Abstract
Critique of Academic Proposals that "Chinese Dragon Totem Stemming from Prairie Wolf Totem" in Wolf Totem
Highlights
The blockbuster Wolf Totem, based on the original novel, was released in the March this year
Jiang Rong, the author of Wolf Totem, in the annexed article of the novel, proposed that “the totem of Chinese dragon was derived from prairie wolf totem and there was another period of taotie totem between dragon totem and wolf totem”. [1: 407] Besides, he asserted that “the first dragon of China” unearthed by Hongshan cultural relics culture, which was widely-accepted and vigorous-proved as the swan-dragon, should be re-interpreted as a jade article with dragon-head and wolf-body, and it could be called as jade-wolf, or dragon-wolf . [1: 403]
The following part would focus mainly on two specific academic notions that “Chinese dragon totem was stemmed from prairie wolf totem” and “there was another period of taotie totem between dragon totem and wolf totem” to eliminate readers’ misunderstandings on the issue
Summary
The blockbuster Wolf Totem, based on the original novel, was released in the March this year. Jiang Rong, the author of Wolf Totem, in the annexed article of the novel, proposed that “the totem of Chinese dragon was derived from prairie wolf totem and there was another period of taotie totem between dragon totem and wolf totem”. Are we on earth the descendants of dragon or wolf ?” [1: 1-2] and entitled the novel with a controversial and stunning recommended statement “Are we the descendants of dragon or wolf?” [1: 1] Such proposals drew readers’ attention to the Chinese multiethnic cultural resources, yet they were deduced without rigorous academic research and lack of substantial textual and archeological evidence, which might affect its ever-growing readers with some misunderstanding or even doubts on the Chinese cultural history of nationalities. It was necessary and imperative to analyze these proposals with an aid of reliable textual and material evidences to clarify the connection between totems of wolf, dragon and taotie, and the formation of Chinese civilization
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