Speaking of cute lucky cats, I'm afraid many people will see such a picture in their minds for the first time: a ceramic cat is squatting in front of the store, with a bright smile on its face and raising its hand to greet passing guests. As a typical cultural element, this lucky cat placed in front of the store has always been loved by everyone, and people can always find this lovely lucky cat in the streets and alleys.
If your first reaction is that the lucky cat is Japanese, you are all wet. China's lucky cats are authentic! China's lucky cats are authentic! China's lucky cats are authentic! Say the important thing three times (the blackboard has cracked here ...) Take the "Belt and Road" proposed by the Central Committee as an opportunity to create a cultural national treasure, and the 3D animated film Lucky Cat series will give you a brand-new understanding of lucky cats-
Cat 1930 Xu Beihong's paper has a longitudinal axis of 84 cm and a horizontal axis of 46 cm, which is now in the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall. What Xu Beihong gave Xu Zhimo was this tile cat painting of the Northern Wei Dynasty and a stone statue of a "lucky cat".
The saying that cats can bring wealth has existed in China since ancient times. "Everything is done by Han Feizi Yang Quan" was written at the end of the Warring States Period. There is a clear statement that "chickens are the morning, and raccoons catch mice with their abilities", among which "raccoons" are cats, indicating that China has started to raise cats since the Warring States Period. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the saying that "ghost cats" can bring property spread from the court to the people. Both Wendi and Yang Di have personally experienced "ghost cats".
A four-cat drawing board was unearthed in Mawangdui No.1 Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan. This is a plate full of food with the inscription "You are lucky to eat" (that is, advise you to eat). In the center of the black lacquer plate, a cat crouching and looking back with its tail up was painted with cinnabar, and three groups of cats were also painted in the concentric ring outside. Their cat's eyes are round, their claws are lurking, and their long tails are upturned, which is extremely vivid. Schematic diagram of four cat-patterned paint trays
However, there are no cats in China's zodiac. In 1975 The Book of Heaven unearthed in Yunmeng, Hubei Province, the record of the "Zodiac" was found, which means that the Zodiac was formed at the latest in the late Warring States Period. Probably because cats have not been fully domesticated at this time, they are not among the zodiac animals. If the zodiac didn't appear until the Han Dynasty, there would probably be cats. Interestingly, the only difference between the Zodiac animals imported from China and China is that the "rabbit" is replaced by the "cat". One theory is that when China's zodiac chronology was introduced into Viet Nam, the pronunciation of "Mao Rabbit" was similar to that of Chinese "Cat", and as a result, "Mao Year" was misunderstood as "Cat Year". Anyway, cats have been domesticated on a large scale.
Lucky Cat in Haode Temple Although cats appeared very early in the history of China, on the whole, it seems that people have rarely heard of the concept of "lucky cat" in China. So, is the "lucky cat" a kind of Japanese culture that has nothing to do with China? This is not entirely correct. Although modern academic circles still argue about whether there are cats in Japan, it is generally believed that cats appeared in Japanese culture because the envoys sent by Japan brought them back from China in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that at that time, in order to protect the scriptures brought back by the envoys of the Tang Dynasty from rats, a cat was specially bought, so later generations nicknamed it "Tang Cat". Therefore, cats first appeared in the history books as pets of Japanese court nobles, and even a Japanese emperor (Emperor Yutang, reigning from 887 to 897) wrote down his pet cats in his diary, which shows the popularity of cats among nobles and officials.
However, the cat at this time has not evolved into a lucky cat. This popular mascot did not appear until the edo shogunate hundreds of years later. Hehe, that means the real cat was brought by Chinese mainland. It is widely known and has become the image source of lucky cats in later generations. Dear friends, remember ~ In fact, in some places in China today, people can also find cat mascots that can bring wealth and ward off evil spirits. This is the "Wamao" that has been popular in Yunnan and other places.
The so-called "tile cat" refers to a cat-shaped roof beast widely used in Yunnan residential buildings. It is said that it has the functions of exorcising evil spirits, eliminating disasters, seeking good fortune and making money into treasure. In today's Dali and Lijiang areas, people still think that this kind of tile cat has the function of attracting gold and silver and bringing wealth to people, which is very similar to the function of lucky cats. In these areas, people often put a cat-like roof beast with an open mouth in the middle of the main ridge, which means it can swallow all ominous things. Generally, people will make the face of this tile cat in the middle of the main ridge face in the same direction as the main room.
However, in some areas of Lijiang, the local Naxi people used to make the Wa cat face the opposite direction to the main house, because they thought it was a lucky cat, so that the Wa cat could gather the wealth outside at home (the main house usually faces the courtyard). In addition, there are a large number of tile cats in the center of the gate of the local building. Among these buildings, the gate is the most important entrance and exit for the family to contact with the outside world, which is considered by the locals as the gap between the real life home and some supernatural worlds. Therefore, the local people put the tile cat here, hoping that it can isolate all evil forces that attempt to infringe on human beings and ensure the safety of family life.
In fact, in the eyes of local ethnic minorities, the tile cat is not so much a cat as a symbol of a tiger. In Dali, Yunnan, some local Han and Bai people say that Wamao is also called "auspicious tiger" or "auspicious tiger", while in some local minority languages in Kunming, the pronunciation of cats and Wamao is the same as that of tigers, which fully embodies the concept that tigers are both cats and tigers in local folk customs. Therefore, until today, the local people not only regard Wamao as a god of wealth, but also regard it as an important mascot that can improve Feng Shui and realize the function of "turning evil into right".
Yunnan wamao
Except for the wamao in Yunnan. In 20 14, related experts also found a 1600-year-old "lucky cat" image in a cave in Qishan, Shaanxi. Although this cat-shaped stone carving similar to "Lucky Cat" is badly weathered, it can still be seen from the cat's ears, eyes, fat body and long upturned tail. This cat-like stone carving presents a crouching appearance, with one front paw lying on the ground and the other front paw raised, which seems to be waving to people, resembling a modern "lucky cat".
Experts believe that this is enough to show that at that time, "cats already existed in daily life." In any case, although there are some differences between the popular lucky cats and tile cats in Japan and the stone carving "lucky cats" in the Northern Wei Dynasty thousands of years ago, they contain the same feelings that East Asians generally like cats. Whether in China or Japan, people think that cats can ward off evil spirits and attract wealth, and they also associate cats with all kinds of good wishes and wealth.
This may be related to the nature of cats catching mice. Long ago, it was a civilized country based on agriculture. For people here, it is an abomination that mice spoil their hard-earned food. Cats that can catch mice and protect food naturally become a symbol of protecting wealth and bringing peace. In this sense, cats can naturally be regarded as a magical creature that can bring wealth, plus cats have a little spirituality among pets. Therefore, in East Asian culture, it is natural that cats are regarded as magical creatures to attract wealth and ward off evil spirits. Therefore, it is probably natural that we can find the image of a lucky cat in stone statues thousands of years ago. From this perspective, China is the birthplace of lucky cats, and I'm afraid it's not an exaggeration!
As an international cultural symbol, lucky cats have long been widely known for their auspicious meanings and good wishes. In today's China, the lucky cat culture is also deeply rooted in people's hearts and is welcomed by the public as a symbol of celebration. Many financial institutions have applied the elements of lucky cats in their products. In other industries, lucky cats are also very popular, and many national intangible cultural heritage masters, such as Yao Huifen, the representative of Su embroidery; Li Kaijun, the representative of Rongchang folding fan; Huang Yunpeng, the representative of Imperial Kiln; Master Zhang Zenglou, the representative of snuff bottle, will join hands with Lucky Cat to carry out customized cooperation on derivatives.
In addition to these masters, in recent years, China's film and television works with the theme of cats have also emerged, and there are different opinions. As the first animated film in the world, and naturally the first animated film in China with the theme of Lucky Cat, Everything is OK with Lucky Cat is about to hit the big screen. The film is under intense preparation, and it is expected to meet the audience during the Spring Festival of 20 19. What kind of stormy waves did the ancestors of lucky cats experience in the long river of history, which made lucky cats so popular today? In what way did lucky cats spread from China to Japan?
In the animated film "Everything is OK with Lucky Cat", the creators opened their minds and filled in the (empty) (true) white (photo) of this calendar (picture) by teasing. The lucky cats in the film are a species between man and god, with a huge number. In order to save the world polluted by poor demons, it embarked on a wonderful journey. I believe that through this film, the image of the lucky cat will be more deeply rooted in the public, and the lucky cat culture will get more attention.