A beast more ferocious than gluttony

Gluttony is a legendary evil animal that is extremely gluttonous, so gluttonous that it eats up its own body, so its shape is generally head-less. "An Overview of Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" said: "Zhou Ding was gluttonous and had Kubinashi's body, but he didn't swallow his body when he ate, so it's even more rewarding with words." In the ancient mythology of China, gluttony is one of the four evils. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor fought against Chiyou, and Chiyou was beheaded, and his first landing turned into gluttony. There is a cloud in Shan Hai Jing Bei Shan Jing: "There is more jade on the mountain of Gouwu, and more copper under it. There is a beast, which looks like a sheep's face, its eyes are under its armpits, its teeth are claws, its voice is like a baby, and it is called a man-eater. "

according to Guo Pu's annotation in the Jin dynasty, the word "linlin" here means gluttony. There is also a similar record in the Miraculous Classic of the Wild West: "gluttony, animal name, body like an ox, human face, eyes under the armpit, cannibalism." According to Shu Yi Jing, gluttony refers to the Sanmiao people in the southwest, while Chen Mengjia, a close friend, further said that gluttony is Chiyou, while Mr. Liu Pingping's Query on the Dramatic Patterns of Bronzes is considered as Shennong. There is a legend that the dragon gave birth to nine sons among the people in the later period. In the Ming Dynasty, Lu Rong and Yang Shen listed gluttony as one of the nine sons of the dragon, which is already a kind of attachment. In Lu Rong's Miscellaneous Notes on the Garden, it is recorded that gluttony "is good for water, so the bridge is built", while in Yang Shen's Collection of Ascending the Temple, it is recorded that "gluttony is good for food, so it is built on the tripod".

The animal face decorations of Shang and Zhou bronzes reflected people's worship of natural gods at that time, so they had a mysterious and solemn atmosphere. But there are different opinions on what these mysterious decorations represent. Bronze ware is the embodiment of the ancestors' consciousness of "respecting God" in Yin Shang Dynasty, while the Zhou Dynasty developed into "respecting heaven and legalizing ancestors", forming a trinity of religion, political power and clan power. Most scholars believe that the rulers of Shang and Zhou dynasties used the "ferocious terror" of bronze decorations to express the "mysterious majesty" of kingship, so as to express their possession of political power, status and wealth, which is daunting. Slave owners placed all their majesty, will, glory, fantasy and hope in these horrible and ferocious ornamentation. Mr. Zhang Guangzhi also thinks that "bronze is politics and power", but he thinks that these animal patterns are not intended to intimidate, but to communicate with God. Due to the low level of productivity in primitive society, many unexplained phenomena are attributed to the power of God. People are full of awe of the gods, begging for them, pleasing them, and dominating things with the help of divine power. Therefore, wizards who can communicate with the gods have a very high status, and the wizard class has become the original imperial ruling class. Sacrifice is the privilege of wizards, and it is also the central link to communicate between man and God and sanctify the human order. Wizards use the animals on bronzes to communicate with gods, so these strange animal patterns also represent mystery and power. According to the research of Mr. Zhang Changshou, a gentle Chen Gong, the most primitive form of the faceless animal face pattern is just a pair of round bubble-shaped breast nails to show the eyes of the animal face, which can be traced back to Erlitou culture, and then gradually added nose, horns, ears and eyebrows to become an animal face with complete organs. Eye order is the main body of animal face pattern, because animal face pattern generally only has eyes, it should have originated from prehistoric eye worship. There are pairs of eye patterns on prehistoric painted pottery, and there are pairs of eye patterns on jade. In the late Neolithic age, there were standard animal face patterns and simplified forms of animal face patterns, namely eye patterns. According to Mr. Tang Huisheng's research, the gods in shamanism are also sun gods, and the sun gods are often painted as eyes, because in many ancient myths, the sun is called the "eye of heaven". For example, the sun god of the Polo Sect, also known as "the eye of the sky" or "the eye of the world". Scholars who hold this view believe that the traditional gluttony pattern is not only a kind of animal face pattern, but also belongs to the god or sun god. The emphasis on the eyes in the gluttony pattern is the description of its characteristics as the sun god-light. [3]

This decorative pattern of gluttonous pattern first appeared on the jade articles of Liangzhu culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River 5, years ago, but it is more common on bronzes, especially on Ding, and as far away as Erlitouxia culture.

However, the name "gluttonous pattern" did not exist in ancient times, but was named by Song people when epigraphy rose. The most perfect gluttonous mask is 21. cm high and is now in the Seattle Library. This decoration usually takes the bridge of the nose as the center line and is symmetrically arranged on both sides.

what exactly does gluttonous grain mean? There have always been different arguments, and so far there is no conclusion. There are many types of gluttonous patterns in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, some of which are like dragons, tigers, cows, deer and mandrills. Others are like birds, phoenixes and people. Among all the decorative patterns, gluttonous patterns are the most widely recognized as tiger shapes.

In ancient times, the tiger was also a very important god beast, and the figure of a wizard riding a tiger often appeared in later cultural relics.

In the long cultural history of China, before the worship of "Dragon and Phoenix", there was a long period of dragon and tiger worship. Long Hudou's pattern modeling was very popular from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, among which the dragon and tiger fighting figure unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb was the most exquisite and extraordinary. The ancients thought that the tiger was a yang beast, "the cloud follows the dragon and the wind follows the tiger." Fighting between dragons and tigers indicates intercourse between yin and yang. In the Han Dynasty, black dragon, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu represented the four astronomical officials of the Middle East, West, South and North. At least, in the early history of China, the status of the tiger was not below that of the dragon. However, the description of the magical power of the tiger in ancient books is obviously difficult to compare with the prominent position of gluttony in bronze ware.

The real name and prototype of the beast referred to in the animal face pattern have long been buried in an era that cannot be reproduced. Later generations named it gluttony because of its ferocious, mysterious and horrible face, and some of them have human heads in their mouths. Gourmet was originally used in Zuo Zhuan to describe the heartless and unjust person who was greedy for money and food. Modern scholars have pointed out that naming the animal face tattoo as a gluttonous man is far-fetched and contrary to the social and cultural conditions of Shang and Zhou Dynasties.