The Hongmen Banquet refers to a banquet held in Hongmen, China, in 206 BC. Participants included Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, the leaders of the two anti-Qin armies at that time.
This banquet had an important impact on both the Peasants' War at the end of Qin and the Chu-Han War, and is considered to have indirectly contributed to Xiang Yu's defeat and Liu Bang's successful establishment of the Han Dynasty.
Background:
In 206 BC, Liu Bang, then the Duke of Pei, led a rebel army to break through Wuguan and enter the Guanzhong area. Prince Ying of Qin surrendered to Liu Bang. After Liu Bang entered the pass, he made a three-part agreement with the Qin people and sent people to garrison Hangu Pass to prevent Xiang Yu from entering the pass.
At that time, Xiang Yu had just won the Battle of Julu, annihilated the main force of the Qin army, and was attacking Guanzhong. When Xiang Yu arrived at Hangu Pass, he learned that Liu Bang had captured Guanzhong. In a rage, he captured the pass and advanced to the west of Playing Water.
Liu Bang was in Bashang with his army at that time and had not yet met Xiang Yu. At that time, Xiang Yu's army was about 400,000 people, and Liu Bang's army was about 100,000 people.
Cao Yuzhang (1924-1996), a modern writer. A native of Ningbo, Zhejiang. He once served as the chief editor of Shanghai Education Press. He is the author of "Five Thousand Years", "Zhuge Liang, a Famous Prime Minister", etc. He graduated from junior high school and has been engaged in Chinese teaching for a long time.
The following is about Cao Yuzhang’s experience in learning ancient prose:
Generally speaking, in his youth, he was more interested in poetry than in classical prose. When I was a child, I preferred to read modern poetry (rhythmic verses and quatrains) because of its neat sentences and strong rhythm. Of course, I also like long narrative poems in ancient poetry. In terms of content, I have a wide range of interests in a variety of poems. Such as bold and tragic frontier poems, quiet and natural pastoral poems, and meaningful epic poems. I also read Li Shangyin's "Untitled" poem very well. In fact, not only could I not understand Li Shangyin's "Untitled" poem at the time, but even now that I am old, I still don't fully understand it. It can be seen that at that time, I just appreciated its beautiful diction and sonorous syllables. I read a lot of poetry, and I also want to write poetry. "If you have read 300 Tang poems by heart, you will be able to recite them even if you don't know how to compose them." Although there is some truth in it, if you really want to start writing poems, you must understand the level and rhyme part, and you will have to read rhyme books. At that time, I used to write a poem every day or every one or two days. Later, I accumulated more than 200 poems, and the pages of my book "Poetry Rhythm" were so full. Through practicing writing poems, I have become more familiar with the rhythmic knowledge of flat, oblique and rhyming. When reading ancient poems, I can also read the charm. It is not advisable for young people to learn to write ancient poems. But to read ancient poetry well and master some metrical knowledge, it is still necessary.
When I was a teenager, I had a strong thirst for knowledge. I gradually felt dissatisfied just by reading selected books. Among the books in my family collection, there are some special collections by famous writers, such as "The Complete Works of Du Gongbu", "The Complete Works of Li Taibai", "The Complete Works of Bai Xiangshan", "Jiannan Poems", etc. I have browsed them all, and then selected the ones that I am interested in. Read a few of them (not necessarily representative works). Because I chose it myself, I feel it has a different taste. Reading the anthology is like viewing a bonsai exhibition. Although the varieties are good, they are only a few selected pots. Reading the collections of famous artists is like entering a famous garden. Although you can only take a quick look at the flowers, but when you take a panoramic view, you will feel that the atmosphere is different.
There are also some books, some of which are voluminous and some of which only have the original text (without annotations), making it difficult to read and even browse. Despite this, I also like to flip through it, look at the written titles, and the front-volume table of contents, and get some perceptual impressions. For example, I have a wooden boxed copy of "The Complete Book of Hundred Masters" at home. I flipped through it and at least I understood what the so-called "philosophers" generally include. Another example is the Twenty-Four Histories. At that time, I had only read "The Essence of Historical Records", but I had also read the "Book of Han" and had a very superficial understanding of it. According to my experience, exposure to the original work has a different impression than just reading the review. For example, for students who have never been exposed to the "Four Books", it is difficult for them to remember the titles of the four books; if they have seen the originals, even if they just flip through them, they will not forget them easily.
I left school for about two years, and when I was 15 years old, I went to Shanghai to attend middle school, and my self-taught career came to an end. This kind of self-study is conducted under special conditions. Due to the lack of guidance, the learning content is biased and the arrangements are not reasonable. However, it was of great help to me when I later studied Chinese as a major in college and engaged in Chinese teaching. It was at that time that I laid the foundation for my knowledge of literature and history and my ability to read classical Chinese.