Chapter 12 Chapter 5 The Book of the Phoenix Title

In the "Han Wu Stories" written by Ban Gu, there is a moving legend about the myth that the Queen Mother of China and the West ordered the "blue bird" to pass on the book.In the totem worship in ancient my country, the dragon and the phoenix were the most respected, and gradually evolved into using the dragon to describe the most respected man, and using the phoenix to describe the most respected woman, which became one of the special terms used by emperors and empresses.Therefore, in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there appeared an acrobatic show "Phoenix with Books" compiled and performed by court artists to cater to the emperor's psychology.

This acrobatics was also very popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to the "Ye Zhong Ji", Shihu and the queen watched the "edict, five-color paper" and then put the edict into the mouth of the Phoenix made of wood and "painted with five-color lacquer". "The waiter puts a few feet of the red rope, and the potter's wheel turns", causing the wooden phoenix to fly down from the sky, "called the Fengzhao".In the "Book of Southern Qi·Le Zhi", there is "Phoenix Titled Shu Jige Ci", and it is commented: "It is also like the fish and dragons", which means that it evolved from the development of the fish and dragons in the early Han Dynasty.In fact, "Phoenix" is just a legendary different bird. It is said that it is the king of birds. It probably looks like a long-tailed chicken, so in the Song Dynasty this acrobatic was changed to "Golden Rooster Title Book".According to the records of the "pardon" in volume 10 of "Tokyo Menghualu" by Meng Yuanlao of the Song Dynasty, every time the Song Dynasty performed on the day when the prisoner was pardoned, there was a piece of acrobatics with the words "Long Live the Emperor" and a naked upper body in the mouth of the golden rooster. The entertainer climbed to the top of the pole, took the letter of pardon from the mouth of the golden rooster, played drums, unshackled the locks, and released the prisoner to show the emperor's kindness.

"Phoenix Contains Book" and "Golden Rooster Hold Book" are very similar large-scale acrobatics with mechanism background. It does not have particularly difficult acrobatic moves, but relies on the ingenious mechanism to make the phoenix or golden rooster fly up and down freely. , Then send someone to take out a pre-written auspicious message or pardon letter from the mouth, to take auspiciousness, or to show the emperor's favor.