What do you mean by oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, rice, tea, calligraphy, painting, piano, chess, poetry and hops?

"Playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and hops" is a medium used by ancient literati in China to cultivate their self-cultivation. "Tea with rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar" is seven things that ordinary people need in their daily lives, and it is also seven things that ordinary people rush about for their lives every day, commonly known as "opening the door". The significance of the seven things to open the door refers not only to the necessities in the families of ordinary people, but also to the "things" related to the vital interests of the people.

The former is a metaphysical spiritual level, while the latter is a metaphysical material level.

The origin of seven things to open the door

The theory of seven things opening the door is generally believed to have begun in the Song Dynasty. For people at that time, all seven things were new. Rice (that is, paddy) was the main grain in Song Dynasty. Sauce only refers to soy sauce in the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, vinegar was not a necessity.

Tea was a luxury in the Tang Dynasty and even the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was not common. As for oil, it refers to the oil squeezed from sesame, perilla and hemp, which was popularized in the Southern Song Dynasty due to the development of handicraft industry and commerce.