My system is not decent

The themes of stone carvings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are also diversified, ranging from palaces and temples to residential tables, from statues and sacred steles to guardian lions and tethered horses.

When looking at the art of ancient stone carvings, one cannot look at beauty and ugliness with one-sided preferences of the times.

Because the ancestors of different eras, under different cultural systems and production tools, produced works with the characteristics of the times and national characteristics.

With the spread and blending of cultures, the themes have also become more abundant and diversified.

This is an objective existence, and it is necessary to examine historical relics with a comprehensive perspective.

The current era is the end of the era of stone carving art. What modern people can do is to use modern aesthetics to display and display the legacy of ancient stone carvings.

Being able to achieve a perfect display is the greatest respect our generation has for the ancient ancestors.

"Is this the Ming Dynasty fish-turning-dragon Little Shiping?"

This stone screen is 55cm long, 28cm high and 11cm thick.

The stone screen is small in size, with fish-turning-dragon embossed on both sides, which is an ancient metaphor for the title of the gold list, implying that the sky will rise straight up, rise and prosper, and the bluestone is full of products.

"Blue and white are dragon scales, and fish fly into rainbows. Once a fish turns into a dragon, there will be endless love for thousands of years."

This is the importance of Yuhualong to ornamentation, and it is also the application of Yuhualong.

"Fish transforming into a dragon" is an auspicious pattern with traditional meaning of the Han nationality.

There are many expressions in Ming and Qing porcelain paintings. Through these works, we can also see the cultural phenomenon of "a fish in the East China Sea turns into a dragon".

The change of fish and dragon, the ancients used it as a metaphor for the "golden list title" of the imperial examination, or the prosperity in the officialdom.

Fish-turning-dragon is a pattern of dragon patterns with the head of a dragon and the body of a fish, and it is also a kind of illusion of "mutual transformation between fish and dragon".

This form has long existed in ancient my country and evolved from folk customs and legends of past dynasties.

Its history can be traced back to the fish totem worship in the prehistoric Yangshao culture and Banpo type period.

Even some Ming Dynasty palace tiles have this kind of decoration.

It can be seen from this that the ancients loved this kind of decoration.

In the earliest "Dahuangxijing", there is "the wind comes from the north, the sky is a spring of water, and the snake turns into a fish." This is the earliest saying that turns into a fish.

The "Overseas South Classic" says, "A worm is a snake, and a snake is a fish." Folk customs have long said that a fish turns into a dragon.

"Confucius Family Yu" records: Confucius was happy to have a son, and Lu Zhaogong rewarded him with carp, so Confucius named his son Li, with the word Boyu.

There is a record in "Shuo Yuan" that "in the past, the white dragon descended into the cold abyss and turned into a fish".

"Chang'an Ballad" said "a big fish in the East China Sea turns into a dragon" and the folklore "carp jumps over the dragon's gate", both talk about the relationship between fish and dragons.

In addition to porcelain pieces, some patterns appeared in jade carvings as early as the late Shang Dynasty, and were developed in subsequent dynasties.

Another point is that there are also some special dragon patterns on the porcelains of the blank period in the Ming Dynasty. Only with these dragon patterns can people distinguish which porcelains are from the blank period.

The Jiangnan Gongyuan of the Confucius Temple in Jinling City, also known as the Huaxia Imperial Examination Museum, has a stone sculpture "Feihong Bridge".

On the bridge, there is a vivid pattern of "a big fish in the East China Sea turns into a dragon", and the title is "changing the land of fish and dragons, flying in the sky".

There is also a pattern of "riding a fish and transforming a dragon" by the ancients, which is also the meaning of blessing scholars with "golden list titles".

"Feng Shi Hearing and Seeing Records" said: "So in contemporary times, Jinshi's entrance to the imperial examination is regarded as the entrance to the Dragon Gate."

Li Bai's "Book of Jingzhou with Han": "Once you climb the Dragon Gate, you will be worth a hundred times as much as you want".

"Pipa Ji Nanpu Farewell": "The child will go out in the middle of the day, and his parents will come to see him off. I hope he will become a fish and a dragon, and the blue sky will rise." and so on.

These patterns are generally composed of fish and dragons, implying prosperity.

Fish and dragon culture is a unique traditional culture in my country, which originated from the worship of dragon totem by our ancestors.

In addition to calling themselves "descendants of Yan and Huang", Chinese people also call themselves "descendants of the dragon".

The dragon occupies a very important place in the long history of our country.

The dragon is a symbol of mythology. In ancient my country, the emperor was called the "true dragon emperor".

In the ancient feudal society of our country, the emperor, as the lord of a country, possessed supreme power. It can be seen how lofty the status of the dragon is in our country.

Dragons are considered to be the highest-level creatures among scale insects in our country.

Therefore, if any kind of scale insect wants to continuously evolve itself, the goal is to "turn into a dragon" in the future.

For example, a creature like a snake, in our country's "twelve zodiac signs", there are snakes and dragons, and snakes are also called "little dragons" among the people.

If the legendary "snake" wants to evolve into a "dragon", it must first go through 500 years of practice.

Grow two horns to become a "Jiao", and then practice for thousands of years, and practice in the East China Sea to finally transform into a "dragon".

Presumably, it is a very long and difficult process for a snake to transform into a dragon.

However, there is a big difference between fish and snakes. The so-called "carp jumping over the dragon's gate" means at a specific time and place.

If any carp can be selected to jump over the "Dragon Gate", then it can "turn into a dragon".

This is the same as the previous "examination to select scholars", who was Tian Shelang in the court and ascended to the Tianzitang in the evening.

Of course, it also has a certain similar meaning to what we call "drafts" now, when you go on stage and go on the catwalk, you will be famous and paid a lot of money.

These dragon patterns changed in the Qing Dynasty. The flying dragon in the Qing Dynasty, also called "Yinglong", refers to a dragon with a pair of wings.

Its appearance is also reflected in the remnants of folk woodcut New Year pictures in the middle of Qing Dynasty.

Yinglong has a high status in ancient myths and legends, and they are also called "Dragon Ancestors".

According to "Qing Qi Legend": "There are big fish and big snakes in the East China Sea who drink the morning urine of Yinglong and become real dragons."

This "totem theory" also reveals the difficulty of "turning a fish into a dragon" from another aspect.

Folklore stories are always the origin of paintings and sculptures by craftsmen of all ages.

With regard to snake-turning-dragon and fish-turning-dragon, some people think that the status of "snake-turning-dragon" will be relatively higher.

It's just like our collections, things that are often too easy to get are not cherished by people.

It took a long process for a snake to transform into a dragon, overcoming many difficulties and obstacles before it became a dragon.

And after they become dragons, they can evolve into Yinglong again.

In addition, the spirit of a snake transforming into a dragon is more worthy of our learning, and "Carp Leaping over the Dragon's Gate" has a great test-taking nature, which seems to be specially for imperial examinations.

The blue and white fish and dragon pattern is a model of it.

It seems that there are two blue and white porcelain plates from the Qing Dynasty. The beauty of their shape is a model for the study of "fish turning into dragon".

Its blue and white hair color is gorgeous and pure, the green dragon on the plate is ferocious, soaring into the sky, and the carp painting is exquisite.

They have strong movement and clear hair color, and they should be excellent research specimens for collectors.

No matter how you say it, Chinese people always have a different kind of feeling for the dragon. As a representative of auspiciousness, the dragon has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

We know that the fish and dragon patterns on Ming and Qing official kiln porcelain have been continuously transmitted to folk kiln porcelain.