Did the ancients ever see whales?

First of all, let's clarify the question, is Kun a whale? Let's take a look at the source of Kun first: "Zhuangzi Leisurely Travel":

There is a fish in the northern underworld, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Turned into a bird, its name is Peng.

Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. It is a bird, and the sea will be in vain.

Nanming, Tianchi also. "When I was a child, I was always curious about this myth and legend, and I often wondered, what kind of creatures can transform between giant birds and giant fish at will? Look again, what do kun eat?

After the ancient Indian mythology "Heavenly Dragon Babu" was introduced to China, it was named the Dapeng Golden-winged Bird, which is the kun mentioned above! The Dapeng Goldfinch feeds on the dragon, it flies in the air, inspects the dragon that should be killed in the sea, and when it finds the dragon, it stirs up the sea with its wings, and becomes two halves, and the dragon sees this formation, and trembles with fright, and loses consciousness, waiting to be devoured; The Dapeng Goldfinch eats a lot of food! You can eat one dragon king and 500 baby dragons in a single day.

It seems that the mythical ocean is the paradise of dragons, Kun has lived for so many years, and he has not eaten the dragon, this dragon is too rich! Well, as a comparison, let's take a look at when whales were first enshrined in ancient Chinese writing. "Jade Chapter" The King of Fish.

Ancient and modern notes" whales, sea fish. The big one is thousands of miles long, and the small one is dozens of feet. Its female is called a salamander, and the big one is also thousands of miles long, and her eyes are like bright moon pearls.

Take another look at what whales eat? A small number of whales only eat large animals and have a violent personality, such as killer whales. Most whales are docile and eat only small fish, shrimp and lots of plankton.

Speaking of which, you can probably wonder if these two are the same kind of creatures. In the animal world, sea whales often raise their tails out of the sea, and their tails are so large that they resemble the wings of birds. The Bohai Sea was called the North Sea in ancient times, and ancient fishermen often encountered whales, so I was guessing that when the ancients saw the huge tail of the whale, did they think that it had turned into a greenhouse and soared up to 90,000 miles?

Anyang Yinxu unearthed Late Shang Dynasty Whale bones Now on display at the National Museum of China, the archaeological materials unearthed have proven everything. In addition, "Zhuangzi, Miscellaneous, Foreign Objects" records the matter of Ren Gongzi fishing for big fish: "Ren Gongzi is a big hook and a giant thread, and fifty calves are bait, squatting and knowing, casting rods in the East China Sea, fishing and fishing, and no fish can be fished every year."

It has been eaten by big fish, holding a giant hook, sinking and descending, raising and fighting, white waves like mountains, sea water**, ghosts and gods, and thousands of miles. Ren Gongzi is like a fish, leaving it, east of the self-made river, Cangwu has been north, and he is not tired of being like a fish. "Suspicion is the alienation legend of whaling on the East China Sea in the pre-Qin period.

Regarding the "sea area with whales" mentioned in the subject's question, I will give you a piece of material: "Humpback whales.........It is distributed in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. —Quoted from Encyclopedia Whale Then the whale bones unearthed in Yinxu were naturally transported to the Central Plains from the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea and other places through tribute, ** and other means.

The "Classic of Mountains and Seas" clearly records such an animal, it is called the armadillo, "there is a beast, its shape is like a dodder, and the beak of the bird, the owl and the snake tail, sleep when it sees people, and the name is armadillo." Translated as this, this animal is like a rabbit, with a long beak like a bird, round eyes and a slender tail, and it is motionless when it sees a person. If you have ever seen the American armadillo, you will never doubt the description of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the American armadillo is such an animal, as pitiful as a rabbit, why is it like a rabbit?

Not only is he the size of the body, but the pair of long ears are even more similar! Armadillos also have a habit of curling up like pangolins when in danger, and of course they don't move. The ancients have seen many things and visited places.

Transshark, the books do not contain. Visit the fisherman of the Fujian Sea, cloud: the largest shark in the sea, there are two kinds of white span and black span.

The white span is particularly large, the head is like a mountain, can be four or five zhang, the body is dozens of zhang long, haunts the ocean, can swallow the boat. Secondly, it is also three or five zhang long, and the head and body have a pinch of mouth to give birth to it, and the touch is like a strong armor in the body, and the net can not be solved. That is, the newborn small shark also weighs fifty or sixty pounds, or there are those who misfortune in the shallows with the tide, fishermen often take its oil for anointing fire, and it is unbearable to eat.

Shark with a 'cross' name? It often leaps its head high in the sea, hangs in the waves like a somersault, and rotates its head and tail on the surface of the water. Or a group of 100 or ten, the front shark flips over, and the back shark heels.

The white waves are monstrous, the mountains are shaken, the sun and the moon are miserable, and the fishing boats are often frightened when they look at them from afar. —Nie Huang, "Sea Mistake Map", <>

Turned into a bird, its name is Peng, Peng's big, need two barbecue grills, a polysaccharide, a slightly spicy, a bottle of snowflakes, let us brave the world.

The original sentence is from Zhuangzi's "Leisurely Travel", and its original text is "There is a fish in the north of the underworld, and its name is Kun." The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Turned into a bird, its name is Peng.

Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. "Describe it as very, very big.

<>Wandering Away" is the first part of the Zhuangzi, which can be used as a representative of the book "Zhuangzi" ideologically and artistically. The theme of "Getaway" is the pursuit of an absolutely free outlook on life, and the author believes that only by forgetting the boundaries of things and self, reaching the realm of selflessness, meritlessness, and namelessness, and swimming in infinity without anything to rely on, is the real "Getaway". The article first expounds the difference between "small" and "big" through the comparison between Dapeng and small animals such as lizard and dove.

On this basis, the author pointed out that whether it is the Shu and the Xue Dove who are not good at flying, or the Dapeng that can fly to an altitude of 90,000 miles with the help of the wind, or even the columns that can fly against the wind, they are all "treated" and not free, thus leading to and expounding the truth that "no one has self, no god has no merit, and no saint has no name". At the end of the article, through the debate between Huizi and Zhuangzi's "useful" and "useless", it is explained that only by not being used by the world can we be "free". The whole text is rich in imagination, novel in conception, bizarre in the majestic, unbridled in the ocean, and full of romantic spirit between the lines.

The meaning of this sentence is: There is a fish in the sea in the north, and its name is Kun. The size of the kun is not known to be thousands of miles large. It changed into a bird, and its name was Peng. Peng's back, I really don't know how long it will be thousands of miles.

Source: "Zhuangzi Wandering".

Original text: There is a fish in the North Underworld, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Turned into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. It is a bird, and the sea will migrate to the south.

Translation: There is a fish in the northern sea, and its name is Kun. The size of the kun is not known to be thousands of miles large.

It changed into a bird, and its name was Peng. Peng's back, I really don't know how long it will be thousands of miles. When it rises and flies, its wings are like clouds in the sky. This pengniao will migrate to the southern sea when the sea is in turmoil.

There is a fish in the northern underworld, and its name is Kun. "From:

There are fish in the North Underworld.

Author] Zhuang Zhou [Dynasty] Pre-Qin.

There is a fish in the northern underworld, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Turned into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky.

It is a bird, and the sea will migrate to the south. The Southern Hades, the Heavenly Pond also. Those who are "Qi Harmony" are also strangers.

The words of "Harmony" said: "Pengzhi migrated to the south of the underworld, the water hit three thousand miles, the one who swayed up ninety thousand miles, and the one who went to rest in June." "Wild horses, dust, and creatures.

The firmament of the sky, its good and evil? Far away and unreachable? It is also under its sight, and if it is, it is already gone.

And the accumulation of water is not thick, so its negative boat is also weak. Cover the cup of water on the top of the col hall, then the mustard is the boat, and the cup is glued, the water is shallow and the boat is big. If the accumulation of wind is not thick, then its negative wings are also weak.

Therefore, 90,000 miles, the wind is below, and then it is now the wind; Carrying the blue sky, and Mo Zhi is dying, and then it is now Tu Nan. Shu and Xueyu laughed and said: "I decided to fly, grab the elm fang and stop, the time is not coming, but the control is just on the ground, and Xi is 90,000 miles to the south?"

Those who are suitable for the reckless, three meals are reversed, and the stomach is still true; Those who are suitable for 100 miles will be fed with food; For those who are suitable for thousands of miles, gather grain in March. What do you know about the second worm!

Small knowledge is not as good as big knowledge, and small years are not as good as big years. Do you know what it is? The fungus does not know the obscurity, the cockroach does not know the spring and autumn, and this small year is also.

There are spirits in the south of Chu, with 500 years old as spring and 500 years old as autumn; In ancient times, there was a big chun, with 8,000 years old as spring, 8,000 years old as autumn, this big year also. And Peng Zu has heard about it for a long time, and everyone is sad! Tang Zhizhi is also a thorn.

In the north of poverty, there are those who have the Stygian Sea, and the Tianchi is also. There is a fish, which is thousands of miles wide, and there is no one who knows its cultivators, and its name is Kun. There is a bird, its name is Peng, the back is like Mount Tai, the wings are like the clouds of the sky, the one who shakes the horns of the sheep and goes up is 90,000 miles, the clouds are absolutely airy, the blue sky is negative, and then the south is the south, and the south is also suitable for the south.

Reprimanded the bird with a smile and said: "He is also Xi Shi? I leapt up, but I flew down a few feet, soaring between the basils, and this also flew to the top.

And he is also Xi Shi? "This is a small and big argument.

Therefore, the husband knows that he is an official, he is better than a township, and he is a monarch with virtue, and he who conquers a country, he regards himself as the same. And Song Rongzi still smiled. And the world's reputation is not persuaded, the world is not not frustrated, the distinction between inside and outside, and the state of honor and disgrace is already over.

He is in the world, and he is not counted. Although, there are still no trees. Fu Liezi walked against the wind, and he was good, and there were five days in ten and then reversed.

He is not counted in the blessed one. Although this is not to be done, there is still something to be treated. If the husband takes advantage of the righteousness of heaven and earth, and the argument of the six qis, and swims in infinity, he will be evil?

Therefore, it is said: To man without self, God and man without merit, saint without name.

It's supposed to be a whale.

Already, there has long been a history of whales, called Kun, there are whale salamanders, from Bangu.

In the beginning, it was called "whales".

The ancients always believed that the whale was a fish, but it was actually a mammal.

Most of them inhabit shallow seas, some species inhabit freshwater, in order to be able to live underwater, cetaceans forelimbs evolved into fins, hind limbs degenerated, and gave birth to tail fins, nostrils grow on the head, need to breathe through the water at certain intervals, but the hearing is very good, very small sounds can be heard, cetaceans have undergone great changes in physiology and structure in order to facilitate life in the water. Cetaceans are distinctly different from any other mammal.

subjects, so it has been listed separately for a long time.

Kunpeng. The name was first ** in "Easy Talk".

In a book, in ancient times, the North Underworld was the North Sea, which is equivalent to a far away place, and it was thought that the Kun was a big fish such as a big fish, that is, the big fish in the North Sea, and the big fish in the sea was the whale today, that is to say, the ancients saw that Kunpeng was a whale, although it was a bit suspenseful, but it was true, only because the ancients had less knowledge, so they wrote some very common things more strangely, giving people a sense of mystery, but through the facts, The ancients were indeed very smart, and it was indeed not easy to discover these wonderful creatures without being able to investigate.

Up to the fish of the North Underworld, down to the Shu and the dove, in the Zhuangzi Xiaoyao said that the record is also very magical, everything is changing, everything is changeable, from the appearance of the Kun has a dorsal fin, It seems to be closer to the fish, no wonder the ancients thought it was a big fish, and did not know that it was a whale, and its swimming speed was very fast, which also corroborated the saying that the Kun swims fast, the Kun seems to live in fresh water, which is similar to the habits of the whale, in short, according to these information, the Kun is said to be a whale, Of course, I personally think this is the most reasonable explanation, but according to historical records, it is very similar to whales.

No, Kun is one of the mythical beasts in ancient times, and there has been the word Kunpeng since ancient times, which shows that Kunpeng is the same huge and fast existence as Dapeng, and it can be said that it is like a whale in size, but it is not a whale.

No, this is just Zhuangzi's fantasy, in his pen, Kun is "so big, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is", "90,000 miles to the top", and the largest whale in the world is the blue whale, only meters, so Kun is not a whale.

It shouldn't be a whale, there is a fish in the North Underworld, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is. From this, it can be seen that the kun is much larger than the whale, and it is a legendary creature, and it is a kind of exploration of the unknown by people.

It shouldn't be, the Kun described in "Getaway" should be an imaginary animal, "turned into a bird, its name is Peng, Peng's size, I don't know how many thousands of miles." "This kun can also transform into a bird and fly into the sky, and it is definitely not a whale.

In ancient times, Kun lived in the far north, Kun is very huge, I don't know how many thousands of miles long, it can turn into a bird, the name is Peng, its wings, full of strength, when it rises and flies, its wings are like clouds covering the sky, Kun lives in the sea in the north, can be turned into Peng bird, Peng is a big bird, wings like clouds that cover the sky and the sun, change from Kunyu and then move to the south, ancient people think that Kun is a kind of fish.

Whales are divided into two categories, one is baleen whales and the other is toothed whales. Most of them inhabit the ocean, and some live in freshwater environments, whales do not belong to fish, but belong to mammals, its size is also very huge, and the larger the size of the creatures, in fact, the life span will be longer, the life span of organisms with hibernation mechanism will be longer, the average whale life span is about forty or fifty years, and some can live up to one hundred years. Whales do not drink seawater, they extract water from their food by metabolizing fats, and although their specific range varies from species to species, whales live in oceans all over the world, and because whales have a lot of fat in their bodies, they can easily float in the water.