China's most cherished creature

    By Lin Qi | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2024-03-15 07:55
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Details of Jiuge, a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) painting inspired by Chuci (Songs of Chu) on display at the National Museum of China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

    From Neolithic jade objects and Shang Dynasty (c.16th-11th century BC) oracle bones, to ceramics, the Qing Dynasty (1368-1644) throne, and ink finger paintings, some 200 artifacts from the collection of National Museum of China are currently on display in A New Year Guarded by the Dragon.

    The exhibition illustrates the wide spectrum of dragon images, a cultural symbol that embodies good wishes and which has been integrated into all aspects of life during the long course of Chinese history. It presents a panoramic view of the dragon as an often revisited motif and popular image in arts and crafts.

    The show opens with a dark green jade crescent, reputed to be the top dragon in China, which was made by the Neolithic Hongshan Culture. It was found buried about 50 centimeters under the ground as people were planting trees in Chifeng in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 1971.Years later, it was added to the national museum's collection and since then, it has been displayed at various exhibitions.

    Zhang Weiming, a deputy director of the National Museum of China, says that the piece "has a clearcut and smooth profile that renders it great strength and vigor", and that it shows a dragon image made some 6,000 years ago, which is similar to other jade dragons found at other Neolithic sites in southern China.

    The dragon is about 28 centimeters long. According to Zhang, it was most likely used during sacrificial ceremonies and, given that it has a small hole in it, it might have been hung in the air attached to another object.

    Crescent dragons continued to be made until the Shang Dynasty, as the jade pieces of the same shape found in the tomb of Fu Hao, China's first female general and consort of King Wu Ding, in Anyang in Henan province, attest. The dragon varied as a decorative motif and pictographic character, an example of which can be found on one of the Shang oracle bones on display.

    No more than 4 centimeters in length, the bone is inscribed with several characters including one believed to represent long, which looks like an "s "with a circle at each end facing in opposite directions. Researchers say the epigraph was possibly made to pray for rain, as in Chinese mythology and folk custom, dragons were viewed as the deities that regulate water.

    |<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next   >>|

    Related Stories

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    免费精品无码AV片在线观看| 天堂√中文最新版在线下载| 中文在线资源天堂WWW| 亚洲av无码片在线播放| 久久精品中文騷妇女内射| 18禁网站免费无遮挡无码中文 | 无码人妻久久久一区二区三区| 亚洲中文字幕在线第六区| 国产成人精品无码播放| 久久无码AV中文出轨人妻| 久久亚洲春色中文字幕久久久| 99久久无码一区人妻a黑| 亚洲av日韩av高潮潮喷无码| 亚洲国产中文v高清在线观看 | 娇小性色xxxxx中文| 免费无码黄十八禁网站在线观看| 国产品无码一区二区三区在线蜜桃 | 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕| 国产办公室秘书无码精品99| 亚洲人成无码网站| 精品欧洲av无码一区二区14| 亚洲av午夜国产精品无码中文字| 日韩av无码中文字幕| 中文字字幕在线一本通| 久久久久久亚洲精品无码| 91久久九九无码成人网站| 色AV永久无码影院AV| 亚洲Av无码精品色午夜| 亚洲AV无码乱码国产麻豆| 亚洲AV无码专区国产乱码4SE| 制服中文字幕一区二区| 日韩免费在线中文字幕| 人妻中文久久久久| 天堂Aⅴ无码一区二区三区| 再看日本中文字幕在线观看| 中文字幕亚洲精品无码| 自拍中文精品无码| 亚洲精品无码久久千人斩| 亚洲A∨无码一区二区三区| 无码成A毛片免费| 久久久久久国产精品无码超碰|