Not long ago, the second season of "Chinese Poetry Conference", a large-scale cultural puzzle program broadcast during prime time on CCTV, came to an end. Poetry masters such as Wu Yishu and Peng Min, experts and scholars such as Kang Zhen and Meng Man, and even the host Dong Qing, all showed their talents, and a large number of viewers called them "fans". So, did the ancients who left beautiful poems have any poetry festivals? The answer is of course yes.
The modern "Chinese Poetry Conference" mainly tests the contestants' ability to recite and understand poetry; the ancient poetry conferences mainly focused on creation. The ancients were fond of poetry and poetry. The imperial examination can be regarded as the largest poetry competition. It is a level-1 examination. Each poetry question is a big competition among students. The life itself of ancient literati was full of poetry. They liked to sing poems and exchange knowledge and emotions with each other, such as Li Bai and Du Fu, Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi, Xin Qiji and Chen Liang, etc. , there are many songs and poems, which is undoubtedly a kind of mutual encouragement and competition. In addition, group organizations and poetry banquets abound, such as the Seven Sons of Jian'an, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest, etc., all of which have contributed to the development of poetry, fu, and prose.
Qu Shui Shui Shang
In the ninth year of Yonghe (353), Emperor Mu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it happened to be the Shangsi Festival on March 3rd of the lunar calendar. Wang Xizhi, Xie An, Sun Chuo and other 41 people held a ritual ceremony in the beautiful Orchid Pavilion of Shanyin in Kuaiji (today's Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province). This is a sacrificial ceremony to ward off diseases and bad luck during the Shangsi Festival. After the ritual of exorcising evil spirits, people lined up on both sides of the river, and placed wine glasses on the upper reaches of the water. The wine glasses would flow down the river, and whoever stopped in front of them would drink the wine in the glass, and then compose a poem. It was March when "the sky was bright and the air was clear and the wind was gentle and gentle". The spring was pleasant and everyone was in high spirits. They held candles, talked and drank while enjoying their time, and planned to compile poems into a collection. Wang Xizhi was moved by this scene. He impromptuly wrote a preface to the collection of poems, and wrote the "Preface to the Lanting Collection" with a splash of ink, describing the grand gathering of literati at that time.
The author was suddenly inspired by the favorable weather, place, people, and people at that time, and his thoughts and ideas surged. It is said that the queen later rewrote it, and the beauty of the calligraphy could never be compared to what it was then. There are more than twenty characters "Zhi" in the work, and each one is written in a different way. Mi Fu in the Song Dynasty called it "the best running script in the world".
The Qu Shui Shang Shang can be regarded as a grand event in the history of Chinese culture and a great gathering of literature. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, celebrities emerged in large numbers. They admired nature, indulged in mountains and rivers, and drank in meandering streams. This was not only a competition of their poetic talents, but also their respect for nature and their active integration. We can appreciate it from this. The elegant beauty of harmony between man and nature. Later, the "Qushui Shang" carrying profound cultural connotations became a unique garden landscape, which still sings the ancient charm of thousands of years in today's garden construction.
Flag Pavilion Poetry Competition
This was a personal competition among frontier poets in the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, three poets Wang Zhihuan, Wang Changling and Gao Shi traveled together during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, they each had many poems composed to music and sung among the people. When they went to a restaurant (Qiting) in the capital city of Chang'an to drink, they saw a group of singers singing. They sat down and admired it quietly. Wang Changling suggested: "We have always thought that we are good at poetry, and every time we recite poetry, it is difficult to distinguish between us. Let's listen to the singing of these singers today and see whose poems are sung more, and whose works are the best." Okay." After a while, a singer sang Wang Changling's "Farewell to Xin Jian at Furong Tower". Wang Changling smiled knowingly and lightly drew a small mark on the wall next to him. After a while, a singer sang the first four lines of Gao Shi's "Crying Single Father Liang Jiu Shaofu" sadly, and Gao Shi also happily drew a sign. Then, the third singer sadly sang Wang Changling's "Autumn Poems of Everlasting Faith", and Wang Changling proudly drew the second mark. At this time, Wang Zhihuan said calmly: "Don't be too happy, you two. Just now they were all vulgar songs sung by some down-and-out singers, elegant songs of spring and snow, they didn't dare to sing! You see over there She must be the most beautiful singer.
If the poems she sings later are not my poems, I will never compete with you in this life; if the poems she sings are my poems, you both will worship me as your teacher. Before she finished speaking, the beautiful woman sang "Liangzhou Ci" with a generous and tragic tune: "Far above the Yellow River, among the white clouds, there is an isolated city called Wanren Mountain." Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass. Wang Zhihuan said proudly: "Look, I'm not bragging, am I?" "The three of them laughed. This story is also called "Pavilion Painting on the Wall" and is recorded in "Ji Yi Ji". It can be seen that the poetry at that time was as popular as today's pop songs. Poetry contests were fun, which was the most popular thing at that time. A living condition of literati.
Feihua Ling
The "Chinese Poetry Conference" popularized the "Feihua Ling" poetry solitaire game. One of the commonly played "wine orders". The word "flying flowers" comes from the "Spring City is full of flying flowers" in "Han Shi" by the Tang Dynasty poet Han Hong, which is restricted by the "Chinese Poetry Conference". There is no position requirement for the word, as long as the word appears in the poem spoken by the contestant; but in ancient times, the restrictions were stricter. For example, the last word of the poem spoken by the contestant was required to be the word "花", such as "There is no place in Spring City" "Flowers do not fly", the poem spoken by the next person must also be a poem with seven words and the last word is "flower", such as "The reed flowers have been reflected in front of the island". You can recite previous poems or improvise; who should be When he cannot compose a poem, cannot memorize a poem, or makes a mistake in reciting a poem, the drinking officer will punish him with a glass of wine. In fact, this is just the basic form of Feihua Ling, and there are many more complex word limit rules, such as some Feihua Ling's anti-character rules. The position has higher requirements. If the first person says "a pot of wine among the flowers" and "flower" is in the first character position, the second person's "flower" must be in the second character position, such as " "The person who falls under the flower is independent" and so on. If "flower" is in the seventh position, the round is completed and the cycle continues. Those who fail to answer are punished by drinking. In addition, there are also flying flower orders that limit two words, multiple words, Numbers, color words, musical instrument words, repeated words, words with certain radicals, etc. are more "brain-burning" and more fun.
Begonia Poetry Club
Begonia Poetry Club. The largest poetry creation and competition meeting in "A Dream of Red Mansions". In the early autumn of one year, Jia Tanchun proposed the formation of a poetry club, with members including Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun, "Sanchun", Jia Baoyu and Li Wan. The poetry club was established. He volunteered to be the president and commented on the poems. Yingchun and Xichun were the vice-presidents, respectively responsible for setting out the rhymes and transcribing the poems. A member of the poetry club organized three large gatherings. In the first gathering, Jia Yun happened to be there. Jia Baoyu was given two pots of begonia flowers, and everyone composed poems with the begonia flowers as the theme. Lin Daiyu performed calmly and calmly in the poetry meeting of writing a seven-character poem with begonia as the title and rhyme as the door. While everyone was thinking hard, she But they were playing and chatting, and finally finished it. It is dangerous to have good poems, and you will end up being petty." In these poetry gatherings, Lin Daiyu's and Xue Baochai's poems were always better than others, and they were indistinguishable. The third gathering was the fiftieth chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions" , after Lu Xue'an competed for the scene poems, Xing Xiuyan, Li Wen, Xue Baoqin, and Jia Baoyu each wrote a poem about red plum blossoms.
Therefore, the three gatherings of the Haitang Poetry Society were titled with crabapples, chrysanthemums, and red plum blossoms. Crabs and red plums are the themes, and he composed twenty-five poems. Although "A Dream of Red Mansions" has a "propositional poem" written by Concubine Yuan during her wedding, there are also various poems such as "Ode to the Burial Flower" and "Peach Blossom Society". However, Haitang Poetry Club is a literary club that Cao Xueqin describes with great detail and detail. It has a detailed process of establishing articles, drafting titles, writing poems, and reviewing poems. Everyone shows off their poetic talents, reveals each other's inner world, and highlights different personality traits.
The ancients wrote their daily lives and emotions into poems, leaving us with beautiful lines of poetry that can still arouse excitement after thousands of years. "Life has its own poetry", "poetry" and "true meaning". We can quietly realize it by ourselves, or we can gain new surprises and epiphanies in "confrontations" with friends.
Originally published in the third issue of "Monthly Reading" in 2017