I remember hearing that gluttony is a kind of god beast that hides in the clouds and only sticks its head out to see the world from a distance?

Chinese pinyin: tāo tiè

"Gluttony" is a mythical beast in ancient legends in China, and its greatest feature is that it can eat. Gluttony is a fictional mysterious monster. This monster has no body, only a big head and a big mouth. It is very greedy and eats everything it sees. Because it ate too much, it finally choked to death. This is a symbol of greed.

According to Ci Hai, gluttony is a legendary gluttonous beast. In ancient Zhong Ding, the shape of its head was carved into a decoration. "

When the word gluttony is explained in Ci Hai, it is said that gluttony is "greed, the book of rites and music in the Han Dynasty"; The Danger of Gluttony Yan Shigu notes: "Greed is more gluttonous." Especially gluttony. "

"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals": "Gluttony is the body."

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

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

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

Because gluttony has the characteristics of "evil beast" and "very gluttonous wolf", and the gluttonous mode is very similar to a wolf. Therefore, the legendary gluttony is probably a wolf, or a beast evolved from a wolf.

Third, gluttony has become the main decoration of business and harmony, which involves a series of problems. Baoding was an important weapon of the Chinese nation in the Bronze Age. In the Zhou Dynasty, "Ding" was a symbol of the supreme kingship and a ritual vessel, as well as a ritual vessel for offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors. In the eyes of Chinese ancestors, Ding was in the position of national "totem pole". Therefore, only the totem belonging to the nation is qualified to climb such a lofty position, and it is carved on the Baoding. This phenomenon also reflects two problems: First, in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Huaxia people may still worship the wolf totem, at least the animal totem, and the totem worship legacy of the ancestors of Huangdi people in Yan Di may still exist, while Huaxia people in the Zhou Dynasty were deeply influenced by the wolf totem, because the Zhou Dynasty originated in 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 Chinese nation. Otherwise, Baoding, a symbol of imperial power, will be decorated mainly with dragons. Moreover, at that time, Zhou had not yet sat on the throne of the dragon. At that time, he continued the nomadic legacy of Yanhuang and sat on the floor.

The decorative patterns on the Zhou Ding are mainly composed of gluttonous patterns and moire patterns, with gluttony as the center and moire patterns around. 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 whether there is a snake body or a dragon body, but if the dragon body is attached to the back of the gluttonous head, it is not far from the later standard dragon. So I think there may be a transitional 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 were named gluttonous because of their ferocious, mysterious and horrible faces, and some of them still had heads in their mouths. Gluttony was originally used in Zuo Zhuan to describe those heartless people who are greedy for money and food. Some scholars in modern times pointed out that naming the animal face pattern gluttonous is purely far-fetched and contrary to the social and cultural conditions in Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Because of its fierce and horrible face and notorious gluttony, the trace of this beast in the cultural and artistic evolution of China is almost impossible to find. In the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, animal ornamentation, which had prevailed for hundreds of years, suddenly withdrew from the main pattern of bronze decoration. However, several animal patterns, such as dragon, tiger, phoenix and turtle, which appeared on bronzes at the same time, appeared in official and folk cultures in the later cultural evolution, and became the most famous mascot and endless theme of artistic expression in China culture. Dragons, in particular, in the bronze age, mostly had the same ferocious face as gluttonous patterns. As far as mystery, power and status are concerned, dragons were far less than gluttony in the Bronze Age. However, the dragon later ascended the highest throne of China's cultural and political symbol, but "gluttony", the supreme of the Bronze Age, was hard to find.

What exactly does gluttony mean? There have been different opinions, and there is no conclusion so far. Some people say it's cattle, sheep, tigers, deer and mandrills. Among these theories, gluttony is the most vocal. Many scholars engaged in the study of primitive culture and art believe that the gluttonous pattern is an exaggerated deformation of the tiger pattern. In ancient times, the tiger was also a very important god beast. Later, the figure of a wizard riding a tiger appeared in the cultural relics. In the long cultural history of China, there was a long stage of dragon and tiger worship before the worship of "Dragon and Phoenix". From the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, Long Hudou's pattern modeling was very popular, among which the Long Hudou 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 means intercourse between yin and yang. In the Han Dynasty, Black Dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu respectively represented the four astronomical officials in the Middle East, the West, the South and the North. At least, in the early history of China, the status of the tiger was not lower than 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 wares.