△ Zhang Chong 'Sword Pavilion Journey》
(Source: Guardian Auctions)
How much does it cost Li Bai to go home for the New Year?
△ Qing Dynasty "Taiping Spring City Map" New Year's Greeting (Partial)
New Year's Day, in ancient times, refers to the current Spring Festival, and after the Republic of China refers to January 1. Red envelopes were meant to pray for blessings in ancient times, and now they seem to be for social purposes. What were the first firecrackers used for? What was the Spring Festival of the Tang Dynasty like? How much does it cost Li Bai to go home once?
Before the Han Dynasty, the new year of each dynasty and each generation was different, and during the Han Wudi period, the new year date was set as the first day of the first lunar month, which has been used until now. In ancient times, the New Year was also called "New Year's Day", but this New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first lunar month, not the current January 1st. On January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the Provisional President of the Republic of China, and designated this day as New Year's Day (New Year's Day).
01
Ancient Red Packets – "Winning Money"
△ Northern Wei Yong'an Five Men and Four Gods Pressed To Win Money (Gilded) (above)
Various aliens in the past (below)
Before 2000, Tianfeng was four years old, 17 AD. That year, the Green Forest Army revolted in Hubei.
Wang Mang, who had usurped the throne of the old Liu family, had not had a few days since he ascended the throne, and now that he had encountered rebellion, he was a little unable to sit still. Wang Mang personally came to the suburbs and asked the craftsmen to make a big fan bucket out of copper alloy to "suppress the soldiers" and pray to the gods to bless the soldiers of our army with the possession of the god of war and never lose a hundred battles.
The so-called pressure victory is actually to create a mascot to pray for god's blessing. The culture of pressure victory has been popular since the Han Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among them, the winning product made of coins, called "pressure winning money", is the prototype of pressing old money.
What is different from the current pressure on the old money is that we now stuff a few 100 pieces of red envelopes, and the children happily spend them when they hold them. But in ancient times, a lot of money could not be spent, but only made into currency-shaped jewelry.
02
firecracker
△ Qing Dynasty colorful firecracker shaped lid box
(Collection of Guanfu Museum)
About 20 years ago, whenever a language program at the Spring Festival Gala ended, firecrackers would sound outside. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, it reaches the climax of the Chinese New Year's Eve night.
But in ancient times, when gunpowder and paper were not yet invented, how did people set off cannons?
It is said that the "Divine Anomaly Sutra" compiled by Mr. Dongfang records the origin of the word "firecracker": in the deep mountains of the West, there is a monster that is more than a foot long, called "mountain fish". This monster is very bold, not afraid of people, and will hurt people. People heard that the mountain fish was afraid of fire and noise, so they put the bamboo tube into the fire and burned it, and when it burned, the bamboo knot made a sound of peeling and peeling, which could scare away the mountain fish.
However, this kind of mythical story is only fabricated, and the real reliable one still needs to see "Zhou Li". In the pre-Qin period, there was a religious act of sacrifice, that is, to put firewood into the fire and burn it, making a sound called "cannon sacrifice". The so-called major events of the country were in the worship and sacrifice, and sacrifice was the most important thing related to the fate of the country at that time.
△ Qing Dynasty "Taiping Spring City Map" selling firecrackers (partial)
The invention of firecrackers may have been inspired by this ritual.
"In addition to the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into tusu" - from this famous poem by the Northern Song Dynasty poet Wang Anshi, we can see that at that time, people used firecrackers for the Spring Festival. However, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the "explosive battle" made of gunpowder appeared on the stage of history.
"Explosive Battle", the invention of this new product, was first put into the honor guard of the troops. Imagine that in the vast battlefield, the Northern Song Army was performing a military honor guard performance. If you use the sound of bamboo burning in the fire to give orders, it is too thin for the soldiers to hear. But the sound of gunpowder exploding was different. A thunderclap sounded, quite a great Zhu Junwei.
Later, in the Southern Song Dynasty, "explosive battles" were very popular among the people.
To add that although gunpowder was invented Chinese, the skillful application and redevelopment of technology was in the West, and China's national gate was also exploded by gunpowder invented by Chinese, which deserves our deep consideration and vigilance.
03
Spring
△ Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang "Jin Wen Gong Restoration Map" (partial)
(Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Compared with the "Millennium History Spring Festival" that presses the old money and firecrackers, the term "Spring Festival of a thousand years" is like a baby, born after the reform and opening up. But blue is better than blue, and now for the New Year, the impact of the Spring Festival may be far greater than that of the firecrackers. Rushing tickets, asking for leave, rushing to the road, going home, it seems that in the Spring Festival, you can feel the taste of "New Year".
We always complain about the difficulty of going home during the Spring Festival, but in the past, it was actually more difficult to go home, for the simple reason that the transportation was not convenient. For example, Shi xian Li Bai wants to return to his hometown and return to Sichuan Jiangyou from the capital Xi'an. 900 kilometers of road, he has to walk for 1 month, reunion and 1 month, and then spend 1 month to go back to work, a total of 3 months. And not only to spend time, but also to pay special money, Li Bai a trip home, one way to spend 12 yuan.
12What is the concept of 12 consecutive? Let's do a calculation problem.
In the 18th year of the new century, in 730 AD, Li Bai was 30 years old. At that time, the price of rice was about 13 to 20 yuan per bucket, and we calculated it according to 20 yuan for convenience. 1 penny = 1000 yuan, a bucket of rice is about 12.5 pounds. If the price of rice is 3 yuan a catty, how much is the 12 yuan that Li Bai spends one way into RMB according to the price of rice?
- END -
Written by | Chen Xiaoli
Editors| Hanhua, Qingyi
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