Description: Hongyan is a large migratory bird, which moves southward every autumn, often causing homesickness and wandering sorrow. Hongyan's biography refers to communication. There are also letters referred to by Hongyan.
For example, Xue Daoheng, a native of the Sui Dynasty, wrote: "People return to yan zhen and think before spending." I had the idea of going home long before the flowers bloomed. But when the geese returned to the north, people had not returned home. When the poet was an official in the Northern Dynasties, he sent an envoy to the Southern Dynasties and wrote this homesick poem in a subtle and tactful way. There are also thoughts written by geese, such as "I hear that geese are homesick at night and sick in the New Year" (Ouyang Xiu's play answers Yuan Zhen), "When the stars cross the building and the flute leans against the building" (Zhao Wei's "Looking at the Autumn in Chang 'an" in the Tang Dynasty), "The stars are cold and blue, and the geese are sad and red" (. As a messenger, Hongyan is widely used in poetry. For example, "The geese don't answer me when crossing the river, and the river is full of autumn water" (Du Fu's "To Li Bai at the End of the Sky"), "Shuo Yan handed out a book and Xiang Yan dyed more tears" (Li Shangyin's "Lisi").
Allusions:
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.
This is the legend of "Hongyan Pass the Book".
Another well-known favorite is a folk story: Xue Pinggui went to the Western Ocean in the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Baochuan stayed in the cold kiln for more than ten years. One day, while Wang Baochuan was picking wild vegetables, he suddenly heard the cry of a swan in the air, so he asked to send a book to the wolf in Pinggui on his behalf. However, it was difficult to find pens and ink at that time. In desperation, he tore off his skirt, bit his fingertips and wrote a letter of blood and tears, pouring out his loyalty to love and his expectation for the reunion of husband and wife. The former is loyalty to the country, while the latter is loyalty to feelings. The spread of these two stories made "Hongyan" become the messenger of ancient communication, and also made these two stories themselves become the stories of eternal love. However, many people don't know that before the "Hongyan", there was a story of "the jade bird passed the book":
199810/0/0 On 9 October, the State Post Bureau issued 4 sets of commemorative postage films for the 22nd Universal Postal Congress 1999 Beijing (II), among which the third set, Love in the East, is a colorful bird with the same contents as the postage map. What allusions does The Jade Bird Biography come from? Tracing back to the source, we still need to find the answer in Shan Hai Jing, an ancient book before Qin Dynasty.
According to Shan Hai Jing, there are three bluebirds. "Three blue robin, the head is red, the eyes are black, one is a big haze, one is a small haze, and one is a blue robin. Living in the mountain of three dangers, eating for the Queen Mother of the West. " These three divine birds with red heads and black eyes, named Dafu, Shaofu and Jade Bird, are the attendants and messengers of the Queen Mother of the West. They have three legs and live on the Three Dangers Mountain. They are strong and healthy birds of prey. They not only seek food for the Queen Mother of the West who lives on Yushan Mountain near Kunlun Mountain, but also fly over Qian Shan to deliver messages to the Queen Mother of the West. Tao Yuanming's fifth book, Reading, says, "The beautiful birds are pitiful in color. The imperial court is the envoy of the Empress Dowager and returns to Sanxing Mountain at dusk. I want to be a bird, so I want to say to the queen mother: there is nothing in the world, only wine and years. "
Legend has it that before the arrival of the Queen Mother of the West, a bluebird always came to deliver books first. It is said that when the Queen Mother of the West went to the Han Palace, Jade Bird went to deliver books, and Jade Bird flew all the way to the front of Chenghua Temple. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was surprised to see this beautiful and lovely bird, so he asked Dong Fangshuo, the minister, what was the name of this bird? Where did it come from? Dong Fangshuo told him that this bird is called Jade Bird, and it is the messenger of the Queen Mother of the West. Now I'm here to inform you that the Queen Mother of the West is coming soon. Sure enough, after a while, the Queen Mother of the West was helped by two beautiful birds, Dalan and Xiaolan, and came to the front of the temple. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and his ministers rushed to meet the Queen Mother of the West and gave her warm hospitality.
In later myths, the bluebird gradually evolved into the beautiful king of birds-Phoenix. Beautiful bluebirds and beautiful legends attracted scholars to write poems and chant. Li Bai's poems are "I would like to repay Sauvignon Blanc for three bluebirds" and "Three birds don't belong to the queen mother, I have read it with a book". Li Shangyin's poems are "The bluebird doesn't return to the west, Wang Chang is in the hall" and "Pengshan has no way to get here, O bluebird, and listen to her. And Wei's poems include "If you want to come to the thatched cottage, you can listen to the purple phoenix, but the bluebird is calm", Hu Ceng's poem "Huang Wu has no way to fall, and the bluebird sinks in the west and the tree falls in autumn", Zeng Shiyi's poem "The light and shadow don't follow the bluebird and the cave door is empty", Guo Chongsi's poem "The bluebird doesn't spread the news outside the cloud, and the white clouds lock the ridge head monument", and Yao has a poem. A thousand years ago, peach blossoms were empty and suspicious. Xun Mei wrote a poem, "The news of Qingluan sinks in Sang Hai, and the first peak of the new Aojiang". These poems all borrow the allusions of "a jade bird sends a book". From these poems, we can see that the bluebird is no longer the raptor described in Shan Hai Jing, but has become three considerate, gentle, kind, light and exquisite lovely "messengers".
Indeed, in ancient times, it was really difficult for people to communicate with their distant relatives. Ordinary people have almost no special communication equipment. "I sent a letter to Luoyang nine times, but I haven't heard from you for ten years." "Three months of war, a letter from home is worth a thousand pounds of gold." "I often don't send letters. What can I expect in wartime?" ... these poems express the melancholy and helplessness of the ancients, so I have to pin my true feelings on Jade Bird and let Jade Bird help me convey the good news of auspiciousness, happiness and happiness, so as to express my homesickness and homesickness. Ancient legends and myths left us with infinite reverie.