From the above, we can see that Fuxi's prototype is the image and concept of the origin and beginning of the universe. With the evolution of civilization, people's thinking and exploration of history has become more and more profound. This kind of thinking and exploration is specifically an explanation of the root causes of the facts of civilization. The exploration of the origin of the world is just a concept, which first exists in the form of myths. Mythical thinking is a necessary initial stage of the development of human thinking, which disappears into philosophy and history with the development of human thinking. First, we investigate how the universe originated, then imagine a god of creation, and then imagine this god of creation as his ancestor. The emergence of Fuxi's image is a process of philosophizing, conceptualizing myths and legends, and historicizing these legends and ideas.

Fourth, Taihao and Fuxi are called together

——Its status in the ancient imperial system

Since I have said that Fuxi was an ancient god of creation, there may not be any person in history. So how did he enter history, be included in the ancient imperial lineage, and be praised as the "head of the Three Emperors" and "first of the Hundred Kings"? This starts with the combination of Fuxi and Taihao and the identity of Taihao.

Among the reliable classics of the pre-Qin period, Taihao did not speak of Fuxi, and Fuxi did not speak of Taihao, and Taihao had no relationship with Fuxi. Xunzi was born at the end of the Warring States Period. He mentioned "Taihao" in "Zhenglun Pian", and in "Chengxiang Pian", he also said "Fuxi". The two people saw the same book together, but they were not the same person.

Taihao, which may be recorded as "Taiyu" in ancient books, was the ancestor and leader of the ancient Dongyi tribe. Dongyi was a tribe that could compete with China in the Central Plains in the ancient Central Plains. It had frequent exchanges with China and created the splendid Shang culture. In this regard, the academic community has no doubts. The Dongyi tribe lived in the eastern part of Henan, Shandong and Anhui for generations. "Zuo Zhuan-Zhaogong 17th Year" records: "Chen, the emptiness of Taiyu." Chen was in Huaiyang, Henan, and the tomb of Taihao is now in Huaiyang, Huaiyang. After the Zhou Dynasty, its descendants gradually moved eastward. "Zuo Zhuan-Xigong 21st Year": "Ren, Su, Xuju,

Zhuanxu was the Feng surname. Shisi Tailu and Youji sacrificed to serve the Xia people." It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that the branches of Dongyi were gradually annexed by Lu, Qi, Yue and other countries and integrated into China. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Biography of Dongyi": "Qin merged with the six countries, and the Huai and Siyi were all scattered into the people's households." In other words, at this time, the branches of Dongyi no longer existed as independent entities, and became the "household" of the Huaxia people, integrating with China and becoming the main component of the Chinese nation. With the integration and integration of China and the Yi, the ancestors and leaders of Dongyi, Taihao, Shaohao, etc. were also included in the ancient emperor sequence of China.

Among reliable historical books, the earliest one to call Taihao and Fuxi together was Liu Xin's "Shi Jing" by Liu Xin at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xin and his father Liu Xiang were both scholars of the Western Han Dynasty and the founder of the ancient classics school. The "Shi Jing" is recorded in "Han Shu-Lu Li Zhi 2". In "Shi Jing", Liu Xin started from the political needs of the late Western Han Dynasty and broke through the traditional system of Huangdi as the head of emperors of all dynasties, and Fuxi and Taihao, Yan Emperor and Shennong, and listed it on Huangdi, and established a new ancient imperial lineage.

The establishment of the ancient imperial lineage began in the Warring States Period. During the Warring States Period, Zou Yan, a yin and yang family, used the Five Emperors to match the five directions according to the theory of the five elements, and explained the change of dynasty with the order of the victory of earth, wood, metal, fire, and water. This is called the "Five Virtues End and End". "Records of the Grand Historian-Almanac": "At that time, Zou Yan was unique, and he was clear about the transmission of the five virtues, and scattered the division of the news to reveal the princes." Since then, people have used this theory as the legal basis for the establishment of dynasty. According to Zou Yan's "Five Virtues End and Ends", "Lüshi Chunqiu-Yingtong" and "Records of the Grand Historian-Fengshan Book" both deduced the change of dynasty in this way: Huangdi obtained the virtue of the earth, Xia Yu obtained the virtue of the wood, Shang Tang obtained the virtue of the gold, and Zhou Wen

Wang got the fire virtue, Qin got the water virtue. However, this deduction sequence had problems in the Han Dynasty: First, from the ancient history emperor lineage constructed by Zou Yan, only the four dynasties of Huangdi, Xia Yu, Shang Tang and Zhou dynasties were described. Later, until the Western Han Dynasty, people's concepts of ancient history had undergone great changes. They believed that there were ancient sage emperors such as Fuxi, Shennong and Yan Emperor above Huangdi. Three generations ago, the "Three Emperors" and the "Five Emperors" were established in turn. "Lüshi Chunqiu-Yingtong" and "Records of the Grand Historian-Fengshan Book" only describe the four dynasties since Huangdi, and they were not covered all, so they need to be deduced upward and reordered. Second, Zou Yan followed the earth, wood, and gold.

, The order of fire and water constraining and winning to explain the dynasty change. If the five elements are arranged in the imperial lineage, the five elements constraining and winning will tend to revolution in the replacement of the regime. In the late Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin was in the late Western Han Dynasty, the Liu Han royal family was in crisis, and the foreign relative Wang Mang was powerful, so there was a dispute about "a different surname received the order" and "a more order" of the same surname. The abdication theory flourished for a moment. Liu Xin had a close relationship with Wang Mang and served as Wang Mang's "national teacher" and was the main supporter of the abdication theory. In order to provide Wang Mang with legal basis for the Han Dynasty, Liu Xin proposed the new five virtues that were born from the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. From the "Shi Jing", we can see that Liu Xin arranged the imperial lineage.

As follows: Taihao Fuxi is the wood virtue, Yan Emperor Shennong is the fire virtue, Huang Emperor Xuanyuan is the earth virtue, Shaohao Jintian is the gold virtue, Zhuanxu is the water virtue; Emperor Gaoxin is the wood virtue, Emperor Yao Tao Tang is the fire virtue, Emperor Shun Youyu is the earth virtue, Bo Yu Xia Houshi is the gold virtue, Cheng Tang is the water virtue; King Wu of Zhou is the wood virtue, and Han Dynasty is the fire virtue. When Liu Xin sorted this lineage order, he first denied the statement that Han was the earth virtue according to the theory of the five elements Xiangsheng at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, and determined that Han was the fire virtue, so those who replaced it should be earth virtue. Wang Mang called himself the Miao descendants of Yu Shun and Emperor Shun, so Wang Mang should be the earth virtue, so Wang Mang was the earth virtue, so Wang Mang was the earth virtue, so Wang Mang was the inevitable in his replacement.

So why did Liu Xin call Fuxi and Taihao together?

According to the ancient historical concepts of people at that time, Liu Xin pushed the order of the ancient emperor from Huangdi upward, believing that the ancient emperor should be Fuxi. At the same time, according to his five virtues theory of the five elements of mutual generation, the emperor should start with wood virtue. So he found a basis from two aspects. One is that "Zuo Zhuan-Zhaogong's 17th Year" records "Tan Zi came to court", Zhaozi asked Shaoqian's name for the name of the official, why? Tan Zi said: "My ancestor is, I know it. In the past, Huangdi clan used Yunji, so he became Yunji, so he became Yunji, so he became Fire Master. Yandi clan used Fire Master, so he became Fire Master. Gonggong clan used Water Journal, so he became Water Master and Water Master. Daqian clan used Dragon Journal, so he became Dragon Master and Dragon Master. My Emperor Gaozu Shaoqian was established, and the phoenix bird arrived, so he recorded it with bird master and bird master. Liu Xin reiterated it based on this: "It is said that Tan Zi received Shaohao's

Huangdi, Huangdi was under Yandi, Yandi was under Gonggong, Gonggong was under Taihao, so he first said Huangdi, and Taihao was mentioned above. "Taihao was the head of the ancient emperor. Second, he found the basis from "Yi Zhuan", "Yi Zhuan" said: "The emperor came from Zhen", Zhen was the hexagram of the east, and the five elements belonged to wood. According to the order of the mutual generation of the five elements, the first was wood, and Taihao was the emperor of the east, "the east was called Yi", so Taihao was matched with wood. In addition, "Yi-Xi Cixia" said: "The ancients were the king of Baoshu, the king of the world", so Liu Xin continued: "Baoxi inherited the sky and the king, and the first virtue began with a hundred kings, so he was the emperor Taihao." Fuxi was Taihao. "It can be seen from the "Yi", the succession of Paoxi, Shennong, and Huangdi." Taihao Fuxi inherited the sky and stood by Shennong, and Huangdi all followed Taihao Fuxi.

The "Book of Han - Praise of the Suburbs and Sacrifices" by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Xun Yue's "Dragon Ji - Gaozu Ji" both record the process of Liu Xin's creation of the new five virtues that are born from the five elements. Xun Yue said: "When Liu Xiang and his son, he recommended the fortune of the five elements, and began with his son to inherit his mother, starting from Fuxi; after reaching the Han Dynasty, it is appropriate to be fire virtue. The order of this is to say that the "Book of Changes" is called "the emperor comes from Zhen", so Taihao starts with Zhen, and is called Fuxi."

Based on his political purpose, Liu Xin attached Fuxi and Taihao to the top of the ancient imperial lineage, and later Ban Gugui quoted it from the "Book of Han", and later historical books have successively compiled this from this. However, Liu Xin's statement is not a completely unfounded false statement. Today, we should have the following understanding of Liu Xin's statement: First of all, it is a manifestation of people's historical consciousness at that time. With the enrichment of people's historical consciousness, Sima Qian's determination of the imperial lineage from Huangdi is no longer enough to reflect the ancient emperors that people knew at that time, so it needs to be further traced upwards and re-arranged the ancient imperial lineage. Secondly, as mentioned above, Fuxi

The legend began in the southern Chu area, and Taihao was the ancestor of the Yi tribe in the East. With the great exchange and integration of national bloodlines and cultures during the Warring States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties, the legends of Fuxi and Taihao became possible. Sima Qian only regarded the ancestor of China Huangdi as the humanistic ancestor of the entire Chinese nation, but could no longer fully reflect the actual situation of ethnic harmony and cultural integration at that time. Taihao Fuxi was the ancestor of hundreds of kings, which showed that national unity and cultural main veins had been formed at that time. Third, the ancient emperor lineage arranged by Liu Xin promoted the idea of ​​"the same ancestor as the sage king", and the combination of the ancient emperors in the Fuxi lineage was conducive to national cohesion and cultural unification.

Five, the rest

After discussing the records of Fuxi in the history documents, the remains in myths and legends and their status in the ancient emperor lineage, we see that the legend of Fuxi has undergone an evolutionary process from myths to history. Fuxi is a product of people's consciousness, the product of the ancestors' pursuit and conception of the origin of the universe. The original form exists in the original creation myths, and there may not be any person in history. With the development of people's thinking form and the enrichment of historical consciousness, the original myths have undergone a process of conceptionization, philosophization and historicization. The legends and imaginations about Fuxi have also entered the original philosophy and history, so people abstract Fuxi in the creation myths into the origin and concept of the universe, which will be used as the creation world.

Fuxi, the gods, imagined as the ancestors and emperors of mankind, so Fuxi entered the field of history and became the earliest emperor in history. As for Fuxi's final result of becoming the "head of the Three Emperors" and "first of the Hundred Kings", establishing his supreme position in the ancient history imperial lineage, because Liu Xin, on the one hand, based on the development of people's historical consciousness, on the other hand, based on his political needs, and based on his new five virtues, he re-arranged the result of re-arrangement of the ancient history imperial lineage. After recognizing the essence and truth of Fuxi's evolutionary process from nothing to something, from god to man, from myths, concepts to history, we will see that the endless disputes about Fuxi's name, era, land hope, clan system, etc. are not necessarily a problem.

There are many confusions in ancient history records about the ancient legendary emperors such as Fuxi, Yan Emperor, Huangdi, Yao, Shun, Taihao, Shaohao, Chiyou, etc. In the 1920s, many questions and investigations were raised by the "Ancient History Discussion" school. With the discovery of modern archaeology, we have a new understanding of some issues in ancient history. In recent years, the exploration of ancient civilizations and the study of the lineage of ancient emperors have become hot topics, but due to the defects of research theories and methods, many problems have still been involved. For example, Fuxi's land hope (or culture), there are the western Yangshao culture theory, the western Majiayao culture theory, the eastern Dawenkou culture theory, the central plains theory, the central plains theory, the central plains theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the central river basin theory, the Hongshan culture theory, the north of the Great Wall, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Hubei basin theory; the Huangdi's land hope is the northern Shaanxi theory, the Wei River basin theory.

According to the Central Plains theory, the North China theory, the Hongshan culture theory north of the Great Wall, there is also the theory of lobbying the Yellow River. Some even believe that "Huangdi and Fuxi are actually the same person", "Huangdi, as a real figure in history, is Shun, who originated from the Dongyi", "Shennong Yandi is the earliest monarch in China recorded in the Book of Documents - Yao" [7]. "Yandi is Chiyou" [8]. Therefore, some people said in response to the chaos in the study of ancient emperor legends: "In the study of the legendary era, the research on the "Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors", perhaps everyone has their own reasons and arguments, but all the research results are only a 0 or a negative number" [9]. The reasons for this chaos are many aspects. One fundamental reason is that many research arguments are just speculations or simply compare ancient document records with archaeological discoveries, and lack scientific and historical methods.

From our discussion of Fuxi, we can see that some of the legendary ancient emperors and their lineages have established their status in historical documents late, and are products of people's concepts, or the result of a certain political need. I once mentioned in the article "On Confirmation of Common Ancestors of the Chinese Nation" that Huangdi was not mentioned in documents before the Zhou Dynasty. "Shangshu" started with Yao, and the word "Huangdi" did not appear in the entire "Shangshu" and "Huangdi" was not seen in the oracle bone inscriptions. The name of Huangdi originated from the concept of "Five Directions". Judging from the oracle bone inscriptions, the Yin people already had the concept of the five directions, and the inscriptions included four in the east, south, west, northwest and north.

The records of the year of the earth receiving the year. The "Four Earths" plus "China Shang" are the "Five Directions". The concept of the five directions began to evolve into the concept of "Five Directions" around the early Western Zhou Dynasty, showing the "Five Directions" with "Five Colors". "Yi Zhou Shu-Zuo Luo" records: "Zhou Gong... built a large society in the middle of the country, and it contained Qingtu in the east, rendi soil in the south, Baitu in the west, and Litu in the north, and the central government was quasi-shaped with loess." The Zhou people started in Shaanxi on the Loess Plateau, and yellow was the most precious. Following the concept of the five directions of the Yin people, the Zhou people also divided the world into five directions and called the emperor of the five directions by the five directions. Luoyang, where the royal power is located, is Central Earth, and the Middle Earth is Yellow, then the country is called "China", and the emperor is called "Huangdi".

".Huainanzi-Astronomy says: "The central land is the emperor Huangdi." The emergence of Huangdi in the Zhou Dynasty was related to the political concepts at that time, and was the need of the Zhou tribe to strengthen the rule of all ethnic groups in all directions. In other words, Huangdi was just a form of political concepts [10]. People's understanding of history itself is also historical. Historical facts are one thing, memory of history is one thing, and expression of history is another thing. In prehistoric times, civilization first began, and historical records are all based on word of mouth. Due to the historical consciousness itself, when the ancestors explored and recited history, it is inevitable that

The limitations of historical consciousness and the connection between history for artificial purposes may therefore have fiction and imagination. In this regard, Mr. Gu Jiegang proposed the view that ancient Chinese history is "created by a layer of burial", that is, the ancients made addition and gradually produced perfunctorily. When we study the ancient imperial system of history, we should adopt the method of subtraction. We should neither regard myths as history nor conclude simply based on historical records. We should also look at historical documents historically, refer to references, remove false and retain the truth, trace their flow, explore their origins, and clarify the historical truth.

[Edit this section]

Fuxi (Source: Chinese Medicine Dictionary)

Fuxi, also known as Mi Xi, Bao Xi, Fu Xi, also known as Sacrifice Emperor, Huang Xi. He is the ancestor of mankind in Chinese mythology. His era was around the middle and late Paleolithic period and is said to be one of the founders of Chinese medicine.

"Taiping Yulan - Poems with Shenwu" records: There was a girl in a land of bliss, "The Kingdom of Huaxu", who came to a place called "Leize" to play. She accidentally saw a huge footprint. Out of curiosity, she stepped on the huge footprint. As a result, she became pregnant like this and soon gave birth to a son, with a human head and a snake body, named Mi Sa (i.e. Fuxi). Because Fuxi's birth was the result of his mother's conception after stepping on the "big trace" in Lei Ze, her ancestors thought he was the son of "Thunder God", so she recommended him as the monarch of the people and the leader of the hundred kings.

Fuxi's historical achievements were great. In terms of medicine, it was Fuxi who created the Bagua and Jiuer. "Yi Zhuan" said: In ancient times, Bao Xi ruled the world. He often looked up at the sky, studied the movement of the sun, moon, stars, and starry; leaned over to observe the terrain, and examined the direction of mountains, rivers, and rivers. He also watched the patterns of birds, beasts, animals and animals' fur and the situation where all kinds of plants growing on the earth were suitable. He took images from his body and from objects. In this case, he began to create Bagua to understand the nature of the changes of everything and to classify the shapes of everything. "The Century of the Emperor" said: Fuxi "made nine needles with a hundred medicines". Therefore, for more than a thousand years, he has been respected by the Chinese medical community as the founder of medicine and acupuncture.

Add some legend about Fuxi

There are many stories about Fuxi and Nuwa. But some legends confused me.

Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a small country called Wanqiu Kingdom in Huaiyang, Henan. One day, foreigners invaded. The king was very anxious and ordered the ministers to find a solution. The enemy was numerous and powerful, and the Wanqiu Kingdom was poor and weak. The ministers were helpless and did not speak. The king said that whoever could retreat would give the princess a betrothal to him. At this time, outside the gate of Wanqiu Kingdom, a huge white turtle came upstream of a big river, and a yellow dog stood on the white turtle. The yellow dog screamed three times, and sand and stones flew away. All the enemies who invaded were blown into the sky by the wind and fell heavily, and none of them were spared. In this way, the enemy retreated.

The king was very happy. When he was about to arrange a celebration, the yellow dog came to the hall to bark at him. At this time, he remembered the promise he made. As a king, he could not keep his word, otherwise he would not be able to lead the country. But the princess was unwilling, who would want to marry a dog? At this time, the prime minister said that the dog was a divine object from heaven, and he could become a human being as long as he was locked under the urn for 49 days. The king ordered people to do this. By 41 days, the princess couldn't stand it anymore and thought it was almost done. So he opened the urn. Who thought that there was a monster underneath, with a handsome man's head and a dog's body.

People gave him a name called Fuxi, which means human and dog. The word Fu means a person plus a dog. The word Xi is an ancient tone, equivalent to that in Chinese today.

However, it is also said that Fuxi's wife was Nuwa. A long time ago, humans suffered a flood and died. Only Fuxi and Nuwa were left behind. In order to reproduce humans, the brother and sister got married. So, is the princess of Wanqiu Kingdom Nuwa? Moreover, the legend says that both of them are human-headed and snake-headed. So, how to explain the human-headed and dog-headed body?

It is also said that Nuwa used yellow mud to create humans. Since she and Fuxi combined to reproduce humans, it became a contradiction with the legend of yellow mud to create humans. How did humans originate? There is also the legend of Nuwa repairing the sky. Since Fuxi is her brother and husband, then it should repair the sky with her. But why didn’t Fuxi participate in the legend of repairing the sky?

Nuwa is a dual-type god. Nuwa created humans in front, and a princess was named Nuwa and Fu Xi married Fu Xi. Nuwa who repaired the sky was the God of Nuwa. Nuwa and Fu Xi became gods later as two ancient people. Nuwa who created humans, Nuwa who repaired the sky was not the same god. At that time, there was more than the king who named his daughter with the name of the goddess.

[Edit this section]

Salamander pattern bottle unearthed from Tianshui

Fuxi is called the "original ancestor of humanities". Fuxi was born in Qiuchi and grew up in Chengji. His leaders decided to marry; make nets and snakes; draw eight trigrams; create zithers; set up official positions... According to common sense, Fuxi, who created such achievements, should be smart and wise. However, since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the image of Fuxi is "human head and snake body". Especially after the Han Dynasty, Fuxi's "human head and snake body" was widely used as decorative patterns in people's daily lives and deeply rooted in people's hearts.

From the perspective of later generations, Fuxi's image of "human head and snake body" is undoubtedly a monster. Is the image of "the ancestor of humanities" such a "monster"? From people's emotions, the purpose of using Fuxi's image as a decorative pattern is to express worship and respect, or treat him as a "guardian god".

Obviously, Fuxi's original appearance is not a "human-headed snake body". So why did Fuxi appear in front of people with the appearance of "human-headed snake body"?

On the 12th, the first Chinese Dragon Culture Lanzhou Forum was held in Lanzhou. The reporter interviewed Mr. Liu Yanxiang of Tianshui Normal University and other experts and scholars on the question of "Why is Fuxi 'human head and snake body'?"

Ancient ancestors are mostly snake-shaped

Mr. Liu Yanxiang is the deputy editor of the Longyou Culture Research Center of Tianshui Normal University, and has been committed to the excavation and research of Longyou culture for a long time. He believes that in ancient times, Fuxi was not alone, but Nuwa, Huangdi, Queen Mother of the West, etc., all appeared in front of people in snake shape. According to statistics, among the 454 characters recorded in "Shan Hai Jing", there are 138 people related to snake shape. It can be seen that using snake shape to describe ancestors was a relatively common way of worship in ancient times.

To solve the mystery of why Fuxi was a human-headed snake body, it is necessary to study this cultural phenomenon from a wider and deeper level. Mr. Liu Yanxiang read a large number of ancient books and explored the image of Fuxi's "human-headed snake body". In the end, he connected the scattered records in ancient books and discovered the ins and outs of the "human-headed snake body".

Judging from ancient records, Fuxi's surname is Feng. Regarding the word "wind", there is an explanation of "wind moving and insects" in "Shuowen". In the oracle bone inscriptions, "worms" and "sili" are the same word, while "sili" is the snake. In "Shan Hai Jing - Overseas South Classic", there is a saying that "worms are snakes". From this, it can be seen that there is a very close relationship between wind and snakes.

Judging from the origin of surnames, most of the surnames of people in ancient times were related to tribal totems, and some surnames came directly from tribal totems. From this point of view, Fuxi's image of "human head and snake body" evolved from the totem of Feng tribe "snake". So in ancient times, was there really a tribe that worshiped snakes and used "snake" as the totems in the ancient Chengji area to reproduce and survive?

"Human head and snake body" is a misunderstanding

Regarding the reporter's question, Mr. Liu believes that the Fuxi tribe does not use "snake" as the totem, and the image of Fuxi's "human head and snake body" is a misunderstanding among people. In fact, it should be "human head and dragon body", and this dragon evolved from a giant salamander.

"Strictly speaking, Fuxi's image should be 'human-headed salamander body' rather than 'human-headed snake body'. The so-called snake body is essentially a simplified dragon." According to "Zuo Zhuan-Zhaogong's Seventeenth Year": Taiyao's family used the dragon record, so they were named dragon masters. (Du Yu's note: "Taiyao's family is the ancestor of the Feng surname, and has dragon auspiciousness, so they are appointed as officials.) This means that the dragon is the clan emblem or totem of the Fuxi tribe.

Mr. Liu believes that snakes are the prototype of dragons, and the image of dragons evolved from snakes. This view is specious. Snake-based reptiles, and the legendary dragons and water are closely related. There is the saying of dragon kings in the four seas. From the records, there is "dragons are water objects"; there is "dragons are born in water"; there is "water accumulation forms an abyss, and dragons are born in it". In particular, dragons have very powerful abilities, far exceeding snakes, and snakes cannot compare with them.

Obviously, the prototype of the dragon is not a snake but another animal.

Uncover the original image of the dragon

Since there is not much relationship between dragons and snakes, what is the original image of dragons?

"The original image of the dragon is first of all an animal in the ancient times. It is closely related to the primitive ancestors at that time and can provide them with life help. Only in this way can people regard it as a totem." These points are also the basis and root of the emergence of totem.

Snakes were quickly ruled out because they were highly aggressive and were not closely related to people's daily lives. So what aquatic animals were closely related to people's lives in ancient times?

By analogy along the idea of ​​"the dragon is a water object", it is fish that are both "water objects" and have scales. Mr. Liu saw a record of a dragon fish in "Shan Hai Jing - Overseas Western Classic". "The dragon fish is lying like a raccoon, and it looks like a raccoon, one said." This kind of a dragon fish has a horn, which looks like a raccoon and is lying on the clouds.

What exactly is this kind of a dragon fish? The explanation of a dragon fish is said in "Er Ya": The big one is called the big one. The salamander is also known as the mermaid, commonly known as the giant salamander.

The salamander belongs to the Amphibian family. It is generally 60 cm-70 cm long, and the largest is 180 cm. It lives in valleys and streams, feeds on fish, frogs and shrimps, and its voice is similar to that of children crying. For example, there are still groups of salamander in the Quxi Scenic Area in the southeastern forest area of ​​Shui City today.

Archaeological excavations confirmed that 6,500 years ago, the temperature in Tianshui was hotter than it is now, and it had a warm temperate semi-arid climate. There were a large number of warm-loving animals, including Sumatra rhino, macaque, elephant and other animals. However, from 6,500 to 5,000 years ago, the climate changed and gradually became cold and drought. We can know that 6,500 years ago, the natural environment of Tianshui was much better than that now, and the areas suitable for salamanders must be very large. At that time, the survival and development of the ancestors were closely related to the salamanders. Especially, it was like the crying cry of a child, which gave people endless imagination and inspiration. The Fuxi tribe living here then used salamanders as the totem.

As time goes by, the ancestors painted the image of salamanders to many places. Now, two human-headed salamander pattern bottles unearthed in Wushan, Tianshui, Gangu are a microcosm of the worship of salamander totems by ancestors at that time. The salamander pattern bottles unearthed from Tianshui prove from one aspect that the original image of the dragon is salamander. They are the original creation prototypes of the original four-legged dragon and are also the totem gods of the Fuxi tribe.

It can be seen that "human-headed snake body" is actually a misunderstanding of "human-headed dragon body". The totem of the Fuxi tribe should be a simplified giant salamander.

Fuxi created the gods, Nuwa created humans, Shennong created beasts, Fuxi and Nuwa have both faces and snake bodies, so some people think that these two are brothers and sisters or siblings, but there are no records in books such as Shanhai Jing and Records of the Grand Historian. Therefore, the records in an ancient Japanese book determine that these two are brothers and sisters or siblings.
Chapter completed!