Quanzhou "Lion" words | Luoyang Bridge stone lion's cultural meaning

The Luoyang Bridge, which was hosted by Cai Xiang, the prefecture of the Northern Song Dynasty, became one of the four famous bridges in ancient China with its magnificent construction scale, superb construction technology, and exquisite stone carving technology. Rainbow's majesty.

After the completion of the Luoyang Bridge, it not only facilitated the traffic in the north and the south, but also made the mountains and rivers beautifully, and the mountains and the sea were raw. In particular, the lion guardrails and stone lions on the ancient bridge show the beauty of stone carving art to the fullest, guarding the bridge silently, and has long been integrated with the ancient bridge, becoming a totem representing Quanzhou history and culture.

□ our reporter Zheng Yunzhong

The styling words are exhausted and endless

"The bridge of Luoyang is strange in the world, flying Hongqian Hengjiang", and the Luoyang Bridge is magnificent and beautiful. Since its establishment, it has been a great victory in Quanzhou, and it is also a public space that people often come to play. There are a large number of realistic and beautiful stone carving works on the bridge. Among these stone carving works, the stone lion is particularly eye -catching and loved.

Photo by Chen Yingjie

There are 104 lion fences on the bridge. They are carved from the regulations, shapes, and dimensions of the ancient lion columns. Their prototype is the ancient lion pillar that is collected in the central exhibition hall of the bridge. The river was salvaged. These 104 stone lions, either placed on the outside of the stone rails to stare at the east flow of the river, or squatting in the middle of the bridge to look up at the distant square tide up and fall, or stand on the bank of the pagoda of the bridge head silently waiting for people to come and go. Such arrangements are staggered with the ancient towers, stone pavilions, stone railings, and the surrounding riverside sea views.

Chen Qituo Photo

Observe carefully, each lion body stone pillar is about the same size as the stone pillar of the fastener, but there is a squat lion with a squat on the front half, the front feet are stretched straight, the back of the two feet is slightly curved, the lion head is leaning, staring at the distance. The art of Chinese lion carving began in the two Han Dynasty. In the early days, most of them were evil spirits. The lion shape first appeared in the Buddhist caves of the Northern Dynasties. The antique lion column of the Luoyang Bridge is a typical lion squatting shape. Although it has been eroded by wind and rain, some are blurred, but they are still mighty and solemn but not embarrassed, giving a solemn and kind feeling.

These image -rich shapes are ingenious. Different from the realistic proportions, realistic skeletal muscles, meticulous portrayal, and a wild Western lion, the stone lion on the lion pillar has long been taken off the image of the beast in the fight, and it has The cute and lovely image not only shows the art imagination and superb skills of Master Stone Carving, but also expresses the people of ordinary people to pray for good wishes such as peace and auspiciousness. It can be said that under the minimalist lines and quaint shapes, there are endless wisdom and strength, showing a rich humanistic atmosphere, and reaching the artistic effect of "endlessness and endless words".

Photo by Chen Xiaoyang

Legend to interpret the password of the spiritual world

For thousands of years, Luoyang Bridge has been abolished several times, and the bridge lion has also changed many times. In addition to the existing antique lion columns, there are also 28 stone lions in the legend. According to the "Quanzhou Cultural Relics Manual" compiled by the Quanzhou Cultural Management Association in 2000, "500 railing stone pillars and 28 stone lions were originally established on both sides of the bridge." After the success, the wing on the bridge was used to prevent the people from accidentally falling into the river. In the fellow, both sides were arranged on both sides of the stone lions, which were all 28. I thought that the homophonic of the twenty -eight stars in the heaven. These twenty -eight beasts are wonderful and different in form.

Why did the ancients put 28 lions on the bridge? Since ancient times, there have been many sayings. Some believe that representing 28 workers, and some people say that they represent 28 craftsmen, while Li Yukun, a well -known expert in Quanzhou Literature and History, agrees with the view of "representing the 28th star". As one of the important parts of Chinese traditional culture, "Twenty -eight Star September" has both the colors of oriental mysteriousism and the scientific spirit of the ancients exploring the external world, and has a profound influence in the official and the folks.

Photo by Chen Yingjie

Combined with the history of the construction of the Luoyang Bridge, and the purpose of placing stone lions on the bridge, 28 lions represent the point of view of 28 stars, which are obviously more convincing. According to the novel book "Pozhai editor" in the Northern Song Dynasty: "Wan'an Wan'an Water Water Water Water Water is five miles in Quanzhou, and the upper flow is connected to Daxi. Here is still a desert village ancient ferry, deep water and waves, and every time the ship encounters the wind, it is destroyed. Many boats buried the bottom of the sea and countless passengers buried in fish belly. challenge. At the same time, the construction of the Luoyang Bridge had a very high "scientific and technological content" at the time, creating the three major bridges of raft foundation, floating transport bridge, and oyster solid base, leading the boom of bridge in the Southern Song Dynasty. Harma. Therefore, the number of stone lions is explained by the twenty -eight star.

Photographed by Liu Fu

The interpretation of the number of stone lions is not only a review of the history of the bridge, but also an inquiry about the folk customs and regional culture of Quanzhou. At the gate of some temples here, the people here are regarded as sacred by the people. Golden Gate, Jinjiang and other places have also formed a unique faith in Fengshi. There is no doubt that the folk customs and legends attached to the stone lion are a cultural form created by the people of Quanzhou in the long -term survival practice. The pursuit of the ultimate survival significance such as heaven and human harmony has largely met people's minds and spiritual needs. In the final analysis, the divergent figures of Shishi Shishi and "28" hide the passwords that interpret the spiritual world of Quanzhou people. Totem vulgar and elegant cultural character

"Standing like east -west tower, lying like Luoyang Bridge", this is a familiar sentence every Quanzhou people. As a national cultural relics protection unit, Luoyang Bridge is also a world cultural heritage point. It can be called the symbol of Quanzhou. The stone lion on the bridge is one of the totems that represent the regional culture of Quanzhou. Taste carefully. We can see the habits and character of Quanzhou people from it, and the culture and spirit of Quanshan Jinshui.

Liu Ziyi, a well -known scientist in the Southern Song Dynasty, has a poem: "The waves of the feet are often turbulent, and the smoke scenery is clear." Show a vibrant picture. The stone lion is the most vivid part of this picture, and the style and spirit of the times it shows the impact of the times have been incorporated into the spiritual blood of Quanzhou people.

The Song Dynasty, which began to be built by Luoyang Bridge, was the turning period of the lion culture. From the fierce momentum of the Sui and Tang dynasties to the people of the people, that is, from the wild to domestication, it entered the home of the people from the "king" status. It is reflected in the carving style. Taking the stone lion of Hui'an stone carving as an example, it can be described as: rough and simple, delicate and delicate, mighty but not embarrassed, solemn and intimate. This has a profound background. The Song Dynasty was both an elegant era and a worldly world. On the one hand, whether it is a minimalist Song porcelain, the finely carved Song poetry, the distant landscape paintings, or the fashion life, tea tasting and other fashion life, you can use a "elegant" to describe it; on the other hand The secularization of culture and arts, the vulgar culture of traditional society began to flourish. At that time, in the hookracks and music sheds in the city, day and night performances, lectures, and puppet shows. If a word is used to summarize the beauty of the Song people's life, it is "vulgar and elegant".

The style of the Shishi and the aesthetic taste of the two Song Dynasty, they are very suitable for the current Quanzhou people's habits and character, namely: elegant and vulgar and cute. This is by no means accidental. For more than 400 years in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it is the most brilliant page in Quanzhou history. The prosperity of the largest port in the East made future generations fascinating and extremely proud, and deeply shaped the cultural personality and spiritual style of Quanzhou people.

If the Luoyang Bridge represents the highest level of ancient Chinese bridge technology technology, then the shape and artistic conception, carving and style, legends and dreams of stone lions on the bridge represent the "vulgar, elegant, elegant and vulgar" here. Cultural character.

Reporter's note

The ideal sustenance of traditional culture

The lion is not produced by China, but it has become the most common animal image in traditional stone carving works. In fact, it is precisely because it is not an "indigenous" that people lack intuitive cognition of their brutal wildness, so they pinnate the idealized personality such as bravery, nobleness, and auspiciousness.

Such an ideal sustenance is rooted in our traditional culture.

The north and south of the Luoyang Bridge have a temple that commemorates the builders. The Cai Xiang Temple in the south of the bridge is a famous victory for tourists to visit. It is strange that the Yibo Temple is also dedicated to the sages of the Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Taoism. According to Cai Xiang's "Wan'an Bridge", the participating bridges also include "Lu Xi, Wang Shi, Xu Zhong, Floating Tuye, Zongshan, etc., and five people." The folk is widely spread, and future generations will commemorate him to commemorate him. In fact, Luoyang Bridge is the ancient bridge with the most folk legends in Quanzhou, such as "Luoyang Bridge Legend", "Cai Taishu to move the Dragon King of the Sea", "Nine Days Shanhai God Luoyang Zhenhai", Qingyuan Dongtong Luoyang River " "Passing the Luoyang Bridge" and so on, there are some Taoist gods, such as: Mrs. Lin Shui Chen Jinggu, Lu Dongbin, etc., their stories are widely circulated in the local area as Cai Xiang and Yibo monks.

Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are the three main lines of traditional culture. They had approached each other and fused, but it was not until the establishment of the agent of the Song Dynasty that it began to really consolidate. The Lion Culture has become one of the most popular folk culture of Quanzhou since the Song Dynasty entered the folk.

So we can say that--

The Luoyang Bridge, which was built in the Northern Song Dynasty, is the millennium ancient bridge of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and the stone lion on the bridge is a bridge between the human heart, the Dharma, and nature. In modern society, Classic totems of regional historical and cultural traditions and folk customs. For thousands of years, the stone carving craftsman chose the lion, settled here and the spirit, and pinned the longing for a happy life here. (Zheng Yunzhong)

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