It is said that a Jiao Ren was caught by a fisherman in the South China Sea. The kind fisherman couldn't bear to hurt it and put it back into the sea. Jiao Ren was so moved that her tears turned into pearls.
Extended data
Jiao Ren is a fishtail-shaped mysterious creature in ancient myths and legends of China, similar to the mermaid in western mythology. A long time ago, there was a legend about Jiao Ren in China. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Jiao Ren's account became more and more detailed. Jiao Ren was mentioned in the poems of Cao Zhi, Zuo Si and Zhang Hua, and the legendary Jiao Ren lived a mysterious life.
The densest mermaid image comes from Shan Hai Jing. For example, Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Bei Jing records that Lingyu has a face, hands and feet, but it is a fish and lives in the sea. The injection of sea stories enriches the image of mermaid. The source of these legends all points to Shan Hai Jing, which shows the radiation effect of this ancient book.
There are also some strange fish with human faces in Shan Hai Jing, such as mermaid, red ray and Moody. Among them, the mermaid deserves attention. The mermaid here should refer to the giant fish, which is a large amphibian commonly known as the giant salamander. Shan Hai Jing Bei Shan Jing records the characteristics of a mermaid: it has four feet and sounds like a baby crying.
Mermaid "sounds like a baby", which makes people think that giant salamander cries like a baby. But the giant salamander's strong arms, blunt head, swaying long tail, coupled with the baby's chirping, have brought the illusion of being half man and half fish to our ancestors. Most of the mermaid images in Shan Hai Jing come from the giant salamander.
For example, the "fish girl" mentioned in the Xi Jing of Shan Hai Jing has the power of resurrection after death, and the state of the fish girl seems to be between half dry and half glorious. "Death means recovery" can be regarded as a reflection of the hibernating habit of giant salamander in myth. "Death" means hibernation, "recovery" means waking up.
The story of resurrection from death is undoubtedly attractive to ancestors. In the eyes of ancestors, resurrection after death is an enviable magical force, as if jumping out of the boundary between life and death and wandering between life and death. Therefore, the decorative pattern of mermaid image is often used in later tombs to pin the owner's wish for eternal life.
In the myth of the Han nationality, Hebo is also the image of a mermaid, and Hebo is the god of water control in the myth of China. When Dayu was in charge of water conservancy, Hebo gave a river map and immediately returned to the river, leaving only a vague figure of half man and half fish in a short play time. Hebo's name is Feng Yi, also known as Ice Instrument. In Cold Biography, Feng Yi was regarded as a fairy after taking the fairy medicine. In the imagination of the ancients, the water god had to face the fish to meet the identity of the water god. After all, the waters at that time were still a world of fish.
China News Network-China ancient half-man, half-fish creature: Jiao Ren tearful pearl mermaid is beautiful.
China Net-The survival of those mermaids in the ocean is threatened.