The dragon travels all over the world, which is reflected in literature and art. The dragon ranks fifth in the zodiac and is also the only illusory image in the zodiac. Poems about dragons have a long history. In the Book of Songs, China's first collection of poems, you can find poems about dragons, such as "Yang Yang, Dragon Flag, Central Bell" and "Dragon Flag", which refer to the dragon flag. Among the ancient poems about singing dragons, the most representative is Song Dynasty poet Shu Yuexiang's "Singing Dragons": "I once saw an old man sitting by the pool, but suddenly I didn't see the stone. So far, the moon is clear and the night is clear, and there is a scent at the bottom of the pool. " This poem is about dragons, and it is quite distinctive. The poet's preface: "There are two graves of ancestors in Xiang Yan. Ba often appears in Yilong, showing and hiding. Since ancient times, there has been a firewood man who saw an old man sitting on a stone and hid when he was near. I have also tasted that there are two dragon whiskers in the water, which are as big as elephant trunks. The water boiled and flowed, but it was not full. Because of its name, its mountain is Longxu Mountain. This name is Long Shu, and the following name is Yi Shu. " Reading this poem in combination with the poet's preface, it is not difficult to find its beauty: its dragon disappears, but its dragon appears. "At the bottom of the pool, it smells like a flute." It smells Long Yin's voice. Liu Xiaoxian, a poet of the Southern Liang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Who can play the flute? He should spit out the dragon and compare it with the flute, while Shu Yuexiang's poems compare it with the flute, and it is commendable to enhance the mystery with the sound at the bottom of the pond.
In Qu Yuan's works, the dragon is a galloping horse, which often symbolizes the noble feelings of its owner. In Lisao, the cloud says, "Riding the Eight Dragons Gracefully, Holding the Yunqi as a Snake", and in Shejiang, the cloud says, "Riding the Green Garden, I will visit Yaoyuan with China"; In Cao Zhi's Ode to the Goddess of Luo, the charm of the Ode to the Goddess of Luo is written in the form of "if you are surprised, if you are a dragon"; In the Tang Dynasty, Li He wanted to "call dragons to plant tobacco and plant Yao grass" (Tianshu); In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Yu still remembered that "cars are like running water" ("Looking at Jiangnan"); Wen Tianxiang wrote in "The Moon on the Yangtze River Say Goodbye to Friends in the Post Office": "Is Gan Kun Can great, the dragon in the pool?" There is quite a taste of ambition, and there is a sense of heroism between the lines.
There are also some folklore about dragons, which are recorded in ancient books, circulated in calligraphy and quietly shaped the image of dragons. "Taiping Guangji" records the story of ichthyosaur, saying that at the turn of spring and summer every year, yellow carp from all over the country compete to go to Longmen, and those who leap over "follow the clouds and rain, and the sky fire burns its tail from behind and turns it into a dragon". Later, the folks often used the metaphor of "fish leaping over the dragon gate" to test high school. Not only that, dragons often have feelings with people in legends. Stories such as "Zhang Sheng Zhu Hai" and "Biography of Liu Yi" explain the beautiful and touching love legend between the scholar and the dragon girl. They are full of romanticism, and the image of dragons is widely planted in people's hearts.
The more intuitive image of "dragon" is circulated in sculpture and painting. People call dragons dragon patterns carved on utensils, bricks and other objects. The dragon patterns in different times vividly reflect the changes in the image of "dragon" in the minds of the ancients, and also reflect the cultural characteristics and spiritual outlook of different times. For example, the dragon in Hanwali, with its head held high and its tail held high, presents a bold and unrestrained posture, which can convey a manly atmosphere. Among the famous paintings of the past dynasties, there are many masterpieces of choosing dragons to show paintings. In Gu Kaizhi's Ode to the Goddess of Luo in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the six dragons drove the cart for the Ode to the Goddess of Luo, and Yi Long jumped up in a rising shape, which was both physical and mental. The flying dragon in the Song Dynasty's "Yunlong Map" winds and circles, rising and falling back to the level, which has both the elegance of clouds and the rigidity of pine trees, and can almost fly off the paper. The most famous is the "finishing touch". According to "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties", Zhang Sengyou, a painter of the Liang Dynasty, made the finishing touch on the murals. This record not only describes the magic of Zhang Sengyou's painting skills, but also shows a great mystery of Chinese painting: verve is the most important. Because the eye is the door of verve, where there are eyes, there is God and there is spirit.
The tradition of dragons depends on people. Ancient painters painted dragons, paying attention to "nine similarities", that is, nine parts of the dragon's body are similar to other animals. It can be seen that the image of the dragon is a complex, which combines the characteristics and essence of other animals. Longxing's death is not unrelated to this spirit of absorption and tolerance. Since ancient times, China people have said that "Mount Tai can grow up because it doesn't allow soil, and the East China Sea can grow up because it doesn't choose a trickle", which is an inclusive culture. On the other hand, dragons often give people the impression that they are soaring, high-spirited and powerful. Isn't this image similar to the outlook on life held by China people, which is self-improvement, high-spirited and enterprising, and even full of resilience? Perhaps, when the ancients shaped the image of the dragon, they constantly integrated their own spirit and ideals, and conversely, they often learned wisdom and courage from the dragon.
On some occasions, it has been said that dragons are regarded as evil beasts in the west, because they are not ideal cultural symbols. This statement actually has a big loophole. Liu Xicheng said: "China experts have been writing articles for a long time, pointing out that dragons and dragons in the West are not the same thing. They grew up in two completely different cultural environments, and the cultural meanings of the hosts are different and cannot be confused. " As for the appearance of dragons, it is almost harsh. Don't we want to see a high-spirited dragon, but a "sick dragon" lying motionless on the ground?
Dragons are beasts, comparable to heroes. With the approach of the Year of the Loong, the topic of dragons has come in droves. Not long ago, a stamp of Renchen the Year of the Loong just came out and became the focus of public opinion. In fact, in recent years, the controversy about the dragon has not subsided, and the reason for the accusation is that the dragon is closely related to the feudal imperial power in history. But is it the fault of the dragon to cast the dragon with imperial power? Liu Xicheng, a folklorist, said: "The dragon originated from the people and used to be the totem of all ethnic groups. In the process of development, it has been continuously integrated with new contents, and its cultural connotation has become increasingly rich. It was monopolized by feudal emperors only in a short historical period. " Nowadays, the romance of emperors has long been blown away by the wind and rain, and the dragon, as a cultural symbol, has long been introduced into the homes of ordinary people and has become the most common cultural symbol in daily life.
For us, whether there are dragons in the world is not the most important thing. What is important is that the long history, rich content and national spirit carried by the dragon can not be ignored. According to legend, the source of China civilization is the dragon. When Fuxi was in the Yellow River, there appeared a beast that led the horse. The hair spinning on the horse's back was like a star, forming a picture called a river map. Based on this, Fu created a gossip about the river map, that is, a fairy tale of "Dragon Horse River Map". It can be seen that at the beginning of Chinese civilization, dragons were endowed with mysterious, intelligent and auspicious meanings. There are some divinations in Zhouyi, such as "seeing dragons in the field", "flying dragons in the sky" and "kanglong has regrets". In history, "phoenix, forest, turtle and dragon" are collectively called "four spirits", all of which are auspicious things. Not only that, people are also used to using dragons to compare sages and heroes. Confucius visited Laozi, and when he came back, he said to his apprentice, "I saw Laozi today, and he is still evil!" " In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the hero of Cao Cao's cooking wine theory also takes the dragon as a metaphor: "The dragon can be big or small, can be raised or hidden, the big one is misty, and the small one is hidden; Ascension soars in the universe, while invisibility lurks in the waves ... dragons are things, comparable to heroes in the world. "
Dragons have nothing to do with imperial power. For a long time, it is a mythical image or folk belief. In China, people believe that the dragon is the god of rain, so whenever there is a drought, people will enter the Longwang Temple to worship the old dragon king and pray for rain and prosperity. Even in normal years, people offer sacrifices to the Dragon King, which is also a blessing to eliminate disasters and look forward to a good year. The feudal emperor wanted to borrow Rowen, and a piece of paper claimed that this dragon was reserved for the royal family. The emperor was born as a "dragon birthday", before he ascended the throne as a "dragon stem" and after he ascended the throne as a "dragonfly". The founder of Wang Ye was "Longxing" and his descendants were "dragon species". Unfortunately, the beauty of the world cannot be monopolized by one family. After all, the dragon will not be trapped in the palace wall, and its image and story have already taken root among the people. In people's daily life, dragons are everywhere: there are "Longxu Noodles" in noodles, "Longxusu" in sugar, "longan" in fruits and "keel" in medicinal materials; Climb the Dragon-shaped Great Wall in Beijing, Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi and Jiulong Wall in Shanxi. We describe the terrain as dangerous, full of vitality, full of vigor, auspicious and festive, high-spirited and enterprising, and the spirit of dragon and horse. ...