The cultural fusion behind the "Fish and Bird Wars"
The Central Plains is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization. The endless flow of the Yellow River and the fertile and fertile yellow land provided rich supplies for prehistoric humans and also gave birth to a highly developed faience civilization. Recently, the exhibition "Faience China - The Integration and Unification of China 5,000 Years Ago" is being exhibited at the Shaanxi History Museum, bringing together 245 pieces (groups) of faience pottery and related fine cultural relics from 36 cultural institutions in 16 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, which is the most widely distributed display of faience pottery in Chinese museums so far. Through the longitudinal context of the development process of faience pottery in the Weishui River Basin and the horizontal section of miaodigou cultural faience in the Yangshao era, the exhibition outlines a magnificent picture of cultural integration and social unity in the land of China 5,000 years ago.
Fish-patterned pots, bird-patterned pottery bowls, bird-like fish-patterned clay pots... On April 8, the reporter saw at the exhibition "Faience China - China's Integration and Unification 5,000 Years Ago" that many of the faience pottery exhibited were painted with fish and bird patterns. "The flora and fauna patterns painted on the pottery are the totem emblems of the clan or tribe to which the owner of the faience pottery belongs, especially the animal motifs should be totems." Experts have found that the faience pottery of the fish pattern appears in the cultural remains of the Banpo culture in the Yangshao period, while the faience pottery of the bird pattern appears more in the cultural remains of the Miaodigou culture.
Archaeological data show that about 8,000 years ago, the ancestors of the old Guantai culture in the Weihe River Basin took the lead in inventing faience pottery in China. The faience pattern of the old Guantai culture is often applied to the outer edge of the mouth of the pottery such as bowls and three-legged pots, which is a red color wide band pattern for a week, and the inner wall of individual pottery is painted with symbolic patterns. The plain and simple composition shows the characteristics of the budding period of faience pottery. About 7,000-6,000 years ago, Banpo cultural faience pottery centered on the Weishui River Basin developed rapidly. Banpo cultural faience pottery is mainly based on black color on a red background, mainly painted on bowls, pots, bottles, cans, the inner color is developed, popular broadband, straight line, triangle and other geometric patterns and fish patterns, bird patterns, deer patterns, frog patterns, human face patterns and other patterns, especially the fish patterns and human face fish patterns full of strong interest are the most typical. The charm of people and fish not only reflects the close relationship between the ancestors of Banpo and water and fish, but also shows superb artistic techniques and mysterious primitive religious atmosphere.
A bird's fish pattern faience pot excavated from the Baoji North Shouling site
Miaodigou culture occurs in the junction area of shaanxi, Jin, and Yu provinces, about 6000-5500 years ago, bird pattern is one of the important themes of Miaodigou culture faience pottery ornamentation, with dots, arcs and other simple outlines, wings stretched out in a flying posture, from figurative realism gradually to simplified abstraction. This bird pattern totem continues to this day and may be the ancestor of the traditional Chinese "phoenix worship".
A water bird stands to the right, with a long neck and a long beak, covered with striped feathers, eyes wide, and the bird's beak clings to the tail of a large fish in front of it... This is a bird's tongue fish pattern faience pot on display in this exhibition. This faience pot was unearthed at the Baoji North Shouling site, and the body of the pot is decorated with fish and bird patterns painted on the abdomen, and the head and tail are surrounded by the body of the pot one by one. The fish was thick and long, covered with large scales, and there were protruding fins on both sides of the head, and it was desperately struggling to resist, its head and body were cocked, and the fish body was also curved into an arc, looking like a passive beating. "Fish pattern faience pottery is the symbol of Banpo culture, bird pattern is the miaodigou culture, in many pottery can see the bird eating fish, even the fish eating bird pattern, it should represent the struggle of different tribes and clans with fish and birds as totems." Wang Weilin, deputy director of the Shaanxi History Museum, vividly summarized these patterns on the Banpo culture and Miaodigou cultural faience pottery in the Yangshao period as the "Fish and Bird War". The bird-fingered fish-patterned clay pot excavated at the Beishouling site vividly annotates the complex relationship between fish and birds fighting in ancient times, implying the struggle between the bird totem clan and the fish totem clan. The "fish" clan in the WeiHe River Basin and the "bird" clan in the junction area of the three provinces of Shaanxi, Jin, and Yu once faced each other in the east and west, and the two sides fought each other, but for a time it was difficult to distinguish between the high and low. Perhaps the "Bird" tribe has gained the upper hand in the battle, it has penetrated deep into the hinterland of the "Fish" group and launched an attack, because the "Fish" tribe is still strong at this time, fully powerful to resist the invaders, the "Water Bird And Fish" is depicted as a picture of fish and birds fighting each other and being inseparable.
A floral-patterned faience urn excavated from the site of Izumi Village
Floral pattern faience reveals the origin of the name "Hua"
Five or six thousand years ago, the "fish" clan in the Weihe River Basin and the "bird" clan in the junction area of the three provinces of Shaanxi, Jin, and Yu continued to blend, and slowly bird patterns and fish patterns appeared together on the utensils. Later, bird patterns, fish patterns and symbiotic bird-fish patterns were constantly geometricalized and abstracted, and gradually evolved into "flower" ornaments, and appeared in large quantities on pottery excavated at the Miaodigou cultural site.
Petal pattern faience pots, floral pattern faience urns... The reporter saw at the exhibition site that many faience pottery was painted with the pattern of "flowers". "The splendid ornaments are mostly painted on the outer walls of the upper abdomen of pots, bowls and pots, and most of them are symmetrical and repeatedly arranged in a number of identical unit patterns, forming a pluralistic continuous ribbon ornament, especially the bird pattern and various floral patterns composed of dots and curved triangles." Wenbo experts have found that "fish and birds" are integrated and bloom into "flowers", which has become the most representative motif of the faience of Miaodigou culture.
Around 5,000 years ago, the Miaodigou cultural faience represented by the "petal pattern" set off a magnificent wave of art, forming a "heavy petal flower" cultural situation centered on Guanzhong in Shaanxi, reaching the Yin Mountains in the north, the Yangtze River in the south, the sea in the east, and the Ganqing in the west. Su Bingqi, a modern Chinese archaeologist, believes in "The Descendants of the Chinese Dragon and the Chinese - Archaeological Roots" that "flower" and "Hua" are homophonous, and the "Chinese" mentioned today is actually "flower people", and the so-called "flower" here is the petal pattern of the Miaodigou culture in prehistoric culture.
"Huashan Rose Swallow Mountain Dragon, Daqing Mountain Under the Axe and Urn." Fenhe Bay side chimes and drums, Xia Shang Zhou and Jin Wengong. "This is a seven-character poem written by Su Bingqi, and the cultural characteristics of prehistoric archaeology and the formation and development of Chinese civilization are all integrated into this passionate poem." Huashan Rose " refers to " a branch of the Yangshao culture at the foot of Mount Hua , and some of its important features are a heavy lip pointed bottom bottle and a rose-patterned faience pot" The so-called "rose pattern" is the most common ornament on the faience pottery at the bottom of the temple. "Flower" first sprouted at the foot of Mount Hua in the core area of Miaodigou culture, and formed the original imprint of the Chinese nation here. Su Bingqi believes that the distribution center of the Yangshao cultural temple bottom ditch type is near Mount Hua, which is similar to the legend of the occurrence of the Chinese ethnic group and its initial formation stage of the activities and distribution, so the Yangshao culture temple bottom ditch type may be the remnants of the people who formed the core of the Chinese nationality. The floral pattern faience pottery, which is the main feature of the Miaodigou type, may be the origin of the name that formed the Chinese, and Huashan may be named after the place where the Original Chinese lived. Reporter Zhao Zhengyao
Source: Western Net
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