Qíng, the word means "tattoo and sculpture". In ancient times, a punishment that was often used to treat prisoners was called "torture", and its expression was usually engraved on people's faces and left traces. This kind of punishment can be traced back to ancient times, and it was the longest used punishment in China's ancient feudal society. On the one hand, it is to punish criminals and leave marks on them for identification. On the other hand, be kind to soldiers and avoid desertion.
Regarding this kind of punishment, there is a record in the section of Zhou Li's Punishment: After the sentence "The crime of ink is 500", Zheng Xuan noted: "Ink is also black, so carve its face first and smother it with ink. The words engraved on the forehead are sores, and the ink smothers the sore points, which makes the color change. "
The origin of torture is very early and its development history is very long. During its evolution, a "gas" culture appeared. Body means carving patterns or words on the body, which is what we now call a tattoo. Before the Tang Dynasty, the main target of scorpion body was criminals. In addition, there is a folk saying called "binding the body to avoid the dragon". After entering the Tang Dynasty, social tolerance, enlightenment and economic development made the body culture begin to change. For ordinary people, it has become a social custom and a fashion that people compete for. Therefore, Duan devoted a chapter "Fu" in Youyang Zayu to tell the popularity of "Tattoos" in the Tang Dynasty.
People in the Tang Dynasty regarded tattooing as a fashionable social trend, and the skill of tattooing was also quite high at that time, especially in central Sichuan. It was once known as "Shu man-made thorns are picturesque". So, today, we will talk about the popularity of "tattoos" in the Tang Dynasty. Where is it reflected?
The expansion of tattoo groups
As we said earlier, before the Tang Dynasty, corpses were mainly used to punish criminals. After entering the Tang Dynasty, it evolved into a cultural custom more widely. Of course, its punishment function still exists. The Old Tang Book records the story of Shangguan Waner's "If you want to punish him, God will not kill him, but it is only nine Niu Yi hairs". Later, in order to cover up the "haze" on her face, Shangguan Waner covered it with cut and paste flowers. Later, in the Tang Dynasty, some women would cut out flowers with colored paper and stick them on their eyebrows to decorate themselves. This kind of makeup became popular in the Tang Dynasty, and it was also considered unintentional for Shangguan Waner. Later, women in the Tang Dynasty painted on their cheeks to achieve the beauty of decoration.
Youyang Miscellaneous Notes recorded that Wei, a teenager in Shu, was "happy (zhā)". In Chang' an, there are often many people around to look at tattoos, just like the book says, "Someone stabbed his arm at the entrance of Changle, and dozens of people looked around." Besides, in Chang 'an, there are some teenagers who often disturb the people. They are also tattooed. At that time, Jing He killed more than 30 people at a time, which shows that there are many tattoos. Zhang Jianfeng, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem called "Song of Race", which describes the Dragon Boat Race in the South of the Yangtze River. There are two lines in the poem: "Don't put everything in an instant, please put it on the book." These two poems show that athletes at that time also had tattoos.
Tattoos gradually evolved into a custom and hobby from the initial punishment of "swearing" to the Tang Dynasty. From early targeting at criminals to Tang Dynasty, from dignitaries to ordinary people, people have regarded tattoos as a popular custom in society. They decorate themselves with tattoos and express their thoughts on life with tattoos.
There are really many tattoos in the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty is the peak of cultural development, and the richness of culture provides a steady stream of content images for people's tattoos. In the Tang Dynasty, people often chose the following kinds when tattooing:
1. Poetry and songs
As we all know, great poets and works are the most important things in the Tang Dynasty, and those catchy poems have become the first choice for people to tattoo. In Youyang Miscellany, it is recorded that "Ge Qing, princesa of Jingzhou, stabbed Bai Juyi's poems all over the floor from the neck down, and more than 30 poems were all broken into pieces, which was called Bai Sheren's poems by the world". It is also recorded in the book that Zhao Wu Jian has 160 tattoos all over his body. On his left and right arms, there are tattoos of "Wild ducks left on the beach and were attacked in the morning". I suddenly flew into the water in surprise and left my life until now. Through these examples, we can see the love of Tang people for poetry. In order to show their respect for the poet, they chose to tattoo the content of the poem on their bodies.
2. Landscape flowers and birds
Apart from the heyday of poetry, Yan, Wu Daozi and others occupied a dominant position in the painting of the Tang Dynasty, which also made the painting of the Tang Dynasty a bright spot in history. Landscape flowers and birds that often appear in paintings are also the favorite content when people tattoo. Wang Anlinu of Chang 'an did not hesitate to pay 5,000 yuan to ask the workers to tattoo themselves. In his chest and abdomen, "there are mountains, pavilions, ponds, plants, birds and animals, all of which are well known and have fine colors." Such a tattoo, with mountains, water and flowers and birds, can be described as a pleasing landscape painting. Of course, we can also see that there were already professional tattoo artists in Chang 'an at that time, and they were expensive.
3. Buddhist things
During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist culture prevailed, and people often praised Buddhist things. Some people want to gain strength by tattooing. Duan's door is full of power, and a Buddha king is tattooed on his back. He often thinks that the king has given himself divine power. Therefore, every first and fifteenth day, he will prepare sacrifices, burn incense and sit down, and let his wife and children worship the king on his back.
Faith is a kind of power. In the Tang Dynasty, people worshipped Buddha statues in temples, hoping that the Buddha statues could satisfy their inner prayers. Of course, in order to show this belief and reverence for Buddha, it was popular to combine it with one's own skin.
In addition to these contents, the pavilions, birds and beasts, puppet shows and so on we see every day are "things that can be tattooed" in the hands of the Tang people.
Interesting starting point of Tang Dynasty tattoo
During the Tang Dynasty, all kinds of people would choose tattoos, and different people would have different starting points. Let's talk about the starting point of tattoos in the Tang Dynasty.
1. Just to look good and like it.
As mentioned earlier, Ge Qing tattooed more than 30 poems by Bai Juyi because he liked Bai Juyi's poems. In addition, in order to look good, Wang Anlino of Chang 'an also tattooed the color of mountains and rivers on his chest and abdomen. The two tattoos are simple: like, beautiful. They regard tattoos as a kind of love and pursuit of things.
Joking and teasing others.
Cui is an observer in Qiannan. When he was young, he had a big snake tattooed on his body. The snake "started from the right hand, with its mouth open, its arm stretched out, its arm twisted its wrist, it was at odds with its abdomen, its legs dragged and its tail stretched out". He often reaches out his arm to show the snake's mouth after a while of drunkenness, grabs actors and others and says, "The snake bites you." In order to deliberately Doby them, for a pleasure.
Escape punishment
As mentioned earlier, the people in the Tang Dynasty admired Buddhism, and some people tattooed the Buddha King on their bodies in the hope of gaining divine power. However, some people use loopholes to escape punishment. There is a man named Zhao Gao in Shu, a street rogue, whose "back is full of King Vishnu". I want to stick my back to watch the king stop. "It means that Zhao Gao has a Buddhist King Kong tattooed on his back, but when officials want to punish him with a stick, they can't do it out of respect for Buddhism.
All the above points are actively choosing tattoos, and of course they are passively accepted. During the period from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, wars were frequent, and some separatist regions even adopted the method of "beating the body" in order to let the soldiers follow wholeheartedly. In the History of the Old Five Dynasties, it is recorded that Liu Shouguang, the prince of Yan, "tried his best to attract Ding Fu as a military attache in the Ministry, but was ashamed of his face".
The so-called tattoo was all the rage in the Tang Dynasty, which had a lot to do with the tolerant social and cultural background in the Tang Dynasty. Different national cultures blended with each other in the Tang Dynasty. With the prosperity of social economy, people's inner pursuit of new things is also growing. In such a big environment, "tattoo" originated from "torture" has gradually become a popular thing in the daily life of Tang people.