Xu Wenning's column： Long live the toad with horns on its head

　　Long live the toad with horns on its head.

　　Xu wenning

　　Xu Wenning, awarded the title of cultural relics appraisal by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 1990, is a famous domestic cultural broker, art collector and appraiser. He has successively served as deputy general manager of Jiangsu Aitao Auction Company, deputy director of No.5 Art Museum in Guanghua Road, Beijing, deputy director of Beijing Tianwu Museum, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Stock Exchange, chief art consultant of Nanjing Dahe Media, construction consultant of China Imperial Examination Museum in Nanjing, expert of cultural relics identification, and visiting professor of anti-smuggling of cultural relics in Shanghai Customs College. He has published ten Yu Ben art books, such as Beijing Guanghua Road No.5 Art Museum Catalogue, Tianwu Collection Porcelain, Yu Pei Collection Story, Taige Meteorology-Changle Pavilion Ming and Qing Dynasty Champion Painting and Calligraphy Collection, and written more than one million words of articles on appreciation and auction information for more than 20 domestic magazines and auction companies. In 2008, he published the first "New Attempt of Art Securitization" paper in China, systematically expounding the theory and operation mode.

　　Long live the toad. Say something about literature and call it "Long live the toad".

　　An official said, "It's the same thing! Why is literature a little bit? "

　　That's right, because a scholar in the Song Dynasty wrote an article "Long live the toad". When it comes to politics and changing the yuan dynasty, benevolence and virtue, abundant heaven and earth, and salty traffic. Thin at home and abroad, pleasant and inspiring, a peaceful and prosperous picture. In this prosperous time, a farmer named Zhang in Xin 'an, Jiangxi Province, found a long live toad by the water stream in Longjin and presented a treasure to the country. The ruling and opposition parties lead hundreds of officials to congratulate each other, but it is not prosperous! "Taiping Yu Lan" quoted "Bao Puzi" as saying: "Those who eat meat cheese are called long live toads, and they have horns on their heads, so they can avoid soldiers by wearing them." It is said that on May 5th every year, you can catch a live ten thousand-year-old toad, which means longevity.

　　According to historical legend, a toad with horns on its head is called "Long live the toad" or "Rouzhi". Ge Hong, an outstanding theorist and practitioner of the Danding School of Taoism in the Jin Dynasty, pointed out in "Bao Pu Zi Nei Bian Xian Yao": "There are hundreds of kinds of five kinds of Zhi, including Shi Zhi, Mu Zhi, Cao Zhi, Rouzhi and Mushroom Zhi." This "five wisdom" is the general name of five kinds of fairy medicines in Taoism. There are 120 kinds of meat cheese, such as long live toad, chitose bat, chitose turtle and chitose swallow. According to their number, animals and birds that can live for more than a thousand years are all counted as meat cheese. Zhang Du's Xuan Shi Zhi Volume 5 in the Tang Dynasty recorded a story, saying that there was a hermit named Xiao in Lanling in the Tang Dynasty. He lived in seclusion by the pool without being admitted to the Jinshi, and learned immortal skills with Taoist priests. One day, when he looked in the mirror, he found that his hair was gray, his body was rickety and his teeth were missing a lot. I was very angry and said, "I gave up my fame and wealth and studied the art of immortals hard, and it turned out to be like this!" " So, Xiao Hermit returned to the city to do business, and after a few years, he became a rich man. One day, he built a garden and dug the ground, and got a meat cheese, so he cooked it and ate it. It was very delicious. Since then, he has been alert, energetic and younger. Even the hair and teeth that were previously lost have grown back. One day, a Taoist priest passed by and saw Xiao Hermit. He was shocked and felt his pulse. He said, "You must have eaten meat cheese. Congratulations! You can live with the turtle crane! But you are no longer fit to live among mortals. You should retire from the mountains, so that you may become a fairy. " Xiao Hermit listened to the Taoist priest and left home. Since then, no one knows where he went.

　　Looking through other history books, I found that there was a story in Chu Ce that avoided being killed. It is said that a man in Chu presented an immortal medicine, Rouzhi, to King Jing. When he entered the nave, the guards stopped him and asked, "Is this edible?" A: "Yes." I saw the guards take it and eat it. This completely angered the king, who wanted to kill the guards. The guard officer said, "If you want to kill the person who should have killed the treasure, I asked him if he could eat it, and he said yes, so I ate it. What's my crime?" Besides, this is an immortal medicine. Even if the king kills his minister, he will not die. If it's dead, it's a dead medicine. The king kills the innocent minister, but the man who deceives the king does not kill him. What else do you want?

　　From this point of view, at least from the literature, Taoism in the Jin Dynasty has already spread toads with horns on their heads. Is there an earlier record? There is no more in the literature, but it does exist in unearthed cultural relics. In the Warring States Period, 17 pieces of jade articles with frog-shaped animals, which were similar to those of bamboo slips, were unearthed in the tomb of King CuO of Zhongshan (see Figure 1). It is about 2 cm long and 1.2 cm high, and the jade is excellent, with white, black and black and white mixed colors. The little beast crouched with its head held high. The head has a pair of long horns, the facial features are finely carved, the tail is close to the buttocks, the top is rolled up, and the whole body is carved round without perforation. The report on the excavation says that the use is not clear. The author has seen a frog-shaped small round wall, with double eyebrows and Japanese characters, with two large horns on the top of the head facing off in eight characters. The jade is old and ripe, and the whole body is nailed with golden Qin. No matter the surface polishing, the rubbing of the negative lines and the crystal structure in the lines, it is very characteristic of the late Shang Dynasty. (See Figure 2) This piece is similar to the jade frog unearthed from the tomb of Fuhao. Jade frog in the tomb of Fu Hao is 7.3 cm long, 5.4 cm wide and 0.6 cm thick. Jade frog has symmetrical feather lines on its shoulders, which should be related to the performance of double horns. The back and hind legs are decorated with symmetrical feathers, which should be related to the figure depiction of squatting with a big belly. (See Figure 3) In addition to jade frogs, frogs carved from malachite and turquoise were also found in the tomb of Women and Good Men in Yin Ruins. Turquoise frog is a combination of cicada and frog. One side is carved into a frog shape, and the other side is made into a cicada shape. The clever combination of the two can better explain the immortal thought that the ancients have been pursuing resurrection and rebirth for thousands of years. Frog (toad) was called Fu in ancient times. Erya says, "He who is in the water will swim." Shuowen Naibu:"Frog, ... Zhan Zhuye." Zhan Zhu is a toad. Moon essence in ancient myths and legends. Wen Yiduo, a scholar, thinks in the book Fuxi Kao that Nuwa's family in the Han Dynasty, together with Fu Xishi, was "the first and second emperors in san huang" and became the representative of the sun god and the moon god, and the frog totem naturally became the clan emblem of Nuwa clan. "Wa" and "Frog" and "Wa" are homonyms, which just shows the natural worship relationship between frogs, that is, toads and Nuwa people in reproduction.

　　The prehistoric goddess worship in China has a history of 8000 years. Since then, the analogical association of the myth of frog, baby and boa should have been formed long ago. The stone toad unearthed in linxi county, Inner Mongolia in 1984 belongs to Xinglongwa culture, dating back about 7800 years. The image of frogman appeared on the painted pottery of Majiayao culture in the northwest, about 5000 years ago. The image of jade carving frog god is found in Hongshan culture in the north and Liangzhu culture in the south. (Figure 4) From the tomb M4 of Zhangling Mountain in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province. The whole instrument looks like the Yangtze River Delta, with a length of 4.2 cm and a width of 3.2 cm. The bottom surface is straight; The back is slightly convex, and the frog's head and limbs are outlined with negative lines, and two small round holes are used instead of eyes. Stone toad was unearthed in Sanxingdui of Chengdu Plain, and gold leaf frog made of pure gold was unearthed in Jinsha Site. According to the general view of historical archaeology, Liangzhu culture is the ancestor culture of wuyue. In other words, Liangzhu people are the ancient ancestors of wuyue. According to archaeological findings, wuyue people have the custom of worshipping frogs. A large part of Shang culture is highly integrated with Dongyi culture and Huaiyi culture in the lower reaches of Huaihe River. Therefore, frogs of various materials unearthed from the Muhao Tomb are the product of the fusion of ancestral cultural relics and the Central Plains. It can be seen that from the perspective that Nu Wa is the confluence of working women images in the matriarchal clan society, it is Nu Wa who created the world, human beings and their civilization. Nu Wa created human beings, and frogs have many children. Their common point is to reproduce. The image of frog god is a symbol of reproduction, which also laid a cultural foundation for the later long live toad.

　　In fairy tales, Yi got the elixir from the Queen Mother of the West, and it was stolen by his wife Chang 'e, who flew to the sky last month, and became a toad who eroded the moon and made drugs. In response to the "people and money are empty" ending of losing the elixir and his wife, if the toad leaves the moon, it means abnormality, so there is a saying in the literature of past dynasties that "the toad goes to the moon and the world is in chaos". There are many records of the catastrophe of the world turmoil caused by toad's leaving the moon. In the eyes of the ancients, toad's actions are related to the peace and stability of the world. Furthermore, in the eyes of the ancients, toads can mobilize troops and suppress evil spirits, which can play a great role in the war. Of course, it must be a long live toad, not a common toad. According to the first meaning of dietotherapy, the ancients believed that people who ate long-lived toads could live a long life. "Girls' Middle School Record" records: "Toads have horns, eat them, live a thousand years, and eat mountain spirits." Confucianism is better than jade, and the beauty of jade symbolizes the best state of body and soul. The emperor buried in golden jade clothes is the most direct evidence of the pursuit of immortality. In the Confucian belief, jade, as a sacred mountain god's food, can be enjoyed by the ancestors of the gods for a long life, and the body can be eaten without death, which can resist the ominous and can be surpassed by the body. Therefore, the image of Long Live Toad in Shang Dynasty, the symbol of immortality of jade, should be related to the description of Kunlun in Shan Hai Jing that the Chinese and Western queen mothers are goddesses in charge of the secrets of life and death on earth. Living in the Mt. Yushan, Qu Yuan said, "Climb the Kunlun Mountain to eat jade and jade, live with the heavens and the earth, and share the same light with the sun and the moon." Ge Hong said, "Jade is also a fairy medicine, but it is rare to get rough jade, so it can be used.It's better to get jade than jade. "Khotan jade is Kunlun jade, which is Hetian jade. In ancient times, scholars knew that the Queen Mother of the West was just an elusive fairy, but they firmly believed that the Kunlun jade could lead to immortality. From this point of view, the Queen Mother of the West and the jade myth behind her should be earlier than the Warring States book Shan Hai Jing, which is generally believed. Because we can see from the titles of Emperor and Yu in the book, The Classic of Mountains and Seas should be initially formed in the Xia Dynasty. If combined with the image of the toad named Yu Viva in Shang Dynasty, it may prove that the witches in Warring States period screened all kinds of materials scattered in Xia and Shang Dynasties in detail and arranged them on a larger scale. Therefore, the time line when Viva Toad was born in the imagination of Chinese ancestors should be no later than Shan Hai Jing.

　　It's the Dragon Boat Festival in the Year of Rabbit again. Traditional folk customs pray for a long and auspicious life for Chinese people and avoid war forever.

　　This article has been authorized by the author to publish.

　　Graphic provided by the author.