Taotie

TheTaotie(Chinese:Thao thiết) is an ancient Chinese mythological creature that was commonly emblazoned on bronze and other artifacts during the 1st millennium BC.Taotieare one of the "four evil creatures of the world".InChinese classical textssuch as the "Classic of Mountains and Seas",the fiend is named alongside theHundun(Hỗn độn),Qiongqi(Cùng kỳ), andTaowu(Đào ngột).

Tao tie
Taotie onChinese ritual bronze
Chinese	Thao thiết
Literal meaning	Ravenous hunger
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin tāotiè Gwoyeu Romatzyh tautieh Wade–Giles t'ao1-t'ieh4 IPA [tʰáʊ.tʰjê] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization tōu-tit Jyutping tou1tit3 IPA [tʰɔw˥.tʰit̚˧] Southern Min HokkienPOJ tho-thiat Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *tʰˤawtʰˤət Zhengzhang *l̥ʰaːwr̥ʰɯːd

TheTaotieis often represented as amotifondings,which areChinese ritual bronze vesselsfrom theShang(1766-1046 BCE) andZhou dynasties(1046–256 BCE).The design typically consists of azoomorphicmask, described as being frontal, bilaterally symmetrical, with a pair of raised eyes and typically no lower jaw area. Some argue that the design can be traced back to jade pieces found at Neolithic sites belonging to theLiangzhu culture(3310–2250 BCE).There is also notable similarity with the painted pottery shards found atLower Xiajiadian cultural sites(2200–1600 BCE).

Etymology

Tripod for food (Ding), for rituals celebrating the ancestors. The surface is decorated with 3 taoties. Shang Dynasty, 1300-1050 BCE. Bronze. From China.Victoria and Albert Museum,London

Although modern scholars use the word "Taotie",it is actually not known what word the Shang and Zhou dynasties used to call the design on their bronze vessels; as Americanpaleographerand scholar of ancient ChinaSarah Allannotes, there is no particular reason to assume that the termtaotiewas known during the Shang period.The first known usage ofTaotieis in theZuo Zhuan,a narrative history of China written in 30 chapters between 722 and 468 BCE. It is used to refer to one of thefour evil creatures of the worldChinese:Tứ hung;pinyin:sì xiōng:a greedy and gluttonous son of theJinyun clan,who lived during the time of the mythicalYellow Emperor(c.2698–2598 BCE). Within theZuo Zhuan,taotieis used by the writer to imply a "glutton".

Nonetheless, the association of the termtaotieis synonymous with the motifs found on the ancient Zhou (and Shang) bronzes. The following passage fromLü Buwei'sSpring and Autumn Annals(16/3a, "Prophecy" ) states:

Thetaotieon Zhou bronzes [ding] has a head but no body. When it eats people, it does not swallow them, but harms them.

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However, Allan believes the second part of the sentence should be translated as follows because the association between gluttony (the meaning in Zuo Zhuan) and thedingsuse for food sacrifices to the "insatiable" spirits of the dead is significant.

It devoured a man, but before it could swallow it, its own body was damaged

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Li Zehou,a Chinese scholar of philosophy and intellectual history, thinks the description of thetaotiein theSpring and Autumn Annalshas a much deeper meaning and that "the meaning of 'taotieis not [about] "eating people" but making a mysterious communication between people and Heaven (gods). "

It is hard to explain what is implied in this, as so many myths concerning thetaotiehave been lost, but the indication that it eats people accords fully with its cruel, fearful countenance. To alien clans and tribes, it symbolized fear and force; to its own clan or tribe, it was a symbol of protection. This religious concept, this dual nature, was crystallized in its strange, hideous features. What appears so savage today had a historical, rational quality in its time. It is for precisely this reason that the savage old myths and legends, the tales of barbarism, and the crude, fierce, and terrifying works of art of ancient clans possessed a remarkable aesthetic appeal. As it was with Homer's epic poems and African masks, so it was with thetaotie,in whose hideous features was concentrated a deep-seated historic force. It is because of this irresistible historic force that the mystery and terror of thetaotiebecame the beautiful—the exalted.

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Bronze motifs

Taotie on adingbronze vessel from late Shang era

Scholars have long been perplexedover the meaning (if any) of thistheriomorphicdesign, and there is still no commonly held single answer. The hypotheses range fromRobert Bagley's belief that the design is a result of the casting process, and rather than having an iconographic meaning was the artistic expression of the artists who held the technological know-how to cast bronze,to theories that it depicts ancient face masks that may have once been worn by either shamans or the god-kings who were the link between humankind and their deceased ancestors (Jordan Paper).

The once-popular belief that the faces depicted the animals used in the sacrificial ceremonies has now more or less been rejected(the faces of oxen, tigers, dragons, etc. may not even be meant to depict actual animals). Modern academics favor an interpretation that supports the idea that the faces have meaning in a religious or ceremonial context, as the objects they appear on are almost always associated with such events or roles. As one scholar writes "art styles always carry some social references."Shang divination inscriptions shed no light on the meaning of thetaotie.

Later interpretations

A vessel with ataotiedesign fromCernuschi Museum

During theMing dynasty,a number of scholars compiled lists of traditional motifs seen in architecture and applied art, which eventually became codified as theNine Children of the Dragon(Long sinh cửu tử). In the earliest known list of this type (in which the creatures are not yet called "children of the dragon", and there are 14 of them, rather than 9), given byLu Rong(1436–1494) in hisMiscellaneous records from the bean garden(Thục viên tạp ký,Shuyuan zaji), thetaotieappears with a rather unlikely description, as a creature that likes water and depicted on bridges.However, a well-known later list of the Nine Children of the Dragon given byYang Shen(1488–1559) accords with both the ancient and the modern usage of the term:

Thetaotielikes to eat and drink; it used to appear on the surface of thedings.

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Some scholars believed that the Taotie motif is a reference toChi Youand is used to serve as a warning to people who covet power and wealth.

In theBook of Imaginary Beings(1957),Jorge Luis Borgesinterpreted the figures as representing a dog-headed, double-bodied monster that represented greed and gluttony.

In popular culture

The Tao Tie (spelled as "Tao Tei" ) are the primary antagonists in the 2016 historical-fantasy epic filmThe Great Wall.In the film, they are depicted as green-skinned quadrupedal alien creatures, with shark-like teeth, eyes located on their shoulders, and the Tao Tie motif visible on their heads. They are shown living in aeusocialhive similar to ants, from which they attack the capital of China every 60 years to collect food to feed their queen.

See also

• Four Symbols (China)
• Four Perils

References

• Allan, Sarah(1991),The shape of the turtle: myth, art, and cosmos in early China,SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture, SUNY Press,ISBN0-7914-0460-9
• K. C. Chang,Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1983.
• Mircea Eliade,Shamanism,trans. W. R. Trask. NY:Bollingen Foundation,1964.
• Li, Zehou(1994) [1988],The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics,Oxford in Asia paperbacks, New York: Oxford University Press, pp.30–31,ISBN0-19-586526-X,translated by Gong Lizeng. There is anexcerpt ontaotieatAsianArt Study Guide.
• Jordan Paper, "The Meaning of the 'T'ao-T'ieh'" inHistory of Religions,Vol. 18, No. 1 (August, 1978), pp. 18–41.
• Roderick Whitfield, ed.The Problem of Meaning in Chinese Ritual Bronzes.London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1993.
• Dương tĩnh vinh(Yang Jirong);Lưu chí hùng(Liu Zhixiong) (2008),Long chi nguyên[The Origin of the Dragon], trung quốc thư điếm, Chapter 9,Long đích phồn diễn dữ phụ hội —— long sinh cửu tử(Dragon's derived and associated creatures: The nine children of the dragon),ISBN978-7-80663-551-3(Section 1,Section 2,Section 3).