This scene was originally a mirage, but in order to cater to Qin Shihuang's desire for longevity, the alchemist described it as a legendary fairyland on the sea. Chui fook took the opportunity to write to Qin Shihuang, saying that there are three Fairy Mountain in the sea, Penglai, Abbot and Yingzhou, where immortals live and can get immortal medicine.
Qin Shihuang was very happy. In order to live forever, he sent alchemist Xu Fu to lead 3000 boys and girls to the East to ask for fairy medicine. It can be seen that the desire for longevity was very popular at that time.
In order to cater to the psychology of Ying Zheng, Qin Shihuang, there was an activity of offering wine to celebrate his birthday. Although the wine offering at that time was not necessarily associated with a specific birthday, it was still the embryonic form of birthday etiquette because the activity itself had the characteristics of "longevity".
In the historical records at that time, there were also eulogies such as "long life without borders" and "the life of Nanshan", which showed that people's blessings to those who lived long at that time were already very grand.
Deeply influenced by Taoism, there has always been the concept of "Five Blessingg cherishes longevity". People expect to live a long life, cherish life and pay attention to the world. Taoism believes that people are everywhere and is not very particular about the "afterlife". Based on such a secular point of view, China people's pursuit of longevity has never wavered, and the concept of praying for longevity runs through all aspects of traditional culture.
Legendary immortals are immortal, so seeking immortals has become an important part of the culture of praying for longevity. It is believed that the Antarctic old man star in the sky dominates the life of the country and the longevity of the people. Since the Zhou dynasty, there have been grand activities to sacrifice longevity stars.
In addition, influenced by Confucianism, there is a folk saying that "loyalty and filial piety become gods and filial piety becomes immortals". For ordinary people, it seems more practical to pray for longevity in folk activities. Birthday is the most common birthday celebration, and there are many decorative themes around birthdays, such as Happy Birthday, Five Blessingg Birthday, Happy Birthday and Long Live Birthday.
There are also many decorative changes in the word "longevity", the long one is called "longevity" and the round one is called "Tuanshou". There are also multi-character ideographic patterns, such as "longevity map", which consists of 100 birthday characters with different shapes. These longevity words are also widely used in daily furniture, buildings and utensils, reflecting the good wishes of China people to protect themselves and pursue health and longevity with longevity words.
Crane is regarded as the first feather family, and is called "a bird with a needle" by the people, second only to phoenix. Legend has it that the crane has an infinite life span and is regarded as the "king of longevity". Turtles are also regarded as a symbol of longevity because of their longevity. Pine trees are evergreen all year round. They are cold-resistant, frost-resistant and vigorous plants. They are very old, which can reach thousands of years. Pine trees are also widely used to represent longevity.
This common mascot is often collocated to express longevity. Pine cranes are collectively called "Longevity of Pine Crane", "Longevity of Crane", "Longevity of Pine Crane" and "Longevity of Pine Crane". Cranes and turtles are painted together, which are called "Guishou", "Guiheshou" and "Guiheshou". If you paint a fairy looking up at the immortal star and crossing the crane, it's called "Immortals offer longevity", painting a crane, deer and phoenix tree is called "Liuhe Tongchun", and standing on the rock is called "one product at a time".
We often see the above three kinds of animals and plants in Shou Xingtu or in the designs about longevity. As long as they are there, it means a long life. "Five Ruitu" is a picture symbolizing longevity. The ancients often painted it to celebrate birthdays and pray for peace. These five senses refer to Toona sinensis, Hemerocallis fulva, Lan Zhi, rocks and bamboo.
Toona sinensis stands for longevity. In Zhuangzi, there was a big Toona sinensis in ancient times, which was called spring at the age of one thousand and autumn at the age of eight thousand. Later, people regarded Toona sinensis as a symbol of longevity. Hemerocallis is also called "a girl without sadness". It is said that it can make people forget their troubles. Lan Zhi is a domestic plant planted in the courtyard, which means that the offspring are kept at home instead of in the wild.
The rock is a flat and thick stone, standing still on the ground. In the ancient poem, "The monarch should be a rock, and the concubine should be a reed; Puwei is so tough that the rocks are not transferred. Later, people used stones to represent stability. Because the rock is durable, it has the nickname "Shoushi" and is also regarded as a symbol of longevity.
If a picture of "Five Ruitu" is hung at home, it symbolizes that this family has a long life and no worries, prosperous children and grandchildren, a solid family foundation and a safe life. Therefore, the people regard Wuruitu as the mascot of their home and let their families get shelter.
Shou was originally a very common Chinese character, but because of people's concept of longevity, it has gone far beyond ordinary Chinese characters, not only with rich extension of meaning, but also with various fonts. People also make a big fuss about the words and images of longevity, patterning and artistically making it a longevity mascot. According to statistics, there are more than 300 patterns of longevity characters, including patterns that use a single word to express meaning, such as "Hundred Days Map", "Double Days Map" and "Five Blessingg Shoushou".
Older people often wear clothes with "Shouzi", pillows embroidered with "Shouzi" and quilts woven with "Shouzi". In the old countryside, "Shouzi" was often painted in the paintings around the kang, and there was also "Shouzi" on the rafters. All these reflect the Chinese nation's pursuit of health and longevity, hoping to bless their good wishes with the auspicious spell of "longevity".
In the traditional concept of our country, the ancients thought that people were everywhere, so it was natural to make a fuss about the length of life. Many things are also named longevity, such as chrysanthemums called "Ju Shou", peaches called "Shoutao" and birthday wine called "Shoujiu". There are also words specially used to celebrate birthdays, such as the immortal pine and cypress, and the turtle and crane that have lived for thousands of years.