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Coming to the Year of the Rabbit, let's travel back in time to the ancient Chinese landscape and introduce you to the history and culture of the zodiac rabbit.
The origin of the Chinese rabbit
How did the Chinese rabbit appear? At present, the views of the academic community are different, which can be roughly divided into two views: indigenous origin and foreign import.
The wild ancestor of domestic rabbits is burrowing rabbits, and some scholars believe that Chinese rabbits are of native origin and domesticated from native extinct wild burrowing rabbits; Some scholars believe that Chinese rabbits were introduced to the mainland by burrowing rabbits or domestic rabbits in the pre-Qin period through the Sino-Western communication route.
So, can the rabbit remains unearthed in Chinese archaeology solve the dispute over the origin of rabbits in China? Based on archaeological and documentary data, we believe that Chinese ancestors tried to raise hares as early as the Han Dynasty.
So far, 79 of the hundreds of sites where animal remains have been unearthed across the country have found rabbit remains. From the perspective of geographical scope, these sites are widely distributed, from Shandong in the east, Xinjiang and Tibet in the west, Heilongjiang in the north, and Guangdong in the south, mainly distributed in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins. From the perspective of time span, the site time spans the Neolithic period, the Xia Shang and Zhou period and the Han dynasty, and the archaeological sites of the Neolithic period are relatively concentrated.
The archaeological evidence of the domestication and breeding of rabbits in China mainly comes from the Luozhuang Han Tomb in Jinan, Shandong. Luozhuang Han tomb is of high grade, the level of the princes of the Western Han Dynasty, a total of 36 burial pits were found in the tomb, and more than 3,000 precious cultural relics of various kinds were unearthed, especially the discovery of 19 chimes, 107 weaves and 3 large carriages, which attracted great attention from the archaeological community and widespread attention from society. Among them, the number and variety of animals unearthed in the tomb animal burial pit are the first in the history of the excavation of the tomb-level burial pit of the princes of the Han Dynasty. Yuan Jing carefully observed, photographed, recorded and studied all the animal remains in the No. 34 animal burial pit. There are more than 110 animal remains in the burial pit, including sheep, pigs, dogs, and rabbits. Through the observation of the archaeological site, animal archaeologists found that the skeletons of sheep, pigs and dogs buried with them did not have traces of struggle, speculating that they may have been killed and then placed in an orderly manner according to the species in a specific placement area. Of particular concern is that in the burial pit, two wooden cages dedicated to the placement of rabbits were found, one of which was better preserved, and the wooden cage was about 2 meters long and 0.5 meters wide. Scattered rabbit skeletons were found inside and outside the wooden cage, which were relatively well preserved. Zoarchaeologists have reconstructed the burial process, speculating that he may have died of lack of oxygen.
Rabbits were by no means rare animals in ancient China, and according to mainland literature and archaeological objects, the ancients had long recorded the capture and consumption of hares. There are relevant verses in the Book of Poetry, there are also pictures of slaughtering rabbits in Han portrait stones, and there are concise descriptions of the behavioral characteristics of male and female rabbits in the Mulan Ci. In the notebook novel "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing", which records anecdotes from the Western Han Dynasty, there is a story that describes the story of Liu Wu (184-144 BC) the king of Liang Xiao who built a rabbit garden in present-day Shangqiu, Henan: "King Liang Xiao Haoying Palace Room Garden Joy, as the Palace of Yaohua, Building a Rabbit Garden", is also an example of raising rabbits.
In the pre-Qin period, the Chinese ancestors had the ability to raise "six animals" (dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, horses and chickens), especially the successful domestication of dogs and pigs independently, and re-innovated the introduced domestic animal species. The practice of domesticating and raising six animals provides experience for raising other animals. According to the archaeological objects and documentary records unearthed so far, there have been attempts to raise captured hares in the Han Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has determined that rabbits were successfully raised.
The image of a rabbit in a cultural relics
There are not many cultural relics with rabbit as the theme or rabbit image, and they are described here according to the material of the cultural relics.
1. Rabbits in jade artifacts
In tomb No. 10 of the Lingjiatan site in Hanshan, Anhui, 5300 years ago, the earliest rabbit-shaped jade artifact known to date was unearthed. This rabbit-shaped jade is flakes in the shape of a gray-white color. The rabbit's head is slightly raised, its ears are attached to its back, its tail is rolled up, and its hind feet are raised, seemingly in a running posture (Figure 1).
Rabbit-shaped jade artifacts unearthed at the ruins of Lingjiatan in Anhui Province
More than 3,000 years ago, a jade rabbit was unearthed in the tomb of the Yin Wu Hao in Anyang, Henan, in the late Shang Dynasty. The jade material is bluish yellow, polished throughout, and flattened. The rabbit is prone shaped, with a large head and a short body, long ears standing behind the ears, scales on the ears, large round eyes shown with double ring lines, open mouth and tongue, slightly concave back, short tail slightly rolled up, front and back legs bent, feet carved with five claws, and small holes on the forefoot.
A jade rabbit unearthed from the tomb of Yin Wuhao in Henan
In the coffin of Empress Xiaojing of the Ming Dynasty Dingling Tomb in Changping, Beijing, a pair of Ming Dynasty gold earrings were unearthed under the gem-encrusted jade rabbit earrings. The rabbit in the earrings has a ruby on its head, the body is upright, the ears are upright, the eyes are set with rubies, the two front paws hold the pestle as a pounding medicine, there is a moth, the rabbit body is engraved with a fine female line, showing the rabbit hair, there are three gold to the bottom of the rabbit foot and mortar, the gold to the center of the gold to set the opal, and the two sides are set with rubies. The earrings are designed and made with the theme of jade rabbit, which was regarded as a symbol of the moon in ancient times, and the moon symbolized the queen, so it was used as the queen's earrings.
The tomb of Empress Xiaojing in Beijing's Mingding Mausoleum unearthed gold rings set with gemstones and jade rabbit earrings
The jade-inlaid gemstone crouching rabbit in the collection of the Palace Museum is a work from the Qianlong to Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. The material of the jade rabbit is Hetian green jade, containing white brain and three-dimensional round carving. The rabbit's head is slightly tilted, the ears are stretched back, connected to the back, the eyes are inlaid with colored gemstones, the mouth is attached to Ganoderma lucidum, and eight gemstones of various colors are embedded in the Ganoderma lucidum. The rabbit is lying down, its four legs are bent forward, its front feet are hugged, and there are several inscribed lines on its back and ears to depict a plush texture, which is well-behaved and docile.
Qing dynasty jade-inlaid gemstone crouching rabbit
2. Rabbits in ceramic artifacts
The ceramic zodiac rabbit figurine of the Tang Dynasty, the head of the rabbit, the rabbit head has two ears hanging behind, the eyes are round, the mouth is together, wearing a robe, wide sleeves, and hands intersected on the chest.
Rabbit terracotta figurines of the Tang Dynasty
3. Rabbit in bronze
Tomb No. 8 of the Jinhou Cemetery in Qucun, Shanxi Province, was unearthed with a bronze rabbit statue. The rabbit's head is slightly extended, its eyes are round, its ears are close to its back, its limbs are bent, it is eager to try, its tail is short, it carries a mouth on its back, and the sides of the rabbit body are decorated with round fire and thunder patterns. The rabbit as the veneration is the first time it has been seen in bronze.
Rabbit Zun of the Jin Marquis Cemetery in Qucun, Shanxi
The head of the Qing Dynasty copper rabbit in the Old Summer Palace has round eyes, a bulging nose, a slightly open mouth, ears erected back, and a face with fine yin lines carved out of hair.
Copper rabbit head
4. Rabbit in the image
The Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province is the family burial ground of the prime minister of Changsha State and Xuanhou Licang during the Western Han Emperor Wen Dynasty, and one of the tombs is the tomb of Li Cang's wife, and its coffin lid is covered with a T-shaped painting. From top to bottom, the painting depicts scenes in heaven, on earth and underground. The upper left part of the painting depicts a woman flying on her back and holding a crescent moon, with a crescent arch surrounding a toad and a rabbit, and a pterosaur and clouds underneath. Rabbits appeared with toads and became a combination at the time. The Eastern Han Dynasty thinker Wang Chong mentioned in "On Heng": "There are rabbits and toads in the moon."
Rabbit in the T-shaped painting of Mawangdui No. 1 Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province (the red part in the picture is marked by the author)
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the image of a rabbit was also found in the east mural of the ancestral hall No. 4 of Songshan in Jiaxiang, Shandong. On the left side of the portrait stone, there are two rabbits standing face to face, respectively holding a pestle with one forelimb and one forelimb, as if pounding medicine, and there is a squatting toad between the two rabbits, using the forelimb to lift the mortar. Underneath the portrait, fish, chickens, pigs, and rabbits hang from the kitchen beams, all of which are prepared for cooking.
Shandong Jiaxiang Songshan No. 4 ancestral hall east mural portrait of the image of the rabbit in the stone (partial) (the red part in the picture is marked by the author)
The "Qing Palace Beast Genealogy" collected by the Palace Museum depicts 3 rabbits, including 2 white rabbits and 1 black rabbit, they crawl between strange rocks, grass, and thin branches, with rabbit ears stretched back, red eyes, red eyes, beards, and curled limbs.
An image of a rabbit in the "Genealogy of the Qing Palace"
The cultural connotation of the rabbit
In the oracle bone script, the character "rabbit" shows the characteristics of long ears and short tails of rabbits; Jin Wen continued this characteristic, sometimes drawing the shape of a rabbit directly; From the small seal, the prototype of the modern "rabbit" character appeared.
The evolution of the rabbit word
There are some rabbit-related poems in the Book of Poetry, such as the Zhou Nan Rabbit Yi, which praises the samurai, which has the phrase "Su Su Rabbit Yi, Tintin of the Poor." ...... Su Su Rabbit Yi, applied to Zhongkui. ...... Su Su Rabbit Yi, Shi Zhonglin", describes the scene of setting up a densely meshed rabbit net in a vast field and in a wooded place, preparing to catch rabbits. In "Wang Feng Rabbit" lamented that the fallen aristocracy lamented that it was not timely, there is "there is a rabbit, and the pheasant leaves Luo", describing the rabbit leisurely, but the pheasant is covered in a snare. In "Xiaoya Qiaoyan", which hurts the monarch's trust and rumors, there is "leaping over the rabbit, and getting it when it meets the dog", describing the cunning rabbit jumping and running, and there is nowhere to run when it encounters a hunting dog. In "Xiaoya Gourd Leaves" about feasting, there is "There is a rabbit head, and the cannon is burnt... There is a rabbit head, burnt burnt. ”
The most famous idiom about rabbits is "three caves of cunning rabbits", which comes from "Warring States Policy Qize IV". After Meng Weijun was dismissed by the King of Qi, he returned to the fief Xue, and the doorman Feng Yu said to Meng Weijun: "The cunning rabbit has three caves, only to avoid its dead ears. There is a cave in this king, and he does not have to lie down. Please dig the second cave for Junfu." In order to establish a triple insurance for Meng Weijun, Feng Yu first lobbied the Wei state, saying that the Wei state would invite Meng Weijun as the minister; Thus, the king of Qi was prompted to make amends to Meng Weijun, re-invite Meng Weijun as his face, and in addition, put the country's sacrificial instruments and sect temples in Xue Di. In this way, Meng Weijun had the trust of the Wei state in him, the state of Qi, and the triple insurance of placing the country's sacrificial apparatus and sect temple in Xuedi, and peace for decades.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, we left many classic literary works and became treasures of Chinese culture. Among them, the famous "Mulan Words" tells the story of a girl named Mulan, a woman dressed as a man, serving in the army for her father, establishing meritorious achievements on the battlefield, and not wanting to be an official after returning to the dynasty, only wanting to go home and reunite, warmly praising the determination and brave spirit of this strange woman to protect her home and defend the country. At the end of "Mulan Ci", "The male rabbit's feet flutter, the female rabbit's eyes are confused, the double rabbit walks sideways, An can distinguish me as male and female", and the Ming Dynasty poet Xie Hao made an apt evaluation of this: "This knot is the most topical and surprising." If these four sentences are missing, so that the princes of the Six Dynasties will make up for them, they may not be able to do this." As animal archaeologists, we were not only fascinated by the style of "Mulan Ci", but also paid attention to the fact that the people at that time had meticulously observed and recorded the different behavioral characteristics of rabbits of different genders.
There are rabbits in the month
There are rabbits in the moon, which holds the romantic feelings of the ancients and is also full of the spirit of scientific exploration of contemporary Chinese.
In the history of Chinese literature, the first collection of romantic poetry "Chu Ci", there is an article "Tianwen", which mentions "Yu Liweihe, and Gu Shu in the belly?" "This is the first mention of a rabbit in the moon in literature that has been seen so far. According to ancient Chinese myths and legends, the jade rabbit, also known as the moon rabbit, is a mythical beast that lives in the moon's moon palace and is the fairy rabbit responsible for pounding medicine. When it comes to the Moon Palace, the story of Chang'e running to the moon comes to mind, and in the "Huainanzi" written by Liu An of the Western Han Dynasty, it is recorded that Chang'e secretly ate the immortal medicine that her husband Yi got from the Queen Mother of the West and flew into the Moon Palace. Chang'e's running to the moon, like Nuwa making up the sky, Houyi shooting the sun, and Jingwei reclaiming the sea, has become a beautiful mythical story of the Chinese nation and has been passed down from generation to generation.
We turn our gaze to the contemporary. From 2007 to 2010, two artificial satellites, "Chang'e-1" and "Chang'e-2", were successfully launched one after another. In 2013, Chang'e-3 was successfully launched and successfully delivered China's first lunar rover, the Jade Rabbit, to the lunar surface, which was China's first footprint on the moon. In 2019, Chang'e-4 successfully sent the second lunar rover "Yutu-2" rover to the lunar surface.
Chang'e IV
Jade Rabbit II
China's aerospace science and technology workers, full of patriotism, inject ancient myths and legends and Chinese romance into the modern lunar exploration project. They named the artificial satellites and probes in the lunar exploration project "Chang'e", and the rovers that landed on the moon called "Jade Rabbit". Now, when we look at the starry sky, "Chang'e" runs to the moon, and "Jade Rabbit" is in the moon, ancient Chinese myths and stories have become a reality. It is with the continuous development of modern aerospace science and technology that the 5,000-year-old dream of the Chinese nation has been realized, and China's modern space science and technology and ancient beautiful myths and stories are perfectly combined.