There is a sentence at the beginning of the twenty-third volume of Feng Menglong's "Warning Words to the World": "Le Xiaoshe Risks His Life to Find a Couple":
"It has always been said that there are four unique things in the world, but they are Leizhou Changgu, Guangde Burial, Dengzhou Haishi, and Qiantang River tides only occur once a year, but the Qiantang River tide has been called the Luosha River since ancient times because of the dangerous winds and waves. The huge waves are so huge that they often hit the boat. "
According to the current mainstream view, "three of the four wonders in the world" are natural landscapes that everyone knows:
"Guangde Burial" refers to the giant karst cave "Taiji Cave" in my hometown, Guangde County, Anhui Province. Every spring, as the sun's rays shine directly in from the "sky-gazing hole" in the cave, a unique light and shadow effect is formed, which is called "Tai Chi heavy light".
"Dengzhou Sea City" refers to the peculiar landscape of mirages that often appear in Penglai City, Shandong Province (formerly known as "Dengzhou Prefecture") due to its special geographical environment.
"Qiantang River Tide" refers to the spectacular tidal phenomenon that occurs when the Qiantang River flows near Yanguan Town, Haining, Jiaxing City from the 16th to the 18th of the eighth lunar month every year.
These "Three Wonders" are well known and can still be seen today, and there is little controversy about them. There are only different opinions on "Leizhou Drum Changing". The current mainstream theory is that it is a ceremony to worship the God of Thunder in Leizhou area.
I have two doubts about this statement: first, if the other three wonders are all natural landscapes, there is no reason why the "Leizhou Changing Drum", the first of the four wonders, should not be similar to it; second, In ancient times, Leizhou was a barbarian land with underdeveloped economy and culture. Even if all the effort is put into it, the scale of the sacrifices is estimated to be far less than that of the royal sacrifices in the Central Plains region. How can this achieve the level of "one of the best"?
Leizhou native Fu Mahuo’s opinion in the book "Research on Leizhou Drum Changing": "Leizhou Drum Changing" is the myth and legend of the thunder god sacrificial event in Leizhou area. In the Song Dynasty or earlier, when the people of Leizhou used drums as sacrifices to worship the God of Thunder, there were cases where the drums were blown away by typhoons. At that time, the people of Leizhou found that the drum disappeared overnight. They thought that the God of Thunder appeared and took away the drum. As a result, the people of Leizhou developed a sacrificial tradition of offering drums to the God of Thunder regularly every year for the use of the God of Thunder. This sacrificial tradition of Leizhou people regularly offering drums and the myth and legend of "Thunder God taking drums" are the so-called "Leizhou drum exchanges".
This statement is different from the "Thunder God Sacrifice Theory". Those who hold the theory of Thunder God sacrifice believe that sacrifice is the "changing of drums" itself, while the core point of Fu Mahuo is that the myth and legend of "Thunder God taking drums" has come true, or it can be said that supernatural phenomena have occurred.
At the beginning, I was more inclined to the natural landscape and said: "Leizhou Drum Changing" is an earth-shattering, powerful and spectacular natural phenomenon that occurs during thunder in the rainy season in Leizhou. "In ancient times, Leizhou was covered with dense tropical rain forests and was surrounded by the sea on three sides. When there was thunder in the rainy season, the passing rain clouds interacted with the moisture on the ground and sea surface, which strengthened the potential energy required for thunder. Moreover, thunderstorms kept coming and going around the peninsula, as if they were stationary in the original place. The ground did not move. It caused a natural wonder of thunder and lightning, which was extremely loud and lasted for a long time."
As I collected more information, I found that not only was "Leizhou Changing Drum" controversial, but I also believed it. The 20-year "Guangde burial" is also controversial.
Mr. Chen Hua, the editor-in-chief of "Guangde County Chronicle" (continued revision), proposed in "Taiji Cave and "Guangde Burial": "Guangde Burial" refers to the historical sacrifices at Guangde Temple Mountain (the objects of worship are Ancestral Mountain Emperor is a Taoist god believed in the border area of ??Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui).
It also quotes the "History of Song Dynasty·Huang Zhen Biography" as saying: "There is a so-called buried meeting in Guangde custom, which is built into a court, with a width and depth of five feet, and hundreds of sacrificed cattle and utensils are put into it, and covered with Cow leather, blocked for a night, clearly shows where the loss lies." Good sacrificial items, dig a hole, cover it with cowhide, and look at it the next day, it’s gone! Another supernatural incident.
Among the Four Wonders of the World, "Leizhou Drum Changing" and "Guangde Burial" are two supernatural events in which sacrifices disappeared? What a coincidence, right? It's such a coincidence.
Shi Zhenglun of the Southern Song Dynasty's "Tanxi Shi Zhenglun Burial Notes" says: "Zhenglun's eldest father, my aunt Chen Gong, was curious about things, so I compiled them by hand. Leizhou drums and Guangde sacrifices are the best in the world. ... Existing yet boundless, empty yet substantial, the world is full of wonders. "嘗 (yì), bury things and offer sacrifices to the ground." "Guangde Temple Ceremony" is the "Guangde Temple Burial", which is often called "Guangde Burial".
Originally, "Warning Words" is a collection of novels with elements of strange things. It is not a serious textual research book on geography, and the era it talks about is not necessarily the "contemporary" in which Feng Menglong lived. What Feng Menglong said about "the world" and "absolute" is probably based on hearsay, and must be based on novel techniques. Similar to Mr. Jin Yong's novel, he wrote that there are two magic weapons in the world: Yitian and Tulong.
The two annotations of "Leizhou Drum Replacement" and "Guangde Burial" are actually legends of supernatural beings in sacrifices. At this point, I have given up on the idea that "Leizhou Drum Changing" is a thunder phenomenon and "Guangde Burial" is a Tai Chi Cave.
Why do we now understand the "uniqueness" of the four wonders in the world to mean the beauty of the Tai Chi Cave, the majesty of the Qianjiang River tide, and the elegance of the mirage? It's because we are pursuing the cause and effect.
We use the magnificence of the Tai Chi Cave, the majesty of the Qianjiang River tide, and the elegance of the mirage to define the word "absolute". "Jue" originally only meant the extreme degree and had no complimentary meaning. The word "absolute" in "Jingshi Tongyan" does not lie in the grand scale or the magnificent scenery, but in the supernatural phenomena.
Since there are four unique things in the world, the "unique" lies in the supernatural. So, do "Dengzhou Sea Market" and "Qiantang River Tide" also have supernatural powers? What's the difference?
Jian Yi, an important minister of the imperial court in the 19th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty: "The thunder of cloth drums, the ghost market of Deng, the miraculous achievements of Qiu in the source of the river, and the burial of Guangde Temple Mountain are the four differences in the world. It is not false. "Ming Wang Tonggui's "Ear Talk Lei Zeng" Volume 51 "Thunder Strikes the Rebellious Son": "It is often said: Leizhou Bugu, Guangde Burial, Dengzhou Ghost Market, Fengdu Hell. . If all are true, the following are almost illusory. "
"Kangxi Huang County Chronicles·Landscape" by Li Fan of the Qing Dynasty: "There are three great illusions in the world: Leizhou Bugu, Fengdu Zhangtiao, and Dengzhou. This is the sea market. "
Volume 5 of Qingma's "Qingzhen Guide": "Leizhou Tiangu, Fengdu Dixing, and Yangzhou Ghost Market have been passed down from generation to generation. I have experienced them personally. They are all nonsense."
Volume 2 of "Miscellaneous Things in Shu Capital" by Chen Xiangyi of the Qing Dynasty: "It is said that there are three monsters in the world: Zhejiang Water Monster, Leizhou Drum Monster, and Fengdu Ghost. I have no personal experience, so I am really suspicious."
Leizhou Bugu, Guangde Burial, Dengzhou Ghost Market, Fengdu Hell, Zhejiang Water Monster, and the "Laksha River" mentioned in Feng Menglong's original article...listed together, it is not difficult to see that they are indeed supernatural events. Moreover, people in the Qing Dynasty already had "real doubts" and believed that "all of them are fallacious".
Ancient people's special interpretation of unusual phenomena led to various "strange scenes", "wonderful scenes" and "splendid scenes". It is believed that the thunder god took the drum, the gods took away the sacrifices, the ghosts caused the mirage, and the water monsters appeared in the tide. With the development of science and technology and the improvement of human cognitive level, all kinds of "fallacies" are self-defeating. The drums were blown away by strong winds, the sacrifices were probably stolen away secretly, and the tides and mirages are natural phenomena caused by gravity, light and shadow.
The reason why "three unique things" among the four unique things in the world have been passed down, "Dengzhou Sea Market" and "Qiantang River Tide" are because apart from being "fallacious words", they also have real scenes.
The "Tibetan Text on Forbidden Burial" written by Sun E, the Zhijun of Guangde in the fourth year of Shaosheng's reign in the Song Dynasty, and the "Tibetan Text on Begging for Exemption from Burial" by Hong Xingzu, the Zhijun in the ninth year of Shaoxing. The government banned extravagant and supernatural things such as "killing cows and burying them". Activity. It stands to reason that "Guangde Burial" is already "if the skin is gone, the hair will be attached." However, Tai Chi Cave was opened to the outside world 30 years ago to develop the tourism economy, so it was named "Guangde Burial".
"Leizhou Drum Changing" is also a lost scene, so naturally there are disputes about different versions. However, in the past two years, the Zhanjiang area has used its name to organize cultural tourism activities, probably inspired by the "Guangde Burial".