Chapter 146 Chapter 5 Legend

The next day, the vast sky was still pale, and our team set off for Nagqu County.We sat on the off-road vehicle and looked at the wilderness with no end in sight, the rolling hills, and the white snow cracks that were blindingly white under the sun. Everyone was amazed at the plateau scenery, and my mood was also in this The holy place was temporarily released, and felt a lot more relaxed in an instant.Professor He Kai is not in the same car as us, so we have no chance to talk. I can only guess what happened in 1976 out of thin air. What is the purpose of Professor He Kai in this operation?Although she has always stated that she wants to better understand the situation in no man's land so that the country can develop, but I always vaguely feel that she has other purposes. Although she is not as kind as a vicious woman, the people I have known this year Most people cannot judge from the surface.

While thinking, we unknowingly came to the Yangbajing Basin at the southern foot of Nyainqentanglha Mountain.Unexpectedly, the off-road vehicle we took had a problem and broke down.Professor He Kai got out of the car and asked about the situation. She told us to catch up with the team as soon as we repaired the car. They waited for us and the sponsor in Nagqu County first.Chen Jing and Xinhong were not worried, and I didn't know whether to complain or worry. I seemed to have lost my soul, and I didn't know what to think about.Fortunately, our driver is very kind and professional. He said that it can be repaired in half an hour, and asked us to wait patiently, or walk around, as long as we don't get lost.

Seeing the convoy go away, I felt relieved, probably the closer I got to the answer, the more uncertain my heart was, but I had already come to the answer, and I must not back down anymore.This place is only 78 kilometers away from Lhasa, but the altitude is already above 4350 meters. I even feel that my breathing is not smooth, but the other two people have no reaction at all.There are no buildings around, but white mist rises slowly in many places, just like a fairyland. Under the bright sunshine, they blend with the Nyainqentanglha Snow Mountain behind, which is really spectacular. Because I knew half a year ago that I was going to visit Qiang Tang, I had a solid understanding of this area.The white mist is actually the famous Yangpajain geothermal field. In 1975, the country had already laid the first damp and hot steam well here. The geothermal energy in Yangpajain is very rich, and Lhasa has nearly 40% of the electricity. All come from this.The three of us were marveling at the hot scenery, but when the fog cleared, I saw a large ash in the fog, and there were some bird tracks on the wet ground.These few footprints are very unusual and unusually large, as big as a football.There were still many feathery things in the ashes, but they were shattered into powder when the breeze blew, and there were many bird tracks where there was ash.I have never seen such a large bird footprint, and I am very surprised, and it looks very unreal.

The driver was repairing the off-road vehicle. When he saw these scenes, he felt very normal.The driver is a local and knows more about the surroundings than us.He told us that there was a legend near here, but as the local population migrated, the foreign population moved here again, and that legend almost disappeared.I thought it might have something to do with my parents and the worship of Xuanniao, so I hurriedly asked, "What is the content of that legend, don't you remember?" "Of course I remember, but it's very sporadic. I often heard about it when I was a child, but now no one remembers it." The driver saw that the three of us were very interested, and felt very honored. He probably felt that he could sell his knowledge in front of intellectuals. It's an honor too, and it's these righteous displays of justice that we need.

"When I was young, I heard many old people mention that there was a phoenix at the junction of Qinghai and Tibet. This phoenix often caught fire, and every time it caught fire, there was such a place of ashes and its footprints. I also thought It's just a legend, but it's true that many people have seen flames flying around, or rolling around on the ground at night. The next morning, people can find a lot of footprints in that place. Don't believe it, you are Archaeologists, there are many footprints of phoenixes here, and some of them have become fossils, just pay attention to the ground, maybe you can find many fossils of footprints!" After the driver finished speaking, he wanted to continue repairing the off-road vehicle, but I thought of something, so I said another sentence, "But don't look carefully when you see the flames, if you see the phoenix in the flames, you will..."

"What will happen?" Chen Jing asked anxiously when she heard the driver's voice dragging on for a long time. "I don't remember either. Anyway, don't stare at Fenghuang. If you want to live a normal life, I really don't remember how it is. Anyway, the old people say so." The driver concentrated on repairing the car after speaking, and ignored him. us. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" Xinhong asked in a daze. "Of course I believe that he has no enmity with us. There is no need to lie to us. It is a pity that the legends have been lost in this modern society. If we don't pay attention to preservation, many myths and legends will disappear." I said sadly.

"The footprints are real, didn't you see them?" Chen Jing pointed to the footprints on the ground and said. The footprints on the ground are not fake, it is impossible for someone to fake it everywhere, and the legend has been around for a long time, how could the fakers have been cheating for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years.The driver said that there are still fossil footprints, so it is more real. Maybe if you get such a piece, you will become famous all over the world immediately.The phoenix is ​​actually a kind of mysterious bird worship.However, modern science has always regarded phoenixes and dragons as fictional animals, which do not exist in the world at all, and no fossils of phoenixes have been unearthed, so this fictional theory is not out of the question.

Director Zha has done a lot of research on the worship of black birds. Many books he gave us also contain records about phoenixes, including many orthodox schools, and there are also many folklore.The origin of the phoenix dates back to the Neolithic Age. Many bird patterns on painted pottery in the primitive society are the prototype of the phoenix. Unearthed from the Hemudu Culture in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province about 6,700 years ago, there are carved images of double bird patterns on ivory bone vessels. The bird pattern should be the earliest record of the ancient phoenix, and according to myths and legends, the phoenix evolved from the bird totem of the Yin people in the East.Many nations in the world have their own special animals. In history, the worship of certain animals seems to have prevailed in early human civilization.For example, many peoples in Europe and Asia loved lions and eagles as emblems—because they were symbols of strength and agility.In ancient China, the animals worshiped by the Chinese were dragon and phoenix.However, for thousands of years, the truth of the dragon and the phoenix has always been a mystery.How it originated, everyone is guessing, and no one has any evidence to prove their inferences.

The legends of this place are rather interesting. I have read the legends of many places, but there is not a single piece of information that says that the phoenix cannot be seen, and it will be bad luck. This is really contrary to many legends.My intuition tells me that the more abnormal the thing that is recognized by the world, the more it can break through the key to the problem. Perhaps this lost legend is hinting at something. We were discussing excitedly. No one expected to encounter such a miraculous thing before actually entering Qiangtang. If we entered, it would be fine.Now, the question we face is, are all the legends about the phoenix just a kind of myth, or a possible historical truth?In other words, did the phoenix really have a real animal prototype in history?On this issue, just like on the issue of dragons, the past views of the academic community tend to be negative.However, when I was researching the materials of the old curator, I noticed a piece of information, that is, the following record was found in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty: "Jiayin Bu, Humingwang, Huofeng. Bingchen, Huowu The meaning of this oracle bone inscription is: The king of Shang ordered Chen Ming to catch birds with a net, and on Bingchen he caught five phoenixes that day.Since it is captured with a net, it is a living phoenix.

From this point of view, in the Shang Dynasty, there were indeed phoenix birds in China.I used to think that this oracle bone inscription was just an isolated evidence, but in the inscription of the early bronze inscription "Zhongding", we can also read the following record: "Return to the king to give birth to the phoenix." The word "phoenix", Guo Moruo once concluded that it refers to the living phoenix.No matter the oracle bone inscriptions or bronze inscriptions, there are materials that unambiguously show that until the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the phoenix was still a rare bird, but it did not exist.After the Qin and Han Dynasties in the Warring States Period, Fenghuang Fang was completely deified as a supernatural bird.But it is worth noting that in the historical records of Qin and Han Dynasties, there are still records about the appearance of the phoenix from time to time.The Han Dynasty was an era when superstition prevailed, and many auspicious and strange things recorded in historical records were often not creditable.But I am afraid that we cannot think that there is absolutely no credibility in it.At least the physical characteristics depicted by the Qin and Han people have one very noticeable commonality, which is the extraordinary size of the phoenix—from five or six feet tall to more than one foot in height.

"So, you said a lot of things, just to say that the phoenix really exists?" Chen Jing was a little mocking. "I didn't say that there must be a phoenix. I just want to say that there may have been a very special bird in history, but modern people have not discovered its existence." I shrugged and said. "Jin Wei is right. In fact, shortly after the emergence of human beings, many totems recorded the existence of the phoenix in different forms. At that time, it seemed difficult to fabricate the same legend, unless it was true. Think about it, Chinese culture It has been more than five thousand years. Could it be that everyone has a unified understanding when it first appeared, and there are the same descriptions in different records? Besides, the world was still very closed at that time, and one nation did not know another nation, let alone other continents Why are there so many records about Phoenix in the world?" Xinhong said in agreement. "In the Han Dynasty, superstition was so strong that many records were unbelievable. Although there were prototypes evolved. However, before, even when writing and human beings first appeared, it was difficult to fabricate myths, and among ethnic groups that had never communicated, there were Same Phoenix description." I continued. "Okay, okay, I didn't deny you, why are you so eager to explain, men are just boring." Chen Jing turned her head to the car in disappointment, and Xinhong looked at Chen Jing's back in confusion. Under the repair of the driver, the off-road vehicle was finally able to go on the road again.We got in the car, praying that something wasn't going wrong, or we might have been left out of the action.Chen Jing bickered with Xinhong for a while in the car, and then she said to me seriously: "Actually, our Hongya tribe also has legends about the divine bird, but I don't know if it can be regarded as a phoenix, but the red cliff One thing about the legend of the Ya people is the same as that of the driver, that is, don't look directly at the divine bird."