First, burn incense.
Fragrant culture has been circulating in China for a long time. Song people like burning incense more because it can create an ethereal atmosphere, in addition, it can also bring peace of mind and far-reaching fragrance. Su Shi in the Song Dynasty was always accompanied by incense: "Burning incense leads to a quiet step, and drinking tea leads to a quiet banquet".
About the steps of burning incense, you can find the answer from the popular TV series "Do you know?". ：
Charcoal burning will completely burn charcoal until the open flame turns dark red.
Mix the ashes in the incense burner to make it fluffy and conducive to burning.
Put the burnt charcoal into the charcoal hole, bury it with incense ashes and press it into a mountain shape.
The diaphragm is opened on the ash, and the diaphragm is placed on the orifice.
Put the incense on the partition with a spoon.
Although it seems a little troublesome, it is this kind of sacrificial activity that embodies the leisure and elegance of the Song people.
Second, order tea.
Different from the "making tea" we are used to today, the Song people used the way of "ordering tea", and the beauty of ordering tea lies in the artistic conception. When ordering tea, you need to fry water first, then put the ground tea powder into the teacup, and at the same time add boiling water to stir, so that the tea powder becomes thick paste. Then there is the so-called "tea-ordering" action, that is, you need to pour some water into the cup with a holding pot, which is not only rhythmic, but also controlled. At the same time, the other hand can't be idle, so you need to use the tea basket to rotate the tea soup in the cup to make it bloom, that is, foam.
Of course, ordering tea is an extremely focused procedure, and fighting tea after ordering tea is the favorite link of Song people. From dignitaries to ordinary people, almost no one appreciates it. What is the contrast? In fact, the comparison is whether the foam on the tea soup stays on the surface of the lamp for a long time. Song people call it "biting the lamp", and sometimes it takes several rounds for several tea lovers to win or lose.
Third, hang pictures.
The so-called painting hanging, in fact, is that when literati participate in elegant collections, they will show off their celebrity calligraphy and painting, and everyone will appreciate and evaluate each other. After all, in the circle of friends of Song people, knowing calligraphy and painting is a necessary accomplishment for communicating with people. The form of hanging paintings is mainly scroll paintings based on poetry, calligraphy and painting.
In content, there are various forms, such as landscape painting, flower-and-bird painting and figure painting. They pursue strict statutes in pen and ink and lofty artistic conception, which reflects the Song people's yearning for the elegant spiritual world. During this period, there were many famous artists, not only Song Sijia in the book circle, but also the famous "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" in the history of painting, which also came from this glorious era.
Fourth, arranging flowers.
Flower arrangement is an elegant art, which combines inanimate vessels with living flowers. Nowadays, the popular "flower path" in Japan is an expression that regards flower arrangement as the ultimate artistic achievement. In Song Dynasty, illustration was almost a national fashion. Not only women like to talk about flower arrangement, but also scholars and officials regard flower arrangement as fashion. For example, Su Shi's younger brother Su Zhe wrote such a poem: "Planting chrysanthemums to help vegetables in early spring and inserting pots in late autumn".
As for the varieties of flowers, there are not only chrysanthemums that Su Zhe likes, but Ouyang Xiu also mentioned that Luoyang City likes to insert peony flowers regardless of their status. In Bianjing City in the Northern Song Dynasty, from the scene shown in The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, there even appeared a flower shop specializing in selling flowers, from which you can buy any kind of flowers you want.
"Burning incense and making tea, hanging pictures and illustrations" are the four elegant things of Song people. Burning incense and smelling incense, ordering tea to taste, hanging pictures and appreciating colors by illustrations are a life attitude of the Song people, that is, pursuing an elegant and quality lifestyle, which also reflects the restrained and implicit aesthetic fashion in the Song Dynasty.