Have you ever seen this artifact? Its official name is "Qianlong Ji Blue Glaze Pastel Depiction of Golden Yan Ear Zun", which was fired by the Jingdezhen official kiln in the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong (1760). According to legend, this statue was personally designed by the Qianlong Emperor. Because there is a white swallow on both sides of the ear part of the zun, "swallow" is consonant "Yan" (晏: meaning peace), so it is named after the Haiyan River Qingzun. It was once placed by the Qianlong Emperor in the "Haiyan Hall" of the Yuanmingyuan as a symbol of the Kangqian dynasty "Heqing Haiyan, Shihe And Shifeng".
What kind of swallow is such an allegorical swallow?
Let's take a look at it together
The ancient buildings of Beijing City are the habitat of swifts, and it is not difficult to see their traces in the Forbidden City, so will the swallows on the Qingzun of the Haiyan River be designed by Qianlong based on the swifts?
Beijing Swift belongs to the Swift family, slightly larger than our common house swallow, the feathers are black brown, the body is streamlined, the wings are slender and curved backwards, and when flying at high speed, it is like a sharp black sickle, crossing the blue sky.
In the ninth year of the Qing Dynasty (1870), the British naturalist and ornithologist Robert Swinhoe collected the first swift specimen in Beijing and named it "Beijing Swift", which belongs to the subspecies of the ordinary A.apus. According to the 2019 survey data of the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center, the current population of swifts in the fourth ring is more than 5,000 before breeding, and may reach about 10,000 after breeding.
Beijing Swift also has the ability to fly for a long time and long distance without landing. A 2016 tracking study of swifts showed that swifts could fly continuously for at least ten months without landing. The word "Apus" in the scientific name of the Beijing Swift is derived from the Greek word ápous (footless). In the film "The Legend of Ah Fei", Xu Zai, played by Zhang Guorong, once said an intriguing line:
Many people therefore think that the "footless bird" mentioned in the movie should be the Beijing Swift, but in fact, Xu Tsai is not referring to the Swift, but another bird of paradise, the Bird of Paradise.
The bird family Paradisaeidae (scientific name: Paradisaeidae) has 43 species in 16 genera. They live in the Pacific Ocean (mainly Australia and its surrounding islands), and when they fly, they will put their legs into fluffy feathers, which can be mistaken for "no feet", hence the name.
Why is swift named after "footless"? That's because swifts do tend to degenerate on their feet, with all four toes growing forward, unable to walk, stand, grasp branches or branches to roost, and jump as easily as magpies.
As a climbing bird, once the swift lands, it needs to climb upward with the help of the surrounding environment to take off again, so the ancient buildings and gate towers in the city are their best habitats; and because of this, the old Beijingers call it "Lou Yan".
For the Beijing Swift, which comes every autumn and spring, the Beijingers have an unusual affinity; it is also the only bird named after "Beijing". Remember the five mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics? One of her inspirations came from Swift. Is it also the swallow on the Qingzun of the Haiyan River?
Let's take a closer look: the shape of these two swallows of The Qingzun of haiyan River is in the shape of spreading wings and soaring, and the shape is flexible and lifelike. Comparing the swift and the house swallow, you can clearly see the outside of the house swallowtail feather, extending longer and closer to the shape on the Qingzun of the Haiyan River. Therefore, we can determine that the two swallows on the Qingzun of the Haiyan River cannot be swifts, but may be based on the prototype of the house swallow.
The difference between swift (left) and house swallow (right) The difference between swift (left) and house swallow (right).
The water is falling out, and the Haiyan River Qingzun has nothing to do with the Beijing Swift. Searching for artifacts in museums and finding natural species in artifacts has become an interesting way to learn in museums in recent years. This kind of learning experience teaches us that to do scientific research and even daily study and work, we must develop a down-to-earth and serious scientific attitude, master scientific methods, careful observation, reasonable and evidence, and careful reasoning in order to obtain true knowledge.
Public account name: Beijing Academy of Science and Technology
WeChat: bjast-wx
Welcome to follow us!