“I can’t find it everywhere, and I still lament my small waist back then. I have so much time to hate, and I’m so fat!” It comes from a forum, the author is unknown, this is the first couplet of a couplet, not a poem. It was written by a netizen. The joking phrases do not have a very deep meaning. The general idea is that I used to be slim and beautiful, but now I have become old and fat. Someone wrote the second line of the second line: "Today I hear the loss, and I feel the victory yesterday. Looking up, the shadows of the sky are smiling. Couplets, one of the traditional cultures of the Han people, are written on paper. , cloth or carved on bamboo, wood, pillars. Couplets are neatly contrasted and harmonious, and are a unique cultural and artistic form of the Chinese language with one word and one sound. According to legend, the couplet originated from Meng Chang, the lord of Shu after the Five Dynasties. Couplets are a treasure of Chinese Han traditional culture.
Couplets are also called couplets. They are named after the couplets that were often hung in the halls and halls of houses in ancient times. They are also called couplets, such as even words, couplets, couplets, and door pairs. They are called "couples". , began in the Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of dual literature, which originated from Taofu. It is a national literary style written using the characteristics of Chinese characters. Its wonderful combination with calligraphy has become a colorful artistic creation of the Chinese nation.
Origin of development
Couplets are also called antithetical couplets, door pairs, spring stickers, spring couplets, antithetical couplets, peach charms, and couplets (because they were often hung on the pillars of buildings and houses in ancient times). (named), etc., is a kind of dual literature, which originated from Taofu. It is a dual sentence written on paper, cloth or carved on bamboo, wood, or pillars. Simple words and profound meanings, neat contrasts, coordinated oblique and oblique lines, the same number of words, and the same structure are the unique art forms of the Chinese language [1]?.
It is said that couplets originated from Meng Chang (chǎng), the Lord of Shu after the Five Dynasties. They are a treasure of traditional Chinese culture. The couplets hung during the Spring Festival are called Spring Festival couplets, the couplets used for funerals are called elegiac couplets, and the couplets used for happy events are called celebration couplets. Union. Couplets are a national style written using the characteristics of Chinese characters, and generally do not need to rhyme (only the couplets in rhymed poetry need to rhyme).
Parallel prose and rhymed poetry are the two direct sources of couplets. In the process of its own development, couplets also absorbed the characteristics of ancient poetry, prose, lyrics and music. Therefore, in addition to verse and parallel prose, the sentence patterns used in couplets also include ancient poetry, prose, and imitation of lyrics and music. Different sentence patterns have different applicable rhythms and different leniency and severity. Among them, the regular verse style has the strictest requirements for level and obliqueness, while the ancient verse style has requirements for the level and obliqueness at the end of the sentence, and other positions are unrestricted.
Spring couplets have a long history. According to legend, they originated from Meng Chang, the lord of Shu after the Five Dynasties. His inscription on the peach charms on the door panel of his dormitory reads: "New Year's greetings, good festivals in Changchun", and the text is "inscribed on peach charms" (see "Shu Shu"). This is the earliest couplet in China and also the first Spring Festival couplet. This theory is based on the Qing Dynasty couplet scholar Liang Zhangju's "Couplet Cong Hua" citing "Shu". However, according to the textual research of "Couplet General Theory", Liang Zhangju changed "for his ci skills" to "for his ci skills" when quoting. "Work", the original text of "Shu 梼杌" believes that this couplet was written by Xin Yinxun rather than Meng Chang. Different historical materials from the Song Dynasty have different opinions on this, and some attribute the author to Meng Chang's son. Therefore, who is the author of this couplet is still an unsolved mystery.
As a custom, couplets are an important part of Chinese traditional culture. In 2005, the State Council of China listed the custom of couplets in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. The custom of couplets has been passed down and spread among the Chinese and even in regions around the world where Chinese is spoken and among ethnic groups with cultural origins of Chinese characters. It is of great value to the promotion of Chinese national culture.
Exploring the origins of folding history
The couplets are the literature of antithesis. This parallel symmetry of language and characters is consistent with the so-called "Tai Chi generates two rituals" in philosophy. That is to say, everything in the world is divided into two symmetrical halves of Yin and Yang, which are very similar in nature of thinking. Therefore, we can say that the philosophical origin and deep national cultural psychology of Chinese couplets are the dual concept of yin and yang. The dualism of yin and yang is the basis of the ancient Chinese worldview. To grasp things with the dualistic concept of yin and yang is the way of thinking of the ancient Chinese. This dualistic idea of ??yin and yang has a long history. The hexagram symbols in the "Book of Changes" are composed of two lines of yin and yang. The "Book of Changes" states: "One yin and one yang are called Tao."
"Laozi also said: "All things carry yin and embrace yang, and the energy is in harmony. "("Laozi" Chapter 42.) Xunzi believed: "The combination of heaven and earth makes all things come into being, and the combination of yin and yang causes change. "("Xunzi·Lun") "Huang Lao Silk Book" states: "The way of heaven and earth has left and right, yin and yang. "This concept of yin and yang is not only an abstract concept, but also widely infiltrated into the ancient Chinese people's understanding and interpretation of everything in nature and human society.
"Zhouyi·Xu Gua Zhuan"" After heaven and earth, there are all things, after there are all things, there are men and women, after there are men and women, there are couples, after there are couples, there are fathers and sons, there are fathers and sons, then there are monarchs and ministers, there are monarchs and ministers, then there are up and down, there are up and down, and then there are rituals and measures. "In "Yi Zhuan", various specific objects are used to symbolize the two Yao lines of Yin and Yang. Yin represents Kun, earth, female, woman, son, minister, abdomen, lower body, north, wind, water, Ze, flower, black and white, suppleness, etc. Correspondingly, Yang represents stem, heaven, male, husband, father, king, head, top, south, thunder, fire, mountain, fruit, red and yellow, vigorous, etc. This ubiquitous concept of yin and yang goes deep into the world. In the subconscious of the Han nation, it has become a national collective unconscious. One of the important characteristics of the concept of yin and yang in the national psychology is the persistence and persistence of things that appear in the form of "two" and "pair". Obsession. The format of couplets is strict, with small and large parts of speech corresponding to each other. The form of traditional couplets is connected, the tone is coordinated, and the contrast is rigorous.
From the perspective of literary history, couplets are derived from ancient poetry and poetry. Dual sentences gradually evolved and developed. This development process has gone through roughly three stages.
The dual stage
The time span is from the pre-Qin, the two Han Dynasties, the two Jin Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In ancient poetry and prose, some relatively neat couplets appeared very early, and some ancient ballads that have been passed down to this day have their origins, such as "Dig a well and drink, plow the fields and eat", "Work when the sun rises, and rest when the sun sets." " and so on. By the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, antithetical sentences were even more common. There are some neat antithetical sentences in the hexagrams and lines of the "Book of Changes", such as: "The faint can see, the lame can walk." "("Lu" hexagram "63"), "First it ascends to the sky, and then it enters the earth. "("Ming Yi" hexagram "Shang Liu") Dual and neat sentences in "Yi Zhuan" are more common, such as: "Look up to observe astronomy, look down to observe geography." "(Xici Xia Zhuan), "The same voice corresponds to the same breath, the same Qi seeks each other, the water flows moistly, the fire dries up, the clouds follow the dragon, the wind follows the tiger...then each one follows its own kind. "(Qian·Wenyan Zhuan)
The "Book of Songs", which was written in the Spring and Autumn Period, has very rich antithetical sentence patterns. Liu Linsheng said in "History of Chinese Parallel Prose": "The ancient and modern methods of parallelism, "The Book of Songs" "Everything in the middle is almost complete." He gave examples of various antithetical sentences such as correct name pairs, similar pairs, continuous pairs, double tone pairs, overlapping rhyme pairs, double rhyme pairs, etc. For example: "Qingqing Zijin, my heart is leisurely." "("Zheng Feng Zijin"), "There are fusu in the mountains and lotus flowers in the sky. "("Zheng Feng · There is Fusu in the Mountain") "Tao Te Ching" also has many dual sentences. Liu Linsheng once said: "The method of arbitration in "Tao De Jing" has changed in many ways. There are serial pairs, uneven pairs, and some The person who divides the words into words. There are those who correct his words. There are always those who are against it. "("History of Chinese Parallel Prose" such as: "Trustful words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not believed. Good people do not argue, and debaters are not good." (Chapter 81), "Be independent without changing, and go forward without peril."( Chapter 22) Let’s look at the antithetical sentences in the prose of various scholars. For example: "Many will cause harm, modesty will benefit." ("Shang Shu·Wucheng"), "Ride on a fat horse and wear light fur." ??"The Analects of Confucius·Yong Ye" ), "A gentleman is magnanimous, but a villain is always worried." "("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer") and so on. Ci Fu emerged in the Han Dynasty and is an emerging literary style that pays attention to literary grace and rhythm. The rhetorical technique of duality, which has the beauty of neatness, contrast and beauty, began to be commonly and consciously used in In the creation of Fu, for example, Sima Xiangru's "Zixu Fu" contains: "Beat the spiritual drum and raise the beacon; the chariots will move and the riders will form a team." "
Parallel-parallel stage
Parallel-style prose originated from the poetry of the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and flourished in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. As can be known from its name, parallel-style prose advocates advocating parallelism and is mostly composed of A literary style composed of parallel sentences. This kind of continuous use of parallel sentences is also called parallel couplets or parallel couplets. Liu Xie commented in "Wen Xin Diao Long·Ming Poems" that parallel style prose is "a couplets with hundreds of words, and a single sentence is worth the price."
"The Preface to Prince Teng's Pavilion written by Wang Bo of the early Tang Dynasty is an example:
The time is September, and the preface belongs to the Three Autumn Periods. The water is gone and the cold pond is clear, the smoke is condensing and the mountains are purple at dusk. It's like riding on the road. , visit the scenery in Chong'a. When you come to Changzhou, you can see the old mansion of the immortal. The mountains are towering, and the sky is high. The flying pavilion is flowing, and the river is flat, and the poor island is lingering. The orchid palace is the shape of hills and mountains.
It is covered with embroidered gates and carved trees. The mountains are wide and the mountains are vast, and the rivers and lakes are astonishing. The ship is surrounded by blue birds and yellow dragons. The clouds are clearing and the sky is bright. The sunset and the solitary swans are flying together, and the autumn water is the same color as the sky. Hengyang Pu.
They are all organized in couplets. Among them, "The falling clouds and the solitary swans fly together, the autumn water is the same color as the sky" is a famous couplet in ancient poetry. The further development of dual sentences in Ci Fu has the following three characteristics: First, duality is no longer purely a rhetorical device, but has become the main metrical requirement of the style. Parallel prose has three characteristics, namely, the four-six sentence pattern, parallel couplets, and parallelism. The first one is the use of dictionaries. The second is that there are certain rules in the number of pairs of words. The main ones are the "four-six" sentence pattern and its changing forms: four-word pairing, six-word pairing, eight-word pairing, and twelve-word pairing. Third, the antiphons are quite skillful, but there are many heavy characters (such as "zhi" and "er"), and the antiphonal antiphons are not fully mature.
The rhythm and evenness stage
The rhythmic antithesis is not yet fully mature. Couple sentences in metrical poetry. This style of poetry was formally formed in the Tang Dynasty, but its origins can be traced back to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, when Li Deng wrote "Sheng Lei" in ten volumes and Lu Jing wrote "Yun Collection". "Five volumes, divided into clear and voiced sounds and Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu sounds. In addition, Sun Yan wrote "Erya Yinyi", using Fanqie notation. He was the founder of Fanqie in general. Rhymed poems are composed of eight lines, and the two middle couplets, commonly known as chin couplets and neck couplets, must be in opposition. The sentence structure, level, and meaning must be opposite.