Long's Cultural Interest

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In ancient times, the dragon was a symbol of imperial power. Emperors and nobles, only the heavenly family can own the products embroidered with dragons. Only the emperor can be called a dragon.

The dragon, as the cohesion and accumulation of a unique culture of our Chinese people, has taken root and is deeply hidden in the subconsciousness of each of us. From the perspective of dragon culture, the aesthetic consciousness of dragon culture has penetrated into all fields and aspects of our social culture. Dragon, in China, is connected with everything in the world. In traditional Chinese culture, the dragon is a symbol of power, nobility, and honor, as well as a symbol of luck and success. The reason why the dragon has this cultural symbolic significance has a lot to do with the incomparable magical powers of the dragon in legends and myths.

Another cultural symbolism of the dragon is outstanding and extraordinary. The dragon is a divine fetish, comparable to extraordinary people. People often refer to those who have noble ambitions, good behaviors, great ability, talents and accomplishments as "dragons." When Zhuge Liang and Ge Kongming had not yet come out of thatched cottage in Nanyang, he was better than Guan Zhong Leyi and called Mr. Wolong, which meant that he had the three ambitions of Honghu but had no talent.

As the saying goes, "Hope your child will become a dragon" does not hope that your child will become a monster with long scales on his head, and the dragon will never see the end, but hope that the child will be promising and be able to stand out and do a career in the future. One of the popular new children's songs in recent years is "100 points is a dragon", which also means this. In addition, we often hear news on radio, television, newspapers and magazines about "Dragon and Tiger List" and what is "Dragon and Tiger List"? "The New Tang Book? The Biography of Ouyang Zhan" stated that when Ouyang Zhanzhong entered the ranks, he was on the same list as Han Yu, Li Guan, Wang Ya, Cui Qun and other celebrities. Gathering together here, the "dragon" here reflects the winners.

Although the dragon and phoenix in the oracle bone inscriptions are amorphous, why can we see that the dragon is a spiritual worm that flexes and stretches due to time, and the phoenix is ​​a beautiful long-tailed spiritual bird. On ancient bronzes, the image of the dragon shows the overall effect of hideousness, mystery and dignity. In the Han Dynasty, it used to seize the heavy face, unrestrained and powerful arcs, and delicate points to form the main theme of large structure and great momentum, breaking through the shackles of the mysterious and bizarre atmosphere. In the Tang Dynasty, it was endowed with a gentle and gentle personality, forming a magnificent, graceful, and youthful appearance. From the Song and Yuan to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the style of extravagance was emphasized, from exquisite craftsmanship to cumbersome stacking, but the dragon and phoenix patterns between them always maintained a simple, clear, concise, and vivid style, with a strong breath of life.

In practical applications, the dragon has always represented an authority or power. Each part of the dragon has specific meanings: the protruding forehead represents wisdom and wisdom; the antlers represent the grassland and longevity; the bull ears represent the top spot; the tiger's eye represents majesty; the claws represent bravery; the sword eyebrows symbolize heroism; the lion nose symbolizes preciousness; and the goldfish tail Symbol of flexibility; horse teeth symbolize hard work and kindness. The Yunlong of the Shihua watch in front of Tiananmen, the Panyunlong stone pillars of the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong, and the dragon bed of the Forbidden City are all signs of imperial power in history. Phoenix birds are more secular and human, and less divine. As the old saying goes, "there is a phoenix to the instrument" and "the phoenix is ​​to fly". This kind of ideal bird has always been regarded as the embodiment of auspicious happiness, and it also symbolizes perfect love. The theme of "dragon and phoenix presents auspiciousness" is more imperial in court art. The dragon represents the emperor and the phoenix represents the female concubine. Today, the dragon and phoenix patterns have been recombined with the enthusiasm of thousands of people for artistic creation, and they have gained unlimited artistic life in the fields of architecture, sculpture, painting, and arts and crafts. The "dragon and phoenix match" pattern has been widely circulated after the Tang Dynasty. It not only symbolizes the authority of emperors and empresses, but also symbolizes the happy union between all human husbands and wives, and it also symbolizes the harmony of yin and yang of all spiritual and material things in the world. It can be said that the dragon and phoenix pattern is the most representative image symbol of the Chinese nation, and it is a wonderful artistic image.

The outstanding performance of drawing dragon patterns is the "dragon robe" of the emperor. The color is bright yellow, the leaders are all stone blue pieces of gold embroidery, the embroidered gold dragon nine, with five-color clouds, one dragon on the front and back of the collar, one dragon on the left and right sides and the cross, one dragon on the right side of the sleeve, and eight treasures on the bottom The water turns left and right. The dragon robe is the supreme garment, which is exquisitely made and inspected for workmanship. For example, the production of dragon robe in the Qing Dynasty was precisely designed and made by the first master craftsman of the Ruyi Museum of the Qing Palace at that time. After the emperor personally approved it, he sent a messenger to Nanjing or Suzhou to supervise the production. Sometimes a piece of gown costs 190 days. Its special gowns are also twisted with peacock tail hair, spreading across the floor, and covered with thin lines, and then studded with large rice pearls, embroidered into dragons and phoenix or group flowers. The cost of labor and the extravagance of materials are appalling.

The use of dragon patterns to decorate clothing has a long history, but for a long time it was only a special product for the emperor's relatives and relatives, and it was mostly monopolized by the emperor, dragon son, and dragon grandson. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor believed that dragons are infinitely varied and magical. He liked the appearance of dragons very much, so he asked his minister Shi Huang to paint dragon images on his clothes and painted them with colorful colors. This was the first "dragon robe" in Chinese history. ". Because the emperor claimed or considered to be the "true dragon emperor", in his family, the dragon is an indispensable symbol: the emperor wears a dragon crown-a hat bordered by a double dragon pattern; wears a dragon robe-front and back Each chest has a raptor coiled into a ball, mixed with clouds; the waist is tied with a dragon belt-a belt with dragons as the main pattern, wearing dragons, phoenix jade... these we are in museums, in imperial tombs, and in folk art. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Since it is a royal patent, other people can't get involved easily. Such an interesting event happened when Yingzong reigned in the Ming Dynasty, and later it was divided into dragon robe and python robe. During the Zhengde period, King Annan went to Beijing to pay tribute. Ming Yingzong saw that he was distracted and sincerely praised. When he was happy, he said that he would give him a dragon robe. The dragon robe symbolizes the country. How can it be easily given away? But there is no joking about Jundi, what should be done if the words spoken and the spilled water cannot be collected and returned? The ministers discussed the timeliness for a long time before they came up with a workaround that had the best of both worlds-subtracting one claw from the dragon on the robe, turning it into four claws, three claws forward, and one claw behind the dragon. The robe is almost the same as his speech. In fact, it is no longer a dragon. The five claws are dragons and the four claws are pythons. Annan took a "counterfeit" and went back to China happily.

Later, the emperor gave the closest and most powerful ministers a reward as a reward, and all the important ministers who wore the python robes were proud of it. Afterwards, even the servants and guards of the palace also put on the python robes, and the python robes have been worn by others. I can't look down on it, so the audience calls people who play juggling, playing flags, and yelling on the stage "running the dragon", which means that there is no real skill, just a roast. ( Chinese Zodiac http:///shengxiao/)

Interestingly, while opposing the imperial power, ordinary people also paid great attention to depriving dragons of royal patent rights. According to historical records, by the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the people’s uprisings were marked by the scripture flag and they wore self-made dragons. In the Song Dynasty, the Liao, Xia, Jin, and later Meng Yuan dynasties in the two Song dynasties absorbed the Han culture of the Central Plains, and the costumes of their leaders were also decorated with dragons; what’s more interesting is that there is a character in the "Water Margin" The name of the hero of the Green Forest was Shi Jin, and his name was "Nine Dragons". According to legend, nine dragons were tattooed on his body with ink lines. Most people in the body have a subconscious that shows off this part of the show, so the "print dragon" is also a part of the "clothing".