First of all, we need to explain the background of breasts. Although most people have the impression that the Tang Dynasty was an open society, girls liked to wear gorgeous clothes that exposed their breasts. But the fashion of topless breasts was not popular at least in Wu Zetian's era.
The Painting of the Chariot by Yan Liben, a painter of the early Tang Dynasty, shows Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty receiving the Tibetan envoys in a chariot carried by his maids in the eighth year of Zhenguan (634). The palace maids in the picture are all dressed more conservatively, with most of their necks exposed.
Let’s look at the tomb murals of Concubine Wei in the early years of Emperor Gaozong’s reign more than 30 years later: the beauty was also dressed very conservatively and not at all open. So when did it become popular for beauties in the Tang Dynasty to go topless? Princess Yongtai, the granddaughter of Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, died in the first year of Dazu (701). There are exquisite murals left in her tomb, and the beauties on them are dressed like this:
If you enlarge this picture and look closely at their breasts, you will find that they have outlined a shallow and beautiful arc. At this time, beauties began to boldly reveal some of their breast curves.
Wu Zetian was almost 80 years old at this time.
In other words, at least during the time when Miss Wu was working hard in the harem, beauties in the Tang Dynasty did not like to show their breasts. Another piece of evidence comes from the topic we are going to talk about today. Among all Tang poems, most of the poems describing girls' breasts were written after the mid-eighth century, that is, the mid- to late Tang Dynasty.
The most important thing about breasts is whiteness!
The poets of the Tang Dynasty all praised the beautiful breasts with one word: "white"!
In order to describe this breathtaking whiteness, the most common metaphor they use is snow.
For example, in the 15th year of Yuanhe (AD 820) of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, Shi Jianwu was a Jinshi. This person has a poetic name and likes to practice Taoism and learn from immortality. According to his own confession, "Although he was lucky to become famous, he knew that his fate was unlucky, so he lived in Xinxuanmen and cultivated his nature in the woods." It stands to reason that such a master should be above the mortal world and regard women as pink skulls in order to become a master as soon as possible. But Teacher Shi is not so vulgar.
To cultivate the Tao is to cultivate the Tao, and to love beautiful people is to love beautiful people. They are two different things.
He has a poem, the title of which is naked - "Looking at Beauty". If a poet wrote a poem today called "Looking at Beautiful Women", he would definitely be criticized to death, but Teacher Shi did not, and it was even included in "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty".
This poem goes like this: "The eyes with paint dots are wrapped around the temples, and the white snow occupies the chest. Love hides her charming smile with red sleeves, and often steals the water lotus."
Her eyes are like paint, and her breasts are like snow. With two strokes, she outlines a dewy beauty. Readers praised: "Teacher Shi is such a hero."
It doesn't matter if you are ugly, as long as you are talented, you can still write about your breasts well. !
There is also a poet named Fang Qian who loves to praise beauties’ white breasts. This brother had a bad temper, was "wild as a hostage, and liked to bully people." He accidentally slipped and fell, breaking his lip and disfiguring it. He was called "Mr. Missing Lip."
The terrible thing is that Mr. Fang is not good-looking to begin with, and his lip is broken, making it even more difficult to look at. How ugly is he? Dudujun will show you a side description.
During the Baoli period of Tang Dynasty, Mr. Fang went to pay homage to Yao He, the prefect of Qiantang, with his poems. Who is Yao He? One of the most famous poets at that time, he was good friends with Liu Yuxi, Li Shen, Yang Juyuan and Jia Dao. In particular, he has a good relationship with Jia Dao. Because the two have similar poetic styles, they are collectively called "Yao Jia". If you can impress Governor Yao with your poems, not only will your official career be guaranteed, but your position in the poetry world will also be established.
However, when Governor Yao saw Mr. Fang's honor, he became suspicious and almost asked the guards to kick him out. However, the prefect has the demeanor of a prefect after all, so he patiently read Mr. Fang's poem manuscript - amazing! Talent! People should not be judged by their appearance! So he held a banquet and entertained him for several days. There is no doubt that this has been greatly beautified. Don’t think that there were no beautiful pictures in ancient times.
Mr. Fang has become prosperous since then. Not only did he have many great poets greeting him, but he can also stare at beautiful women without looking at them. Blushed. Once after seeing a beautiful woman, he wrote four poems at once, two of which were about the beautiful woman's breasts.
The first is: "The pink breasts are half covered by the clear snow, and the drunken eyes turn back to the small knife." ?
The second is: "I am always afraid that the spring snow will be released on my chest, but I am worried about my seat. "Shangqing Yunsheng." ?
I wonder if there is a pile of white snow on the beautiful woman's chest on a sunny day, and I am afraid that the snow will melt when spring comes. Mr. Fang is also very affectionate. It’s just that it’s hard for the reader to imagine him staring at a beautiful woman’s breasts at a banquet with his eyes popping out.
Snow on the chest, peach blossoms in the eyes
As mentioned earlier, the prefect Yao and Yao, among his big friends, there is one named Li Qunyu, who is also a breast writer. A good hand.
Li Qunyu, courtesy name Wenshan, was a native of Lizhou in the Tang Dynasty. This brother is a very awesome person, even better than the previous ones.
There is a biography of him in "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty". It is said that this person has a loose temperament, loves freedom, and is unreliable. He is probably a Sagittarius. He took the imperial examination, passed it once and then stopped taking it. He stopped playing and went home to write poems and live a happy life. Later, Prime Minister Pei Xiu recommended him to the emperor and asked him to be the editor of Hongwen Hall. After only a few days as an official, he felt bored again, so he resigned and went home.
Of course, during your tenure as an official, you will inevitably make friends with some dignitaries. One of them is Du Tai.
Who is this person? All readers will be shocked: the grandson of politician, historian, and prime minister Du You, the cousin of the great poet Du Mu, and the cousin of Li Shangyin.
Once, Du Tai's family held a banquet, and there was a singing girl accompanying the wine. Comrade Li Qunyu got so excited that he wrote a poem "Prime Minister Du presented a beautiful lady at the feast":
Six pictures of the Xiangjiang River water trailing behind her skirt, and a section of clouds towering over Wushan Mountain on her temples.
The style should only exist in heaven, but the singing should not be heard in the world.
The auspicious snow lamp shines slantly on the chest, and the peach blossom wine in the eyes is half drunk.
It is not easy for Xiangru to pity his guests, but it is easy to meet Wenjun when he is arguing for advice.
Auspicious snow on the chest, peach blossoms under the eyes, lamps and wine, this is so awesome, even better than eyes like lacquer and chest like snow.
Tang Dynasty painted figurine of a dancing girl with double rings and a fairy bun, collected by the Shaanxi History Museum. "Snow on the chest and peach blossoms on the eyes" may be what it looks like.
Don’t worry, there are more below.
There was a man named Zhou Xin, whose resume can no longer be found by readers, but one day he met the girl next door, and his bestiality came out and he wrote a poem, which has been passed down through the ages:
The neighboring girls met each other with a smile. They slowly tied up their skirts and half exposed their breasts.
Don’t look towards the autumn pond to see the green water, which is so uneven that it kills the white hibiscus.
I met the girl next door on the road during the day. Her breasts were so white. Gee, if I took a photo of her by the autumn pool, Bai Lianhua would be ashamed to death.
Look, when you read this poem, you can understand how Zhou Xin looks at the beautiful woman sucking her teeth.
There is also a man named Ouyang Jiong. Strictly speaking, he is no longer a poet of the Tang Dynasty, but he was born in the Tang Dynasty. He also compared the lotus flower to the breasts of beautiful women. "The chest is like snow and the face is like lotus", such a rogue sentence, how dare you write it, your face turns red with embarrassment?
This is how top experts write breasts!
The one who appears at the end must be the best among the best.
Bai Juyi! Yes, it’s Bai Juyi who wrote “Song of Everlasting Sorrow”, “The Charcoal Seller” and “Pipa Play”!
You thick eyebrows and big eyes, when you write "The servant is helpless to help you", readers will know that you are actually evil-minded.
Let's take a look at the first song:
"Wu Gong Ci"
As soon as they entered the Wu Palace, no one saw Cui'e.
When the building is high, you can see dancing, and when the palace is quiet, you can hear singing at night.
The half-exposed chest is like snow, and the face is tilted back like waves.
Yeon-gai has her own share, who dares to be jealous of Eun-do.
It seems like the cliche of having chests as white as snow is still there...Don’t worry about these details, let’s look at the next song:
"A Prostitute with a Good Metabolism Replies to Cui Yuanwai"
Qing'e's little Xie Niang, white-haired old Cui Lang.
The snow on Manai’s chest is like frost on her head.
After farewell, on the back of the Cao family monument, the words "thinking about good things" broke your heart.
Xie Hao was a famous prostitute at that time, and she and Cui Yuan were together. Is Bai Juyi jealous? They must be jealous, or else they would laugh at their "snow on their chests" reflecting the "frost on their heads"?
Okay, I admit that because Mr. Bai doesn’t pay special attention to the artistic appreciation of breasts, his poems about breasts are indeed mediocre.
The one that Mr. Shushu used to hold down the building was another super master.
Wen Tingyun, dignified Wen Feiqing, the eldest brother of the Huajian School of poets. If he didn't write about breasts, the history of poetry in the Tang Dynasty would simply be overshadowed.
He has written straightforward sentences such as "holding snowflakes in a ball" (please understand the meaning by yourself), but readers believe that the following is his representative work on breasts:
" The temples are like cicadas, the jade hairpins are cold and the autumn water is flowing, and the veil is curled up in green smoke.
In the snow-breasted luan mirror, in front of the phoenix tower. ”
Did you see it? Shi Jian we, Fang Gan, Zhou Xin, your poems can be burned. Look at the state of this person. Instead of staring straight at a beautiful woman's breasts with his eyes out, he glances at the shadow of a beautiful woman's breasts in the mirror elegantly, lovingly, and coldly, through the veil of blue smoke. , and the girl’s cicada-like hair.
Even ten Li Qunyu could not match this state of speaking.
Among the poems of the Tang Dynasty, breasts were the highest so far!