2500 years ago, our ancestors began to domesticate homing pigeons. During the war between Xixia and Northern Song Dynasty, the Xixia army used homing pigeons for military communication. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, General Qu Duan's army also used homing pigeons to send messages and gather troops. In ancient times, homing pigeons were called "flying slaves". Legend has it that when Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, was surrounded by Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, he sent letters by carrier pigeons, which attracted reinforcements to escape from danger. Zhang Qian and Ban Chao went to the Western Regions, and pigeons were also used to send messages to the royal family. During the reign of Qing Qianlong, a pigeon-letting party was held in Foshan, Guangdong, China in May and June every year, with thousands of pigeons participating every year, with a distance of about 400 miles. At that time, there were similar pigeon racing activities in Shanghai, Beijing and other places. The earliest written record of sending messages abroad by carrier pigeons was found in 530 BC, when carrier pigeons were used to convey the results of the Olympic Games.
Hongyan is synonymous with letters, sometimes called postman. Why is "Hongyan" called a letter and postman? Tracing back to the source, during the Han Dynasty, Su Wu was sent to Xiongnu, and Khan was exiled to the North Sea to herd sheep. 10 years later, when the Han Dynasty approached the Huns, Khan still refused to let Su Wu return to Han. Chang Hui, who went to the Huns with Su Wu, secretly told Ambassador China about Su Wu, and designed Ambassador China to tell Khan that the Han emperor killed a wild goose when hunting, and a letter was tied to the goose's foot, telling him that Su Wu was herding sheep in a swamp. Upon hearing this, Khan only asked Su Wu to go back to Han. Later, people used Hongyan as a metaphor for letters and messengers.
Carp: This allusion comes from the poem "Drinking Horses in the Great Wall Grottoes" written by Han Yuefu: "The guest came from afar, left me a pair of carp, and called for cooking carp, and there were books in it." There are several ways to replace letters with carp, including "Pisces", "Double Carp" and "Fish Book". In addition, ancient people often made letters into the shape of carp.
Credo: Credo originally refers to the mailbox of letters. After ancient letters are written, they are usually found in a bamboo tube or wooden tube and then sent out. Later, the book tube also became synonymous with letters.
Eight-part essay: In the old days, letters had eight lines per page, so it was called eight-part essay.
Jane: Before papermaking was invented, long and narrow bamboo pieces were used as writing materials in China. People call this kind of bamboo chip Jane. The bamboo pieces used to write letters are called bamboo slips.
Xie: The thin and small wood used for writing in ancient times was called Xie. Bamboo slips and Xie Chuan were written together in the Han Dynasty, and the imperial edict was no more than three feet wide, while ordinary letters were only one foot wide, so this kind of letter was called a letter.
Cambodia: Cambodia and bamboo slips were commonly used in ancient times, which were letters, business cards and posts, such as invitations, congratulatory letters and books.
Sue: In ancient times, white silk was called Sue. Letters written in white silk (or silk) are called geometry, and later "geometry" became synonymous with letters.
Writing paper: Writing paper was originally a beautiful bamboo for people to write poems or paintings. General stationery is also called stationery, and later it is synonymous with letters.
Letter: The original letter refers to the envelope of the letter. In ancient times, letters were sent in wooden boxes, which was called letters. Later, letters were called letters, such as letters, letters and official letters.
Zagreb: Zagreb refers to ancient letters and public and private documents. Zagreb originally meant small wooden slips used for ancient writing. The word "letter" is still widely used.