An interesting answer to Master Guan's extraordinary entry into the Holy Path.
Red-faced, childlike, riding a red rabbit chasing the wind, thinking about Chi Di while driving.
Holding a blue lantern to see the history of history, fighting the dragon and the moon, hiding in the clear blue sky.
This couplet comes from the seventy-seventh chapter of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "The Duke Guan of Yuquan Mountain shows the sage Luoyang City, and Cao Cao feels the spirit". Here, the author makes a comprehensive summary and evaluation of Guan Yu's appearance, mount, weapon, hobby and moral character. Since then, people's understanding of Guan Yu's external image and internal personality has almost focused on these 34 words.
But in recent artistic creation, more and more people want to subvert Guan Yu's deep-rooted perfect image in the eyes of the world. In the movie "Guan Yunchang", Donnie Yen plays Guan Yu, no longer wearing green clothes with a red face, no longer growing a beard, and even talking about feelings. It seems that more people are ungrateful to this new interpretation of modernization and so-called humanization. What was Guan Yu like in history? His image cannot be changed by future generations? The reporter interviewed Qi Shoucheng, a researcher and folklore expert of Shenyang Institute of Literature and History.
On the handsome man with a phoenix eye, his height is comparable to that of Yao Ming.
We often say that "Guan Yu is red-faced, but Cao Cao is white-faced". Red and white are the concrete expressions of loyalty and betrayal in China's traditional dramas. Why is Guan Yu described as a red face? Folklore experts have analyzed that since ancient times, red has the meaning of avoiding evil spirits in witchcraft culture, and red expresses awe of gods. Since then, red is a symbol of loyalty and loyalty, called "loyalty". Besides, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes Guan Yu in this way: "He is nine feet long, with a beard and a hair of two feet, with heavy dates on his face, fat on his lips, and his eyes are red-browed, and he looks handsome and dignified." In ancient times, lying silkworm eyebrows, phoenix eyes and long beards were all important symbols of handsome men. Guan Yu's green brocade shirt is a token given to him by Liu Bei. Qi Shoucheng said that the green robe should also be acquired by later generations in order to match his red face.
According to the data, the "one foot" in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period is about 24.2 cm today. In other words, Guan Yu's "nine feet high" should be about 2. 17 meters after conversion. The height of Yi Jianlian, a famous basketball star, is 2. 13 meters, and that of Yao Ming is 2.26 meters. You can imagine Guan Gong's strength.
Similarly, it is estimated that Guan Yu's long beard should be more than 40 centimeters long. No wonder Cao Cao once gave it to Guan Yu as a beard protector, with gauze as a bag. Reflection? Lu Bu Zang Hongchuan wrote: "There is a good horse in the cloth, named Red Rabbit." Later, after the exaggeration in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Red Rabbit became a BMW that traveled thousands of miles every day and climbed mountains on the ground. After Guan Yu's death, the red hare died in Dongwu for several days without forage, and became a righteous pony, which further strengthened people's respect for Guan Yu. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Red Rabbit served diligently for nearly 30 years from Dong Zhuo's entry into the DPRK in 189 to Guan Yu's death in 220. In fact, the average life expectancy of horses is generally 30 ~ 35 years old. The service period is generally 3- 15 years, and the longest is 20 years. It is actually an artistic exaggeration that the red hare has been used as a war horse for so long.
From war generals to the evolution of Wu Caishen
The ancients said: "Shandong sage, Shanxi wusheng." Wen Sheng refers to Confucius, and Wu Sheng refers to Guan Gong. The two are neck and neck, which shows Guan Gong's position in Chinese folk beliefs.
There were thousands of famous soldiers in ancient China, but they only talked about martial arts. According to legend, Lu Bu, Ma Chao and Dian Wei are all above Guan Yu. But only Guan Yu realized the promotion from "military commander" to "loyal minister and righteous man" to "God of Wealth" and finally to "Guan Sheng Di Jun". Obviously, he did not rely on "martial arts" but "virtue". Guan Yu embodies the ethical virtues of "courage, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith" advocated by the Chinese nation.
After Guan Yu's death, he was named "Mihou Village" in posthumous title, Liu Chan, which had little influence among the people. Since the Tang Dynasty, people began to offer sacrifices to Guan Gong. By the middle of the Song Dynasty, Taoism had included Guan Gong among its own gods, and Guan Gong's belief had been improved. "Guandi Temple" has become more and more popular among the people since the Song Dynasty. In the forty-two years of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 16 14), Guan Yu was made emperor by Zhu Yijun, and was named "The Demon Emperor Conquered by the Three Realms was far away from Guan Sheng Emperor in Megatronus", and was honored as the God of protecting the country and benefiting the people. In the first year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644), Guan Yu was named "Loyal and Righteous SHEN WOO Guan Sheng Emperor"; Emperor Kangxi visited Guandi Temple and wrote the inscription "Bing Yi Gankun" when he traveled to the West via Xiezhou. Yong Zhengdi chased Guan Yu's grandfather and father as the duke; The titles given to Guan Yu by Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang increased one after another, and eventually he became "benevolence, courage, sincere appeasement, easy praise for Liu Bei, loyalty and righteousness, and Guan Sheng the Great".
The core of Guan Yu's spirit is "loyalty", whether it is the approval of the ruling class or the belief of the people. His loyalty as a minister was highly respected by rulers of past dynasties, and he used it to publicize the idea of loyalty to the monarch. When he released Cao Cao, his attitude of giving lectures with benevolence and repaying kindness also made his image of "loyalty" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, there is a folk saying that Guan Gong protects those who do their best, and this creed is an essential virtue in any culture, so religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism regard it as a god, which makes Guan Gong's image more prominent.
In addition, there is a legend that pointing the statue of Guan Gong at the gate can not only let money into the house, but also guard the door and block the evil from outside. After being deified by later generations, the name "Wu Caishen" spread like wildfire. In fact, businessmen worship Guan Yu statue not to seek "rich resources" as they worship the god of wealth, but to regard it as the patron saint of commerce, showing that a gentleman loves money, does business with childlike innocence and keeps faith in Zunyi.
Do you play subversion against Guan Gong and approach women?
The movie "Guan Yunchang" also gave the hero Donnie Yen a story of falling in love, which completely subverted the image of Guan Yu who was not close to women, which is likely to become the most controversial topic after the film was released.
In fact, in recent years, the exploration of Guan Gong's emotional history has attracted more and more attention. At an international seminar on Guan Gong in 2004, Yin Yungong, director and researcher of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of China Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that "Guan Yu not only likes beautiful women, but also competes with Cao Cao for beautiful women".
There is a historical fact in Shu in the History of the Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao and Liu Bei led an army to besiege Lu Bu, and Lu Bu sent Qin out of the city to ask the Governor of Hanoi for help. Guan Yu heard that Qin's wife Du Shi, who was very outstanding in appearance, still stayed in Xiapi City, so he repeatedly asked Cao Cao: "The wife has no children and goes to the city to ask for a wife." Surprisingly, Cao Mengde is also a womanizer. When he saw Guan Yu's longing, he doubted Du's unusual beauty. After the fall of the city, Cao Cao personally summoned Du, and it was indeed the United States. "But he accepted it." Guan Yu hated Cao Cao for this, and wanted to kill Cao Cao while Liu Bei and Cao Cao were hunting together, but Liu Bei stopped him. From this, Yin Yungong came to the conclusion: "It's not true that Cao Cao sent Guan Yu a beautiful woman. It's true that Cao Cao and Guan Yu fought for a beautiful woman. "
interconnection
The traces left by Guan Gong in Shenyang
Central Temple is located between the Forbidden City and Zhongjie in Shenyang, which is a famous building where the center of Shenyang ancient city was located in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since the Qing Dynasty, there have been many legends about this temple among the citizens of Shenyang, among which the widely circulated legend is about Guan Gong guarding the emperor in the central temple. It can be seen that the custom of respecting Guan Yu in Shenyang in the Qing Dynasty was indeed quite popular. According to the records of Shenyang County in the early Republic of China, there are 43 Guandi temples within 50 miles of Fiona Fang in Shenyang, more than any other type of temples, most of which were built in the Qing Dynasty.
Guan Gong can also be seen in Zhang Shuaifu, another historical site in Shenyang. Zhang has a temple in the northeast corner of Shuaifu, and its main hall is dedicated to the statue of Guan Yu. Some people say that the reason why the temple was built only for other gods is related to Zhang Yisheng's martial arts. But in fact, Zhang's respect for Guan Yu is also related to his emphasis on loyalty and benevolence. Zhang regarded this thought as the spiritual pillar to maintain the whole Feng Group. This family temple is a temple in Zhang's heart. According to the memories of the old man working in Shuaifu, Guandi Temple is usually closed, and sacrificial activities are held on holidays, which are also attended by the Zhang family, and outsiders are not allowed to enter. No one is allowed to burn incense here except Zhang himself.