Couplets have a variety of effects, and irony is one of them. It can be like a sharp dagger, condemning ugly people and things, exposing the shortcomings of society, and can also be used as a well-intentioned criticism and warning. It can even be used as a weapon with special functions. The following stories explain this function of the couplet to the fullest.
(1) Miao Shuo assassinated corrupt officials
Li Hongzhang, the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, was a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, whose power was tilted toward the opposition and was a corrupt official. Li Hongzhang plundered more than 40 million taels of silver from the people.
Weng Tonggong (和) was a Hubu Shangshu, also known as Dasi Nong, a native of Changshu, Jiangsu Province, who was also a corrupt official who was difficult to fill, and his family was very rich.
The world skillfully used their official titles and places of origin to make a vice couplet, satirizing Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonggong. Although he did not name names, he knew the spearhead at a glance, and the irony was both clever and to the point. Link:
Prime Minister Hefei is thin
Si Nong Changshu is a world of wilderness
The prime minister is fat (rich), the country and the people are thin (poor), the crops are always ripe, but the people are causing famine.
(2) Cursing traitors
Suzhou Kunqu famous ugly Yang San, when performing "The Legend of the White Snake", satirized Li Hongzhang's traitorous behavior, and was persecuted to death by Li. The audience was so angry that someone wrote this couplet:
Yang San is dead without Su Ugly;
Mr. Li Er is a traitor.
Note: (1) Li Hongzhang (1823---1901) Zi Shaoquan, Daoguang (1847) Jinshi, taught editing, successively served as the Governor of Liangjiang, the Governor of Huguang, the Governor of Liangguang, the Governor of Liangguang, the Viceroy of Beiyang Trade and Commerce, the University Scholar, the Zhongtang, etc. Collude with foreign invading armies to encircle and suppress the Taiping Army and suppress the Twister Army. Relying on the great powers, we have opened military and civilian industries, purchased a large number of arms and warships, and established the Beiyang Navy. He opposed the war of words and made concessions to the outside world, and successively signed the Sino-British "Yantai Treaty," the "Sino-French New Treaty," the "Maguan Treaty," the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty," and the "Xinugu Treaty" that humiliated the country.
(2) Weng Tonghe (1830--1904) Zi Shengfu, ShuPing, Xianfeng Zhuangyuan. Taught cultivation, Hongde Hall walking, taught for Ci'an Cixi and The Tongzhi Emperor, graduated cabinet bachelor, Hubu Shangshu. He opposed Li Hongzhang's blind discussion and compromise, and advocated that heavy troops should be sent out on the one hand and negotiated peace on the other, and that it would be better to increase the amount of indemnity than to cut off the land. He supported Kang Liang's change of law, was a wise man of the Guangxu Emperor, and was jealous of Cixi, and after the failed change of law (Pengshu coup), he was dismissed from his post.
(3) Li Hongzhang is the second oldest in the family, so he is called Li Er.
(3) Skillfully exposing corrupt officials
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Wu Shengqin, who was directly subordinate to the study of politics, greedy, power-wielding and bribery, and hated by the soldiers to the bone. One year in the township examination, the imperial court sent him as the chief examiner. He embezzled and accepted bribes in the examination, and on the day of the unveiling, all the children of the rich and powerful who gave generous gifts, many of them were listed in the gold list, and the general poor children were all named Sun Shan, so everyone complained, and some people angrily posted a couplet at the door of the test site:
Less muscular can comment on the text;
Owes Kim An a good name.
Horizontal batch: swallow the sky in a big mouth
This wonderful combination is not only neat and tidy, but also wonderfully conceived. The author cleverly folded the three characters of "Wu Province Qin" and analyzed them into sentences, such as the lesser eye is the province; the arrears are Qin; and the large mouth adds a heavenly character for Wu, ("swallow" and "Wu", as long as the "mouth" and "heaven" characters are written upside down). It's very natural to be human. For a while, it was widely recited, which made the Wu Lord's examination infamous.
(4) Refers to mulberry scolding locust
Once upon a time, there was a reader who was quite talented, but because he did not have money to open up the joints, he was not on the list for several examinations. The boss is not small, or a white Ding. In a fit of anger, he abandoned the text to do business, opened a small guest house, and became the treasurer himself. He hung a banner in the store hall that read:
The main examiner is Binggong, the son-in-law, the grandson, the son-in-law, and the same gold list
There is also a line of small words below: "Those who fail to pass the test return to the store to the lower link, and the upper one, the store is willing to hire as the second treasurer." ”
On this day, four students of Zhang Wang Liu Li, who went to the provincial capital to catch the examination, came to stay. Wang Li Liu and the three people dismissed the banners in the store and went to sleep. Zhang Shusheng pondered for a while, expressed deep sympathy for the treasurer, and went to sleep. Zhang Shusheng thought: With my talent, I will be able to pass the exam this time, and I don't need to come back to the lower link. Who knew that Wang Li Liu, who did not learn any techniques, because he bribed the examiners, some of them had patrons on the top, and they were all famous on the list, but Zhang Shusheng was named Luosun Mountain. He returned to the guest house, sighed, and immediately continued to add the next link:
Xiaosheng has grievances, complains about heaven, land, and people, not officials
Zhang Shusheng was determined to abandon the imperial examination and not enter the dark official field, leaving him as the second treasurer.
(5) Couplets are also weapons
After the Opium War, especially after the invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance in 1900, until the founding of the People's Republic of China, the imperialist powers conquered China by force, plundered by opium and unequal treaties, and ruled ideologically with Western religions. The unbridled behavior of the imperialists in China is the result of the support of the Chinese rulers and the internal and external collusion with the Chinese rulers.
On the one hand, the Chinese people bear the oppression, exploitation, spiritual shackles and ideological enslavement of imperialism, the feudal ruling class, and the Kuomintang reactionaries. On the other hand, it waged a tenacious struggle in various ways against imperialism, feudal forces and the Kuomintang reactionary government in various fields. It includes political, military and ideological struggles.
Before liberation, there was such a person in Shandong, perhaps a group of readers, who made a couplet exposing and criticizing the invasion of foreign religions and the cruel exploitation of corrupt officials and corrupt officials. The couplets they create are sharp and widely circulated. Link:
What Catholicism, called Heavenly Father Heavenly Brother, Absolute Heaven, Extinction of Heavenly Reason, Broad Daylight, Making a Fool of The Sky, Catching Up With Us, Heaven Damning Heaven, Genius has eyes!
These magistrates, like thieves, digging up treasures, stripping dizang, and winning place names, turned into hell, and took advantage of the land rent and land tax, and the land was skinless.
(6) One link scares away the second officer
In the Qing Dynasty, two people, one named Leng Chaoran and the other named Qian Dengxuan, both served as teachings, responsible for the activities of the Temple of Literature to worship Confucius and educate the county students throughout the county.
Officials like this should be served by educated readers, but the two of them do not read books, nor do they understand literature and ink, but rely on relations and invitations and gifts. Therefore, the readers in the county look down on them in their hearts. Someone wrote a couplet with the names and names of the two of them and hung them on the gate of the Temple of Literature:
Do not read to be detached, and the hearts of the people are cold
If you are not selected through the text, people are said to be rich
Leng Chaoran and Qian Dengxuan chose two people, as thieves, saw that this pair had revealed their old bottom, knew that they could not continue in this county, so they pretended to be sick, resigned from the official position of teaching, and hid elsewhere.
(7) No relationship
This is a satirical couplet that satirizes the official's nepotism, relying on flattery and blowing and patting his family, climbing up, and after becoming an official, he uses power to bully others and use power for personal gain. The couplet words are popular, simple, profound, and recorded for common appreciation.
The official is big, the power is big, the belly is big, and the pockets are bigger;
The hands are long, the tongue is long, the skirt is long, and the good times are not long.
(viii) Not a joke
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the reactionary military and police and secret agents and hooligans in the Kuomintang-ruled areas ran amok everywhere, making the people unhappy and the chickens and dogs restless. Someone once posted a couplet on the door of a land temple:
Mrs. Mo smeared modern red, beware of secret agents playing ideas;
Don't shave your beard, lest the captain catch the strong ding.
This couplet is like a husband and wife urging each other for safety, and it is also like a kind admonition from subordinates. The language is witty, the small is big, and it tells the most dissatisfied and hated truth in people's hearts - if you like red, you will be accused of being a common party, and the agents will stare at you. Without a beard, you are considered young, and those who catch strong men will keep an eye on you. This is a ruthless exposure and pungent mockery of the Kuomintang's dark rule.
(9) Leaking the sky machine
Women take the hue, dedicate themselves to their husbands to seek officials, and then men use their power to seek personal gain. With the merits of a husband and wife, exposing their shameless ugly face, satirizing into the wood, and the humor is unbearable. The upper and lower links begin with a mood word, which strengthens the performance effect.
Hum, slutty woman stupid, non-I straight up to qingyun, how to come to color TV!
Oh, the fool is false, I personally sewed the green hat, and there was a black yarn.
(10) Be honest and honest
It is that many couplets of the official government design anti-corruption and clean government, although there are self-proclaimed straight lines, but some of them also have no lack of insights, and like the history of Bao Zheng, Hairui and other Qing officials, so some of the warning couplets left behind are also very classic, and the last couplet will send a pair of couplets from the former Hangzhou Fuya for everyone:
For the sake of political anti-corruption, greed for profit, greed for fame and greed, do not forget government affairs;
Raising honesty and frugality, frugality and frugality, frugality is not thrifty, but also lenient and incorruptible.
This couplet clearly put forward the slogan of abstaining from corruption and maintaining honesty, which is nothing less than a warning to those who are in charge. At present, the fight against corruption is constantly penetrating the hearts of the people, and I hope that more officials and rulers can see it, remember it in their hearts, and serve the people as servants of the people.
Work together to realize the great Chinese dream and strive for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!