1865, a Peruvian expedition once explored the mountains in the western regions. Unfortunately, it happened that they found an ancient site where a silver statue was unearthed, which attracted the attention of archaeologists. Archaeologists say that this statue was cast about 3000 years ago, and it has no other decoration except wearing a crown of the sun on its head. The only thing worth noting is that its base is engraved with an obvious tortoise and snake image, and she holds a card with the words "Wudang" written on it. Is this statue related to Taoism in China?
According to records, the name "Wudang" first appeared in Hanshu, with a history of about 2,000 years ago, but the casting year of the statue was 3,000 years ago, 1000 years earlier than Hanshu. What happened? Experts pointed out that the Chinese characters on the sign may not be "Wudang", but the tortoise and snake under her seat do have a lot to do with Taoism in China.
As we all know, Zhenwu Emperor is one of the four Taoist Arctic saints, and Guishe II is the mount of Zhenwu Emperor. According to folklore, Zhenwu the Great once practiced in Wudang Mountain. He sat motionless in the meditation chair, eating, drinking and sleeping, only reciting the Taoist scriptures. In the long run, his stomach can't help it, complaining and quarreling with each other, making Zhenwu Emperor fidgety and unable to practice well anymore.
So, in a rage, Emperor Zhenwu tore his stomach out of his body and was quiet from then on. Unexpectedly, because the two of them listened to Zhenwu Emperor chanting and chanting Buddha all the year round, they gradually gave birth to a magical force. One day, the intestines got into the socks of Emperor Zhenwu and became a big snake covered with scales. With Zhenwu Emperor's shoes on his stomach, he became a turtle. Finally, Emperor Zhenwu, who lost his shoes and socks, swam for nine days on a tortoise and snake.
Although the origin of tortoise and snake is clearly explained, what does this have to do with Shan Hai Jing? I don't know if you still remember, there is such a description in Shan Hai Jing: a man with feathers, a red beak and a white head. This is obviously describing the national characteristics of a nation. Experts point out that there are many similarities between the appearance characteristics of Indians and this sentence. Feathers should refer to Indians. This means that China had contact with the American continent more than 3,000 years ago. If this hypothesis holds, then the saying of "Yin people traveling eastward" also holds.
Medhurst, a British scholar, once put forward a sentence when translating Shangshu: During the cutting week, many Yin people fled overseas and were caught in a storm on the way, which happened to be blown to America. In addition, American scholar Mike Zhou pointed out in 1967 that the Olmec civilization, the earliest civilization in America, discovered in La Benta on the east coast of Mexico, had a great influence on the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Combined with the above statement, the Silver Statue is probably the product of Taoist culture in China, and the description of "Feather Man" in Shan Hai Jing just confirms the statement that "Yin people traveled eastward".