What are the legends about tigers?

The reason why the cloth tiger is widely spread and enduring in Taihao Mausoleum stems from a wonderful legend. According to legend, in ancient times, there were only two brothers and sisters, Fuxi and Nuwa, because of the "sudden collapse of the earth". In order to breed human beings, the two men went to find their spouses separately. Because they couldn't find anyone anywhere, they used rolling mills as a medium.

Nu Wa was ashamed to see her brother, so she dressed up as a tiger, covered her face with a straw hat and married her brother, which enabled the Chinese nation to continue. Therefore, cloth tigers are not decorations, mascots and toys in the ordinary sense. It embodies the memory and admiration of Chinese descendants for their ancestors Fuxi and Nu Wa, and is the materialization and symbol of human early reproductive worship. Later, when a woman got married, she had to wear a red hijab on her head, which evolved from this.

The origin of the tiger:

Regarding the historical origin of tigers, it is generally believed that tigers originated in East Asia 2 million years ago (that is, the distribution area of South China tigers today), and then spread in two main directions, that is, tigers entered Southwest Asia along the forests and water systems in the northwest.

South and southwest into Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and some eventually into Indonesia. In the process of spreading to other parts of Asia and adapting to radiation, tigers evolved into nine subspecies, namely South China Tiger, Northeast Tiger, Bengal Tiger, Indian zhina Tiger, Malay Tiger, Sumatra Tiger, Bali Tiger, Java Tiger and Lihai Tiger.

Therefore, tigers used to be widely distributed in Turkey in the west, China and Russian coasts in the east, Siberia in the north and Indonesian islands in the south. By the middle of the 20th century, Li Haihu, Java Tiger and Bali Tiger were extinct.

There used to be five subspecies of South China Tiger, Northeast Tiger, Bengal Tiger, Indian zhina Tiger (Southeast Asian Tiger) and Li Haihu (Xinjiang Tiger) (extinct) in China. Due to different living areas, as well as individual size, the length and thickness of body hair, the depth of hair color, the number and density of stripes, the thickness of tail and other morphological differences.