The composition of dragons

The earliest dragon pattern found in China came from the Chahai site in Xinglongwa Culture 8,000 years ago (Xinglongwa Culture was named after the excavation of Xinglongwa site in Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, adjacent to Liaoning Province, and the Chahai site was in Fuxin County, Liaoning Province). Found a dragon about 19.7 meters long, piled with reddish-brown stones. The discovery of this dragon in Xinglongwa Culture pushed the history of dragon worship in China to 8,000 years ago.

In the early days, the ancients could not make a reasonable explanation for most natural phenomena, so they hoped that their national totem would have the power of wind, rain and lightning. The mountains are so majestic that they can swim in the water like fish and fly in the air like birds. Therefore, the characteristics of many animals are concentrated on dragons, and dragons have gradually become: camel's head, snake's neck, antlers, turtle's eyes, fish scales, Tiger Claw, eagle's claws and cow's ears. This composite structure means that the dragon is the head of all animals and an omnipotent god.

It is important to note that dragons only have five fingers, and the four fingers are not dragons, but lizards and crocodiles.

As the totem of Chinese ancestors, dragon was just a piece of rubble just collected from barren hills at first, which was rough and crude. In the hands of the historical old man, it is constantly cut and pondered. Shang and Zhou dynasties gave it strength, and Han and Tang dynasties gave it generosity; Dragons are like the seven sages of bamboo forest in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but also like sages; In the Liao and Jin Dynasties, it was like a wild horse on the grassland, galloping wildly. The emperors and nobles honored it as supreme, while the people let it do as the Romans do.

There are many different images in ancient books. Speaking of slender, it has four feet, anticlimactic. Speaking of piercing scales, there are whiskers on the head and five claws. Compendium of Materia Medica says that "dragons have nine similarities", which is a heterogeneous animal with the advantages of all kinds of animals. It has many names. Those with scales are called dragons, those with wings are called Ying Long, those with horns are called dragons, and those without horns are called dragons. The little one is called Jiao, and the big one is called Dragon. Legend has it that it can be hidden, detailed and huge, short and long. The vernal equinox ascends to the sky, and the autumnal equinox dives into the deep, omnipotent. In mythology, it is the master of the underwater world (the Dragon King), a symbol of good fortune among the people, and the embodiment of ancient imperial power.

There are "Dragon King Products" in Taishang Cave's Divine Mantra Classic, which lists "Five Emperors Dragon King" by orientation, "Four Seas Dragon King" by ocean, and lists the names of 54 dragon kings and 62 dragon kings by everything in the world. In Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, an altar official was set up to offer sacrifices to the Dragon King. Song Taizu followed the Five Dragon Sacrifice System in Tang Dynasty. In the second year of Song Huizong Daguan (1 108), all the five dragons in the world were crowned kings. Seal Qinglong God as King of Ren Guang, Red Dragon God as King Jiaze, Huanglong God as King Fu Ying, White Dragon God as King Yiji, and Black Dragon God as King Lingze. In the second year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1863), the dragon god of the canal was named "the dragon god who should divide the water", which made the river chief sacrifice in time. The dragon kings in The Journey to the West are Ao Guang in the East China Sea, Aoqin in the South China Sea, Aorun in the West Sea and Aoshun in the North Sea, which are collectively called the Four Seas Dragon Kings. ?

Regarding the birthday of the Dragon King, there are differences between various literature records and local folklore. In the past, temples dedicated to the dragon king were almost as common as temples in the city god. Whenever the wind and rain are unbalanced, it doesn't rain for a long time, or it rains for a long time, the people will go to the Longwang Temple to burn incense and pray for the Dragon King to control the water and the good weather.

Archaeologists believe that the early dragons were snakes with horns on their heads and were pure reptiles; Some people think that the dragon was originally formed, and the faucet is very similar to a pig, a dragon body and a snake body; Others pointed out that dragons evolved from crocodiles.

With regard to the origin of the dragon, after long-term research and textual research, people finally reached a relatively consistent understanding: the dragon is a synthesis of various animals and a symbol of totem worship formed in primitive society.

Dragons originated in the early Neolithic age, and the time from today will not be less than 8000 years. During this period, primitive ancestors did not simply and passively rely on God's reward. They raise wild horses, bison, wild boar and so on. We don't just eat those picked wild fruits, but selectively plant grains to harvest them. They can skillfully use fire, learn to build simple houses with wood, start grinding stone tools and bones, make pottery by hand, and gradually settle down and engage in production activities. Production activities make people's contact with nature more and more extensive, and nature, as an incredible force outside people, has a greater impact on people's spiritual world.

Why can't fish swim? Crocodiles in the bay sound like Hong Zhong, snakes are eerie and lizards have strange shapes. Why are clouds rolling, thunder and lightning, and heavy rain pouring down? Why do waves roll, rainbows run through the sky, and mudslides roar down, devouring people and animals and being invincible? ..... The behavior of these animals and the ever-changing natural phenomena are beyond the scientific explanation of the ancients.

They vaguely guessed that there should be such a powerful "sacred object" related to "water" to command, manipulate and manage these animals and astronomical phenomena, just as a clan must have a leader; In other words, these animals and natural phenomena are the embodiment of this "sacred object", just like people want to talk, scream, eat, drink, sleep, laugh and curse.

As a worship phenomenon and an "understanding" of incredible natural forces, the dragon began its "fuzzy collection" from this time.

The "dragon carving" unearthed from the site of the original village of Chahai in Fuxin, Liaoning Province provides evidence for our "time positioning". Chahai site belongs to the "pre-Hongshan Culture" remains, dating back about 8,000 years. The "Dragon Sculpture" is located in the central square of this primitive village site and is made of red-brown stones of equal size. This dragon is nearly 20 meters long and 2 meters wide. Its first mouth is tilted, its back is bent and its tail is looming. This stone dragon is the oldest and largest dragon found in China so far. It is said that there is a 10,000-year-old fish-tailed deer Longyan painting on the stone cliff of Persimmon Beach in Jixian County, Shanxi Province, which is considered as the earliest prototype of the dragon. This rock painting has not been published, and its appearance is still unknown. Then there are pottery dragon patterns unearthed in Xinglong Valley, Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, painted pottery dragon patterns unearthed in Beishouling Site, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, and dragon patterns unearthed in Xishuipo, Puyang City, Henan Province, dating back more than 6,400 years.

The process of fuzzy dragon mining began in the Neolithic Age, and it basically took shape in the Qin and Han Dynasties after considerable development in the Shang, Zhou and Warring States periods. This "basic" has two meanings. One is that the framework, elements and styles of dragons were basically available in Qin and Han dynasties; Second, the dragon is an open and constantly absorbing new system, which does not conform to the basic formation of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Later dynasties, until today, are constantly changing and developing.

The prototype of the dragon has sprouted in the late Neolithic period, and it is a virtual imagination with the totem of Xia nationality as the main body. The ancients had various explanations for this. It is said that [tng] snakes can fly without feet (see Xunzi? Persuade "); Those with scales are called dragons, those with horns are called dragons, and those without horns are called dragons. (See Li Sao and Guang Ya quoted by Hong Bu. ) The one with wings is called (Wang Note). Some people say that dragons are like dogs and cows, while Lun Heng said, "The image of dragons is anticlimactic. "Others say that the shape of the dragon is the horn of a deer, the ear of a cow, the head of a camel, the eyes of a rabbit, the neck of a snake, the belly of a slug, the scales of a fish, the soles of a deer and the claws of an eagle. This is obviously the late development of the dragon image, which is more and more complicated than the original dragon, and more and more totems are integrated, indicating that it is constantly enriching and developing. Scholars have done a lot of useful research on the main prototype of the dragon. There are crocodiles, lizards, horses and so on. But it is generally believed that the keynote of the dragon is snake. Wen Yiduo's masterpiece Fuxi Kao was the first to put forward this view systematically. The dragon is a big snake and the snake is a little dragon. Wen Yiduo believes that after the snake clan merged with other clans, it "absorbed many other totem clans (clans), and the serpent accepted the four feet of animals, the head of horses, the tail of raccoons, the horns of deer, the claws of dogs, the scales and whiskers of fish" and became the later dragon. On the basis of Wen Yiduo's research, later generations have done a lot of enrichment and supplement.

To investigate the dragon, we must first understand its tone, trunk or subject prototype. To sum up briefly, the dragon has been continuous since its initial appearance and is the main part of the dragon. Without it, the dragon is not a dragon. This is the keynote, trunk or main prototype of the dragon. On the dragon, if the snake's body is removed, the dragon will not exist. Long Bian comes and goes. Sometimes his head looks like a crocodile, sometimes like a horse. Its feet are sometimes like lizard's feet and sometimes like dog's claws; Only the snake's slender body has never changed. In ancient times, the clan tribes who worshipped snakes were very common. Snakes have strong vitality, which accords with the wishes of primitive ancestors. Snakes are also a great threat to people, especially poisonous snakes, which can kill people and make people afraid. Many gods in Shan Hai Jing are snakes or dragons. Snakes themselves are multi-ethnic. In modern terms, the worship of snakes was very popular at that time. Taking it as the main body of the dragon is a sign of great national integration, and even those who are integrated are willing to accept it. The formal formation of the dragon may have started in the Yu Xia period. After Yu consolidated his position in the Central Plains, the social conditions for combining snakes with other tribal totems to create dragons were ripe. Dragons were made to adapt to the emergence of the country. Because of the wide coverage of snake worship, taking snakes as the main body of dragons can be recognized by all ethnic groups in the north and south of the Chinese people. Dragons are the crystallization of multiculturalism. Once it was formed, it firmly established its authoritative position as a symbol of the Chinese nation.

The dragon is great because it is respected by all people in China. The dragon is nothing, because it is only a spirit, not a substance.

In China's myths and legends, it is a magical animal, with the image of snake body, lizard legs, talons, snake tail, antlers, fish scales, whiskers in the mouth and beads under the forehead. According to Shan Hai Jing, Xia Houqi, Ru Shou and Ju Mang all "rode the rain dragon". There are other secretaries, Zhuan Xu, Lapras and the Four Seas, Di Ku, Spring and Summer, Lapras. The predecessors divided dragons into four types: those with scales, those with wings, Ying Long, those with horns and those without horns. Some people think that this is the image formed by the totem of each clan after the ancient Yanhuang unified the tribes in the Central Plains. Legend has it that you can hide and show, climb the sky in the spring breeze and dive into the deep sea in the autumn wind. It also brought clouds and rain, and later became a symbol of imperial power. Emperors of past dynasties used dragons as costumes, and their utensils were also decorated with dragons. Dragon was worshipped by Chinese ancestors as the ancestor god, and was generally called "dragon". People in China often call themselves "descendants of dragons".

Dragon ranks fifth among the traditional Chinese zodiac animals in China. Dragon, phoenix, unicorn and tortoise are also called "four great beasts". (There are also many ancient books and history books that refer to the "four auspicious beasts" as: caring for each other, nurturing, caring for each other and caring for each other. ) Qinglong and Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu are the four astronomical phenomena in China. ? Before the Yuan Dynasty, the dragon spine had three claws, sometimes the first two feet had three claws, and the last two feet had four claws. Examples can be found in porcelain ornamentation in Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties. Four-claw dragon was popular in Ming dynasty, and five-claw dragon was the most popular in Qing dynasty.

"Five-claw Emperor, Four-claw Emperor and Three-claw Doctor" in Zhou Dynasty

The folk saying that "five claws are dragons and four claws are pythons" was formed in the Qing Dynasty, mainly because of the difference in clothing between emperors and ministers. The emperor wears the "dragon robe", while other royal families and ministers wear the "embroidered robe", but this is only the difference in name. Judging from the shape of dragons, dragons and pythons are quadrupeds, and there is no difference in appearance.

Octopus: It's an early kind of dragon, which is modeled on a reptile-snake and often moves in the water. "It takes five hundred years to become a jiaozi, and it takes a thousand years to become a dragon." It is the embryonic form of the dragon, which once appeared on the bronze decoration in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, but not much. ?

Qiu: Generally speaking, a little dragon without horns is called Qiu Long, which is a growing dragon. Therefore, the ancient literature records: "The horn is called autumn, and the horn is called dragon." The other is that the young dragon is called autumn after it has horns. ? Although there are differences between the two statements. But everyone is called the growing Longqiu. Some people call a meandering dragon a dragon, and Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem called "Talking about Qingyun", in which he wrote "A thousand plays in a narrow intestine"? Sentence. ?

Pan Guo is a snake-shaped monster of the genus Dragon, which is an early dragon without horns. There is a description of "killing dragons without horns" in Guangya. There are also two views on dragons, one refers to the yellow horned dragon and the other refers to the female dragon. There is a note in Han Zhuan that "the red dragon is also a female dragon", so the unearthed Warring States period is decorated with dragons and dragons, which means that men and women mate. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties, bronzes, jade carvings, bronze mirrors or buildings were often decorated in the shape of flat flies, including single flies, double flies, three flies, five flies and even swarms of flies. Or as a title card, or as a ring, or as a book. In addition, there are Bo Gu beetles, ring beetles and other changes. ?

Jiao: Generally speaking, it refers to a scaly dragon that can cause floods. According to legend, the water of the dragon can make clouds and fog and soar in space. In ancient Chinese, it is often used to mean that talented people get the opportunity to display their talents. There are different opinions about the origin and shape of jiaozi in classical literature, some say that "dragons have no horns and are called jiaozi", while others say that "scales are called Xiaolong". The third volume of Mo Ke Dao Rhinoceros is more specific: Jiao is shaped like a snake, with a head like a tiger and an elder of dozens of feet. Most of them live under the caves in Xitan, and their voices are like cattle. If Jiao sees pedestrians on the shore or in the ravine, he will entangle them with his mouth and make people fall into the water, that is, suck their blood under his arm until the blood runs out. People on shore and on board often suffer from it. There is a story in Liu Yiqing's Shi Shuo Xin Yu in the Southern Song Dynasty, saying that he went into the water for three days and three nights at the beginning of the week to chop jiaozi back. Jiao may be a crocodile. ?

Ceratosaurus: refers to a horned dragon. According to Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, "A Thousand-year-old Dragon, a Hundred-year-old dragon five Horned Dragon", Horned Dragon is an old man among dragons. ?

Ying Long: The winged dragon is called Ying Long. According to Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, "dragon five has been a Ceratosaurus for a hundred years, and Ying Long for a thousand years", Ying Long is the essence of the dragon, so he has wings. According to legend, Ying Long was the dragon of the ancient Yellow Emperor. It was ordered by the Yellow Emperor to crusade against Chiyou and kill Chiyou to become a hero. In Yu's flood control, the dragon swept the floor with its tail and diverted the flood. This dragon is also called Huanglong, and Huanglong is it, so it is the hero of Yu. Ying Long is characterized by wings, prickly scales, long head, small nose, eyes and ears, big eyes, high eyebrow arch, sharp teeth, protruding forehead, thin neck, long tail tip and strong limbs, just like a Chinese alligator with wings. The image of Ying Long often appears in jade carvings, stone carvings, silk paintings and lacquerware in the Han Dynasty during the Warring States Period. ?

Fire dragon: It is a dragon threatened by fire. The whole body is purple fire, and wherever the fire dragon passes, it is all burnt. ?

Panlong: refers to the dragon that crouches on the ground and does not ascend to heaven. The shape of a dragon is coiled. In ancient buildings in China, dragons coiled on pillars and dragons on decorative beams and ceilings are customarily called Panlong. There is another explanation for Panlong in "Taiping Magnolia": "Panlong is four feet long, blue-black, with a brocade-like red belt, and often goes down with the water and into the sea. Toxic, it hurts. " I mix dragons with jiaozi, snakes and things like that. ?

Qinglong is one of the "four spirits" or "four gods", also known as the black dragon. Ancient astronomers in China divided some stars in the sky into twenty-eight star zones, that is, twenty-eight nights, to observe the movement of the moon and divide the seasons, and divided the twenty-eight nights into four groups, with seven nights in each group, four colors of blue, red, white and black, and four animals, namely dragons, birds, tigers and basalts (where turtles and snakes intersect), called "four elephants". Dragon means the east, blue, the so-called "East Palace Qinglong". In the Qin and Han dynasties, these four images became "four spirits" or "four gods" (dragon, phoenix, turtle and forest), and their mystery became more and more intense. The existing stone relief of the East Palace Black Dragon constellation in Nanyang Han Painting Academy consists of a dragon, eighteen stars and the moon, and is engraved with jade toad. This dragon is the symbol of the whole black dragon constellation. In the bricks, stones and tiles of the Han Dynasty, there are many images of "four spirits". ?

Yu Hualong: It is a dragon with a dragon head and a fish body, and it is also a form of "mutual change of arowana and fish", which has existed for a long time in ancient China. In Shuo Yuan, there is a record that "the white dragon turned into a fish in the cold abyss in the past", and in Chang 'an ballad, "the big fish in the East China Sea turned into a dragon", and the carp circulated among the people jumped over the Longmen, all of which told the mutual changes of arowana. This kind of modeling appeared in jade carvings as early as the late Shang Dynasty, and it has developed in all previous dynasties.