"The general name of the burrower is also, pictographic, and the genus of all rats is derived from rats." This is an entry about rats in the Shuowen Jiezi, which explains that rats are the general names of animals in caves, and the Chinese characters for animals belonging to this category are next to rat characters. In orthodox literature, rats are mostly negative images; in folk culture, there are many interesting rat images; in Chinese culture, at the artistic aesthetic level, rats are mostly positive images; and in real life, people avoid rats. Timid girls meet rats, it is estimated that they will have to show their singing voices, contribute various versions of "aaaah", and even more will contribute various dance styles: high jumps, continuous jumps, rapid retreats, hand dancing, holding pillars and pointing to the ground...
Why is there such a backlash against rats in Chinese culture? Some answers can be found in literature and folklore.
01
Literature: I stand for justice, and the rats retreat quickly!
The writing of rats in Chinese literature has a long history, and in the Zhou Yi Xia Jing, there is: "94, Jin is like a weasel, zhenli." Elephant: The weasel is chaste and fierce, and the position is not appropriate. (On September Fourth, when you encounter a weasel, you must keep the right path to prevent danger.) The Elephant says: When encountering a weasel, it is necessary to keep the right path to prevent danger, which is an inappropriate position occupied. This can be said to be a derogatory writing of rats in earlier literature. In the "Shuo Rat" of the Book of Poetry, there is a more well-known writing: "Shuo Rat Shuo Rat, No Food My Yellow / No Food My Wheat / No Food My Seedlings". The poem uses the metaphor of a rat to a ruler, issuing a plea for "a woman who will die" (vowing to get rid of you). This poem can be said to be the earliest explicit writing of the rat image in literature, and it is obvious that it is written with the people's heart and justice to write the negative image of the rat, fully demonstrating the unequal relationship between the ruler and the ruled.
There are many more literary works like this that derogatorily write rats. For example, "Han Feizi Wai Chu said that the upper right thirty-fourth": "There are also dogs in the fu country, and there are rats on the left and right." The worst thing about governing? The most affected community rats. The Book of Han and the Seventh Middle of the Five Elements: "Rats, worms, sexual theft." Meng Jiao's "Gift to Han Lang Zhongyu": "Shuo Rat wears both yong and wire on the machine." And so on.
The existence of the rat as an animal and the word "rat" are originally objective, without any praise or emotion, and it is man who gives this animal and word a specific meaning in order to express a certain concept or thought. In literature, the use of certain characteristics of rats to compare certain inferior roots of people or negative phenomena of society is one of the reasons why rats tend to be pejorative, and such literary writing techniques have been inherited by later literary creations and become a consensus.
Bichen gradually became a method of orthodox literary creation after the Book of Poetry, and the rat is one of the most common animals in people's daily lives, close to people's daily life, so the use of rats as a metaphor for people and writing about social darkness has gradually become the main form of expression in orthodox literature.
Of course, in orthodox literature, there are also a small number of rats written in neutral or positive forms, such as "Ah Qian" and "Righteous Rats" in Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhiyi" in the Qing Dynasty. "Ah Qian" tells the story of people and rats falling in love, shaping the image of Ah Qian, who is kind, sincere and hardworking; "Righteous Rats" writes the story of rats helping each other, creating the image of a sentient and righteous mouse. In orthodox literature, the positive image of the rat also appeared relatively late, and did not appear until the development and maturity of Ming and Qing opera and novels. The opera novel is still in a relatively marginal position in orthodox literature, and it has always been poetry and history that are in the core position.
"Righteous Rat"
02
Folklore: The mouse is so cute, how can it be scolded?
Unlike the derogatory writing of rats in orthodox literature, "referring to rats to curse people/society", the attitude towards rats in folklore is completely opposite. In folklore literature, many rats appear as positive and witty figures, and in art, rats are also popular images. The head of the zodiac, the rat bites the sky, and the rat marries the daughter is the most common folk culture about the rat.
When it comes to rats in folklore, the most well-known one should be the sub-rat as the head of the zodiac. Why do rats occupy the sub-hours of the twelve hours? Many people may speculate that the sub-hour is from 11 o'clock in the evening to 1 am, which is the most frequent period of rat activity, so it occupies this time period should be because of this habit of life.
Zodiac signs
Why do rats become the first of the zodiac? According to the attitude of orthodox literature, are rats not representatives of destruction, theft, and cowardice? No, in folk culture, rats are clever and cute. There are many versions of the story about the Zodiac. Some versions say that the Emperor of Heaven will line up the zodiac, one says that in the form of a race, the cow runs the fastest, the mouse sits on the bull's head, and when it is about to reach the end, it jumps over the bull's head to the finish line in advance and becomes the first; this really illustrates the importance of standing on the shoulders of giants (cows). It is said that the rat took the initiative to ask the Emperor of Heaven to rank it first, it claimed to be bigger than the cow, and then it used a ruse to sit on the head of the cow, and everyone thought it was bigger than the cow, and then the Emperor of Heaven agreed to rank it first. In the zodiac ranking story, it is also worth talking about explaining the root of the cat-and-mouse hostility - the mouse has seized the cat's position in the zodiac and has since become an old enemy. This is the Chinese version of Tom and Jerry.
In the zodiac story, the mouse's writing is more in line with real human nature, it is both clever and can successfully reach the top of the zodiac with the power of the cow, and cunning, deceiving the cat or making the emperor hate the cat and remove it from the zodiac.
In folk literature, the rat is also a powerful god, an important role in breaking new ground and saving mankind. This type of story belongs to the myth of "rat bites open the sky" in genesis mythology. For example, in the Lahu "Story of The Mupa Mipa", the rat bites the gourd to obtain food and save mankind; in the flood myth, the rat bites the gourd to rescue the brother and sister trapped inside, who is the ancestor of the Lahu tribe. There is also the Yi mythological story "The Man Who Came Out of the Gourd", in which the rat bites the gourd to rescue the old three and small animals after experiencing the great flood. The Bai also have the myth of the creation of the rat bite the golden drum, and the plot is similar to the myth of the Lahu people. From these myths, it is clear that there is a strong color of rat worship.
The marriage of rats to women is also a very interesting folk custom. This folk activity comes from the sacrifice of rats, and the time varies from place to place, including the first day of the first lunar month, the sixteenth day of the first month, the fourth day of the first month of February, and the twenty-third time of December. In this activity, there are specific customs, such as going to bed early, sprinkling salt, rice grains, etc. in the corner of the house, as well as not scooping rice, using grinding, without needles and threads, scissors, etc. In this folklore, the rat marrying a woman is very lively, according to the traditional wedding form, no different from humans, there are palanquins, bands, matchmakers, and a large number of dowries. In this story of rituals and taboos, behind it also implies people's ideological sustenance, one is to hope to kill rats, and the other is to hope for a good harvest in the coming year. In this story, it also shows people's reverence for rats.
Rats marry women
Why is there a worship and reverence for rats in the folk? First, it stems from the cult of fertility. Rats have strong reproductive ability and strong vitality, and early people hope that they and their groups can continue to reproduce and have strong vitality like rats. Early human beings had a cult of fertility, and the worship of rats was also a cult of reproduction. Second, it stems from the helplessness of rats in the struggle between man and mouse. In the early days of mankind, agriculture and food are related to life and death, and rats are one of the important sources of destruction of crops and grain, and people are completely unable to eliminate them, under the premise of not being able to eliminate them by force, people began to "please" them, such as rats and daughters put rice grains in the corner of the house, etc., I believe that at that time the master's family will definitely read the words: "Rats, rats, you have eaten the rice grains I sprinkled, just hurry up, remember my kindness, don't come to steal my grain this year." “
In short, in Chinese culture, there is the opposite phenomenon of "rats are worth every year, and rats are beaten by everyone crossing the street", which is an interesting culture formed on the soil of farming peoples.
"Rat culture" is also inexhaustible, what is your attitude towards rats? What are some of the more interesting rat cultures to know?
PS: Actually, rats are quite cute. Personally, I don't have anything to be afraid of or hate. I'm cute with hairy creatures, and mice happen to be hairy... belch...... In fact, bamboo rats, pet rats, are very cute, right?
I recommend that you go to the B station to watch a dance video, search for keywords: music song, "bamboo rat cooking technique", this video is really cute and fun! I read it countless times.
Happy and blessed Year of the Rat!
Note: The picture is from the network.