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When did cats enter the human life circle?
According to records, ancient Egypt was the earliest area where cats were raised, about 5,000 years ago. Although humans began to get close to cats at this time, it was not until 3500 years ago that cats were really domesticated as domestic cats.
China raised cats late, but it was recorded as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Cats were kept by people throughout the ages, but it was not until the Song Dynasty that cats became popular. Before the Song Dynasty, there were few poems and songs about cats. Scholars in Song Dynasty love me, love my dog, and wrote and painted many works about cats.
The cat was called "the emperor's princess" by Song people. It stems from a sad and countercurrent past.
It is said that Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, the second husband of Wu Zetian, loved Xiao Shufei and was persecuted to death by Wu Zetian. When he died, he made a curse: "May Ah Wu be a mouse and I be a cat, and strangle his throat." It happened that Wu Zetian was a mouse, and Wu Zetian was frightened.
Later generations substituted this story of Tang Palace into the cultural connotation of cats and called it "Tian Zifei".
In ancient China, cats had many unique names. For example, they are called civet cats, civet cats slaves and cicadas.
When the wheel of history rolled to the Zhao and Song Dynasties, the economy reached unprecedented prosperity and openness, and the people's lives achieved a higher level of material enjoyment, so they demanded richer and better life content to meet spiritual enjoyment. Cats as pets have become the new content of people's leisure culture.
Across the hierarchy, whether it is princes, dignitaries, literati and ordinary people, most of them are "shovel officials."
In Song Dynasty, cats can be divided into "cats that catch mice" and "cats that don't catch mice". It is not difficult to know that most ordinary people have cats that catch mice at home, while nobles in the palace should keep cats that don't catch mice.
Among them, Song Xiaozong, known as the most successful monarch in the Southern Song Dynasty, was able to be emperor thanks to civet cats.
It is said that Song Gaozong Zhao Gou, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, was middle-aged but had no son. For the future of the Song Dynasty, it was decided to select the prince in the imperial clan.
At first, there were ten people competing. After several cycles, there are only two people left: one is fat and the other is thin, all of which meet the requirements of the prince. But Song Gaozong likes fat people, so thin people have to go home.
The thin man hasn't walked out of the palace gate yet. Song Gaozong hesitated and called him back, hoping to take part in the competition again. Just then, a civet cat passed by them, and the fat man kicked it away directly. Although this foot shows that fat people are also flexible, it makes Song Gaozong very angry.
So, the thin man finally won, and he was Song Xiaozong Zhao Shuo, the leader of ZTE in the Song Dynasty (who read as much).
Judging from this incident, civet cats can play at will in the court, which shows that the royal family welcomes cats and the fat man's behavior is condemned, which shows how much people cherish cats.
The cat culture outside the palace is not lost to the royal family.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an official in Tongjiang who had two cats and loved them dearly. They are often caressed in their master's arms and sleep together at night.
One day, a mouse came to the house, and the owner felt that his two cats were finally useful.
The mouse escaped into the rice jar and the owner put one of the cats in it. At first, the mouse jumped up and down in fear when it saw the cat, but the cat didn't move, but jumped out of the mouse's scream.
The host felt very funny after seeing it. Another cat was put into the jar, and this one was more timid. It jumped out when it saw the mouse and was pecked to death by a chicken in the hospital.
It can be seen that cats accustomed to comfortable life don't catch mice, and some cats are also accustomed to losing their hunting instinct.
For the literati in Song Dynasty, cats were not only the bane of mice, but also the guardians of culture.
Lu You, a famous patriotic poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, is a cat lover. In his later years, he was dismissed from office, became a common people, earned his own living, and still kept cats in prosperity and adversity.
Once, I brought a cat from a friend's house, and I was so excited that Lu You was busy making friends:
? This poem fully expresses Lu You's love for cats. Although he is poor, the cat is content and conscientious. Lu You regards the cat as a friend, and the cat has been growing old with Lu You.
There is an ancient custom of begging cats here-wrapping salt. People want to get a cat, not directly with money, but in exchange for fish or salt, which is particularly popular in the southeast of China. Some areas in Guangdong still retain the custom of begging cats with salt or fish.
Huang Tingjian, a famous calligrapher, poet and shovel official, once traded fish for cats.
Huang Tingjian had a cat and died. There are no cats at home, mice are rampant, and it is difficult to sleep at night by turning dishes.
I happened to hear that the neighbor's mother cat gave birth, so I bought a few Jin of fish and sent it to beg for a cat.
Also wrote a poem-"begging for cats":
?
Cicada is another name for a cat. Originated from two noble cats raised by princesses in the Tang Dynasty, a white flower with a mouth called cicada.
In many history books, the Song Dynasty was always labeled as "weak" and bullied by the ethnic minorities at that time, so we could only use money to make peace. The Song Dynasty existed for 3 19 years, and the level of economy, culture and science and technology developed to an unprecedented level, which was rarely mentioned.
From princes and nobles to ordinary people, they all like to keep cats and treat them as pets. This kind of leisure is rare in previous times.
Photo: Network/Editor: Ms. Wu Liu