There is an old saying in China that "every man has his meaning". In many historical records, there are many strange-looking celebrities, especially emperors, princes and princes. Their birth is often accompanied by "illusion" and their appearance is also very distinctive. It is undeniable that there are exaggerated features, but most of them have implications.
Take the famous Zhu Yuanzhang's "Shoe Pulling Face" as an example. Many people think Zhu Yuanzhang is extremely ugly. Why did the painter dare to draw? Not afraid of being beheaded? In fact, the ancients did not have a narrow definition of beauty and ugliness. The so-called "shoe-pulling face" is actually a very rich face among the ancients: "dragon face". In some portraits, Zhu Yuanzhang has two long "dragon whiskers" on his mouth. Can we assume that he looks like this?
It is difficult for us to determine the true face of a historical figure only from the portraits handed down from generation to generation. We must also follow history. Many portraits of Confucius are the same, giving people a kind and wise feeling. Like Zhu Yuanzhang, his appearance can also be classified as a "strange man", and his appearance is recorded in many historical books.
According to historical records, he was "born with his head on top", so Mingshan and Sima Qian are definitely closer to Confucius' era than we are, and they can get much more information than we do. After all, some clues will disappear over time, and all the descriptions of Confucius' appearance are very convincing.
The so-called "Ding Wei" means that the roof is like an inverted space, like a reversed roof, with a high middle, so this feature alone is not available to most ordinary people.
Confucius is 9 feet 6 inches, which is about 1.9 meters in height today. Even in modern times, it belongs to a very high category. In addition, there are many clues about Confucius' appearance in many other ancient books, saying that his eyes are long and his cheekbones are high, which is a bit like a birthday girl and an image of longevity. Xunzi also compared his appearance with idols to ward off ghosts and evil spirits, and his appearance was ferocious and terrible. It can be seen that Confucius is not beautiful, but he is very distinctive.
There is also a passage in the historical materials that Confucius escaped from the Song Dynasty and was separated from his disciples in Zheng. When someone saw him standing at the foot of the East Gate, he said to Zi Gong, there are people at the East Gate who look like Yao and shoulder, but the lower body is less than three inches, and they are all dogs.
When Zigong arrived at the East Gate, he found Confucius and told him this passage, saying that his upper body was as slender as Yao's, his head was bulging, his skin was blue, and his waist was less than three inches of Yu's. In fact, what he said was short legs, so Confucius was a man with short legs, blue skin and long forehead. Confucius laughed and teased himself with the phrase "a lost dog", which shows his great mind.
With so many characteristics, it can be said that the image of Confucius is actually better to draw, as long as it highlights its characteristics. But now we look at the portrait of Confucius, and the most prominent one is his two separated front teeth. Why?
Some scholars have explained that Confucius' two front teeth are not simple and have special significance. They are called "parallel teeth". The so-called "parallel teeth" has a double meaning. A parallel tooth is two front teeth overlapping. This appearance has been regarded as the appearance of a saint since ancient times. In addition to Confucius, historical records record that Zhou Wuwang also had fangs. Later generations want to highlight the image of Confucius as a "saint", so exaggerating the tusks into two separate front teeth is of great symbolic significance to the image of Confucius.