Today, we recommend 10 of the most beautiful books in China.
May you put the lonely times in your life,
Replaced by a moment of great enjoyment.
A book and a pot of tea,
Idle watching the flowers blossom and fall before the court,
The clouds outside the sky are cirrus clouds.
01
The Book of Verses
The beauty of grass and trees, the beauty of life
The Book of Verses comes from a distant time,
At that time, our ancestors worked at sunrise and rested at sunset,
They were diligent, and time was slow,
They like to sing, no flowery language,
There are no earth-shattering characters,
Only the grass in the fields, the birds by the river,
So, the song began:
"Guan Guan Ju Dove, in the River Continent",
"Wild with vines, zero dew",
"Crabapples are pale, and white dew is frost",
"Peach of death, scorching its glory",
……
They love to use stacked words, and they still read it,
Still catchy.
In the song, they give poetry to the grass and wood worm fish,
They put simplicity and sincerity into the poems,
Those beautiful feelings, like the wheat grass of spring,
Real and tangible.
The Book of Poetry is the origin of Chinese poetry,
Love is so sincere and lovely,
Friendship is so unyielding.
……
All feelings appear so sincere in the Book of Verses,
After three thousand years, when I read the Book of Poetry again, I will still be moved.
Confucius said: Three hundred poems, thinking innocence.
This is the best interpretation.
A book of verses that brings us back to the original beautiful way.
"Death and life are broad, and Zi cheng said." The hand of the son, and the son with the old man."
"There are bandits, such as cutting like a discussion, like grinding."
"Those who know me are worried, and those who do not know me are called what I want."
02
Chu Ci
The beauty of beauty and romance, the proud beauty of the wind and bones
"Chu Ci", from Qu Yuan.
Qu Yuan suffered misfortune and was falsely accused,
Wrote "Departure from sorrow", wrote "Nine Songs", wrote "Nine Chapters",
Show people his identity and attitude.
Actual politics, he also understands,
But he still chose to die without regret and not to be vulgar.
What cannot be achieved, depict it in the imagination;
Broken, restored in the mind;
Passing away, chasing it in memory;
The universe never answers,
Then turn into style, into clouds, into morning light, into sunset...
Vanilla beauty, graceful.
"Towards the fall of the drinking Mulan, the fall of the autumn chrysanthemum."
"The body is dead and the spirit is the spirit, and the soul of the son is the ghost."
Yi Xiang Wei Wei, Outstanding.
"Chu Ci" is strangely conceived and rich in imagination,
Good at using metaphors, exaggerations and other techniques and mythological stories,
Very romantic,
It is the origin of Chinese Romantic literature.
There are mighty gods in the Chu Ci,
Heavenly Emperor, called Eastern Emperor Taiyi; Cloud God, called Yun Zhongjun;
The one in charge of life is called the Great Commander,
The name of the heir in charge is Shao Si Ming,
The river god Hebo is not an old man of vicissitudes,
It was a young gentleman who accompanied Lan Zhi.
There are also very whimsical ideas in "Chu Ci"
Boundless Love:
"Yuan has Zhi Xi And Lan, and Si Gongzi Xi does not dare to speak."
"It is both eye-catching and smiling, and Zi Muyu is good at it."
Qu Yuan's poems are like a full seed,
Sowing into the soil will grow an orange tree,
A green lotus, a ganoderma lucidum, and an orchid.
When no one talks to you about your heart,
These verses are the outlet of the heart,
Waiting to break ground.
"Heaven and earth are longer than life, and the sun and moon are in line with the light."
"The road is long and the road is long, and I will seek it up and down."
"Even though he died nine times, he still did not regret it."
03
"The World Speaks a New Language"
The beauty of virtuous personality
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there were many warriors,
They are informal, drink and sing, and are straightforward and free,
History calls them the Wei and Jin Wind Bones.
In modern parlance, it means having a personality.
In the most chaotic world, they are the loveliest people,
A free and comfortable life gives future generations a relaxed outlook on life.
One snowy night, Wang Huizhi remembered his friend Dai Kui,
With his servants, he took a small boat and visited Dai Kui.
The boat walked all night, and came to the gate of Dai Kui,
But Wang Huizhi turned around and left, and the servants were strange,
He said: Come with pleasure, and return with all the excitement.
It was such a group of people who were free and free, which constituted the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Here, the immediate feeling is beyond everything,
People in this minute of enlightenment, detachment, indulgence,
In one minute the world is left with only itself.
Everything is directly to the heart, beyond the object.
At this time, the pursuit of feelings, spiritual enjoyment is by no means depraved and obscene,
Rather, it is the embodiment of a self-conscious noble taste.
Like landscape paintings, our scholars are ethereal and elegant.
"The World Speaks a New Language" is a free way of life.
"There is more than enough to lose, to make up for the lack, and the way of heaven is also."
"For man also, Iwawa Wakamatsu is independent." ”
"With the heart of a villain, the belly of a gentleman; With the concern of the villain, the heart of a gentleman. ”
04
"Sound Rhythm Enlightenment"
The beauty of the rhyme
If there is a book that can be sung unconsciously,
Then this book must be "Sound Rhythm Enlightenment".
Clouds to rain, snow to wind, evening light to clear skies
Spring to summer, autumn to winter, twilight drum to morning bell.
Coming to hong to go to the geese, the birds to the songbirds.
Poetry and couplets, for more than two thousand years, have been passed down from generation to generation,
If you want to learn these well, you have to learn the tone, the grammar,
Thus, "Sound Rhythm Enlightenment" came into being.
Compiled in rhyme parts, including astronomy, geography, flowers and trees, birds and beasts,
From single-word pairs to two-word pairs, three-word pairs, five-word pairs,
Seven-word pairs to eleven-word pairs,
Harmonic sound, catchy,
Read it like a chant, and you can learn the knowledge of phonology.
The author's original intention is to read to children, imagine,
When the childish child, babbling and singing
"Cloud to rain, snow to wind",
The seeds of poetry have been sown by this time.
"Three-foot sword, six-foot bow, Lingbei to Jiangdong."
"Heavenly Haohao, the sun melts, the sword against the bow."
"A woman's eyebrows are thin, and there is a crescent moon under her forehead; the boy is strong, and he spits out a long rainbow in his chest."
05
"Vegetable Root Tan"
Life is the beauty of enlightenment
Do not be shocked, idle to watch the flowers bloom and fall before the court;
Go to stay unintentional, and the clouds outside the sky are cirrus cloud Shu.
This is the wisdom of life in "Cai Gen Tan".
Chew the root of the vegetable, Pepsi can do.
This is a book of wisdom,
Every word is the language of enlightenment in life.
Confucian moderation, Taoist inaction, the birth of The Buddha,
Kneaded here,
Self-cultivation, family unity, governance, peace in the world,
You can find yigui here.
In addition to wisdom, the beauty of words is not lost.
The words are beautiful, the battle is neat,
Profound and intriguing,
It's a delightful read.
In your spare time, read "Cai Gen Tan",
Calm your mind and understand the world.
"To make friends, you must be three points of chivalry, and you must have a little vegetarian heart."
"The world is hot and cold, and I have no anger; the taste of the world is thick and light, and I am not happy."
"Do not blame others for their minor transgressions, do not send people to be selfish, and do not think of old evils." The three can cultivate virtue, but they can also harm away. ”
06
Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty
The beauty of poetry
There was the Tang Dynasty, which was the peak of the development of mainland poetry.
A thousand years later, we still remember them,
Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi...
Absolute sentences, rhythmic poems, song lines...
Tang poetry is all-encompassing,
Love is the steadfastness of "comparing the winged bird in heaven",
Friendship is the open-mindedness of "not worrying about the road ahead and ignorant of oneself",
Family affection is the affection of "the mother's hand is on the line, and the wanderer's body is clothed".
Almost all Chinese will memorize one or two Tang poems,
Whether it is "bright moonlight before the bed" or "noon on the day of hoeing",
There is always a poem that will touch your heartstrings.
All your emotions can be found in the Poetic Empathy of Tang poems from a thousand years ago.
Read Tang poems and taste the atmospheric era.
"An can crush the brow and bend the waist of the magnate, so that I can't be happy!"
"The boundless falling wood is under the Xiaoxiao, and the Yangtze River is rolling in endlessly."
"In heaven wish to be likened to a winged bird, in the earth wish to be a branch."
07
The Classic of Mountains and Seas
The beauty of imagination
Some people say that Chinese don't have imagination?
"There is a kind of fish, chicken head fish body, red feathers, three tails, six feet and four heads, eating it will make people forget their sorrows."
"The Queen Mother of the West is not a beautiful woman, she is a leopard-tailed tiger with teeth and howls at every turn."
"There is a god named Di Jiang, who looks like a red school bag and can sing and dance, but has no face."
……
These are all from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, an ancient world,
There are all kinds of whimsical creatures and mountains, rivers and seas,
There are also stories of Father Kua, Daughter-in-Law, and Dayu.
Today's fantasy monsters all originate from that pamphlet.
I still remember the shock of watching the Classic of Mountains and Seas for the first time,
Marvel at the free imagination and unrestrained thinking of the ancients,
It was the pinnacle and cradle of Chinese imagination.
Who says Chinese have no imagination,
Just throw him a copy of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
"The kingdom of Qingqiu is in its north, and its foxes are four-legged and nine-tailed."
"There is wood, its shape is like a tang and red leaves, and its name is miscanthus, which can poison fish."
"Open your eyes for day, close your eyes for night, candle dragons open their eyes, and the red earth is thousands of miles."
08
Dream of the Red Chamber
The beauty of youth, the beauty of human nature
Some people say that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is a great encyclopedia of ancient China.
Cao Xueqin is really a genius,
Poetic books, short parents, sophisticated, impermanent,
All are perfectly integrated in this "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", life is full of poetry,
Everybody, every pavilion,
Even, a simple bowl of tea,
Both have a poetic name.
Lin Daiyu, Jia Baoyu, Xue Baochao
Qinfang Bridge, Concave Crystal Pavilion, Maple Dew Tea
The poetry is deeply engraved by the years.
The four seasons, each with its own beauty;
Writing poetry in associations, elegant very;
Worship the ancestral shrine and solemnly uphold the righteousness;
Ethical family, etiquette must be zhouzheng;
This is the beauty of The Chinese style, which is also solemn and harmonious,
When it is time to have fun, laugh freely,
When it comes to seriousness, respect all.
Lin Daiyu is sad here, Jia Baoyu is here to show off,
"Dream of the Red Chamber" is poetic and true,
The love tragedy of Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu,
It came to an end with the decline of the four major families.
We rejoice in the love in "Dream of the Red Chamber",
Sighing for the defeat of the family,
For this helpless, tragic life,
Hide your face and sigh.
A "Dream of the Red Chamber", a family history,
A collection of Chinese culture, how can you not look at it.
"Full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears!
All cloud authors are stupid, who understands the taste? ”
"One is the Langyuan Immortal, and the other is the Jade Flawless.
If there is no strange fate, this life will meet him again,
If there is a strange fate, how can the heart finally be blurred? ”
"Baking, you sang me on the stage, but I think that his hometown is his hometown."
It's ridiculous, and it ends up being a wedding dress for someone else! ”
09
"Casual Love"
Get the joy of life in the ordinary place
the elegance of the Chinese,
It is embodied in food, clothing, shelter, chai rice oil and salt,
Will be a dull life, live an elegant taste,
All in Li Yu's "Casual Love And Occasional Mail".
Lin Yutang evaluates this book: a guide to the art of Chinese living.
"Casual Love" is divided into eight parts,
From opera to song and dance, from architecture to gardens,
From grooming to eating, from grooming to clothing,
These are the simplest things,
In his pen, all are elegant and very.
Li Yu is a foodie,
He advocated the delicacy of eating in frugality,
The joy of life in the ordinary place.
Heavy vegetable food, reverence for frugality, true taste, the Lord is light,
Avoid greasy, talk about cleanliness, kill with caution, and seek food benefits.
Among them, there is not only the essence of food,
There is also the essence of life.
Li Yu is also an "aesthetic pioneer",
His words are fresh and timeless, and his narrative is eloquent,
After reading it, the fragrant teeth and cheeks are left behind, and the aftertaste is endless.
In "Casual Occasional Mail",
You will know that poetry is not far away,
As long as there is "idle fun" in the heart,
A cup of tea and a meal, every word and deed, is poetic.
"Joy is not in the heart."
"Those who are good at chanting things, the magic lies in the scene."
"When there is a wind, it is a state of fluttering, and when there is no wind, it is also in the posture of a woman,
It is I who enjoy the endless escape before the flowers bloom. ”
10
The Six Tales of Floating Life
The ordinary beauty of cloth and vegetables
Li Bai said: Floating life is like a dream, for the joy of geometry?
In the history of Chinese literature, due to the reasons of etiquette,
There are very few works depicting the love of husband and wife,
Husband and wife, family triviality, seems not worth mentioning.
But "Six Notes of Fusheng" writes about the life of Shen Fu and Yunniang,
There are flowers and flowing water in the time,
The calm silence of the garden's dreams,
There is the beauty of the morning light of cloth and vegetables.
This dazzling and idyllic and elegant, a quiet and moving,
It is full of the aesthetics of living in a small garden home.
Some people commented that "The Six Records of Floating Life" was "Dream of the Little Red Chamber in the Late Qing Dynasty",
But "Dream of the Red Chamber" is a kind of desolation after prosperity,
And "The Six Records of Floating Life" is a kind of daily lament of the cloth literati,
More intimate with ordinary people.
If you have a lover, you can spend money with him (her) in front of the window,
Read "Floating Life" together.
If you lack a lover,
Read this book and imagine what your beloved looks like.
"Love is ugly."
"In the next life, I should be a man, and I should be a woman."
"Cloth food, cola for life."
What is the meaning of reading?
At the end of the day, it's probably just for:
Even if one day you fall into the cumbersome and wash away the lead,
The same work, but a different state of mind;
The same family, but a different mood;
The same descendants, but have different qualities.
I have not entered the prosperous realm,
Never heard the noise,
I have not seen too many creatures,
Never had a piping hot mood,
But books gave me all the wisdom and affection.
Whether you have read these ten books or not,
Under the brewing of time, many books have been internalized into the genes of Chinese,
It's buried deep in our blood and bones and memories.
If you want to be in this era of forgetting,
Awaken the door of this Chinese aesthetic;
If you want to find the appearance of Chinese culture in your memory,
These ten books are the best path.
Like sprinkling the light of the bright moon in front of the bed, a dream for a thousand years;
Between the sounds of poetry and wine, pass through word by word to meet you.
Image source @ Hu onion foraging garlic, copyright belongs to the original author
Minglun College - "Top Ten Chinese Studies Educational Institutions in China"