<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > Zhu Wencan Zhu Fan</h1>
In the fairy tale of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, there is a "Daughter of the Sea", which is about a beautiful and kind mermaid who resolutely sacrifices her life in order to make her beloved prince happy. This story has touched countless people around the world. The mermaid also became the pride of the Danes, and Danish artists erected her statue on the seashore, which became a major sight in the Danish capital copenhagen. In the collection of the Xi'an Banpo Museum, there is a mermaid basin. The character's eyes are slender, the bridge of the nose is straight, the look is serene, there are two deformed fish patterns next to the mouth, the fish head coincides with the outer contour of the human mouth, and the two small fish opposite the ears constitute a strange image of the mermaid. Some people believe that this is the earliest prototype of the mermaid legend in China, which has a history of more than 5,000 years.
1. The mermaid chronicle
The Classic of Mountains and Seas is known as the Book of Ancient Wonders, and Guo Pu said in his annotations to the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "Zhuang Sheng has clouds, and what people know is better than what they do not know." I saw it in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. With the outline of the universe, the chaos of the masses, the steaming of yin and yang, the distinction of ten thousand specialities, the spirit of the spirit, the wandering spirits, the touch and the structure, the manifold mountains and rivers, the beauty of the wood and stone, the evil can be better than words? And talking about the salty and strange contained in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it is not strange to be strange, and it is not strange to be strange. ”
The Classic of Mountains and Seas. In the Hai Nei Nan Jing, there is a mermaid record: "The kingdom of the Xianren people is in Jianmuxi, and its human face is fishy and has no feet." "Lingyu man face the body of the foot, in the sea." Hao Yixing's note: "Cha Tong was sent to Goryeo and saw a woman in the sea sand, with a red hyena behind her elbow, a mermaid, and a cover that is a lingyu." ”
In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there are also strange fish with human fish, red squid, xenon, and mutual people. Among the notable mermaids, refers to a large amphibian. The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of the Northern Mountains records the characteristics of mermaids: "The water of decisive determination comes out, and the east flows into the river." Among them are many mermaids, four-legged, whose sounds like babies, and who are not stupid. ”
Not only that, there is also a record of the relationship between the ancient Shu people and the fish in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Great Wilderness West Classic: "There are fish that are dry, and the name is known as the fish woman." Death is recovery. When the wind comes, the heavens are a great spring, and the serpent is transformed into a fish, for the fish woman. Death is recovery. "Huayang Guozhi Shu Zhi": "Yu Yu Wang Tian Yu Yu Shan, Suddenly Obtain the Immortal Dao, Shu People Think Of It, for the Establishment of the Ancestral Temple." "The Benji of the King of Shu": "The first name of the king of Shu is Silkworm Cong, and the descendant is called Bai Shu, and the latter is named Yu Jiao." These three generations, each hundreds of years old, were deified and immortal, and their people followed the king. ”
Figure (1) Folk collection of gold mermaids of the ancient Shu kingdom
The heavens and the earth are so great that there are no wonders. A large number of cultural relics excavated at the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan, are completely consistent with the human and divine figures listed in the book "Classic of Mountains and Seas". For example: bronze wakagi, kengi, feather snake, etc. In addition, in the ancient jade ware collected by the people, you can also find the images of yellow birds, dragon horses and mountain gods, and enlightened beasts in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".
Seven or eight jade mermaids from the ancient Shu period in the Sichuan folk collection are 120 centimeters high, with clearly visible fish scales and upturned tails. One of them is a carved mermaid, on one side is an unfolded lotus leaf, the human face is plump, there is a horizontal ridge in the middle of the eyes, the almond eyes are standing, the face is beautiful, the head is tied with a double beard, and the long hair is shawl. Her right hand caressed her hairline as if she were grooming her hair that had been blown by the wind, and her left hand held her pearls made of tears. Her lower body is a fish body, full of fish scales in the shape of a short arc of half moon, and the tail of the fish is two-gidder, in the shape of a "human" character. The fishtail forked open, as if it were paddling hard.
The jade mermaid stands in the space, and visitors can get different feelings at different times, different distances, different angles, and different lights. The mermaid not only has an image, but also has weight and texture independent of the space, without the help of background and color to achieve its artistic effect. It uses concise and concise voice and its own image to express its depth and breadth. Therefore, some people say that it is a solidified psalm, an epic written in jade independent of heaven and earth.
Many ancient texts in China have records of mermaids. In volume XII of the Book of Search for Gods compiled by the historian Gan Bao in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it is written: "Beyond the South China Sea, there are fish people, who live in the water like fish, who do not waste weaving performance, and whose eyes cry, they can produce pearls." In addition, it is said in the "Book of Qiawen" that the mermaid is shaped like a person, with the same appearance and siblings as beautiful women, the skin is like white jade, and the hair is five or six feet long, like a ponytail.
Figure (2) Folk collection of ancient Shu culture jade mermaid
The Book of Narratives is scrolled and clouded: "The South China Sea produced a silk yarn, a dragon yarn, and its price was more than 100 gold." Thought it was not wet in the water. In the "Book of Searching for God", it is recorded that a kind of fish people living in the South China Sea: "There are fish people outside the South China Sea, who live in the water like fish, do not waste weaving, and their eyes cry, they can produce pearls." "Shu Yizhi" called it a stranded yarn, and it was of great value: "The south China Sea out of the stranded yarn, the spring chamber submerged weaving, the famous dragon yarn, its price is more than 100 gold, think it is a service, into the water is not wet." ”
"Taiping Guangji" contains: Sea mermaids, sea mermaids, the East China Sea, the large one is five or six feet long, shaped like a person, eyebrows, nose and mouth, claws, and heads are all beautiful women, all of which are sufficient. The skin and flesh are as white as jade, scaleless, with fine hairs, five colors of light and soft, one or two inches long. Hair like a ponytail, five or six feet long. The female form is no different from that of the husband and woman, and the widows in the sea are more common and raised in the pond. When you have intercourse, you are no different from people, and you don't hurt people. Therefore, they also have a name, called "mermaid". Lin Kun introduced in the "Chengzhai Miscellaneous Records": "The sea people are like people, the eyebrows, noses, hands and feet are beautiful women, all are afraid of their feet, the skin and flesh are white as jade, the wine is like peach blossoms, the hair is like a ponytail, five or six feet long, and the widows in the sea are mostly widowed to take the pond swamp." ”
The sea mermaid that appears here is a life form exactly like a human being, with almost no fish characteristics in sight, and is a "beautiful woman". The Qing Dynasty biologist Nie Huang also recorded a similar "full of limbs" sea mermaid in the "Sea Fault Map": "The mermaid is as long as a person, its flesh is black and yellow, its hands, feet, eyebrows, mouth and nose are all the same, yin and yang are the same as men and women, but the back has wings, red, and the back has a short tail and callostal fingers that are slightly different from people's ears." Some details of nie huang's marine mermaids also retain traces of marine life, such as the wings (fins) on the back and the webbing between the fingers. These details suggest that the sea mermaid comes from the underwater world.
Figure (3) Folk collection of ancient Shu culture human fishtail jade
There are also mermaid statues in many places in the world, and mermaids are connected by their legs to form a fish tail. However, the Polish Warsaw mermaid has two distinct legs, the edges of the legs are carved into the scales of the fish, and at the end of the legs, they form a fishtail. The whole statue is a combination of beauty and strength, and there is movement in silence. The girl's upper body stands slightly backwards, giving people a sense of stability; and she holds the sword above her head, and the fishtail that is cocked backwards and upwards is like a tail rudder, coupled with the ripples of the waves on both knees and tails, all of which give people the feeling of progress, as if the ship has advanced along a clear course and breaks the waves, making people have the belief of victory and giving people a strong appeal. As early as 2300 years ago, the Babylonian historian Barosos wrote about mermaids in the book "Ancient History". In the 17th century, a copy of Huttson's Voyage Diary was published in London, England, which wrote that the mermaid's back and chest on the surface of the sea resembled a woman. Its body is about the same size as the average person, its skin is very white, and it has long black hair on its back. As it dives, it is also seen with a tail similar to that of a dolphin, with many spots like mackerel on the tail.
On July 2, 1991, Singapore's Union Daily published a report entitled "Mermaid Fossils Found off the Coast of Yugoslavia 12,000 Years Ago": Scientists have recently unearthed the world's first complete mermaid fossil, confirming that this animal, which previously appeared only in fairy tales, did exist in the real world. The fossils were found off the coast of Yugoslavia. The fossils are well preserved, and it can be clearly seen that the animal has sharp teeth and strong jaws, enough to tear flesh and bones and kill its prey. Archaeologists said: "It was buried alive during an underwater mud dump, and then protected by the surrounding limestone, and slowly turned into fossils." Fossils show that mermaids are 160 cm tall, above the waist like humans, have a well-developed head, a fairly large brain, have claws on both hands, and have eyes like other fish. "The Shōryū-ji Temple in Osaka City, Japan, was founded in 1670 and contains not only "dragon specimens" but also "mermaid mummies" from tenwa and the second year.
Before the Qin Dynasty in China, there were many "mermaids", and when repairing the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin, it was necessary to use "mermaid oil refining as a lamp" to reward the catch of mermaids and use them to refine oil as a lamp. Sima Qian wrote in the "History Volume 6 Qin Shi Huang Ben Fantasy Sixth": "The First Emperor used mermaid paste as a candle, and the immortals were long-lasting. The above text shows that the mermaid recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and other materials is not a false statement, and it contains countless mysteries that need to be explored and solved. Many of the relics and texts that have not yet been demonstrated today will one day be revealed and restored to their original true colors.
Second, the fertility worship of mermaids and ancient Shu people
The so-called fertility cult is a kind of praise and yearning for the reproductive ability of the biological world. The concept of human fertility worship, rooted in the primitive people's strong concern for their own racial reproduction, is a common custom in primitive society, and is an expression of the primitive ancestors' pursuit of happiness and hope for the prosperity of their careers. In the early ancestral tribes, the prosperity of the people was the top priority of strength, war and resistance to various disasters, so the mother who took on the responsibility of childbearing became a hero in the minds of everyone. The venus of Willendorf, a sculpture of the human body at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, is 11.5 centimeters long and was created more than 20,000 years ago. We can now see that Venus is a pregnant woman with curly hair and fat buttocks. The breasts and pussy were carefully carved out, and her thin arms were placed on top of the breasts. Many ancient peoples had the god of reproduction, in ancient Greece and Rome was Priapas, and the biggest feature of its idols was the majesty of the yang. The cult of female reproduction emphasizes a large trunk, highlighting the huge breasts, large bellies and genitals, reflecting the great enthusiasm of primitive people for reproduction.
Figure (4) The tail of the mermaid of the ancient Shu culture in the folk collection is two Qi style, in the shape of a "human" character.
Ancient Greece created one of the richest and deepest civilizations in human history: the rational philosophy of Socrates and Aristotle, and the romantic art of Miron and Homer. The ancient Greeks sought natural harmony between body and spirit, and an internal and external balance of passion and reason. Plato said in the Republic that the three elements of life are the pleasure of drinking, the pleasure of sex and the pleasure of eating. The ancient Greeks saw their desires as a natural state of life, bathing and growing in the Aegean breeze without restraint, without repression and shame. Ancient Greek sculptures used nude beauty as a beauty, trying to show the beauty of the human body. In the ancient Greek-Persian War, the Persians captured the Greek cities, and the women in the city used their soft bodies to soothe the invaders' hostility and save the whole city from blood. Many ancient Greek art models women gave them the most beautiful artistic image. The famous statue of Venus on the island of Nedos was deeply worshipped by the ancient Greeks. In China, symbols of male root fertility worship include birds, chickens, dragons, snakes, turtles, and arrows. One of the most important contents is to honor the bird as the ancestor, and the bird as the "ancestor" is to take the bird as the male root. The use of the bird as a symbol of the male root can be found in many examples of excavated cultural relics and folk activities. Such as: bird-shaped utensils feet, bird-shaped utensils of pottery, bronze ware on the bird's fish, fish swallowing bird figure and so on. Primitive primitive people deified the genitals as a symbol of divine power, magic. They worship male genitalia made of jade, pottery and stone, and some ethnic minorities still hang wooden ancestors, jade ancestors and bronze ancestors to ward off evil spirits. The arrow is a symbol of the male root, which has been expressed in Greek mythology, and cupid, the god of love, usually holds a bow and an arrow, and the woman whose arrow hits him will arouse lust. Cupid's arrow is actually a symbol of the male root.
Figure (5) Folk collection of gold mermaids of the ancient Shu kingdom
Similar to the worship of male genitalia, female genitalia also has many symbols, and fish and pisces are the most common ones. The ancients used the fish to symbolize the female vulva, which may mean that the fish produces more children; and the two labia majora of the pisces and the female are very similar, and there is a slit in the middle. The use of fish to symbolize the female yin may also be closely related to the fishing activities of the primitive people. The ancients used hole-like objects to symbolize the female yin, such as jade bi, jade, jade ring, tao bi, bone ring and so on. In the vicinity of Liaoning, some sheep's head pottery rings have been unearthed, the pottery ring symbolizes the female yin, and the sheep is a mascot in ancient times, so the sheep's head pottery ring is rich in female yin is auspicious and beautiful. According to Western historians, when holding a Christian wedding, the bride and groom should exchange rings, and also move the ring from one finger to another, which is a simulated sexual intercourse.
The ancestors of the ancient Shu revered and praised water and feared water. The ancestors noticed that the frog's song was closely related to wind and rain, and through the phenomenon of "frog calling, rainstorm arrived", they believed that frogs were gods that could call the wind and rain and control the flood. Coupled with the high-yield breeding ability of the frog itself, it catered to the psychology of the ancients to pray for the prosperity of the ethnic group, so the frog totem worship evolved into a frog god who can control the flood and overcome the flood, and has great divine power. The image of the frog god is reflected in the ancient Shu jade, with a frog-like long leg of the god, a simple wavy pattern on the head, wings similar to flying feathers painted on both sides, a huge chest and abdomen, and a large female yin symbol painted on the lower half.
Figure (6) Folk collection of gold mermaids of the ancient Shu kingdom
China also has a unique symbol of female genitalia, the fish pattern, which is painted or engraved on the pottery excavated from many matrilineal clan social sites such as Banpo in Xi'an. Because the silhouette of the fish, more precisely the outline of the Pisces, is similar to the silhouette of the female vulva. In terms of connotation, the fish has many children and is extremely fertile. Therefore, the combination of these two aspects made the ancestors living in the fishing and hunting society adopt the fish as a symbol of female reproductive organs.
The first people longed to transfer the exuberant reproductive power of fish to themselves through the worship of fish. It can be seen that the worship of female genitalia is closely related to the worship of fertility. Ancient humans used fish to symbolize female genitalia, and gave birth to a ritual sacrifice - fish sacrifice. The fish-patterned faience pottery pattern excavated from the Jiangzhai site in Shaanxi Province vividly reflects the custom of holding a "fish festival" at that time to pray for fertility and prosperity.
Sexuality is ubiquitous in the biological world. Human sexuality is not only necessary for reproduction, but also as an important way for heterosexual sexual pleasure. The ancients regarded sexual intercourse as a very solemn and sacred thing, and called living a conjugal sexual life "the ritual of performing the week", and there is no need to conceal it. The Warring States Strategy, Qin Ce, contains: Chu Wei Yongshi, Han Ling Shangjin asked for help from Qin, and Empress Xuan said of Shang Zi: "When the concubine was a former king, the first king took the body of a concubine, and the concubine did not support it." Put himself on top of a concubine, and the concubine Fu Shigeya, why not? With its few advantages. ”
The cult of sexual intercourse is closely related to the cult of genitals. For humans, sexual intercourse is of course an instinct, and sexual intercourse is a great pleasure. The ancients once described the pleasure of sexual intercourse as "wanting to die" and "soaring spirit". The Book of Poetry, Tainan, Grass Worm describes the happy psychology of sexual intercourse: "Even if it is beautiful, my heart will fall ,...... My heart says,...... My heart is broken." Primitive people believed that there must be divine power or magic in the process of sexual intercourse, so the worship of sexual intercourse was born.
Figure (7) Folk collection of jade mermaids of the ancient Shu kingdom
The ancestors of the ancient Shu dynasty multiplied and worked hard, engaged in production activities such as agriculture, hunting, fishing, livestock breeding and handicrafts, and lived a quiet and fulfilling life. In this living environment, the ancestors, after drinking and eating, appealed their inner desires to carving, making sacrificial items for prayer.
The ancestors of the ancient Shu dynasty pursued immortality and immortality, and only through reproduction could life be extended. In the jade relics of the ancient Shu culture, we see many "mother earth" statues, whose faces and hands and feet have no traces of axe chiseling, and their rich breasts and fat buttocks have been greatly exaggerated and strengthened, indicating that the ancestors' expectations for fertility are a symbol of the prosperity of the ethnic group.
The Book of Poetry says: "Guan Guan Ju Dove, in the River Continent." Ladies and gentlemen. "In the National Museum of China, there is a sandstone sculpture of a man and a woman kissing, from Pengshan Mountain in Shudi, which was once called "China's First Kiss.". In fact, there are sculptures expressing sex in ancient Shu jade art, and there are also sculptures that directly express the intercourse of men and women. We see the ancient Shu kingdom lying on the side of the jade beauty, 32 cm long, wearing a short skirt, and her hair is combed into a neat wool roll. One hand rests under the head and the other holds it, and the entire chest is squeezed underneath. The upper body is small, the lower half is tall and raised, and the calves and feet become thin. In addition, several statues of jade beauties lying on the side of the ancient Shu kingdom are more than 40 centimeters high, with simple characters, smooth lines, smooth surfaces, or sitting or standing. The common feature of female statues is that the head is harp-shaped, the eyes are prominent, and the longer nose is semi-conical. The concave lines can distinguish between the arms, legs, spine and other parts. Yumei's plump breasts and wide hips suggest that she has a strong fertility.
Figure (8) Ancient Shu culture human tail jade beauty, with plump breasts and wide buttocks
The ancient Shu culture jade sculpture "Statue of Men and Women Embracing Standing" now collected in the Xiamen Ancient Culture and Art Museum is exquisite in craftsmanship and shape, vividly expressing the strength of male muscles and the sense of flexibility of women, and is a pair of jade statues of plump men and women kissing.
The exaggeration of the eye shape in "Portrait of Men and Women" shows the primitive aesthetic consciousness and cognition of the ancient Shu people. In the minds of the ancients, the eyes were mysterious. It can reach the heavens, communicate with the gods, and can also compete with the forces of evil. Flowers blossom and are silent, their sect is in the eyes, and their reason is in the heart. The ancient Shu people seem to be aware of this, and express the purest inner desire through the exaggerated eye modeling method. Therefore, someone weaves a wonderful story, perhaps one day three or four thousand years ago, the moment when a pair of ancient Shu lovers embraced and kissed, was recorded by the ancient Shu craftsmen in this statue. Three or four thousand years have passed, and the statue's people have long since turned into dust, but their love has been immortalized by this artifact. It can be seen that life is only a moment, and love can be eternal. The statue expresses the topic of human reproduction caused by the attraction of the opposite sex, which has become a recurring theme of love-themed works of art in later generations. According to the above introduction, we can speculate that during the ancient Shu Kingdom, the number of tribal populations can directly determine the survival of the tribe, determine the prosperity and decline of the ethnic group, and the function of the jade carved mermaid in the ancient Shu Kingdom period reflects the reproductive worship concept of the ancient Shu people.
Conclusion
The image of the mermaid has been loved and celebrated for thousands of years, and she has become a concept, a totem recognized by the world, and a beautiful gift from nature to our hearts. And we should return this gift to nature in our own way. Although the mermaid has never entered anyone's sight, it will always remain in our memory, and because of this, she can give the world enough imagination to shape her and beautify her.
So, the mermaid's charm is sacred, perfect, and eternal. The most important background of the mermaid's story is that the process of human beings embarking on the road to modern civilization is a process of constantly establishing a pyramid hierarchy and a process of constant fierce conflict. As a species that has been friendly with humans, mermaids are certainly more cute and intelligent than marine life such as dolphins. However, it may have been extinct by humans, just as late Homo sapiens once extinct early Homo sapiens Neanderthals. Therefore, the mermaid is an emotional past that will never linger in the depths of human memory.