Yi Bimo paintings are pictures painted by Yi priests Bimo on paper or animal skins, barks, bamboo slips, stones, wooden boards and other carriers. It is an art system that uses painting and text to narrate stories, shape images, express emotions, reflect historical life, and express ambitions and wishes. It is a "living fossil" of the ancient Yi painting art and has distinct national characteristics. [Era of Origin] Bimo painting is one of the important plastic arts used by Bimo in his documents and Bimo rituals, and has a long history. Bimo was a tribal chief in the ancient Yi period of "unity of politics and religion". Later, he gradually transformed into a priest who was in charge of sacrifice, history, and divination. He is also the only person in the Yi folk who has mastered the systematic primitive painting art and text. According to the Origin of the Yi Nationality, as early as the Aibu era, "Aibu liked female roots, and when it came to Lou Shiying, he thought about knowledge in his heart, spoke knowledge in his mouth, and wrote knowledge in his hands. He even wrote it on brocade, and the brocade was bright and colorful, and the books were like the sun shining, and the pictures were like the moon shining." The Yi text "Su Po Mei Hai Ku Su" records: "Tangzhi used the Yi scriptures and promoted the sacrificial ceremony. When E Di died, Hou Rong came to recite the scriptures" (Tangzhi was the leader of the ancient Yi people). "Huayang Guozhi Nanzhongzhi" records: "Zhuge Liang made a map for the Yi people: first he drew the sky and the earth, the sun and the moon, the monarch and the ministers, and the city; then he drew the dragon, the dragon gave birth to the Yi people, and cattle, horses, camels and sheep; then he drew the chief official of the department riding a horse with a banner and a canopy, patrolling and comforting; and he drew the image of leading a sheep carrying wine and bringing gold and treasures to the Yi people. He gave it to the Yi people, and the Yi people valued it very much." It also reveals the shadow of Bimo painting. The Liangshan Bimo document "Bibu Songbi" also records that the Bimo master Wei Leqiongbu "was smart and wise, clever and skillful, inherited the learning of the predecessors, and kept the essence", "used ink to draw strange and spirit, used abbreviated classics, and stored classics in boxes and cabinets." More than 2,000 years ago, the Liangshan Yi society entered the farming era from the hunting era. At that time, Bimo Tibi Zhamu and Hao Bishichu had a famous oral debate in the history of Yi culture around the reform of the "ritual system". It is said that there were records of paintings and texts written on leather at that time. [Distribution area] Bimo paintings are distributed among the Yi people in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, with Liangshan as the main distribution area. Within Liangshan, Meigu, Zhaojue, Butuo and other Yi areas are representative, especially Meigu County, which is famous at home and abroad for its large number of Bimos, profound cultural heritage, unique style, rich content and diverse forms. [Basic content] Bimos usually use bamboo or wood to make pens, dip them in ink made from animal blood and soot, and paint on paper or wood boards. They do not make drafts, concentrate their minds and finish them in one go, without any carving, and the lines are simple and refreshing. Bimo paintings are usually divided into two categories: one is the illustrations and diagrams on Bimo documents, and the other is the pictorial symbols on wood boards and stone slabs. One is the illustrations and diagrams on documents. The paintings on documents are always matched with texts. They are mostly on the title page or the last few pages. Pictures are drawn and accompanied by corresponding texts to express thoughts and emotions. They mostly reflect the evolution of the universe, ancient heroes who subdue demons and eliminate evil for the people, the deployment of troops in ancient wars, celestial phenomena such as the sun, the moon and the stars, the migration routes of the Yi ancestors, animals and plants, and even evil spirits and monsters in foreign countries. Liangshan Bimo paintings use the artistic observation method of "looking up to observe the image in the sky, looking down to observe the law in the earth, observing the patterns of birds and beasts and the suitability of the earth, taking things from the body near and from things far away". They use the artistic observation method of looking up and down to observe the heaven and earth, and wandering in the vastness of the universe, and understand the "image" in the mind freely. With abstract techniques, they discard those contents that are visible to the eyes but considered unimportant, and depict the parts that are invisible to the eyes but considered essential in detail. They grasp the essential feature of "bone" and abandon its outer contour to draw the "bone" image of the object. Objects in the universe are high and mysterious, and are often the most sacred objects that are most likely to arouse the imagination of the ancients. This occupies a very important position in Bimo paintings. The Yi people often take the shape of the sun, moon, stars and other celestial phenomena when painting them. For example, the sun and moon pictures are in the form of simple drawings, taking the "bone" image of the sun and the moon, and filling the surroundings with "Z" or "I" patterns or small circles along both sides of the skeleton line to represent the light of the sun and the moon, and then add some decorations; the clouds are represented by several upward curved symbols arranged together; the thunder and lightning are drawn with bent symbols to express rapidity and force. The painting method of animals and plants further reflects the "bone painting" style of Bimo paintings. Take the shape of the chicken as an example. A curve represents the body, connecting the head, wings, legs and tail, and only a few lines are used to draw the image of a chicken, which can be said to be extremely simple; in contrast, in each part, more short lines are used to focus on the "nine" tooth-shaped comb, five-fingered chicken claws, wings and tail, and even a dot and a small circle are used to mark the eyes and nose of the chicken. Similarly, when drawing a python or phoenix, only simple lines are used to draw the "bone" appearance of the main body, while countless small circles, semicircles, or dots are used to decorate the body. In contrast, more ink is used to highlight the head and tail to highlight the parts that are considered important. When drawing the image of a horse and an ox, the horns and tail of the ox are highlighted, and their respective characteristics are captured. They are also distinguished from the function, that is, the horse carries people on its back, and the ox pulls the plow. When drawing a snake, it is just a simple shape of a snake, when drawing a fish, only the fish bones are drawn, when drawing a person, the skeleton structure is drawn, and when drawing a tree, a few branches are drawn, which is exactly the same as the ancient Yi characters. In Bimo paintings, the image of the ancient Yi hero Zhige Alu is the most common and prominent. The Bimos make Zhige Alu's body square to represent the four copper pillars that support the sky, and also symbolize the four directions of the earth, reflecting Zhige Alu's majestic momentum with his feet on the earth and his head on the sky. The sun and moon symbols painted on the top of Zhige'ar, the bow and arrow, copper net bag, iron fork, copper hammer and other weapons on the left and right hands, and the winged Pegasus at the bottom correspond to the description of Zhige'ar in 1 that "his left eye is like the sun's glow, and his right eye is like the moon's shine", and also imply the heroic deeds of the hero Zhige'ar in the legend, such as subduing the thunder god with a copper hammer and copper net bag, shooting the sun and catching the moon with a bow and arrow and iron fork, and subduing the man-eating Pegasus. The second is the paintings on wooden boards and stone slabs. The paintings of Bimo on wooden boards have a fixed procedure for drawing heaven, earth and human beings. The symbol of inserting a vertical line in the middle of the top three horizontal lines represents "sky", and the symbol of drawing three arcs at both ends of the horizontal line below represents "earth", followed by the sun and moon symbols. The moon is usually drawn as a crescent shape, with some broken lines and a number of dots or small circles, and the sun is drawn as several circles with a number of dots, and then the dots arranged in multiple rows represent the stars, and a group of three small left and right semi-arcs form a group of symbols to form "fog", etc. The main slate paintings include hail prevention, deforestation prevention, and god maps. Military deployment maps and astrological maps are also the most distinctive categories of Bimo document paintings. They are generally attached to the end of each volume of documents. The painting method is simple and clear. For example, if you draw a star, you only draw a dot, and if you draw three stars, you draw 0 to represent it. Military deployment maps follow the layout pattern, and draw a number of vertical lines to represent the square array of forks, spears, and axes. If you draw the commander, you draw a circle to represent it. When drawing mountains and rivers, you draw simple symbols such as small stones, small trees, and water ponds according to the characteristics, and annotate the corresponding parts with text, which is magnificent. [Basic characteristics] The first is utilitarianism and belief. Bimo paintings are the product of the Yi people's belief that all things have spirits and other local beliefs. On the one hand, they provide textual research for Bimo rituals and enhance the effectiveness of rituals. On the other hand, they are mainly used in various Bimo rituals, with significant utilitarianism and belief. The second is primitiveness. Yi Bimo paintings use the method of inner contemplation, taking objects from near and far, imitating the images of all things in nature, focusing on highlighting the "bone" frame, emphasizing the contemplation of the mind, highlighting the use of "lines" and simple colors in the picture, pursuing flat and decorative effects, and having primitiveness. The third is uniqueness. Bimo paintings are imperfect categories such as deformation, grotesque, mysterious, ethereal, broken, incomplete and even "ugly". This kind of naive, simple, natural, mysterious and straightforward, stiff but powerful painting form reveals a unique national rhythm and rhythmic beauty. The fourth is the unity of calligraphy and painting. Bimo paintings always embody the ancient tradition of "the unity of calligraphy and painting". All paintings must be accompanied by texts, and texts can be seen everywhere. In many pictures, the characteristics of "both painting and words" are shown. [Basic Value] 1. Historical value. Bimo paintings have irreplaceable value in studying the occurrence and development history of human primitive painting art and writing. Over thousands of years of history, painting and writing have evolved independently. The writing system has developed from the original pictographic system to the complete "Six-Character System" of indicative and ideographic characters. The Bimo painting art has always retained the appearance of the original era, which is of great value in witnessing the ancient artistic civilization of the Chinese nation. 2. Cultural value. Bimo painting is inherited by the Yi Bimo group with its unique rituals, and spread to the Yi people through rituals. It has an extremely wide acceptance group and has a high research value. With the further in-depth study of Bimo culture, it has attracted more and more attention from the world. 3. Artistic value. Bimo paintings, with their unique "observation of objects and images" method, point directly to the "bone" of the spirit, and embody the naive and simple, natural charm. It is this mysterious and straightforward, stiff but powerful painting form, the rhythm and rhythm that reveal it, embody the precious exploration spirit of ancient humans, and have created the unique aesthetic world of the Yi people. With its special style and interest, it has become a unique cultural landscape in the multicultural Chinese nation, especially in the "Tibetan-Yi Corridor", and provides a reference for ancient art civilization for modern painting art. 4. Social value. Bimo paintings are the main link between the national identity and psychological identity of the Yi nationality members. They have important practical significance for the cultivation of national self-confidence and emotions, strengthening national unity, and building a harmonious society. They play an irreplaceable role in providing traditional art education models.