Demonstration of inscription format of Longmen couplets

Liang Qichao has a masterpiece of couplets:

It's cold in spring upstairs for a few days, and the cuckoo sounds like sunset.

The west window is dark with rain, and the red lotus root fragrance stays in autumn.

It is composed of Nian Nujiao by Li Qingzhao (also called Slow in the Pot), Walking on the Sand by Qin Guan, Qi Tianle by Jiang Kui, Pruning Plums by Li Qingzhao, etc. It is a set of beautiful sentences with harmonious artistic conception and implicit meaning.

In fact, this is not only a fixed sentence pair, but also a Long Mendui. Unlike the couplets mentioned above, which are all associated with some rhetorical devices or techniques, Long Mendui's characteristic lies in his writing style.

As can be seen from the above picture, this couplet is written in the shape of a "door", which is Long Mendui.

Long Mendui refers to two or more lines of couplets, which must be written in the shape of a "door". This kind of couplet, the first couplet is written from right to left, and the second couplet is written from left to right. The previous paragraph is in the remaining blank of the upper part, and the next paragraph is in the remaining blank of the lower part. It is best to align the initials of the upper and lower signatures.

Due to the requirement of Long Mendui's writing format, Long Mendui is often presented in the form of calligraphy. Deng, a seal engraver and calligrapher in Qing Dynasty, wrote such a poem "Long Mendui":

Haitian, Chicheng Gorge, Emei Snow, Wuxia Gorge Cloud, Dongting Moon, Smoke, Xiaoxiang Rain, Guanglingtao and Lushan Waterfall, which are integrated with the wonders of the universe, paint the wall of my cave.

Shaoling poems, rubbings, Zuo Zhuan's essays, history, Xue Tao's notes, You Juntie, South China Classics, Xiang Rufu, Qu Sao, integrating ancient and modern techniques, set up my mountain window.

This pair of couplets has been recorded in the prose "Small Window" in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that the couplets written by Li Dongyang, a writer in the Ming Dynasty, only changed the poem Violet into the poem Shaoling and the poem Guangling Tide into the poem Guangling Pottery.