preface
Jun did not see Qin Shi Shu Taishou, carved stone erected as three rhinos. Since ancient times, although there has been a method of victory, the natural river flows eastward. The Shu people boasted for a thousand years, overflowing not close to Zhang Yilou. - "Stone Rhinoceros"
In the "Xiangfeng Fu", it is recorded that there are divine beasts hovering at the root, and spirit birds occupying the top, which is what an image of the earthly aura, and people in ancient times liked to use the sacred beasts as things to calm water, relieve disasters, ward off evil spirits, and town houses. There is a story in ancient folklore: During the reign of Emperor Chen Xuandi, the north at that time was called Northern Zhou, and when the Emperor of Northern Zhou destroyed Buddhism, a Zen master named Huiwen was forced to go south from the sea, unfortunately encountered strong winds and waves, and the ship sank. At this time, a turtle appeared to carry it to a safe place, and later the Zen master learned that the turtle came from his own release pool, and after the Zen master reported the matter, Chen Xuandi was very moved, ordered people to build the Bao'en Temple and set up the turtle and camel monument, which was later used as a town water and auspicious thing.
China's culture has a long history, after five thousand years of precipitation and accumulation, leaving behind the wisdom of many ancients and valuable cultural relics created in the ancient period, after hundreds or even thousands of years of baptism, it has gradually been excavated by future generations of people, these cultural relics have a variety of wonderful stories. For example, the local construction team in Chengdu dug up the stone rhinoceros while working, and the experts asked to bury it on the spot after seeing it, and the strange thing is why it will be dug out again after 40 years?
In 1973, a telecommunications building was being built in downtown Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and after the geographical location was chosen, the construction team responsible for the construction conducted a site survey to ensure that the foundation work began without problems. Unexpectedly, the piling machine encountered trouble soon after the beginning, only to see that this piling machine could not go on, but the workers had to dig with their bare hands to check the specific situation, and finally dug up a stone slab. The slab is carved with a pattern, and after the people lifted the slab, they found that there was a larger stone underneath, with an unusual shape.
The person in charge of the construction site saw that this situation may have preliminarily determined that the cultural relics may have been excavated, so he hurried to report the situation. The archaeological team received the notice to rush to the scene at the first time, according to the relevant site involved in the staff statement, when the archaeological team arrived, the place where the large stones were unearthed was already a large pit about four meters deep, which contained a four-legged stone statue, only four feet could not see the contours of its face, under the careful observation of the archaeological team, it was inferred that this was probably a sacred beast used as a town water.
The archaeologists consulted with the construction team to help excavate the beast, but the request was rejected by the site leader, who said that the stone beast was buried deeply, and the weight far exceeded the capacity of the existing crane, and it was not realistic to dig it out. The excavation was difficult to carry out, and after many deliberations, it was finally decided to bury the stone beast and build a six-story telecommunications building on this location. So what is this stone beast buried downstairs, is it really a water god beast as experts have deduced? These mysteries were finally solved until 40 years later.
In 2010, after 38 years of spring and autumn, the telecommunications building was eliminated by the times, and the relevant departments decided to demolish it and build a Sichuan Grand Theater. In the winter of 2012, the construction of the Grand Theater began, and when the foundation excavation was carried out, the archaeological team rushed to the site for the first time, hoping to see the large stone beast of that year. Not long after the foundation was dug, the stone beast was indeed exposed, and the people at the scene cheered and were excited. After formulating a detailed plan, it was not until 2013 that this large stone beast was really excavated, and after the complete excavation, people finally saw its full picture, and it turned out to be a mighty and powerful rhinoceros.
According to the measured data, this rhinoceros stone statue is about 3.3 meters long, about 1.7 meters high, weighs 8 tons, has a rounded and exquisite shape, looks very strong and thick limbs, and has carved patterns on the body, but the surface is somewhat peeled off in the old age. So what exactly is this rhinoceros statue for? Why is it buried in the ground? As there are more and more puzzles, the more questions people have in their minds, all of which require further research and answers by archaeologists.
By consulting historical documents such as the "Benji of the King of Shu", experts found that the ancients used the stone rhinoceros as a sacred beast to calm the water. During the Qin Dynasty, Li Bing was ordered by Qin Shi Huang to control the water, and built dujiangyan to effectively prevent the flood from raging, and also built a stone rhinoceros as a water god beast. According to relevant records, there are five stone rhinos, two of which are in Chengdu, and the origin of this stone rhino can be proved through various evidence materials. It is even more worth mentioning that the number of stone rhinos crafted at the time of the circular carving is small and very rare, and this artifact is currently housed in the Sands Museum.
epilogue
Rhinos love to live in the water, so the ancients believed that rhinos could control floods, and gradually rumored that they could calm the water. This cultural relic is full of the legendary color of traditional Chinese culture, and at the same time, it is also the stone rhinoceros with the largest volume and weight and the earliest time found in China, and the emergence of this cultural relic has fully filled the gap in the history of sculpture art in China. And our country has a long history, so it has given birth to many cultural relics, they all belong to the wisdom of the ancient working people of our country, symbolizing our history, but also witnessing our history, so the protection of cultural relics is also the most important thing.
Resources:
"Stone Rhinoceros"
《XiangFeng Fu》