You don't know much about Guangzhou. Guangzhou has developed rapidly. Everyone can see its economy and prosperity, but to really understand a place, we should start with its history and culture.

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, and continuously absorbed excellent cultures from the Central Plains and overseas, becoming a place where Chinese and Western cultures are integrated. Guangzhou was the first to accept western civilization and science and technology, and it was the first to open the atmosphere repeatedly. Therefore, Guangzhou culture not only shows strong locality, but also shows compatibility and openness. It is the representative of Lingnan culture, which also determines that Guangzhou should pay attention to continuously improving its status as an international city, strengthening the protection and development of Lingnan culture, inheriting the excellent traditions of Lingnan culture while innovating, and further enhancing the radiation and influence of Guangzhou culture. Only in this way can Guangzhou, a famous cultural city, have unique charm and permanent life.

As we all know, Guangzhou is called Yangcheng, and there is a well-known and beautiful myth here, that is, the widely spread legend that "the five sheep are the best in the Chuting".

Around the Zhou Dynasty, Guangzhou suffered from famine year after year, and the fields were deserted, and the agricultural harvest was lost, 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 were five immortals in the sky, dressed in colorful clothes, riding fairy sheep with different colors and ears of rice, and they arrived in Guangzhou. The immortal gave the excellent ears of rice to the people of Guangzhou, and wished that there would never be a famine in this area. I wish the immortal would fly away and five fairy sheep would be turned into stone sheep and stay on the hillside of Guangzhou. Since then, Guangzhou has become the richest place in Lingnan, with the wish of immortals, fragrant ears of rice and bumper harvest every year. This is why Guangzhou has the names of "Five Yangcheng", "Guangzhou City" and "Yangcheng". There are various theories 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), and some people say that the arrival of the Five Immortals was the time when the Nanhai people Gao Gu became Chu Weiwang, and it was for the Warring States period. There is also a saying that Wu Xiu of the Jin Dynasty was the secretariat of Guangzhou, and five immortals rode five sheep and came to the hall of Guangzhou Prefecture with grain on their backs, so Wu Xiu painted five immortals in the hall as auspicious and commemorative. 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 the Five Immortals Temple here, and there are statues of the Five Immortals and Five Sheep in the main hall. On the east side of Wuxian Temple, there is also a huge red sandstone-like concave stone in the shape of footprints, which is called "immortal thumb mark" (thumb mark refers to footprints).

on the wooden shell hill in Yuexiu Mountain, Guangzhou, there is a Wuyang stone statue built in 1959. This was created by the famous sculptor Yin Jichang and others according to the legend of Wuyang. The statue is 11 meters high with its base, and * * * is carved from more than 131 pieces of granite. The volume is about 53 cubic meters, and only one stone on the head of the main sheep weighs more than 4 thousand Jin. Five sheep vary in size. The head of the main sheep stands high, with a spike in its mouth, smiling back and visiting the world. Four other sheep are around it, playing games or eating grass, and lambs are sucking the milk of the ewe. Wuyang has different postures, beautiful shapes, lifelike and full of interest, which makes people linger and imagine. It is said that when the statue was completed, there was some discussion. Some people suggested that since the five immortals were riding sheep, how could there be suckling sheep? In fact, the immortal five sheep are all beautiful myths. They are immortal sheep, regardless of size, with their own fairy wind and bones. Sculptors exert their superior imagination and originality. The Wuyang stone carving created by historical legends has been tested for more than 41 years and is known as the city emblem of Guangzhou, which adds a lot of color to the historical and cultural city. In July, 1999, Wuyang Stone Carving was listed as a cultural relic protection unit by Guangzhou Municipal Government.

It is really interesting to study the name of Yangcheng, which originated from the myth of the arrival of five sheep. But why did the legendary immortal ride sheep instead of horses, deer and so on? Why are five colorful clouds, five immortals and five-color fairy sheep "five" instead of "four" or "six"? Why does the sheep's mouth hold "valley" instead of "grass" instead of "flower" What information does this beautiful fairy tale record 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 is inseparable from the material foundation. In our primitive society, the development of animal husbandry is the first. From the wild animals in the fishing and hunting era as the main source of food to the primitive accumulation of knowing how to adopt prey, it gradually entered the animal husbandry era. "Livestock" started from the accumulation of food, 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 the 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 early human life from nomadic life to settled farming and animal husbandry. Ancient philologists believe that the word "fu" means surrender. "Fuxi" means to surrender wild animals to tame livestock for enjoyment and sacrifice, and the word "Fuxi" itself contains sheep, which means to surrender wild sheep to domestic sheep. The sheep is gentle and gentle, and it is one of the earliest domestic animals raised by human beings.

China's first dynasty, Xia, had a record of raising sheep. "Chu Ci? According to the cloud in JIU ge, after conquering the Hu family, Xia Qi punished the prisoners as "herding cattle and sheep" and forced them to "Mu Fu cattle and sheep", that is, to become slaves of herding livestock. This historical data shows that slaves who raised cattle and sheep appeared in 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" had been formed. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Shang Dynasty, sacrificial sheep were mentioned many times, and the number was 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 was produced in the Zhou Dynasty, is the earliest collection of poems and songs in China, and there are more than ten references to sheep in 315 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 recorded 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 flesh, sitting on their skins, and not being dogs and sheep, is not killing them for no reason." It can be seen that sheep was already a kind of wealth at that time, mostly used in sacrifices and celebrations, and sheep were not slaughtered at will at ordinary times, which was conducive to the reproduction and growth of sheep.

the Qin and Han dynasties were the peak of China's historical development. People actively reclaim wasteland, cultivate fields, plant mulberry and graze in fences, 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 "Xian"; "Eating" means having sheep in your mouth. "Moon" indicates that mutton was the staple food at that time. "Eating" means feeding your stomach with mutton. This shows that "sheep" is the animal food that has the closest relationship with the life of ancient ancestors. From eating fish to eating sheep is the material manifestation of the progress of Chinese food civilization.

At the same time, sheep is the symbol of nomadic culture. After living mainly in animal husbandry, our ancestors established the material basis of keeping in good health with grains. China has experienced the creation and development of agriculture and become a big agricultural country. Grains are the symbol of agricultural culture, and "grains" are also "grains" and "ears".

Yanhuang culture is the harmony of Qiang (nomadic) culture and agriculture, and the Five Immortals brought "sheep" and "valley", which implied that the essence and essence of Central Plains diet and culture were brought to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is the birthplace of the ancient Maritime Silk Road in China. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, it began to conduct trade and cultural exchanges with overseas countries, and the blue ocean extended the development space of Guangzhou infinitely. Guangzhou culture is the harmony of indigenous 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 the 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 luck. Some people think that sheep is a totem worship of Guyue people in Guangzhou. The word "sheep" is ancient and auspicious. In the inscriptions of ancient bronze wares in China, "auspicious" is often used as "auspicious sheep". Han Yuanjia's sword inscription reads "Yi Hou Wang, Daji Yang." Sheep is a beautiful symbol and auspicious thing, and it has been one of the six stores since ancient times. Some people think that the "beauty" of Chinese characters is "sheep big" when disassembled, that is, sheep fat is beauty; The "freshness" of Chinese characters is "fish and sheep" when disassembled, while the beautiful white jade is compared with white and moist sheep cream, which is euphemistically called sheep fat white jade. Sheep are gentle and full of fraternity. Since ancient times, sheep and human beings have lived in harmony 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. From the unearthed cultural relics, Guangzhou attached great importance to animal husbandry in the Han Dynasty. In the Han tombs in Guangzhou, many pottery sculptures such as pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, ducks and geese were found, which vividly reflected the prosperity of six animals in Guangzhou 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, and there was a sheepfold in the back porch house. A figurine was driving three sheep into the sheepfold along the inclined ladder on the side of the house. Other pottery houses unearthed from Han tombs also have a sheepfold on one side, and several pottery sheep climbed the stairs themselves and filed into the pen. 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.

thanks to the beautiful legend of Wuyang valley, our ancient city has been called "Yangcheng", "Suicheng" and "Xiancheng", and later "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 close to the South China Sea. Some people think that the "sheep" in Yangcheng, plus three points of water, is "foreign", that is, three sheep. Therefore, Guangzhou culture has a deep background of marine culture, and therefore Guangzhou is the birthplace of the ever-lasting Maritime Silk Road, and the indigenous people in Guangzhou are Yue people. The Yue culture has been blended with Chinese culture and marine culture for a long time, and the three cultures have merged together, which has formed the characteristics of Guangzhou ancient culture, namely, the humanistic consciousness of compatibility and openness, the enterprising business consciousness and the pragmatic consciousness of stressing practical results.