Couplets are a wonderful flower in China Folk Literature Garden, which is not only a leisure work of literati, but also a work created by working people in past dynasties to express their ideals and sentiments. It is full of beautiful sentences and witty remarks. The aftertaste is endless, plus the brush dipped in ink, line, block, grass and official seal, combined with exquisite calligraphy, the lines are soft and beautiful, showing their magical powers. Holding a painting and calligraphy exhibition can stimulate people's interest, cultivate people's temperament and give people noble artistic enjoyment.
There are several legends about the origin of couplets. It is said that there was a terrible beast called Nian in ancient times. It eats when it sees people and swallows when it sees livestock, which brings great disaster to people. Even god can't destroy it. The Emperor of Heaven can only lock it in the deep mountains and allow it to come out once on the last day of the year. Therefore, at that time, people closed their doors long before New Year's Eve. "Nian" also has many weaknesses, most afraid of red, noise, fire, etc ... In this way, on New Year's Eve, every household sticks red paper on the gate, beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers. When he saw it from the mountain, he didn't dare to move forward, so he had to flee back with his tail between his legs.
From then on, I never dared to bully anyone again, and finally starved to death in the mountains. People just celebrate the New Year calmly. So until now, people set off firecrackers. The custom of beating gongs and drums and pasting red paper couplets has been inherited, and writing auspicious words on couplets has become couplets.
Another legend of couplets: Under the big peach tree, there are two gods, Shencha and Lei Yu. They have great magic power and dare to fight the devil. Therefore, the Emperor appointed them to guard the gate of hell. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ancients carved the portraits of two door gods on mahogany boards and hung them on both sides of the doors to ward off evil spirits. This is what people often call "peach symbol". Later, the names of two door gods were written on two pieces of red paper to suppress evil spirits. It is also the embryonic form of couplets.
During the Western Shu Period of the Five Dynasties, Meng Chang wrote the couplets of "New Year Qing Yu, Holiday Changchun" on the Fu Tao. In the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, ordered the people and ordinary people to celebrate New Year's Eve.
Put couplets on the door at night. Celebrate the Spring Festival. Therefore, the annual trend posted every year is prevalent and has been inherited as a folk custom.
Couplets have many forms and must be composed of two symmetrical sentences. Generally speaking, parts of speech are relative, verbs are relative, nouns are relative, and they must be equivalent. According to the "six elements" of writing couplets, couplets are divided into upper couplets and lower couplets. The upper couplet is called "out of bounds" and the lower couplet is called "opposite". The number of words in the upper and lower couplets should be equal, four words and six words: for example, "the mountains are full of laughter, the things are rich and the people are rich." "patriotism is backward, and labor must take the lead." There are seven words: "Spring grass is lush in front of Ziming Mountain and red in the sunset river." There is a cross. "Correcting the party style is stricter than law and discipline, and learning rules and regulations sets an example." Those with a dozen words or even dozens of crosses are called long couplets. The Grand View Building in Kunming, Yunnan, has a couplet cross 180, neat and elegant, poetic and picturesque? Do you know forgiveness?
At first, the content of couplets was mostly to welcome the spring and receive blessings. Apart from the old cloth and the new one, it was later expanded to write scenes, chant things, express aspirations and entrust, etc., to express inner wishes and yearning for life.
However, human destiny and historical conditions are closely related to the social system. Before liberation, people have been writing beautiful words and sentences on red paper, such as "firecrackers are used to get rid of the old, peaches are used to get new ones", "good luck shines high" and "open the door to see happiness" However, big sleep's tragic fate is "new". This is not just a "new" disaster.
After liberation, the working people turned over and became masters, and their lives improved day by day. Happy days are sweeter than honey. People expressed their sincere feelings in the form of couplets, and wrote, "Turn over and never forget the party, and have fun with Mao Zedong". After the death of Premier Zhou Enlai, the people's favorite, he expressed his grief in the form of couplets and wrote: "The grey river can't see endless waves, and the trickle is the tears of the people. The sun and the moon are competing for glory and the spirit is endless." 1976, the gang of four was overthrown. Celebrating the whole world, people use couplets to express their joy: "Ten years of autumn wind invasion?" Waterlogged? Flowers fall: the spring rain washes the mountains and rivers, and thousands of trees stand out. "
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, people of all ethnic groups were called upon to carry out the four modernizations and implement the Party's policies, which won unanimous support from the whole country. People also praised the trade union congress and expressed their wish: "The party, the army and the people will work hard to achieve the four modernizations, and industry, agriculture and commerce will work hard to draw a big picture." Therefore, "appointing talents can rejuvenate the country, cure poverty and benefit the people's livelihood." Throughout the land of China, there has been a great situation that "the bright motherland is getting better every day, and the people's mountains and rivers are getting longer every day". It is really "a beautiful day to express ten memories of China's music and stability, and the spring breeze is proud of the spirit of a glass of wine."
There are many anecdotes about couplets, which are interesting, fascinating and thought-provoking:
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a child named Jie Jin. It is said that he could write poetry at the age of seven and at the age of ten. One day, two officials of the imperial court went to Jie Jin to test his talents. So, he wrote a pair of couplets to tease him, "Two apes cut down trees on the mountain, and the little monkey dared to learn to saw." Jie Jin was ten years old and understood the meaning. So he thought for a moment and said, "A horse stepped in the mud." Xu Erlian took one look and knew that the child was unusual and left in a mess.
According to legend, Wang Xizhi is famous for his calligraphy. He writes couplets and sticks them on the door several times every New Year. As soon as he put it on, he turned around and was stripped off. He wrote three times this year, all of which were stolen and torn up. He thought about it and wrote a pair: "It never rains but it pours." People in the same town felt unlucky when they saw it, so they stopped stealing. In the early morning of the New Year's Day, Wang Xizhi began to write a paragraph, which became "yesterday took precautions, and happiness doubled today." People clapped their hands when they saw it.
Before liberation, there was a fake county magistrate in Yanjin County, Yunnan Province, who wanted to buy off his talents and try to convince others. So, he put the local place name: "Laocaotan, near Jiangxi," Toure, Ziyi Village, Balipu and other place names are connected together. " The old woman faced the river. "Er, she flew eight miles with one wing." The difficulty of this couplet is that all the names are relative. The fake county magistrate said: If anyone can match this couplet, the county magistrate is willing to miss a banquet. Ten days later, the pseudo-county magistrate was complacent and suddenly asked for an audience with a scholar named Wu. The scholar also used the local names "Flower Snake Beach, Landing Dam, Beach Head, Liangwanxi and Shuangxikou" to illustrate his purpose. The antithesis is very neat, interesting and fun.
It is said that the Manchu government held peace talks with Eight-Nation Alliance. At the meeting, an aggressor representative said imperiously, "Your China couplets are very popular, and you pay great attention to the neatness of the antithesis. I made a couplet:' Pipa, Harp, Harp Eight Kings Acceded to the throne'. I wonder if you can see it? " After that, he smiled, and other imperialists understood the meaning and smiled. Faced with the rhetoric of imperialism, the representatives of the Manchu government just smiled awkwardly and were speechless. At this time, an attache flew into a rage and responded to the imperialist provocation with awe. His words are sharp and his voice is loud. He replied, "Listen, ghosts and ghosts are invading the border." . Because the words there are compact and neat, which lays the arrogance of imperialism and makes them look at each other.
Couplets and calligraphy are two bright pearls among the artistic treasures of the motherland, and they are the blood source of sisters. They have a long history and are the artistic crystallization of working people.
As an independent literary art, couplets are the shortest literary form in terms of literature. In terms of calligraphy, it is one of the manifestations of calligraphy. It is a combination of literature and calligraphy, which has both form and spirit and is magnificent. A pair of exquisite couplets, with elegant and free calligraphy, can be appreciated and recited by people. Of course, it's not a day's work to be good at "using the shape and using the potential, sketching and imagining", so as to create various unique couplets with detached artistic conception, dignified characters and beautiful internal melody. Only with the accumulation of "reading thousands of books and walking Wan Li Road", profound knowledge of literature and art, and indomitable spirit of studying hard and practicing hard can we reach the realm of excellent combination and calligraphy.
Because couplet calligraphy is the perfect combination of calligraphy and couplets, it can fully express feelings and has a wide range of uses, so the broad masses of people love it very much. It occupies an important position in the cultural life of our people. It will also promote the further development of calligraphy art and couplet art, and hope that couplet, a folk literature art, will shine more brightly!
(The author is a retired teacher at Tunxi Primary School in Yongshan County.)