Wang Kuoxin's New Han Painting Collection

Author: Wang Kuohai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The origin of humans has been imagined by ancient people, forming dazzling myths. Legend has it that Fuxi is the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and Nüwa is the ancient female. They together created humans. Ancient people exaggerated and transformed these imagined figures to varying degrees, creating "Fuxi with a human head and a snake body." The Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) in the Great West Circuit chapter states: "Nuwa, an ancient goddess and emperor, has a human face and a snake body." The Liezi (Liezi) in the Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) chapter mentions: "Paoxi (also known as Fuxi) and Nuwa, both with snake bodies and human faces." Han Dynasty stone carvings inherited these myths about Fuxi and Nuwa, and created romanticized and expressive works. In the stone coffin slab from Tomb No. 2 at Zhangjiagou in Hejiang County, Sichuan Province, there are carvings of Nuwa holding a compass and Fuxi holding a square, both with human heads and snake bodies, long legs, and tails that intertwine. The intertwined tails symbolize the proliferation of offspring, while holding the compass and square represents governing the world with divine power, maintaining order and rules. Ancient people, with their magnificent imagination and exaggerated techniques, freely explored, forming a series of interpretations about the celestial universe that blend reality and fiction. It is precisely this mysterious and romantic interpretation that eventually shaped the various mystical and bizarre figures seen in Han Dynasty stone carvings, in a sense, achieving the glorious Han Dynasty stone carving art recorded in history.