Xue Tao (768-832), a famous poetess in the Tang Dynasty, was one of the few talented women in the history of China, leaving many stories for the history of literature.
In addition to more than 90 poems included in Jinjiang Collection, she also left Wangjianglou and a pair of incomplete couplets in Wangjianglou. This couplet is called eternal absolute, only the first couplet has no bottom couplet. 1200 years have passed, and the second couplet is unparalleled, still explaining the beauty of incompleteness to the world.
Wangjiang Building, located outside the East Gate of Chengdu, was built in the 15th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1889) to commemorate Xue Tao. The whole building complex is hidden in a dense bamboo forest. There are many kinds of bamboos, such as Phyllostachys praecox, Phyllostachys praecox, Phyllostachys pubescens, Phyllostachys edulis, Phyllostachys edulis, Huqin bamboo and solid bamboo.
The reason why the bamboo forest is crowded with Wangjianglou is that Xue Tao has a special liking for bamboo all his life and expressed his love for bamboo in many poems. Among them, the five laws of "enjoying people and playing bamboo after rain" are the most famous, and the poem reads:
When it rains in the south, it looks like snow and frost.
All kinds of people are also in fog, modest and self-sustaining.
Drunk with Jinxian, sad with flying early.
You can enjoy it when you are old, and you are young and energetic.
There are two lines in the poem, "I am green and vigorous, open-minded and self-sustaining", which is often used by Xue Tao to motivate himself, hoping that he has the noble character and virtue like bamboo. There are abundant bamboo forests in the garden, which can be regarded as the long-cherished wish of future generations to help Xue Tao love bamboo and take it as a companion.
Since 1889, there have been antique buildings in the park, such as Chongli Tower, Zhuojinlou, Huanjian Pavilion, Wuyunxian Pavilion, Liubeichi, Quanxiangxie, Yinshilou, Xuetaojing and Xue Tao Memorial Hall. By the time of the Republic of China, they had been developed into "Wangjiang Tower Park" and became one of the characteristic attractions in Chengdu.
The original name of Wangjianglou is "Chongli Building", which comes from the famous sentence "Beautiful and worshipful, its real name is Chengdu" in Shu Du Fu written by Zuo Si, a famous writer in the Western Jin Dynasty. After the whole building complex is completed, standing on the worship tower, you can see the water of Jinjiang winding south. Therefore, it was renamed "Wangjianglou" and has been used ever since.
According to the data, Wangjiang Building has four floors with a total height of 39 meters. Roofs and sparrows are richly decorated, including clay sculptures of birds and animals, figure carving and painting. The whole building presents the beauty of Zhuwa, Baoding gilded and carved beams and painted buildings, which has both the grandeur of northern architecture and the exquisite beauty of pavilions in the south of the Yangtze River, and has a high artistic atmosphere.
Xue Tao was born in a scholarly family in Chang 'an, the capital. Her father Xue Yun is an official in Chang 'an. He is proficient in poetry, knowledgeable, and urged Xue Tao to read, write and compose poems since childhood. By the age of eight, Xue Tao has shown a high literary talent, and with her quick thinking, she can answer questions quite easily in the face of "propositional poetry". Such excellent performance made Xue Yun very satisfied with this precious daughter and regarded her as a little princess.
However, at the age of Xue Tao 1 1, Xue Yun, who was honest and straightforward, was relegated because he offended the dignitaries in the DPRK. The family had to leave the capital for Shu, and finally, they settled in Chengdu.
When Xue Tao 14 years old, Xue Yun was sent to Nanzhao, a small southwest country, as an envoy. Unfortunately, he was infected with boils on the way and eventually died. The family lost its support and immediately put others' lives in trouble.
Xue Tao, who lived alone with her mother, joined the music club at the age of 16 and became a musician, officially starting a self-reliant life.
In history, there are not a few musicians like Xue Tao who are both talented and beautiful, and who are proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Therefore, Xue Tao stands out among many musicians by virtue of its own advantages, and is deeply loved by literati, poets and dignitaries. Famous literati in this period, such as Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Liu Yuxi, Du Mu, Zhang Ji and Jincon. Have had emotional entanglements with her and are echoing each other.
Xue Tao is a native of Sichuan, because she has lived in Sichuan for more than 50 years. Therefore, together with Zhuo Wenjun, Mrs. Hua Rui and Huang Li, she is known as the "Four Talented Women in Sichuan", leaving many beautiful talks for future generations.
Besides poetry, Xue Tao also showed great talent in calligraphy and couplets. The incomplete couplets on Wangjiang Tower are her masterpieces.
Wangjiang Tower, known as the "Jade Girl" in the Tang Dynasty, is a famous ferry, and people come and go every day, which is very lively. Every spring, the flowers on both sides of Jinjiang River bloom in turn, making the surrounding area very beautiful. Spring is a good season to enjoy flowers in spring. Every spring, many girls get on the boat from Huanhuaxi, drift downstream to Jinjiang, and then go to Yunujin for a spring outing.
Legend has it that one spring, Xue Tao came to a building in Yunujin, witnessed the winding water in Jinjiang, and casually read a couplet: Wangjiang Tower, Wangjiang Creek, Wangjiang Creek on Wangjiang Tower, Jiangling Tower is eternal, and the river flows forever.
Later, somehow, people didn't see the bottom line, and Xue Tao didn't write it at that time? Or have you written it and lost it? This cannot be confirmed. Up to now, this couplet is still carved on the door frame in the form of deformity, leaving endless beauty of deformity for visitors.
Xue Tao's first couplet can be said to be natural. In plain language, several places of interest are skillfully connected in series to form a picture of climbing to the top of the mountain and reigning in the world. The perspective changes rapidly, including lamenting the shortness of life and the change of things. There are many philosophical ideas in it, which are catchy to read.
Since the birth of this couplet, many talented people have come here, eager to try, and almost no one can.
According to legend, until the 1930s, a gifted scholar named Li Jiyu in Shifang, Sichuan, came to the "Moon-printing Well" next to Wangjianglou on a full moon night and saw the bright moon reflected in the well. This scene suddenly reminded him of the first part of Wangjianglou, so he had a brainwave and blurted out:
Printing the moon well, printing the moon shadow, printing the moon well, printing the moon shadow for thousands of years.
Although the artistic conception of this bottom couplet is not prominent enough, it is a bit suspicious of copying mechanically, but compared with other bottom couplets, it still shows higher skill and connotation, which is remarkable in form and content. So far, only this bottom line is closest to the true color of the top line.