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Bixi, (Wade-Giles romanized as Pi-hsi or Bi Xi), is a figure from Chinese mythology. One of the 9 sons of the Dragon King, he is depicted as a dragon with the shell of turtle. Stone sculptures of Bixi have been used in Chinese culture for centuries as a decorative plinth for commemorative steles and tablets, particularly in the funerary complexes of its later emperors and to commemorate important events, such as an imperial visit or the anniversary of a World War II victory. They are also used at the bases of bridges and archways.〔Roberts, Jeremy. ''Chinese Mythology, A to Z'', (p. 61. "Dragon's Nine Sons" ). 2nd ed. Chelsea House (New York), 2010. Accessed 22 November 2013.〕 Sculptures of Bixi are traditionally rubbed for good luck, which can cause conservation issues.〔"(Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám – Hà Nội: 82 bia Tiến sĩ cần được bảo vệ nghiêm ngặt )". ''Pháplý Online'', 30 November 2011. Accessed 22 Nov 2013. 〕 They can be found throughout East Asia in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and even the Russian Far East. ==History== The tradition of tortoise-mounted stelae originated no later than early 3rd century (late Han dynasty). According to the 1957 survey by Chêng Tê-k'un (鄭徳坤), the earliest extant tortoise-borne stele is thought to be the one at the tomb of Fan Min (樊敏), in Lushan County, Ya'an, Sichuan.〔. The author's name would be spelled Zheng Dekun in Pinyin.〕 Victor Segalen had earlier identified the stele as a Han dynasty monument; present-day authors agree, usually giving it the date of 205 AD.〔 (snippet view only on Google Books)〕 The stele has a rounded top with a dragon design in low relief - a precursor to the "two intertwined dragons" design that was very common on such steles even in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, over a thousand years later.〔〔(雅安汉源九襄石牌坊、青溪古镇、金钟山、芦山龙门洞、飞仙关、灵鹫山五日游 ) (A Ya'an tourist trip description, with the photos from the "Fan Min Que (Gate Towers) and Sculptures" site (樊敏阙及石刻), including the present-day condition of the Fan Min stele, in a new gazebo〕 In the collection of the Nanjing Museum there is a ''hunping'' funerary jar, dating to 272 AD, with a miniature architectural composition on top, depicting, among other objects, a tortoise carrying a stele erected by the Jin dynasty governor of Changsha in honor of a local dignitary. Perhaps the best known extant early example of the genre is the set of four stele-bearing tortoises at the mausoleum of Xiao Xiu (475-518), who was the younger brother of the first Liang dynasty emperor Wu (Xiao Yan), near Nanjing.〔Angela Falco Howard, Li Song, Wu Hung, Yang Hong, «(Chinese Sculpture )». Yale University Press and Foreign Languages Press, 2006. ISBN 0-300-10065-5. Pp. 163—165; photo in Fig. 2.63〕〔 A reconstruction of the original form of the ensemble is shown in Fig. 5.19.〕〔(梁安成康王萧秀墓石刻 ) (Sculptures at the Tomb of Xiao Xiu) (description and modern photos)〕 The ''bixi'' tradition flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Ming founder, the Hongwu Emperor, in the first year after the dynasty had been proclaimed (1368), adopted regulations, allowing tortoise-based funerary tablets to the higher ranks of the nobility and the mandarinate. He tightened the rules in 1396, leaving only the highest nobility (those of the ''gong'' and ''hou'' ranks) and the officials of the top 3 ranks eligible for ''bixi''-based stelae. The type of dragons crowning the tortoise-born stele, and the type and number of other statuary at the tomb site, were prescribed by the same regulations as well.〔.〕 At the Hongwu Emperor's own mausoleum, a huge ''bixi'' holding the so-called ''Shengde'' stele welcomes visitors at the Sifangcheng pavilion at the entrance of the mausoleum complex. Three centuries later (1699), the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty visited Nanjing and contributed another tortoise, with a stele praising the founder of the Ming, comparing him to the founders of the great Tang and Song dynasties of the past.〔(明孝陵两大“碑石之谜”被破解 ) (Solving the two great riddles of the Ming Xiaoling's stone tablets). ''People's Daily'', 2003-06-13. Quote regarding the Kangxi's stele text and its meaning: "清朝皇帝躬祀明朝皇帝 ... 御书“治隆唐宋”（意思是赞扬朱元璋的功绩超过了唐太宗李世民、宋高祖赵匡胤）"; regarding the dimensions of the stele and its tortoise: "康熙御碑孝陵碑殿中部主碑，是清康熙三十八年（1699年）由康熙皇帝爱新觉罗·玄烨所立，高3.85米，宽1.42米，上阴刻楷书“治隆唐宋”4字，字径0.68米，碑座为石制龟趺，高1.06米。"〕〔(Photo and description of the Kangxi's stele ). The inscription is interpreted as "His reign was as glorious as that of the Tang and Song"〕 The Hongwu Emperor's tortoise tradition was continued by the later Ming and Qing emperors, whose mausoleums are usually decorated by ''bixi''-born steles as well. Even the self-declared emperor Yuan Shikai was posthumously honored with a ''bixi''-based stele in Anyang,〔( 洹园里的破嘴龟 ) (The tortoise with a broken mouth in Huanyuan Park) 〕 as was the Republic of China Premier Tan Yankai (1880–1930), whose stele near Nanjing's Linggu Temple had its inscription erased after the Communist Revolution. Occasionally, a foreign head of state was honored with a ''bixi'' as well, as it happened to the sultan of Brunei Abdul Majid Hassan, who died during his visit to China in 1408. The sultan's grave, with a suitably royal ''bixi''-based monument, was discovered in Yuhuatai District south of Nanjing in 1958.〔Rozan Yunos, ("The Brunei Sultan who died in China" ) The Brunei Times, 9.11.2008〕 After an ancient Christian stele was unearthed in Xi'an in 1625, it, too, was put on the back of a tortoise. In 1907, this so-called Nestorian Stele was moved to the Stele Forest Museum along with its tortoise.〔. The first two images reproduced in Keevak's book had appeared earlier in Henri Havret (1848-1901), (''La stele chrétienne de Si-ngan fou'' (part 1) ), ''Variétés sinologiques'' No. 7, Paris, 1895 (near the front cover, and page 139, respectively). As Havret comments (p. 142), looking at the early drawings it's rather easy to mistake the tortoise for a "horrible bat"!〕〔See modern (photos of the stele on Flickr.com ), complete with the same tortoise〕 These days, long-lost bixi continue to be unearthed during archaeological excavations nad construction work. Among the most remarkable finds is the discovery of a huge 1200-year-old in Zhengding (Hebei Province) in June 2006. The stone turtle is 8.4 m long, 3.2 m wide, and 2.6 m tall, and weighs 107 tons. It has since been moved to Zhengding's Kaiyuan Temple.〔(正定开元寺 ) (Zhengding's Kaiyuan Temple), 2014-12-22〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bixi (mythology)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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