Idioms and allusions of Hongyan Chuanshu 1 Hongyan Chuanshu
Source: The Biography of Hanshu Su Wu.
Hongyan is a large migratory bird, which moves southward every autumn, often causing homesickness and wandering sorrow. Hongyan's biography refers to communication. Later, people used Hongyan as a metaphor for letters and messengers.
Idioms and their stories
In the first year of Liang Wudi, the Huns made peace with the Han Dynasty, and Liang Wudi sent Su Wu, a corps commander, to the Huns. After accepting the task, Su Wu set off for Xiongnu with a mission and generous gifts. Unexpectedly, instead of thanking him, the capricious Xiongnu Khan was instigated by the bad guys and detained Su Wu and others, demanding Su Wu to surrender. Money, high officials and generous salaries, hunger and torture failed to make Su Wu yield, and he resolutely refused to surrender. No way, Khan had to order Su Wu to be sent to the North Sea (now Lake Baikal in Siberia) to shepherd sheep. He said to Su Wu, "When the ram gives birth to a lamb, I will send you back to the Han Dynasty!" How can a ram have a lamb? Intention is very clear, khan resolutely sent Su Wu back to the han dynasty.
Beihai area is barren, with snow all year round. Sue only feeds on grass in rat holes. Every day, while herding sheep, Su Wu fondled the greetings handed to him by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty when he was on a mission, and deeply missed his motherland. When sleeping at night, he held Jingjing tightly to his chest. In this way, day after day, I struggled for a long time.
Later, after the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, and the Huns made peace with the Han Dynasty. Khan still refused to let Su Wu return to the Han Dynasty and lied that Su Wu was dead. Chang Hui, who accompanied Su Wu to the Huns, tried his best to tell the envoys of the Han Dynasty about the situation in Su Wu, and also came up with a clever plan for the envoys to return to Su Wu.
The next day, the envoy of the Han Dynasty went to see Shan Yu and said to Shan Yu according to Chang Hui's plan, "Since you Huns really want to make friends with the Han Dynasty, don't lie to us again. Su Wu is obviously not dead. One day, our emperor killed a wild goose in Shanglinyuan. It was a letter from Su Wu to the emperor. The letter said that he was herding sheep in the cold North Sea. How do you say he's dead? It is God's will that geese can bring letters. How can you cheat the sky? " Khan was shocked and had to admit that he had lied, and then said, "Su Wu's loyalty touched the birds. Are we not as good as geese? " Say that finish, he immediately apologized to the messenger of the Han Dynasty, and promised to send someone to take Su Wu back from Beihai.
Su Wu returned to Chang 'an, the capital of China, where he had been away for twenty years. Emperor Hanzhao received them and invited him to visit the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the temple of the first emperor, and returned the bare section to the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Grow up Xinyu
Wu Han, a historian, once wrote an article on "Talk about backbone", in which he suggested that one should not be arrogant, but one must have backbone. The so-called backbone means adhering to principles, knowing right and wrong on right and wrong issues, knowing honor and disgrace, and not trading principles. On the one hand, he is a senior official, on the other hand, he is totally loyal. Su Wu made the most perfect interpretation with unyielding clank and pride.
Idiom allusions of Hongyan Book Biography 2. The story of Hongyan's book biography: Hongyan's book biography is also called Flying Pigeon's book biography. Hongyan moves south every autumn, which often causes wanderers to feel homesick and sad when traveling. Hongyan's biography refers to communication. There are also letters referred to by Hongyan.
1. Related poems
Xue Daoheng, a native of Sui Dynasty, wrote: "People return to yan zhen and think before spending." I had the idea of going home long before the flowers bloomed. But when the geese returned to the north, people had not returned home. When the poet was an official in the Northern Dynasties, he sent envoys to the Southern Dynasties and wrote this homesick poem, which was subtle and tactful. There are also thoughts written by geese, such as "I feel homesick at night and get sick during the New Year" (Ouyang Xiu's play answers Yuan Zhen), "When the stars cross the building, the flute leans against the building with sound" (Zhao Wei's "Looking at the Autumn in Chang 'an" in the Tang Dynasty), "The stars are cold and blue, and the geese are sad and red" (. As a messenger, Hongyan is widely used in poetry. For example, "The geese don't answer me, and the rivers and lakes are full of rain" (Du Fu's To Li Bai at the End of the Sky), "Shuo Yan's calligraphy is absolutely unique, and Huang Xiang's tears are numerous" (Li Shangyin's Lisi).
2. Idiom allusions 1
2500 years ago, our ancestors began to domesticate homing pigeons. During the war between Xixia and Northern Song Dynasty, the Xixia army used homing pigeons for military communication. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, General Qu Duan's army also used homing pigeons to send messages and gather troops. In ancient times, homing pigeons were called "flying slaves". Legend has it that when Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, was surrounded by Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, he sent letters by carrier pigeons, which attracted reinforcements to escape from danger. Zhang Qian and Ban Chao went to the Western Regions, and pigeons were also used to send messages to the royal family. During the reign of Qing Qianlong, a pigeon-letting party was held in Foshan, Guangdong, China in May and June every year, with thousands of pigeons participating every year, with a distance of about 400 miles. At that time, there were similar pigeon racing activities in Shanghai, Beijing and other places. The earliest written record of sending messages abroad by carrier pigeons was found in 530 BC, when carrier pigeons were used to convey the results of the Olympic Games.
Hongyan is synonymous with letters, sometimes called postman. Why is "Hongyan" called a letter and postman? Tracing back to the source, during the Han Dynasty, Su Wu was sent to Xiongnu, and Khan was exiled to the North Sea to herd sheep. 10 years later, when the Han Dynasty approached the Huns, Khan still refused to let Su Wu return to Han. Chang Hui, who went to the Huns with Su Wu, secretly told Ambassador China about Su Wu, and designed Ambassador China to tell Khan that the Han emperor killed a wild goose when hunting, and a letter was tied to the goose's foot, telling him that Su Wu was herding sheep in a swamp. Upon hearing this, Khan only asked Su Wu to go back to Han. Later, people used Hongyan as a metaphor for letters and messengers.
3. Idioms and allusions 2
Another kind of story that people are more familiar with and like is folk story. In the Tang Dynasty, Xue Pinggui went to the Western Ocean, and Wang Baochuan stayed in the cold kiln for more than ten years. One day, while Wang Baochuan was picking wild vegetables, he suddenly heard the cry of a swan in the air, so he asked to send a book to the wolf in Pinggui on his behalf. However, it was difficult to find pens and ink at that time. In desperation, he tore off his skirt, bit his fingertips and wrote a letter of blood and tears, pouring out his loyalty to love and his expectation for the reunion of husband and wife. The former is loyalty to the country, while the latter is loyalty to feelings. The spread of these two stories made "Hongyan" become the messenger of ancient communication, and also made these two stories themselves become the stories of eternal love.
4. Relevant information
But many people don't know that before "Hongyan", there was a story of "Jade Bird Passing Books". 199810/0/0 On 9 October, the State Post Bureau issued 4 sets of commemorative postage films for the 22nd Universal Postal Congress 1999 Beijing (II), among which the third set, Love in the East, is a colorful bird with the same contents as the postage map. What allusions does The Jade Bird Biography come from? Tracing back to the source, we still need to find the answer in Shan Hai Jing, an ancient book before Qin Dynasty. According to Shan Hai Jing, there are three bluebirds. "Three blue robin, the head is red, the eyes are black, one is a big haze, one is a small haze, and one is a blue robin. Living in the mountain of three dangers, eating for the Queen Mother of the West. " These three divine birds with red heads and black eyes, named Dafu, Shaofu and Jade Bird, are the attendants and messengers of the Queen Mother of the West. They have three legs and live on the Three Dangers Mountain. They are strong and healthy birds of prey. They not only seek food for the Queen Mother of the West who lives on Yushan Mountain near Kunlun Mountain, but also fly over Qian Shan to deliver messages to the Queen Mother of the West.
Tao Yuanming's fifth book, Reading, says, "The beautiful birds are pitiful in color. The imperial court is the envoy of the Empress Dowager and returns to Sanxing Mountain at dusk. I want to be a bird, so I want to say to the queen mother: there is nothing in the world, only wine and years. " Legend has it that before the arrival of the Queen Mother of the West, a bluebird always came to deliver books first. It is said that when the Queen Mother of the West went to the Han Palace, Jade Bird went to deliver books, and Jade Bird flew all the way to the front of Chenghua Temple. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was surprised to see this beautiful and lovely bird, so he asked Dong Fangshuo, the minister, what was the name of this bird? Where did it come from? Dong Fangshuo told him that this bird is called Jade Bird, and it is the messenger of the Queen Mother of the West. Now I'm here to inform you that the Queen Mother of the West is coming soon. Sure enough, after a while, the Queen Mother of the West was helped by two beautiful birds, Dalan and Xiaolan, and came to the front of the temple. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and his ministers rushed to meet the Queen Mother of the West and gave her warm hospitality.
In later myths, the bluebird gradually evolved into the beautiful king of birds-Phoenix. Beautiful bluebirds and beautiful legends attracted scholars to write poems and chant. Li Bai's poems are "I would like to repay Sauvignon Blanc for three bluebirds" and "Three birds don't belong to the queen mother, I have read it with a book". Li Shangyin's poems are "The bluebird doesn't return to the west, Wang Chang is in the hall" and "Pengshan has no way to get here, O bluebird, and listen to her. And Wei's poems include "If you want to come to the thatched cottage, you can listen to the purple phoenix, but the bluebird is calm", Hu Ceng's poem "Huang Wu has no way to fall, and the bluebird sinks in the west and the tree falls in autumn", Zeng Shiyi's poem "The light and shadow don't follow the bluebird and the cave door is empty", Guo Chongsi's poem "The bluebird doesn't spread the news outside the cloud, and the white clouds lock the ridge head monument", and Yao has a poem. A thousand years ago, peach blossoms were empty and suspicious. Xun Mei wrote a poem, "The news of Qingluan sinks in Sang Hai, and the first peak of the new Aojiang". These poems all borrow the allusions of "a jade bird sends a book". From these poems, we can see that the bluebird is no longer the raptor described in Shan Hai Jing, but has become three considerate, gentle, kind, light and exquisite lovely "messengers".
Indeed, in ancient times, it was really difficult for people to communicate with their distant relatives. Ordinary people have almost no special communication equipment. "I sent a letter to Luoyang nine times, but I haven't heard from you for ten years." "Three months of war, a letter from home is worth a thousand pounds of gold." "I often don't send letters. What can I expect in wartime?" ... these poems express the melancholy and helplessness of the ancients, so I have to pin my true feelings on Jade Bird and let Jade Bird help me convey the good news of auspiciousness, happiness and happiness, so as to express my homesickness and homesickness. Ancient legends and myths left us with infinite reverie.