What is the relationship between painted pottery culture and primitive social life?

For a long time, the people of China have been pursuing an auspicious and happy lifestyle. In ancient times, sacrifices were regarded as auspicious things, rituals as auspicious ceremonies, good people and sages as auspicious people, the land where emperors lived as auspicious places, and good days as auspicious days and Yue Ji. Some animals, plants and patterns are usually used as symbols or symbols of beautiful meanings, so these patterns contain corresponding auspicious concepts. Auspicious ideas mainly include: accepting blessings to welcome auspicious, exorcising evil spirits, having many children and many blessings, longevity, promotion and wealth, and happiness. There are many auspicious things in China tradition, including all kinds of auspicious animals, such as turtles, cranes, deer, elephants, dragons and phoenixes. There are auspicious plants such as pine, bamboo, plum, cinnamon, pomegranate, acacia and dogwood; There are also items such as Ruyi, silver ingots, longevity stones and ritual vessels. The most expressive forms are auspicious patterns, patterns and patterns, which express people's various good wishes, so that the pictures must be intentional and the meaning must be auspicious.

The idea of auspiciousness should originate from primitive society. Primitive people are full of longing for life and survival. Sacrifice and divination as auspicious events are the concrete manifestations of this auspicious concept. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's divination is mainly an activity of taking advantage of bad luck, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, who is used for divination, often has an oracle or an efficacious record of good luck. Mr. Li Yanzu thinks: "As far as the pattern form is concerned, the origin of auspicious patterns is directly related to the way ancient ancestors looked at things and took pictures, and their understanding of reading patterns in divination activities" [1].

The appearance of auspicious symbols stems from the generation of auspicious consciousness. Where there are human beings, there are people who pursue happiness and pray for good luck and peace. Auspicious consciousness comes from the ancient people's insecurity about life. Ancestors are full of confusion and fear about human diseases, plagues and deaths. They think that the devil is invading the body. They need something or a god to help them attack the devil, drive him away, eliminate disasters and protect peace. Therefore, they hold grand dances and create images that they think the devil is afraid of as protectors of their families and clans. Then, the totem appeared. The entity of totem is an animal, a plant, an inanimate or natural phenomenon, and even an artificially created image. Primitive people originally worshipped totems as ancestors. Later, totems were regarded as protectors. So totem is the ancestor and protector of the clan. Then it has its own totem shrine, totem ceremony, totem objects, totem colors, totem music, symbols and graphics. This is closely related to the contents of modern enterprise identification system, such as enterprise spirit, code of conduct, enterprise logo, mascot, standard color, symbolic graphics and so on. It is also in line with the cohesion, mutual help spirit and brand personality pursuit of employees pursued by modern enterprises.

In primitive society, those meaningful patterns on painted pottery have already contained "auspiciousness" in a broad sense. Primitive people carved symbols and painted patterns on pottery and other objects, not only for the sake of beauty, but for the sacred purpose related to survival. They carefully portrayed auspicious signs with trust and hope. They believe that objects decorated with patterns are sacred and can bring them good luck. The fish pattern, fish pattern, frog pattern, bird pattern and other patterns in painted pottery, whether for witchcraft, sacrifice, totem or for the purpose of having many children and grandchildren, all embody the meaning of seeking good luck, which is an ancient form of early people praying for good luck.

In the bronze decoration in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, auspicious themes made the decoration under the ritual system begin to present a secular life style, such as cheerful and vivid Feng Niaowen and fish patterns, which all contained auspicious life. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, religious theology was the mainstream of philosophy. As a social trend of thought, Chen Wei became a part of theological classics in the Han Dynasty, emphasizing the unity of man and nature. Under the cloak of religious superstition, it wraps up more pursuit and affirmation of human existence, such as the pursuit of longevity and wealth, and the prevalence of reburial. Therefore, the decoration also shows the same life and life content, and everything has implications, such as Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu. Decorative patterns with auspicious themes were very popular in Han and Tang Dynasties. Han Dynasty is the integration period of auspicious patterns development, and it is also the transition period of decoration as a whole from the strict norms of destiny theology in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to secularization. Since then, "auspiciousness" has been the theme of decorative arts in China for thousands of years. In the popular bird and beast patterns in the Tang Dynasty, there are obvious meanings of metaphor, beauty and perfection. In the heyday of Ming and Qing Dynasties, everything must be auspicious, and auspiciousness almost became the only content of decoration, which was the result of diluting its religious mystery and secularizing and visualizing the form of life support.

Second, the essence of auspicious concept

In a sense, the content of art is concept. Pattern is a way for human beings to grasp the world vividly, and it is also a basic purification way. They are formed in a certain form and reflect certain ideas. The auspicious theme of decorative patterns contains many contents of traditional culture and humanistic spirit. It reflects the spirit of traditional culture and is the main content of traditional folk culture, including various needs and aspects of life.

China's traditional aesthetics emphasizes the overall consciousness of the unity of subject and object and the aesthetic concept of "seeking perfection", and holds that everything is a harmonious and unified whole and follows the same essential law. Therefore, artists in ancient China have been committed to the creation of "beauty as a whole", regarding heaven, earth, people, art and morality as a vibrant organic whole, and expressing their feelings through things in the form of human emotions. In the theme and form of traditional patterns, it shows the philosophical thought of "good beginning and good end" of our people. China's traditional decorative arts do not attach importance to "realism" and "vividness" or "reappearance" and "expression", but are promoted to the aesthetic concept of "the unity of things and me", which is the embodiment of China people's cultural consciousness and morphological philosophy. It has two characteristics: first, it contains a scientific and reasonable part, which is a summary of the laws of nature by the ancients; Second, imaginative and creative, it reflects China people's yearning for good luck and happiness, and also reflects the essence of perfect decoration.

The auspicious theme of decorative patterns not only shows people's hopes and ideals for the future, but also represents people's great will and unyielding strength to change their living environment and conquer difficulties in a moral way. It is both ideal and realistic. Even though the decoration of auspicious themes still has a divine side in the traditional concept, it still has its practical significance. The deep decorative motive of fiery red couplets, colorful silk threads and peach symbols is to create an auspicious world and express hope for a stable, harmonious and well-off life.

Third, the embodiment of auspicious concept in modern design

The meaning behind Chinese traditional patterns is the key to people's fascination with their shapes. Both ancient people and modern people yearn for beautiful things, so the auspicious implication contained in traditional patterns is also suitable for modern design and conveys modern design concepts. In our life, we can find excellent articles that make the past serve the present and bring forth the new. For example, the logo of China Unicom (attached figure 1) adopts the shape of "pan Chang", one of the eight treasures of Buddhism, which means "a long history and endless life". The winding lines symbolize the modern communication network, the orderly communication business and smooth information of China Unicom in the information society, and the endless and everlasting career of China Unicom. The continuation of this auspicious implication makes our modern design less commercialized and more cultural and friendly. The design of Jin Daiqiang Design Co., Ltd. (Attached Figure 2) is another example of the successful combination of traditional auspicious culture and modern aesthetics in China. The logo skillfully uses the pattern of "Fangsheng" as the basic framework. "Fangsheng" is a unique auspicious cultural pattern in China, which expresses a good wish of unity and blood ties. Combined with the pattern of "Pan Chang", it conveys a long-standing, endless and complementary thought and is an active pursuit of happiness. Mr. Jin Daiqiang used this theme to make his design more emotional and philosophical. Although it originated from the traditional "Fang Sheng" mode, it was not copied truthfully, but was recreated through images, making the standard more suitable for future use. The logo of Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games (Attached Figure 3) does not directly borrow the traditional style, but uses the unique freehand brushwork technique of "similarity and dissimilarity" in China's art, and appropriately conveys the two images of "Chinese knot" and "athlete". This logo not only embodies the unique style of China, but also is recognized by the world. Another example is the logo of the Chinese channel of Phoenix Satellite TV (Attached Figure 4), which borrows the picture of the phoenix bird in the painted pottery of primitive society and adopts the unique "welcoming" structure of the China pattern, reflecting the rich cultural heritage. The wings of the phoenix bird are very dynamic, which embodies the characteristics of modern media. In addition, the original corporate logos of China Mobile and China Telecom (Attached Figures 5 and 6) all adopt the auspicious pattern of "palindrome". Auspicious elements can be seen everywhere in visual communication art, environmental art and other design fields. In recent years, the return of "Chinese style" in clothing industry also reflects this trend. Even the old man of KFC put on a cheerful melon seed hat and a Tang suit, conveying our blessings. These all reflect the desire of modern people to pursue a better life, and there are countless examples of this.

Through the historical extension of traditional art, we can see that art itself is an open system, which is constantly updated and expanded under the impact of new technologies and new concepts. Its connotation and spirit are the result of long-term accumulation of national history, unique to the Chinese nation and the soul of national form. China's auspicious culture is the unique landscape and precious wealth of oriental culture. It has a wide range of themes, rich connotations, diverse forms and a long history, which is irreplaceable by other art forms. In the world of art, its unique oriental cultural charm is shining. Of course, inheritance does not mean rigidity. Simply pursuing "takenism" in design, without bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new, will lead to the stagnation of the development of national traditional art, and will eventually make our design a large number of antique replicas without the spirit of the times. It is even more undesirable to completely deviate from tradition. Simple imitation and misappropriation of western modern art will make our art lose its national personality. Nowadays, many designers with low quality present to the public not spiritual food and enjoyment of beauty, but some "tooth wisdom" and even visual pollution picked up from the west under the banner of "avant-garde".

Therefore, we should advocate national culture and advanced culture, resist decadent culture, extend and develop China traditional culture and art in modern design, create new national forms, adopt its "form" and "meaning" on the basis of understanding, thus convey its "spirit", express it in the essence of China traditional culture and modern international language, and integrate the spiritual elements of auspicious symbols into modern design, so as to make the national cultural spirit and the design language of the world.