China's proverbs have a long history. According to the old proverb, "the prosperity of proverbs begins with language, not words". [1] Proverbs existed long before words were produced, and were recorded only after words were produced. Proverbs existed in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty and ancient books in the pre-Qin period. Proverbs further developed and matured in the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. After the founding of New China, the study of proverbs has been paid more attention. Stalin once said: "Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society, and language dies with the demise of society. There is no language outside society. Therefore, in order to understand the law of language and its development, we must closely link language with the history of society and the history of people who create and use language. " [2] It can be seen that the creation of proverbs is closely related to the language life of working people with the most production experience. Confucius, as the most sacred teacher, when his student Fan Chi asked him how to engage in agricultural activities, he had to admit that "I am not as good as an old farmer" and "I am not as good as an old nursery". [3] When talking about how to learn a language in "Opposing stereotyped Party writing", Comrade Mao Zedong first proposed "learning a language from the people" and said: "The people's vocabulary is very rich and lively, which shows real life." [4]
Proverbs are the language wealth created by working people. They are widely circulated and used in the oral form of the broad masses of the people. They are the crystallization of the practical experience of the masses. In the process of long-term and extensive circulation, they constantly concentrate the new knowledge of the masses and undergo new tests in practice, thus constantly sublating and enriching the flowers of wisdom. Proverbs are an important part of people's vocabulary. They come from people and are deeply rooted in the soil where people live and work. Learning proverbs helps to enrich our vocabulary and improve our ability to use language. At the same time, the content of proverbs is all-encompassing, and learning proverbs can enrich our knowledge and improve our cognitive ability. The earliest recorded proverbs are those called "agricultural proverbs" and "meteorological proverbs". [5] They cover the long-term observation of meteorological laws and farming time by the people of China. Agricultural proverbs and meteorological proverbs from the production struggle are closely related to the lives of working people, so they are well known to the broad masses of the people and their scientific nature is the easiest for people to understand.