The Symbolic Significance of Baby Play in Song Dynasty

Words such as "a hundred children and a thousand grandchildren, children and grandchildren are in harmony" contain the common psychology and common desire of the people for a better life. The Hundred Children Playing in Spring is a masterpiece that directly embodies the concept of having many children and grandchildren. These works depict children's activities such as lion dancing, playing music, shadow play and flying kites during the Spring Festival. Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. It is the beginning of a year. The Great Biography of Shangshu in the Han Dynasty said: The first day of the first month is the old dynasty, the moon dynasty and the Japanese dynasty. So the three dynasties are also called three beginnings. The arrival of the Spring Festival means the arrival of spring, the revival of Vientiane and the renewal of vegetation. People hold a series of celebrations to offer sacrifices and pray. Many scenes in "A Hundred Children's Spring Opera" embody auspicious meanings. The plot of flying a kite in the picture means to release bad luck and ward off evil spirits in ancient times, while the baby playing with Kirin means to "send a child to Kirin". In addition, there are artistic activities such as piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, which reflect a desire for future generations, and various activities set off a vibrant scene. "Hundred pictures" has a specific meaning in the traditional culture of China. Because there are many or infinite meanings, the good wishes of blessing and congratulations are brought into an extreme state. The "hundred philosophers" naturally refers to the future generations to continue living, which embodies the good wishes of life reproduction. Su Hanchen's Axis of Hundred Philosophers is also a typical work in this sense. Although it depicts a group of children playing zaju games in the square in summer, it obviously means blessing.

Three children are playing in the palace, and the pink lotus planted in the five-claw blue lacquer porcelain jar is in full bloom. The theme takes the homonym of children's "zi" and "lotus" flowers and becomes the meaning of "harmony between children and grandchildren" The chubby and lively dolls are full of auspicious meanings of pursuing many children and grandchildren. This kind of works also includes "99 Yangchun Map", in which Yang is the homonym of "auspiciousness", which means auspiciousness. In the "Jumping Jujube Map", grabbing dates means "early birth". Wuruitu, with Nuo opera as the theme, describes five children wearing Nuo masks, playing different gods and dancing with props, which is a lively and festive scene. Nuo opera is a witchcraft activity held in the ancient Lantern Festival. Nuo is a sacrificial activity aimed at exorcising ghosts and plagues and rewarding Naji God. It originated from the land of ancient Guizhou in western Hunan. The definition of Nuo in Shuo Wen Jie Zi is: the word "ghost", that is, the scream from the ghost. Cihai was interpreted in ancient times as a ceremony to drive away epidemic ghosts in the twelfth lunar month.

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, May Festival, Ai Festival, Chongwu Festival, etc. It is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and it is the day to drive away the plague in summer. Dragon Boat Festival is a poisonous day and an evil day in the eyes of the ancients. This idea has been handed down in folk beliefs, so there are various customs of seeking peace and solving disasters. Su Zhuo's Duanyang Baby Play Axis depicts the scene of three naughty children playing. A naughty boy is holding two pomegranates in one hand and a toad tied with a rope in the other, and he is putting the toad on his little friend's head. The little friend was so scared that he quickly covered his head with his hand, and another child quickly went to get the toad to save his partner. The picture is fixed at this moment, and the child's playfulness and cuteness are vividly on the paper. Toad is one of the five poisons. Children tie toads with ropes, which means playing with toads and driving them away. In addition, there was a saying in ancient times that pomegranate was bloom's ancient philosophers. Pomegranate fruit is known as a thousand houses with the same film, and thousands of children are like one. Since ancient times, it has been regarded as an auspicious thing and a symbol of longevity. This painting puts toad and pomegranate in the hands of the same child, which has the dual purpose of exorcism and blessing. In addition, Su Hanchen's Afternoon Play is also a work to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Song Dynasty, real-life works and symbolic works of baby play pictures, real-life works mostly aim at satisfying the preferences of nobles and recording life scenes. Hu Yixun's Study on the Image Pedigree of Women and Children in Ancient Figure Paintings in China pointed out that "this kind of creation is based on the customs of the court, the ritual system or the actual needs of the nobles, … simply for the nobles' liking or recording their children's life scenes as an image record of life". Symbolic baby play painting absorbs many factors of folk painting, and uses metaphors, excuses, symbols and other means to pin people's faith and hope for peace, more children and more happiness, which has a strong romantic color. The two themes, starting from realism and romanticism respectively, make the picture of baby play more vivid and have strong cultural bearing capacity, which constitutes the era style of baby play painting in the special historical situation of Song Dynasty.