"It is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo" is a sentence written by Su Shi, a famous poet in the Song Dynasty, in "The Monk's House in Imperial Command", which means that it is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo. In fact, many ancient literati were very partial to bamboo. Why? Bamboo, plum, orchid and chrysanthemum are also called "four gentlemen", which are all loved by literati. Bamboo has the meaning of showing integrity and integrity since ancient times, because bamboo itself is very tall and straight, not afraid of cold and heat. Let's introduce the meaning and background of bamboo. Let's have a look.
Bamboo is a gramineous plant, distributed in woody stems in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions, and widely distributed in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Indian Ocean and Pacific islands. Bamboo has the characteristics of tall and slender branches, evergreen seasons and no fear of frost and snow. Ranked as "Mei Lan Zhu Ju", together with "Mei" and "Song", it is also called "Three Friends in the Cold Year".
Bamboo, people eat its buds. The English name of bamboo shoots is "bamboo shoots", and the word "bamboo shoots" is quite vivid. Bamboo shoots grow very fast and inadvertently surpass them.
Bamboo shoots are young bamboo shoots, which are tender, fat and short. As a traditional food, bamboo shoots are crispy and delicious, and people in China have a long history of eating and cultivating bamboo shoots. There are so-called words in the Book of Songs, such as "Add beans, bamboo shoots will spoil fish" and "just bamboo shoots and pu". Ancestors began to dig bamboo shoots about 3000 years ago.
Modern cultivation techniques of bamboo shoots are very mature, including garden selection, planting time and excellent varieties, loosening soil and weeding after planting, rational fertilization, bamboo protection and insect prevention, and even processing methods of various flavors. This is all about the application of bamboo in food.
Historical details of bamboo
Bamboo has a very deep historical background. Bamboo was unearthed from Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. In other words, bamboo was used by people seven thousand years ago. According to records, in the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago, a clearly recognizable symbol of "bamboo" appeared on the pottery unearthed from Yangshao cultural site in Xi 'an, banpo village, indicating that people had a deep understanding and wide application of it at that time, so people specially created a text symbol to refer to it.
The essence of bamboo lies in its application. According to research, as early as the Shang Dynasty, people used bamboo in all aspects of social life, especially bamboo slips, which indirectly led to the emergence of the word "learning to be rich".
People write with bamboo pieces, and then string them together with ropes to become "books". Bamboo slips and wooden slips, especially bamboo slips, can be said to be a cultural breakthrough. Compared with silk books, it costs less and reduces the cost of reading, while bamboo slips are easier to make than wooden slips-a large number of precious documents are preserved on bamboo slips, including Shangshu, Book of Rites and The Analects of Confucius. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people called bamboo slips "bamboo books" and bamboo slips "bamboo newspapers", and even invented bamboo pens-all of which were discovered by researchers from scholars.
Bamboo cultural landscape
Bamboo has a great historical use, papermaking, which is another breakthrough in bamboo slips. In China in the ninth century, people began to use bamboo to make paper, which was 1000 years earlier than in Europe. Wu Kai, an expert in Ming Dynasty, explained the manufacturing technology of bamboo paper in detail with illustrations. It can be said that bamboo contributes to the development and prosperity of culture.
In terms of production, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people began to use the bamboo tool "orange" to lift water, and also made a "high rollover" for irrigation; On the military side, from the original bamboo bow to trebuchet to gunpowder arrow, bamboo barrel musket and so on.
In life, human beings have been "captured" by bamboo, which plays an important role in food, clothing, housing and transportation. Don't talk about food, let's talk about clothes first. As a kind of clothing, bamboo cloth appeared in the market in Qin and Han dynasties and entered the court as a tribute. People often take bamboo as the crown. Take bamboo as rainproof articles, including bamboo shoes, bamboo hats, bamboo companions, bamboo umbrellas, etc.
"Cover without tile, cover with bamboo; Not a brick wall, but a bamboo wall; The door has no board, and the door has bamboo. If the rest are rafters, if they are dull, if they are windows, if they are walls, they are bamboo. The application of bamboo in architecture is represented by Ganquan Palace in Han Dynasty and Huanggang Bamboo House in Song Dynasty. Bamboo has played an important role in the evolution of human beings from nesting, burrowing to life on the ground. In terms of transportation, the ancients used bamboo to build cars, rafts, ships and even bridges.
Bamboo ware occupies a very important part in people's lives. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were more than 250 kinds of bamboo utensils that people often used in their lives, including baskets, reeds, reeds, bowls, chopsticks, spoons, plates, pots, steamers, baskets, warehouses, boxes, beds and so on.
The communication between bamboo and "Wenhua" people
"China bamboo culture, up and down for five thousand years, has food, clothing, housing and transportation, and bamboo is connected everywhere." Bamboo plays an important role in people's lives and brings people rich cultural heritage.
Say the article first. Bamboo's growth characteristics and its wide application make it have in-depth exchanges with scholars. As early as the Book of Songs, dozens of poems have mentioned bamboo. For example, the poem Feng Weiqi 'ao said, "Looking at Qi 'ao from afar, green bamboo is stubborn." At this time, people may have different views on bamboo, but it is certain to mention it.
Su Dongpo said in Yu Qian and Monk Lu Yunxuan: "You can not eat meat, but you can't eat bamboo. No meat makes people thin, no bamboo makes people vulgar. People are thin and fat, but ordinary people can't cure them ... "This shows his loyalty to bamboo. Of course, this is also a common phenomenon for old men to make use of the topic-literati.
Wang Huizhi, the son of Wang Xizhi, said, "Send someone to live in an empty house for the time being and let him grow bamboo. Or ask, why stay? " He talked for a long time, pointed to Zhu and said, "How can you live without this gentleman for a day?" Although it is exaggerated, it still shows the position of bamboo in his heart.
Bamboo's poems have been handed down to this day, and it is difficult to count them. Let's look at these paintings again.
By the middle Tang Dynasty, bamboo had become a special painting theme, and since then, bamboo has been born in every generation. Wentong in the Northern Song Dynasty initiated Huzhou Bamboo School, which was praised by later generations as the originator of Zhu Mo Painting School. Ke, Gao and Ni Zan in Yuan Dynasty, Wang Bi, Xia Chang and Xu Wei in Ming Dynasty, Shi Tao, Pu Hua and Wu Changshuo in Qing Dynasty are all outstanding figures in bamboo painting.
Zheng Banqiao praised "the gentleman of bamboo, the adult of stone, the friend of chitose, the spring of four seasons" in "Sixty-nine Questions of Painting Bamboo". Su Dongpo loves bamboo, too. Speaking of this gentleman. "People who eat bamboo shoots, live in bamboo tiles, carry bamboo rafts, cook with bamboo pay, dress with bamboo skin, write with bamboo paper and walk with bamboo shoes. It's really a day without this gentleman. "
As a kind of plant, bamboo has been combined with people's mental outlook in the long-term production practice and cultural activities of working people, and has a profound connection with people's personality, endowment and spiritual symbol, resulting in rich cultural connotations.