■ The origin and meaning of Chinese knots
Chinese knot is a unique folk hand-woven ornament in China, which originated from the knotting notes of ancient ancestors. According to "Yi Cohesion", "In ancient times, the method of tying a rope was used, and later saints used bibliographic contracts easily." Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty said in the Book of Changes: "The big deal is to tie a rope and tie a big knot; Things are small, sum up the rope. " As a decorative art, it began in the Tang and Song Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people began to give names to knots, giving them rich connotations, such as: a happy knot represents auspiciousness; Pisces knot represents auspicious and festive, and the art of knot-making reached its peak at that time.
The characteristic of Chinese knots is that each knot is woven with a thread from beginning to end, and each basic knot is named according to its shape and meaning. When different ornaments are combined together, or combined with other ornaments with auspicious patterns, traditional auspicious ornaments with unique shapes, colorful colors and rich connotations are formed.
■ The historical origin of Chinese knots
Children in China learned to tie knots a long time ago, and "knots" have always played an important role in people's lives in China. One of the reasons why the knot is so important is that it is a very practical technology, and at the same time, it is also an art that can be appreciated. Here I briefly describe the historical development of Chinese knots. If one of the netizens is a historian, don't laugh at my little brother's ignorance. Cut short the nonsense and return to one's muttons.
As early as the end of the Paleolithic period, that is, in the cave man cultural site in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, archaeologists discovered the existence of "bone needles". Since there is a needle, there must be a rope at that time. From this, we infer that simple knotting and sewing techniques should have been formed at that time. The earliest written records are easy to quote: "There was a record of knotting ropes in ancient times, and later saints used it to write books", and Zheng Xuan Zhouyi also noted; As the saying goes, great things are tied to their ropes, and small things are summed up in their ropes. However, the figures and symbols seen on bronzes during the Warring States period still have the shape of knots. Judging from these historical materials, the structure has indeed been used as a tool to assist memory, and it can also be said that it is the predecessor of words. Wearing habits: The earliest clothes didn't have today's buttons, zippers and other accessories, so if you want to tie clothes, you can only use the method of tying belts.
Jade collocation: Chinese people have always had the habit of wearing jade. The shapes of past dynasties include jade yellow, jade dragon and jade □. , and drilled a small round hole in it, so as to pass through the rope and tie these Yu Pei on the clothes. In addition, there is a complete set of Yu Pei, which is composed of several different Yu Pei of Linlin Langlang on a long rope, and its connection mode is of course not by tying a rope.
Application: The ancients had the habit of hanging the supervisor on their bodies. For example, the Chinese seal handed down from generation to generation has a button on each side. In ancient bronze mirrors, the mirror buckle was cast in the center of the back and could be held side by side. It is not difficult to see from these two places that Chinese knots were widely used in China's ancient life.
Concentric knot: The ancients liked to weave ribbons into a string of palindromes to express their love, named it concentric knot. In Liang Wudi's poems, there is a saying that "the waist is double and the dream is concentric knot", and in Jiao Fang's music in the Tang Dynasty, there is also an inscription of "concentric knot".
Women's Decoration: The scroll of "Women's Historical Prose" painted by Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, quite truly reflects the social outlook at that time, from which we can learn one thing about women's decoration at that time. For example, a simple one-wing bow was found as a practical ornament on a woman's belt in the painting. In addition, in the mural of Princess Yongtai's tomb in the Tang Dynasty, a lady had a knot on her belt, which is what we now call a bow. By the Qing Dynasty, knots had been regarded as an art with various styles and ingenious patterns. At that time, knots were widely used as decorations. Daily necessities such as sedan chairs, curtains, door curtains, shoulder pendants, flutes, sachets, hair clips, necklaces, glasses bags, tobacco bags, etc. It is often decorated with beautiful knots, which usually has auspicious meaning.
Modern knotting art: In the Qing Dynasty, knots developed to a very high level, with many styles and ingenious names. This beautiful ornament was simply regarded as a work of art. In the thirty-fifth chapter of Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions, "White jade tastes lotus leaf soup, and Huang Qiao is a plum blossom", there is a dialogue describing Baoyu's knotting with negotiation (winding is one of the applications of knots), which explains the purpose of knots at that time, the deployment and knotting of ornaments. Knots were very useful at that time. For example, wedding knots sent by relatives and friends were decorated with intricate and varied knots and tassels. Beautiful decorative knots are also made on daily necessities such as sedan chairs, curtains, curtain hooks, fan pendants, flutes and flutes, sachets, hairpins, lockers, glasses bags, tobacco bags, calligraphy and painting hanging shafts, and sometimes these knots have auspicious meanings.
Today's Chinese knot art: Since the Republic of China, due to the massive import of western ideas such as science and technology, China's original social form and lifestyle have undergone major changes, and many inherent cultural heritages have not been well preserved and disseminated, resulting in low practical value, while time-consuming and laborious traditional culture and skills have gradually declined and even disappeared in the society that is constantly transforming into modernization. China's traditional knitting technology is the best example. Another reason for the decline of weaving art is that the materials it uses, whether animal fibers or ropes made of plants, are limited by innate conditions and cannot withstand various physical and chemical erosion of the years, so they cannot be passed down to future generations for a long time. The oldest knot attached to utensils can only be found in the Qing Dynasty.
Because of its long history, Chinese knots run through human history. The long-standing cultural precipitation makes Chinese knots permeate the unique and pure cultural essence of the Chinese nation and contain rich cultural connotations. "Rope" and "God" are homophonic, and China culture once worshipped rope in its formation stage. According to written records: "Nu Wa leads the rope in the mud and holds it like a human being." Because the rope is like a coiled snake dragon, China people are descendants of the dragon. In prehistoric times, the image of the dragon god was reflected by the change of knots. The word "knot" is also a word that expresses strength, harmony and emotion. Whether it's union, friendship, unity, result or marriage, the heart will always be United. "Knot" gives people a feeling of reunion, intimacy and warmth, and is the harmonious sound of "knot" and "auspiciousness". "Luck" has rich and colorful contents, which is a blessing or a blessing. "Auspicious" is the eternal pursuit theme of human beings, and "knot", a vital folk skill, has naturally become the essence of China traditional culture, which has flourished and spread to this day.