Why is the phoenix on top and the dragon on the bottom?
In all carved stone tablets or wood carvings in ancient China, the dragon above and the phoenix below have always been the rule of sculpture.
However, a woman used the technique of phoenix above and dragon below to carve exquisite stone sculptures in front of her tomb.
This woman was the Empress Dowager Cixi of the West who controlled the late Qing government for half a century.
And after her death, she used carving techniques to carve out a phoenix above and a dragon below. I think it is not only a representative of women's rights.
Cixi’s mausoleum is the most interesting scene in the Eastern Qing Tombs complex.
The Minglou has red walls and yellow tiles and eaves. Although it is separated from the Empress Dowager Ci'an Mausoleum by a mancao ditch and faces north and south in exactly the same scale and style, the internal decoration and detailed design But it cannot be said in the same way.
The historical records and legends about the construction of the mausoleum form an amazing "feminist" story of the latecomers taking over.
After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Cixi's biological son Zai Chun succeeded to the throne. Behind the six-year-old Emperor Tongzhi, Ci'an and Cixi also served as the empress dowagers of the East and West.
Five years after Tongzhi, the two empress dowagers chose Putuo Valley and Puxiang Valley, the geomantic treasures of Dongling, to build their mausoleums. Since there was no precedent for two empress dowagers to build a mausoleum together in the two hundred years of Qing Dynasty history, How to build a mausoleum became a difficult task with no system or rules to follow. After the minister who undertook the construction proposed that they be buried in the same mausoleum (coffins and coffins side by side without distinction of rank), or the memorials of officials from two places in one mausoleum were rejected by Cixi, In the end, the plan to build two tombs was implemented, and the funds for the construction of the tombs were solved by increasing taxes.
The construction of these two mausoleums started at the same time in August of the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873) and were completed at the same time in 1879. They cost more than 2 million taels of silver. They are among the best among all the queens' mausoleums. However, Cixi was not satisfied with this.
After Ci'an's death, the Queen Mother of the West took over all the power. Taking advantage of the water seepage in her mausoleum in 1895, she ordered the three main halls to be demolished and rebuilt. The entire project lasted 13 years and cost a huge amount of money.
Because the mausoleum system has been decided, Lafayette cannot find new ways to scale and style the mausoleum. He can only spend as much as he can on the interior decoration and architectural details to make it more beautiful. The rebuilt Cixi Mausoleum became the most luxurious and unique royal mausoleum in the Qing Dynasty.
Cixi’s Mausoleum can be said to be unique in gold, wood and stone.
According to Qing historical records, the amount of leaf gold used in the three main halls alone amounted to more than 4,592 taels.
There are more than 2,400 colorful paintings inside and outside the three main halls. There are more than 2,400 golden dragons. The 64 pillars of the three main halls are all wrapped with semi-three-dimensional gilt copper coiled dragons. The five bats on the inner walls of the three main halls hold longevity, The carvings such as the 10,000-character no-end pattern are all sifted with red and gold. Although this genuine splendor has been greedily looted by tomb robbers, the luxurious remnants and fragments of the "gold" can still be seen today.
As for the wood, it is also shocking. The beams in the three main halls are all made of top-grade huanghuali wood. It is said that this kind of hard wood and fine-grained wood is now an endangered species. The price is measured in kilograms, so every inch of wood is worth every inch of gold; and Cixi's coffin was made of extremely precious golden nanmu.
The most noteworthy thing is the stone in the Xiangling Mausoleum of Cixi.
Not only are the stones all made of high-quality white marble, but the stone carving patterns are also top-notch: all the white marble stone railings surrounding Longen Hall are carved with "Flying forward" using relief techniques. The patterns of "phoenix" and "dragon" behind it; the capitals of the 76 pillars are all carved with flying phoenixes, and below the phoenix are two dragons carved on the inside and outside of the pillar body. This unique "dragon" from the royal family The shape of "one phoenix suppressing two dragons" echoes the pattern of dragon chasing phoenix on the stone railing, which together strengthens and publicizes the gender implications of imperial power; the carvings on the dragon and phoenix stones in front of the palace are even more treasures of stone carvings.
Its composition breaks the traditional pattern of dragons and phoenixes side by side, showing a novel and unique pattern of phoenix on top and dragon on the bottom. In addition, the high relief and openwork create a lifelike three-dimensional sense and the momentum of the phoenix dancing and the dragon flying. Taking the gender emphasis of the supreme imperial power to the extreme.
It can be seen that no matter whether it is gold, wood or stone, they are all creations of absolute power.
In fact, there are many works like this with the phoenix above and the dragon below. For example, this ebony collection from Ebony Garden is a typical phoenix above and dragon below, with a proudly standing phoenix at the top. , below is a flying dragon.
The whole thing is made of hundreds of thousands of years of ebony and was carved by carving masters. The posture of the phoenix is vivid, and the dragon below is also lifelike, which is eye-catching.
The "Three Wonders" of Cixi's Mausoleum interpret an extremely luxurious "feminist" story.
What the word "quan" contains is naturally not women's "rights" in the sense of the feminist revolution, but the highest "power" of feudal rule.
As early as the late Qing Dynasty, a woman named He Zhen denied the concept of women's identity and conducted a class-theoretical examination of women's social gender. In her view, equality between men and women is not simply about men not being repressed. Gender equality for women, but social and class equality where “everyone is equal”.
Victoria in the UK, Lu Pheasant, Wu Zetian, and Cixi in China all had women in power, but they did not fundamentally change the society where men and women were unequal. This shows that a small number of women holding power are very different from a small number of men holding power. It cannot bring about true equality between men and women, so we must first subvert the "rule of man" and eliminate classes, "so that there will be no controlled women or controlled men in the world."
In this way, whether the phoenix suppresses two dragons in the Cixi Mausoleum, whether the phoenix is above or in front, or the dragon is below or behind, it is by no means what we usually call "feminism" referring to women's rights. symbol.