If the symbol of China is mentioned today, or an animal that best represents China, what is the first reaction of most people? Dragon? We are all proud that we are descendants of the dragon. Just as the lion is the symbol of Britain, the dragon is the national symbol of China.
Chinese loong
In the long history of Chinese civilization, no matter how history changes and dynasties change, dragon, as a cultural spirit, always exists and runs through the whole history of Chinese civilization. A flowing dynasty, an iron dragon? Can you call it? An indelible symbol? .
So how did the dragon change from a national totem to a national symbol?
The Generation and Evolution of Dragon Totem
Totem? This word comes from the native language of North American Indians, which means? His relatives? . The core of totem worship is to identify a thing and regard it as a symbol, symbol and protector of a nation. The totem of our Chinese nation is a dragon based on a snake.
Han stone rubbings, Fuxi female snail on the upper right, who is the first snake god.
The totem of primitive Xia people is a snake, such as Yu, the founder of Xia Dynasty. Yu, a bug? , in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Jin Wen, Bugs? Chinese characters are hieroglyphics of snake head, snake body and snake tail. In other words, Yu's name comes from the totem of the snake. Liezi? Still in the Yellow Emperor? Xia Houshi's human face snake? . Later, as more and more ethnic groups joined the Xia and Shang Dynasties, the snake totem was continuously merged, absorbed and integrated with other tribal totems, and gradually enriched into a dragon made of animals, which was a great success.
Later, after the development of the dynasty and the great integration of the nation, the image of the dragon has been continuously evolved and enriched, and the image of the dragon was generally defined in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Luo Yuan's Er Ya Yi in the Southern Song Dynasty (Volume 28) Releasing Fish? Dragon: horns like deer, head like camel, eyes like ghosts, neck like snakes, belly like flies, claws like eagles, palms like tigers, ears like cows? , which is commonly called. Like a dragon? The basic image standard of the dragon is thus decided.
The development of the dragon image gradually broke away from the original totem, and evolved into a magical animal that China, the Han nationality and even the Chinese nation have long believed in, and became the national totem of China.
The dragon changed from a totem to the incarnation of the emperor.
With the development of society and the deepening of autocratic monarchy, the rulers, out of the need of rule, used people's universal worship of dragons to integrate the totem worshipped by Chinese ancestors with themselves. As a national totem, dragons began to become the embodiment of rulers and emperors.
When the dragon became the incarnation of the emperor, three key figures had to be mentioned. One is Zhong Er, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period. Zhong Er was originally the son of the State of Jin. Because of the civil strife, he lived in exile for 19 years, and then returned to China to reign. The meson who was exiled with him wrote a poem:? The dragon ran away from home and wandered around. ... the dragon got its place? ("Lu Chunqiu? Li Jie "), this is a metaphor for his master Zhong Er.
Second, Qin Shihuang seized power. He claims to be? Zulong? The explanation of later generations is: Zu,. Dragons, men and kings? This is also the first emperor in China who compared himself to a dragon.
Dragon Patterns in Qin and Han Dynasties
Third, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu and historical records. Gao ancestral:
Liu bang? Father said Taigong and mother said Liu Wei. First, Wei Liu tasted the evil of Ozawa, and his dream met with God. When the thunder and lightning flashed on and off, my father looked at it and saw the dragon on it. Have a body, and then produce high impedance? .
In other words, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang turned out to be a dragon. Since Liu Bang's creator made such a deliberate fabrication, emperors of all dynasties have called themselves dragon species. These dragons look different from ordinary men, so add, and? The real dragon emperor? Emperor-related things, such as dragon body, dragon face, dragon bed, dragon chair, dragon chariot, dragon robe, dragon son, dragon grandson and so on. Later, it developed and even the dragon patterns on clothes, buildings and utensils became royal patents. In this way, the dragon became the embodiment of the emperor.
Dragon element in architecture
From the incarnation of the emperor to the national symbol.
Since the dragon has become the embodiment of the emperor, in the traditional era of China, what else? Under the sky, it is the land of kings, the land of command, and the minister of kings? 、? Call the son of heaven a country? And so on, so the dragon began to naturally become a national symbol.
As a national symbol, the most typical performance of the dragon was in the late Qing Dynasty. 1840 after the opium war, the imperialist powers opened the door to China and forcibly entered China. 1856 After the Second Opium War, these imperialist countries even deployed their navies in the waters of China. These imperialist countries all have national flags, and their warships and merchant ships will also set up their own national flags. Therefore, in order to facilitate the communication between China and foreign countries and conform to international practice, the Qing Dynasty also produced the Huanglong Banner with national symbolic significance. At first, it was a triangular yellow dragon flag made by 1862, which was mainly used for navy warships and large customs clearance ships. 1888, the triangular Huanglong flag was changed to the rectangular Huanglong flag, which was officially designated as the national flag of the Qing Dynasty.
yellow dragon flag
Yellow Dragon Banner, whether triangular or rectangular, has distinct elements of China traditional culture. For example, yellow is not only the central color in the five elements theory, but also the color of emperors in history, a symbol of agricultural harvest, a neutral symbol in culture, and a symbol of the yellow race in the nation. As for the dragon with five claws, it was originally the embodiment of the emperor.
In Qing Dynasty, such a rectangular yellow dragon flag, namely the Red Pearl flag with Huanglong Opera, was not only the first national flag of China, but also a symbol of the Qing emperor. Son of heaven? Namely. Country? Under the concept of dragon, it certainly becomes the symbol of China country.
Foreign countries also regard the dragon as the national symbol of China.
In fact, a long time ago, foreigners, especially westerners, more or less knew the rich symbolic significance of dragons in China.
Matteo Ricci
For example, Matteo Ricci, a missionary in Ming Dynasty, pointed out that the dragon is a symbol of imperial power in China? An Wenen, a Portuguese missionary in China, pointed out: Is the symbol of Emperor China a dragon? The French priest Duhede, who has never been to China, also pointed out in Quan Zhi of the Chinese Empire, which he edited and published in 1735. The dragon is undoubtedly the national symbol of China, just as the eagle is to Rome. ?
leg xxiv coh iv
Of course, what needs special explanation is, what makes the dragon in the eyes of Westerners? A symbol of China people? Even the name of China, the key lies in the completely different indicative meaning of the dragon and the west dragon.
In western culture, it was probably first translated by Matteo Ricci. Dragon? The dragon is a monster with four legs, with a pair of huge wings on its back, and it can breathe fire, representing evil and greed. Therefore, in the Bible, there is a story of Saint George slaying dragons and killing pests, and the English epic "Beowulf" praises the heroic deeds of the king who slew dragons.
George fought the dragon.
In China, the dragon is not only a symbol of the royal family, the country and the people, but also an auspicious animal, although westerners use its shape as a handle? Dragon? It was translated into Dragon, but in order to distinguish loong from Western Dragon with completely different meanings, a qualifier China or Chinese was added in front of loong, so loong or loong became Loong's customary translation.
In other words, in the western context, seeing, writing or talking about dragons in China will always be associated with China in China and China people in China. In this way, the dragon has evolved into a symbol and pronoun of China in the west over time.
Finally, the development of dragon from totem to national symbol is not only the development of dragon culture, but also the development of Chinese spiritual civilization. It symbolizes the spirit of tolerance, enterprising and independence of the Chinese nation, and also embodies the cohesion of the Chinese nation. It is an indelible symbol in the long history of the Chinese nation.