As a living fossil-level species that has survived on the earth for 8 million years, can pandas still have few ancient legends?
The two paintings in the old museum of the Chengdu Panda Base tell the story of the giant panda in the ancient war - the Battle of Hanquan & Yu Shihe, where the two ancient names of the giant panda appear.
Today, Xiao Pia chooses 貔貅, 驺虞, 貘, 貘, and fur fur, these 5 legendary giant pandas are ancient names. According to the description in the ancient text, let's see if they are giant pandas in the end.
01
Cats
The "History of the Five Emperors" records that "the bear was taught to fight the tiger in order to fight the Yan Emperor in the wilderness of Hanquan".
Some netizens believe that the giant panda is an ancient divine beast domesticated by the Yellow Emperor for combat. But in fact, the "bears and cats" here refers to the tribe that uses these 6 animals as totems, not 6 animals.
And from the perspective of excavated cultural relics, cats are more like animals such as tigers.
▽ Jade Cat Cat Han Dynasty Jade to ward off evil spirits
△ Stone Cat Cat The Eastern Han Dynasty Stone Ward Off Evil Spirits
02
Donkey Kong
In the Shuowen Jiezi Yubu, it is said: "Yu: 驺虞也." White tiger black text, tail long body. A benevolent beast that eats the flesh of self-death. From the sound of The Worm Wu".
During the Western Jin Dynasty, Yu Yu was the embodiment of peace, and when the two armies fought, the Flag of Yu Yu was lit as a sign of peace.
But the yu in the ancient painting seems to be more like a tiger than a giant panda.
▽Neifu Yu Tu (Ming Dynasty)
△ Ming Wanli year of the Yu Yu map
"The tail grows on the body", is it said that the nine-knot wolf "little energy seedling"?
03
tapir
Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in his "Tapir Screen" that placing a screen with a tapir in the room has the effect of driving away evil spirits and avoiding the wind.
△ Graph source network
The text describes the tapir as "a beast of the tapir, born in the southern kingdom." Its name is known as tapir, which is not iron and does not eat", and it is also said that it is "tapir, elephant trunk rhinoceros, oxtail tiger foot".
Some people think that the "tapir" here is more like a Malay tapir.
▽Malay tapir (source network)
△ Tapir Shaped Zun (Western Zhou)
The above-mentioned "tail is long on the body", "elephant trunk rhinoceros, oxtail tiger foot", these are not the description of the characteristics of giant pandas.
People can't help but feel that the description of the cat, the horse, the horse, and the tapir as a giant panda is inevitably taken out of context and forced to correspond.
04
violent
During the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Xiangru, a literary adviser to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and also a native of Sichuan, wrote his masterpiece "Shanglin Fu" (上林富), the Giant Panda. "Shanglin Fu" was made to record the royal garden Shanglin Garden, which is the earliest zoo in China, raising nearly 40 kinds of exotic beasts, and the giant panda ranks first.
▽Qiu Ying Shanglin Scroll Part (Ming Dynasty)
△ Mural of taming animals in the Shanglin Garden of the Western Han Dynasty
Ranking top 1, do you say it depends on the value of the face (méng), or by the strength (měng)?
Empress Bo of the Han Gao ancestor Liu Bang period, her tomb once unearthed the skull of a giant panda, for the first time directly confirmed that ancient humans and giant pandas did intersect.
Then it is not surprising that in the Shanglin Garden, which is also the Han Dynasty, there will be giant pandas and recorded by Sima Xiangru.
△ Empress Bo and the Giant Panda (Tan Kai's works)
It is said that the giant panda is a "specialty" of the Sichuan-Shaanxi-Gansu region, so in ancient times, these local records about giant pandas were not more reliable?
05
Fur coats
In The Sichuan Jingyanhu Shi'an's "Translation of Elai", it is recorded that an animal called "fur fur" is produced in Emei. Fur = leather ball? The rolling ball in the fur coat, the ancients honestly did not deceive me.
The text describes it as "not alarming to see people, and the dogs often insult it.".
Let little Pia think of the following news
Su Shi, who was also a fellow sichuan countryman, was an official in Fengxiang, Shaanxi, when someone offered wild animals to him. He wrote a poem for this purpose, called "Bamboo Formula", which in ancient times referred to bamboo rats. According to the description in the poem, some experts speculate that this may be a juvenile giant panda.
The poem describes this animal as "as big as an inch", and the waist and abdomen are as large as a basin.
How could a bamboo rat be recognized as a giant panda until Little Pia saw "Washi".
"Talk to yourself, don't bother to take the net"
The person who sent it said that the item was picked up on the side of the road.
"Shocked"
Walking up to it, it startled it.
It is also called "fur fur", and it is said that it is "as big as a waist and abdomen", it seems that the ancient locals' love for pandas (hei) is no less than ours
The above is only a posthumous speculation about the appearance of giant pandas in ancient texts. Due to the lack of direct evidence, the giant panda in the ancient text has been covered with a veil of mystery.
In 2001, archaeologists found an animal skeleton in Tomb No. 77 at the Guanzhuangping site in Zigui County, three gorges area, which was later confirmed to be the mandible of a giant panda and was buried as a martyr in the tomb. Experts believe that this shows that more than 4,000 years ago, giant pandas have had more contact with humans and established deep feelings.
△Guanzhuangping Ruins of Zigui County, Three Gorges Region (Source Network)
Chinese civilization up and down 5,000 years, with the excavation of archaeology and the progress of science and technology, I believe that in the future, we can see more evidence of the intersection of giant pandas and ancient humans.
bibliography:
1. Research on the Ancient Names of Giant Pandas, Sun Qian
2. "In Search of the Giant Panda Skull 2100 Years Ago", Tan Kai
3. "The Indissoluble Relationship between Su Shi and the Giant Panda", Jiang Lan
4. "The Giant Panda Is an Ancient Iron-Eating Beast", Xia Yun
5. Research Report on Animal Remains at Guanzhuangping Site in Hubei Province, Wu Xianzhu, Zhou Guoping
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