Brilliant Chu culture is one of the great essences of China's ancient cultural heritage. Its profoundness and unique style often amaze people. It was conceived, produced and prospered in Jingchu, infiltrated all over the south, and even immersed in the northern Central Plains, with great influence and made outstanding contributions to enriching the ancient culture of China.
Zhang Zeng, an expert in the history of Chu culture, proved with examples that the achievements and level of Chu culture surpassed any other regional culture in the Zhou Dynasty: the earliest bronze ware cast by lost wax method or lead leakage method was Chu; The earliest ironware (with a few exceptions) was Chu unearthed in recent 30 years; The gold and silver coins in the pre-Qin period were Chu coins; The earliest exquisite silk fabrics and silk embroidery came from Chu tombs; Among the lacquerware in the pre-Qin period, the number, types and patterns of Chu were the most exquisite; Almost all the wood carvings and bamboo handicrafts published in the pre-Qin period are Chu; The earliest writing brush came from Chu tomb; Almost all bamboo slips in the pre-Qin period were Chu slips. The only silk book and two silk paintings in the pre-Qin period were Chu paintings; The world-famous bells of Zeng Houyi also came from Chu. ...
The color of material culture
The ancestors of Chu lived in the Central Plains first, and then moved south to Jianghan area. His ancestor Zhu Rong was a fire official who had both Vulcan and Thor. It is said that Phoenix is the incarnation of Zhu Rong. "White Tiger Pass Five Elements" said: Zhu Rong, the god of the South, is a bird and a phoenix. Therefore, the ancestors of the Chu people worshipped fire and phoenix, and the phoenix bird was once the totem of the Chu people in the virgin era, which was sacred and symbolic.
Therefore, Jianghan area has become a hotbed of Chu culture growth. The origin of Chu culture began in the early Western Zhou Dynasty when Chu was blocked. The early Chu State was located in the northwest of Hubei Province, adjacent to the southwest of Henan Province. This favorable geographical position across the north and south enabled Chu people to learn from other countries and barbarians in their contacts with China and barbarians and strive for innovation. After the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, Chu's economy and national strength have been growing, and its culture has also developed greatly. With the prosperity of Jinan, the capital of Chu, Chu culture reached its peak.
In agricultural production, Chu people comprehensively utilized the essence of agricultural culture in the north and south, created social water conservancy projects, and repaired slopes to irrigate fields. During the Chu Zhuangwang period, Sun Shuai presided over the construction of the first large-scale water conservancy project in China-Bess. It is recorded in Huainanzi Human Training that "Sun Shuai definitely thinks that the water of the future is to irrigate the wild land", which benefits a large area of farmland. Chu people also invented the rice cultivation method of "fire tillage and water tillage", which has existed for a long time in history and can still be seen today.
In metallurgical technology, the Chu people have achieved great success. At that time, Chu not only popularized the technology of separate casting and separate welding which was popular in the mid-Spring and Autumn Period of the Central Plains, but also pioneered the casting process of lost wax or lead leakage which had no precedent in the Central Plains, and created the process of inlaying black paint. With the continuous innovation of copper mining and casting technology, the varieties of bronzes are becoming more and more abundant. Great progress has been made especially in the production of bronze weapons. Compared with Central Plains weapons, it has the characteristics of excellent production, long shape and various forms. The bronze mirrors of Chu state, with colorful patterns and exquisite and light shapes, reached the peak of bronze technology at that time. A large number of archaeological discoveries can prove this.
1965 The gold, silver, dragon, phoenix and bird-patterned iron hook unearthed from Tomb No.1 of Wangshan is 46.2 cm long and curved. The front and rear ends of the whole hook are inlaid with gold wire, gold foil, silver wire and silver foil into a pattern. Moire patterns are embedded on both ends of the back and two buttons. The front pattern is a dragon and phoenix bird, with gold and silver pieces embedded in its body and gold and silver wires embedded in its claws, and the flowing clouds are filled with white. Phoenix has a long tail and looks back; The bird opened its mouth and sang a long song. The pattern is lively and beautifully inlaid. The radian of the hook is consistent with the radian of the waist and abdomen of the human body, and it is a special hook for large belts. It represents the level of staggered embedding technology in Chu State. 1965 The bronze wine vessel of the Warring States period unearthed from the No.2 Chu Tomb in Wangshan was decorated with dragon and phoenix patterns, with a height of 17 cm and staggered silver patterns on the belly. The whole instrument is 36 dragons and 24 phoenixes. These deformed dragon and phoenix patterns not only meander in circles, but also are neat and orderly, which shows the colorful and decorative characteristics of Chujincuo craft. Archaeologists also found two casting furnaces in Chenjiatai, southwest of Jinan. The bottom of the furnace wall is open and the four corners are sunken, and there is a thin layer of charcoal ash at the bottom and four corners. A copper rod was found in the northeast corner, a layer of tin slag was found in the west half, and fragments of blast tube remained near the casting furnace.
Exquisite silk weaving and embroidery are also important symbols of the high development of Chu culture. During the Warring States period, the scale of textile production in Chu State expanded rapidly, forming a whole set of processes such as reeling, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, and manufacturing many hand-made textile machinery. When describing the Chu Palace, The Songs of Chu Evocation involves quite a lot of silk fabrics: "Cuizhu quilt is not as good as. When you paint the wall, you will get more. Make a neat ball and tie a neat knot. ..... wearing a beautiful suit is beautiful and not surprising. "1982 Chu silk fabrics unearthed from No.1 Chu Tomb in Mashan, Jiangling cover almost all categories of pre-Qin silk fabrics: plain cotton robe of chu xiu in the middle of the Warring States Period, light yellow silk embroidered with dragons and phoenixes, dark yellow silk embroidered with singlets, light yellow silk embroidered with dragons and phoenixes, small diamond cotton robe embroidered with phoenixes, large diamond cotton robe embroidered with dragons and tigers. Its varieties are yarn, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk, silk and so on, so it is called "silk treasure house"
These silks are extremely exquisite in workmanship. In terms of warp and weft density, there are generally 140 warp densities and 60 weft densities per square centimeter, and the highest warp density reaches 170 and 70 weft densities, which are higher than the density of today's parachutes. On its softness, as thin as cicada wings and as light as cage smoke. Among them, the embroidery is exquisite and the patterns are elegant and rich. The theme is dominated by rare birds and animals, exotic flowers and plants and natural images, full of mythical colors. The images of dragons and phoenixes are the most abundant, such as Russell's dragons and phoenixes, tiger embroidered single clothes and so on. The extremely thin Luo is embroidered with three patterns of dragon, phoenix and tiger, with red, black, gray and khaki stripes. The phoenix spreads its wings and the corolla hangs down, occupying the center of the picture; The image of dragon and tiger is vigorous and vivid, like fighting and dancing. The whole embroidery presents a warm atmosphere of flying birds and dragons, full of magical colors. Especially the appearance of jacquard fabric brocade with complex weave structure proves that the jacquard technology of looms in the Warring States period has reached a quite developed level. It can be said that the silk weaving industry in Chu State represented the highest level of silk weaving technology in China at that time.
The production of Chu's wood, bamboo and lacquer handicrafts has also reached a high level of skill. In archaeological excavations, lacquerware unearthed from Chu tombs is numerous and varied. Thousands of Chu lacquerware were unearthed in Jinan alone. These lacquered wood products are vivid in shape, exquisite in structure, vivid and vivid in color. For example, in the winter of 1965, the painted wood carvings of the Warring States period unearthed from the No.1 Chu Tomb in Wangshan, Jiangling, were 15cm high, 5 1.8cm long, only 3cm thick and 12cm wide. The two ends of the screen seat touch the ground, and the middle is suspended, and a carved screen is placed on it, which is a rectangular outer frame. There are 51 kinds of animals carved in the outer frame, including four phoenixes, four finches, four deer heads, two frogs, twenty pythons and seventeen small snakes. With black paint as the base, there are designs such as cinnabar, gold and silver paint and Feng Huangwen. All kinds of carved animals are intertwined, fighting with each other, changing in a complex, regular and lifelike way. The painted tiger-seat phoenix drum unearthed at the same time as the painted woodcarving screen of the No.1 Chu Tomb in Wangshan is two tigers crawling back to back, their feet bending forward and trying to start; On the back of the tiger, a phoenix stands on each side, with its neck held high and its beak slightly open. Draw a colorful ribbon on the crests of two cockscomb birds and tie it between their long necks. Tiger constellation and bird are symmetrical and coordinated in shape; Details such as phoenix wings and tiger spots are painted with bright colors. This practical musical instrument has become an excellent handicraft.
Light of spiritual culture
Under the special historical origin, production conditions and geographical environment where mountains and rivers crisscross, Chu's spiritual culture has also developed by leaps and bounds, which is obviously different from the Central Plains culture, which advocates rationality, respects human relations, attaches importance to rites and music, and has a strong patriarchal color. It is more gorgeous and passionate, more free and unrestrained, more mysterious, more romantic, more imaginative and creative, and closer to nature.
When Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, announced that "Machamp is in a state of chaos", witchcraft in Chu became more prosperous. In Chu people's mind, the mountains and rivers in nature are sacred, so Chu people believe in Taiyi, Dong Jun, Yunzhongjun, Siming, Fengbo, Rain God and so on, and maintain a harmonious and close relationship with nature. At the same time, the Xia gods Gao Xin and Xuanyuan, the Yi gods Fuxi and Nuwa, and the Yue gods Fuxi and Nuwa were also the objects of their belief. As a result, a diversified belief in ghosts and gods has been formed. It is precisely because "Chu people believe in witches and ghosts, and attach great importance to obscenity and sacrifice" (Geography of Hanshu) that Chu witches have a high status and will be divined in every major event. This custom of worshipping witches and ghosts has been confirmed by many archaeological materials. There are many "town-tomb beasts" in Chu tombs, and the bamboo slips "divination record" unearthed from No.1 Chu tomb in Tianxingguan, Jiangling provides people with more information about the divination of Chu people.
The fertile soil of Chu culture is most suitable for the growth of art, and The Songs of Chu, an immortal literary masterpiece, is an eternal swan song in the history of China's poetry, which is intertwined with history and myth and social and natural, full of emotion, strange imagination and magnificent words. Together with Zhuangzi, it represents the literature of Chu in the south and occupies a prominent position in the history of China literature.
Chu music culture is fascinating. In addition to 1978, Zeng Houyi's chimes unearthed in Leigudun, Suizhou, 1970, painted stone chimes of stone musical instruments from the Warring States period were also unearthed 2 kilometers south of Jinan. Twenty-five stone chimes with phoenix bird motifs. After testing, except for one of the four broken pieces, the rest have good pronunciation, beautiful sound quality, wide range and accurate scale, and can play beautiful music so far. It shows that the practical sound at that time was at least about three octaves, and the Chu State was able to make musical instruments with advanced melody more than two thousand years ago. 1970, the music "Dongfanghong" played by China's first artificial earth satellite was composed and played with these colored stones.
In terms of music culture, the Chu people have another great achievement and a great pioneering work, that is, building an "underground golden opera". Yang Bojun, a contemporary linguist, explained: "The golden finger refers to the bell and plays nine kinds of summer music. Ring the bell first and then beat the drum, which is called golden play. " This kind of laying, which is mainly based on chimes and supplemented by drums, is consistent with the musical instrument grade in the middle room of Zeng Houyi's tomb. The Chu people put the band underground, which was more solemn and elegant than putting the musicians in the hall or corridor at that time and even later. In addition, from the acoustic effect, the basement has the characteristics of concentrated volume and strong atmosphere, which is more conducive to expressing the strong and unrestrained feelings of Chu people.
Chu is the hometown of music and dance. Wang Yi's "Songs of Chu" said: "In the past, Chu was the city of Nanying, and its temples must sing and dance to entertain the gods." When the Chu people went to the shrine, they sang and danced while winning the favor of the gods. It is not surprising that they can make such amazing achievements in music culture.
Chu people also made great achievements in philosophy. The southern philosophy represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi, that is, the philosophy of Chu, has exerted great influence on the whole Chinese nation.