The jade rabbit bids farewell to the old year, and the auspicious dragon welcomes the new year. In traditional Chinese culture, the dragon represents positivity, self-improvement, and great achievements. As a spiritual symbol and cultural symbol of the Chinese nation, there are countless beautiful idioms related to dragons, such as swimming dragons, carving dragons, and leaping dragons...... From the ancient court to the homes of ordinary people, the image of the dragon penetrates into all aspects of people's lives. On the occasion of the arrival of the Year of the Dragon, follow our footsteps through the long history of Beijing, explore the elements related to dragons in famous landmarks, and embark on a journey of dragon hunting together!
One morning in mid-April 2002, more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise inlaid dragon-shaped vessels and an imperial bronze jade tongue copper bell were exposed to the ground, "ringing" the echo of the history of the Xia Dynasty that had been sealed for thousands of years, and bringing out the image of the early Chinese dragon......
What is a "Super National Treasure"?
Next to the dragon-shaped water system of the Olympic Park, the Chinese Archaeological Museum stands impressively in the shape of "Zun", and one of the treasures of its town hall is the turquoise dragon-shaped vessel known as the "super national treasure" unearthed at the site of Yanshi Erlitou in Henan.
Exterior view of the China Archaeological Museum (Photo/Yan Jin)
At the entrance of the "Zhaizi China" exhibition hall on the third floor of the museum, the first independent display case is a turquoise dragon-shaped ware.
Turquoise dragon-shaped display cabinet (Photo/Yan Jin)
In the display case, the green of turquoise and the white of jade are dotted with loess. The soil around the turquoise dragon vessel has been flattened, and it is embedded in a ridge-shaped mound of earth, with a giant curled tail, a dragon body curled up, and a bronze bell with a jade tongue in the middle. Looking down from the glass window, it looks like a swimming dragon, swinging its body. In the faint halo of the display case, every piece of turquoise that has gone through more than 3,000 years is shining.
绿松石龙形器全貌（图/严瑾）
Careful observation, more than 3 centimeters away from the tail end of the turquoise dragon, there is a turquoise strip ornament, which is nearly perpendicular to the dragon body, so the total length from the dragon's head to the strip ornament is 70.2 centimeters. This dragon-shaped vessel is made up of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise, each of which is between 0.2 cm and 0.9 cm in size and only about 0.1 cm thick.
The jade tongue copper bell in the middle of the turquoise dragon-shaped device (photo/Yan Jin)
According to archaeological research, this turquoise dragon was placed on the owner of a noble tomb in the palace area during the initial prosperity of Erlitou Duyi, and the turquoise flakes covered the area from his shoulders to his crotch. The turquoise flakes were supposed to be glued to some kind of organic matter, but the organic matter on which it was based had decayed, and only white ash marks were found in some parts.
This turquoise dragon is an original, which was first exhibited to the public last year, and is the only one of its kind in the country. Archaeologists at the Erlitou site found that only blowing off the floating soil on the dragon-shaped vessel at the excavation site would affect the position of each small turquoise piece, thus affecting the final restoration of precious cultural relics. Therefore, in 2002, it was directly transported back to Beijing for restoration in the form of a complete set of containers.
"Jade tongue copper bell" first appeared,
Why is the dragon image of Erlitou "the most Chinese"?
In the spring of 2002, an archaeological team member discovered a corner of a copper bell in the middle of a turquoise dragon vessel, and a human skeleton outcropping nearby. In the same year, the whole set of containers was shipped back to Beijing for further repair.
In the summer of 2004, the turquoise tools began to be unpacked and cleaned, carefully chiseled and removed the plaster, and it was only when the general outline came out that it was actually a fairly well-preserved dragon.
The dragon's head is raised on a "near-trapezoidal" bracket bonded by turquoise flakes, and is slightly bas-relief, with a large oblate head and a slightly protruding snout. The middle ridge of the frontal surface and the bridge of the nose are composed of three solid semicircular green and white jade columns, and the turquoise garlic-like nose end is huge and eye-catching.
The head of the dragon-shaped device (Photo/Yan Jin)
The dragon's body near the tail gradually becomes a circular bulge, so it is more realistic, and the tip of the tail is curled inward, if it swims, it is ready to come to life.
The tail of the turquoise dragon-shaped device (Photo/Yan Jin)
This large-scale turquoise dragon-shaped vessel, with its huge workmanship, fine production and large volume, is very rare among the early Chinese dragon image cultural relics, and has extremely high historical, artistic and scientific value. Some scholars believe that the unearthing of turquoise dragon-shaped vessels has found the most direct and orthodox root for the dragon totem of the Chinese nation. This blue dragon unearthed in the "earliest China" and "the first royal capital of China" is a national treasure and can be called the "Chinese dragon".
The image of the mysterious animal dominated by the dragon seen in the Erlitou culture is more abstract and mysterious than that found on similar objects in other periods, and the image of the dragon has gradually moved from pluralism to unity.
The rest of the "dragons" in the Archaeological Museum
The painted dragon pattern pottery plate unearthed from the site of Xiangfen Tao Temple in Shanxi Province is about 5,000 years ago. The pottery plate depicts the earliest dragon with scales on the mainland. The dragon, covered with black and red scales, with grain in its mouth, appeared in the painted pottery plate more than 4,300 years ago, clearly showing the interplay between the dragon culture and the farming culture of the Chinese nation.
Painted dragon pattern pottery plate (Photo/Yan Jin)
In addition, there is a jade dragon unearthed in the large cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the Fenghao site - Zhangjiapo cemetery.
Jade Dragon (Photo/Yan Jin)
The dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation, as the descendant of the "dragon", in the year of the dragon in Jiachen, go to the Chinese Archaeological Museum to see the "Chinese dragon"!