Why is the gilt bronze statue in the Imperial Garden kneeling?

There are two opinions. One is to take the meaning of auspiciousness: kneeling down when rich is auspicious. The second is a kind of personification, like a person kneeling with all five limbs prostrated on the ground, which represents unconditional worship and respect for the emperor.

In the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City, there is a kneeling gilt bronze statue. Many tourists are curious about why it is kneeling. Now let me talk about why the gilt bronze statue in the Imperial Garden is kneeling. Kneeling. Details 01

The gilt bronze elephant touches the ground with its trunk. From the rope on its head and the felt blanket on its back, as well as its kind eyes, you can tell that it is a well-trained "ceremonial elephant". Rather than a bastard who doesn't know etiquette. You can also find that its front legs kneel in opposite directions. It is impossible for a real elephant to bend its body with its joints reversed like this. This is actually "wealthy elephant", which is homophonic to "crouching elephant", because the elephant kneels in front and behind, it can be seen that the emperor not only eats everything, but also wants the name to be prosperous, and he does not hesitate to use the elephant to... An anti-joint way to cater to my wishes. 02

According to records in Dou Guangnai and Zhu Jun's "Research on the Old News of Japan" and other books, the Xiangfang in the capital was built in the eighth year of Hongzhi (1495) in the Ming Dynasty. After the elephants were transported to the capital, there were dedicated personnel to train and perform exercises, so the elephant room was also called the "elephant performance center". In addition, Jinyiwei also has an elephant training department, which specializes in the management of elephant slaves and elephant tamers. 03

It is worth mentioning that on the sixth day of May in the sixth year of Qi tomorrow (June 12, 1626), there will be a big explosion in the Wanggong factory where the Ming army produces gunpowder (some media still say it was an unidentified flight). Things crashed here). The explosion destroyed more than 10,000 houses and killed thousands of people. Some of the deceased's clothes even flew dozens of miles away. The huge shock wave of the explosion also destroyed the elephant room. The frightened elephants ran wildly on the streets, attacking people with their tusks and trunks like enemies, causing many citizens to be trampled or thrown to death by the elephants. 04

The Luan Yiwei of the Qing Dynasty followed the system of the Jinyiwei Elephant Performance Institute and the Elephant Taming Institute of the Ming Dynasty. Starting from the first year of Shunzhi (1644), the East and West Divisions of the Elephant Taming Institute were established to tame the emperor? The ceremonial image used in the halogen book (ceremony guard). The Qing Dynasty also followed the Ming Dynasty's old practice of "washing elephants". There are many animal performances in this event. For example, the article "Washing the Elephant" in the "Yanjing Years' Notes" written by Fucha Dunchong of the Qing Dynasty said: "On June 6 every year, he is taken to the river outside Xuanwu Gate to bathe. The onlookers are like a crowd. The onlookers hold money and give the elephant slaves." , like teaching a skill, he will look sideways at the elephant slave to receive the full amount of money, then raise his nose, bow his head, and make a whine. When talking about "Xiang Xiang", "One Hundred Slogans of Yantai" written by an unknown person in the Qing Dynasty noted: "The elephant slave makes the elephant lean on the ground with its trunk, and its sound is like thunder, saying "beat the drum". The above-mentioned "raising the nose and bowing the head", "raising the nose pillar", etc. are all performances of elephants. Qing Dynasty poet Zhang Wentao wrote "Jade River Elephant Washing Song", which detailedly described the vivid scene of elephant opera during "elephant washing". "Elephant slaves drive elephants like pigs". It can be inferred that the level of animal taming at that time had reached a very high level. .