According to Red Star News, researchers recently found a clear image of the "four unlikes" - the Chinese iguana, a national level II key protected animal, in the infrared camera installed in the Nanshan Provincial Nature Reserve in Shixing, Guangdong.
First of all, we are sincerely pleased with the results achieved in the protection of wildlife in our country.
However, some children may ask: Hey, isn't four like this?
The four dissimilarities in the animated film "Jiang Ziya"
Some big friends will also ask, at least it should be like this?
The four discord in film and television dramas
So some people can't help but wonder, what kind of animal does the so-called "four unlikes" refer to?
Is it a creature that only exists in mythology, or does it really have its own beasts?
The legendary "four dissimilarities"
First of all, we must first clarify a question, is it "four different" or "four dissimilarities"?
Someone black question mark face: Aren't these two things?
Well, although the pronunciation is the same, there are still some differences between the two.
The four dissimilarities are from the Ming Dynasty mythological novel "Fengshen Yanyi", which is a mount given to his disciple Jiang Ziya by the original Heavenly Emperor. In the book, it is the son of the Unicorn, and the Kirin is one of the four sacred beasts in mythology alongside the dragon, the phoenix, and the turtle, which can be described as a very prominent origin.
The "Fengshen Yanyi" describes the four dissimilarities: the head of the dragon is like a dragon, and the foot is auspicious to the nine weights. The four seas and nine continents are random, and the three mountains and five mountains are every once in a while.
It means that this four-in-phase has the head of a unicorn, the tail of a badger (a legendary divine beast that can distinguish right from wrong), and its body is like a dragon, which can soar through the clouds and drive the fog, go to heaven and earth, and travel thousands of miles a day. Other animals have to avoid it when they see it, which is really unusual. It looks something like this:
Image from Baidu Encyclopedia
In comics and cartoons, the four dissimilar images are often white, not only the combat effectiveness is explosive, but also intimate and loyal, cute and cute, which is simply an essential mythical beast for commuting to school and traveling at home. Wouldn't you really like to have one.
The four discords in the Japanese anime "Fengshen Yanyi"
The beast of good fortune in reality
Now we often say that the four unlikes generally refer to the real elk, because of its horns like a deer, the head and face like a horse, hooves like an ox, and tail like a donkey.
Elk inhabited the land of China millions of years ago and have been with our ancestors for a long time. They are graceful in size, docile in character, deeply loved by the ancestors, and have always occupied an important position in traditional Chinese culture, known as the beast of Xiangrui.
At first glance, the four dissimilarities with the sons of the unicorn seem to be two species, but in fact, the two have a great origin.
According to research, in ancient times, the unicorn was actually a change from the image of an elk.
In the "Book of Poetry, Zhou Nan Lin's Toe", it is sung: Lin's Toe, Zhenzhen Gongzi, Yu Zhenlin Xi. It means that people use the legendary unicorn to praise the benevolent princes.
Zhu Xi pointed out in the "Collected Biographies of the Book of Poetry": "Lin, the body of the crane, the tail of the ox, the hooves of the horses, and the length of the caterpillar." He also said, "Harrier, roe deer, hornless." "In other words, Lin is actually a kind of elk."
In the Han Dynasty Xu Shen's "Explanation of Words", it is even more directly pointed out: "Lin, the big mulu also." Duan Yu also noted: Shan Hulin, the big stag also; HuLinlin, Ren Beast also. Qilin can be called a single lin.
So we can also say that the prototype of the four dissimilarities is actually the four dissimilarities - elk.
In Chinese culture, the deer is not only a beast that represents auspiciousness and immortality, but also a symbol of power and status.
The so-called chasing deer in the Central Plains, "Qin lost its deer, and the whole world chased it away" ("History of the Marquis of Huaiyin"). Deer are often the epithet of imperial power and the world.
In the "Fengshen Yanyi", Jiang Ziya rides the Four Non-Help Wu King. It is not difficult to understand the distinct political symbolism.
Chinese elk, native to the swampy area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River
It should be noted that what we are talking about now is not specific to the four differences. Like the reindeer and moose living in the Daxing'anling area, the southern sambar deer, and the Chinese iguana mentioned in the Red Star News above, because of their similar characteristics to the elk, they are often also called four different.
Reindeer are only found in the forest area of the northeast of Daxing'anling in China
Moose, the largest deer in the world
Sambar deer are distributed in China in Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan and other places
Chinese iguana
But among the above four different things, only the elk is a rare species that belongs to China and has inhabited the land of China since ancient times.
And its racial trajectory and encounters are full of bumpy legends.
In the next article, we will learn more about the past and present lives of the Chinese sacred beast, the elk.
This article is original by Yingruohua Stone, welcome to pay attention to, take you along with long knowledge!
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