The "Convex Bi Villa" and "Concave Jingxi Pavilion" in the Grand View Garden of "Dream of the Red Chamber" are two Xuanguan pavilions built by Jia Fu to enjoy the moon and play with the moon. Located on the ridge of the main mountain in the garden, there are tables and chairs in front of the hall, and the forms are round, especially with the meaning of reunion, which can be used for those who love the mountain and the high moon and small to rest and watch. The Cave Crystal Creek Pavilion is located in the low-lying near the water of the mountain, several low houses are surrounded by mountains, and the pond in front of the house is surrounded by bamboo fences, and the pool surface is wrinkled and paved, which can be used for those who love the Haoyue Qingbo to wander and play.
In the seventy-sixth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", it is written that Jia Mu led her children and grandchildren to feast on the moon in the Convex Bi Hall on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, while Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyun avoided the noise and went to the Concave Crystal Hall to chant poems and sentences. Along the way, Shi Xiangyun was amazed by the ingenious design of these two Xuanguans, and felt that taking the word "convex" as the name of Xuanguan was fresh and chic, and did not fall into the trap. And said that this is not used in the ancients, only Lu Fangweng "ancient Yan micro-concave polymoduo" used a "concave" word. She also thought it was ridiculous for some people to call Lu Shi a vulgar "concave".
After all, Lin Daiyu read more poetry books and was knowledgeable. She told Xiangyun: "There were too many users among the ancients, such as Jiang Yan's "Moss Endowment", Dongfang Shuo's "Divine Anomaly", and even the story of Yun Zhang monk Painting Yicheng Temple on the "Book of Paintings", which is invincible, but people today do not know it, and they are mistaken for vulgar words. ”
Exactly what the "Moss Endowment", "Divine Anomaly Classic", and "Painting Record" said, Lin Daiyu is not clear. Several annotated versions of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" published earlier do not explain. To this end, the author looked up the relevant information and found that the relevant records of the examples given by Lin Daiyu came from the "Sheng'an Collection" by Yang Shen, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty.
Yang Shenzi used xiu, number Sheng'an, Sichuan Xindu people, official to Hanlin Academy repair. The History of the Ming Dynasty calls his work the first of the Ming Dynasty. Volume 64 of the Sheng'an Collection contains a text on the "bump" examination, which is put forward in response to the argument of the Yuan Dynasty scholar Zhou Bowen [Note 1]:
The earth is concave, the soil is high and convex, and the ancient phase shape is also. Zhou Bowen said: "Concave as a col, convex as a colt, commonly known as concave convex.". No, but ancient characters as vulgar characters also. Dongfang Shuo's "Divine Anomaly" cloud: "The Great Desolate Stone Lake, there are no bumps in the thousands of miles, and there is no high or low in the flat fullness." "Painting Record" Yun: "Zhang Monk Painted a temple wall, looking at it from a distance like a concave and convex, and myopic vision is flat, known as a concave and convex flower." The common name is Ichijo Temple. "Jiang Yan's "Moss Endowment" cloud: "Sadness and danger are only flowing water and galloping." "Biography of the High Monk" Yun: "The voice of the valley is majestic and loud, and the mirror is like a curved and concave shadow.". These are all used by the famous humanists, and their origins have been so long that Bai Wen began to degrade to a vulgar word? (This article is also found in Yang Shen's Tan Yuan Awakening Dai, vol. 9)
Obviously, Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu's discussion basically adopted Yang Shen's examination text on "bumps and bumps". Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin had a very rich collection of books, and the Bibliography of Neem Pavilion contains the Ming edition of the Complete Works of Yang Sheng'an in two letters and sixteen volumes, the Two Letters and Twenty-four Volumes of the Outer Collection of Sheng'an, and the Four Volumes of the Collected Works of Sheng'an. Cao Xueqin must have read these books when she was young, and she was deeply impressed by the examination of "bumps and bumps" in them, so that later in the creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", she used them as a piece of material to shape Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyuncai.
Cao Xueqin's Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu are both well-read, intelligent and artistic appreciation women. Shi Xiangyun claimed to be "a true celebrity from the wind", and her understanding of "bumps" shows that she has the talent of a famous scholar. Zhou Bowen explained that "concave as a col, convex as a colt". Yang Shen also said: "Convex sound pass, concave sound pass". [Note 2] Shi Xiangyun also knows this solution, and in the fiftieth Lu Xueting scene joint sentence of "Dream of the Red Chamber", she once raised her eyebrows and said the strange sentence of "Ao Yao Trial and Danger", which won Bao Chao's praise. She also analyzed the word "bump", because it is pronounced as "depression, arch", it is vulgar, so it is not very useful, which is also very insightful.
What about Lin Daiyu? Cai Xue was higher than Shi Xiangyun. She is not only a "beauty under the forest", but also a "wind under the forest". Therefore, Cao Xueqin was endowed with the same knowledge as the Ming Dynasty Yang Shen. She gave the example of the ancients using "bumps" into sentences, which are indisputable. She also told Shi Xiangyun that the names of the two Xuanguans, "Convex Bi Tang" and "Concave Crystal Hall", were still her own intentions, and were approved by Jia Zheng and Yuan Chun. Although Lin Daiyu listed the examples of the predecessors who used the word "bump" to enter the sentence, it was taken as the name of Xuanguan, which was still the first, which can be called unheard of by the previous generation. Using the word "bump" as a modifier, the two buildings of "one up and one down, one bright and one dark, one high and one short, one mountain and one water" are both image and vivid. Although people today mistake the word "bump" for a vulgar word, it is elegant and interesting here.
[Note 1] Zhou Bowen's name was Bo Qi, a veteran of the Yuan to Zhengjian and a member of the government affairs, an erudite worker, and the author of books such as "Six Books of Zhengyi" and "Speaking of Textual Sources".
[Note 2] See Yang Shen's General Records of Dan Lead, vol. 15.
The original article was published in the first issue of the Journal of Dream of the Red Chamber in 2000