China is a poetic ancient civilization. From Chuci in The Book of Songs to Yuanqu in Tang Poetry and Song Poetry, a history of China literature is almost a history of poetry. No one can deny that poetry is the soul and essence of China culture.
Poetry is surging, and ancient poetry is the country. Dragon Boat Festival is the biggest festival at the turn of late spring and early summer. Dragon Boat Festival is a festival for poets, China people and the Chinese nation, and it is unique in the world. Later, the Dragon Boat Festival was also valued by some neighboring countries in Asia, but the real source is still here.
If you come to China at this time, you will find a strange food all over the street. This kind of food is cone-shaped, including glutinous rice and red dates. Inside, outside is wrapped by a dark green broad-leaved plant leaf. People call it zongzi.
The origin of Dragon Boat Festival is related to Qu Yuan, a great poet in China more than 2000 years ago. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, people in China have the custom of eating zongzi and racing dragon boats, in memory of the great statesman and patriotic poet Qu Yuan. According to Records of the Historian, Biography of Qu Yuan and Biography of Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was born in a noble family in the State of Chu in 340 BC. In his youth, in order to master profound knowledge, he eagerly read a lot of works on astronomy, geography, calendar, agriculture, literature and art. While studying hard, he also made great efforts in writing. In his twenties, he rewrote nine songs according to "Sacrifice to God", which spread all over the country. Qu Yuan's knowledge and talent won the admiration of Chu Huaiwang, and he was appointed as the Left (an official post smaller than the Prime Minister). Qu Yuan is "knowledgeable, strong-willed, knows how to control chaos and is good at rhetoric." . When he entered the DPRK, he negotiated with the king about state affairs and gave orders; When you go out, you will meet the guests and deal with the weather. Wang is willing to do it. "After Qu Yuan embarked on the political road, he strongly advocated the implementation of changes, the appointment of talents, the prosperity of the country and the reunification of China. In order to realize the great cause of Chu reunification, Qu Yuan actively assisted in political reform at home and insisted on uniting the six countries to resist Qin. However, at the beginning of the political reform, it was hated and rejected by the Chu aristocratic group headed by Zilan. They slandered Chu Huaiwang, and the fatuous Wang Huai mistakenly believed the slanderers and demoted Qu Yuan as "Doctor San Lv" (managing royal affairs and presiding over ancestral temple sacrifices). Although Qu Yuan was demoted, he was still very concerned about the fate of Chu. When the State of Qin sent special envoy Zhang Yi to the State of Chu to lobby for the destruction of the six-nation alliance, Qu Yuan risked his life to enter the palace to persuade Chu Huaiwang not to fall for it. Chu Huaiwang trusted the State of Qin and wanted to form an alliance with the King of Qin. Qu Yuan tearfully dissuaded him, but he was stopped by Quilan and his gang. Later, King Huai was placed under house arrest by the State of Qin and died in Xianyang. Apart from grief, Qu Yuan also hoped that King Qing Xiang, who had just acceded to the throne, could become a powerful country through reform and avenge the great humiliation of Chu. However, under the hereditary system, King Xiang of Qin was more fatuous than Chu Huaiwang, and the pro-Qin faction remained in power. They instigated King Qingxiang to drive Qu Yuan out of the court and exile Han Bei. After Qin attacked the capital of Chu, Chu was on the verge of extinction. Qu yuan, who was both sad and angry, fell into the rivers and lakes. After writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he threw himself into the river. Decades after Qu Yuan's death, the State of Chu was finally destroyed by the State of Qin because of the treacherous court official. But Qu Yuan, a tragic hero who is loyal and suspicious, will live forever in Chu, no, in the hearts of all China people.
"The unfortunate poets of the country are lucky. They have been endowed with vicissitudes." Qu Yuan wrote a lot of poems in his life, including Li Sao, Nine Songs, Tian Wen and Nine Chapters. Li Sao is his masterpiece and the longest lyric poem in China's classical literature. It was created when Qin Jun invaded the Northern Han Dynasty, Qu Yuan crossed Dongting Lake with refugees, went down to Xiangxi along the Yuanshui River and finally drifted to Changsha. At that time, when Qu Yuan saw that his motherland was about to be annexed by Qin, he was extremely indignant. However, he didn't have the opportunity to make decisions in the imperial court and make the country rich and save the country, so he had to use poetry to expose Chu Huaiwang's ignorance, Qin's cruelty and traitors' crimes. Record the disaster of the motherland and the suffering of the people, so that future generations will always remember this bloody historical lesson. This fully shows that poetry can only produce great works, great writers and poets if it faces reality, people's sufferings and the pulse of the times. Those romantic and moaning works will never be deeply rooted in people's hearts, such as Qu Yuan, which will always be remembered and cherished by the people.
Li Sao shows the poet's earnest pursuit and unremitting struggle to realize lofty ideals, expresses deep patriotic feelings, and shows the noble character of hating adulterers and being ashamed to associate with them. In short, the whole article is rich in color, magnificent and magnificent. It is an outstanding representative of romanticism and a treasure of China literature.
"Nine Chapters" is a general topic containing nine poems, which reflects the experience, circumstances and depressed mood of Qu Yuan's two exiles, and is strongly political and lyrical.
Tian Wen is a fantastic article in the history of China literature. It's about natural and social phenomena and things. Among the 170 questions raised in this paper, many ancient myths and legends and ancient historical materials have been preserved, which is precious.
Nine Songs is a sacrifice song written by Qu Yuan for the imperial court to hold a large-scale sacrifice ceremony on the basis of folk music songs for sacrificing gods. Rich in imagination, delicate in language and full of romance.
Qu Yuan is the first great patriotic poet in the history of China literature. His works are the source of China's romantic poetry and another peak in the history of China's poetry after The Book of Songs. Qu Yuan, with his noble character of patriotism and love for the people and brilliant poems, had a great influence on the formation of spiritual civilization and literary tradition of the Chinese nation and occupied a lofty position in the history of China literature development. Li Sao is called "Sao Jing" (classic "Jing"), and the poet is called "Sao Ren", which is proof.
There is no doubt that Qu Yuan's "patriotism" is that he loves his Chu state, and he can't love his rival, Qin State. He can't "dream back to Qin" like some people today. But we know that the later historical fact is that Qin destroyed six countries (including his motherland Chu). Then, a question arises: What is the significance and value of Qu Yuan and his patriotic poems? Does Qu Yuan's patriotism "go against the historical trend"?
We know that during the Warring States period, Chu was in the early stage of feudal society, and the relations of production and productivity were much more advanced than that of Qin, which was still in the late stage of slavery society. If China can be unified by Chu, the progress of feudal society in China will obviously be much faster. Unfortunately, history is a mistake. Perhaps it is precisely because of Qu Yuan's political failure that China was unified by the State of Qin, not the advanced State of Chu, but the land of tigers and wolves. What is the result? Everyone saw it and received it: history was retrogressing, the world was in chaos, the society was in turmoil, the people were in poverty, and all the people in China were "suffering for a long time", so they rose up one after another, and the Qin Dynasty finally died short-lived. This has naturally seriously slowed down the pace of social progress in China. Xi Zhe once pointed out a historical law: Although the backward nationalities conquered the advanced nationalities by force, the culture of the backward nationalities will eventually be conquered by the culture of the advanced nationalities. There can be no exceptions to this. And this kind of "anti-conquest", we want to point out that, unfortunately, we have to pay a heavy price for time and delay the pace of historical progress. In this sense, isn't it of higher significance and value that we commemorate Qu Yuan and his patriotic poems today? In this way, it is not difficult for us to understand why not only the land of Three Chu, but all China people in China (including Taiwan Province Province) want to remember Qu Yuan and call for China's poetic soul.
After Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to mourn Qu Yuan. The fisherman propped up the boat and fished his body back and forth on the river. Some even take out food such as zongzi and eggs prepared in advance and plop them into the river, saying that they will be eaten by fish and shrimp to avoid biting the doctor's body. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon with this medicine so that it could not hurt Dr. Qu. Soon, a dizzy dragon was floating on the water. It is said that there is a piece of doctor Qu's skirt on the dragon's beard, so people pull the dragon ashore, remove the tendons, then wrap the dragon tendons around the children's hands and necks, and wipe their brains with realgar wine, so that those poisonous snakes and pests dare not hurt these children. How clear the people's love and hate are!
China Dragon Boat Festival has several unique customs. First, insert mugwort leaves: city people go to the surrounding countryside to pick mugwort leaves early in the morning. This kind of plant has the function of clearing away heat and toxic materials, so people hang them at the door and put them on their heads. Second, drink realgar wine: Realgar is a kind of red and yellow powder, which also has the function of detoxification. Adults and children eat wine with pictures on their foreheads, and some even write "Wang", so that the "summer poison" in summer cannot be harmful. There is also a dragon boat race: according to legend, Quyuan threw himself into the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Since then, every year on the fifth day of May, people will row dragon boats, eat zongzi and drink realgar wine to commemorate Qu Yuan. In some areas, during the Dragon Boat Festival, calamus or wormwood are inserted on the doors. These customs have profound historical and cultural origins and are the precious cultural heritage of our Chinese nation. We hope that these excellent cultural traditions of the Chinese nation can be passed down from generation to generation, and that dragon boat racing will become an event of the 2008 Olympic Games, representing China to the world. With the poetic soul of Qu Yuan in Dragon Boat Festival, I hope the poetic soul will not die, and the poetic soul of China will last forever.
"Qu Ping's Ci hangs on the sun and the moon, and Chu Wang's pavilion is empty" (Li Bai). The poet who pleaded for the people is immortal, and his monument has been engraved in the hearts of the people for generations, far above the pillars of the King of Chu and "Alexander".