Do dragons really exist?

"Dragon" is really an eternal mystery.

Jiang Ji Zulong symbolizes the Chinese nation. China people are compared to the descendants of dragons. In the eyes of the world, the dragon is China, and China culture is called dragon culture. So is the dragon a product of ancient fantasy? Or is it a real animal? This is an eternal mystery.

Although the image of the dragon recorded in historical books is slightly different with the times, the basic shape has not changed since ancient times, that is, the dragon has long feet, four claws, striped body, scales, horns, long tentacles, long tail, big head, big nose and thin neck.

According to these characteristics, historians and biologists concluded that dragons could not exist on the earth. Because the dragon's nose means that it breathes with its lungs and can't dive in the water for a long time, which is not consistent with the legendary "Dragon King"; Moreover, the dragon's head and horns are too big to be proportional to its thin neck, and it is unlikely to be as described in the book.

In recent years, some historians think that dragons may have existed. The earliest record of dragons is in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and it has been recorded in many historical materials since then. In the 19th and 29th years of Zhao Gong, Zuo Zhuan mentioned the appearance of dragons twice, and pointed out that there were families who specialized in raising dragons in society at that time. Did the ancient inhabitants really see dragons?

After getting rid of deliberate forgery and misunderstanding of some natural phenomena, it is found that there are still endless records about dragons in books. It is particularly noteworthy that the history books after the Qin and Han Dynasties have recorded many times the events of people watching a rare animal. This makes it impossible to simply regard dragons as totem symbols. For example, in the twenty-fourth year of Jian 'an, Huanglong appeared in Chishui, Wuyang, and stayed for nine days before leaving. A temple was built for this purpose. For example, in the first month of the seventh year of Taihe, Qinglong was found in a big well in Mobei. Wei Mingdi Cao Rui personally led the minister to watch. Therefore, Cao Rui ordered that the title be changed to Qinglong and Mobei to Veron.

In April of the first year of Yonghe, two dragons, one black and one white, appeared in Longshan. Murong, the prince of Yan, was also a courtier, and held a sacrificial ceremony more than 200 steps away from Longshan.

Until the local chronicles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, dragons were found from time to time. According to the Records of Lin 'an Prefecture, in the fourth year of Chongzhen, a dragon was found in the Yilong Lake in the south of Shiping County, Yunnan Province, with claws and scales exposed outside, surrounded by a large number of tens of feet. How can such a well-documented animal be completely out of fantasy?

For a long time, there have been two speculations about dragons in academic circles: one is the extension of the mascot Kirin, and the other is that its prototype is likely to be a snake or crocodile. However, according to the description of the shape and characteristics of the dragon in historical books, the above two speculations are difficult to establish.

Wei Jia's Supplement to the Tang Dynasty records that one day in the last years of Xian Tong, a Qinglong fell in Tongcheng County and died on the spot because of a throat injury. The total length of the dragon is 10 foot, with a half-length and a flat tail. Its scales are similar to those of fish, with double horns on its head, a mouth that must be 2 feet long, feet under its abdomen and a red membrane on its feet.

Lang Ying's Manuscript of Seven Repairs records that Chenghua (1465— 1487) fell to Yilong on the beach in Xinhui County, Guangdong Province. This dragon is about one person tall and dozens of feet long. It looks like the dragon in the painting, but its abdomen is red. Lang Ying said that this was what his friend Jin Maozhi's father saw with his own eyes when he visited Guangdong.

31(1161) In Shaoxing, a dragon was found near Taibai Lake, with huge scales, white belly and green back, fins on the back and high horns on the head, and the fishy smell could be smelled for miles away. The local people covered its body with mats, and the government sent people to worship it in person. After a night of thunderstorm, the dragon disappeared, leaving a deep ditch where it lay.

Records of Yongping County: In the summer of Daoguang 19 (1839), a dragon landed in Dongting County, the lower reaches of Luanhe River, and the local people built a reed shed for it, shielding it from the sun and constantly splashing water on it. Three days later, in a thunderstorm, the dragon left its position.

Ancient records are all like this, so what about modern ones? The closer you get to age, the more witnesses are alive, and the closer the facts are to credibility. 1894 One day in August of the lunar calendar, hundreds of people saw a black dragon lying on the beach behind Chenjiazi Village in Fuyu County on the southern edge of Songhua River. According to Ren Dianyuan, a witness who is still alive, the dragon is about 20 meters long.

This animal looks like a four-legged snake, and its face is similar to the dragon in the painting. It has seven or eight thick and hard beards, and the diameter of the first half of its body is about 1 meter. Four claws stuck deep into the beach. It is covered with scales, shaped like crocodile scales. Ren Dianyuan is still full of doubts. Why does that huge animal look like a dragon in the painting?

As can be seen from the above records, there may be great mistakes in the understanding of dragons in academic circles in the past. According to ancient books and accounts of modern people witnessing dragons, dragons are covered with scales similar to fish scales, unlike those of crocodiles or other animals. Only ancient amphibians who landed shortly after the water had scales like dragons.

In addition to descaling, ancient books recorded that the dragon "vomited all over the floor", which shows that its body surface is rich in mucus glands. The ancient amphibians did not completely get rid of the respiratory function of the skin, but only had this function. The reptiles that landed successfully should have developed vision and degraded their whiskers. The long beard of the dragon shows that it not only never leaves the water, but also lives in a dark place.

If the real dragon may have existed, what is the relationship between the real dragon and the dragon totem worship in China? In fact, the evolution of dragon from totem to miraculous animal is also based on its biological species. For example, the legendary black dragon, the prototype of the dragon, is considered to be an alligator.

The ancestors of dragons are snakes. Shuowen: "There was grass in ancient times, so there was no question?" Fly in the grass, fly in the trees, swim in the water without wings, and revere them as gods. In the zodiac, black dragons are called dragons and beetles are called dragons. Beetles have always been different in shape from black dragons. The black dragon has two feet, while the beetle has no horns and no feet.

It has been studied that the evolution of dragons can be divided into three periods: the dragon period, the dragon in history books is based on crocodiles, but it has horns, a snake body and four claws; Ying Long period: At this time, the dragon had a big and long head, huge eyes, towering eyebrows and horns; Huanglong period: at this time, the dragon has a long body and fine scales.

It is not difficult to see that in the later period, the dragon was the real dragon recorded in the above-mentioned history books, not the earliest ancestor of the dragon-the Chinese alligator and the snake. The prototype of totem worship is generally some kind of animal and plant, which can't be imagined out of thin air, which leads to the next question. Is it possible that the ancestors of dragons are not alligators and snakes, but an ancient amphibian, but people just don't know it yet?

In the past, the most representative speculation in academic circles was that dragons were quadrupeds or crocodiles. But it's impossible. If so, dragons are reptiles. Then why can't dragons do anything as long as they are on land? Only when the heavy rain falls does it get back on its feet? In addition, there are examples of mammals living in water, such as whales.

Can it be inferred that this kind of animal, which is looming in the long river of history, is both real and full of mystery, and it is a variant preserved and continued in the special environment of ancient amphibians? I hope there will be more materials to prove this.

Excerpted from the latest edition of Mystery of Nature 95, page187-188.