When the child is handed over, the year of the rabbit.
"Bright as frost, warm as jade, its appearance is true, its feelings are benevolent."
In traditional Chinese culture, the image of rabbits "gentle temperament, well-behaved posture and quick response" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is precisely because of this that the folk have the saying of "red rabbit Da Rui, white rabbit Zhong Rui", and gradually evolved into a cultural symbol.
(Song) Cui Bai's "Double Happiness Picture" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Out of love and worship for the rabbit, it is also included in the zodiac. Because its ranking in the zodiac corresponds to the "卯" in the twelve earth branches, 5 to 7 o'clock is "卯時", that is, rabbit time.
The mascot image released by the "2023 Spring Festival Gala" - "Rabbit Yuanyuan" is based on the "Anhui Model Pik". It is currently internationally recognized as the closest animal to its rabbit-like ancestors.
Source: CCTV
"Model pika" fossil
Source: Official website of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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The chewing word in "rabbit"
The bone inscription "Rabbit" unearthed in Yuanjiazhuang Mountain, Changle County, Shandong Province, is a cultural relic from the Donglongshan culture period 4000-4500 years ago. It is the earliest pictorial hieroglyph in China, and the character "rabbit" found on bone piece No. 42 is the earliest written record evidence of rabbits in mainland China.
According to Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Han Dynasty, "Rabbit, the name of the beast, is like its tail shape after the distance." "Its glyph resembles a crouching rabbit, with the shape of a tail exposed behind.
As the most obvious text with pictographic meaning, the oracle bone script is written like a rabbit standing on its side.
Source: Tara
Jinwen is more vivid on the basis of oracle bones, highlighting the characteristics of rabbits with large eyes and long ears.
When it comes to the small seal, it gradually gets rid of the animal form of the rabbit, the font is correct, and the strokes are smooth
The "rabbit" character subordinate body evolved by the seal book has the prototype of the modern "rabbit" character, reflecting the characteristics of the subordinate book "turning complexity into simplicity, circle into square, and arc into straight".
It took thousands of years of change to finally form the well-known "rabbit" character today.
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The quips in "rabbit" are like pearls
When it comes to rabbits, it is indispensable to associate with the moon. The "jade rabbit in the moon" is a moon palace spirit object imagined by the ancients based on the observation of the shadow in the moon. This undoubtedly adds a romantic, gentle color to its image.
(Tang) "Porcelain Rabbit" Collection of the Palace Museum
The mythical image of a rabbit in the moon was first seen in the painting of tomb No. 1 of the Western Han Tomb of Mawangdui in Changsha, which depicts the moon, white rabbit and toad. Relevant scholars speculate that the image of the moon rabbit has been formed since at least the pre-Qin period.
"Changsha Mawangdui Western Han Tomb No. 1 Tomb Painting"
As an important theme of ancient Chinese copper mirrors, the legend of the Moon Palace is reflected in many copper mirror cultural relics, and Chang'e, toads, jade rabbits and other indispensable elements are even more indispensable. It may also be due to the blessing of its "shape round moon, light clear night pearl", and the copper mirror is also compared to the bright moon.
(Tang) "Moon Palace Chanjuan Mirror"
The moon palace mirror unearthed from the capacitor factory in Lianhu District, Xi'an, has a circular pattern symbolizing the full moon, and on the left side of the leafy laurel tree, the jade is held with both hands to make a pounding medicine. Above the right side of the tree, Chang'e flew lightly, and the toad below jumped on the right side of the tree with its limbs.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is like a propositional essay with the theme of "Moon and Rabbit". First, Fu Xuan of the Jin Dynasty wrote in "Quasi-Heavenly Direction": "What is in the middle of the month, the white rabbit pounds medicine." Later, there was Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty, "According to him, a few people's intestines were broken, and the jade rabbit and silver toad were far from knowing." There is also the lyrics of Song Dynasty Xin's "Manjiang Red Mid-Autumn Festival": "Deliberately go upstairs to see the jade rabbit, who opens the curtain to cover the silver gate." ...... The list goes on.
(Eastern Han Dynasty) "Divine Beast Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine Diagram Lintel Portrait Stone" Collection of the Palace Museum
And Chang'e holding the jade rabbit to the moon, the moon palace pounding medicine and other legends have a strong feminine color, so the rabbit and female images in traditional Chinese culture have an inseparable cultural complex.
"Chang'e Running Moon Portrait Brick" was unearthed in Nanyang, Henan
Hanle Fu's poem "Ancient Yan Song": "The white rabbit is a white rabbit, go east and west." Clothes are not as good as new, people are not as good as old. "Comparing the abandoned woman to a white rabbit wandering in the four wilds can't help but be moved.
The ancient Chinese character "rabbit" is connected to "dodder", and "dodder" is the herb "dodder", also known as "rabbit silk", which is parasitic by vines. Its parasitism on the fluffy hemp state is just like under the burden of feudal ethics, ancient purdah women climbed up day by day.
"Rabbit silk is attached to hemp, and the vine does not grow." Du Fu's "Wedding Farewell" uses the beginning of rabbit silk and hemp as a metaphor, successfully creating the image of a young woman who understands righteousness.
Of course, the rabbit's usual docility and agility can best convey the beauty of women. From the character "Yi", which expresses the lightness and ethereal of women, you can see not only the smooth lines of rabbits running, but also the beautiful lines of girls in your mind.
The last sentence of the "Mulan Poem" "The male rabbit's feet flutter, the female rabbit's eyes are confused, the double rabbit walks sideways, can An distinguish me as male and female?" "It is also a high praise from women who do not let their eyebrows be raised.
(Qing) Li Shizhuo "Osmanthus Moon Rabbit Fan"
In addition, for literati who are keen to pin their emotions on literature and art, there are many poems and songs that describe "rabbits".
The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Jian passed the posture of the white rabbit sleeping quietly in the grass in early autumn through the posture of "the white rabbit in the new autumn is larger than the fist, and the red ears and frost hair sleep while the grass sleeps." These words came to life. Xie Chengju's "White Rabbit" wrote: "The night and moon are thousands of strands, and the autumn wind and snow are cloudy. iQue Cangyuque, on a rotten silver platter. "The white rabbit in his writing, with thousands of strands of fine hair, white snow, is very vivid and expressive.
(Ming) Tao Cheng "Jade Rabbit Diagram" (partial)
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A rare treasure in "Rabbit"
Although rabbits are not lacking in the characteristics of "restraint" and "melancholy", from the ancient times when it was regarded as an important sacrifice to today's various cute anime images, it is still a symbol of auspicious rui in traditional Chinese culture, pinning on auspicious, longevity, many children and other beautiful hopes, highlighted in various rabbit-related cultural relics. Among them, rabbit-shaped jade is the most common type.
The rabbit-shaped ornament unearthed at the Lingjiatan site in Hanshan, Anhui Province, is one of the earliest rabbit-shaped cultural relics unearthed in China.
The upper part of the cultural relic is a crouching rabbit shape, the head is stretched forward, as if sniffing something, the ears are stretched back, the back is curved and convex, the tail is not like a rabbit, but it is upturned and forked.
A rabbit-shaped ornament unearthed from the ruins of Lingjiatan in Hanshan, Anhui
The appearance of rabbit-shaped jade ornaments not only reflects the high aesthetic value and exquisite handicraft of the ancestors in the Neolithic period, but also highlights that in the era of totem worship, rabbits have occupied an important position.
Since then, the jade rabbit cultural relics that have been circulated are mostly made of green jade and white jade, and there were more green jade rabbits in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and the white jade rabbits gradually increased since the Han and Wei dynasties.
The jade rabbit unearthed from the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty tomb No. 1 in Baoji Rujiazhuang is turquoise jade, the whole is creeping, the rabbit's head is slightly raised, the long ears are raised, the eyes are round, the small short tail, crouching on the ground, vividly showing the rabbit's demeanor when it is alert and looking up.
"Western Zhou Jade Rabbit" Collection of Baoji Bronze Museum
Although the rabbit statue of the Western Zhou Dynasty is bronze, it is still creeping, with both eyes facing back, both ears together, four legs curled, and a hollow abdomen. The rabbit as the veneration is the first time it has been seen in bronze.
(Western Zhou) "Bronze Rabbit Venerable" in the collection of Shanxi Museum
The white jade rabbit shaped pendant collected in the Palace Museum uses a round carving method to capture the moment when the white rabbit looks back, the front legs are prostrate, and the hair lines on the body are erect, which is very agile. The Lingzhi in the mouth is one of the characteristics of the jade rabbit in the Ming and Qing dynasties, adding the meaning of auspicious and longevity.
White jade rabbit-shaped pendant
Source: The official website of the Palace Museum
Traditional Chinese patterns embody the imagination and creativity of the Chinese nation. The rabbit pattern on the cultural relics is a traditional Chinese auspicious pattern, symbolizing multiple blessings such as auspiciousness and many children.
Whether it is the rabbit pattern stamp and rabbit pattern brick carving from the Song Dynasty, or the rabbit pattern on the black-glazed porcelain.
(Song) "Rabbit Print"
(Northern Song Dynasty) "Rabbit Pattern Brick Carving" Collection of the Palace Museum
Or the Ming Dynasty Huangdi Gui Rabbit Pattern Makeup Yarn... In the slender and tortuous lines, the complex and simple are interspersed, telling the most heartfelt wishes and recording the most simple admiration.
(Ming Xuande) "Yellow Land Gui Rabbit Pattern Makeup Yarn" Collection of the Palace Museum
The Mojing motif located in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang is named "Three Rabbits with Common Ears" because of the endless chase and rotation of three rabbits. The motif, which appears in the 16 caves of the Mogao Caves, is slightly different in style, but all reflect simple nature worship and Buddhist beliefs, expressing the close relationship between faith symbols and universal multiculturalism.
(Sui) "Three Rabbit Mogaojing" Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Cave 407
The "rabbit grass" pattern is one of the most common patterns, which means longevity with many children. It is often found on porcelain.
The white-glazed black flower rabbit pattern pillow of the Cizhou kiln of the Song Dynasty in the collection of the Shandong Provincial Museum is a representative cultural relic.
(Song Dynasty) "Cizhou Kiln White Glaze Black Flower Rabbit Pattern Pillow" Collection of Shandong Provincial Museum
The grass in the rabbit's mouth in this type of ornament is by no means an ordinary green grass, but specifically refers to a fairy grass with immortal effects. This undoubtedly contains the hopes of the ancients for the future.
In terms of painting, the ancients even thought of rice paper, stone tiles, rock walls, porcelain, etc., splashing ink, and completing realistic or fantastic artistic treasures, which rhyme for thousands of years and symbolized 10,000 years.
(Northern Qi) "Vermilion Bird Divine Beast Feather Rabbit Diagram" (facsimile) Collection of Hebei Museum
In the painting "Suzaku Divine Beast Feather Rabbit Picture" on the wall of the Gaoyang tomb gate of Northern Qi, the feather rabbit has double feathers on its back, and its mouth is pink leaf rolling honeysuckle, swooping from top to bottom. In the upper part of the picture, each painting is a vermilion honeysuckle pattern, the tail is raised, and the wings are spread to fly the phoenix. The surrounding space is dotted with patterns such as clouds, lotus flowers, and honeysuckle patterns.
In addition to the "seal maniac" that we are familiar with, the Qianlong Emperor also had a certain study of painting. The rabbits in the "Hongli Linlanshi Rabbit Diagram" created by him are more playful and eccentric. The rabbit hair at the root is a bit like a hedgehog, and the eyes are round and slightly cute.
Qianlong "Hongli Linlanshi Rabbit Diagram" (partial) Collection of the Palace Museum
The "Wutong Double Rabbit Diagram" created by the court painter Leng Zhang, who was quite valued and appreciated by Qianlong, is much more vivid and realistic. In the painting, the two rabbits play with each other in the soft grass, creating a harmonious and peaceful appearance. The fur of the rabbit is smooth and textured. The eyes are reflected with white dots and appear crystal clear.
(Qing) Leng "Wutong Double Rabbit Diagram" Collection of the Palace Museum
A hare running in the wilderness, a jade rabbit accompanying Chang'e in the Moon Palace, a three-eared rabbit that contains the concept of "life and death reincarnation"... Rabbits have appeared in various images on copperware, jade, porcelain, clothing and other carriers over the long years, pinning on the yearning of generations of Chinese sons and daughters for a better life.
White-glazed rabbit in the collection of the Shanghai Museum
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, children play with seasonal toys such as "Rabbit Grandpa", "Rabbit King" and "Rabbit Mountain", and the folk allusions and myths and legends passed down orally also allow the traditional culture of rabbits to continue in the flow of time.
In the new year, we face the unknown every day with expectations and expectations. Hopefully, just as the rabbit symbolizes the beautiful meaning, everyone can find happiness in life in 2023, and get what they want.
Source: Art Tourism Culture
Original title: 62 million years old Chinese rabbit