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Fish In Chinese Mythology
Fish are an important motif in Chinese mythology. There are various myths involving fish. Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China. The geographic area of "China" is of course a concept which has evolved of changed through history. Fish in Chinese mythology include myths in Chinese language, Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other officially recognized 56 Ethnic minorities in China, minority ethnic groups in China. The Chinese word for "fish", ''yú'', is a homophone for "abundance", "plenty", and "affluence" (); therefore, fishes are a symbol of wealth. The Chinese dragon is the head of the fish clan. The act of fishing is also an important motif in Chinese mythology and culture. Cultural significance and symbolism Yu (fish) Fishes are a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture. The Chinese character for fish is yu (). Though now pronounced with a different tone in modern Chinese, , meaning "abunda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carp Jumping The Dragon Gate
The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized quarries and are valued (even commercially cultivated) as both food and ornamental fish in many parts of the Old World, they are considered trash fish and invasive pests in many parts of Africa, Australia and most of the United States. Biology The cypriniformes (family Cyprinidae) are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes, and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups share some common features. These features include being found predominantly in fresh water and possessing Weberian ossicles, an anatomical structure derived from the first five anterior-most vertebrae, and their corresponding ribs and neural crests. The third anterior-most pair of ribs is in contact with the extension of the labyrinth and the posterior with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Longmen (Shanxi)
Lóngmén Shān, Mount Longmen or Longmen Mountain is a mountain in Shanxi province, China. In March–April 2010, the Wangjialing coal mine flood occurred here. Geography Lóngmén Shān is where the Yellow River abruptly leaves the vast, rugged expanse of the Loess Plateau that spreads out in the mountain's north and west to enter a plain which connects both to the nearby Linfen Basin in the east and to the Guanzhong Plain further southwest. The mountain is thus a part of the Loess Plateau's southern edge. At the same time, it forms the south-western extreme point of the Lüliang Mountains, a range that runs parallel to the river as it flows south. The spot at Lóngmén Shān's southwestern tip where the Yellow River breaks through is called Yǔménkǒu (, “ Yu's doorway, or gate”). Here, three bridges span the Yellow River. As there are no other nearby bridges either upstream or downstream, this is the only dry connection from Xiangning County and Hejin (in Shanxi pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Bronze Inscriptions
Chinese bronze inscriptions, also referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, comprise Chinese writing made in several styles on ritual bronzes mainly during the Late Shang dynasty () and Western Zhou dynasty (771 BC). Types of bronzes include ''zhong'' bells and '' ding'' tripodal cauldrons. Early inscriptions were almost always made with a stylus into a clay mold, from which the bronze itself was then cast. Additional inscriptions were often later engraved onto bronzes after casting. The bronze inscriptions are one of the earliest scripts in the Chinese family of scripts, preceded by the oracle bone script. Terminology For the early Western Zhou to early Warring States period, the bulk of writing which has been unearthed has been in the form of bronze inscriptions. As a result, it is common to refer to the variety of scripts of this period as "bronze script", even though there is no single such script. The term usually includes bronze inscriptions of the preced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle Bone Script
Oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC. Inscriptions were made by carving characters into oracle bones, usually either the shoulder bones of oxen or the plastrons of turtles. The writings themselves mainly record the results of official divinations carried out on behalf of the Late Shang royal family. These divinations took the form of '' scapulimancy'' where the oracle bones were exposed to flames, creating patterns of cracks that were then subjected to interpretation. Both the prompt and interpretation were inscribed on the same piece of bone that had been used for the divination itself. Out of an estimated 150,000 inscriptions that have been uncovered, the vast majority were unearthed at Yinxu, the site of the final Shang capital (modern-day Anyang, Henan). The most recent major discovery was the Huayuanzhuang cache found near the site in 1993. Of the 1,608 Huayuanzhang pieces, 579 bear inscriptions. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radical (Chinese Character)
A radical (), or indexing component, is a visually prominent component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary. The radical for a character is typically a semantic component, but it can also be another structural component or an artificially extracted portion of the character. In some cases, the original semantic or phonological connection has become obscure, owing to changes in the meaning or pronunciation of the character over time. The use of the English term ''radical'' is based on an analogy between the structure of Chinese characters and the inflection of words in European languages. Radicals are also sometimes called ''classifiers'', but this name is more commonly applied to the grammatical measure words in Chinese. History In the earliest Chinese dictionaries, such as the '' Erya'' (3rd centuryBC), characters were grouped together in broad semantic categories. Because the vast majority of characters are pho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as male in Indian Buddhism, Guanyin has been more commonly depicted as female in China and most of East Asia since about the 12th century. Due to sociogeographical factors, Guanyin can also be historically depicted as genderless or adorning an androgynous apprentice. On the 19th day of the sixth lunar month, Guanyin's attainment of Buddhahood is celebrated. Guanyin has been incorporated in other religions, including Taoism and Chinese folk religion. Some Buddhists believe that when one of their adherents departs from this world, they are placed by Guanyin in the heart of a sacred lotus in religious art, lotus and then sent to the western pure land of Sukhāvatī. Guanyin is often referred to as the "most widely beloved Buddhist Divinity" with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military control over territories centered on the Wei River valley and North China Plain. Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial over the following Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC), the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries. A date of 1046 BC for the Zhou's establishment is supported by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier, but David Nivison and Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 BC. The latter Eastern Zhou period is itself roughly subdivided into two parts. During the Spring and Autumn period (), power became increasingly decentralized as the authority of the royal house diminished. The Warring States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiang Ziya
Jiang Ziya ( century BC – 11th century BC), also known by several other names, also known by his posthumous name as the Duke Tai of Qi, was the founding monarch of the Qi state. He was a military general and strategist who assisted King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou overthrow the Shang dynasty and establish the Zhou dynasty. Following their victory in the Battle of Muye, he continued to serve as a Zhou minister. He remained loyal to the regent Ji Dan (Duke Wen of Zhou) during the Rebellion of the Three Guards; following the Ji Dan's punitive raids against the restive Dongyi, Jiang was enfeoffed with the land of Qi. He established his seat at Yingqiu (in modern-day Linzi, Zibo, Shandong). He has been worshipped as a war god since the Han and, especially, Tang dynasties. He is also celebrated in Chinese literature, and is one of the main heroes in the Ming-era ''Investiture of the Gods''. Names The first ruler of Qi bore the given name Shang. The nobi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Flood (China)
The Great Flood of Gun-Yu, also known as the Gun-Yu myth,. was a major flood in ancient China that allegedly continued for at least two generations, which resulted in great population displacements among other disasters, such as storms and famine. People left their homes to live on the high hills and mountains, or nest on the trees. According to mythological and historical sources, it is traditionally dated to the third millennium BCE, or about 2300–2200 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Yao. However, archaeological evidence of an outburst flood at Jishi Gorge on the Yellow River, comparable to similar severe events in the world in the past 10,000 years, has been dated to about 1920 BCE (a few centuries later than the traditional beginning of the Xia dynasty which came after Emperors Shun and Yao), and is suggested to have been the basis for the myth.. Treated either historically or mythologically, the story of the Great Flood and the heroic attempts of the various human ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuxi
Fuxi or Fu Hsi ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie system of writing Chinese characters around 2900 BC or 2000BC. He is also said to be the originator of bagua (the eight trigrams) after observing that there were eight fundamental building blocks in nature: heaven, earth, water, fire, thunder, wind, mountain, and lake. These eight are all made of different combinations of yin and yang, which are what came to be called bagua. Fuxi was counted as the first mythical emperor of China, "a divine being with a serpent's body" who was miraculously born, a Taoist deity, and/or a member of the Three Sovereigns at the beginning of the Chinese dynastic period. Some representations show him as a human with snake-like characteristics, "a leaf-wreathed head growing out of a mountain", "or as a man clothed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
