Guanlan | "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat", how to interpret the word "seat"?

On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was unforgettable. Director Zhang Yimou used the poem "Yanshan Snowflakes are as big as a seat" in Li Bai's "North Wind Line", and presented a wonderful opening ceremony with snowflakes as big as "seats" as the axis.

Beijing is north of the Yanshan Mountains, the Winter Olympics is a grand event of ice and snow sports, with "Yanshan snowflakes as big as a seat", the traditional poetry culture and modern Olympic movement are linked together, seamlessly, so that people can once again appreciate China's long historical accumulation and excellent traditional culture of the eternal charm.

The ancient poem "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" adds romantic poetry to the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, and many people have also developed a strong interest in this poem. What kind of poem is this ancient poem?

"Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" is from Li Bai's "North Wind Line":

The candle dragon perched the cold door, and the light was still open.

Why can't the sun and moon shine like this? Only the North Wind roared up from the sky.

The snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain were as big as a mat, and the pieces blew down the Xuanyuan Platform.

After the birth of this poem, it was mostly used by posterity. In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was used for festive occasions, such as Wang Anshi's poem "Hu Di Eighteen Beats Eighteen Songs one of them":

The snowflakes of Yanshan mountain are as big as a mat, and the children wash their faces as luster.

The world is white in the middle of the night, and the boudoir is just empty memories.

Dot peach blossom Shu Xiaohong, wash your face with your child to make a magnificent appearance.

Wanting to ask for peace, Peach Blossom still smiled at the spring breeze.

Wang Anshi's poem uses the Yanshan snowflakes for children to wash their faces, and finally "the peach blossoms are still smiling like the wind", a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

Interestingly, "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as seats", and there have been many "discussions" in history, that is, whether "Yanshan snowflakes" is a reasonable question.

Modern writer Liang Shiqiu said in the article "Snow": "Li Bai said: 'The snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a seat. This is unreliable, the poet exaggerates, like 'three thousand feet of white hair'. According to scientific reports, the formation of snowflakes varies depending on the local temperature conditions at the time, with the largest being three to four inches in diameter. As big as a seat, can't a snowflake cover the whole person? Based on scientific positivism, Liang Shiqiu disagreed with Li Bai's poem that "the snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a seat".

But the truth of art and the reality of reality are not the same thing. Lu Xun's insight is much more eloquent, and he said in the article "And Jieting Miscellaneous Essays II: Long Talk about "Comics"": "'Yanshan snowflakes are as big as seats', which is an exaggeration, but there are snowflakes in Yanshan, there is a little honesty in it, so that we immediately know that Yanshan was so cold." If you say ' Guangzhou snowflakes are as big as a seat', it becomes a joke. ”

The modern people's so-called sitting on the ground mostly refers to the "seat" that sits on the ground, and the ancients sit on the ground refers to the use of the mat as a seat. Ancient China did not have the current high table, the table began to appear in the Tang Dynasty, from the Tang Dynasty painting "Han Xizai Night Feast", we can see a lot of exquisitely made tables; but the name "table" appeared very late, according to Shang Binghe's "Examination of Social Customs and Things in Past Dynasties", the name "table" officially appeared in the mainland, in the Song Dynasty, like the sitting method on chairs and stools today, it began to be popular from the Song Dynasty. Li Bai was active in the Sheng Tang Dynasty and thereafter, and the "seat" in his poems was the "seat" when there was no high table.

The predecessor of the table is a few and a few cases, relatively low, in general occasions, the ancients sat on the seat with their legs crossed; in formal occasions, the ancients would sit on the seat, that is, with their knees on the ground, their calves on the ground, and their hips on their calves and heels. Because the mat is used for sitting, it can be large or small. According to the Book of Rites, Qu Li: "If there are five people living in a group, the elderly will be seated differently." That is to say, in ancient times, the horizontal seat was laid on the ground, which could accommodate four people, and the seat was divided into four people, and the general seat was about 2 meters long. According to the 1980 issue of the Second Issue of the Palace Museum, there is an ivory mat in the Treasure Hall of the Palace Museum in Beijing, which is 216 cm long and 139 cm wide.

Compared with the two-meter-long mat, the snowflakes are very small, and "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" is of course an exaggeration of art. In fact, "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" There is another interpretation, that is, "seat" does not refer to a snowflake, but refers to the density of snow.

The biggest snowflake in real time is the so-called "goose feather snow", but when the "goose feather snow" is connected into pieces, there is a feeling of "seat". According to the definition of physics, the temperature of the mixture of ice and snow is zero degrees, and when the temperature is above zero degrees, the snowflakes begin to melt, and the snow flakes become moist and produce adhesions. When the snowflakes are sticking to each other a lot, a large piece of the ground is split over, which will make people feel that "snowflakes are as big as a mat". Therefore, from this point of view, Li Bai's "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" may be exaggerated just right, describing the true characteristics of the heavy snow in Yanshan.

The famous phrase "The snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a seat" has flowed through many poems throughout the ages. In addition to Wang Anshi, posterity has repeatedly cited the creation of new poems: The Yuan Dynasty Liu Yin's "Song Lizong ShuGong Fan" poem: Wuyun looks back at the north of Yanshan Mountain, and the snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a mat. Snowflakes spread over the ice, and the wind rises and Ner Ho! Song Dynasty Li Gang's poem "The Sixteenth Beat of hu di eighteen beats" says: The sound of rain is rushing to promote early cold, and the twilight is poor and yin. The snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a mat, and the cold blows the skin north wind sharply. Song Dynasty Fang Hui poem "February Shuo heavy snow has been five days three songs one": Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat, and it is expected that Jiangnan will also see it. The first six days of Lapa are aware of the past, but in the spring breeze of February.

Li Bai's "Yanshan snowflakes are as big as a seat" is not rootless water. Li Bai's "Yanshan Snowflakes Are As Big as Seats" comes from "North Wind Line", which has the same name as "Poetry Jing Shao Feng And North Wind", and there is a inheritance relationship between the two poems. The whole poem "Shao Feng, North Wind" sets off the atmosphere with the scene of heavy snow and the north wind whistling. Li Bai's technique is the same as that of "Shao Feng, North Wind", Li Bai's imagination is more majestic, and the talent of romantic poets is like flying snow in the sky.

The Winter Olympics opened wonderfully, and the poem "Yanshan Snowflakes Are As Big as a Seat" has become a stroke of God. A poem makes a beautiful historical story, which explains the extraordinary charm of the poetry immortal Li Bai, and also explains the charm of the excellent traditional culture represented by traditional poetry!

(Reported by Zhou Xueze, client reporter of Dazhong Daily)