Ancient literati and inkers always observed and thought about nature thoroughly, so they found many little-known wonderful scenes, such as "listening to the lotus" is one of them. What exactly is "listening to the lotus"? In fact, not only do we have doubts, even the well-informed Princess Deling can't understand, if you also want to know the answer, then let xiaobian reveal it.
(All pictures in this article, all from the network, thanks to the original author, if you infringe your rights, please contact the author of this number to delete.) The picture has nothing to do with the content, please do not enter the seat)
When it comes to Princess Deling, many readers may not be familiar with it. According to the historical records of the Qing Dynasty, Princess Deling's original name was Yu Deling, and her father Yu Geng, who was the ambassador of the Qing Dynasty in Japan, France and other countries in the late Qing Dynasty, so when Princess Deling grew up, she followed her father to travel to various countries, he not only learned to speak more Chinese, but also received a good Western education. In 1903, the 17-year-old Princess Deling returned to Beijing, and because she was familiar with the etiquette of Western countries at a young age, she quickly won the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi, and finally became a female official of the imperial court around Cixi, which was a great honor at that time.
When Princess Deling first arrived in the palace, she was full of curiosity about many things, and asked Empress Dowager Cixi this and that all day. One day, when Princess Deling was reading a book, she accidentally discovered that the ancients often wrote "listening to the lotus", so she was very confused. As we all know, we usually use our eyes to "see" the lotus, why did the ancients use the ears to "listen" to the lotus? Can the domestic lotus flower still make a sound?
Princess Deling was puzzled, so she ran to ask Empress Dowager Cixi again, but this time the empress dowager did not tell her directly, but prepared to take her to Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace the next morning. Because it was summer, there were large areas of lotus flowers waiting to be released in Kunming Lake, so Empress Dowager Cixi was able to explain to Princess Deling what it was to "listen to the lotus".
The next morning, as soon as dawn came, Empress Dowager Cixi and her party rushed to the Summer Palace. When we arrived at Kunming Lake, the sun had not yet risen, the breeze on the lake was blowing on the face, and there was still a little bit of coolness, so everyone boarded the cruise ship one after another, and then paddled towards the center of the lake. In less than a quarter of an hour, the boat paddled to a place where the lotus bones were dense, and then looked at the morning light in the east. Empress Dowager Cixi passed on Yi's decree that the little eunuch would anchor the ship here and that everyone should not make a sound.
The cruise ship was quiet for a moment, only to hear the wind outside blowing the lotus leaves "rustling", is this "listening to the lotus"? Princess Deling was even more puzzled at this time, and did not dare to ask, so she continued to bow her head and listen to the chaotic sounds outside. After a while, the sun was halfway up, and by this time the wind seemed to be gone, and the outside of the ship had become unusually quiet. Princess Deling glanced up at Empress Dowager Cixi and saw that she was sitting with her breath held, as if she were waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, there was a slight sound of "silk" coming from outside the ship, and Princess Deling turned her head sharply to look at it, and found that hundreds of lotus bones were half-opened in an instant, and the delicate flower buds and petals looked very beautiful under the sunrise. At this time, Princess Deling became extremely excited and wanted to shout out, but when she saw Empress Dowager Cixi, she subconsciously covered her mouth. Immediately after, the sun has fully risen, the sun sprinkled all over Kunming Lake, tens of thousands of semi-open lotus flowers after being illuminated by the sun, they "brushed" and completely bloomed, and then the lotus flowers swayed and danced in the breeze.
In the face of this scene, Princess Deling instantly understood what is "listening to the lotus", thousands of lotus flowers competing to open, the sound emitted is so moving, it can be described as a pure natural, and unadorned natural sound, "listening to the lotus" is really much more wonderful than "seeing the lotus". Not only that, Princess Deling also felt the power of nature and life, and was even more shocked by the joy of life of the ancients, after all, this is completely different from what she saw and heard in Western countries.
Seeing this, perhaps you also understand the meaning of "listening to the lotus". The so-called "pillow rain listening to the lotus" is a wonderful Chinese cultural experience. If you have the opportunity, you may also wish to go to the lotus pond to have a "listen to the lotus", and may also have a different understanding of life.