Jun Yu | DIGITAL SCIENCE AND FASHION ART 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 29

DIGITAL SCIENCE AND FASHION ART

Brand Value of Cultural Prototype-Shan Hai Jing

Jun Yu

Publishing, Printing and Art Design Institute of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

Abstract The oldest mythical book in China, Shan Hai Jing, reflects the ancient people’s exploration of the outside world and becomes the source of the birth and development of Chinese civilization. As a cultural prototype, it contains all the forms and themes of the development of post-modern literature and art, thus opening up various cultural activities and psychological cognition. Studying the Shan Hai Jing, this paper intends to find a deep cultural matrix under the confusing and lacking creativity of today, and use advanced technology and visual expression to activate the ground-breaking interpretation of ancient culture, so that modern people can rediscover the profound cultural value of the tradition that feeds the Chinese nation.

Keywords Shan hai jing; Cultural prototype; Myth; Brand value

Known as the “origin of history and earth, source of primitive and original Chinese culture, original life the myths”, Shan Hai Jing is an ancient book of pre- form and cultural form. The book is divided into Qin and is the oldest geography book and mysterious eighteen volumes, including a total of 31,000 words. book rich in myths and legends. It reflects the most 5 volumes are Shan Jing, 8 volumes are Hai Jing, and 5 volumes are Da Huang Jing. It preserves a wealth of information on Chinese ancient history, mythology, religion, astronomy, geography, folklore, ethnicity, ARTICLE INFO property, medicine, etc. The cultural phenomena Received: 28 Sep, 2018; Revised: 15 Nov, 2018; Accepted: 22 reflected are all-encompassing. After the 20th century, Nov, 2018. Shan Hai Jing has resumed its vitality in the new First author: Jun Yu, Publishing, Printing and Art Design Institute of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. E-mail: cultural context and became an important book for the [email protected] Chinese to understand myths. The well-known stories 30 Jun Yu | Brand Value of Cultural Prototype-Shan Hai Jing 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 of Houyi Shooting the Sun, Kuafu Running after the structures. The prototypes connect literature with life Sun, Jingwei Filling up the Sea, and Emperor Yu and become media for them to communicate with each Taming the Flood[1] are all from here. other[4]. As the mother of culture, the cultural prototype Brand value refers to the most ancient originality, carries the spirit and emotion of the nation and initiates scarcity, uniqueness and content of Shan Hai Jing as a various cultural activities and psychological cognition. Pre-Qin ancient book for reference to all subsequent The theoretical basis of cultural archetype is mainly cultural forms. On the contemporary world stage the psychoanalytic theory of the Swiss psychologist where multiple cultures coexist, Shan Hai Jing, which Carl Gustav Jung, the main founder of which is represents Chinese elements, has high cultural brand the Canadian literary critic and thinker, Northrop values. Frye. Frye believed that “literature originated from The contemporary social technologies are various mythology, which contained all forms and themes of and advanced, including the rapid development of new the development of literature in future generations.” technologies such as artificial intelligence, holographic It is in this sense that Frye called myth the prototype projection, augmented reality, virtual reality, and of literature. Myth is “a kind of story about a god naked-eye 3D, and the more advanced visual methods or something more powerful than a human being”. to present the interpretation of Shan Hai Jing, which Prototypes are the initial forms, the manifestation is more easily accepted by modern people. It is easier of collective unconsciousness that has not been to use the contemporary context to activate the huge directly perceived in the long-term psychological imagination of human beings in the ancient times, accumulation of human beings. Therefore, they enter which is of far-reaching significance for the promotion into the creative process as potential unconsciousness. of the current traditional culture, the cognition of But they must also be externalized and initially the maternal culture of Chinese civilization from the presented as a “primitive image”[2]. Jung said that perspective of prototypes, for modern people to absorb prototypes are preserved as “racial memories”, giving the nutrients from creation, for the promotion of the each individual an innate set of images and patterns. confidence of ethnic groups and culture, and for the Prototypes, which are manifested as mythological guidance of cultural and artistic practices. phenomena in ancient times, are then automatically 1. Subjective cognitive model of image activated into artistic images in different times. These prototype original images and prototypes are preserved in art works. After a long history of evolution, they have Through an overview of the context of Shan Hai appeared repeatedly in their original forms[3]. Ye Jing, the images of exaggerated reconstruction are Shuxian, professor of Chinese Academy of Social shaped by the method of “description type” and “note Sciences and expert in anthropology, has made type”. It is divided into three categories: beast, god some researches and summaries on the concept of and human. The root of its essence is human beings. prototypes. He believed that prototypes are those These animals and gods are created from the needs recurring or traditional myths or metaphors, which can of human beings. The animals are created based on be images, symbols, themes, characters, plot motifs or humans. Most of them are animal models with human Jun Yu | DIGITAL SCIENCE AND FASHION ART 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 31 faces. They usually originate from a prototype of world. The physical structure of the body, the way birds, fishes, dogs, horses, cows, snakes, etc. that can the body moves, the current state of the body, and be seen everywhere in life, and then they are added the experience of the body’s perception movement multiple tails, multiple eyes, multiple bodies, alienated determine the human perception and interpretation facial features, and extraordinary abilities that people of the world.”[6] The ancient people took part in the do not have to reconstitute images. Animals are pursuit, hunting, domestication, cooking and eating actually metaphors of human beings themselves. When of animals with their bodies. Both animals and people productivity and science and technology are both low, took part in the behavior of people to obtain food. the cognition of animals can also reflect the insecurity Therefore, the cognition of human beings to animals of human beings in the early stage and the yearning for is also affected by this uncontrollability. The modeling the realm they can’t reach. Shan Hai Jing records more presentation of the image prototypes were added with than 400 kinds of animals, generally including their exaggerated worship of power and imagination. appearances, features, names, functions, sources and Beasts were established with human-centered so on. On the basis of reality, other specific details are cognitive models, and gods were also established added through romantic imagination, such as the nine- using cognitive models. In essence, all human needs tailed fox, the nine-body fish, the human-face-bird- are generated by the existence of human beings, and face Jumang, the bird-head-snake-tail Xuangui, and so existence is the actual state of being in reality. “To on. This “prototype + feature” creation technique, as a be is to be perceived.” Berkeley said. To be is to typical paradigm, produces a series of intrinsic image continue, to be is the present. No matter in the early prototypes after repeated stimulation in the mind and childhood of ancient human beings or in the mature a fixed cognitive pattern. “Prototypes have certain stage of modern human beings, people feel insecure fixedness and different degrees of inclusiveness. because their individual existence is ignored or even When encountering some odd-shaped foreign objects, threatened. Thus they create gods to complete the the ancients used the prototypes as the base, and then protection of human body and spiritual support, so changed their local characteristics, through splicing, that gods have the appearance and ability that people transplanting, repeating, exaggerating, and removing. do not have. The human-face-dragon-body god, all Finally, strange bodies were formed by naming”5. kinds of mountain gods, the human-head-dragon- As shown in Fig. 1 below, the sheep with tiger teeth body-bird-beak thunder god, the east, west, south and and eyes under oxter is named as Paoxiao, a kind north wind gods, the fire god driving longcan in the of monster that can’t be found in real life, but it can cloud, the human-face-bird-body-bird-wing sea gods appear in the human imaginary world. Just like the with two snakes in ears, one-arm-one-leg strange dragon that we are familiar with in later generations, person and other images in Sha Hai Jing are given the it takes the advantages of various animals such as visual interpretation, leaving precious spiritual wealth camel head, antler, ox ear, snake body, carp whisker, and imagination source for future generations. Beasts eagle claw and fish scales to create a typical image are anthropomorphic animals, tools, food and friends. with incomparable magic power. “Cognition is They participate in the real survival of human beings the perception of the specific body to the outside and mirror the perception of human beings. Gods are 32 Jun Yu | Brand Value of Cultural Prototype-Shan Hai Jing 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 the idealized gods of humans, and are in charge of the foundation for the compatible and inclusive view uncontrollable laws of humans, such as the sun, the of multi-culture in Chinese traditional culture. As moon, and the four-season changes. Both beasts and shown in figure 1-6 below, the gods and monsters gods are involved in the psychological composition depicted in the Shan Hai Guan are drawn by Lu Shan, and social transformation of human subjects, and they a 2017 graduate from the Department of Art Design can transform each other under certain circumstances. of Shanghai University of Science and Technology. This leads to the original totem worship, and then the In this series of picture books, she uses the modern cultural heritage of thousands of years of continuation digital illustration method to create visual images in a of the creation of taotie, qilin, dragon, phoenix and new context, and reinterprets the unusual imagination other comprehensive composition of the auspicious and subjective cognition in Shan Hai Jing. beasts as the key image prototypes, laying the

Fig 1 Paoxiao Fig 2 Hu Fig 3 Quru

Fig 4 Dijiang Fig 5 Tuowei Fig 6 Qiongqi

2. Thinking prototype of narrative design for thousands of years, represents the skeleton of Shan Hai Jing tells the history of human the cultural genes and cultural architecture of the performance with the narrative design of myths. Its Chinese nation. It has been scientifically confirmed description paradigm is romanticism, which breaks by historical research. Ye Shuxian thought that “Any the life outlook and boundaries we know today. This kind of belief that human beings have originated in exaggerated and imaginary material narration greatly the worship of supernatural sacred things. How is expands the space of imagination and enriches the the relationship between the geography of mountains poor and pale flat imagination of modern people. and rivers and human society constructed? The Shan Hai Jing, which has been used as a prototype usual explanation for religious thinking is that such Jun Yu | DIGITAL SCIENCE AND FASHION ART 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 33 relationships were established through the use of Jing is full of extraordinary imagination that overturns gods as intermediaries. However, the ancient thinkers ordinary people nowadays. It is full of supernatural who embrace the humanistic worldview acting as images beyond the normal, such as human-face-snake- intermediaries with saints or holy kings. Since heaven, body, human-face-bird-body, and human-face-beast- earth, mountains and rivers were all set up for the body; two-head person, nine-head person, headless sages to master the world, then the description of person, and three-body person. Xing Tian, Xia Geng’s geography and the knowledge of products was also corpse, and King Rong Xuan’s corpse are all gods used by the sages to rule the world. This is the view of who have died and their soul continues to live in the political geography with ancient characteristics. Shan form of corpses. Zhu Yin does not sleep or drink but Hai Jing provides many examples of this. Every place he is fed with wind and rain. What Kua Fu chased and mountain mentioned in the book is explained every day is the time that can never be pursued, the with the details of the local sacrificial ceremony, and transformation into peach forest after his death shows the images of various strange mountain gods are not that the ancient people have a peace attitude towards uncommon.[7]” At the beginning of the 21st century, death. Although everyone has no wife in the husband’s the field of human literature explicitly proposed the country, each person has two sons. Each son is born “Quadruple Evidence”. We regard the handed down from the ribs of everyone’s back. When the son is literature including Shan Hai Jing as the first evidence born, he will die immediately. In addition, when Da to explore the ancient truth. The newly unearthed Yu was taming flood, he became a bear in order to oracle bone inscriptions, Chinese bronze inscriptions, open the mountains. After his wife Tu Shan Shi saw bamboo slips, and silk manuscripts are called the it, she became ashamed and shocked and turned into double evidence. The materials of folk word-of- a stone. Da Yu chased her and asked for his son. mouth and ethnological investigation are taken as The stone cracked and gave birth to Qi. Qi was the triple evidence, and the archaeological excavations king of the Middle Xia Dynasty. These different and handed down ancient cultural relics and images conventional narrative designs show that the ancient are called quadruple evidence[8], which shows the people’s idea about life and death, the communication important position of Shan Hai Jing as the ancestor with the heaven and the earth, and the original mode and prototype of culture. of thinking that is coordinated with nature are very Because of the development of network information, naive, which greatly enriches the modernized flow of each country in contemporary society has almost stylized flat thinking. As a prototype, it has influenced assimilated into a global village. Architecture, many cultural phenomena and value systems in later customs, costumes, urban appearance, electronic generations and become an inexhaustible source of products, and design patterns have become more and wisdom for the Chinese nation. more similar. Today’s China is influenced by Western Tracing back to history, China’s culture of snakes thoughts and cultural styles. Only by highlighting has a long history. The legendary Nu Wa and Fu Xi the uniqueness of the national cultural prototype can are all have human-face-snake-body characteristics. we ensure the diversity of culture and the uniqueness The record of the white snake appeared in Shan of individual existence. The fantastic book Shan Hai Hai Jing • Bei Ci San Jing: “There is a white snake 34 Jun Yu | Brand Value of Cultural Prototype-Shan Hai Jing 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 under the Shenwun.” In Zhong Ci Shi Er Jing, it Shan Hai Jing, learned the rules of construction from says: “There are many white snakes on the Mount those weird and wonderful monsters, and recreated Chaisang.” Since then, the white snake has gradually the images[9]. Since then, the sales of derivatives developed into an adult. After thousands of years, the such as Hu Ba dolls was amazing, which spawned a story of the Madam White Snake has been repeatedly huge market for the toy industry. After that, the hit spread among the people, which has increased the TV series The Journey of Flower and Eternal Love human factors that attach great importance to love also drew rich nutrient in Shan Hai Jing. In addition and righteousness in the humanistic society. Later, to movies and anime, various Chinese paintings and Madam White Snake was seen by a young Japanese sculptures have also turned to the image of the beasts man in a high school. He was deeply fascinated by and gods in the form of exaggeration and uniqueness the plot inside. Throughout his life, he grew into an in Shan Hai Jing. animation master who told stories all over the world. Liu fan, an associate researcher at the Chinese He is Miyazaki Hayao who won the Oscar Lifetime National Academy of Arts, said: “A cultural brand is Achievement Award, which is also the spiritual a symbol rooted in the culture and values of the host attraction and value enhancement brought about by country after years of accumulation, often carried in a the different cultures. Miyazaki Hayao is known as the fixed image. China’s traditional IP (Internet Protocol cultural banner and animation brand. What cultural extended to intellectual property rights) is quite brands and spiritual individuals can represent the rich. They are all super IPs that have gone through Chinese nation in contemporary China or a hundred thousands of years and infused Chinese cultural years later? If it is not rooted in the germinal soil and genes and values.” “In conclusion, the strong cultural blood genes of the descendants of Yan and Yellow brand communication power of each country largely Emperors, what are the elements and values that represents a country’s cultural soft power.”[10]. cultural characteristics can inject into the world? In the 3. Activate the cultural cognition of the 1960s, the animated film The Monkey King Creates ancient times a Tremendous Uproar, which was based on Journey to the West, won many international awards. It is a “Shan Hai Jing started the tradition of narration with classic and monumental film in the history of Chinese pictures and texts in China. However, the images of animation. It is enough to prove the brand of cultural the beasts that exist in the images from the Ming and prototypes brought by the iconic identity of the Qing Dynasties have irreplaceable roles for people works. In the summer of 2015, the two major fantasy to understand this wonderful book, ancient society, cartoons of Monkey King: Hero Is Back and Monster mountains and rivers, and beliefs.”[11] Looking Hunt enjoyed good reputations. The directors Tian through the 18 versions of Shan Hai Jing translated by Xiaopeng and Xu Chengyi both took inspiration from ancient and modern authors published from 2014 to Shan Hai Jing. Whether it is the little demon king Hu 2016, I found that all the illustrations used in them are Ba with six hands and feet, or the arch-villain Chaos, black- and white-line drawings from Ming and Qing a big worm that has no face and shape, fighting with dynasties. In today’s age of information explosion, the Monkey King, the creative teams went through they are far from being able to adapt to modern Jun Yu | DIGITAL SCIENCE AND FASHION ART 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1 35 people’s reading habits and aesthetic taste. So, it is Description of Shan Hai Jing of Ancient Versions, in urgent to present new pictures from a contemporary which Fig.10 and 11 are from Ming and Qing Dynasty. perspective. The following fig.7 is the three-head Fig.12 is from Japan, and Fig.13 is the contemporary country picture drawn by Jiang Yinghao in the Ming version of Xiang Liu Shi drawn by Lu Shan. You can dynasty, which are included in the illustration of see from the comparison of styles that the aesthetic Description of Shan Hai Jing of Ancient Versions changes and technological progress with the times by Ma Changyi. Fig.8 shows the three-head country bring people interest in reading. The contemporary picture in Bian Yi Dian from Qing Dynasty. Fig.9 is a version of the digital picture book develops the color illustration of three-head country picture by Lu viewer's creative thinking with higher visual fantasy. Shan, a 2017 graduate of Department of Art Design of Flying with the gods and monsters in Shan Hai Jing, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. more people are interested in getting close to and The following fig.10-12 is taken from Ma Changyi’s understanding the classics.

Fig 7 Three-head country Fig.8 Three-head country Fig 9 Three-head country (Ming Dynasty) (Qing Dynasty) (Contemporary)

Fig 10 Xiang Liu Shi Fig 11 Xiang Liu Shi Fig 12 Xiang Liu Shi Fig 13 Xiang Liu Shi (Qing Dynasty) (Ming Dynasty) (Janpan) (Contemporary)

Image is the symbol of developing the natural force, forms become more diversified, vivid and interactive. whether it is the nature reappeared by rational science Taking the illustrated pictures in Shan Hai Jing as or the nature of primitive, irrational and animal an example, a series of visual interpretations such as nature[12]. Each era has an image language that binding forms are considered to try to develop reading represents the characteristics of that era. With the time resources that match the contemporary conditions and elapse, contemporary social and technological means have far-reaching significance for carrying forward develop rapidly, and visual stimulation and media traditional culture. 36 Jun Yu | Brand Value of Cultural Prototype-Shan Hai Jing 2018(1):29-36 VOL.1

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About the author

Biography: Yu Jun, a teacher of Publishing, Printing and Art Design Institute of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, graduated from Tongji University with a master degree. The main research direction is illustration and graphic research in visual communication design. Contact information: Block A 407, Comprehensive Building, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road No. 516, Yangpu District, Shanghai, Postcode: 200093, E-mail: [email protected]