Spring Festival couplets are not only one of the highlights of the Chinese new year, but also a unique cultural phenomenon in China. Red Spring Festival couplets shine with the light of the festival and contain endless connotation and elegant charm. It is not meaningless to review some ancient spring festival couplet stories. I sorted out why reading Spring Festival couplets is also a good learning. Welcome to refer to it.
Why is reading Spring Festival couplets also a good way to learn
Tracing the history of Spring Festival couplets
Spring Festival couplets originated from the Taofu (rectangular mahogany boards hanging on both sides of the gate in the Zhou Dynasty).
According to the book of rites of the later Han Dynasty, the peach talisman is six inches long and three inches wide. The names of the great God of ghosts "Shentu" and "Yulei" are written on the peach board to suppress evil and eliminate evil.
It is reported that the world's earliest Spring Festival couplets included by the China World Records Association are: "Three Yang began to be distributed and four sequences began to open." This spring festival couplet is recorded in the Dunhuang suicide note unearthed from the Sutra cave in Mogao Grottoes. The suicide note records 12 pairs of Spring Festival couplets written on the birthday and the beginning of spring. The couplet is the first one in the order, and the author is Liu Qiuzi of the Tang Dynasty.
In the Five Dynasties, Meng Chang, the empress of Shu, was a monarch who liked to be unconventional. On the new year's Eve at the end of 964, he had a whim and asked his bachelor named Xin yinxun to write two sentences on the mahogany board and hang them on the door frame of his room as a peach charm. These two sentences are "New Year's celebration, Jiajie No. Changchun".
The word "Spring Festival couplets" appeared in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. According to Chen yunzhan, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, "the Spring Festival couplets were set up since the emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial capital Jinling (now Nanjing), do not send a message before New Year's Eve. The Gongqing scholar's family must add a pair of Spring Festival couplets at the door, and the emperor will go out to watch."
It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy to see bright red spring festival couplets posted everywhere during his private visit in micro clothes this evening. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang came to a place, he was furious to see that there were no spring festival couplets on the door. After careful inquiry, I realized that the owner of the house was a butcher, illiterate and unable to ask others for help. After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his pen and wrote down a pair of couplets: split the road of life and death with both hands and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife.
The emperor's advocacy made the Spring Festival couplets prosperous day by day, forming an ever-growing fashion.
Humanistic charm in Spring Festival couplets
Wang Xizhi, the calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (321-379), originated in Langya, Shandong (now Linyi, Shandong), and later lived in Shanyin, Kuaiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). One new year's Eve, Xizhi wrote a spring couplet "spring breeze, spring rain, spring scenery in the new year" and pasted it in front of his house. Because his calligraphy was so famous, he was secretly exposed that night. Wang Xizhi was not angry when he heard this, so he rewritten a picture of "the warbler crows the North Star and the swallow speaks in the southern suburbs", and asked his family to post it in front of the door again. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, the family found that the Spring Festival couplets had been taken away again. The next day was the first day of the new year. Everyone was in a great hurry. Wang Xizhi had an idea and wrote another one. After writing, he asked his family to cut off half of the couplet and stick only the upper half to the door frame, which became "no double blessing, no double misfortune".
In the early morning, someone came to steal the Spring Festival couplets. The man took advantage of the moonlight and saw that the couplets were dangerous and unlucky, so he had to return in vain and go empty handed. The next morning, Wang Xizhi went out in person and pasted the second half of the couplet cut off last night. Suddenly, his neighbors came to watch. The couplet turned into "no double blessing, today, no single misfortune, last night". It was wonderful. After reading it, they all clapped their hands and cheered when they learned the inside story. Wang Xizhi's wisdom, generosity and humor can be seen!
During the reign of emperor Bianjing and Emperor Miaoyu, Wang Yuanzhi, an official with the surname of Wang Yuanzhi, was born in Beijing. During the reign of emperor Bianjing, she was born in the name of Wang Miaoyu. Miss Wang refused, and her parents were anxious. It turned out that Wang Yuzhu had her own ideas. She wanted to choose her favorite person in the way of Spring Festival couplets. His father had to agree and posted a notice of "recruiting a son-in-law" on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. The matter shocked the capital, and the head immediately moved in front of the royal palace. Miss Wang's first couplet is "capture the dragon and stab the blood to write Geng Dong". This question baffles many "candidates". There are few candidates for the second couplet. The only few pictures are also devoid of literary grace and are not worth reading.
When Miss Wang was disappointed, someone sent a second couplet, saying "catch Caifeng, pick feathers and make notes to depict Mandarin". Wang Yuzhu secretly rejoiced and ordered the maid to invite the man into the room to meet, but there was no one coming. A few days later, she received another couplet, which was "catch the moon rabbit, pull out the hairpin pen and draw the Luan book". The young lady shouted good couplets and hurriedly asked the maid to pass the author into the room. Unexpectedly, it was an old man with white hair who came here. Miss Wang couldn't laugh or laugh. She blurted out a couplet: "the old man with white hair in front of the White Jade Terrace, please go out and break the crazy dream of this life". The old man replied, "the beautiful pink in the red ledger, invite in to renew the good relationship in the previous life". It was a witty couplet and a match. Wang Yuzhu chanted another couplet: "hang the couplet to choose a husband or a father. If you know what you want to do, go away". The old man replied, "you should be an apprentice, not an image, and come in favor", Miss Wang immediately opened her almond eyes and was stunned!
The old man laughed and said, "Miss, you are really talented and talented!" Then he took out a letter and handed it to the young lady: "don't laugh, I came to the marriage union on behalf of students." The jade bead exhibition letter was pleasantly surprised, and immediately knelt down and said, "you are always a Bachelor of Su University, disrespectful and disrespectful!" The old man with white hair is Su Dongpo, the great scholar of the current Dynasty, and the two couplets are Qin Xian, the descendant of the great talent Qin Shaoyou!
It turned out that when Qin Xian learned that Wang Yuzhu had chosen a son-in-law for the couplet, he came in admiration. When he was waiting outside the door for the couplet, he suddenly heard that his mother was critically ill and hurried back to his hometown. However, the young talent didn't want to lose his God given marriage, so he wrote to his mentor Su Shi and asked him to promote this beautiful thing. Miss Wang also heard about Qin Xiancai's study earlier. Today, she learned that he was a disciple of bachelor su. Naturally, she was full of joy and immediately agreed to the marriage. It's really a good story about a marriage. Two talented people get married!
Zheng Banqiao, a famous painter in the Qing Dynasty, once served as the magistrate of Weixian county. One new year's Eve, he and his colleagues went on a street patrol and saw a strange spring festival couplet posted in front of a family: "2345, 6789". Everyone was confused and wondering. Zheng Banqiao asked everyone to wait a moment and turned around and walked away alone. The crowd didn't know what to say, so they had to wait in place. After a while, Zheng Xie returned breathlessly, carrying rice, pork and a bag of clothes. When he asked someone to knock on the door of the house, he saw that his house was surrounded by walls, the whole family were crowded together, there was only a broken quilt on the bed, and the kitchen was empty and cold. Zheng Banqiao put down his food and clothes and said sincerely to the owner, "you have suffered and you still have difficulties in the future, just come to me directly!" The family shed tears of gratitude and knelt down again and again to thank them. After leaving, the accompanying official asked Zheng Xie, "master is really a god man. How do you know that his family is suffering from hunger and cold?" Zheng Banqiao said positively, "when you read the Spring Festival couplets in front of the door, don't those eight words say that they 'lack one (clothes) and ten (food)?" the people suddenly realized that Zheng Banqiao loved the people like a son and was knowledgeable and insightful!
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