The 12 better zodiac signs of the Chinese zodiac
Editor’s note: Say goodbye to the Year of the Rat and welcome the Year of the Ox. In traditional Chinese culture, the zodiac culture can be described as unique. Where did the zodiac culture come from? What is the basis for determining the arrangement of the twelve zodiac signs? Jiang Wei, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, has devoted himself to the creation of paintings of zodiac animals in recent years, displaying them together with landscapes, flowers, birds, and vegetation, striving to inherit the Shanghai style while exploring the humanistic connotations behind using animals in paintings. The following is his speech at the Shanghai Library.
The twelve zodiac culture is a precious legacy left to us by the ancients, and it is also one of the more distinctive cultures. It is still used today because of its popularity and interest. As a Chinese, one of the gifts that comes to this world is the zodiac sign. The zodiac culture has a long history, is extensive and profound, and is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. In recent years, there have been more and more creations about the zodiac. I am mainly dedicated to the creation of paintings of zodiac animals, displaying them together with landscapes, flowers, birds, and vegetation. I strive to inherit the Shanghai style while exploring the humanistic connotation behind using animals in paintings. In today’s speech, I will talk to you about zodiac culture.
The origin of zodiac culture
The twelve zodiac animals are used to calculate age in our country. Everyone should know more or less about the zodiac culture. The zodiac culture has been circulating for a long time, but there are various things surrounding it, and many times there is no consensus. So, let me first talk about the origin of zodiac culture.
The "生" of the zodiac sign refers to the "birthday", and "Xiao" means "image". A large amount of literature shows that the twelve zodiac signs originated in China, germinated and formed in the Pre-Qin period, and were established in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The zodiac culture originally originated from the animal worship and totem worship of the ancestors, and was also the crystallization of early astronomy. Today, we can still see many animal patterns on some rock paintings that have been handed down, which can even be traced back to the traditional prehistoric era. At that time, these patterns were mainly totems, or symbolic illustrations, and had not yet risen to the level of theory.
The theory of zodiac signs was first seen in the Book of Songs, a collection of poems in China. By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, zodiac signs had been widely used. Shen Jiong, a poet in the Liang-Chen period of the Southern Dynasty, once wrote "Twelve Genus Poems": Rat traces create dust cases, and cattle and sheep come down at dusk. The tiger roars in the empty valley, and the rabbit moon opens towards the window. The dragon is far away and green, and the snake and willow are lingering nearby. Malan is picked far away, and sheep are planted in spring. The monkey chestnut is shy and fragrant, and the chicken's soles lead to a clear cup. The dog has nothing in his arms, and the pig is carefree. This poem embeds the names of the twelve zodiac animals in order in the first word, and highlights the characteristics of each animal, which plays a finishing touch.
Hu Yan, a talented scholar of the Ming Dynasty, also wrote a poem: "The mice drink from the river and the river will not dry up, and the cow and the girl find it difficult to see each other all the time. With bare hands, the tiger is bound in the southern mountains, and the sky is full of rabbits in the middle of the moon. Lilong There are pearls and I often don't sleep. How can the old horse have horns? The sheep sneeze when they touch the vassal. Don't laugh at the people of Chu. I wish the chickens were empty from the old forest and Qiu. The dogs are slaughtered in Peizhong City, and the pigs are released to the east of the sea in Pingjin. "The "mouse" in the first couplet of the poem refers to the water rat, and the "cow girl" refers to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The "Li Long" in the third couplet is a type of dragon. There is a pearl under its chin, so it is called "Li Zhu". The "sheep" mentioned in the fourth couplet refers to the ram, and "touching the fence" refers to the sheep hitting the fence with its horns. The "wishing chicken" mentioned in the fifth couplet refers to calling the chicken. One sentence in the sixth couplet refers to the famous general Fan Kuai, who was named Wuyang Marquis by Han Emperor Gaozu. He once made a living by killing dogs in Peixian County, Jiangsu Province. The last sentence refers to Gongsun Hong, the prime minister of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. This prime minister once let pigs off in the East China Sea. Hu Yan uses historical allusions to write the twelve zodiac signs, which is very interesting.
Related to the zodiac culture is the ancient Chinese calendar of heavenly stems and earthly branches. Heavenly stems and earthly branches, referred to as stems and branches, originate from the observation of celestial phenomena in ancient China. After evolution, it was simplified into today's ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. The ten heavenly stems refer to "A, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui", and the twelve earthly branches refer to "Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai". The ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches match each other in turn to form sixty basic units. The two cooperate with each other in a fixed order to form the stem and branch method.
Take one word for each of the two numbers "Stem" and "Branch" and match them one by one. From "Jiazi" to "Guihai", the sixty-year cycle completes the sequence of stems and branches, which is called "Huajia". From the last Jiazi to the next Jiazi, it is exactly 60 years. In ancient times when average life expectancy was relatively low, this was almost a long life. Furthermore, people used the twelve lands to be dominated by twelve kinds of animals and used them as relevant year codes to make them more vivid and conducive to memory and calculation. From this, the "Twelve Zodiac Signs" were formed.
In addition to using "stems and branches" to mark the year, ancient China also used them to mark the month, day, and time. Because the number of days in each month is exactly in decimal, and the year is exactly twelve months, we use "stems" to record the days, and "zhi" to record the months, and the "twelve earthly branches" are used to record the time, and one day and night are divided into twelve. Hours, each hour is equal to two hours in modern time. Now when we watch costume TV dramas, we will find that ancient people often talked about "hour" for this reason.
There are also zodiac culture, five elements, eight trigrams, etc. For example, Zi (rat) belongs to the north; Hai (pig) belongs to the north. Yin (tiger) belongs to the yang wood, the east; Mao (rabbit) belongs to the yin wood, the east. Chou (ox), Wei (sheep) belong to Yin earth, etc.
The origin of zodiac culture is almost as old as the origin of Chinese civilization. It is an important cultural factor that makes up Chinese civilization, including the birth of the ancient calendar and the emergence of the Five Elements philosophy that has a profound impact on Chinese culture. Contained in it. In addition, the hidden meanings of the zodiac also contain the rich cultural and psychological connotations of the Chinese people, which can be seen from the hidden meanings given to the twelve zodiac animals: the rat represents wisdom, the ox represents diligence, the tiger represents, the rabbit represents prudence, and the dragon represents firmness. , the snake represents flexibility, the horse represents courage, the sheep represents gentleness, the monkey represents flexibility, the chicken crows regularly represents stability, the dog represents loyalty, and the pig represents easy-going.
◇Jiang Wei’s painting: "Twelve Elegant Collection"
What is the significance of the ordering of the twelve zodiac signs
The above is briefly summarized Let’s talk about the origin of zodiac culture. Next, I want to talk to you about the arrangement of zodiac animals. As I said before, the twelve zodiac animals are the twelve animals that match the twelve earthly branches in the year of a person's birth, including rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. Some may ask, why are the twelve zodiac signs arranged in the order we see now? What's the point here?
The principle of matching the twelve animals and the twelve earthly branches is another difficult problem in analyzing the Chinese "Twelve Zodiac Signs". Since ancient times, there have been many researchers, but the conclusions are quite different. Here, I only list a few representative statements.
Hong Xun, a scholar from the Song Dynasty in China, is a representative figure of the "odd and even theory". He believes that the arrangement of the "Twelve Zodiac Signs" is related to the philosophy of the "Book of Changes". Its days are: "Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen, Shu, all Yang (Yang refers to the yang earthly branch). Therefore, the odd numbers that belong to each other are chosen. When writing names, rats, tigers, dragons, monkeys, and dogs all have five fingers, while horses have one hoof; Chou, Mao, Si, Wei, You, and Hai are all yin (earthly branches), so the even numbers are chosen, such as cow, sheep, and chicken. Pigs have four claws, rabbits have two claws, and snakes have two tongues." This means that the twelve zodiac signs are formed by matching the odd and even numbers of the toes of twelve animals with the earthly branches.
Ye Shijie of the Ming Dynasty tried to explain the reason for his selection by using the "insufficient shape" of the "twelve zodiac" animals. He believes that "Magicians use twelve zodiac signs to match twelve zodiac signs. Each sign has its own shortcomings. For example, a rat has no teeth, an ox has no teeth, a tiger has no spleen, a rabbit has no lips, a dragon has no ears, a snake has no legs, and a horse has no legs. Without guts, sheep without pupils, monkeys without buttocks, chickens without kidneys, dogs without stomachs, pigs without tendons, humans have no deficiencies.” Another scholar of his generation, Li Xu, believed that the order of the twelve zodiac signs was related to the order of the twenty-eight constellations in the sky. The twenty-eight constellations are distributed around the sky to correspond to the twelve o'clock. There are two constellations at each hour, three constellations of Zi, Mao, Wu and You. Each constellation has its own image. The animals represented by the twenty-eight constellations are arranged in order in the sky, rotating from north to east, to south, and to west.
The above statements all have their own truths. Perhaps taken together, it is a more complete explanation.
From a painting perspective, Shanghai-style zodiac cultural types are basically divided into three categories. One is the traditional type. It is mainly passed on from teachers to students and follows the route of the traditional Chinese painting school. The second is the homologous type. For example, calligraphy and painting have the same origin. Some people use calligraphy to paint and paint in their calligraphy works. The third is a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The upcoming culture will be combined with Chinese traditional culture. These three types are reflected in zodiac cultural paintings. For example, Cheng Zhang, who created "Six Squirrels", is an innovative painter. At that time, the painting world was dominated by the painting styles of the Four Kings of Wu Clan. Everyone stuck to the rules and did not dare to go beyond the boundaries. However, Cheng Zhang used painting techniques, innovated painting methods, combined with sketching, and created a new look outside the popular painting schools. He is unique in the modern painting world.
Someone once asked me why I like to create zodiac paintings? In my opinion, animals are friends of human beings. Whether it is a tiger hesitating in the moonlit night in the cold forest and snowfield, or a pair of mice whispering in the spring stream when the winter snow first melts, they are integrated into nature and have a close-up The style of composition cannot replace the interest. This kind of artistic thinking may be due to nostalgia for the quiet scenery of mountains, forests, ravines, birds singing and fragrance of flowers, and it also expresses the emotion of being close to animals. Therefore, I regard creating each zodiac painting as a pleasure. In painting, I organically absorbed elements of Western painting and integrated the essence of Shanghai style. Don't seek clever decorations, seek truth and interest, birds and beasts are also charming.
In today's prosperous times, the traditional themes of zodiac culture have been given new vitality, which also puts forward higher requirements for painters. When creating zodiac paintings, you must not understand the zodiac culture. For a painter, his brushwork must have a provenance and be able to withstand chewing. Many seniors are examples of rigorous artistic practice. For example, Xu Beihong worked hard to paint horses. It seems like there are only a few strokes, but his skills, his interests, and his artistic summary are all there. Why is Chinese painting difficult to learn? Because it is comprehensive and polished through long-term accumulation, it is difficult to "short-term and fast".
In my opinion, any work must start from the shaping of the theme, absorb elements from the ancient Chinese cultural treasure house, and strengthen the awareness of self-shaping. Painting relies on technology, but it is also an art that requires the realization of ideals in order and style. Therefore, when it comes to creation, one must have a rigorous attitude and not be tempted to try to please others. Appreciating his paintings is like tasting fine wine, which is of lasting interest; it is also like drinking tea, which is full of fragrance and endless aftertaste.
Today, zodiac culture is shining in many fields. Zodiac gold bars, zodiac gold coins and zodiac commemorative coins are highly sought after in the market. For example, the "Chinese Commemorative Coin" adopts the traditional technique of portrait stone in the Han Dynasty, and integrates line carving and volume shaping to show the characteristics of Chinese sculpture art. For another example, the "Twelve Zodiac Series Commemorative Coins" adopt the designs of famous paintings by Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong and others, and reproduce these unique styles through relief carvings, which have high artistic appreciation value. In addition, zodiac design has never been a high-end artistic creation, but has been increasingly integrated into the design of products in daily life, from nail clippers, tea cups, small electric fans, coin purses, lighters, to tea spoons, knife holders, kettles, etc. Many items in life have added value by incorporating zodiac elements. Chinese zodiac culture has also attracted the attention of foreign designers. An American toy designer designed a zodiac doll, which was very popular. In the minds of many foreigners, zodiac culture is an indispensable and important element of the "Chinese Year".
The zodiac culture that originated in China has penetrated deeply into our civilization and has penetrated into the life memories and habits of hundreds of millions of people. It has also penetrated into all aspects of production and consumption on which people rely for survival. It penetrates into the important life processes of birth, old age, illness, death, weddings and funerals. In this sense, the zodiac culture is the root of traditional civilization growing in Chinese soil and the blood of civilization flowing in our bodies.
(Compiled by: Wang Zhen)
Biography of the Thinker
Jiang Wei, member of the Chinese Artists Association, Chinese calligrapher and painter Director of the association, member of Shanghai Artists Association, distinguished painter of Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Academy, executive director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Calligraphy and Painting Art Research Institute. In recent years, he has devoted himself to the creation of zodiac animals.
(Photo provided by Shanghai Library)
Please mark "Shangguan News". Violators will be held accountable.
(This article only represents my personal opinion. Column email: shhgcsxh@163.com)
Column Editor: Wang Zhen Text Editor: Wang Zhen Title: Visual China Picture Editor: Cao Liyuan
Pictures in the text: Provided
: : Jiang Wei
The above is the content related to the better zodiac signs of the 12 zodiac signs, and is a sharing about the zodiac signs. After reading the 12 zodiac signs with better fortunes, I hope this will be helpful to everyone!