1895 The Year of the Horse in the Sino-Japanese War came to the world with the roaring sound.
Using animal chronology may be the earliest chronology method adopted by human beings in prehistoric history, because in the wild times, human beings and animals were partners who lived together day and night, and their fate was * * *. The adaptability and vitality of animals to natural forces often provided human beings with wisdom for survival. Moreover, the animals used to mark the chronology are mostly related to the totem worship of the nation. With regard to the origin of Chinese civilization, the chronology of animals was combined with the later branch chronology to create the chronology of the zodiac which was widely adopted by China people. After thousands of years, the chronology of the zodiac has become the most popular chronology and the longest-lived folk belief. When people are born, they will get a fate code marked by the zodiac animals in the year of birth. Year after year, generation after generation, spread endlessly.
Tracing back to the history of horse as one of the 12 Zodiacs in China, it was found in the Book of Changes in the Warring States Period at the latest, and the Eastern Han thinker Wang Chong's On the Balance of Things has a complete record: "Yin, wood, birds, tigers, horses ... at noon." "It is also a noon fire, and its bird is a horse." "Wu" in the earthly branch corresponds to "Ma" in the genus, commonly known as "Wu Ma". People born in the Year of the Horse belong to the horse, taking the horse as the zodiac, or "Ma Xiao".
In the cultural concept of China people, anyone born in the Year of the Horse has or absorbed some inherent characteristics of horses as animals in his genes, such as being strong, good at walking, powerful, ambitious, friendly, docile and aura. The ancients used words such as "beyond things, lasting forever, Wan Li breathed a sigh of relief" to describe the horse's ease and ability. Speaking of the affinity and aura of horses, Liu in the Southern Song Dynasty told a story in his Strange Garden: "Fu Jian is determined to win when he is attacked? The horse fell into the river. There are several suitors, and the plan has no reason. The horse wandered in the stream, hanging on its saddle and steady. If you can't reach it, the horse will suffer on its knees. If you support it, you have to go ashore and go to the Lijiang River. " Stories of such animal saviors are common in folk stories. However, Kong has another view. He said, "A horse is not called strength, but called virtue." He thinks that the most important and commendable thing for a horse is not its strength, but its virtue (virtue, morality). As far as I know, Confucius' so-called "virtue" is divinity. Because the ancients thought that the horse was a god beast and the essence of the earth ("Spring and Autumn Annals" Ming: "The goblin is a horse, born in December, and it is appropriate to combine Yin and Yang." ), the spirit of the river (Song's "Ruiying Map": "Dragon Horse, Renma, the essence of the river." )。 The dragon horse and Tianma praised in ancient myths and legends are all gods and horses.
The theory of "dragon horse" was first seen in the myth of "Fuxi is the king of the world, and the dragon horse goes out of the river, so its text is called a river map by drawing eight diagrams" and "the river goes out of the picture, the book comes out of the book, and the sage comes out of it" recorded in the Book of Changes. According to the myth of "the river shows the picture", a dragon horse appeared in the Yellow River (Jinmeng Gudu) in ancient times. Fuxi, the ancestor of human beings, took it in and found that the rotation of the mane on the horse's back was a mysterious picture with orderly arrangement and different lines. Therefore, according to the days (25), places (30) and its miraculous arrangement implied in this "negative picture of the dragon horse", the dragon horse with negative picture was opened. The myth of "the dragon and the horse are negative for the picture" spread like wildfire among the people and lasted for thousands of years. Mengjin County, Henan Province protects this myth as a precious intangible cultural heritage. The myth of dragon horse is not only circulated in Jin Meng. Shan Hai Jing Overseas West Jing: "The country of white people ... rides on the Yellow River. It is shaped like a fox and has horns on its back. It has been around for two thousand years. " Ying Shao notes "History of Rites and Music in Han Dynasty": "Huang, Jia.
The names are yellow, dragon wing and horse body. "What is shrouded in yellow is a beast, a god beast, and a dragon horse that believes in the white country. If Fuxi is the humanistic ancestor of Dongyi ethnic group, then the country of Bai nationality, which is the descendant of Emperor Jun and Di Hong (Yellow Emperor), is an agricultural tribe in the Central Plains with millet as its staple food, which shows that in ancient times, the dragon horse myth and dragon horse belief were widely distributed.
The theory of "Tianma" was first seen in Hanshu: in the second year of Yuanshou, Ma Sheng was more than me; In the fourth year, the horse was born in the water. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wrote "Song of the Horse" and said: "Tianma comes from the west pole, wading in quicksand, and nine barbarians serve China. Tianma comes, calendar has no grass, and thousands of miles come to the Lord. Tianma comes, the medium of the dragon, and visits Yutai. " The Biography of Historical Records of Dawan said: "(Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty) got a good horse named Tianma from Wusun." 1969, a bronze galloping horse unearthed from the Eastern Han Tomb in Wuwei, Gansu Province, held its head high and hissed, pranced and lifted its feet, and a hoof stepped on a flying swallow (sparrow). The author believes that this work of bronze casting artists in the Han Dynasty is likely to take its meaning from the Tianma in the Song of Ma by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
From ancient times to later generations, the word "Tianma" entered the secular life, and the idiom "Tianma" turned to refer to those "deified and superior, almost unconstrained and unrestrained, with extraordinary pace" (Preface to Satyaxi's Poems in Liu Ming's Zi). The spirit of Dragon Horse, which is derived from "Dragon Horse", has become the representative of the national spirit and is generally recognized by the people. Tianma and Malone, as the concentrated embodiment and representatives of the virtue and divinity of horses, are deeply rooted in the concept of ancient people in China and are naturally included in the connotation of the zodiac horse.
If Dragon Horse and Tianma are more popular and influenced by the upper class as unattainable gods and horses, then the concept of "Maxima" is more popular with the civil society. Although the story of "Bo Le Xiang Ma" took place in Qin Mugong's time and was recorded in Zhuangzi, Liezi and other ancient books, it was not until Han Yu, a writer in the Tang Dynasty that the concept of "Maxima" really took root in people's hearts. A "swift horse" is a good horse, and the virtue of a good horse is not only manifested in the ability of "Wan Li breathing in one breath", but also has a mighty and unyielding character, which is a good character and noble character that people who belong to a horse have or pursue.