Kneel down! Talk about the understanding of China culture from the aspects of politics, economy, culture, art, geography and religion, about 500 words ~

In China, auspicious symbols and patterns seem inconspicuous, but they are everywhere, and everyone uses them. For China people, good fortune is like water to fish, sky to birds and air to people. It seems that no one can tell clearly when and where the auspicious culture of China came into being. The only certainty is that when people have the desire to pursue happiness, beauty and peace, they are created. And through various means and forms, it runs through all aspects of life. Therefore, by understanding auspicious culture, we can understand important aspects of China culture and China people.

"There must be a scene in the painting, and it is not greasy to see it; Exports must be auspicious to be satisfactory; Be handsome and likable. " This is a formula once circulated by the old artists of Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year pictures. There is such a demand for New Year pictures, because it is not only for looking at pictures, but also an indispensable thing for China people to celebrate the New Year for thousands of years: there is a door god at the door, a god of wealth at the door, a nave in the hall, a wall painting on the wall, a bed painting on the bed, a kitchen god painting on the stove, and even the stable in the cowshed can't be left. The reason why New Year pictures are so overwhelming is that people in China think that New Year pictures are auspicious things, which can bring good omen to the new year. In addition to New Year pictures, there are red Spring Festival couplets, red lanterns, red firecrackers, red dresses, red window grilles, red blessings and so on, which are flourishing everywhere, making the New Year full of vitality and making people feel happy.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, auspicious culture is not only in the New Year. The common people's spring planting and summer harvest, marriage and having children, birthday celebration, market opening, scientific research examination, promotion and wealth, moving to a new house and other life-related events all contain auspicious culture. In recent years, it has also been widely used in activities and ceremonies at the national level. For example, Jinlin, the mascot of the 10th National Games of China held in Nanjing, is a golden unicorn, which is not only a homonym of the ancient capital Jinling, but also a traditional mascot Kirin. As for the emblem of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, although it was printed in China, it still uses the auspicious color China Red. Fuwa, a group of mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games, is closely related to traditional auspicious symbols.

This strong sense of auspiciousness in China society is a remarkable feature of China. Why is China people's auspicious view particularly strong? Why can "deer", "bat", "peony", "elephant" and so on, from animals and plants to myths, legends, operas, stories and even words and characters, become auspicious symbols? Why many traditional cultures have gradually disappeared or died out, while auspicious culture has never declined or even developed? Over the years, I have been wandering in the ocean of folk culture, often thinking about these and many related problems, some of which seem to be solvable, and some may not.

Why are they auspicious symbols?

Auspicious, literally means "good luck" and "peace". As the ancients said, the so-called "auspicious people are blessed; Auspicious, auspicious. " Shuowen said: "discipline is good"; "Auspicious, blessed also". To put it bluntly, auspiciousness is a good omen, that is, everything is smooth, complete and happy. So throughout the ages, there is no one who does not pursue auspiciousness. Everyone has this kind of heart of pursuing good fortune and avoiding evil. Auspicious symbols, mascots and auspicious patterns are props created by human beings to convey their own voices.

In fact, lanterns, ropes and firecrackers are all objective things. Like water, electricity and fire, they are all substances without good and evil. How can they be auspicious? We might as well explore.

As we all know, "Chinese knot" is a very fashionable thing in recent years, and many people give it as a gift. In fact, from the perspective of Chinese knots, similar things have existed for a long time, but they are not called "Chinese knots". For example, bows tied to girls' hair and buckles used in Hanfu are all kinds of knots. What does knot have to do with auspiciousness? You must tie a knot with a rope. Before the appearance of writing, the ancients wanted to record some memorable events by means of "tying the rope", and it was "tying the rope for major events and summarizing the rope for minor events". Later, the ancients liked to tie ribbons into a serial palindrome knot to express their love, and took a wonderful name called "concentric knot". There is a cloud in Liang Wudi's poem: "The waist is double, and the dream is concentric." The Tang Dynasty text "Brocade Ci" said: "The knots of brocade are all concentric and the clouds are deep." In fact, Jiao Fang's music in Tang Dynasty has an inscription of "concentric knot". It seems that people at that time were more romantic than modern people. They used knots to express their concentric feelings and wishes.

What is a knot? Shuowen said "two rope hooks". It seems that the essence of the problem is here, "hook", that is, tied together and never separated. Then anyone who hopes that a relationship will never be separated or interrupted will associate it with a knot, for example, two people are called "married couples" for life, and the friendship between the two countries is called "alliance", "unity", "marriage" and "friendship and unity" and so on.

A rope that can be bent at will is a straight line, with no interruption in the middle, clear route, twists and turns, interlocking, strict logic and continuity from beginning to end. Isn't this the image life should have? Cycle after cycle, unite as one, never stop. For human beings who pursue the infinite continuation of life, such an image is naturally extremely beautiful. Therefore, the figure woven by a rope has auspicious meanings, such as the length of the disc. In fact, the length of the plate is the common name of Chinese knot. When I was a child, my aunt taught me to use "vegetable length". My aunt said that the vegetable head is also called "vegetable intestines", which looks like a plate of intestines, but this name is unlucky, so it was changed to "vegetable head". The length of a dish has eight links, so it is also called "eight knots", and "knot" is homophonic with "auspiciousness", so it is also called "eight auspiciousness". Buddhist rituals are "eight auspicious", all of which are worn by gods and buddhas, and some are long boards. It is also said that "the board is long, and the Buddha says that everything is bright". In fact, the pattern of disc length is quite rich, which can be derived from the disc length of ten thousand generations, the disc length of one hundred years, the disc length of four combinations, the disc length of plum blossoms and so on.

In northern Shaanxi, the doors and windows of caves are called "window lattice", and the decorations on them are "the length of a sheep dish" and "the snake holds ten eggs". This "snake holding ten eggs" is a very long pattern, because its line trend is quite like a snake, and there are ten eggs in the middle 10 blank. And no matter what the shape of the window lattice is, there is a strict center point. People in northern Shaanxi think that this window lattice is the "heart nest" of people and cannot be nailed with nails. They said, "people can't nail their hearts, and they will die if they nail them." The northern Shaanxi yangko is also called "yangko". The footprints of yangko under your feet are actually all kinds of long pictures, so some experts call them yangko and yangko. Similarly, there are nine turns in northern Shaanxi, also known as the lantern field. Its trajectory is similar to a maze, and some of them have to take a long map.

There are many auspicious symbols in China, such as Fang Sheng, Ruyi, Yuanbao, Shouzi, Tortoise Back, Happy Characters, Eight Diagrams, Ancient Money, Silver Ingots, Maruko, etc., which are numerous and have different symbolic meanings. For example, the swastika on Sakyamuni's chest is called "auspicious phase", and the Buddhist scriptures are translated as "auspicious sea cloud phase", which is a spell, amulet or religious symbol and a symbol of the sun or fire. Hua Yin Yan Yi in the Tang Dynasty called Wanzi "the auspicious place of all virtues". In fact, as early as the Neolithic painted pottery in China, there were many coherent words. In the folk, the common people used to call it "welcoming", "grinding", "flowing thousands of words" and "endless thousands of words", creating countless auspicious patterns that are endless.

Amazing imagination and creativity.

The process from a straight line to an auspicious symbol is so interesting and reasonable. What do we see through this process? It should be the rich imagination of this nation and the associative power that connects everything with beauty. In fact, when China people create various auspicious symbols, they use metaphors, comparisons, metaphors, hints, homophones, symbols, borrowings, puns and so on like a duck to water, which is amazing. Of course, symbolism exists in all ethnic groups, but it seems not as rich, popular and profound as China.

In front of the new york Stock Exchange, there stands a bull statue, full of energy. It is said that it symbolizes the "bull market" of the stock market, that is, the market is rising. The ox is the mascot of the stock market, but there are two lions in front of the Bank of China. In China, lions have nothing to do with money, but with majesty and power. This is very interesting. It seems more appropriate for an institution in charge of money and finance to put a god of wealth in front of the door, but putting a lion in front of the door has a very different meaning.

In ancient China, there were such positions as surname and Shao Shi, who were officials assisting the emperor and the prince respectively. Their position is prominent, and their official is Gaul Hou. Because "lion" and "teacher" are homophonic, lions are also associated with official titles. In Panjiayuan antique market in Beijing, there are often two red lions with hats, one big and one small, which used to be used to put official hats. The sounds of "big" and "small" are similar, and these two lions are also called "too many lions and less lions", that is, "too few lions", so this hat has become a mascot symbolizing wealth and power.

Lions are not only related to the promotion and title of officials, but also to the protection of towns and houses in northern Shaanxi. There are not only many lions in Shenmu railing fort, but also many masons who carve lions and "peaceful things" where lions are placed, that is, Mr. Yin and Yang. Lions have many shapes: back lion, face lion, village lion, mountain lion, wall lion, door lion and kang lion. Which shape to use is also very particular, because the direction towards the cave is not easy to adjust, so the lion is used to crack it. For example, due north of the cave, there is no sub-word for sitting, so the lion will be made into a shape for treatment to ensure peace; If the cave is facing the cliff, the lion will be carved into a straight head to scare the lion. When placing lions, you should also wrap evil things in yellow paper, write auspicious words in black, point cinnabar and suppress them under Leo. The earthquake targets include twelve kinds of monosodium glutamate drugs and seven kinds of incense. Twelve kinds of drugs are sand avoidance, ghost worry, ghost arrow grass, realgar, shagen, caution, polygala tenuifolia and so on. These seven kinds of incense are clove, agarwood, agastaches, costustoot, sandalwood, benzoin and golden incense. After putting away the earthquake objects, we should also recite the Anshi mantra and the Yuan Dynasty sedative mantra. As for the lion tied to a horse stake by the cave in northern Shaanxi and the little lion tied to the kang, it is even more varied and arbitrary.

Lions and tigers in nature are not common to ordinary people, but their habits are well known, so their fierceness has become a factor for people to use them as mascots to avoid disaster. When I was a child, I heard from my grandfather that people can ward off evil spirits by carrying a tiger bone with them. This is a borrowing technique. Borrowing techniques are not only used for real animals, but also for legendary and imaginary animals. For example, Kirin, the god beast in ancient myths and stories.

Kirin is an animal created by China people. There are deer bodies, oxtails, horseshoes and fish scales. These four animals are admirers or mascots of China people. Some people say that concentrating the advantages of one's cherished animal on the imaginary animal Kirin shows China people's thought and strong desire to "gather beauty". Kirin is a legendary benevolent beast with a gentle temperament. Its courage does not harm the people, its courage does not trample on living things, and its fierceness does not damage vegetation. It is also called the Four Spirits with the Dragon, Phoenix and Turtle. In order to show the benevolence of Kirin, Kirin is also associated with the sage Confucius. According to folklore, when Confucius was born, a unicorn came to the home in the Queli of Confucius' mansion and spat a jade book, saying that Confucius was a descendant of nature. Although he did not occupy the position of emperor, he had the virtue of emperor, so he was called "the king of elements". Some people say that the age of Confucius' life was destroyed, and some people saw Kirin dismembered in the wilderness. Confucius lamented that Kirin was "out of date" and wrote Chunqiu, which was called "Lin Jing" and "Lin Shi".

As a symbol of benevolence and beast, what kind of auspicious meaning has Kirin been given? "Shi Mao Yishu" said: "Wang is a benevolent person." "Taiping Yulan" quoted "Spring and Autumn Gan Jing Fu" saying: "The king does not cut the fetus, does not break the egg, and goes out of the suburbs." "Wang Dehua flows around four tables, and Kirin is embarrassed." If these meanings are expressed in one sentence, Kirin will only appear when the virtuous king has created a peaceful and prosperous time, otherwise Kirin will not be seen by the world. Therefore, it can be inferred that the reason why the ancients created Kirin was related to the expectation of peace and prosperity. At this point, Kirin and Phoenix have the same effect. For example, in the eyes of theologians, the phoenix is a barometer of the rise and fall of chaos. As the saying goes, "Your Majesty thinks that the emperor is a phoenix" and "filial piety is a phoenix nest".

Associated with China's long history, it seems that we can find the connection between auspicious symbols such as Kirin and Phoenix and peaceful scenery: China people yearn for a peaceful and peaceful living environment because they have experienced too many wars, famines and famines, so they have created unprecedented god beasts and birds to express people's inner wishes and remind rulers that only if you are a virtuous ruler, the world will be peaceful, otherwise the benevolent beast will appear. When I wrote this, I suddenly felt a little sorry. For ordinary people who have no right to speak, they can only use hints and metaphors to convey their feelings.

Of course, Kirin and Phoenix also have other meaning. For example, our common Kirin Songzi and "Lintu Yu Shu" both imply auspicious arrival and the birth of saints. This means that the appearance of Kirin will send children to families who have no children, and the boys sent by Kirin will grow up to be virtuous and loyal ministers, which can assist the emperor in governing the country. So sometimes, there is a couplet on the picture of Kirin's gift: "Kirin in the sky, the champion on the ground."

There is nothing wrong with borrowing pragmatism from the east and using it from the west.

Undoubtedly, the auspicious consciousness and culture have been deeply rooted in the life of China people, so everything is auspicious. Of course, this is a bit absolute, but China, like other countries, has many mascots and auspicious symbols. Examples are easy to get. For example, people's obsession with the number "8" has reached an unparalleled level. The number "4" is often ignored because it is homophonic with "death" and unlucky. If you really can't hide from it, change it and use notes to pronounce it. Using the homophonic features in language, we can turn "gourd" into "fulu" and "bat", and those with less beautiful appearance also become "all blessings".

Lotus, a noble thing in Japan, is always associated with Buddhism. But in China, lotus has many meanings. Because "Lian" and "Lian" are homophonic, many auspicious symbols and patterns related to "Lian" were born. The characteristics of lotus, such as "all flowers live together", "many flowers in the lotus" and "two flowers in one stalk", have been interpreted as images such as "connecting your son", "Zhonglian three elements", "rejoicing with reason", "connecting all the way" and "one product is pure".

Anyone who has been to Lingyan Temple in Changqing, Shandong Province must know that there are two big trees growing together in front of Daxiong Hall, one is cypress and the other is persimmon. I haven't verified the age of this tree yet. Judging from the thickness of cypress, thousands of years is not a problem. In autumn, persimmons are ripe and the scenery is pleasant. Usually, these two trees are not attractive except rough, but there are always people taking pictures under them. The secret is that they all want to be infected by the auspicious smell of some big trees. Because persimmon trees and cypress trees are planted together with the homonym "Pepsi (cypress, persimmon) Ruyi"!

I once saw a stout orange tree next to the ancestral temple in Foshan, Guangdong. The tree is covered with red strips of cloth, and each strip of cloth is tied with a paper symbol. The scene is spectacular. Ask the local people to know. Because of the homonym of "orange" in orange trees, Chenpi became auspicious tree. In Wang Jia Courtyard in Lingshi, Shaanxi Province, there is a big yard that crosses the threshold. At the foot is a boulder about 2 meters long and 1 meter wide. The stone is carved with egrets, lotus flowers and other figures, which makes people unable to bear to stay, and its implication is also homophonic, meaning "connected all the way".

Expressing auspicious wishes with homophones is a major feature of auspicious culture, and such examples are simply too numerous to mention. For example, putting the best wishes in a vase means "peace and happiness", putting lily with persimmon or lion and Ganoderma together means "all the best", putting evergreen and Ganoderma together means "all the best", putting a boy riding an elephant with the best wishes means "good luck and happiness", putting a box with lotus, Ruyi or Ganoderma together means "harmony and happiness", and putting Chinese rose in a bottle means "peace in the four seasons". In fact, most of these graphic combinations have no inherent logical relationship, and some of them are even funny. For example, a monkey is sitting on a horse and called "Feng Hou at once", a bat is painting backwards and called "Blessed", and a magpie is sitting on a plum branch and called "beaming". Tell a joke, according to this method, it is very likely that the donkey's lips are facing the horse's mouth: for example, does a chicken riding on the elephant's back mean "good luck"?

But who can blame this connection? If we look at the problem from a positive perspective, we can see China people's simple, optimistic, humorous and flexible outlook on life through the composition of these auspicious symbols. We can understand this from the evolution of Guan Gong's image.

Guan Gong's integrity, loyalty and trustworthiness won the admiration of future generations and was regarded as a god. In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guan was also named as a "warrior saint" and regarded as a saint, which showed the way of life advocated by China people: loyalty. For buyers and sellers, keeping promises and being loyal to others is the most important thing in business, which is in line with Guan Gong's way of being a man, so Guan Gong became a Wu Caishen like a loyal god of wealth, enshrined in the lobby of the business place, filled with incense all day long. Some New Year pictures are more interesting: the picture is divided into two parts, the upper part is Guan Gong and the lower part is the God of Wealth. The so-called "Shangguan Caixia" means "Shangguan Caixia".