To put it simply, phenology refers to the germination, flowering, fruiting, withering of plants and the migration and hibernation of certain animals, reflecting changes in climate and seasons. From this perspective, ancient Chinese poetry contains extremely rich phenological knowledge.
For example, "Three or two branches of peach blossoms outside the bamboo, ducks are prophets of the warmth of the spring river." (Part 1 of two poems titled "Evening Scene on the Spring River" written by Su Shi by Huichong) In the early spring weather, ducks are the first to sense the warmth of the spring river and play in the water.
"In the cold weather, water birds depend on each other, and hundreds of them form a group to play in the sunset. No pedestrians can get up after passing by, and suddenly they hear the sound of ice and fly together." (Qin Guan's "Returning from Guangling") In late winter, The water birds depend on each other, and the sound of ice makes the birds fly away in fright. Ducks and birds are both messengers of spring.
“It rains every house during the yellow plum season, and there are frogs everywhere in the grassy pond.” (Zhao Shixiu’s “A Visitor”) The three objects appearing in the poem show the seasonal characteristics of the late spring and early summer when the plums are yellow and ripe.
Huang Chao's "Inscription on Chrysanthemums" said: "The rustling west wind fills the courtyard with plants, and the pistils are cold and fragrant. Butterflies are hard to come." The chrysanthemums withered and the butterflies disappeared. Although there is no word "Autumn", the coolness of autumn is felt But it came to my face.
As for Li Bai's "Song under the Sai", it leads readers to another world: "In May, there is snow in the Tianshan Mountains. There are no flowers, only cold. I hear the broken willows in the flute, but I have never seen the spring scenery." May is midsummer. , flowers have already withered in the mainland, but the Tianshan Mountains (Qilian Mountains) located in the northwest frontier are still covered with snow, without willows, flowers and grass, indicating that in the Yellow River Basin with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, there is neither summer nor spring and autumn. Features. From this, it is not difficult to see the huge difference in climate between the mainland and outside the Great Wall.
In ancient poems about phenology, we often see the agricultural and military activities of our predecessors. For example, Fan Chengda's "Pastoral Miscellany in Four Seasons": "Butterflies enter the cauliflower in pairs, and no guests come to Tian's house as the day grows longer." These two sentences describe a poem about the late spring countryside in the south of the Yangtze River, and use the description of butterflies entering the cauliflower to set off the busy work of farmers and women. Let's look at Wen Tong's "Early Sunny Arrival at Baoen Mountain Temple": "The smoke is clearing, two gulls are falling on the distant water, and the sun is shining high in the forest, and a pheasant is flying. It's late when the barley is not harvested, and the little silkworms are lying alone cutting mulberries." The first couplet depicts a distant scene. There are vivid pictures of high mountains and forests and wild birds flying; the second couplet describes the busy scenes of farmers and women harvesting wheat, preparing vegetables, picking mulberries, and feeding silkworms at the turn of spring and summer, which is cordial and moving. And Lu Lun's "The wild geese are flying high in the dark moon, and the geese are fleeing at night. They want to drive away the light cavalry, but the heavy snow is full of bows and swords" (Part 3 of "Song under the Sai") is about marching and fighting: the enemy flees at night, and the geese fly away in fright. , which aroused the vigilance of our general, and led the soldiers to chase the enemy cavalry, which fully demonstrated the heroic spirit of the Chinese people.
Wind, horse and cow are irrelevant. "Zuo Zhuan, The Fourth Year of Duke Xi"
The Zhiju sentence came to the nest, but the wind came out of nowhere. Warring States, Chu and Song Yu's "Feng Fu"
Gold is broken by hardness, and water is made whole by softness; mountains are high and steep, and valleys are low and peaceful. Jin Ge Hong's "Baopuzi Guangji"
The nature of water is calm from the clouds, and there is no sound in the stone. How the two sides are excited, the thunder turns into the sky and the mountains are shocked. Wei Yingwu of the Tang Dynasty "Listening to the Sound of the Jialing River Waters Sends a Letter to the Master"
The grass and trees have no intention of doing so, and they will flourish and wither at their own time. Meng Haoran of the Tang Dynasty "Sent Shanyin Cui Shaofu Guofu on the River"
Ancient poems about phenology also include: Rain hits the Qingming Festival, and it rains until the Summer Solstice.
Qingming is early and Xiaoman is late. Grain Rain is the right time to plant cotton.
The soil from the tomb was scraped off during the Qingming Festival, and it was dripping and lagging for forty-five years.
It will be sunny during the Qingming Festival, but it will be rainy during the Grain Rain. There was no rain during Grain Rain, but we cried for rain later.
If the Qingming Festival is clear, the six animals will thrive; if the Qingming Rain rains, all fruits will be damaged.
Rain in Grain Rain indicates more rain, but no rain in Grain Rain comes late.
The beginning of summer is not going to fall, just mulberry and old wheat.
The east wind arrives at the beginning of summer and the wheat becomes waterlogged.
From the beginning of summer to Xiaoman, it’s not too late to plant anything.
At the beginning of summer, there was a gust of wind and all the wheat was gone.
Before and after Xiaoman, he planted melons and beans.
Little Man is warm and warm, hoeing wheat and other miscellaneous grains.
After ten days of planting, if you don’t plant for ten days, it will be in vain.
If you don’t sow the seeds, you will end up in vain.
Earn wheat appears on the scene, and autumn plowing follows closely.
The north wind blows in the field of awns, and the drought cuts off the roots of green seedlings.
On the summer solstice there is no rain and three days of heat, and it is rare to have ten days of overcast weather during the summer solstice.
There is no rain in the summer solstice, and there is no rice in the store.
The summer solstice will not be too hot, and the winter solstice will not be too cold.
The summer solstice is windy and hot, the Double Ninth Festival is rainless and the winter is sunny.
As the summer solstice enters Fulitian, plowing the fields is like watering a garden.
On the summer solstice, the east wind blows and the water comes in half a month.
You won’t plant potatoes in Xiaoshu, and you won’t plant beans in Lifu.
The wind does not move during the small summer heat, and the frost comes late.
From the Great Heat to the Beginning of Autumn, manure accumulates in the fields.
There is no rain in the beginning of autumn, and little rain in autumn; there is no rain in the white dew, and there is no frost in a hundred days.
At the beginning of autumn, the summer clouds clear the grass, and the white dew and the autumnal equinox are cutting the fields.
There is rain at the beginning of autumn, but there is no rain at the beginning of autumn.
The beginning of autumn is drenched with rain, and the harvest will be good next year.
The mountains are planted in the summer heat, the plains are planted in the white dew, the trees are planted outside the gate in the autumn equinox, and the river bends are planted in the cold dew.
Drought in the first autumn, it will be reduced by half, and it will rain in the summer, which is as valuable as gold.
The weather is clear on the white dew, and the millet is like silver.
The white dew comes early and the cold dew comes late. The autumn equinox is the right time to plant wheat.
The autumnal equinox does not cut it, the frost beats the wind.
Millet cannot be cut during the autumnal equinox, and millet cannot be raised during the cold dew.
The grain is rising and the cotton is piled up in the mountains, and the cold dew does not forget to turn over the ground.
From the above, it can be seen that the description of phenology in Chinese classical poetry not only has literary and artistic value, but also is a valuable material for the study of phenology, agriculture, and military.