Moon-rabbit ramming medicine to pray for peace and health
Basically all Chinese people have heard about the legend that Chang 'e and her bunny lived in the Moon Palace since childhood. This legend has been around for at least 2000 years, and the vivid images of the rabbit in the moon grinding medicine in the Han Dynasty can still be found today in the Han Que at the foot of Mount Song.
▲ moon-rabbit ramming medicine / taken on May 6, 2019
As a high-level building in ancient times, the Que was often placed in front of the palace gate, temple or mausoleum. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to offer sacrifices to Songshan Mountain and commemorate Yu the Great, people built the Stone Que in front of the three shrines, Taishi, Shaoshi and Qimu, under Songshan Mountain.
The patterns engraved on the Shaoshi Que, not only the dragon, tiger and other solemn symbols, but also Cuju (a kind of football game), hunting and other life scenes. The particularly lovely scene is a moon rabbit ramming medicine, which presenting that in a full moon, a toad sited happily on the left, while rabbit holding pestle grinding medicine on the right. If you stop and hold your breath, you may be able to hear the sound of grinding medicine in the moon.
▲ Shaoshi Que / taken on May 6, 2019
A running rabbit can be seen everyday, while the grinding-medicine rabbit is a sacred image of the Han Dynasty. Xiao Fang introduced that the rabbit is more fertile, and its image is a psychological projection of the desire for health and population growth.
Gong Songtao, vice president of the Songshan Cultural Research Institute, said: "The image of moon rabbit making medicine on Shaoshi Que shows that rabbits have been a favorite animal of Chinese people since ancient times. They have a close relationship with social and cultural aesthetics, and they are an auspicious symbol of bringing peace and health." Whether running or ramming medicine, whether in ancient books or in the Han Dynasty, the rabbit in the moon carries the yearning of the Chinese people for a better life, spanning thousands of years, continues until now. (text source: Xinhua points )
