We are about to usher in the Lunar Year of the Ox.
Ox, an animal familiar to Chinese people, is also one of the twelve zodiac animals. But from a biological perspective, foreigners may not understand this genus of Chinese people, and many of us have not studied it carefully: Are you a ox or a buffalo? When a person is full, it is not a blind question, but biologically, there are two genera under the Oxidae family of mammals, 33,354 cows and buffaloes. They are completely two kinds of animals and cannot even "intermarry".
At Junfeng Paper-cutting Workshop in Shuangqiao District, Chengde City, Hebei Province, paper-cutting artist Shi Junfeng creates paper-cutting works with the themes of New Year's Eve, Spring Festival, and the zodiac ox (photographed on January 29, 2021). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Liu)
A similar situation is also reflected in the zodiac sign of the sheep: Are you a sheep or a goat?
On the other hand, whether it is an ox or a buffalo, the Chinese feel very kind and close to it. Generally speaking, there are more cattle in the north and buffalo in the south; there are more cattle in the pastoral areas of Mongolia and Xinjiang, and there are more yaks in the pastoral areas of Tibet. Cattle, one of the largest domesticated species, are rivaled only by horses and camels. But cattle have been domesticated since ancient times and are more widely distributed than horses and camels.
Although strong, cattle generally have a gentle temperament, which is also the characteristic of large herbivores. Although his temperament is generally relatively gentle, once he has a bad temper and "goes against the bull", he will be very scary and intimidating. This rich personality makes the cow look more realistic and endearing.
Cattle are widely used in agriculture, meat and milk. To use a cliché, it’s “full of treasures.” In the hearts of many farmers, it is like a hard-working and trustworthy family member. Many myths and legends are also based on this "cow hypothesis", such as the old cow in the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Liu Yuan tells you why Niuniu is so cute.
In ancient China, there were many poems related to cattle. The first thing Brother Shi wants to introduce is "Ode to Cows", written by Liu Zongyuan, a great writer in the Tang Dynasty:
What if you know cows? A cow is a thing that has a huge head. The ears hold the horns, and the fur is thin and thick. However, Mou Ming and Huang Zhong were filled with bitterness. Conflict with Longxi until 100 Amuri. Straighten your back and plant grass and millet. Pay your own way and go with the box. Entering the official warehouse is not to your liking. Rich, hungry, and good for nothing. Mud is wrinkled and often found in grass. People are not ashamed, the world is in trouble. Your skin is good for you, your shoulders are bad for you. Or lean on the crutches, or actually suck a bean so you can look at it, and nothing else.
This fu-ti parallel prose was written by Liu Zongyuan when he was demoted to Liuzhou (today's Liuzhou, Guangxi) ), I feel like the locals kill cattle. He advised the locals:
Do you know about cows? This animal, the cow, has a tall build, a huge head, droopy ears, horns, and thin, thick fur. Cleisthenes' bull cry was low and heavy, like Huang's Lu. He plows 100 acres of land under the scorching sun every day; pulling plows and harrows back and forth in the fields is the only way to obtain seedlings, rice and wheat. It plows and harvests grain, it carries boxes, pulls carts, and delivers grain to the granary, but it doesn't eat a bite. Whether in a rich or poor family, whether full or hungry, it works hard. You people who are ignorant of compassion and gratitude have killed the cow for your own benefit and used the horns from head to toe. Some people wear cows on their noses and use them as offerings. Alas, no other animal can compare to the contribution of cows to us humans!
It should be said that this is a very warm, textbook-level explanatory article. It feels like Liu Zongyuan almost blurted out, "Niuniu is so cute, how can I kill Niuniu?"
In fact, in ancient times, due to the important role of cattle in agricultural production, it was the mainstream idea to kill cattle with caution and prohibit the killing of cattle. "The great affairs of the country lie in worship and embarrassment." In the early Shang, Zhou and pre-Qin periods, people would kill cattle as sacrifices only on major occasions such as sacrifices and expeditions. In the alliance of princes, they would slaughter cattle, horses and other animals to "bleed blood for the alliance", and the one who got the "cow ears" would be the leader of the alliance.
"The day is coming, the sheep and cattle have come down"
Chinese Pastoral Song
Because cattle are one of the earliest domesticated livestock, and because cattle are the closest to One of human domestic animals, cows appear very frequently in the Book of Songs, China's earliest collection of poems.
The husband is far away
A gentleman in service, I don’t know what to expect. What's up?
The chicks live in the nest. It was getting late, and the cattle and sheep had come down.
My husband is serving in a distant place, how should I miss him?
When a gentleman is in service, there is no sun or moon. What's wrong?
The chicken lives in the street. As dusk approaches, the cattle and sheep are corralled.
When a gentleman is at war, what if he is not hungry?
If there is pastoral poetry, it is the real pastoral poetry. A picture of ancient Chinese pastoral life is displayed in front of us. However, pastoral is not a vacuum, it also contains sadness and longing. This poem depicts the scene where the husband is fighting for the country and the wife is alone at home.
"A gentleman is in service, but does not know the time." "A gentleman is in service, but does not die." My husband is fighting outside, and I don't know when he can come home. Please think back to your home. "The chicks live in the nest. At dusk, the rooster and the hen go back to the coop and chatter away.
The cows and sheep that had been raising outside for a day slowly walked down the grass-covered slope. Their silhouettes were shrouded in the sunset, forming an active silhouette. "A gentleman is serving, but he is hungry?" Husband, are you hungry and thirsty out there alone?
"Night falls, and the cattle and sheep come down the mountain." The cattle and sheep are like family members who cannot speak, and their gentle eyes are an indispensable element of a warm home.
Such beautiful sentences have been circulated for a long time and were used for reference by many poets in later generations. Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty wrote a song "Sunset" when he was a guest in Kuizhou, Three Gorges:
The cattle and sheep have long returned from the fields, and every family has closed its doors.
The breeze is a charming night, but the beautiful mountains are not their home.
The spring water flows down from the stone wall, and the dewdrops on the autumn night condense on the grass roots.
Under the gray hair and bright lights, why did Barthelmy splash the sparks of good news.
Living in a foreign country, when I see cattle and sheep coming down at dusk, I can’t help but think of the verses in the Book of Songs and miss my hometown.
In ancient times, cattle and sheep were not only the spiritual sustenance of the family, but also the important material wealth of the family.
No sheep
Who said you have no sheep? Who said there are no cows in Sanwei Group? ninety.
When a sheep thinks, its horns buzz. My ears get wet just thinking about it.
Some fall to the ground, some drink from the pool, some fall asleep, or become corrupted.
If you think about it, you would be ashamed of it, or you would be ashamed of it.
An animal has three-dimensional things.
Must be used for animal husbandry, steamed for food, and men used for women.
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Your sheep comes to think about it, and it is cautious and timid.
Command him with his arm, and he will rise as soon as he comes.
The shepherd is a dream, and all the fish are dimensional, _dimensional_. Your Excellency:
If you are a fish in all dimensions, you will have a good harvest in real terms; if you are a _dimensional_, your family will be happy.
The tone of this poem is relatively humorous. It was as if a rich man was complaining in a "Versailles style": "Oh, I really don't have much at home, not many sheep, not many cattle?" As a result, he was immediately asked and ridiculed: "Who said you don't have sheep? Three There are a group of hundreds. Who said you don’t have cattle? There are ninety cattle. Look at the sheep in the sheepfold. Look at the cows in the cattle pen, wagging their ears and chewing their cud. "
Not only humorous, but also meticulously observed: "Er Niu Laisi is thinking, and his ears are wet." "Wet" does not mean wet, but the way the ears shake. Cows are ruminants. They eat quickly and in large quantities, and then chew the cud carefully. While chewing the cud, he looked quite leisurely and waggled his ears.
"Either descend to Ah, or drink in the pool, or sleep or lie down. You, the herdsman, come to think about it, what kind of coir, what kind of hat, or bear it? Thirty-dimensional things, your animals have them." You Some of the cattle and sheep were grazing on the hills, some were drinking water by the river, some were lying down, and some were walking around. Some of your shepherds are wearing raincoats and bamboo hats, and some are carrying dry food on their backs. There must be enough cattle and sheep for sacrifice!
There are four paragraphs in the poem. Although it is relatively long and contains many uncommon words, we can still strongly feel the scene described in the poem thousands of years apart.
Through the poems of shepherd boys, we can see the harmonious development of humans and animals
Speaking of cows, we can’t help but think of a type of person who is inseparable from them-shepherd boys. Have you ever thought about it? As a giant animal, the Chinese actually let children graze it. What does this mean? Explain that the cow is a kind-hearted and reassuring animal.
In ancient Chinese poetry, there are countless shepherd boy poems, and many of them are very interesting:
Shepherd boy poems
Tang Zhang Ji
They herd cattle in the distance, and there was a lot of grass and millet on all sides of the village.
Hungry crows pecked the backs of oxen in the countryside, making me unable to play with them.
When entering the grassland, there are many cows walking around, and when the calves are white, they call into the reeds.
On the other side of the embankment, they blew leaves to greet their companions, and they also drummed and whipped three or four times.
Cattle and cattle eat grass and don’t touch each other, and officials and officials cut off their horns.
Around the village, there are lush green trees and prosperous crops. Crows and herons on the hillside flew onto the back of the cow and pecked at it. From the perspective of the old cow, this might just be scratching an itch and catching lice, which is not a big deal; but from the perspective of the shepherd boy, these birds are really annoying and need to be driven away constantly, so they can't enjoy themselves wildly in the fields.
There is so much grass on the hillside, and each family’s cows are in twos and threes. The snow-white calf came to the reeds by the river and mooed.
The shepherd boy picked reed stalks, made a reed whistle, and blew it leisurely. On the other side of the river embankment, the same melodious sound of the flute came. It turned out to be A Niu from the next village. The sound of the flute was intermittent, and the clear sound of the bullwhip sounded. The shepherd boys were quite dedicated despite playing.
In Jiaji Town, Qionghai City, Hainan Province, two flying birds rest and forage on the heads of buffaloes (photo taken on August 2, 2020). Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Meng Zhongde)
The cows are "meeting", inevitably bumping into each other, and bullfighting. The shepherd boy waved his whip again: "Don't fight, cows! Beware that the officials are coming. They will saw off all your horns and use them to make horns and glue for bows." Using officials to scare people is not a good idea. Maybe it's what adults teach children?
Poems of Shepherd Boys
Li She of the Tang Dynasty
Herding cattle in the morning, herding cattle down the river.
Herding cattle at night, herding cattle across the village valley.
The lotuses come out of the forest, the spring rain is gentle, and the reed pipes lie blowing the green sedge.
If you plant basil and arrows all over your waist, you will not be afraid of tigers bullying yellow calves.
When spring comes to the earth, the cowherd children go to herd the cows day and night. The spring rain rustles, and I wear a raincoat and a hat. Lying down and blowing the reed pipe, the grass is green. Suddenly, the shepherd boy climbed onto the back of the cow and stood upright on it. His waist was filled with newly plucked reed stalks. They were slender and green, with a pointed head, like a sharp arrow. "I'm not afraid of big tigers. I'll shoot them if they dare to come!" Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, and that's true!
Herding cattle
Lu You of the Song Dynasty
Herding cattle in Nancun, standing on the cattle with bare feet.
The wind is cold in the river while the clothes are worn, and the rain is heavy in the mountains.
Don’t worry if the stream is deep, Wu Niu can float on its own.
A child steps on the back of an ox, as safe as a boat.
In the countryside of his hometown of Shanyin (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang), Lu You created a large number of poems full of pastoral interest, including "Herding Cows". The poems are easy to understand, like children's songs. "The cattle herders in Nancun stand on the cattle with bare feet", "The children step on the back of the cattle, as safe as riding a boat". These are the "traditional skills" of Chinese shepherd boys. Stepping on the back of the cattle, the cattle move, and I also Walk. When the cow enters the water, the shepherd is not afraid. The cow seems to have a tacit understanding with the shepherd boy. There is always a piece of the cow's back exposed on the water, like a small boat.
Farmers in Baihezui Village, Mingyue Town, Huaying City, Sichuan Province "plough spring cattle" in the fields (photo taken on February 2, 2021). Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Qiu Haiying)
Careful people will find that the scenes in the above shepherd boy poems all take place in waterside wetlands, and the cattle being herded are undoubtedly buffaloes from the south, that is, " Wu Niu". So, are there any poems about herding cattle? Of course!
Seen
Yuan Mei, Qing Dynasty
A shepherd boy rides an ox, and his singing shakes the forest.
I wanted to catch the chirping cicada, but suddenly I stood up with my mouth shut.
The same upright cow's back, the same naughty innocence, the same incomparable tacit understanding, the same harmonious life of humans and animals.
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