Interpretation of the evolutionary connotation and significance of Chinese dragon culture

Dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation, and dragon culture is deeply rooted in the social life of the Chinese nation. The Chinese dragon culture that occurred six thousand years ago reveals the history of the Chinese nation's reproductive worship, the Chinese nation's worship of newborn life, and the Chinese nation's worship of the creativity of life. The evolutionary history from "Bird Dragon" and "Weilong" to "Shenlong" shows that the Chinese civilization with a history of 6,000 years has been ups and downs, endless and harmonious for eternity, becoming the only great civilization that spans the history of mankind in the world without interruption. , fully embodies the noble temperament of Chinese dragon culture.

The dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation, and we are all "descendants of the dragon." "There was a dragon in the ancient East, and its name was China."

China's Dragon Culture

In ancient China, the emperor was called the "True Dragon Emperor", and the emperor's seat The chair was called the "Dragon Chair" and was decorated with images of dragons throughout the palace. It is also very common to use the word "dragon" as a name. For example, the general Zhao Yun in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had the courtesy name Zilong and was called "Changshan Zhao Zilong". There are also place names: Longkou, Longshan, Longgang, Longshou Mountain, Longshou Pass, Longmen Mountain and so on. The world-famous Great Wall starts from Shanhaiguan in the east and ends at the "Old Dragon Head" on the Bohai Sea. Folks also like to decorate dragons at home. There is a story about "Ye Gong loves dragons". It tells that in ancient times, there was a man named Ye Gong who liked dragons very much. Dragons were decorated everywhere in his house. After hearing about the real dragon, he went to visit Ye Gong. When Ye Gong saw it The real dragon was so frightened that he lost his mind and ran away. It turns out that Ye Gong's love for dragons is fake (he just likes fake dragons). In daily life, every household must use the "(water) faucet" every day. In temples all over China, the image of the dragon is always indispensable. "Dragon and Phoenix present good fortune" is a beautiful blessing. "Flying dragons and dancing phoenixes" praise the artistic beauty of wild cursive calligraphy, a treasure of Chinese culture. "The dragon is soaring and the tiger is leaping" is a scene of vitality. "Busy traffic" means a prosperous market. Among the different hexagrams in the "Book of Changes" are "Don't use the hidden dragon", "Seeing the dragon in the field", "Flying dragon in the sky", "A strong dragon has regrets", etc., which talk about the evolution process of natural and social things. The dragon here is synonymous with the evolutionary movement process of all natural and social things. China's polar scientific research vessel is named "Xuelong"; China's self-developed computer chip is named "Loongson".

The Chinese dragon culture has a profound influence on every Chinese. No matter where you go to the ends of the world, you can always see dragons wherever Chinese people gather in the world. Especially during traditional Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival, "dragon dance" has become an indispensable celebration program. The dragon has become a symbol of the cohesion of the Chinese nation. Chinese dragon culture has begun to influence the world.

The origin, connotation and significance of Chinese dragon culture

However, why the Chinese nation worships dragons has remained a mystery for thousands of years. The "dragons" unearthed from the Hongshan Culture and Dawenkou Culture have revealed this mystery.

The "dragon" unearthed from the Hongshan Culture was named "Jade Pig Dragon" by archaeologists. Because its head seems to be a pig's head, while its body is in a "C" shape, and the head and tail are almost connected. "Some scholars believe that pigs are an early image of dragons. In ancient times, Chinese people used pigs as sacrifices to pray for a good agricultural harvest. Later, pigs were mythologically transformed into dragons, and dragons evolved into symbols of China and the incarnation of the emperor. The jade pig dragon was an early symbol of the dragon. Dragon is one of the images, which fully proves that the dragon culture created by our ancestors has a long history. It also reflects the mutual influence and integration of northern national culture and Central Plains culture in ancient times. ”

Hongshan Culture. The shape of the Jade Pig Dragon seems to have an evolutionary pattern of the head from large to small, the body from thick to thin, and the gap between the head and tail increasing from connection to gap.

If we see the early stages of human embryonic development - the first-born human embryo, and see the embryonic evolution of all vertebrates (fish, salamanders, turtles, chickens, pigs, monkeys, rabbits, humans) . We can clearly see the shape of the early embryonic development, and we know that the embryos of these animals in the early stages of development, without exception, all look almost exactly the same, and their bodies all have a "C" shape - dragon shape.

This is also one of the important evidences of Darwin's theory of evolution.

If we look at the sperm chasing the egg, isn't the sperm wagging its tail exactly in the shape of a jade dragon? And the jade dragon also has the shadow of male genitals in a certain sense. Therefore, in Chinese dragon culture, dragons are also expressed as males and heroes. If we look at the "Male Jade Dragon" in Hongshan Culture, a pair of (two halves) male genitalia hold up a jade dragon, which vividly expresses the artistic conception of the jade dragon's "essence of life".

Obviously, the essence of Chinese dragon culture is to express the reproductive worship of the Chinese nation. Reproductive worship is a common phenomenon among ancient ethnic groups around the world. For example, one ethnic group’s reproductive worship involves a woman holding a male penis as big as a baby. For example, one nation regards pigs as its ancestors; another nation regards dogs as its ancestors; another nation regards frogs as its ancestors; still other nations regard gourds as their ancestors, and so on. etc. The meaning of all these animal and plant totem worship is the same: it means "many children, many blessings", that is, all these animals and plants have strong reproductive ability (produce many children), thus expressing the hope for the prosperity of the nation. Hope. Another "dragon and phoenix totem" unearthed from the Hongshan Culture vividly expresses the reproductive worship of the Chinese dragon culture.

If we look at the jade carvings of phoenixes in the Hongshan Culture, they are also in the shape of a "C". This shocks us no less than the "C"-shaped dragon. First of all, the phoenix in Chinese culture can generally mean female, and the "C"-shaped phoenix means "newborn female". This once again proves that the dragon and phoenix culture are the creation of the fertility worship of the ancestors of the Chinese nation. Since the dragon (including the "C" shaped phoenix culture) also represents "original life", the Chinese dragon culture also represents the Chinese nation's worship of the original life, the worship of the creativity of life, and the original life that can transform all things. of worship.

“Life is called Yi”. Obviously, Chinese Yi culture is another expression of reproduction and life civilization. It can be said that: Chinese dragon culture is the temperament of the Chinese nation; Chinese Yi culture is the essence of Chinese civilization.

The different "Jade Dragons" introduced earlier express the differences in cultural cognition of people in different regions. Except for the jade dragon (picture 3) which looks like a pig's head, the rest don't look like it or are not. The Jade Dragon (Picture 1) has the basic temperament of a chicken in an eggshell - round eyes and obvious combs, and in a certain sense also resembles a monkey; while the Jade Dragon (Picture 2) is a galloping horse, showing People living on the grasslands love and worship horses. This should also be the source of "Dragon Horse" and "Dragon Horse Spirit". "Zhou Li·Xia Guan·Shouren" says: "A horse over eight feet tall is a dragon." The "White Dragon Horse" in the mythical novel "Journey to the West" is the incarnation of a small white dragon, which obviously expresses that "horses are dragon species" artistic conception. The Dawenkou dragon has the head and face of a sheep or a deer, which shows the affection and worship of the horned animals sheep or deer by the ancestors of the Chinese nation in Anhui in ancient times. This is very similar to the image of the dragon head we see now.

The face of the "dragon head" of the dragon we see now is very similar to that of a crocodile (it is the face of an animal living in the water, such as the face of a hippopotamus, which is very similar to both a crocodile and a dragon); and The four "dragon claws" are also very similar to the four claws of a crocodile. The body of the dragon we see now resembles that of a python or snake. The snake looks like sperm. "Zuo Zhuan: The Twenty-Eighth Year of Duke Xiang" says: "A snake rides on a dragon." It means that the snake transforms into a dragon. "Snake", one of the twelve zodiac animals, is also known as "little dragon", which can be understood as the appearance of the "dragon" when it is small (without scales and claws) - that is, the appearance of a "C" shaped dragon. In addition, the legendary Fuxi has a "human face and a snake body" (actually it should be a human face and a dragon body. The snake is the image of a jade dragon - the evolution of the newborn animal life form. The statue of Fuxi and Nuwa unearthed in the Spring and Autumn Period "Birth of a Dragon" There are important differences between the statue of Fuxi and Nuwa in the Han Dynasty (the upper body is a human and the lower body is a snake), both of which reflect the Chinese ancestors' worship of the dragon, the first image of life. In traditional Chinese medicine, earthworms are called "earth dragons", which is a good explanation of the "continuous ups and downs" expressed by dragons.

In traditional Chinese culture, there is the culture of the twelve zodiac animals.

Therefore, the dragon here should be a kind of "Guardian Dragon" - the dragon of protection, or "Weilong" - the mighty dragon. The Hongshan Jade Dragon can be called the "birth dragon" - the dragon of life and reproduction. The dragon that integrates the Dragon of Life and the Dragon of Might can be called the "Dragon". This is also the beginning of the emperor being called the "True Dragon Emperor" in Chinese culture. Calling the emperor the "True Dragon Emperor" and the queen wearing a "phoenix crown and harem" should be the highest expression of reproductive culture in Chinese culture. The mighty shape of the dragon reflects the supremacy and inviolability of the royal family, and the dragon has become the only symbol of the royal family. The form of the dragon is an integration and sublimation of various concepts contained in specific life and animal forms. Its connotation is still the highest expression of the reproductive culture of the Chinese nation, which embodies the continuity of the Chinese nation (which should have represented the royal power at the time). It means the ups and downs and the endless development of natural life. Therefore, it is impossible to find corresponding creatures in the real natural world. However, simply using the image of the current dragon to demonstrate what kind of animal the dragon in history was will not lead to correct results.

Chinese dragon culture will go to the world

Chinese civilization is the only great civilization in human history that lasts forever. The two major sources of Chinese civilization - the Dragon Culture and the Yi Culture - are the fundamental reasons for the continuous ups and downs of Chinese civilization, endless life and eternity. The Chinese dragon culture is the temperament of the Chinese nation; the Chinese Yi culture is the essence of Chinese civilization. The so-called "life is called Yi" is a vivid expression of the palm and back of the Chinese dragon culture and the Chinese Yi culture - two sides in one. As the source of Chinese dragon culture, the Hongshan dragon is small and cute, expressing the great creativity of an "endless" life; while the dance of the golden snake of the Chinese dragon is a symbol of the glorious development of Chinese civilization, expressing " It means "long life and good fortune". Obviously, the Chinese dragon culture is people’s prayer for happiness, longevity, good luck, harmony and success. Nowadays, people in more and more countries in the world are infected by the bustling and bustling scenes of the Chinese Spring Festival. The Chinese zodiac culture has been accepted and appreciated by people in more and more countries in the world. People are willing to taste their own Chinese zodiac signs. The feel of the property. Chinese culture is going global.

Promoting Chinese culture is not only inevitable for the re-emergence of Chinese civilization, but will also bring new business opportunities to products with Chinese cultural characteristics. The creativity of life and the auspicious artistic conception of longevity, harmony and longevity revealed by the Chinese dragon culture will inevitably make the Chinese dragon loved by people in more and more countries. As China becomes more prosperous, more and more people will inevitably regard owning a daily necessities and dragon-shaped artwork with a Chinese dragon trademark and Chinese dragon pattern as a blessing for good luck in their future life. Chinese dragon culture will surely become the common culture of people from all over the world.

Because the Chinese dragon (English long) and the Western "dragon" (English Dragon) are not only different in shape, but also essentially different (this has been demonstrated and suggested by many experts); It has become a symbol of the Chinese nation, so it is not appropriate to simply modify the historical image inheritance. But in order to let people around the world better understand the Chinese dragon, multiple standard sample dragons can be considered for use on different occasions.

For thousands of years, the Chinese dragon culture, which contains the meaning of joy, peace, and prosperity, has become a sacred symbol of the Chinese nation’s ups and downs, endless life, and the history of the human world. We need to deeply and fully recognize and understand the connotation and historical evolution of Chinese dragon culture, so as to enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of the Chinese people to stand on their own among the nations of the world, and to return to the forefront of world development. It is also necessary for people around the world to recognize and understand the connotation and historical evolution of Chinese dragon culture. This is also a necessary cultural exchange for China to go global and for the world to recognize China. It is also a very important step to realize "China's 21st century" Main cultural communication work. Let people all over the world respect and love the Chinese dragon culture, thus becoming a positive cultural identity for the harmonious development of mankind in the 21st century.