In 920, the founding emperor of the Liao Dynasty, Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji, shot a black dragon. What is this "Black Dragon"? Is it really a dragon? Do dragons really exist? If it's not a dragon, what exactly is it?
Dragons are creatures of Eastern mythology, and many people in modern times believe that dragons exist, but of course more do not believe. In the Confucian classic "Li Ji Li Yun", it is recorded that "lin, phoenix, turtle and dragon are called the four spirits". The history of the dragon can be traced back to the five emperors of antiquity, during which the dragon was developed, and almost every emperor was inextricably linked to the dragon. For example, the Yellow Emperor, the head of the Five Emperors, records that "Long Yan has holy virtue", "The Five Emperors of History" "Ling YingLong attacks Xuan You", and the "Imperial Dictionary" "There is a dragon hanging down with beards, greeting the Yellow Emperor".
From ancient records and folklore, there is a shadow of a dragon everywhere, so does it really exist? This question has always been only debated, not answered. Some historians have deduced that dragons did not exist, but evolved from totems, a collection of animals. There are also those who believe that dragons really exist and live in places where there are no humans.
However, in 920 AD, the founding emperor of the Liao Dynasty, Liao Taizu, personally shot a "black dragon", which is recorded in history, and the "Liao Shi Taizu Benji" records that "in May of the fifth year of the divine book, Gengchen, there was a dragon seen on the water of the mountain and the sun, shot on it, and hid its bone in the inner house." At that time, Liao Taizu shot the dragon and hid his skeleton in the palace. The "Liao Shi Vol. 68" also records that "in May of the fifth year of the Divine Book, the dragon was shot on the yang water of the Tula Mountain, and its dragon had a horn, its tail was long and short, its body was five feet long, and its tongue was two and a half feet long, and it was hidden in the inner treasury."
From the records, it seems that Liao Taizu did shoot a dragon, and this dragon had a horn, 5 feet long, and only 1.67 meters in terms of meters. From our understanding of dragons, dragons have dragon scales, dragon scales are incomparably hard, even if Liao Taizu is strong, can he shoot the dragon to death with one arrow? Therefore, according to the actual situation, it is very likely that the historical records only exaggerated the Liao Taizu, and the shooting of the black dragon was just a fabrication.
However, the shooting of the black dragon by Liao Taizu is recorded in many ancient books, not only the "History of Liao", but also the "Song Desert Chronicle", "Mengxi Pen Talk", and "Continued Yi Jianzhi". "Continuing Yi Jianzhi" was written by the historian Yuan Haowen of the late Jin Dynasty, who was a representative of northern literature during the Jin Dynasty, and was known as "Northern Wenxiong" and "Generation Wenzong". Logically, such an influential person cannot be fake.
What's more, after Liao Taizu shot the black dragon, he hid the dragon's skeleton in his home, which is said to have been collected by the Liao State later. In 1214, Yuandu, the eldest son of the Khitan Emperor Wumu, personally saw the keel, and he recorded that "the tail hyena has all its limbs, and its two horns have been amputated, similar to the water dragon painted by Dong Yu in Yu's collection, and the hyena on its stumbling feet is not a fish hyena." Presumably, the dragon's double horns were artificially cut off, and the tail skeleton was intact, much like the water dragon painted by the fifth generation of Southern Tang dynasty painter Dong Yu.
From the perspective of liao taizu's black dragon, it is difficult to judge whether a dragon exists or not, and the liao taizu period is too far away. Speaking of a relatively close today, the Yingkou dragon fall incident in 1934, there are many witnesses who say that they saw a dragon, the dragon has four claws, two horns, 10 meters long, and sounds like a cow barking. This matter also appeared in the Shengjing Times at that time.
Unfortunately, this keel was later lost, and experts agreed that it was not a dragon, but just a stranded baleen whale.
Dragon Cun does not exist? I am afraid that there will never be a definitive answer to this matter. What do you think?