Strength and humility forged legend, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

A girl mimics a model dressed as an ox to celebrate the Year of the Ox in the Beijing Aquarium on Wednesday. Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve falls on Thursday. (ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY)

The ox, the very symbol of toil and determination with its sharp-horned, muscular appearance, has a propensity to be steadfast and trustworthy, often humbly bowing its head, and working in the fields.

President Xi Jinping, in a speech at a New Year gathering held by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Dec 31, sums up three types of oxen we should learn from－the willing ox that serves the people, the trailblazer ox that makes new tracks, and the sturdy ox that struggles hard amid difficulties.

Friday heralds the Year of the Ox. In China's zodiac animal list, the ox comes second. As with almost all zodiac animals, the ox here is a translation from the Chinese character niu, which incorporates the diverse breeds of the bovine group, both the domestic and the feral.

In Chinese culture, the ox embodies a curious equilibrium between practicality and divinity. They are down-to-earth livestock toiling away in the soil, but meanwhile they are elevated to a prominent status in both ancient life and artistic creations.

Paper-cut images are on display, until March 14, at an exhibition of ox-related artworks at the National Art Museum of China. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

A Chinese idyllic painting often shows a small child sitting on the back of an ox, leisurely playing a wooden flute, as they stroll forward alongside a paddy with mist-shrouded mountains in the distance.

In this pastoral imagery, the ox is a ubiquitous constituent, proving over thousands of years their qualities of diligence, stoicism and altruism, and living up to their noble reputation in Chinese culture.

The selfless image of the ox is expressed and reinforced by literary and artistic creations, an iconic example being the famous verse of writer and poet Lu Xun (1881-1936): Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers. Head-bowed, like a willing ox I serve the children, expressing his abhorrence of the suppressors and a resolution to devote himself to the people.

Although oxen have gradually retired from modern everyday life, their qualities remain relevant.

A farmer plows a paddy field on a mountain terrace with the help of an ox in Qingtian county, Zhejiang province, in June. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Implications

For thousands of years, ancient China depended on an agricultural civilization and a corresponding small-scale peasant economy, in which cattle played an indispensable role, as was accentuated by experts in folklore studies including Wu Bing'an and Wu Yucheng.

According to Wu Yucheng, who is a council member at the China Folklore Society, early proof of the relationship between agriculture and the bovine species in China comes from the Hemudu site in Zhejiang province that dates back approximately 7,000 years. There paddy seeds, fossils of buffalo skulls, and farming tools made from buffalo bones were found.

The widely acknowledged academic view is that plowing with oxen became common during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). Since then, the ox has evolved into a symbol of production and a supportive sidekick in everyday life.

In the renowned folk tale The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, based on ancient stargazing, the girl, a deity responsible for weaving iridescence onto the sky, descends to the mortal world. There she marries a peasant boy owning only one ox－as a vignette, in some versions, the ox leads the boy to the girl as a gesture of gratitude.

They are then discovered by the superior gods and separated by the Milky Way. Moved by their tragic story, magpies form a bridge allowing them to see each other on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, hence the provenance of Chinese Valentine's Day, or qixi.

Apart from honoring love, the folktale also represents an idyllic ideal for a household in ancient society－the men plowing the fields and the women weaving cloth, ensuring both food and clothing.

A dough modeling artwork featuring children riding oxen and celebrating spring made by artist Zuo Ansheng in Linyi, Shandong province, in January. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Historical status

In several dynasties, the ox was elevated to such a high status that commoners were forbidden from slaughtering farm cattle at will.

The earliest text record pertaining to this regulation dates back to more than 2,000 years ago, in the Confucius school historical record Book of Rites. Completed in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), the codex states that in the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC), the liege lords were not allowed to slaughter cattle without a good reason, and only the emperor could kill cattle in spring and autumn as sacrificial offerings.

Apart from farming purposes, another reason for the high status of cattle was their key role in the armed forces.

The Tang Code records that cattle and horses were used by the military and ipso facto different from the rest of domestic animals. Anyone stealing or killing cattle would face a sentence of two and a half years.

Cattle were used in wars to transport supplies. Even when dead, they could still be made into military apparel and weapons, hence the hides and tendon of dead cattle had to be submitted to the government in some dynasties.

The protection of cattle did not alleviate as time went by. From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the slaughtering of cattle, even one's own, would induce penalties from whipping to death. Even when the cattle were old or ill, the owners had to apply to governmental entities for permission.

It might be surprising to know that even after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, beef was still a rare item, as private slaughtering was deemed illegal up until the late 1970s.

Only with the advancement of modern agriculture, in which farming cattle were replaced with machinery, did beef become a common ingredient for everyday dishes. Therefore, we should probably not take beef for granted. After all, it has been a luxury item for thousands of years.

Wang Junzi, a national cultural heritage inheritor of Ruci porcelain, polishes a work of his in Baofeng county, Henan province, in January. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Festival celebrations

The ox is not only celebrated every twelve years, like other zodiac animals. With its high status, across China there are a lot of regional festivals celebrating the ox throughout the year, a rare reception among zodiac animals.

One of the most representative is the ox king festival, a folk festival celebrated by many ethnic groups. As the name implies, these festivals are established to pay tribute and appreciation to cattle.

Not only have the people, across time and space, reached the consensus to worship the ox king, many of the customs are similar, involving giving their farming cattle a day off, a good bath and a gourmet meal.

On the first day of the 10th lunar month, the Gelao ethnic group in Guizhou province serve their cattle with the best fodder and clean the shed, meanwhile preparing meat and alcohol as sacrificial offerings to the ox king, wishing the cattle good health. Even those without their own cattle will prepare offerings and pray that they will soon possess one.

The Bouyei ethnic group from the same province commemorates the ox king on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, when they make a colored sticky rice dish with the sap of plants and flowers. After serving the cattle, people sit down for a banquet, drinking, singing and socializing.

Festivals of the same ethos, despite maybe different names, can be found in also Hubei, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

The origins of this festival vary from region to region, but almost always involve a moving legend about how oxen saved the people.

The Bouyei people's story probably corresponds to human history the most, apart from the fictional ox king part. It goes that the group had no cattle in ancient times, and could only use human labor to tend the fields. The ox king felt sympathy for the people and sent cattle to help them, relieving the locals of the burden.

In Gelao folklore, the story relates that when a village was besieged for seven days and nights, an old ox from the tribe chief led him to a secret cave with a route to the back of the mountain. The whole village escaped unharmed.

Although these festivals have become sort of niche, in this Year of the Ox, we might learn something from this friend of ours throughout the ages.

Contact the writer at chengyuezhu@chinadaily.com.cn