gluttonous

Chinese pinyin: tāo tiè

gluttonous (pinyin: Tāotiè), a legendary ferocious and gluttonous beast, is often decorated with its head shape on ancient bronzes, which is called gluttonous pattern. Legend has it that the dragon gave birth to nine sons.

"gluttony" is a mythical beast in China's ancient legends. Its greatest feature is that it can eat. Gluttony is an imaginary mysterious monster. This monster has no body, only a big head and a big mouth. It is very greedy and eats whatever it sees. Because it eats too much, it is finally suffocated. It is a symbol of greed.

It is recorded in Ci Hai that gluttony is "the legendary evil beast of gluttony. In ancient Zhong Ding, the shape of its head was carved as a decoration. "

Ci Hai explains the word gluttony: gluttony means "greed", and The Book of Rites and Music in Han Dynasty: "Greedy risks" Yan Shigu's note: "Greedy means gluttony." Especially gluttony.

< Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals >:' Zhou Ding is gluttonous and has Kubinashi's body.'

There are three problems to be noted in the above paragraphs:

First, gluttony is a kind of "evil beast", not a fish, snake, python and crocodile, not a fish or reptile. There are also gluttonous patterns on Shang and Zhou Ding in Ci Hai. As long as you have a look, you can recognize who that ferocious beast looks like, very much like the front of a wolf, with round eyes and fierce eyes.

second, gluttony is very gluttonous. This characteristic clearly points out the characteristics of wolves. "Extremely gluttonous" is one of the most prominent characteristics of coyotes. We have raised wolves and know this nature of wolves too well. We can cite countless examples of wolf gluttony. There is no animal more gluttonous than a wolf. If you don't believe me, you can ask the old herder who is the most "gluttonous beast" in the world. The answer must be a wolf. As everyone knows, "greed" is synonymous with wolf nature. Dong Zhongshu said that the greed for wolves is a common custom in Qin Dynasty, and he also juxtaposed greed with wolves. People in China always describe gluttony as "gorging", and they also rank wolves ahead of tigers. Wolves are more gluttonous than tigers. When describing greed, they all say "wolf ambition", not "tiger ambition".

because gluttony has the characteristics of two wolves, namely "evil beast" and "gluttonous", and gluttonous patterns are like wolves. Therefore, the legendary gluttony is probably a wolf, or a beast evolved from a wolf.

thirdly, gluttony has become the main decoration of Shang and Zhou Ding, which involves a series of problems. Baoding is the important weapon of the Chinese nation in the bronze age. In the Zhou Dynasty, the "Ding" of "keeping one word and keeping nine" was an artifact and ritual vessel symbolizing the supreme kingship, and it was also a sacrificial vessel to worship the heavens and ancestors. Ding was in the position of a national "totem pole" in the eyes of Chinese ancestors. Therefore, only the totem belonging to the nation is qualified to ascend such a lofty position, and it is engraved and cast on the treasure tripod. This phenomenon also reflects two problems: First, by the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Huaxia nationality might still worship the wolf totem, at least the beast totem, and the totem worship legacy of the ancestors of Yandi Huangdi nationality might still exist, while the Huaxia nationality in the Zhou Dynasty was more deeply influenced by the wolf totem, because the Zhou Dynasty originated from Xirong, and Xirong was mostly a nomadic people who worshipped the wolf totem. Secondly, the "dragon" at that time may not have been generally accepted, and it has not really become the national totem of the Huaxia nationality. Otherwise, the Baoding symbolizing the royal power will definitely take the dragon as the main decoration. Moreover, at that time, Zhou Tianzi had not yet sat in the dragon throne, and at that time, he continued the nomadic legacy of Yanhuang and sat on the floor.

The decorative patterns on Zhou Ding are mainly composed of gluttonous patterns and moire patterns, with gluttony as the center and moire patterns surrounding it. Obviously, the gluttonous beast is in the sky, sticking its head out of the clouds and looking down at the world. Its body is hidden in the clouds. I don't know if there is a snake body or a dragon body, but if the dragon body is attached behind the gluttonous head, it is not far from the later standard dragon. Therefore, I think there may be a transition stage between the wolf totem and the dragon totem. Gluttony not only has the character of a wolf, but also has the ferocious face of the context.

The real name and prototype of the beast referred to in the animal face pattern have long been buried in an era that cannot be reproduced. Later generations named it gluttony because of its ferocious, mysterious and horrible face, and some of them have human heads in their mouths. Gluttony was originally used in Zuo Zhuan to describe the heartless and unjust people who were greedy for money and food. Scholars in modern times have pointed out that it is far-fetched to name animal face prints as gluttonous and pure, which goes against the social and cultural conditions of Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Because of its fierce and horrible face and notorious gluttony, it is almost impossible to find traces of this beast in the cultural and artistic evolution of China. In the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, animal ornamentation, which had prevailed for hundreds of years, suddenly withdrew from the field of bronze decorative main patterns. However, several animal patterns, such as dragons, tigers, phoenixes and turtles, which appeared on bronzes at the same time with the gluttonous patterns, appeared in large numbers in the official and folk cultures in the later cultural evolution, becoming the most famous mascots in China culture and the endless theme of artistic expression. Dragons, in particular, in the Bronze Age, most of them also had the same ferocious faces as gluttonous patterns. In terms of mystery, power and status, dragons were far inferior to gluttony in the Bronze Age. However, the dragon later ascended the highest throne of China's cultural and political symbol, and "gluttony", the supreme of the Bronze Age, was hard to find.

what exactly does gluttonous grain mean? There have always been different arguments, and so far there is no conclusion. Some say it's cattle, sheep, tigers, deer and mandrills. Among these theories, gluttony is the loudest. Many scholars engaged in the study of primitive culture and art believe that the gluttonous pattern is the exaggeration and deformation of the tiger pattern. In ancient times, the tiger was also a very important god beast, and the shape of a wizard riding a tiger appeared in later cultural relics. In the long cultural history of China, before the worship of "Dragon and Phoenix", there was a long stage of dragon and tiger worship. Long Hudou's pattern modeling was very popular from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, among which the dragon and tiger fighting figure unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb was the most exquisite and extraordinary. The ancients thought that the tiger was a yang beast, "the cloud follows the dragon and the wind follows the tiger." Fighting between dragons and tigers indicates intercourse between yin and yang. In the Han Dynasty, black dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu represented the four astronomical officials of the Middle East, West, South and North. At least, in the early history of China, the status of the tiger was not below that of the dragon. However, the description of the magical power of the tiger in ancient books is obviously difficult to compare with the prominent position of gluttony in bronze ware.