A book breaks the historical illusion brought about by online texts, texts, film and television dramas, and harvests true knowledge and true wisdom
1. Humorous, relaxed and interesting inventory of ancient history knowledge to stimulate interest. For example, "There were angry birds in the Shang Dynasty?" What artifacts in ancient times seem to have crossed? "Xunzi and Li Qingzhao: The Ancient Spit King" "Ancient Tanabata is not a lover, but a quilt" and so on.
2. Explore the stories behind familiar ancient poems and open up new perspectives. For example, "Bai Juyi was demoted to Sima of Jiangzhou because his mother fell into a well?" "Yan Zi made Chu's yan baby not have a good relationship with Confucius?" wait.
3. Discern specious historical common sense and get to the bottom of it. For example, "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" is not eight people? There are three Lao Tzu in history? "How did Lao Tzu become the Taishang Laojun?" wait.
4. Challenge typical misconceptions and explore the truth of history. In history, there was no such thing as the Zhou Youwang Beacon Fire Drama Princes! Beacon fire was actually only found in the Han Dynasty! Maybe Xiang Yu didn't die in Wujiang in the end?
5. Richly illustrated, with colorful illustrations, easy to read.
The first series of the book "The Illusion of History" mainly examines the historical figures and historical events familiar to the reader, and explores the secrets hidden by the historical knowledge that we have "mastered". The historical education we have received is often general, often the antecedents and consequences are incomplete, and the multiple statements are only one, which is actually very easy to produce the "illusion": there is only one situation in history, or the historical situation is like this. This book breaks the "illusion" of history by reviewing the documents handed down from generation to generation, combining newly unearthed materials, and examining the details of history. After reading this book, you may have the feeling of "so it was": there was such a saying; there was these artifacts in ancient times; it turned out that ancient times had similar ways of behaving as today; it turned out that they were contemporaries, and what I remembered was actually wrong? There may even be a "reversal" of the impression of a certain character, and so on.
The second edition of this book mainly takes the familiar ancient poems and classic masterpieces as the object of investigation, puts these classic ancient literary works into the historical context to investigate, like solving a case, unravels the "secret language" in the article, and see what kind of historical events are hidden behind them. By breaking the historical "illusion" brought about by the knowledge of the world, you may have the feeling of "actually being like this": the background of this article actually hides such a secret, these historical events are actually related, these characters are actually related, these works seem to be history is not history, it seems that it is not history, it is actually history, and there may even be "doubts" about the subject matter of a certain work, and so on.
An important premise of critical thinking is to think independently and not to be bound by the idea that "everyone is the same" and "always has been". However, when we come into contact with Chinese history and culture, there will always be some preconceptions and stereotypes that seem indisputable but actually cannot withstand scrutiny, like an invisible hand, pulling and swaying our thoughts. Yun Tao's new work "The Illusion of History" carefully selects typical problems to carry out the analysis of stripping away the cocoon, integrates the rigor of scholarship and the interest of curiosity into one furnace, and removes the layered historical "fog" for us. Reading this book by young people can not only produce a suddenly enlightened cognitive experience, but also plant the seeds of rational thinking and truth-seeking in the depths of their hearts.
Historically important, now neglected small festivals
There are many popular and important festivals in history, but today they have declined, such as "March 3".
The third ancient day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the Shangmi (sì) Festival, named after the first day of March. Since the annual March Festival is not fixed, but it is around the third of March, from the beginning of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Shangwei Festival was uniformly set on the third day of the first month of March. According to the original custom, on this day, people had to wash away the dirt in the east flowing water, called Zen Zen or Repair, which provided an opportunity for marriageable men and women to meet, which can be said to be the earliest Valentine's Day in China.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, due to the frequent wars and the large reduction of the population, rulers often provided many opportunities for men and women to meet in order to breed the population, such as stipulating that young men and women would gather and celebrate in mid-spring (February of the lunar calendar) to the beginning of the season (March of the lunar calendar), and after distinguishing their surnames in song and dance and travel, they fell in love with each other. Over-aged men and women who are not yet married can even take the opportunity to play freely meet and live together freely.
"The Book of Poetry and Qin Huan" reflects the fact that a group of young men and women of Zheng Guo met on the day of the Shangwei Festival and took the opportunity to express their love for each other.
"Poetry Classic, Zheng Feng, Qin Huan":
溱 (zhēn) and 洧 (wěi), Fang 涣兮兮. Shi and female, Fang Bingrui (jiān) 兮. Woman: "Guan Hu? Shi Yue: "Cú. "And look!" Outside of Huan, xū (洵) and Le. Wei Shi and the female, Yi Qi, sneered at each other and gave them a spoonful of medicine.
A simple translation is: at the water's edge, men and women, many people come out to play, they have orchids in their hands. The woman said, let's go and see the festival by the river. The man said, I just went to see it. The woman said, stay with me to see it. Outside the River, it is really spacious and makes people feel happy. Boys and girls laughed and teased each other and gave them a peony medicine that had been contracted.
This poem has historically been considered to be the first "Shangmi poem".
From the pre-Qin to the Two Han Dynasties, the activities of the "Shangwei" festival are constantly rich, in addition to the ceremony of men and women intercourse, or bathing in the ceremony, there are also singing songs about the water, or "liuyi" activities, that is, a group of good friends sit next to the ring of water, place wine glasses upstream, and the wine glasses go down the river, stopping in front of whom, who will take the drink. In the ninth year of Yonghe, on March 3, Wang Xizhi, Xie An, Sun Qi, and others gathered at the Lanting Pavilion in Huijishanyin, where they drank and wrote poems, leaving behind the Lanting Collection Sequence, which had been recited through the ages.
In the Tang Dynasty's Shangwei Festival, the wind of water recreation was developed to the extreme, and Du Fu's "Li Renxing" recorded this day:
On March 3, the weather was new, and the waterside of Chang'an was full of people.
The state is far from beautiful and true, and the texture is delicate and even.
Embroidered robes illuminate the late spring, and the golden peacock and silver unicorn.
What's on the head? The leaves are drooping on the sideburns.
What's behind it? Beads pressed against the waist and weighed steadily.
Bai Juyi's "March 3rd Day Of Qi Yu Luobin" also describes this custom:
In March, the grass is green, and the yellow warbler rests and cries. The willow bridge is sunny and the sand road is wet and mud-free.
In the first half of the meditation, tourists came to want to gather. Golden tungsten peach plum, silk pipe horror bird.
Bai Juyi also has a "Preface" before this poem, saying that on this day he and Liu Yuxi and fifteen other people took a boat to play, and saw Luoshui, from morning to night, there were people everywhere, and there was laughter everywhere, "since morning and twilight, the hairpin group intersects, the song and laughter are between hair, the front water is playing and then the prostitute is happy, the left pen is yan and the right pot is coveted, the look is like a fairy, and the viewer is blocked." Enjoy the scenery and enjoy the entertainment. ”
Although the "Shangwei Festival" flourished in the Tang Dynasty, by the Song and Yuan dynasties, the festival gradually declined in the Central Plains. Liu Yong's "Small Town West Criminal" writes about this festival:
The water town first banned fire, and youth is not old. Fang Fei Man, Liu Ting Yan Island. The ripples are red. Serve small cups and plates. The song is harmonious and the sound is harmonious.
The road is thick. In nobashi New City, hanabi prostitutes are good. Attract tourists and compete for laughter. Tincture whose family is young. Letter jade mountain fall. Where home, sunset sleep herbs.
From Liu Yong's words, we can see that this festival coincides with the "Forbidden Fire" Cold Food Festival on the one hand (later the Cold Food Festival coincides with the "Qingming Festival"), and on the other hand, it remains in Chudi.
In the Southern Song Dynasty Yang Wanli's "Shangwei Poems", we see that the "Shangwei Festival" is even less "lively":
It is at the height of spring that peach blossom branches reflect plum blossom branches.
The swing is twilight, and only the spring breeze makes the bunting flag.
In Bai Juyi's time, the third day of March was "like a blockage for spectators", and by the Song Dynasty, not many people participated in such a festival.