Our country has been a land of etiquette since ancient times. In ancient times, "etiquette" was reflected in all aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and "name" was the most important aspect.
For us today, "name" is a symbol that can indicate one's identity and also reflect the good wishes of parents and elders for oneself. However, in ancient times, "name" was very complicated.
The names of the ancients are divided into two parts: "name" and "zi". "Ming" is the real name, and "zi" is the prefix. To put it simply, "name" is given to a person by his elders when he is born, while "name" is given to him by his elders after a man is crowned at the age of twenty or a woman is given a wedding ceremony at the age of fifteen. There is a clear record in this "Ritual": "The name of the person who is given the title is to respect his name."
In fact, the word "prefix" can be used to express virtue, the meaning of the real name, or family status. Or the opposite meaning of the real name and many other meanings.
That is to say, after referring to the names chosen by the ancients and then looking at the "characters" chosen by the ancients, you will find that there are certain rules to follow.
For example, Zhou Yu’s character is Gongjin, and both Yu and Jin mean beautiful jade; Zhang Fei’s character is Yide, and both flying and wing mean to spread his wings and fly like an eagle for nine days; and Zeng Gong’s character is Zigu. , Gong and Gu have the same meaning, these are all ways of taking the word based on the meaning of the original name.
Another example is Sun Ce's courtesy name Bo Fu and Sun Quan's courtesy name Zhongmou. They are Sun Jian's eldest son and second son respectively. In ancient times, "Bo" and "Zhong" meant the eldest and the second. This is what they mean. The word chosen indicates family status. There is also the character "Hui" in Zhu Xi, where Xi refers to the bright sky and Hui refers to the dark sky. Xi and Hui have opposite meanings. In addition, the ancients also had many ways of selecting characters. Although the situation was complicated, they were not done randomly.
However, as mentioned before, once a person has a "cousin", it means that this person has participated in the crown ceremony or the marriage ceremony, is an adult, and can get married or married. Since we are adults, we cannot be as careless about taboos and ignorant of etiquette as children.
So when the ancients had the word "biao", they had to learn how to use it in daily life.
In ancient times, there were many considerations about the use of "name" and "character". For example, in daily interpersonal communication, "name" is usually used to express self-effacement or a superior to a subordinate, or an elder to a junior, while "zi" is usually used between peers with a very close relationship, or a junior to an elder, A subordinate's title to a superior.
If it is used improperly, especially when a junior calls an elder by his or her first name, or a junior with whom the relationship is not close, it is a very impolite behavior and a great disrespect.
So, based on the above, it is not difficult to see that the ancients were very sophisticated and even very complicated in their use of "names" and "characters". Nowadays, modern people no longer have "biaozi" for the same reason. It is abandoned because of its complexity. But in addition, there is another very important factor, let’s continue to look at it.
It is impossible to verify when exactly our Chinese people abandoned the traditional cultural custom of "Biao Zi", but there is no doubt that it was during the Republic of China. Please pay attention to it. , "Biaozi" was abolished during the Republic of China, it does not mean that people born in the late Qing Dynasty do not have "Biaozi", there is an essential difference between the two.
The reason why the author definitely says that "Biaozi" was abolished during the Republic of China is that many legal documents of the Republic of China at that time clearly stipulated that if citizens of the Republic of China only write Chinese characters without writing their names, It has no legal effect, which can be regarded as a kind of disapproval of the "piaozi" by the Republic of China government.
Then the culture of "Biaozi" has lasted for more than two thousand years, why was it gradually abandoned during the Republic of China? In the final analysis, it lies in the New Culture Movement, which created the The banner, in addition to opposing autocracy, is to oppose feudal superstition and old culture. The so-called coming-of-age rituals and the complicated way of choosing words of the ancients, in the eyes of the people who advocated the New Culture Movement at that time, were completely "old ideas, old feudalism, and old culture", and they were historical and cultural things that must be abandoned. dross.
Therefore, under the influence of the New Culture Movement, "biaozi" was gradually abandoned by people.
But now, Biaozi has become popular in some specific circles, such as some cultural circles. Many highly respected writers, calligraphers, and painters have chosen a Biaozi for themselves. To demonstrate personal hopes for the inheritance and revival of ancient culture.
However, since there are indeed many limitations in the use of bianzhi, and today’s society no longer has that kind of cultural atmosphere, it is difficult for biaoxi to become as popular as before. It is destined to only be It can exist in history books and become a specific historical symbol.