Elegant and slow life, the Northern Song Dynasty literati love "idle things"

▲ Northern Song Dynasty Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming River Map"

There were many idle things in the life of the Northern Song Dynasty literati, such as tea fighting, hanging paintings, and flower viewing, which added to the cultural interest and artistic atmosphere of life. The utensils that carry these lifestyles, such as tea utensils, wine vessels, flower utensils, etc., are also given style and meaning. It can be said that the life and art of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty were closely linked.

The Northern Song Dynasty literati often put the things in their lives into their pens, either for poetry or painting. For example, Su Shi's "Who Lives in three suits", including "Morning Haircut", "Sitting and Sleeping at Noon Window", and "Lying Down at Night", describes the trivial details of this daily life, revealing a strong sense of life. The subject matter of the paintings of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty was also mostly obtained from life, and more advocated the elegance of painting, emphasizing the charm of painting, and using painting to express their emotions.

Reading, planting bamboo, and enjoying flowers were the leisure pleasures in the life of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty. Literati like to collect books, love to read, and also pay attention to the environment and atmosphere of reading. Wang Yuwei (chēng) described the reading life after being degraded in Huangzhou in the "Record of the New Bamboo Building in Huangzhou", "dressed by cranes, wearing Huayang towels, holding a volume of "Zhou Yi", burning incense and sitting in silence, entertaining the world's worries." "Reading can bring the fullness and tranquility of the soul to people, and dispel the troubles of the world.

Bamboo was deeply loved by the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty because of its gentlemanly style. Shen Kuo named his house Xiao Xiao Tang, and was self-sufficient and relaxed in the sound of Xiao Xiao and the sound of the piano in the bamboo forest. The literati chant bamboo in the poem, Su Shi's "Yu Qian Monk Lu Yunxuan" said: "Can make food without meat, can not live without bamboo", using bamboo to pin yourself on the mentality of life without desire and self-adaptation and keeping true feelings. Bamboo is also commonly seen in the paintings of literati, and with its elegance and tranquility, it creates an indifferent mood.

The Literati of the Northern Song Dynasty loved flowers, among which the representative literati were Ouyang Xiu, who especially loved peonies, and in the "Drama Answer Yuanzhen", he claimed to be "once a guest of Luoyang flowers". Flower viewing and wing flowers are also an important part of the Northern Song Dynasty literati's yaji tour. For example, Ouyang Xiu uses flowers as the carrier of the liquor order, and his "Reply to the Judgment of Lü Taibo" has "a thousand acres of fur cover level" and "song chi sandalwood plate for a new sound", reproducing the yaji music scene with flowers as the medium.

The life of the Northern Song Dynasty literati pursued the beauty of form and the meaning of artistry. For the literati, these idle things in life pinned on idleness, created idleness, nurtured idleness, and created idleness. For those of us living in modern society, this kind of artistic experience of giving our lives leisure and leisure all the time is worth learning. As Li Yu, a master of life aesthetics in the Ming Dynasty, said: "If you can have a period of idleness and a pair of wise eyes, then all the things that pass through the eyes are drawings, and the sound that enters the ear is nothing but poetry." ”

◎ This article was originally published in the "People's Political Consultative Conference Daily" (author Wu Hailun), the source network, the copyright of the picture and text belongs to the original author, if there is infringement, please contact to delete.