Everyone is familiar with the poem "There are trees on the mountain and branches on the wood. I wonder if I like you or not". They come from the songs of Yue people in the pre-Qin period, and many people use them to express their inner secret love and admiration, such as literary girls secretly love the teenagers in their dreams. But few people know the story behind this poem, which is actually the earliest poem praising homosexuality in China.
On the background story of Ren Yue Ge;
On the day when Xiang of Chu was knighted, he stood by the river in gorgeous clothes. Doctor Zhuang Xin of Chu passed by, and when he saw his joy, he came forward to salute and shake hands with him. Item was disgusted with the more polite behavior and ignored it. So ZhuangXin washed his hands and told a story like this:
According to Liu Xiang's "On the Garden Mountain", during the Spring and Autumn Period, Xi, the mother brother of the King of Chu, was playing by the river, and bells and drums were ringing. The boatman is Vietnamese. As soon as the music stopped, he sang a song in Vietnamese with his paddle in his arms. The song is melodious and moving, euphemistic and beautiful, and touched E Jun.
However, due to the language barrier in various places at that time, Xi, the son of the Hubei army, couldn't understand the meaning of the lyrics, so he immediately asked someone to translate it into Chu, so the word "Yue People's Song" came into being. Vietnamese boatman's deep and sincere love for. After Hubei Jun understood the meaning of this song, he was not angry. He also went over to hug the boatman, covered him with an embroidered quilt and was willing to sleep with him.
Zhuang Xin then asked Xiang: the Hubei army is a nobleman and can still have sex with Vietnamese boatmen. Why can't I shake your hand? Item really agreed to his request and handed him his hand.
During the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Yang Yue people lived in Hubei between Jianghan. They lived in the ancient Jianghan area before the Chu people, which can be regarded as Jianghan's "indigenous". Not bound by the customs of the Central Plains, so the concept is primitive and simple. In the face of Meijun, of course, I am not ashamed to confess.
And homosexuality was very popular at that time, such as goodness in Longyang. Therefore, "Yue Yue Ge" is regarded as a poem expressing basic feelings, and the earliest poem in the history of China literature that explicitly praises homosexuality.
At the same time, it is also the earliest poem translated by China. Ren Yue Ge is the crystallization and witness of the blending of ancient Chu and Yue cultures, which has a direct impact on the creation of Chu Ci, so it is the artistic source of Chu Ci, just like other folk poems in Chu.
In fact, in ancient times, some people regarded Yue Yue's songs as homosexual texts.
There is a poem in section 17 of volume 33 of "Juvenile Fu", and the last four sentences say: "I don't know the difference of food, who can talk about grace?" May you hold the quilt, and the more you come, the more people you will stay. " This is a poem that praises men's sexuality. The sentence of "no way" uses the sentence of "shut up" in turn, which obviously shows the denial of heterosexuality. The last two sentences are the story of a gentleman in Hubei with a positive tone. What the poet means is that he hopes that beautiful teenagers can spend the night with men who love him with embroidered quilts, just as Zi Xi treats Yue people. It can be seen that there is no doubt that Yue people are men and Yue people's songs are gay texts.
Many scholars can forgive this sensitive love story between men and women, or avoid it in every way, or "purify" it knowing that it is wrong. After all, it is unkind to be too harsh in this situation. Overseas sinologists are less bound by taboos in this respect, so they made clear the gay love song nature of Yue Yue songs earlier.