There is a saying that goes like a nine-headed bird in the sky and a Hubei guy underground. If you just read this sentence and feel that it smells of regional discrimination, you don’t need to. To most Hubei people, the nine-headed bird is like a bird. It is more like a totem. If you have the opportunity to travel to Hubei, you will find how strong the feelings of Hubei people towards the nine-headed bird are. The names of local businesses, villages and even some publications are all named after the nine-headed bird. In fact, from here we can also see that the nine-headed bird has a status in the hearts of Hubei people as much as the dragon and tiger in our hearts. Auspicious beast. It is worth mentioning that in the 1990s, the People's Daily once published an article that roughly stated that the nine-headed bird was a creature used by Hubei people to make fun of themselves. As soon as this article was published, it was criticized by a local company. This company is famous for its nine-headed bird. The company that is the trademark indicates that the nine-headed bird is a sacred bird in Chu culture.

The prototype of the nine-headed bird actually comes from the nine phoenixes in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. According to legend, the Classic of Mountains and Seas was originally compiled by people from Chu. This is why the companies criticized the People's Daily mentioned above. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Jiufeng is regarded as a god, so we can see the admiration of the Chu people for it. If we push the history forward, we can know that the ancestors of the Chu people are Dongyi people, and the Dongyi people One of the characteristics of human beings is to worship birds. Nine in any period or region in ancient times refers to the supreme existence. For example, Jiuzhou or Jiuwu Zun are the most profound and simplest representatives. The phoenix is ??the number one among hundreds of birds. King, so Jiufeng is the supreme god who combines the two.

A large part of the ancient people's worship of Jiu came from the division of space. They divided the position on the horizontal plane into nine directions such as east, southeast, west and southwest, so in In ancient times, there was also a saying that the sky was divided into nine fields or the world was divided into nine states. The "Tiangui Mountain" mentioned in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas? The Great Wilderness North Classic" refers to the center of the world at that time, and Jiufeng lived in it. Not only that, he was also the divine bird that controlled the world, and he The nine heads of the bird monitored and managed the nine directions respectively. However, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the nine-headed bird became an evil existence. "Sui Shu Five Elements Chronicles" stated that Emperor Xiaozhao of Qi was killed because the nine-headed bird brought bad luck. causing him to die.

But in fact, Chen Jianxian made a mistake when sorting out ancient documents. He believed that people confused the Nine-Headed Bird and the Guhuo Bird during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. However, there is actually no complete historical data to prove it. Even "Youyang Zazu? Yu Pian" only shows that the entries for Guhuo Bird and Gui Che are similar. Guhuotiao is a kind of monster that specializes in preying on children. Although they appear in front of people in the form of birds most of the time, they only take off their feathers to look like women. Also, they like to plunder human beings. The child is brought up for him.

There are certain reasons why the ancients confused the Nine-Headed Bird and the Guhuo Bird. First of all, they are both bird monsters. Furthermore, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was spread that the Nine-Headed Bird was killed because one of its heads was killed by a dog. It bites off and the blood continues to bleed. This is very similar to the bird that leaves blood stains so that it can find its children in the future. In addition, both of them are diurnal and nocturnal existences. But in fact, the differences between the two are also very clear. The first is the gap in the heads. The disasters caused by the two are also different. The nine-headed bird directly brings misfortune and death, but the specifics are not explained, and Guhuo Birds prey on children.

Although the nine-headed bird later gradually evolved into a ghost bird in other places, which was also bad luck, as Hubei people who live in the territory of the Chu people still retained their worship of the nine-headed bird, but this spread to the sky The nine-headed bird, the underground Hubei man is still a bit far-fetched. This has a lot to do with Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Juzheng was committed to reform and governed the world in an orderly manner when Emperor Wanli had not been in court for many years. Therefore, Hubei people at that time Zhang Juzheng was revered as a nine-headed bird. There are also two theories: Zhang Juzheng had nine capable subordinates from Hubei who helped him reform, and he had nine political opponents from Hubei who kept blocking him. However, both of these theories are to highlight Zhang Juzheng's strong ability as a person.