History and culture of Chu state

Chu, also known as Jing and Jing Chu, was a vassal state in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The ancestor of Chu was Mi, a famous bear. The Chu tribe, which first rose in the land of ancient Jingzhou, perished in the State of Qin. The jurisdiction is roughly all of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Jiangxi. Culturally, during the Warring States period, Chu's art made brilliant achievements, mainly in music, dance, painting and sculpture. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the music of Chu State was very developed. Chu set up a music official, who was in charge of lacquer music affairs in Yin and Chu countries. For example, Zhong Yi, Duke of Chu Yun, inherited the position of "actor" from generation to generation. Zhong Jian was appointed by King Zhao of Chu as a musician and a music official. Under the management of Yue Guan, the music level of Chu State is very high. Chu has various musical instruments, including bells, chimes, drums, harps, shovels, pens [bamboo/tiger], flutes and so on. These musical instruments have been verified in the physical objects unearthed from Chu tombs of the Warring States Period in Hubei, Hunan and Henan. A set of bells unearthed from the famous tomb of Leigudun 1 at home and abroad was once chimed by Hou Yi. There are 65 pieces of bells chimed by Zeng Houyi, which can be played except the [present/unitary] chapter of the King of Chu. These 64 pieces include 19 buttons and 45 bells. There are inscriptions on the clock, its accessories and its pedestal, with more than 2800 words. Inscriptions record the corresponding relationship between the names of Zeng, Chu and Huaxia countries, and the names of their decrees and names. The scales, modes, French names, imperial names, inflected names, round palace methods, named phonology and range terms involved fully reflect the highly developed level of Chu music research in the pre-Qin period. The inscription lists the corresponding relations between Zeng Guo and Chu, Zhou, Jin and Shen Di. Among them, there are 28 names of * *. Chu is the center of ethnic integration in the south, and Chu music also shows the characteristics of nationality and integration. Song Yuwen's Selected Works of the King of Chu contains: "There were singers in the middle of the Song Dynasty, and there were" Xialiba people ",and there were thousands of people who belonged to the middle and peace. It is called "Yang A Xielu", and there are hundreds of people who belong to it. This is "spring snow", and only a few dozen people belong to middle schools. China merchants carved feathers, and few people returned to China to make peace. It is its high music and rare harmony. " Xialiba people is a popular song in areas where Chu people and Ba people live together. When people sing, they are simply singing and dancing, and the scene is very lively. The rest of the songs, because of the greater difficulty, people can gradually reduce. This record truly reflects Chu, a country of music. In the development of music, foreigners and Xia people are allowed to coexist. From one side, it shows the open mind of Chu people and integrates the open spirit of foreigners and Xia people. The dance was accompanied by music. Witch dance has been popular in Chu since Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Wang Yi's "Songs of Chu" said: "The southern city of Chu, between Yuan and Xiang, is a place where people believe in ghosts and gods and like shrines, and its shrines must be sung to cheer up the gods." Witchcraft dance is actually a religious dance, which has been very prosperous in Chu State. Qu Yuan's Nine Songs and other articles vividly reflect all aspects of witch dance. The court music and dance in Chu is different from the folk music and dance, and the performance scene is much bigger and of course much more luxurious. For example, "Evocation" wrote: "The food is too shameful to pass, and women are happier. Chen Zhong made some new songs according to the drums. Pick diamonds in the river and carry forward the lotus. " "It is not surprising that it is beautiful by clothing fiber. Long hair and moustache are more gorgeous. " "I will go crazy, I will sing some drums. The court was shocked and the crowd was excited. " "Big move" wrote: "28 dances, poems and dances. Ringing the bell to tune will entertain people. " In addition, due to the close cultural exchanges among countries, the court music and dance of Chu State have also been widely absorbed or introduced, which has become a major feature of the music and dance of Chu State. For example, Evocation wrote: "Let's be together, Zhao Zhengduo dances." "Wu (Yu Qian), play something big." "Zheng Wei demon play, come and play." "Big move" wrote: "Play for political prestige and sing Zhang Zhi." At the same time, music and dance performances in various countries have reached the point of "competing for flying around and changing their voices" ("big move"). Both folk witch dances and court music dances pay special attention to the beauty of lines and rhythms of dancers. For example, Evocation and the big moves mentioned in many places, such as "graceful posture", "long hair and moustache", "fleshy and tender", "graceful and elegant", "beautiful waist and thin neck", "waving long sleeves" and "meaty and skinny", show that Chu people are beautiful. 194 1 year, a painted figure lacquer bottle was unearthed from the Chu Tomb of the Warring States Period in Huangtuling, Changsha. * * There are 1 1 dancers, two of whom are dancing with long sleeves and thin waists, and the other eight are sitting still or watching, 1 waving whips with sleeves. This lacquer bottle vividly shows the scene of the group dance of Chu State, which has high artistic value. Chu's paintings have developed rapidly and made outstanding achievements, mainly including silk paintings, murals and lacquer paintings. "Dragon and Phoenix Figures Silk Painting" and "Yulong Figures Silk Painting" are the earliest silk paintings in ancient China and "two treasures of early paintings in China", with a length of 3 1cm and a width of 22.5 cm. In the picture, a woman stands sideways, with a high bun and a thin waist, a long skirt with wide sleeves, graceful and rich, and her hands crossed in prayer. On the woman's head, there is a phoenix painted on the left front to make her fly; Pterosaurs are painted on the reverse side of the phoenix, making it soar. The Dragon Silk Map is 37.5 cm long and 28 cm wide. In the painting, a man stands on the dragon's back, with a left facade, a high-crowned robe and a long sword at his waist. The dragon holds its head high and rolls its tail, just like a dragon boat. There is a carp under the left abdomen of the dragon, and a standing bird (like a crane) is painted on the tail of the dragon. There is also a heavy canopy painted on the man's head. People, dragons and fish all turn left, indicating the direction of progress, and even the tassels on the canopy are fluttering against the phoenix. The whole picture is moving and full of movement. These two silk paintings are basically sketched, but in some places, flat paintings are used, and the characters are slightly colored. The layout of the picture is accurate. The lines are smooth and the imagination is rich, which shows the unique style of Chu art. There are a large number of murals in Chu Xianwang Temple and Gongqing Temple. The main contents of murals are pictures of heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, gods, ancient sages and monsters. There are paintings on the diaphragm of tomb Tianxingguan 1 in Jiangling. There are also 1 1 painted murals with geometric patterns such as diamonds, Tian Zi and moire. The lacquerware industry in Chu is developed, so Chu people are also good at painting on lacquerware, which has become a unique artistic treasure in ancient China. Such as painted lacquerware for chariots and horses unearthed in Huangtuling, Changsha in 194 1; 1952 Painted lacquerware unearthed in Yanjialing, Changsha; And in 1957, Xinyang. The picture of welcoming guests on the lacquer mound unearthed from the No.2 tomb in Baoshan, Jingmen, depicts many people and things. It is a wonderful work of Chu lacquer painting and occupies an important position in the history of ancient painting art in China. This lacquer painting, 87.4 cm long and 5.2 cm high, depicts 26 people, 4 carriages, 65,438+00 horses, 2 pigs and 65,438+. With black paint as the background color and four colors of red, yellow, brown and green, many people and things are combined into a colorful, harmonious, unique, lively and three-dimensional dynamic composite picture through the way of line Gou Ping painting. Many representative works of Chu sculpture in the Warring States period, such as the magical flying phoenix in the tiger basin, the grotesque sculpture of "the beast in the tomb", the light and elegant drum and phoenix in the tiger basin, various forms of carved pedestal screens, realistic woodcarving deer, the carved wooden tripod of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period with abstract significance to ward off evil spirits, and the lacquer boxes of various national images, all represent the achievements of Chu sculpture art and also represent the achievements of Chu. Bronze sculptures in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are generally accessories of various bronzes, such as animal climbing or various animal image sculptures such as ear, head and foot. There are also supports, pedestals or accessories for large objects, such as bronze bell stands, tiger hooks, rock stands for animals and drum stands for dragons in the tomb of Zeng Houyi. However, there are few independent bronze sculptures such as "staghorn crane" from the tomb of Zeng Houyi. Most of these bronze sculptures are accessories or supports, bases and accessories of objects, which have relatively independent artistic appreciation value. It can be seen that designers consider their special functions as accessories and accessories, and notice that they are unified with the overall artistic style of utensils, but also regard them as an independent work of art. Therefore, these works often reflect the strong interest of Chu people in sculpture during the Warring States period.