What is the wedding dress of the most beautiful person in the Book of Verses? What did the luxury cars of the Han Dynasty look like? Who is the most confident woman in Datang? Roses were a gemstone in ancient times? Who led the glorious era of emerald pearls? ...... It turned out that behind a small ancient pearl there was such an interesting historical story. Co-authored by Liang Hui, an international gem expert, and Xu Lihong, columnist of Hangzhou Daily's "Pearls and Treasures", the new work "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem and One Word" takes the pearls and jade in ancient poems such as "Book of Poetry", Tang poems, Song Ci and other ancient poems as the eyes, tells the past and present lives of 27 kinds of ancient pearls such as jade pendants, Qiongju, Qingyu case, Jin Bu Shake, etc., as well as the cultural factors behind them, with 150 exquisite color inserts, vividly restores the beauty of pearls and jade in ancient poems, leading readers to intuitively perceive the physical objects behind the terms thousands of years ago, and enter the world of ancient pearls with vivid colors and fragrances.
At present, we are addicted to online language and memes, but have you ever felt that the energy of memes and ancient poems is not the same - their inner degree of distraction and external reaction are different. In the view of the famous collector Chen Jichang, ancient poetry is a kind of thing with a greater sense of space, and there is poetry and bookishness in the belly. And "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem and One Word" focuses on further advancing the feeling of reading ancient poems.
The "ancient" of ancient poetry, on the one hand, reflects its essence, reflects its status as the master of a hundred years and a thousand years, but on the other hand, because of "ancient", some things in it we can't read and can't understand. For example, in the "Book of Poetry and Papaya": "Cast me with a papaya, and repay it with Qiongju... Vote for me with a wooden peach, and repay it with Qiong Yao... Vote for me with Mu Li, and repay it with Qiong Jiu. Usually, "Qiongju, Qiongyao, and Qiongjiu" are all translated as "a kind of beautiful jade". So, why do others give me fruit and I want to give it back to meiyu? What is the difference between the three? Through their tireless exploration, the two authors of "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem" let people realize the beauty and deep meaning behind the nouns, which is the space that their hearts have expanded: from the evolution of the step shake, they can see the way the ruler's power is consolidated; from a crutch of immortals, tracing back to the division between Eastern and Western cultures; from Bai Juyi's "Cersei", which dominates the trade flow of the Silk Road; from a touch of incense, into the study mood of the Song people...
▲ The image of Bai Juyi in the movie "The Legend of the Demon Cat"
For example, Bai Juyi's most commonly used word "Cersei". So, what kind of color is "Cersei"? Which objects were presented in this color during the Tang and Song dynasties? If, as Mr. Zhang Hongzhao said, Cersei is a sapphire, why did Professor Xu Yuanchong choose to translate it as "shiver" of Jiangshui? "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem" wrote: "Bai Juyi's Sergeant, some of which we understand very well. For example, 'Xunyang Jiangtou Night Sending Guests, Maple Leaves Hagi Flowers Autumn Serge', which refers to the autumn night, the wind is strong, the maple leaves and hagi flowers flutter in the cold wind, making a clanging sound, which makes people feel extremely depressed. Later, Cersei was extended to the trembling of the human body. Tang Dynasty Yongtao "and Henan Baiyin Xichi North New Water Zhai Reward Twelve Rhymes": "Sitting in the middle of the cold, under the bed is fine. Qing Dynasty Gong Zizhen "Yu Meiren": "Spring cold and late to Tim, Yu Junwei should be a change for Wu Mian." However, Bai Juyi always used the word "Cersei" to describe the color of water. "A remnant of the sun spreads in the water, and the half river is half red." (Twilight River Yin) "On both sides of the shore, the center is flowing. "Rebuilding the Xiangshan Temple twenty-two rhymes with jizhi" and so on. Professor Xu Yuanchong of Peking University, who is known as the 'only person who translates poetry into English and France', translates 'Half of its waves turn red and the other half shiver' as 'Half of its waves turn red and the other half shiver', which translates back to Chinese is 'half river red to half river trembling', which makes people not understand. To solve this puzzle, we must first look at Bai Juyi's origin. According to the research of Mr. Yao Weiyuan, a student of Chen Yinke, Bai Juyi's ancestors were the Hu people of the Western Regions, and they were the royal family of the Guizi Kingdom in the Western Regions. Because there is a place name Kutsi in the territory of the Guizi Kingdom, which means 'white, bright', the Han Dynasty gave him the royal surname 'White'. Guizi was an important post on the Silk Road, where eastern and western civilizations met. Persian jewelry, brocade, silver plates, gold and silver coins, etc. continued to flow from here to the Central Plains. Bai Juyi is as familiar with Persian jewelry as he is with the local specialties of his hometown. The description of the color of the water, casually compared to the color of Persian jewelry, is very natural. The American sinologist Xue Aihua clearly wrote in "The Golden Peach of Samarkand": "The word used by the Tang Dynasty to refer to the dark blue gemstone is usually to refer to lapis lazuli." 'Lapis lazuli is what we now call lapis lazuli.' ...... However, the problem arises: everyone who has been exposed to lapis lazuli knows that lapis lazuli is opaque, and in Bai Juyi's 'Cersei body', the rivers and rivers he describes are clearly translucent. That's right, which leads to Cersei's second point: Glass. This glass is a blue glass that imitates lapis lazuli. To be precise, it should be called 'artificial cersei'. It is this translucent blue that is used by Bai Juyi as a metaphor for clear water. Perhaps this artistic conception is too beautiful and has been used in later generations. ”
▲ West Asian glass beads dating back more than 2,000 years
In "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem", Liang Hui and Xu Lihong combine the pearls and jade mentioned in ancient poems, combined with documents, archaeology and the physical objects they have handled, restore the "noun", expound the deep meaning of the noun, and provide a large number of pictures to illustrate. They lifted the beautiful layers out of the water and presented them to everyone. Chen Jichang commented that their brushstrokes are written about pearls and jade, but the Tao is about human feelings. No matter how history develops and how science and technology progress, people's emotions are still the same. What role does the pearl jade play in the story? Why should people borrow pearls and jade to settle themselves? Why can pearls and jade easily roll up the storm of history? Since ancient times, pearls and jade have been given extremely important symbolic meanings as a condensation of social power, fashion and emotion. This is true in both the East and the West, and the same is true in ancient and modern times.
▲ Zhang Xuan's "Lady Yu ChunTu" (partial, Song facsimile)
Among the ancient paintings depicting the Tang Dynasty, there is a beautiful scenery of "Lady Yu Chun Tu". This picture depicts the scene of Tianbao's eleventh year (752), when Lady Yu guo and her dependents accompanied by eight horses and nine people (the little girl and the nanny rode together) waved their horses and went out to travel in the spring. A group of people hugged back and forth, mighty, and full of flowers. The breath of spring in Chang'an came to the fore. Who is Lady Guoguo? It is the third sister of Yang Guifei. So who is Lady Guoguo in the painting? At first, everyone thought it was a noblewoman in the center of the frame. But later some people saw the clues and thought that the "man" on the far right was Mrs. Yu Guo. Why? To this, "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem" gives the answer: because of the three flowers and horses.
The so-called "three-flowered horse" refers to the carefully trimmed three strands of mane, also known as the "three-maned horse". Of course, there are also cut into one flower and two flowers. It was both a fashion and an important symbol that distinguished the rank of horses and the status of nobility. In "Lady Yu ChunTu", a group of eight riders and nine people. Two of the eight horses are three-flowered horses. Which two of the nine are eligible to ride a three-flowered horse? It was none other than Lady Guoguo and her youngest daughter.
So, why does Mrs. Yu Guo travel in men's clothes? First of all, in Sheng Tang, it was a common fashion for women to wear men's clothing. Secondly, this lady of the kingdom has a personality. Zhang Hu once wrote the poem "Lady Yu Guo": "Lady Yu Guo accepted the lord's favor, and Ping Ming rode into the palace gate." But the fat powder stained the color, lightly sweeping the moth's eyebrow towards the supreme. "Lady Yu Guo was favored by the emperor and rode into the palace gate early in the morning. She thought that the fat powder would tarnish her beauty, and she went in to meet the Supreme Being. Lady Yu Guo was proud of her natural beauty, and she entered the palace to see Tianzi without makeup. And Tang Xuanzong was very fond of this third aunt with personality, giving her the privilege of entering the palace at any time to meet her. Hence the idiom "face to the sky". And Lady Yu Guo was also known as the most confident woman in the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem" also records a lot of little-known popular science knowledge. For example, there is a question that has always bothered us: roses are obviously plants, why not next to the word "wood"? After considering the evidence, the authors believe that the original meaning of the rose is indeed a gemstone. It is written in the book that the earlier source of the word "rose" comes from Han Feizi's "Buying And Returning Pearls". The wooden box in the story is "decorated with roses". Could it be that the rose pattern is carved? Or stick rose petals? Non also. The rose here refers to its original meaning. Next to the word "jade", it at least refers to the "beauty of the stone". So, what kind of jade is the rose? Or, what kind of gemstone? By consulting ancient books, it can be found that the rose information has the following points: 1. it is a precious gemstone, which is found in the hat of the princess, the saddle of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the monument of national events; 2. it can have various colors; 3. it is produced in the South China Sea or the Western Region; 4. It is not a bright moon pearl, a luminous pearl, a true white pearl, a tiger perl, coral, a drift, a lynx, a lang, a water essence, a blue, and a five-color jade. How does the "Explanation of Words" annotate "Rose"? "Rose, fire, rose, a beauty of stone." Roses, also known as "fire qi" in ancient times. "Selected Writings of Zhao Ming" Li Shan's note: "Fire Qi, rose beads also." "So, what is Huoqi like?" The Southern Dynasty's "LiangShu Zhuyi Zhuchuan Zhongtian Zhuguo" records: "Fire is like mica, color is like purple gold, and there is brilliance." Otherwise, it is as thin as a cicada's wing; if it is accumulated, it is as heavy as a yarn. "Do you think the answer is coming out?" There is a gemstone that, if of average texture, is indeed "mica-like" and fits the 4-point characteristics of a rose. what? Red, sapphire!
Due to the twists and turns of history, many of the cultural factors precipitated in the pearl jade have been submerged, and "One Pearl, One Jade, One Poem" can trace the context, salvage the poetry, connect the inheritance, which is of great practical significance, and at the same time can also glimpse the brilliant Chinese culture. (Readers' Daily All-Media Reporter He Jian)
Editor: Wang Xin Responsible Editor: Dong Xiaoyue Review: Zhou Hua