Why is the image of the dragon a symbol of Chinese culture?

Foreword

In Chinese culture, dragons have an important status and influence. From the Neolithic Age, more than 7,000 years ago, ancestors worshiped the primitive dragon totem. Today, people still use idioms or allusions with the word "dragon" to describe the beautiful things in life.

As a descendant of the dragon, you cannot be ignorant of Chinese dragon culture. Without understanding dragon culture, you cannot understand the ancient Chinese civilization. What is the true form of the dragon? How did the concept of dragon come about? How has its image and cultural connotation developed and changed? What influence does the dragon have in Chinese culture? These problems have been troubling people in different ways since ancient times, and they have not been solved yet, leaving people with a feeling of confusion. Here, we will follow the traces of dragons, enter ancient history and the world of dragons, understand and explore the mysteries of dragons...

The Origin of Dragons

Dragon originated in the Neolithic Age In the early days, it would have been no less than eight thousand years from today. During this period, the primitive ancestors no longer simply and passively relied on God's rewards. They raised wild horses, bison, wild boars, etc. they hunted; they no longer only ate the wild fruits they picked, but had choices. Grains are grown for harvest. They became proficient in making and using fire, learned to build simple houses with wood, began to grind stone and bone tools, and made pottery by hand, and gradually settled down and engaged in production activities. Production activities have brought people into more and more contact with nature, and nature, as an incredible force outside of human beings, has an increasing impact on people's spiritual world.

Why do fish swim around each other, crocodiles make loud sounds, snakes are scary, and lizards look weird? Why are the clouds rolling, lightning flashing, thunder rumbling, and rain pouring? Why do the waves roll, rainbows fill the sky, and mudslides roar down, swallowing up humans and animals, so invincible? ...The behavior of these animals and the ever-changing natural celestial phenomena are beyond scientific explanation to the ancients.

They vaguely guessed that there should be such a powerful "god" related to "water" that dominates, commands, manipulates and manages these animals and celestial phenomena, like a clan must have. Like a leader; in other words, these animals and natural phenomena are the embodiment of the character of this "divine creature", just like people who want to talk, shout, eat, drink, and sleep, laugh and curse.

Dragon, as a worship phenomenon and an "understanding" of incredible natural forces, began its "fuzzy set" from this time on.

There are many theories about the origin of dragons: the theory of magical animals, the theory of totem merger, the theory of celestial trees and gods, the theory of dinosaur traces, the theory of the introduction of foreign countries, the theory of fuzzy sets, etc.

The connotation of dragon culture

A professor from Peking University revealed the multiple connotations of Chinese dragon culture from three levels: First level, the concept of dragon is embodied in the image of the Chinese dragon It contains the four most important concepts that Chinese people value most: the cosmology of the unity of nature and man; the intersubjectivity of benevolence and love for others; the development of yin and yang; and the inclusive multiculturalism. On the second level, behind the image and concept of the Chinese dragon, the concept of dragon contains the ideal goals and values ??of the Chinese people when dealing with the relationship between the four major subjects, pursuing the harmony of the relationship between heaven and man, the harmony of interpersonal relationships, and the contradictory relationship between yin and yang. The harmony of multicultural relations. The third level is the spirit of the dragon. The basic spirit of Chinese culture of diversity, integration, comprehensive innovation, this is the deepest cultural heritage of the Chinese dragon image and dragon culture. Wang Dong believes that exploring the deep connotations of Chinese dragon culture will help resolve some civilizational conflicts in the contemporary world.

The Chinese dragon, in a unique form of Eastern mysticism, contains four basic concepts unique to the Chinese people and Chinese culture through complex and changeable artistic shapes:

1 It is the cosmic view of the unity of nature and man;

The second is the intersubjective view of benevolent people loving others;

The third is the development view of the intersection of yin and yang (or the view of change);

Fourth is an inclusive cultural outlook.

The cosmology and worldview of the unity of nature and man

The cosmology and world view of the unity of nature and man can be said to be the core concept in Chinese national culture.

The vivid and concrete image of the dragon, coupled with the form of mysticism, contains the concept of the unity of nature and man.

As a divine beast that reaches heaven, the dragon helps people achieve the path to heaven. Most of the original dragon forms around 3000 BC contain this cultural connotation. The most representative one is the clam-shaped crocodile-shaped Protosaurus from Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan, which is known as the "first dragon in China". The cultural connotation of the entire clam sculpture here, according to the research of famous experts such as Li Xueqin and Feng Shi, is like a "Cang Long, White Tiger and Big Dipper Star Map" 6,000 years ago, which not only shows that the ancients used the Cang Dragon, White Tiger and Big Dipper constellations to determine time and The agricultural production season also reflects the status of the tomb owner, who was in the upper echelons of power at that time, and who set foot on the Big Dipper and was in charge of the universe. The crocodile-shaped protosaurus carved from clams plays the role of a heavenly beast here.

Dragon, as a flying divine beast, can help people reach the realm of ascension. Sima Qian's "Historical Records? Book of Zen", borrowed from the mouth of Qi Warlock Gongsun Qing, tells the myth and legend of the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven on a dragon: "The Yellow Emperor collected mountain copper and cast a tripod at the foot of Jingshan Mountain. When the tripod was completed, there was a dragon hanging down from his beard to greet him. Huang Di. Huang Di rode up, and there were more than seventy people from the harem. The dragons were not allowed to go up, but they were all holding the dragon's beard, and the dragon's beard was pulled down, and the people looked up to the Yellow Emperor and hugged him to the sky. Its bow and beard are called. "Here, the dragon pattern on the tripod is a magical intermediary, which makes the dragon descend to earth and help the Yellow Emperor ascend to heaven.

The first hexagram of the sixty-four hexagrams in the "Book of Changes", the Qian hexagram with clear meaning, uses the phenological calendar of the dragon-Canglong constellation as an intermediary to propose the unity of "heaven-earth-man" thinking framework and thinking patterns.

In his later years, Confucius's "Yi Zhuan" and silk script "Yi Zhuan" explained the connotation of the Qian hexagram in the "Book of Changes" from the perspective of the cosmology of the unity of nature and man: "Great Qian Yuan, when all things began, "It is to rule the sky"; "Six people are formed in time, and they ride on six dragons to control the sky."

Dragon, as a thing that reaches the sky, also helps to create the "unity of heaven and man", "heaven - The unified cosmic model of "earth-man". A representative example in this regard may be the "Topography" in Huainanzi, a masterpiece of miscellaneous works in the early Western Han Dynasty: "The Qi of the earth controls the air and the sky. The air and the sky are short of each other when they are five hundred years old, and they are short of five hundred years old. Huang Ai is born. Huang Ai is born at five hundred years old. Huang Yi is born at five hundred years old. Huang Long is born at a thousand years old. The yellow spring is born from the yellow water. The yin and yang are forced to form thunder, and the rising is lightning. . What is above will flow down, and the flowing water will flow and merge into the Yellow Sea.

There are many mystical and far-fetched aspects here, but a reasonable core expresses "Heaven, Earth, Two Persons and Three". The universe model proposed the cosmology of the unity of heaven and man, and the dragon became the intermediary link between "heaven and man" or "heaven, earth and man".

It can be seen that in the image of the dragon, The concept of dragon, in the unique form of Eastern mysticism, contains the cosmology of the unity of nature and man.

The essence of dragon culture

The original dragon in China once originated from the original totem. Culture, but its essence and mainstream cannot be simply attributed to the original totem culture. From the four aspects of "era background - specific content - cultural meaning - social function", China's Dragon City has significant differences from the original totem. Therefore, it shows the following essential characteristics:

From totem, beyond totem

China’s dragon culture is by no means just a few relics in modern China, but still maintains strong vitality and has been abandoned. Although the Chinese dragon culture cannot play the leading role and mainstream cultural role in history in the reunification of the country and the rejuvenation of the nation, it still has strong appeal, cohesion, and influence on the Chinese nation. Centripetal force.

It is not physical worship, but cultural creation

Totem culture is essentially the clan culture of primitive society, and the Chinese dragon, the original dragon in its original form, was born in AD. Around 3000 BC, this was the disintegration period of China's primitive society, the origin period of the Chinese civilization era, and later the Chinese civilization. Although the dragon in China can certainly be found in nature, it is not essentially an existing physical object in nature. , but a cultural creation and cultural symbol based on national cultural concepts.

The essential characteristic of the Chinese dragon is that it transcends the blood relationship of clan culture and sublimates it into the connotation of national culture based on geographical relationship.

Dragon - This is the unique cultural creation, concept creation and symbol creation of the Chinese people.

Descendants of the Dragon

After the Dragon Heaven and Earth were opened, it was time to create life and multiply humans. In Chinese myths and legends, this great work was completed by the cooperation of Fuxi and Nuwa, a brother and sister. A girl from the Huaxu family who lived in the distant and beautiful "Land of the Huaxu family" went to "Leize" with a special scenery. Occasionally she saw a huge footprint and stepped on it curiously. So she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, named "Fuxi". The footprints in Lei Zezhong were left by the "Thunder God", who had the body of a dragon and the head of a human. Therefore, Fuxi was originally a "dragon species" with a dragon body and a human head. Since he could not find another woman, Mr. Fuxi, who was born with a dragon nature and determined to be the "father of mankind", had no choice but to marry his sister, Miss Nuwa, and gave birth to the first batch of men and women. This Nuwa clan, who can be called the "Mother of Humanity", also has the body of a dragon and the head of a human. In this way, in those stone portraits of the Han Dynasty, the human parents cuddled happily with each other, or held mascots in their hands, saluting each other, and the two dragon tails were tightly surrounding each other, intimately intertwined. This is probably the origin of the saying "descendants of the dragon". The legend of the dragon

The symbol of the dragon and the emperor

After the Han Dynasty in the second century BC, the image of the dragon was associated with imperial power and became the royal emblem. The emperor called himself the "True Dragon Emperor", his descendants were called dragon sons and grandsons, his clothes were called dragon robes, and all his supplies were decorated with the image of dragons. So, how did the dragon become the symbol of the emperor?

There are probably two reasons: most of the ancient emperors and gods were dragons, or had dragon nature. Like we mentioned Pangu, Fuxi, Nuwa, Huangdi, Yandi, Tang Yao, Yushun, Xia Yu, as well as Taihao who took the dragon as his official, Jumang who rode the dragon, and the ** who gave birth to the sonjulong * Workers, Zhuanxu, who used Zhu Polong as his musician and taught flying dragons to imitate the wind sounds from all directions, and Emperor Ku, who was lucky enough to be born because his mother was inspired by dragons, and so on. Chinese people are born in ancient times and like to imitate sages and sages. The emperors in the past were dragons, and the emperors in the future will naturally be dragons too. Even if you don't have dragon nature, you still have to find a way to package yourself into a dragon.

Besides, the dragon wants to control the water on the ground and the water in the sky, so it must have the ability to freely come and go between heaven and earth. It can go directly to the Heavenly Court and report the situation in the world to the Heavenly Emperor; it can also come down from the Heavenly Court to convey the Heavenly Emperor's will and do things for the Heavenly Emperor. Didn't the emperor say that he was "ordered by heaven"? Didn’t he claim to be the son of Heaven and manage the world on behalf of the Emperor of Heaven? Obviously, the divinity of the dragon and the imperial nature of the monarchs are intertwined here. As a result, the emperors became "real dragon emperors".

It seems that there is no emperor who does not say that he is a dragon. Qin Shi Huang was known as the "Eternal Emperor", so he was called the "Ancestral Dragon". Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty claimed that he was the son of his mother, Liu Yu, who was matched with a dragon, and he was born with a "long and accurate appearance". When the Chu and Han Dynasties were fighting, Fan Zeng discovered that Liu Bang had the "spirit of the emperor" and "all were dragons and tigers, all in five colors". Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty dreamed that a red pig turned into a red dragon, so he had Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. There was a nursery rhyme in the Jin Dynasty, "Five horses floated across the river, and one horse turned into a dragon." The result should be Emperor Yuan of Jin Dynasty. . When Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was born, there were two dragons playing in Wugong County; when Emperor Gaozu of the Song Dynasty was a child, he was lying alone in front of the podium with a "five-color dragon seal"...

Throughout the history of China's feudal society, the rule of People who associate themselves with dragons all have obvious utilitarian purposes: either to increase their prestige because of their humble origins, or to anesthetize the people due to social unrest.

Overseas dragon culture

In Western culture, the dragon is a giant reptile-like monster with wings that breathes fire from its mouth. It is a symbol of evil and violence. The dragon in the Bible's Book of Revelation is the incarnation of the devil Satan. The prince fights with the fierce dragon with a sharp sword, cuts off its head and then rescues the weak girl. This is the Western version of a hero rescuing a beautiful woman. The fierce-looking dragon was also used by ancient Westerners on shields, military flags and badges

to deter enemies. Therefore, the dragon is also a symbol of war in the West.

In Eastern culture, the dragon is a symbol of strength, wealth, prosperity and peace.

The Chinese people's worship of dragons can be said to be very fanatical. Western couples hope for a millennium baby, while Chinese people hope to have a dragon son or daughter. No matter where they live in the world, the Chinese regard themselves as descendants of the dragon. Without the dragon, China's cultural traditions, including architecture, clothing, festivals, food, folk customs and even language, would pale in comparison.

As Chinese people immigrated overseas, Chinese dragon culture also spread to all parts of the world. In fact, long before white people came into contact with Chinese dragon culture, Chinese dragons had already traveled across the ocean to Japan, Southeast Asia, and even among the native Americans.

For one or two thousand years, Japanese farmers and fishermen have been sacrificing and worshiping dragons in order to pray for good weather and good harvests. There is a seventh-century mural "Blue Dragon Picture" in the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, whose shape is similar to that of a Chinese dragon. Among Japanese ancient buildings, dragons are more common in the Chinese Han, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties, while dragons in the pre-Qin period are rare. It can be seen that the art of Chinese dragons was introduced to Japan in large quantities from the Han Dynasty.

Chinese dragon culture was introduced to Southeast Asia much earlier than Japan, so it appears to be more primitive cultural characteristics. The dragon and phoenix art of Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia clearly has the characteristics of China's Yangtze River Culture Department. The dragon has a big head, somewhat like a lion or an ox, a thick belly, a big tail, and small feet. This kind of dragon image can be seen everywhere in this area's architecture, clothing, sculptures, as well as folk activities such as dragon boats, dragon dances and dragon lanterns. There are many rivers and lakes dotted south of the Yangtze River. Dragon boat culture is very developed. The bronze drums used to direct the dragon boat races are decorated with auspicious animal patterns such as dragons and phoenixes. The bronze drum art of Southeast Asia originated from China. The differences between Yunnan and Cantonese bronze drum art are also seen in Southeast Asia, becoming local variations of the Yangtze River dragon and phoenix culture. From the perspective of ancient cultural history, Southeast Yalong Culture is the southward extension of the Yangtze River Culture Department, especially the Miao Man Culture.

The ancient Indians in America accepted Chinese dragon culture much earlier than those in Southeast Asia. Archaeologists have discovered that as early as 7,000 years ago to the time of Columbus, Chinese dragon art was introduced to the Americas and combined with local indigenous culture, becoming the backbone of the dragon culture of Olmec, Mayan, Astec, Inca and other tribes. The Olmec culture, which arose in 1000 BC (corresponding to the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties in Chinese history), is considered the cradle of Indian culture. There are two primitive dragons in the Olmec culture: the dragon and the chilong, which are also commonly known as the big dragon and the little dragon by the Chinese. It is similar to the origin of the Chinese dragon during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The images of dragons seen in some ancient Indian cultural sites are almost like sketches of Chinese alligators. In Indian myths and legends, the fire dragon and the water dragon represent the two gods of the north and south respectively. In ancient Chinese mythology, the water god in the north is Shuilong Gonggong, and the fire god in the south is the fire dragon Zhurong. Archaeologists disassembled the various parts of the ancient Indian dragon body and compared them with the various parts of the Chinese dragon body. They were surprised to find that the dragons of the Mayan culture were very similar to the dragons of the Yellow River culture and Songliao culture. The dragons of the Inca culture were almost identical. A replica of the Dragon of South China Culture and Bashu Culture. The images of dragons decorated on pyramids and other altar temples in the Americas indicate that ancient Indians worshiped dragon culture just like the Chinese. In fact, dragon culture is only a part of ancient Chinese culture. The spread of Chinese dragon culture in the Americas proves the historical fact that the Chinese race traveled eastward to the Americas as early as ancient times and brought the splendid Chinese civilization with them.

The influence of dragon culture

Dragon and painting

Dragon was created by Shang Dynasty artists on the basis of various animal art images (original dragon patterns) The product, therefore the dragon entity itself is an artistic image. China's pure painting art became independent from applied art around the Eastern Han Dynasty. The earliest dragon painting expert we know so far is Cao Buxing of Soochow during the Three Kingdoms period.

After Cao Buxing, there was Gu Kaizhi, a great painter of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who was good at painting dragons. Kai's courtesy name was Changkang, and he was a native of Wuxi, Jinling. He had "many talents, especially his painting skills, and his writing skills were all excellent." Zhang Sengyao during the Northern and Southern Dynasties was the most legendary dragon painting expert in Chinese history. Famous dragon painting masters in the Tang Dynasty include Li Sixun, Feng Shaozheng, Wu Daozi, Sun Wei and other dragon painting masters in the Song Dynasty. The most noteworthy dragon painting masters in the Song Dynasty are Dong Yu, Seng Chuangu and Chen Rong.

Dong Yu's most outstanding contribution to the art of painting dragons is that he summarized the creative experience of his predecessors and his own, and put forward a complete set of theories on painting dragons - "Collection of Dragon Paintings".

The Ming and Qing dynasties were the periods of comprehensive development of Chinese painting. Judging from the handed down works with dragon images, their expression techniques and painting techniques are more mature.

Dragon and Literature

The dragon has a certain position in the religious and political concepts of the ancients, and the dragon pattern is one of the most popular patterns in real life. The dragon will naturally become Materials written by writers

Poetry is one of the earliest art forms in Chinese literature. Dragons mentioned in "The Book of Songs" mostly refer to dragon patterns on utensils, especially dragon flags, such as " "Dragon Flag Ten Vehicles" ("Shang Song·Xuanniao"), "Dragon Flag Yangyang" ("Zhou Song·Zijian"), "Dragon Flag Chengsi" ("Lu Song·Zhen Gong"), etc.

During the Warring States Period, a new poetry style emerged in the Chu region of the south - Chu Ci. . There are many poems involving dragons in "Nine Songs". These dragons are sacred animals that drive gods and men. For example, "The King of Yun Zhong" "rides a dragon and rides on the emperor's clothes", "The King of Xiang" "rides a flying dragon and marches to the north", "The stone is shallow and the flying dragon is graceful", "Da Si Ming" "rides a dragon and rides on the ground" , "He Bo" "riding two dragons and riding Chi" and so on.

With the development of poetry, the use of dragons in poetry has gradually increased. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, allusions related to dragons were widely seen in poetry.

Dragon and Folklore

There are many dragon-related festivals in Chinese folk festivals. The activities of these festivals are rich and colorful, full of strong ethnic characteristics, and exude a fresh local flavor.

Dragon King Meeting Every year in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, "Dragon King Meeting" is held in many places. This custom originates from a beautiful legend.

Dragon Heads Up Festival

The second day of the second lunar month is the "Dragon Heads Up Festival" of the Han people. This is the time of the Waking of Insects and the Spring Equinox, when the earth gradually becomes warmer. According to folk custom, it is on this day that the dragon that has been dormant all winter rises up and becomes active, and there will be more rain in the future. Looking for the origin, the "Dragon Head-Up Festival" may have evolved from the ancient "Dragon Seeing a Bird".

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival has a long history and rich festival customs. Some of the activities are related to dragons. Mr. Wen Yiduo once called the Dragon Boat Festival "a festival of dragons" ". Dragon boat racing is the most important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival.

China's ethnic minorities also have many festivals related to dragons. The time, content and activities of festivals of different ethnic groups are also different.

Dragon Sacrifice Festival

A traditional festival of the Hani people, Zhuang and Yao people. Starting from February 2 of the lunar calendar, the Hani people who live in the Ailao Mountains on the south bank of the Red River have begun to celebrate the festival. . On the day of the festival, two handsome young men are selected to dress up as girls. Under the leadership of the "dragon head", surrounded by people, they travel around the village. The Zhuang people celebrate this festival in the second month of the lunar calendar. During the festival, two or more households in the village take turns bearing the chickens, pigs and other sacrifices needed for the festival. On the festival day, people from outside the village who ride horses or carry bamboo hats are not allowed to pass through the center of the village. It is customary to believe that killing pigs every year to "sacrifice the dragon" can bring peace to people and animals. The festival of the Yao people falls on the third day of the third lunar month. Sacrifices to the dragon include praying for the soul of the valley, offering sacrifices to the goddess of the valley, offering sacrifices to Pangu, offering sacrifices to the Jade Emperor, offering sacrifices to Shennong, etc. During the sacrifice, a pig must be killed and offered as an offering. The pigs will be purchased with money from the whole village. After the sacrifice, the pigs will be eaten by the whole village. Women do not participate in sacrificial rituals.

Dragon Head Festival

A traditional festival of the Yao people in the Daqingshan area of ??Hekou, Yunnan. It is on the fifth day of the first lunar month. On this day, local people prepare offerings to worship the Dragon King.

Summary

Dragon - This is the unique cultural creation, concept creation and symbol creation of the Chinese people.

The dragon is a mascot created by human imagination. China is the country of dragons. Except for the evil dragon in Europe, dragon culture all over the world originates from Chinese culture. In other words, dragon is a specialty of China and a symbol of Chinese civilization. Dragon worship embodies the national spirit, national psychology and characteristics of the Chinese nation. For thousands of years, the Chinese have worshiped and believed in dragons, hoping that dragons would bring peace and prosperity to mankind.

In the feudal era for more than a thousand years, the mystery and authority of the dragon were absolute and penetrated into the national ideology.

But in Chinese folk, the dragon has always retained its original symbolic meaning, that is, the dragon represents joy, peace and prosperity. To this day, the image of the dragon is still widely used in various fields such as architecture, art, literature, religion, painting, sculpture, clothing, paper-cutting, and porcelain to express people's good wishes for the future. It is no exaggeration to say that wherever Chinese people live, the image of dragon appears in different forms. The image of the dragon has become a symbol of Chinese culture!