The legend of the mascot of the Guangzhou Asian Games-the Five Sheep Holding the Valley, is taken from Chuting (cartoon) or the attached drawings.

Yuexiu Park-Wuyang stone carving "Wuyang holdin

The legend of the mascot of the Guangzhou Asian Games-the Five Sheep Holding the Valley, is taken from Chuting (cartoon) or the attached drawings.

Yuexiu Park-Wuyang stone carving "Wuyang holding a valley, taken from Chuting" is a fairy tale that originated from ancient Guangzhou people's yearning for a better life. This is indeed a beautiful legend. For the ancient Baiyue people, what could be better than "there is no shortage of water"? The excellent rice seeds given to Guangzhou people by the Five Immortals, coupled with the good natural conditions of abundant sunshine, mild climate and abundant rainfall, have enabled Guangzhou people to reap a bumper harvest, and Guangzhou has become the richest place in Lingnan. According to ancient legends, Yuexiu Mountain built a five-sheep sculpture from 65438 to 0959. This Wuyang stone carving is 1 1 m high, carved with 130 pieces of granite, with a volume of about 53 cubic meters. A stone on the sheep's head alone weighs more than 2 tons. Five sheep come in different sizes. The ewe looked at the distance with her head held high, her mouth full of ears of grain, as if she were looking back and smiling and visiting the world. The other four sheep are surrounded by their bodies, snuggling up, playing, eating grass or sucking milk. Different postures, beautiful shapes and full of fun. It is said that when the statue was built, it was suggested that since the five immortals were all riding sheep, how could there be suckling sheep? In fact, the immortals and five sheep are all fictional myths. They are immortal sheep, regardless of size, with their own immortal demeanor and boundless Buddhism. Sculptors exert their outstanding imagination and creativity. For more than 40 years, Wuyang stone carving has been known as the city emblem of Guangzhou, which has added a lot of color to Yuexiu Park. The legend of Wuyang is also widely circulated, and tourists from home and abroad come here to imagine, linger and take pictures as a souvenir. Why are Guangzhou Wuyang carved like five sheep? Guangzhou is the first batch of famous historical and cultural cities announced by the State Council, and it is also a city with profound cultural background. Guangzhou has inherited the tradition of Lingnan culture, constantly absorbing excellent cultures from the Central Plains and overseas, and has become a place where Chinese and Western cultures merge. Guangzhou was the first to accept western civilization and technology, and it was also the first to repeatedly open the atmosphere. Therefore, Guangzhou culture shows strong locality, compatibility and openness. It is the representative of Lingnan culture, which also determines that Guangzhou should pay attention to constantly improving its status as an international city, strengthen the protection and development of Lingnan culture, inherit the excellent traditions of Lingnan culture while innovating, and further enhance the radiation and influence of Guangzhou culture. Only in this way can Guangzhou, a famous cultural city, have unique charm and permanent vitality. As we all know, Guangzhou is known as the "Yangcheng", and there is a well-known beautiful myth here, that is, the widely circulated legend of "Five Sheep Holding the Valley and Taking the Chu Pavilion". Around the Zhou Dynasty, Guangzhou suffered from famine year after year, the fields were barren, and the agricultural harvest failed, so the people could not eat and wear. One day, melodious music suddenly came from the sky in the South China Sea, and five colorful auspicious clouds appeared. There are five immortals in the sky, wearing colorful clothes and riding fairy sheep with different colors and ears of rice. They arrived in Guangzhou. The immortal gave the good ears of rice to the people of Guangzhou and wished that there would never be a famine in this area. May the immortal fly away, and the five fairy sheep turn into stone sheep and stay on the hillside of Guangzhou. Since then, Guangzhou has become the richest place in Lingnan, blessed by immortals, with fragrant ears of rice and a bumper harvest every year. This is also the reason why Guangzhou is called "Five Yangcheng", "Guangzhou City" and "Yangcheng". There are various opinions about the arrival time of the Five Immortals. Some people say that it happened in the eighth year of Zhou Yiwang (that is, in 887 BC), while others say that the arrival of the Five Immortals was the time when Koko, a native of the South China Sea, became Chu Weiwang, for the Warring States Period. There is also a saying that Wu Xiu in the Jin Dynasty was the secretariat of Guangzhou, and five immortals rode five sheep and came to the hall of guangzhou fu with food on their backs, so Wu Xiu drew five immortals in the hall as good luck and commemoration. It is said that the Five Immortals Temple on Huifu West Road in Guangzhou today is the place where the Five Immortals came. Guangzhou people specially built Wuxian Temple here, and there are statues of Wuxian and Wuyang in the main hall. On the east side of Wuxian Temple, there is also a huge red sandstone-like concave stone, which looks like a footprint and is called "immortal thumb print" (thumb print refers to footprint). There is a stone statue of Wuyang built in 1959 on the woodcut hill in Yuexiu Mountain, Guangzhou. This is created by the famous sculptor Yin Jichang and others according to the legend of Wuyang. The statue and its pedestal are 1 1 m high, and * * * is carved from 130 pieces of granite. The volume is about 53 cubic meters, and only a stone on the head of the main sheep weighs more than 4 thousand Jin. Five sheep come in different sizes. The main sheep stood with its head high, with a sharp thorn in its mouth, smiling back at the world. Four other sheep are around it, playing games or eating grass, and the lamb is sucking the milk of the ewe. Wuyang has different postures, beautiful shapes, lifelike and interesting, which makes people linger and imagine. It is said that when the statue was completed, people had some discussions. Some people have suggested that since the five immortals are all riding sheep, how can there be suckling sheep? In fact, the immortals and five sheep are all beautiful myths. They are immortal sheep, regardless of size, with their own fairy wind and bones. Sculptors exert their outstanding imagination and creativity. The Wuyang stone carving created by historical legends has been tested for more than 40 years and is known as the city emblem of Guangzhou, adding a lot of color to this historical and cultural city. 1July, 1999, Wuyang stone carving was listed as a cultural relic protection unit by Guangzhou municipal government. Examining the name Yangcheng carefully, we find it really interesting. It originated from the myth of the arrival of five sheep, but why did the legendary gods ride sheep instead of horses and deer? Why are multicolored clouds, five immortals and five-color fairy sheep "five" instead of "four" or "six"? Why does the beautiful fairy tale of "valley" instead of "grass" instead of "flower" record what information about ancient ancestors? From primitive society to slave society, human beings bid farewell to barbarism and entered civilized society. The entry of the Chinese nation into a civilized society cannot be separated from the material foundation. In our primitive society, the development of animal husbandry is the first. From the era of fishing and hunting, when wild animals were the main food source, to the primitive accumulation of knowing how to adopt prey, it gradually entered the era of animal husbandry. "Livestock" began with food accumulation, and five livestock became the staple food of health food, mainly sheep. According to ancient documents, China has a long history of raising sheep. It is said that since Fuxi, people have been taught to raise livestock. At that time, people's hunting tools had new development, and nets were invented, which could be used to catch live wild sheep. In order to reserve for winter and prevent natural disasters, it is very natural to keep wild animals such as live wild sheep in captivity. Raising livestock is also the beginning of human early life from nomadic life to settled farming and animal husbandry. Ancient philologists believe that the word "fu" means surrender. "Fuxi" means handing over wild animals to tame livestock for enjoyment and sacrifice, and the word "Fuxi" itself contains the meaning of sheep, that is, giving wild sheep to domestic sheep. Sheep are gentle and docile, and they are one of the earliest domestic animals raised by human beings. The first Wang Chaoxia in China recorded the raising of sheep. According to the "Chu Ci" cloud, after conquering the Hu family, the prisoners were punished by "grazing" and forced to "herd cattle and sheep", that is, they became slaves to grazing livestock. This historical data shows that slaves who raised cattle and sheep appeared in the Xia Dynasty. In Shang Dynasty, agriculture and animal husbandry in China had developed to a certain level, and animal husbandry played an important role in the economic life of Shang Dynasty. The concept of "horse, cow, sheep, pig, dog and chicken" has been formed. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, sacrificial sheep were mentioned many times, and the number was very large. Slave owners and nobles sacrificed their ancestors, which was very extravagant and wasteful. With the development of social economy, the sheep industry in Zhou Dynasty reached a relatively developed level. The Book of Songs, which originated in the Zhou Dynasty, is the earliest collection of poems in China, and there are more than ten references to sheep in 305 articles. "No sheep" reflects that the sheep industry was quite prosperous in Zhou Xuanwang period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, more attention was paid to the reproduction and economic value of sheep. For example, the Book of Rites records that "doctors don't kill sheep for no reason" and "doctors don't sit on sheep and scholars don't sit on dogs". Zheng Xuan noted: "In ancient times, killing animals, eating their meat, sitting on their skin, not being dogs and sheep, was not killing for no reason." It can be seen that sheep was already a kind of wealth at that time, which was mostly used for sacrifices and celebrations, and was not slaughtered at ordinary times, which was conducive to the reproduction and growth of sheep. Qin and Han Dynasties are the pinnacle of China's historical development. People actively reclaim wasteland, cultivate fields, plant mulberry trees and fence grazing, and agricultural production has developed more than before. At that time, the sheep industry developed rapidly, and many people who raised sheep, slaughtered sheep and sold mutton became professionals. Therefore, in ancient China, "sheep" was very important and closely related to human life. "Food" and "sheep" constitute "freshness"; "Eating" means having sheep in your mouth. "Month" means that mutton was the staple food at that time. "Eating" means feeding your stomach with mutton. It can be seen that "sheep" is the animal food that is most closely related to the life of ancient ancestors. From eating fish to eating sheep, it is the material embodiment of the progress of Chinese food civilization. At the same time, sheep is a symbol of nomadic culture. After living mainly in animal husbandry, our ancestors laid a material foundation for health preservation with grain. China has experienced the emergence and development of agriculture and become a big agricultural country. Grains are symbols of agricultural culture, and "grains" are also "grains" and "ears". Yanhuang culture is the integration of Qiang (nomadic) culture and agriculture. The Five Immortals brought "sheep" and "valley", bringing the essence and essence of Central Plains food culture to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is the birthplace of the ancient Maritime Silk Road in China. During the Qin and Han dynasties, trade and cultural exchanges with overseas countries began, and the blue ocean infinitely extended the development space of Guangzhou. Guangzhou culture is the fusion of local South Vietnamese culture, Central Plains culture and western (marine) culture. "Wuyang" is the combination of "Five" and "Yang" in the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements with the most national characteristics in the ancient cultural history of China. Guangzhou's freshness is a combination of sheep in the north and fish in the south. In addition, sheep is a traditional auspicious thing in China, which can bring people good luck. Some people think that sheep is the totem worship of Guangzhou Guyue people. The word "sheep" is ancient and auspicious. In ancient Chinese bronze inscriptions, "auspicious" is often used as "auspicious sheep". The inscription on the sword of Won Jia reads "Wang, Dajiyang." Sheep is a beautiful symbol and auspicious thing, and it has been one of the six treasuries since ancient times. Some people think that the "beauty" of Chinese characters is "sheep's size", that is, sheep fat is beautiful; The "freshness" of Chinese characters is "fish and sheep" when disassembled, while the beautiful white jade is likened to white and moist suet jade, which is euphemistically called suet white jade. Sheep are gentle and full of love. Since ancient times, sheep have lived in harmony with human beings and made selfless contributions to mankind. It never asks for anything from people, eats grass, but gives people goat's milk, wool, mutton and sheepskin. Even sheep manure is a good fertilizer. In sheep, there is a spirit of dedication and sacrifice. Therefore, sheep is a favorite and familiar animal of Guangzhou ancestors. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, Guangzhou attached great importance to animal husbandry in Han Dynasty. Many pottery sculptures, such as pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, ducks and geese, were found in the Han tombs in Guangzhou, which vividly reflected the prosperity of Guangzhou's six livestock in the Han Dynasty. Many pottery houses of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Guangzhou have sheepfold fences. In the brick tomb of Mayinggang in the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 76), a three-in-one pottery house was unearthed with a sheepfold in the back porch. A small statue is driving three sheep into the sheepfold along the inclined ladder at the edge of the house. Other pottery houses unearthed from Han tombs also have sheepfolds on one side, and several pottery sheep climbed the stairs by themselves and filed into the pens. This shows that in Guangzhou in the Han Dynasty, people liked to raise sheep, and mutton was the favorite meat at that time. At that time, raising sheep became a common practice in Guangzhou. Because of the beautiful legend of Wuyang Valley, our ancient city was called "Yangcheng", "Sui City" and "Fairy City", and later it was named "Guangzhou" and "Flower City". These five names are the products of the integration and accumulation of Guangzhou culture in the long history of the city for more than two thousand years. Guangzhou is near the South China Sea. Some people think that Yangcheng's "sheep", plus three points of water, is "foreign", that is, three sheep. Therefore, Guangzhou culture has a profound marine culture, and therefore Guangzhou is the cradle of the timeless Maritime Silk Road, and its indigenous people are Yue people. For a long time, Vietnamese culture has blended with Chinese culture and marine culture, and the three cultures have merged into one, forming the characteristics of Guangzhou ancient culture, namely, inclusive humanistic consciousness, enterprising commercial consciousness and pragmatic consciousness.