was an animal of the same kind as the phoenix, and it was likely to be a kind of phoenix, or even another name for the phoenix. The "Literature Examination" records that "there are Yu clan who made luan cars because of tongches", which shows that the phoenix could be used to pull a car in ancient times.
According to historical records, we know that the phoenix was a real bird in ancient times. There are only two reasons why we can't see it now: one is that the phoenix has completely gone extinct, and the other is that the phoenix has changed its name, and we can see but don't know that it is an ancient phoenix.
So, among the archaeological discoveries and existing animals, is there any animal that matches the legendary image of the phoenix?
It can reach about two meters in height, has a long neck and a pair of large legs, looks like a crane, dances when it hears music, and can run very fast to pull a car.
The answer is yes, and we can still see it in zoos, but it's basically imported from abroad, because the bird is now extinct in our country.
Three
Phoenixes are known as "fire spirits", and this bird, like phoenixes, prefers to live in hot environments. According to the research of scholars, there was a period of climate cooling in the mainland 2000-3000 years ago, and this bird may have disappeared in the Central Plains during this period.
About 4,000 years ago, this bird has begun to decline significantly, which is the time of the legendary Yao Shun in history. This trajectory of survival time is very consistent with the trajectory of phoenix's survival time in the historical records of the mainland.
。
You may be surprised to see this answer, but according to the phoenix characteristics recorded in early literature, the ostrich is undoubtedly the most suitable bird.
Ostriches once lived widely in Eurasia and the African continent, and now when ostriches are spoken of, they generally refer to African ostriches, because other ostriches have become extinct.
Ostriches like high temperatures, and adult ostriches are huge, up to 2.5 meters tall, with long legs that are good at running and can pull carts.
A small head is supported by a slender neck like a snake, and the "Erya ▪ Shi Bird" says that the phoenix is "chicken head, snake neck", which is the form, and the overall appearance is very similar to the size of the crane.
What's even more amazing is that, according to zoologists, ostriches are also very fond of listening to music, have a very high degree of appreciation for the rhythms of music, and are very good at dancing. Whenever it comes to courtship, before mating, the male ostrich and the female ostrich will perform a long man dance.
This is very similar to the phoenix in ancient texts, and this feature is rare in birds in nature.
The phoenix recorded in the book also has many obvious features: the turtle's back, which refers to the back that bulges like a turtle shell, which is very consistent with the ostrich; The beak of the chicken, which is said to be sharp and short like a chicken, is very consistent with the ostrich; Dragon pattern, said with a pattern on the feathers, this ostrich is also very consistent; Fishtail, referring to a fan-shaped tail like a fishtail, this ostrich also meets ...
These are the basic characteristics of ostrich birds, and the African ostrich we see now is naturally not the phoenix seen by the ancients, and the real phoenix should be a certain subspecies of ostrich that is active in China.
Four
The phoenix is also the legendary bird of the sun.
"Crown of the Osprey Duwan" says: "Phoenix, bird of fire, yang spirit also", legend has it that there are three-legged crows in the sun, and we have always wondered why birds have three legs.
In fact, the so-called "three-legged" refers to three toes, and the word "wind" in the oracle bone is the image of the three toes of birds. The Kaiyuan Zhanjing says: "The Sun, the Sect of Yang Jing, accumulates into Wu, like a bird, has three toes", most of the feet of birds are four toes, and some species of ostriches just have three toes.
African ostriches live in the desert all year round, so they are hot and thirst-resistant by nature, and they can not drink water for many days, Liu Yu's "Book of the Western Envoys" said that ostriches can "eat charcoal". And its soles are thick enough to run fast even in the hot desert.
Therefore, in Western legend, ostriches can run in flames, also known as "firebirds".
In terms of living habits. Ostriches like to be group, either in pairs or in groups of three or five; The legendary phoenix dwells in the "Dan Cave", and the ostrich is also a cave-dwelling bird; The legendary phoenix "bamboo fruit", ostrich is also mainly herbivorous; The legendary phoenix is "colorful", and the body of the ostrich is also five colors; The phoenix cries loudly, the so-called "phoenix sings Kungang, the sound vibrates in the sky", the ostrich mating period will also be like a chicken to meet the sun...
Legend has it that the phoenix is a favorite bird, and the ostrich mates in a male and female manner. Ostriches have different body colors, with males pale blue and females dominated by brownish yellow. The legendary phoenix bird is blue-green in males and yellow in females, so it is called "phoenix", which is a variation of "yellow".
The phoenix in the early records is not good at flying, Han Liling poem said: "The phoenix sings high, it is difficult to fly with wings", and the current ostrich is a giant bird with wings that cannot fly. Of course, modern zoologists have shown that the ancestors of ostriches were able to fly.
In summary, it can be basically proved that the phoenix, which was widely used in the mainland in ancient times, is actually a kind of ostrich.
summary
In ancient times, the phoenix seen by Dayu and the phoenix captured by the Shang King should be a subspecies of ostriches living on the mainland. During the Qin and Han dynasties of mainland history, this bird was already extinct.
In the Neolithic archaeological finds, there are many ostrich fossils and pictures of ostriches, and some ostrich-like bronzes have been unearthed during the Warring States period, and their shape is very similar to the legendary phoenix.
This means that ostriches have a very special status in the minds of mainland ancestors, and there is no name "ostrich" in ancient times, indicating that the ostrich in ancient times was called "phoenix".
Wen | Wang Xuanling
(Take the axis of time to sort out the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization.) Friends who like Chinese history, like and pay attention to it, and take you to read Huaxia together. ）