The Connotation of Chinese Insect Culture

Since the origin of human beings, various kinds of insects have been seen, and in the face of a large number of insects, people would ask, "What are these small animals? Where do they come from" and so on. For example, in summer, we often see insects are cicadas, and the word "summer" actually comes from cicadas. In the fall, we often see insects such as katydids and grasshoppers, and the word for autumn comes from katydids. Some of the insects we see are able to pronounce sounds, and some of them can glow. This is of course a biological phenomenon, but our ancestors have a variety of speculation and legend. For example, about the black grasshopper why it will be pronounced in the Hubei area there is a legend, said the old family had a girl, the daughter from the appearance of very beautiful, needlework do very well, the heart is also good. Many people came to ask for marriage, but the old couple did not agree. It turned out that his daughter had a tail on her buttocks, but the people around her didn't know about it. One day a black and skinny beggar boy to the door of the family, the old couple asked the young man is willing to do their son-in-law, the young man said yes, but there is a condition, that is, you can not tell anyone that the daughter of the family grows a tail. After they got married, they lived peacefully for the first time. After a period of time, the young man in a drunken stupor to reveal this secret, and soon everyone around the village knew that his daughter-in-law had a tail, his wife for shame jumped into the river into the anchovy. The young man was too regretful to hang himself into a tree cicada, from then on all day long, "wife ah, miserable ah" called endlessly.

Now people know clearly that the light of the firefly is a series of biochemical reactions after the release of energy. But in ancient times, people did not understand its luminous mechanism, so there are a variety of speculation. In Yunnan Province, Lancang Lahu Autonomous County area still circulates such a legend. Fireflies do not glow in ancient times, when they lived in the mountains with leopards, tigers and other animals, all love to eat raw meat. Once, the mountain fire, many animals were burned to death, the leopard and fireflies survived, they found the dead body of the animal exudes a strange fragrance, devouring eat up, the leopard ate big animals, fireflies eat small animals, today eat dead wolves, tomorrow eat dead birds, so not happy. They only care about eating, but do not know to protect the fire, soon the mountain was burned dead animal meat was eaten. After eating the burned meat, the leopard and the firefly will not want to eat raw meat, a few days down the road, the amazing appetite of the leopard gluttony. At that time in the middle of summer, the sun is like fire steaming the earth, the leopard inadvertently looked up to see the sun, can not help but laugh: "There! Go up to the sky and get fire, with fire, there is no worry about eating cooked meat." The ferocious leopard said to the firefly, "You quickly go up to heaven to fetch the fire down for me, if you can't fetch it in two days, I'll eat you up." Firefly afraid of the leopard's lust, dare not not from, flew a whole seven seventy-nine days to the sky, but the sun around a lot of heavenly soldiers on guard, firefly had to wait for the opportunity to move, after nine days of waiting, and finally by the time the guards change the guards to obtain the fire, firefly returned to the ground at night. Leopard see fireflies back, will be rising poisonous plan, this greedy guy thought: if the fireflies killed, only know themselves with fire, then they can always eat cooked meat. So the leopard does not wait for the firefly to explain will be furious: "you this little beast dare to disobey the old man's orders, outside the lazy, really deserve to die!" Said opened his bloody mouth to fireflies; fireflies see the leopard's sinister intentions, they fly in the air to avoid, panicked in the fire swallowed to the stomach, and from then on the fireflies will be able to light up.

In short, culture originated in labor, insect culture originated in human and insect long-term **** survival activities.

Connotation of Chinese insect culture

There are two important foundations for the formation of traditional Chinese culture: first, the natural economy of the small peasant mode of production; second, the family and the country as a whole, i.e., from the family and the country's patriarchal socio-political structure. Traditional Chinese culture is very rich in connotations, and its manifestations are philosophical, ethical, literary and so on, but all of them can not escape from answering the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between the individual and the nation and the state, the relationship between man and others, and the relationship between man and himself. Due to China's long history and many nationalities, the connotations of insect culture are colorful and complex. However, the most basic connotations are threefold: the ability of human beings to survive and reproduce (including having food to eat, clothes to wear, not getting sick, having offspring, etc.), the ability to survive better (happiness, fortune, joy, promotion, wealth, fun, etc.) and longevity (longevity, materialization, regeneration, etc.). Secondly, they advocate morality and behavioral norms such as benevolence, kindness, righteousness, loyalty, filial piety, diligence, thrift, and so on, which can maintain the stability of the society. In one sentence, the Chinese insect culture connotes "the struggle to live and to survive".

1. There is an old Chinese saying that "food is the most important thing", and eating is the most important thing. The first connotation of insect culture is related to eating. Why do Chinese people attach so much importance to eating? It is related to the disasters in history. According to the statistics of Prof. Zhou Yao, from 707 B.C. to the founding of China in 1949, there were nearly 800 locust plagues. On average, there was a major locust plague in 3 to 5 years. Each locust plague brought about serious disasters to people's lives. Turning to the scrolls of history, there are many records about locust plagues. The Old Tang Book - five lines of Zhi" in: "Tang Zhenyuanyuan year (that is, 785 AD), summer, locusts, east from the sea, the west end of the river and long, swarms of flying cover the sky, ten days do not stop; to the, grass and leaves and animal hair all have no survivors, starving corpses pillows Road." Ming Chongzhen thirteen years (1640) "Henan Tongzhi" cloud: "Kaifeng big locusts, autumn harvests all hurt, people eat each other. Ru Ning locust immobilization, people eat each other. Luoyang locusts, grass, trees, animal skins, insects and flies are all eaten up, fathers and sons, brothers, couples eat each other, deaths in the road." Similar records in ancient Chinese books can be described as history, shocking. Ancient people were not completely helpless against locusts, and adopted a variety of methods to deal with locust infestation, including scientific and non-scientific witchcraft methods. For example, they directly beat locusts, buried locusts, and used firecrackers and gongs to scare locusts. Nowadays, the torch festival of some ethnic minorities in Southwest China is actually a custom of burning locusts with fire. The Chinese character for agriculture, "nong", originated from the practice of catching pests with one's hands.

In 1933, the Shanghai News published a rhyme that begged for locusts: "Master locusts! Don't eat all the grain. All beings have suffered for half a year, not yet warmed up, not yet fed. Bareheaded and barefoot, they are carrying the sun on their backs, sweating like pearls, and the harvest is not enough. Master Locust! Don't eat all the grain! Master Locust! Don't look down on the crops. When you fly to the sky and descend to the earth, think of the hard work of all the people. When I fly to the sky and descend to the earth, I should think of the hard work of all living beings. Every family is starving, and there are still officials who have no mercy; taxes and levies are rolling in, and the landlords and shady gentry are chained to their feet; Master Locust! Don't take the crops too cheaply". This is the first time I have ever seen a locust in my life, and I have never seen a locust in my life.

Throughout the ages, people have attached great importance to pest control, and Guan Zi in the "degree of land" said that people who are good at governing the country must govern the five pests, of which pests are one of them. So, so successive generations of officials living in the vast majority of the more focused on the treatment of locusts.

2. There are clothes to wear China is the birthplace of silk. Planting mulberry, sericulture, reeling, silk weaving is a great invention of the ancient Chinese, in nearly 5000 years of history, hard-working and intelligent Chinese people have created a colorful sericulture culture, almost every aspect of China's geography, history, mythology, literature, paintings, and people's lives can be found in the sericulture and silk marks. In the Temple of Rayon in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, there is an image of a silkworm god. The god is holding a silkworm larva and cocoon in his hand, and there is a statue of a horse's head next to him. Why associate the silkworm god with a horse's head? Legend has it that before the war, usually a family to send a strong man to go, one of the family only old man, old lady and a daughter, his father was sent to war, a few years did not come back, the daughter very much miss her father, privately made a wish, said if it is who will be his father from the battlefield back to her to marry who do not want to feed them at home to feed a horse to hear the woman's wish, broke free from the reins and ran, a few days on the girl's father from the battlefield pack. The old man soon realized that the horse always looked wrong when he saw his daughter, and after asking the reason, he killed the horse and put the skin under the mulberry tree. One day the daughter kicked with her foot, do not want to horse skin on the woman wrapped up, fly to the mulberry tree into silkworms.

3. Get rid of diseases Mosquitoes can spread malaria. We often see in the movie the forest after the miasma, people fell, in fact, the miasma is the mosquito swarms fly and become, and these mosquitoes can spread the malaria. The Chinese call malaria miasma, in Italian, malaria called "wind", can be said to be the same. China's Xishuangbanna has a few folk songs: "ten people to Mengla, nine people difficult to go home; to Chefonan, the first to buy a good coffin board; to Pursat Dam, the first wife to marry," a very vivid description of the harm of malaria on human beings.

The bubonic plague spread by fleas, spread in Europe in 1237, *** took 25 million people's lives; 1655 epidemic plague and 100,000 Londoners lost their lives; in 1918, the disease was prevalent in the northeast of our country, the number of deaths in the more than 500,000 people.

Lice spread typhus, but in the Long March, lice were called "revolutionary bugs", and the soldiers in the Long March were covered in lice. Chairman Mao Zedong once said when he met with the American journalist Snow, "Only those who have lice are real Chinese"; in the TV series "Long March" there is a shot, Deng Yingchao caught lice, a clock from Zhou Enlai's Mao undershirt caught more than 160 lice. Many lesbians shaved their heads in the Long March, not for fear of the enemy catching their hair, but for fear of lice.

4. There are offspring Ancient people believe that katydids (commonly known as grasshoppers) can give birth to a hundred sons, is a symbol of many children and many grandchildren. Therefore, in the Book of Songs there is a praise of katydids with many children and grandchildren: "katydid feather, 诜兮, 宜尔子孙,振振兮, katydid feather, princeling兮, 宜尔子孙, 繩绳兮; katydid feather, 揖揖兮, 宜尔子孙, 蜇兮".

The Forbidden City has the Corner Tower, the Hundred Sons Gate and the Katydid Gate, all related to people's reproductive beliefs. Legend has it that when the Forbidden City's Corner Tower was being built, Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, asked the craftsmen to build it with 8 beams, 18 pillars and 72 ridges. However, the craftsmen were unable to fulfill the emperor's request, and they were so worried that they could not eat or sleep. Just when they were afraid of being killed and ready to run away, Lu Ban, the grandfather of the construction industry, manifested his spirit and sent them a katydid cage with 8 beams, 18 pillars and 72 ridges. Craftsmen then imitated the style of the cage to build the Forbidden City Corner Tower.

5. Desire for Promotion and Fortune In addition to the above basic needs for personal survival or maintaining a small family, insect culture also reflects people's higher aspirations, such as promotion and fortune, and the faster, the better, etc. These aspirations are reflected in ancient Chinese New Year paintings or jade paintings. These are reflected in ancient Chinese New Year paintings or jade carvings. For example, there is a monkey sitting on a horse in a New Year's painting, with a wasp painted next to it, which means "to be crowned on the horse" or "to be crowned with a seal". The year 2002 was the Year of the Horse in the lunar calendar, and one of the more popular crafts on the market at that time was a horse with a fly on its back, which meant "winning right away". Another artifact is a jade carving of flying locusts climbing on a vine, meaning "flying yellow and prospering".

6. For example, the ancient style of cricket fighting was formed by playing for fun, and cricket fighting is still very popular.

7. Promote goodness Be good to all people and to all things. Ancient people believed that if anyone was not good, they would be punished by nature or by the gods. If a ruler was unkind, locusts or other pests were going to break out. If people died, good people were able to turn into beautiful or beneficial insects such as butterflies, such as Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai turning into butterflies. And the bad people become flies and ugly insects or pests like locusts.

8. Promote filial piety To be filial to parents, teachers and elders. Chinese 24 filial piety chart in a man named Wu Mang, 8 years old know very filial parents, summer he could have put down the mosquito net, but he did not put down, afraid of hiding himself in the mosquito net after the mosquitoes will go to bite his parents, and later Wu Mang was honored as a god.

9. Advocating diligence is a household name for the story of Che Yin Ying Ying night reading is a typical example.

10. Cicada is a symbol of purity, good fortune and spirituality in the minds of ancient Chinese. As early as in the late Neolithic period, people put jade cicadas into the mouths of the dead to pray that the dead body would not be disturbed by evil spirits and to purify the body so that it could reach the immortal world. In addition, the ancients believed that the cicada's shedding of its shell symbolized the regeneration of life. The term "Zen" is derived from this belief. Cicadas are relatively small in size, generally no more than an inch long, in order to press the tongue. China Agricultural University has a collection of giant jade cicadas made of Hetian green jade from the Han Dynasty. The cicada is 32 centimeters long, 11.6 centimeters wide, 7.8 centimeters thick, and weighs 4 kilograms. It has a curved, raised front face, two compound eyes carved on the upper end of the head, a slightly pointed beak carved on the lower end, the forewings closed to protect the abdomen, the length of the wing veins carved in Yang script on the dorsal plate of the forehead and the two forewings curved naturally, the edges of the two wings slanted and ground, the wings slightly exceeding the end of the abdomen, and the lower end of the abdomen carved in Yin script. The overall shape is basically accurate, simple knife skills, bold and smooth lines, vivid image, strong sense of three-dimensional.

11. Promote contentment and happiness may have seen the fly stopped somewhere often rubbing the forefoot. Why flies rub the front feet? Ancient legend has it that a boy lived with his brother and sister-in-law after the death of his parents, and they often bullied his brother. One day, his sister-in-law kicked him out of the house. The brother went to a temple and met a white-bearded old man who asked him what he was doing and when he said that life was not very good, the old man said that you should rub a rope to wear some money. The old man said, "Rub a rope and put some money on it." The younger brother was more contented and rubbed a short piece of rope, put on a small string of money, and went back to the temple. After my brother and sister-in-law asked my brother to get money, my sister-in-law asked her husband to go to the temple, and also saw a white-bearded old man, who also repeated my brother's words. The old gentleman also let the brother rub the rope and wear copper, but the greedy brother kept rubbing, the gods look at him too greedy, with a flutter of the sleeve, the brother knocked to the ground and turned into a fly, and from then on the fly constantly rubbing the forefoot.

Chinese Butterfly Culture ---- An Example

Butterflies, or butterflies for short, are colorful Lepidoptera insects. Nearly 20,000 species are known worldwide, and more than 1,800 species are known in China. In the process of recognizing and transforming nature, human beings have formed a very complex and close relationship with butterflies, and have developed various views on butterflies. Although the Chinese people's conception of butterflies is not the same in different regions and different times, there are mainly the following aspects.

1. The embodiment of beauty

The colorful wings of butterflies, the dancing posture, the habit of being with flowers, etc., all cause people's love and compassion, yearning and reverie. Throughout history, beautiful butterflies have become the favorite objects of emperors and generals, as well as the common people. Poets sing and chant about butterflies, painters splash ink to reproduce the butterflies, whether it is from the clothing, food, housing and transportation, or from the collection of jewelry to play with the butterfly can be found in the mark. As early as in the Neolithic site of Hemudu in Zhejiang Province, butterfly ornaments made of jade, stone and earth were unearthed 6,000 years ago. For thousands of years, butterfly decorations of various kinds have been highly favored by people. They have been called "flying flowers", "moving pictures", "nature's dancers", "insect country Xishi", and "beauty". ", "the beauty of the spirit" and so on, these beautiful words and phrases fully express the deep love of these small lives.

Some ethnic groups even have butterfly totem worship custom. Such as according to the Miao legend, the human ancestor surnamed Jiang Yang, from the butterfly mother "sister list sister stay" produced by the twelve eggs hatched; Miao people to the butterfly as their ancestors.

2. Freedom, the symbol of love

Whenever the spring flowers bloom, the time of the smoke, the beautiful butterflies flying in pairs in the flowers, can not help but make people think and feel a lot of emotions: if you can be as free as the butterfly how good it is! Those free love in the old society, but can not combine the youth of the butterfly is incomparable envy, they can not be combined, after death into a pair of butterflies flying together, the great sorrow of the present world into the "afterlife" of great joy! As far as the author knows, there are five cases of butterfly martyrdom in Chinese folklore, of which the one that is a household name is the Butterfly of Liang Zhu. The story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is one of the four great folk tales of China. Due to its long history, it is difficult to verify its historical archetype. However, according to the literature, especially the local historical records, this story is centered in East Zhejiang Province, through the people's oral narratives, plays, books and documents and other forms, since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it has been passed down. More than 1,500 years, spread all over the north and south of the Yangtze River, can be said to be a household name, women and children know; even North Korea, Japan and Vietnam and other countries of the people are not familiar with this, called "the East of Romeo and Juliet". This literary and cultural treasures through the masses of people continue to create and successive generations of literati sculpture processing has been widely rooted in people's hearts. Only "Liang Zhu reading place" in the country there are five - Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Jiangsu Yixing, Shandong Qufu and Zou County, Sichuan Hechuan; "Liang Zhu cemetery" more, there are Zhejiang Yinxian, Jiangsu Yixing and Jiangdu, Anhui Shuchuan. Yixing, Zhejiang Yinxian, Jiangsu and Jiangdu, Anhui Shucheng, Shandong Jiaxiang and Huishan, Sichuan Hechuan, Hebei Hezha, Gansu Qingshui and other nine places; see Liang Zhu culture influence. From the 50s of the 20th century, Lu Gong edited the "Liang Zhu story rap collection" and 90s Zhou Jingshu and Bai Shi Xing edited the "Liang Zhu story collection", we can see that this story where the story will take root, blossom, and bear fruit, the masses of people will consciously and unconsciously their voices into the plot of the story. The legend of Liang Zhu turning into a butterfly can be said to be popular, and will not be repeated here.

3. Celebration, auspiciousness, happiness spirit

Happiness is the pursuit of people *** with the same wish. Butterflies, as a symbol of joy, good fortune and happiness, appear frequently in traditional Chinese auspicious patterns (Figure 1-2). Auspicious motifs use figures, insects and fish, flowers and birds, and other images and words, and through metaphors, analogies, puns, harmonies and other expressive techniques, they give the meaning of seeking good fortune, eliminating disasters, and sending people's wishes for happiness, peace, and good fortune. This art form originated in the Shang Dynasty, began in the Qin and Han Dynasty, developed in the Tang and Song Dynasty, and matured in the Ming and Qing Dynasties; it has long been widely circulated in the folklore.

4. Symbols of longevity

Throughout history, everyone has wanted to live a long and healthy life. There are many symbols that symbolize and celebrate longevity, and the butterfly is an important role. In the Book of Rites: "seventy is said to be eighty, eighty is said to be old, a hundred years is said to be the period of Yi". In ancient times, old age can be called high life expectancy, the subtle Chinese people will borrow the harmonic "cat butterfly" to express the meaning of high life expectancy. Cat and butterfly is a common birthday picture in Chinese painting.

In addition, the butterfly has the meaning of longevity and progeny. The butterfly here is harmonized with "melon" (small melon), which means long life and many grandchildren. In the late Qing Dynasty, when the royal family said goodbye during the Spring Festival, officials had to pay a courtesy call on Cixi; craftsmen specially cultivated a melon plant in the cellar for this purpose, and raised a group of butterflies, which had to be set up beforehand in the hall, and the butterflies were put into two yellow magnetic boxes. Around ten o'clock in the evening, when the first officials to Cixi line "two kneeling six kowtow" salute, the left eunuch lifted the lid of the box, colorful butterflies will fly out of the box. At a time, flowers and butterflies, full of spring glory. The eunuchs will lose no time to shout: "too Fujin year auspicious celebration, melons and gourds! ......"

5. Spring messenger

send off the long cold winter, the earth is warm, spring breeze and warm, all the trees compete for glory, insects awakening, butterflies spread their wings to soar in the clear sky, how not exciting! Butterflies are the first large insects ushered in by the people in early spring, and they get the name of "Spring Pony" because of their vivid appearance. In the paintings about spring, the dance of the butterfly is the most representative.

The Northern Song Dynasty, the second day of February every year in Kaifeng, the capital of the time to be held in the name of the "butterfly will be" amusement activities. The Qing dynasty Qianlong thirty-nine years engraved and printed in the "Qufu County Records" also has "'Flower Morning Day', for the butterfly will be, sunny is a hundred fruits," the record.

6. Female stand-in

Butterflies and beauty of the hidden connection between ancient and modern China and abroad, such as singing a song. Butterflies are honored as the "God of flowers and moon", they can become a wonderful girl, can act as a messenger of love. The root of the problem is that they have the same beautiful figure, the same dress, and similar temperament. The late Tang poet Li Shangyin's "Butterfly Three Songs" is a butterfly than people, people anthropomorphized butterfly of the world famous; Pu Songling "Liaozhai Zhiyi" also shaped a butterfly by the big as a wild goose turned into a beautiful woman.

7. The image of men seeking flowers

Because butterflies like to chase incense and chase the beautiful, so they have men suspected of good color. The butterfly's light wave state, as some men see different character. Ancient poetry cloud: "Qingling platform by the sun oblique, the tomb of the soul leaning on the tomb Xia, not Han Feng for nymphalid butterflies, waiting to fly on the other branches of the flower." The poem casts doubt on whether Han Feng can love his wife emotionally and exclusively if he becomes a butterfly.

8. Demonstrative, prodigal, synonymous with pornography

Butterflies are beautiful, "trees attract the wind" naturally became a "target" of the. The beauty of the limit, but also became a sin, so the butterfly and the sultry, slutty, sleazy bad reputation. Sentimental woman was called "Mrs. Butterfly", slutty woman was called to attract bees and butterflies "butterfly fan", "flower butterfly", "prodigal butterfly "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly", "butterfly" and so on. British writer Daphne du Maurier published in 1938 the famous novel "Rebecca", the main character is a beautiful lady named Rebecca debauchery; the book was translated into Chinese, the translator gave it a beautiful name "Butterfly Dreams", which is more than the direct translation of "Rebecca", "Rebecca", "Butterfly Dreams", "Butterfly Dreams". The book was translated into Chinese, the translator gave it a beautiful name, "Butterfly Dream", than the direct translation of "Rebecca", a lot more space for the imagination.

In feudal society, women were men's playthings; butterflies sometimes acted as "erotic counselors". According to the "Youyang Miscellany" records, the Tang Dynasty, the emperor Li Longji in the end of the Kaiyuan ( 741 years ago) spring, every evening, in the harem so that 3,000 concubines head flowers, he personally caught a butterfly on the spot to release the butterfly flew to the head of which concubine, the emperor will be with which concubine overnight entertainment. No wonder some painters pen of Yang Guifei hands often hold a butterfly.

9. Dreams and mysterious elves

Dreams are people in the sleep of the local cerebral cortex has not completely stopped the activities caused by the brain's epiphenomenal activities, with illusory, mysterious, transcendence, fulfillment, involuntary and other characteristics. In the realm of Chinese dream culture, the butterfly dream is considered a classic dream.

Butterfly dream or dream butterfly, Zhuang Zhou dream butterfly, butterfly, etc. in the "Zhuangzi - the theory of things": "In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed of butterflies, vivid butterflies, self-metaphors and fitness! I don't know Zhou. I don't know about Zhou. I realized that I was pleasantly surprised by Zhou. I don't know if Zhou dreamed of being a butterfly, or if the butterfly dreamed of being Zhou?" Later, the butterfly dream was compared to the illusion of life. In the Tang Dynasty, Cui Tu's poem "Spring Eve" reads, "Butterfly dreaming of home for ten thousand miles, and the moon on the azalea branch for three nights." This is also used to describe the mood of confusion; Li Shangyin "Jinse" poem: "Zhuangsheng Xiaomeng fascinated by butterflies, looking at the emperor's heart of spring to cuckoo" is from another side of the poet's feelings and aspirations.