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Post by Montezuma on Aug 26, 2023 9:07:04 GMT -5
Now many of you have being wondering that why i am making a separate thread in regard to this even we possess this thread,
beargorillarealm.proboards.com/thread/190/bears-role-various-cultures-compilation
where the bear's importance in the Far East (China, Korea, Japan, Manchuria and Mongolia) is alreadily disscussed? The reason is, my recent research. I have researched about Bear importance in ancient china and the information was so abound and startling, that i think it deserves its own separate thread to emphasize that bears weren't just revered, but very highly revered beyond our thoughts.
I wouldn't mention the evidence that we did earlier in that. Only new information. Before starting this thread note some important things which would give a more profound impression about the bear's reverence:
1. Han dynasty: Starting about 250b.c. to 9 a.d., this dynasty's reign was the Golden age of ancient chinese history. Many important discoveries and inventions were made in this era.
2. Xia dynasty: Starting about 2070 b.c., it was the first well established government in China.
3. Jade stone: A precious stone highly precious, symbolic and spiritual in chinese culture; even more than Gold!
4. Hongshun culture: Early prehistoric chinese ceramic making culture. (4700 b.c. to 2900b.c.)
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 26, 2023 9:17:05 GMT -5
Bronze bear chariot unearthed from the tomb of Qin Dukes in Li, Gansu.
"In the culture of the Qin people, this piece of antique is relevant to Youxiong. It is a square bronze chariot with a bird standing on each of its corners. Sitting in the middle was a drayman, and behind him in the middle of the chariot is a godly bear."
"Four chihu () were lying at the sides. Obviously, this one-on-four relationship represents the center and the four directors. The four chihus and the four birds are all guarding the bear in the middle."
Three-hole jade with two bear heads, Hongshan culture
The bear-shaped bronze plate studded with turquoise, unearthed in Erlitou, Henan
"Some say the plate shape is a tiger, and some say it is a fox. But actually, it is a bear. At that time, people were just beginning to use this metal, and this plate was among the earliest-made bronze objects in Central China. The turquoise represents the blue sky; therefore, it is a sacred object to represent the sky deity. People of the Xia dynasty are descendants of Zhuanxu, grandson of the Yellow Emperor. So they were related to the Youxiong clan."
"From 8,000 years ago to the present-day antique jade factories, this image remains constant. It means that it is related to the memories about the bear totem."
books.google.com.pk/books?id=fSbsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89&dq=bear+cultural+role+in+han+dynasty&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjli-mQ_feAAxWGgf0HHffJDtYQ6AF6BAgPEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20cultural%20role%20in%20han%20dynasty&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 26, 2023 9:39:56 GMT -5
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 26, 2023 10:03:08 GMT -5
Chiyou Holding, Weapons in stone relief from the Han dynasty (He surely looks like a bear)
A clay goddess sculpture in the Niuheliang Goddess Temple site
"In the Goddess Temple at Niuheliang there was a clay bear head. Very clearly, we can see the lower half of the bear's canine. In the Goddess Temple we can find the evidence for both the goddess and the sacred bear..."
Rongchengshi, the bamboo-slip manuscript of the Chu state, Shanghai Museum
"The manuscript tells that Emperor Yu is widely loved because he tames the flood. To recognize people from different places, he uses five flags with totems. "The flag with the sun goes to the East; the moon, the West; the snake, the South; the bear, the Center; and the bird, the North." Yu's own flag has the bear, the central animal. It completely agrees with the fourth tier of evidence. No evidence can be more convincing. By now, the question about the Xia dynasty is solved, and so is the question about the bear totem. The national flag is actually from the totem. A totem pole in front of a tribe is similar to a national flag. The clansmen of the Yellow Emperor still feel affiliated with the Xia flag. Also, the bear-shaped bronze plate with turquoise actually serves the function of the national emblem. With the national flag and the national emblem, what is left to doubt about? Actually, mythology about Emperor Yu is related to the bear. The best explanation is found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas."
"The discovery of the central bear flag is indeed striking to the modern people. We can roughly imagine how the Emperor Yu's bear flag looks like through the Han stone relief antiques two thousand years ago. Flags in the ancient times share something similar throughout the history. Here we show a stone relief from the Han dynasty that is preserved in the Temple of Confucius in Linyi. Shandong: the image of the standing sacred bear."
books.google.com.pk/books?id=fSbsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89&dq=bear+cultural+role+in+han+dynasty&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjli-mQ_feAAxWGgf0HHffJDtYQ6AF6BAgPEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20cultural%20role%20in%20han%20dynasty&f=false
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Post by Gorilla king on Aug 26, 2023 10:47:52 GMT -5
Montezuma Very interesting thread bro! Love that chariot at reply #1.
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Post by oldindigosilverback on Aug 27, 2023 2:56:32 GMT -5
Good to see you again, bear cultural expert .
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 17:14:25 GMT -5
Thanks alot for the compliment bros. More interesting information is coming some of which are very striking!
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 17:31:58 GMT -5
Bear-shaped or pig-shaped You wine container, late Shang Dynasty, now housed in Shanghai Museum, excerpted from China Bronze Dictionary (Volume 4). pp. 1048
"..the bear has a fat and large body, which symbolizes a source of energy for mythological life.."
Jade ring with two bears and two monkeys, West Han Dynasty, unearthed from Dou's Tomb in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, from Complete Works of Jade Unearthed in China 14 (Shaanxi Volume), pp. 144
"As to the "Hao Jing in the divine bear, "Jing" means maintaining the normality as usual (e.g. hanging). The cultural representation of the bear's Jing fully embodies the archetypal characteristics of sacred objects of the divine bear. In the jade ring of the Western Han Dynasty,the two bears and the two monkeys form a contrast, dividing the space and time of the universe into four parts. This shows the element of the cultural code of the bear and the monkey formed in the period of big cultural tradition. Because the bear's physiological behavior is in sync with Mother Earth's seasonal changes, Gimbutas called it the bear goddess or mother bear".
"All kinds of human myths about the bear fully represent the natural pursuit of the perfect unity of bear nature and bear form. When man changes into the divine bear, he is close to the mythical fantasy of destiny and can feel the synchronic and consis- tent relationship between himself and nature. As a result, man becomes a sanctified person."
Bear-Shaped Armor, Qing Dynasty, excerpted from Selected Works of Shandong Provincial Museum, pp. 154
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 17:38:48 GMT -5
Bronze Mirror with Bear-Tiger Pattern, Warring States Period, unearthed from the Qin Tomb at Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hunan Province in 1975, now stored in the National Museum of China, excepted from The History of Oriental Arts and Crafts, pp. 267
Hezhe people's fish-skin bear totem mask
Yu bear of the Six Dynasties, Museum of Asian Art, San Francisco, USA. edited, Chen Wenping: Lost National Treasures Abroad, Shanghai Cultural Publishing House. 2001, pp. 338
books.google.ru/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 18:16:04 GMT -5
Ancestor Worship, stored in Yitong Folklore Museum, Research on Shaman Culture and Styling Art in Northern China (picture 26) Notice the Bear clapping on Left down. Bear and Bird Exercise Chart, unearthed at Mawangdui Tomb 3, Changsha City, Hunan Province in 1973, excerpted from Essentails of Mawangdui Han Tomb's Cultural Relics, pp. 100
"....shedding the fat". Such movement is actually what Zhuangzi called "Moving like a bear and stretching like a bird". In winter, it hibernates and eats nothing. When it feels hungry, it will lick its paws. So the best part of food lies in the bear's paw. called Xiongfan."16 Moving like a bear and stretching like a bird helps to keep the qi movement of the body at the same pace with the natural qi movement and in tune with the natural phenology, which infuses the principle of maintaining and preserving one's health. The Bear and Bird Exercise Chart, unearthed from a tomb in Mawangdui details the imitation movements of the bear and the bird. It can be seen that the mythical fantasy of the divine bear's qi movement had played a spiritual role in ancient Chinese health protection model."
The two bears standing in front of Xuanyuan Temple, the hometown of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)
"In prehistoric China there were also a lot of myths about the sages' transformation into bear. For example, the Yellow Emperor called his country "Kingdom of You Xiong (Bear)" and adopted the title of "You Xiong Shi (literarily bear owner)". Gun turned into a yellow bear after he was killed. His son Yu changed into a stone bear after he died, and the stone opened and gave birth to Qi. Both man and bear are tangible existences. When a man becomes the divine bear, he gets rid of the banal existence of human body and obtains the divine attributes as the divine bear. In front of the temple in the Yellow Emperor's hometown stand two solemn statures of bear to commemorate the emperor's legendary battle during which he took the form of a bear, which has become the sacred symbol of the Yellow Emperor. On the lacquerware unearthed from the Han tomb at Dabaotai in Beijing."
"Afterward, the man enters the state of the heavenly movement and the bearish existence, without need for cyclic corrections. In the bear-changing event, the bear serves as the sacred object, while the man imitates the features of the bear as the sacred object, so as to approach the original natural divinity and obtain the divine characteristics beyond the individual existence."
books.google.ru/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 18:51:19 GMT -5
Stone relief of Han Dynasty with the images the dancing bear, Fuxi and Nuwa, From Complete Works of Chinese Stone Paintings, Henan Volume, pp. 103"The Chu Bamboo Slips II of the Warring States Period- the Chapter of Rong Chengshi, now stored in Shanghai Museum records: "Yu the Great then began to appoint the flags to distinguish the directions, so that the people would not get confused. The flag for the east had the emblem of the sun; the flag for the west, the moon; the flag for the south, the snake; the flag for the middle, the bear; and the flag for the north, of the bird. In the past, we could not understand why the bear flag was put in the center. However, thanks to the mythological imagination of the big cultural tradition, we now understand the mythology of the bear's central position is derived from the mythology of the Beidou as center of the sky. It can be concluded that in the Warring States period with the very prosperous writing of the small cultural tradition, the texts and characters of the small cultural tradition still carried the myth of "divine bear in the center" of the early big cultural tradition."Picture of Dragon-Tiger-Bear Jade Bi, found in No. 2 stone coffin, Pixian County, Han Dynasty Sarcophagus Art Collection in Sichuan Province (No. 87)
Stone carving on the Han Dynasty tomb in Shenmu, with the sun the rooster-headed Eastern King on the right, the ox-headed Queen Mother of the West on the left, and the divine bear in the center."...of the invisible divine rulers. The mythical illusions B (1-N) produced by mythical illusions are magically correlated due to the invisible dominant divine force A. Since Beidou is imagined as center of the celestial sphere which produces awe on four directions, this also gives the divine bear the mythical spatial position in the center. In the four-emblem culture, there has long been a lack of gods in the middle. Only by rediscovering the bear image of the big cultural tradition and its mythological space can we rectify the cultural oversight for the divine bear's position as center of the four-emblem culture."books.google.ru/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 18:57:38 GMT -5
Painted stature of tortoise-frog-bear-dragon, Han Dynasty, unearthed at Dujiazui Village, Lianshan, Guanghan, during 1993-1994. From Essentials of Guanghan Cultural Relics and Art. pp. 197
Bear-pattern gold plate, Tang Dynasty. unearthed in Hejia Village, southern suburb of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province in 1970, stored in Shaanxi Provincial Museum of History. Excepted from Appreciation of 100 National Treasures of All Dynasties in China, pp. 36
The jade ornament with the three playing bears, Qing Dynasty, excerpted from Shaanxi Precious Cultural Relics Collection: Jade Articles Volume, pp. 217 books.google.ru/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq=bear+in+han+culture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=2&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjizJLA2P2AAxVCh_0HHfJZBbMQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20in%20han%20culture&f=false
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Post by Gorilla king on Aug 27, 2023 19:26:47 GMT -5
Very good research Montezuma, those are some very rare pictures. I especially like this one:
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 27, 2023 19:31:44 GMT -5
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 28, 2023 16:23:36 GMT -5
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 28, 2023 16:38:01 GMT -5
Here are some authentic anciently carved artifacts depicting bears in China. These are beautiful and it would be bad if they pass of being unmentioned in this thread. Artifacts count alot when redeeming someone's importance in history or culture.
1#. A Han dynasty's Brown bear statue (Probably for worship purpose).
2#. A Bear idol rests above a stamp in Qin dynasty.
3#. A stone Bear's statue in sitting human posture of unknown age.
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 28, 2023 16:50:19 GMT -5
4#. Han dynasty Royal small-sized Bear statues used as Paper-weights!
5#. A Jade made Bear by the Qin dynasty.
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 28, 2023 18:40:16 GMT -5
Jade bear-shaped Zun cup, Qing Dynasty, stored in Taipei National Palace Museum"beauty in ancient mythology. This tradition in utensil making has been carried on through history, as shown by the jade bear-shaped Zun of the Qing Dynasty (Fig. 13), which shares the same origin with the bear pottery cup of the Hongshan culture."
Bear-shaped clay Zun cup, Hongshan Culture, stored in Defu Museum of Chaoyang, Liaoning Province
"On appearance, the cup features a bear image that looks similar to the shape of a pig, but with a bulkier built and short and stout legs. Zuozhuan-7th year of King Shao says: "I (King Shao) dreamed of a yellow bear coming through my bedroom door." In Kong Yingda's commentary to Erya Shishou, Su Yan annotated: "Bear is a swine-like beast." In the essay "Hunting Bear as a Brutal Animal" in Zi Zhi Tong Jian History as A Mirror - Hanji 24, Hu Sanxing annotated: "Bear, something like a pig, is of a big size and in black color." The image of bear seen on the bear clay cup is also very close to the bear described in ancient books. Moreover, it was carved with the unique triangular symbolic of the prehistoric goddess, which Professor Ye described as "as if adding wings to a bear". As a whole, the cup clearly demonstrates the mythological narration of the belief in the divine bear and serves as the important material evidence after the publication of Bear Totem."
books.google.com.pk/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&dq=bear+cultural+role+in+han+dynasty&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjli-mQ_feAAxWGgf0HHffJDtYQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20cultural%20role%20in%20han%20dynasty&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 28, 2023 18:54:14 GMT -5
Bear mandible, excavated from the ash pit in front of Niuheliang Goddess Temple, has the gum 6 cm in height and the jaw end spacing of 13 cm, which suggests that it is the jawbone of an adult bear. The Hongshan Cultural Relics and Essentials of Jade Ware in Niuheliang Site, edited by Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1997, p.82
Jade Bear of the Hongshan Culture, collected by Taipei Palace Museum, excerpted from The History of Chinese Civilization in Pictures, 2015, p. 173"The "Bear Totem" theory proposed by Professor Ye started with the famous mystery of the bear's skull found in Niuheliang Site, Hongshan Culture dated 5000 years ago. In his essay Enlightenment about Bear Totem on Pilgrimage to Niuheliang, he recorded how he gained his spiritual insights on the significance of the clay bear paw and the bear skull used as sacrifice at Niuheliang, saying: "There seems to be three possible explanations: (1) the existence of the skull of the bear represents the divine bear as the subject of worship by the Hongshan people; (2) as tribal totem, it embodies the concept of blood relationship with the bear as the ancestor of the tribes; and (3) the bear was deemed divine messenger, a medium of communication between man and the bear god." Of course, Professor Ye's proposal is not groundless, but supported by many folklore, anthropological and archaeolog-ical materials."
"In November 2018, a number of media agencies reported about the bear-shaped clay Zun (ancient wine cup) from the collection of Defu Museum of Chaoyang. Liaoning Province. From the alcohol remain found in the cup researchers have confirmed that the cup belongs to the important relics of the Hongshan culture. The fifth issue of Journal of Jilin Normal University in 2018 also published Shao Guotian and Wang Dongli's Research on the Cultural Value of Bear Clay Zun Cup Discovered for the First Time in Hongshan Culture and Its Alcohol Content as well as Yang Pu and Yang Yang's Cultural Interpretation of the Modeling Significance of the Bear Clay Cup as A Symbol of Female Civilization. These two papers, respectively, discussed the cultural connotations of the Hongshan culture in sacrificing wine to gods and goddesses worshipping. The discovery of the bear Zun of the Hongshan culture also provides new archaeological evidence for the study of prehistoric bear culture."
books.google.com.pk/books?id=Xr_2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&dq=bear+cultural+role+in+han+dynasty&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&authuser=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjli-mQ_feAAxWGgf0HHffJDtYQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=bear%20cultural%20role%20in%20han%20dynasty&f=false
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 29, 2023 18:06:10 GMT -5
The Dragon's bellow creates thunder-and lightening and bear's roar calm the thunder and earth.
A Jade Bear-Dragon doing coitus with a woman.
www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/640910
A Horse and Dog like Jade Bear idol by Han people.
www.jstor.org/stable/3248409
"In recent years archaeologists have excavated more than 20 jade bear-dragons of the Hongshan Culture. These unique jade pieces are so named on account of their bear-like heads. Bear-dragon finds cover most of the distribution of the Hongshan Culture, ranging from Niuheliang and Jianping County in Liaoning Province; Aohan, Right and Left Balin banners in Inner Mongolia; to Weichang County in Hebei Province. So there can be little doubt that jade bear-dragons played a significant role in the Hongshan Culture."
"Anthropologists describe bear worship as a custom peculiar to fishing and hunting tribes. Hongshan was a regional culture in north and northeast China characterized by fishing and hunting. Its practice of bear worship, as reflected in the widespread incidence of bear-dragons, coincides with the historical account of Huangdi being known as Youxiong (Keeper of bears)."
"The magical bear-dragons might prove to be the key for both archaeologists and historians seeking to shed light on the mysteries of Huangdi and the other legendary rulers of prehistoric China."
www.china.org.cn/archive/2004-05/08/content_1094765.htm
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