“Stone dogs in the Leizhou Peninsula”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

There is no distinct rule in the distribution of stone dogs. Most of them are scattered in the coastal areas of the Leizhou Peninsula, especially in Zhanjiang City, Xuwen County, Haikang County, Lanjiang City, Suixi County and many other small rural villages' entrances, corners, gates, ponds and the entrances of the houses and temples. They are famous in Chentown, Angle Tail Town, Longmen Town, QinDou Town, Lianjiang City, Hengshan Town, GoodDong Town, and Shuixi Jiang Hong Town because stone dogs of these cities are more completely preserved.^[3] The stone dogs in different regions come in different shapes, representing the evolution of the region. The discovery sites are historical, and may date back to the Qing Dynasty. According to the unofficial statistics Leizhou Peninsula has over a million stone dogs. The Leizhou Museum has collected nearly 500 stone dogs from the countryside, village corners, buried underground, or the villagers.^[4]

History

Origin

Stone dogs are a product of the historic culture and natural environment in Leizhou Peninsula.^[5] The folk religions play the most important role, especially totemism and the worship of the Immortal Thunder. The culture of Chu and Han Dynasty, Taoism culture, Buddhist culture and geomancy also contribute to the rich historic meanings of stone dogs. Leizhou Peninsula is one of the most famous minefields in the world. The worship of the Immortal Thunder became a regional origin of the superstition of Stone Dogs in Leizhou. Li, Lao, Yao, Tong, Miao, and Lin peoples all inhabited Leizhou Peninsula at the very beginning. Those peoples had their own totems, such as Lin worships the raccoon dog and Miao regarded cats as their totem. Over time the local peoples gradually mixed together and were influenced one another. Their previous mascots and totems had been changed or integrated with each other. Eventually they reached a consensus on regarding the dog as their mascot in Leizhou Peninsula. From then on the worship of dogs become the origin of Stone Dogs culture.^[5]

Connotation

Originally, aborigines in Leizhou Peninsula thought dogs had abundant fertility, especially the ability to give birth to male dogs. In ancient times Chinese people focused on the fertility not of the land, but of the people farming it. Many of Stone dogs in the Leizhou Peninsula have gigantic penises as a symbol of blessings for the villagers’ fertility. Stone dogs were also considered auspicious animals. It is believed that they can bring rain for the farms. The people believe rainwater is charity from God, so the rain-praying ceremony would be held at fixed time, especially in case of drought. It originates from a legend that a thousand years ago, a severe drought hit Leizhou Peninsula and a wizard told people all the sufferings resulted from the mischief of the Immortal Sun. Only the heavenly dog could make the powerful bark to scare off the Immortal Sun. In Chinese myths, there is a story about a heavenly dog eating the sun and bringing rain to the people. Stone dogs were also regarded as an angel, who is able to suppress evil and gave a blessing of peace. There is a fear of thunder and storms because excessive rain will rot the rice crops. In Chinese, Lei means thunder, and Zhou means peninsula. Leizhou Peninsul is abeside the Qiongzhou Strait, where are the active lightning zone. In ancient time, Leizhou was a wild land that is full of brownish miasma. The local residents had to dwell in the harsh conditions. Some mystic natural phenomenon is a terrible threat to their living. Consequently, wherever people thought there was a demon, they placed stone dogs to help protect them; thus at the gate or before temples and tombs, at every entrance to village, the road, lane lay stone dogs with surly and brutal-looking, and wild-eyed expressions. Today, stone dogs in the Leizhou are a cultural heritage and contribute to the cultural fame all over the world. They help Leizhou Peninsula boast many historical attractions.^[6]

Characteristics

Features

Leizhou stone dogs are carved from basalt. The biggest stone dog is about 130 cm high, and the smallest one is only about 10 cm high, which is similar to a real dog. Leizhou stone dogs have a variety of distinct features in different times and regions. The carving methods are unknown, but the style is plain with the exquisite workmanship. The carving material had disappeared. Based on the type, stone dogs can be roughly classified into three groups:

Types

Polymorphic Stone Dog: Leizhou Peninsula in the past was a multi-ethnic gathering of regional culture. The various tribal totems were carved on the stone dogs. Without advanced tools, there were few features of facial expressions, only concise lines on the rough bodies. These kind of stone dogs are preserved now in the museums.

Anthropomorphized Stone Dog: The people sanctify the stone dog to be a god and more humanized. This kind of stone dog has a stone face with exaggerated human facial features, especially the nose, mouth, eyes, eyebrow bone and so on.

Lionlike Stone Dog: These stone dogs have many of the features of lions. This type has a round head, sunken eyes, and rich facial expression like a lion's. In ancient times, Leizhou City was China's most southern political, military, economic, cultural place of Maritime Silk Road.^[7] Beginning in the Han Dynasty the foreign trade was very prosperous. Foreign culture, along with business, spread around Leizhou, especially Buddhist culture. According to Buddhism, the lion is the king of all animals. Stone dogs in Leizhou Peninsula have the characteristics of the lions, which was influenced by Buddhist culture to make the stone dog the king of all animals in Leizhou.

References

1. ^¹Lin Taozhu (2010). Leizhou Stone Dog Culture. Beijing: Chinese Literature and History Press. [雷州石狗文化[专著]／林涛著. 2010.9]
2. ^Situ Shangji (2014). Overview of Leizhou Culture. Guangzhou: Guangdong People's Publishing House, 2014.3[雷州文化概论[专著]／司徒尚纪著；岭南文库编辑委员会, 广东中华民族文化促进会合编．—广州：广东人民出版社，2014.3]
3. ^雷州石狗 "百度百科" Accessed November, 2015.
4. ^Ju Yunshi. The essence and shape of Leizhou Stone Dog. Art Research Periodical.[雷州石狗雕刻的文化特质与造型方法/巨云和,文化遗产周刊]
5. ^¹The Carving Art of Stone Dog in the Peninsula of Leizhou. Superfluous Things Periodical,2008,8 [雷州半岛的石狗雕刻艺术/陈波，长物志总第172期.]
6. ^Zhu Jianzheng.(2012). Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong Marine Economy Development Research. Beijing: Economic Science Press.雷州半岛暨广东海洋经济发展研究[专著]／朱坚真,吕彩霞主编；朱坚真[等]编著．—北京：经济科学出版社，2012.08]
7. ^Wang Binghua (2010). Two archaeological issues of the silk road： the silk road: deploitation, transformation and contribution - from the perspective of Xinjiang archaeology； a study on the Juluzi Storehouse site. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University RaoZong Academic Library.絲路考古兩題[专著]：壹、從新疆考古看"絲綢之路"的開拓、變化、奉獻；貳、居盧訾倉故址研究.王炳華著．—香港：香港大學饒宗頣學術館，2010.12]

Distribution