If we talk about the subtleties of Chinese writing, we can get a glimpse of it through couplets. Chen Zisheng recorded a pair of couplets that can be called "eternal and absolute" in "The Collection of Zhongzhou Thatched Cottage". In addition to the artistic conception depicted, the five characters also correspond to the five elements. Although there are talented people who write the second couplet from time to time, it is still insufficient compared with the ingenuity of the first couplet. Couplets can train people's logical thinking and word usage abilities, so they are loved by literati from ancient to modern times.
01
Couplets have a close relationship with the development of Chinese poetry. Couplets pay attention to neat words and sentences, and this requirement is consistent with the format of parallel prose. Parallel prose was first created by Cao Zhi during the Three Kingdoms period, and gradually matured during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It made the Wei and Jin Dynasties possible and was also achieved by the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Parallel prose is composed of two sentences, which has extremely high requirements in terms of homophony, and the wording must have profound meanings.
From this point of view, it is very similar to the requirements of couplets, so there is reason to believe that couplets evolved from parallel prose. Come.
▲Still photo of Cao Zhi
Poetry reached its peak during the Tang and Song Dynasties. During this period,
▲Photos of Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage
Take Du Fu’s famous line “The boundless falling trees rustle, the endless Yangtze River rolls in” as an example. This poem is known as the “eternal sentence”. ?, not only does it express a lofty artistic conception, but what is even more rare is that the flatness and neatness are perfect, and the whole poem is consistent except for the slight regret of the word "ape". Therefore, this poem can be regarded as a model of seven rhymes. And if you regard it as a seven-character couplet, you will find that it is also absolute, and no one can do it without poetry. It is precisely because of the prosperity of poetry that the couplets as "original" can also be enjoyed by literati.
Even when poetry declined in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, couplets became an indispensable entertainment item for literati.
02
There is a sentence in Su Dongpo's "A Gift to the Warlock of Qianzhou to Thank You": I was probably Lu Xingzhi in my previous life, but I learned to call Han to retreat. It was accidentally read by Chen Yinke, a tutor at Tsinghua University. The clever confrontation between "Lu Xingzhe" and "Han Tui" aroused Mr. Chen Yinke's interest. So what is the specific statement? It turns out that "Hanlu" is the name of a kind of dog. "行" and "Back" are both verbs used to describe movement, and they go forward and back. The last "Zhe" and "Zhizhi" are common modal particles in ancient Chinese. The so-called "Zhihu" is also ?Yes.
▲Portrait of Chen Yinke in his youth
This ingenious couplet aroused the interest of Mr. Chen Yinke, so in the Chinese language admissions examination of Tsinghua University in 1932, Mr. Chen Yinke imitated this couplet. A strange question, first couplet: Sun Xingzhe. Although the husband himself knows the origin of this couplet, how can ordinary young students be as knowledgeable as the husband? Su Dongpo's poem is not a very famous poem, so unless you happen to have read it, it is difficult to associate it with it.
▲Tsinghua University gate photo
When they first read the test questions, the candidates were all confused. Most of the candidates did not understand the meaning and handed in the blank paper and received zero points, while some tried to fill in the questions. Names such as "Zhu Bajie" and "Tang Sanzang" are no different from handing in a blank paper. However, there are also great talents in this field among many candidates. One candidate answered "Zu Chongzhi". Mr. Chen Yinke was stunned for a while when he read this answer, but this answer was not the standard answer in his mind, so he only gave it A pass rather than a perfect score.
Only one candidate named Zhou Zumo answered Mr. Chen Yinke’s real answer? Hu Shizhi?, and got the only full score.
▲Sun Wukong stills
Although "Hu Shizhi" is the standard answer in Mr. Chen Yinke's heart, if we analyze it carefully, we will find that "Zu Chongzhi" is actually more reasonable. Let’s talk about the advantages of Hu Shizhi first:
Sun Wukong is one of the main characters in the mythical novel "Journey to the West". His name was given by his ancestor when he was apprenticed to the ancestor Bodhi. The ancestor said that monkeys are monkeys. It is "狲狲", so the surname is "狲", but because of the monkeys embarking on the path of spiritual practice, I removed the anti-dog part. The "Hu" that is right next to Hu Shi is also "猢" with the anti-dog part removed;? "Shi" has the meaning of "going to" in ancient Chinese, and has a similar meaning to "travel". The contrast is neat.
Let’s look at the ingenuity of the words between "Zu Chong": "Sun Sun" and "Zu Zu" are juniors and elders, and the confrontation is perfect; "Chong" and "Xing" have similar meanings, so they are more suitable. More relevant.
▲Photos of Chen Yinke’s former residence
Mr. Chen Yinke later confessed that his original intention was to make a joke with Hu Shizhi. He came up with the topic? Pretending to be cunning? He wanted to use Sun Wukong’s 72 transformations to make fun of Hu Shizhi’s stance. Uncertain,
So in the question, "Hu Shizhi" is the standard answer, but in terms of couplets alone, "Zu Chongzhi" is more neat and tidy than "Hu Shizhi".
Conclusion
Chinese characters are full of interesting things, and it is difficult for ordinary people to master even one or two of them even if they spend their entire lives. To achieve national cultural confidence, the people must first be confident in Chinese character culture. They cannot blindly only see the rigor of Latin characters and ignore the breadth and depth of Chinese characters. I also hope that the country can increase its investment in Chinese character education, at least to reverse the current deformed concept that Mandarin is inferior to English.