Uncover the mystery of the Qingning Palace monster in old Japanese photos
The so-called palace, the place where the emperor lived, is generally forbidden by reporters. However, during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican period, a Japanese reporter ran into the Shenyang Imperial Palace in chaos and took some photos, but many of the remains of the old Qing imperial palace were preserved. This set of photos was accidentally seen by Sao Sa in an old photographic magazine in Japan in 1925 and found it to be of historical value.
Monster Japanese "History Photo" photo magazine 1925 edition
This picture shows one of the treasures of Fengtian Qingning Palace: Monsters (Japanese "History Photo" photo magazine 1925 edition). Pay attention to the chair at the back of the photo. It is a antler chair that is characteristic of Manchu and Qing Dynasty. It is made of antlers from hunted stags. These two are only decorated with antlers on the back of the chair, and the whole chair is made of antlers. The Chinese people's requirements for chairs are more serious than comfortable. Sitting is actually uncomfortable. From the chair of the imperial teacher to the throne of the emperor, it is hard and cool; therefore, the sofa is a foreign word. However, the most attractive thing on the screen is the monster lying on the table.
From the Japanese instructions, we can see that this is an animal specimen, 255 cm long, and there is a larger one beside it, 262 cm long. It is assumed that the two animals weighed more than 1,000 kilograms when they were alive. In other words, he stands more than 20 centimeters taller than Yao Ming, and he weighs at least five...
How come there are animals in the treasure?
Judging from this map of the Shenyang Imperial Palace, there is indeed the Qingning Palace. It can be seen that the records of the Japanese reporters are not foolish. According to reports, Qingning Palace is one of the palaces of the first Khan Nurhaci in the Houjin period. The name of a building near Qingning Palace caught my attention-"Zhendian Bear House". Following this clue, I found a piece of news:
On June 11, 2010, two hundred-year-old bear skins were hung in the Zhendian Bear Pavilion of the Forbidden City in Shenyang, attracting many visitors. The two bears are one female and one male. It is said that they were named "Hall of Town Hall" by Huang Taiji because of their merits in escorting and driving. After the death of the two bears, they were made into models and displayed in the gold and silver vault to guard the gold and silver jewelry for the emperor.
These two bear skins are huge, the male is 2.45 meters in height and 2.03 meters in width; the female is 2.47 meters in height and 1.05 meters in width. Although the black hairs of bearskin have slowly fallen off and turned into brown as the years have changed, from this burly figure and fierce face, one can still see the demeanor of the "Zhendianhou" at that time. According to the staff of the pavilion, each bear weighs more than a thousand catties and is an extremely rare Northeast black bear in the world.
Close-up of the monster's head in Qingning Palace (Japanese "History Photo" photo magazine 1925 edition)
What is the origin of this bear skin? The most widely circulated piece of folklore is that two bears were domesticated in the Shengjing Palace. Because of their immense power and psychic nature, Huang Taiji used these two bears to help guards guard the gate of Daqing. Once, Huang Taiji was attacked by an assassin when he passed the Daqing Gate. At this time, Er Xiong rushed forward and tried his best to throw the assassin down, saving Huang Taiji's life. In order to thank them for their life-saving grace, Huang Taiji named the two bears "Holding the Palace". After the bears died, they made models of their remains and displayed them in the gold and silver vault, asking the two bears to continue to guard them. When the Shenyang Palace Museum was just established, two bear skins were put on display at the Qingmen Gate, and they continued to fulfill their mission ("The Forbidden City Exhibits the Great Bear Skins of the Qing Palace", in "Shenyang Evening News", June 12, 2010 ).
This report basically solved the mystery of the monster in the old photos of Japanese journalists. However, there are still some doubts: the report calls this bear the "Northeast Black Bear", which is another name for the "Asian Black Bear". According to the information provided by Interactive Encyclopedia, the Asian black bear is about 1.6 meters long and generally weighs no more than 200 kg. How could it grow into a 500 kg behemoth? You know, a major difference between mammals and reptiles is that they have genes that control their body size. They don’t get older and bigger like dinosaurs, and they don’t have any influence on their bodies.
So, could it be other bears? For example, the brown bear. Although the Chinese brown bear is not too big, the American brown bear can grow up to 680 kilograms, and there may be two of them swimming over there. However, the brown bear has a typical round face, which is a bit out of touch with the head of this specimen, which is like the front of a train. Or a polar bear that changes color?
I speculate that these two bears may have originated locally. At that time, there was no good technique for making specimens. They seemed to be filled with hollow bear skin lasts. Because there were no skulls to support them, their faces were long and turned into high-speed trains. The shape of the front of the car. Because there is no skeleton inside, it is estimated that the filling will be spread out into a leather exhibition after it rots.
Cover photo of China National Geographic Magazine
Cover photo of China National Geographic Magazine Issue 15, 2002
The bride on the left of the photo looks up and can't see her feet under the skirt. She only sees the shoes. Netizens call it a "dark marriage" photo.
Yang Sen and his 13-bedroom wife
Among the many modern warlords, Yang Sen, former general of the Kuomintang army and commander of the Twentieth Army, is quite legendary. Yang Sen’s life exposed the ills of Chinese society from a certain angle: marrying twelve wives and concubines, they didn’t know what to do. They wanted to kill or kill them. His hands were covered with the blood of three lives. After flying to Taiwan in 1949, he was still affected by dozens of people. In the year of the suppression, he received great hospitality from the Jiang family. In his later years, Yang Sen was even more enjoyable with his old age climbing, interesting antique calligraphy and painting...
In the 1930s, at the temple on Doutu Mountain in Jiangyou, Sichuan, monks used simple iron cables as bridges to cross the trenches. Although it is high above the sky, the monk in the photo looks calm and steady, just like the man in the martial arts in the old novel. The monks live in isolation and devote themselves to practicing in a corner of the solitary mountain, or they may have a unique secret technique, waiting for him to walk on the mountain for the sky.
The picture shows the Great Weed King Kong in the Lama Temple in 1925.
As the sacred place of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, there used to be many great mighty King Kong in the Lama Temple, but they have been removed. These two photos record their true image when they were in place, and can also be regarded as leaving history unintentionally. A footnote to.
The Great Wisdom King Kong, also known as the Happy Buddha, the male god and goddess embraced in the statue are the Majestic King Kong and Ming Fei respectively. Widow represents courage and Ming Fei represents wisdom. The combination of the two implies Conquer the devil with courage and wisdom. The nudes of the two gods represent their escape from the world. In fact, according to Buddhist legend, Dawei De can defeat the god of death. He once subdued the god of death Yan Motian, so his name has the meaning of "the conqueror of death". The shape of the Great Weed King Kong also has a philosophical hint of victory over death by life.
Two-headed beetle
Zhan Shichai, known as "the world's longest man" at the time
A Chinese who was more than two meters tall in the late Qing Dynasty is said to be taller than Yao Ming, taken in 1870