The Study Of Wei SHOU In China ——From The Han Dynasties To The Sui And Tang Dynasties

WEISHOU is a kind of supernatural image commonly seen in Buddhism Grottoes and grave during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China,and its origin and attributes are one of the pending issues in the current academic circles.There are two main viewpoints debated by scholars at home and abroad: WEISHOU is the Zoroastrianism God and WEISHOU is the original image of Chinese culture.From the perspective of Han culture,WEISHOU is subdivided into the following major points of view: WEISHOU is derived from FANG XIANG SHI,WEISHOU is derived from WUHUO Hercules,WEISHOU belongs to the image of Buddhism,and WEISHOU belongs to the god of wind,rain,thunder and lightning in Chinese traditional mythology.WEISHOU images were rare before the Southern and Northern Dynasties,and it is difficult to study them when the origin and historical context are unclear.It happened that the epitaph of "FENG Yong’s wife yuan’s tomb" in the Northern Wei Dynasty was covered with 18 stone WEISHOU statues.The images were preserved completely,and there were also corresponding list questions."PI DIAN,WU HUO and FU SHOU" in the title are recorded in ancient documents such as "XI JING FU","CHUCI" and "HANSHU" respectively.This paper speculates that they should correspond to "Lightning God,WUHUO Hercules and SHOU FU（Beast）" in the Han Dynasty or even earlier.Considering the characteristics of WEISHOU image in its historical process,this paper takes the image and meaning of southern and Northern dynasties WEISHOU as the starting point: Tracing forward,according to the characteristics of Southern and Northern Dynasties WEISHOU images and relevant literature records,delineate the scope of data collection and classification,and gradually define the categories of WEISHOU before Southern and Northern Dynasties WEISHOU.And the earlier embryonic WEISHOU situation.Combing backward,observing and analyzing the changes of WEISHOU images and meanings after the Southern and Northern Dynasties.Southern and Northern Dynasties is the "Mature period" of WEISHOU,and it is also the period when WEISHOU has the richest images,the largest number and the largest types of carriers.In the Southern Dynasty,WEISHOU image had clear outline and features,forming the initial image.The image paradigm and allegorical meaning of WEISHOU in the Northern Dynasty have come to maturity.It should be noted that WEISHOU was changeable,open and inclusive from the beginning.Before the Northern Dynasties,even in the embryonic stage of WEISHOU,Zoroastrianism,Buddhism or other foreign cultural factors may have had a direct or indirect impact on WEISHOU’s image and implication.Also because of WEISHOU’s inclusiveness and diversity,the phenomenon of WEISHOU belonging to the same WEISHOU but different visual images appears in Buddhism place,Chinese culture grave and Zoroastrianism grave.Tracing back to the source,the material subject selected a large number of Han portraits with rich contents.Through the results of previous data collation,it was finally confirmed that a certain number of the seven types of images,such as FANG XIANGSHI,Bear,Tiger,Lux,Thor and Ghost,had evidence related to later generations of WEISHOU,which were early images of WEISHOU and belonged to the category of WEISHOU.This can also be proved from the comparison results of the dynamic postures of WEISHOU and southern and Northern dynasties WEISHOU in Chinese painting.There is a sequential relationship between them.After reviewing the materials of WEISHOU after Southern and Northern Dynasties,it is found that since Sui and Tang Dynasties,the number of WEISHOU images has decreased rapidly,and the combination of WEISHOU images and other images has been reconstructed,and the meaning and attributes of the reconstructed images have changed greatly.In addition,on the basis of the same moral,other visual images gradually replace WEISHOU.The main points of this paper are as follows:WEISHOU is a product of Han culture,but its images and meanings are inevitably influenced by Taoism,Buddhism,Zoroastrianism and folk culture,and some external influences may have occurred in the early stage of WEISHOU’s germination.WEISHOU has a sequential relationship on the vertical time line.Although the meaning of WEISHOU is open,its core meaning of guarding against deterrence,warding off evil spirits and exorcising ghosts,protecting souls through the dark and ascending to immortality has always been unchanged.In the tombs of Han,Parsee and Buddhism,there will be some emphasis and adjustment,but the overall direction remains unchanged.WEISHOU’s image and implication are changeable and open.WEISHOU does not only refer to a certain animal,a certain person or a certain God.It is a complex of multiple meanings and a kind of image.Such images have the same basic framework of visual image,but also have great tolerance and openness to changes in details,which will produce local different individuals due to external environmental factors.This is also the reason why there are many disputes on the naming and attribution of WEISHOU in the academic circle.