In the vast land of China, the dragon, as a mysterious and solemn cultural symbol, has always been active in people's beliefs, art, architecture and even daily life. Since ancient times, the "dragon" has been an "auspicious beast" in the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and the sons and daughters of China have identified themselves as "descendants of the dragon", and the Chinese dragon has also become a national identity symbol of the Chinese nation's pluralism and unity. However, the influence of dragon culture does not stop at the long history of history. In modern society, the spiritual connotation of the dragon has been given a new interpretation. Today, we must look for the connotation of dragon culture from the new perspective of the times, across the north and south of the river, integrating the history and future.
CCTV reporter Zheng Yizhe: History is the best textbook, and if we want to explore the origin of dragons, archaeology can provide us with many clues. Now that we are at the China Archaeological Museum, let's follow this time and space tunnel to explore where the dragon came from in the long river of history.
Where did the image of the dragon first appear? At present, the earliest image of the dragon in China, which is relatively recognized by the academic circles, appeared at the Chahai site in Fuxin, Liaoning Province, 8,000 years ago. The 19.7-meter-long dragon is made of reddish-brown stones built in regular patterns, and is presumed to be the totem dragon god used by the ancestors of the tribe for rally worship.
Time came to 5,000 years ago, and the jade dragon found in the Red Mountain Cultural Site in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, was also vividly called the "C-shaped dragon". It has a graceful posture and a collection of animal features such as deer eyes, snake body, pig nose, and horsehair. There is a round hole in the dragon's back, which is hung on the line, and the head and tail are of equal height to maintain balance. How did the ancients achieve such an exquisite skill? The question is as fascinating as the jade dragon itself.
And in the archaeological museum where we are, there is a dragon made of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise, unearthed in about 3700 to 3600 years ago in Henan Yanshi Erlitou site, the thickness of each piece of turquoise is only about 1 mm, the main pattern of the diamond symbolizes the scales all over the body, there is a copper bell in the middle of the turquoise dragon, it is speculated that this cultural relic may be used for sacrifice, is a dragon flag. "The Book of Songs" has clouds, "the dragon flag Yangyang, and the bell Yangyang", which is about the scene when the dragon flag flutters in the wind and the copper bell jingles when the sacrifice is made.
For thousands of years, from Liangzhu to Erlitou, from Hongshan to Sanxingdui, the shape of the dragon is evolving, and we can always find the elements of snakes, deer, pigs, and birds in the dragon. Is there such an animal as a dragon in history? Let's talk to an expert.
Lv Peng, an expert in zooarchaeology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: From the perspective of zooarchaeology, we have not actually found dragons, but we have found animal prototypes of dragons from archaeological sites. Our Chinese dragon is actually based on these animal archetypes, and a collection of plants, natural phenomena and so on to form such a deified complex. These differences in details and animal archetypes represent the different time and space ancestors who had their own priorities in the process of creating dragons. After thousands of years, the image or posture of the Chinese dragon has changed endlessly, but it has never changed from its origin, which represents the integration and symbiosis of diverse and integrated cultures.
The letter is as old as the time, and the millennium continues
Archaeologists believe that the evolution of the Chinese dragon has roughly gone through three stages: the dragon pattern based on a single animal in the Yangshao period, the dragon pattern in the Longshan period with crocodile and snake patterns as the main body compatible with one or two animal characteristics, and the Xia and Shang period, the dragon pattern with crocodile and snake as the main body compatible with fish, tiger, deer, bird and other animal characteristics. It can be seen that the image of the Chinese dragon is a collection of many animal images, and the whole evolution process is a true portrayal of the continuous development of Chinese civilization. The image of the dragon condensed by the length of many things is also in line with the interpretation of the dragon in the Eastern Han Dynasty "Shuowen Jie Zi", which is called "can be dark and bright, can be small and huge, can be short and long, ascend to the sky at the spring equinox, and dive into the abyss at the autumn equinox". Spring equinox, autumn equinox, these are our traditional solar terms, what is the relationship between them and the dragon?
CCTV reporter Zheng Yizhe: At the 6,000-year-old Xishuipo site in Puyang, Henan Province, there is a group of dragon and tiger patterns carefully placed with mussel shells. As you can see, the head of this mussel dragon is high, with a curved neck and a bowed body, which looks like a take-off. So why was a dragon and a tiger placed like this at that time?
The answer is hidden in the starry sky of our archaeological museum, when we look up and see the brilliant stars, the ancients used rich imagination to divide the stars in the sky into four divine beasts according to the direction, that is, we are familiar with the East Palace Canglong, the West Palace White Tiger, the South Palace Vermilion Bird, and the North Palace Xuanwu. The orientation and angle of the dragon and the white tiger completely correspond to the Henan mussel plastic dragon. The imagination of the ancients about the starry sky is confirmed here.
The Chinese imagination of dragons does not stop at the starry sky and sacrifices. Thinking back to the ancient times, the sun was setting in the west, and the ancients saw this star representing the dragon's horn on the horizon in the east, and years of experience told him that he was ready to start farming. So how did the ancients reach such a tacit understanding with time? Let's listen to the experts' interpretation.
Feng Shi, a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology: This celestial phenomenon is a standard celestial phenomenon, called seeing the dragon in the field, so the folk agricultural proverb to describe this celestial phenomenon is the dragon raising its head. The second February you see this year is the dragon raising its head, 10 years later it is still like this, 100 years later it is still like this, time is the most honest, that is, the ancient books talk about the letter as the time. We don't have an agreement with time, but it never deceives us, and the cycle of the four seasons is the same, the spring and autumn sequence, when it should be cold, it is cold, and when it should be warm, it is warm, every year, it never violates this law. Through such a kind of observation and time-teaching activity, or people's life experience, people realize that time is faith, and take faith as the core connotation of morality to cultivate people, then civilization is established.
CCTV reporter Zheng Yizhe: At the site of Xiangfen Tao Temple in Shanxi, an ancient observatory dating back 4,000 years was also discovered, which is also the earliest known observatory in mainland China. With the observatory as the center, 13 earthen pillars are arranged from west to east, and the ancients used the gaps between the earthen pillars to observe and record the changes of the sun, moon and stars, speculate on the change of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and realize the dialogue between heaven and man.
Also at the site of the Tao Temple, the image of a dragon appears on this large pottery plate with a diameter of 40.7 centimeters, and the dragon mouth holds a spike like a crop. The appearance of the dragon heralded a good harvest, and the celestial signs of the dragon guided the agricultural time, and the spiritual world of the ancestors thousands of years ago was combined with agricultural production.
Whether it is down-to-earth farming or looking up at the starry sky romantic, the history of the dragon is also the history of the origin, development, integration and spread of Chinese civilization.
Text/Reporter: Yang Yang, Zheng Yizhe, Tian Yunhua, Zhang Yun, Kong Bingbing
Source: CCTV News