From the idiom "rare things are precious", at least it can be explained that ancient humans were not common or rarely seen. But the idiom "rare" is different from the idiom "nothing" after all. There may or may not be. However, whether there was a "phoenix" in ancient times, most people today tend not to, but no one dares to say "no" categorically.
From the origin and evolution of birds, friends who have seen archaeopteryx fossils will be impressed by the big tail feathers of archaeopteryx fossils. The author thinks that this is also called "the image of the god bird, the image of the phoenix."
Xu Shi's Shuo Wen Jie Zi (written by Han Xu Shen, revised by Song Xuxuan, photocopied by Zhonghua Book Company, 1963, 65438+ February, the first edition 1), the fourth volume, page 79, explains the word "phoenix", with the note: "God bird also". The old man said:' The image of the phoenix is also the front of the phoenix, the back of the deer, the neck of the snake, the tail of the fish, the face of the zygomatic face, the idea of honeymoon, the dragon text, the back of the tiger, the mouth of the swallow and the mouth of the chicken. Five colors. It is only introduced in the country of oriental gentlemen, flying in the four seas. After crossing Kunlun Mountain, drinking the mainstay, breaking feathers and weak water, seeing Mo (Sunset) staying in the wind tunnel, the world is at peace. "Xu's Shuo Wen Jie Zi also said:" Phoenix "is pictographic," Phoenix has thousands of birds flying and thinks it is a crony ". There is a saying that phoenix is the king of birds. Reading is interesting.
It is said that the Book of Birds (written by Shi Kuang or Zhang Hua) in the Southern Song Dynasty specifically mentioned the myth about the phoenix. This may also be the historical record of "Phoenix Myth" mentioned earlier by China so far. Generally speaking, although myths and legends have their false side, the emergence of a myth and legend is sometimes not completely unfounded. It is not only related to certain social realistic background, but also related to specific historical conditions.
"Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen, a physician in Ming Dynasty, listed phoenix and peacock as mountain birds. If it really exists, it should belong to the order galliformes. This point is clearly recorded in General Fauna of China (Vol.4: Fomatiformes, Science Press, Zheng et al.). , 1978, birds and chickens). In the general section of Birds and Chickens, Mr. Zheng said: "As early as the Shang Dynasty, there was the word" phoenix "in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which was a hieroglyph of a giant bird with a big tail.
"Erya" Note: Phoenix, "Ruiying bird, head of a chicken, snake neck, swallow jaw, turtle back, fish tail, five colors". You Yun Phoenix: This is "the spirit bird is benevolent, the male is called the phoenix, and the female is called the phoenix". "According to the portrait or sculpture of the phoenix that we see now, it has the head of a chicken, the neck and legs of a crane, the wings and feathers of a mandarin duck, and the tail screen of a peacock. , which is composed of the characteristics of different birds. Speculation is a legendary image since ancient times. " This may be similar to the images of "dragon" and "unicorn" in the totem of the Chinese nation in ancient legends.
Regarding "Phoenix", there is another place in Zhenjiang called "Phoenix Mountain". If there is no "Phoenix", why is it a mountain name? ! Many ancient classics solemnly said: "The male bird is a phoenix, and the female bird is a phoenix." There is a saying called "rare". In other words, the phoenix is male and the phoenix is female.
According to the legend of "Phoenix" and the existing historical data, it should be a big bird. Phoenix and peacock were classified as mountain birds in Compendium of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen, a doctor in Ming Dynasty.
The author estimates that the phoenix should probably be arboreal and nest in trees. There may be professional and courtship behavior. Birds courtship, generally speaking, males with large body and gorgeous feathers are mostly one male and many females. But the phoenix may be a male with a female, and it looks like a mandarin duck, not a male with multiple females. Phoenix's estrus and courtship are complicated, which should be similar to proud as a peacock or other ways, such as singing around, flying up and down, dancing and showing sexy.
It can be explained from the saying that "the phoenix seeks the phoenix" that when it is in estrus, it is the male who pursues the female. Larger birds also have a longer sexual maturity, generally more than one year. Correspondingly, the sexual maturity is long and the estrus time is long. The author estimates that "Phoenix" may have a long maturity cycle and a long estrus time.
Other larger birds have larger eggs, so the incubation period is longer. And the larger birds are mostly late-maturing birds. Birds with large eggs may generally lay one or two nests of eggs a year, and the number of eggs in each nest will not be too large. It is estimated that the number of eggs per nest is within 2- 10 in most cases. It's hard to say whether these eggs were hatched by males or females.
Why do people call the male and female of this bird Phoenix? This is a very interesting question. Formally speaking, Phoenix is a bird that combines yin and yang. Phoenix bird is a male bird. I don't know why, since when, we humans have regarded phoenix birds as females again, and compared women to "phoenix", such as "dragon and phoenix are auspicious", which is often used as auspicious words for weddings.
The word "phoenix" is also often used as a female name. For example, there is a famous female chess player named Zhang Guofeng in Zhenjiang. There is a very famous figure in Cao Zhi's Dream of Red Mansions, a fiery woman named Xifeng, and Wang Xifeng, as everyone knows.
In addition, the Phoenix was once the spiritual totem of the Chinese nation, and there are countless legends about it in China. Phoenix is a product of oriental culture and a symbol of China's new culture. During the May 4th New Culture Movement, Mr. Guo Moruo wrote the poem Goddess in August of 192 1, which became the cornerstone of modern vernacular poetry in China. Among them, Phoenix Nirvana takes the phoenix as a poetic and literary image.
I occasionally have a prejudice that the phoenix exists. What can I say? Phoenix, pictographic, is a big-tailed bird. So what is a "bird"? Xu's Shuo Wen Jie Zi is interpreted as "bird and long-tailed bird". Image. The bird's foot is like a dagger. " So, what is a "bird"? "Erya Volume 10 Release Birds" says: "One bird has two feet and feathers." Readers who have seen archaeopteryx fossils in Zoology and Birds will be deeply impressed by the long and big tail of archaeopteryx fossils. Comparing the original meaning of the word "phoenix", isn't this the symbol of the ancient "phoenix" bird? Isn't it evidence of the ancient "Phoenix" bird? That is to say, a giant bird with a big tail in ancient times. Archaeopteryx is.
Are there giant birds with big tails in modern times? There are also. Like peacocks. Phoenix and peacock are similar in appearance, so it is estimated that their genetic relationship may be relatively close. If we compare the original meaning of the word "phoenix", will the ancients mistake the peacock for "phoenix"? Besides, "phoenix" and "phoenix" are the same thing, but one yang and one yin. The ancient word "phoenix" is also written as "phoenix". Readers and friends see the picture on the right. The word "phoenix" has ancient characters, but it is hieroglyphics, and its image seems to be like a bird with big wings.
Prove it. On page 188 of China Fauna, Birds and Chickens, it is said to be in the shape of a peacock. The male bird has erect pillow crown, gorgeous feathers and extremely long tail feathers, far exceeding the tail feathers. He said: "the male bird has a big eye spot and a metal reflection on its tail;" The length of male and female wings is at least 400 mm (limited to domestic varieties). "
It is entirely possible for the ancients to mistake peacocks for "Phoenix". "Birds and Chickens" (ibid.) said in "Identification of Green Peacock", "The male bird is emerald blue with copper reflection on his lower back; There is a cluster of erect crown feathers on the top of the head; After the body is dragged, it is 1 m long, that is, the tail screen, which is gorgeous. " Readers, think about it. What is the concept of a green peacock dragging its tail screen behind its body 1 mido?
Isn't this the original meaning of the ancient word "phoenix"? Linguistically speaking, ancient Chinese is mostly monosyllabic, so people may call it "phoenix" or "phoenix" or "phoenix". The name "Phoenix", everyone guessed that it should be later. The name of "Phoenix" may be called "Phoenix" or "Phoenix" at first, which is a word, monosyllabic and then disyllabic. But the author thinks that the name of "Feng" was called "Feng" in ancient times, not "Feng". Prove it. Why not say "rare" in the idiom "rare"? It is estimated that there was a "phoenix" in ancient times. Later, it was found that there were men and women. In order to distinguish between sexes, the word "phoenix" was created to distinguish it from "phoenix".
In short, the ancient "Phoenix" bird was the later "Phoenix".
Archaeopteryx, peacock, is a giant bird with a big tail. May exist in the world. But the "Phoenix" bird was gradually mythologized. That is, an archaeopteryx or peacock and other ordinary birds are artificially mythologized as a kind of "phoenix is the king of all birds", which may be due to the public opinion needs of the ruling class or other political or non-political purposes. According to the ancient philology of China, the so-called "hole" of "peacock" means "big". "Peacock" means "big bird".
So, why does the idiom "rare" appear? At present, there are two kinds of peacocks in China, namely, the blue peacock (Pavo cristatus) and the green peacock (P.musticus). Green peacocks are only distributed in southern Yunnan, China. Foreign countries are distributed in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indochina Peninsula and even Java, Indonesia. Blue peacocks are distributed in India and Sri Lanka.
As you can imagine, peacocks are geographically distributed, and it is really difficult for people in ancient China to see peacocks. It is not surprising that people occasionally regard it as a rarity. The green peacock is nicknamed "the flying bird". Compendium of Materia Medica says that the green peacock is also called Conan. This is to show that it is produced in the south. The center of politics, economy, culture and activities in ancient China was in the north, which may be one of the reasons why ancient people seldom saw peacocks.
In addition, according to folklore, ordinary people now know that the so-called "Phoenix" does not exist. When they see a peacock in the zoo, I believe that no one will say "that's a phoenix" except ignorant children. But when you see a "peacock" sculpture or statue, probably few people will say "that's a peacock". Isn't that weird? Hee hee! I believe you know the reason better than I do. Such a gorgeous, precious and rare peacock was regarded as a "god bird" by the ancients in folk or court, and was decorated as "the phoenix is the king of birds" by literati. It is not surprising that they are painted as "birds of prey, heads of chickens, snake necks, swallow jaws, turtle backs, fish tails and five colors".
With regard to the "five-colored" bird with the page number 189, its morphology was described according to the specimen of Yunnan subspecies peacock. Male adult bird: "The number of feathers on the tail feather reaches 100- 150, and the shape extends to the tail screen to cover the tail feather. The branches of these feathers are separated, green-brown, bright copper-colored, and there are oval eye points near the feather ends. Each spot has a dark purple kidney-shaped or round spot in the center, a bright blue-green color in the periphery, a wide circle of brass color around it, a narrow edge of dark brown and light yellow on the outer edge, a light grape red on the outermost layer, and a bright copper color at the feather end, with gorgeous colors. It is not difficult for readers to understand why Phoenix is described as "five colors".
The author thinks that we can't say that the peacock is a descendant of the phoenix yet, but the phoenix may also be a peacock or a kind of "big-tailed giant bird" close to it.