214 Valentine's Day is coming, and many couples are racking their brains on how to express their love.
Although there are many contemporary expressions of love, they are not as romantic and poetic as the ancients.
So how did the ancient lovers express their love in a fancy way?
1. Write poetry
Most of the ancients liked to express their affection euphemistically, and the most common way was to write poetry for their lovers. In ancient times on the mainland, there were many love poems expressing affection. For example, the oldest collection of poetry, the Book of Poetry, has "Guan Guan Ju Dove, in the River Continent." The poem "Lady, Gentleman is Good" tells the story of a man who saw the woman he liked in Hezhou and boldly expressed his love and pursued it.
For example, Wang Wei's famous poem "Acacia" in the Tang Dynasty:
Red beans are born in the southern country, how many branches will be sent in the spring?
May the king pick up more, this thing is the most acacia.
Wang Wei euphemistically borrowed the chant to express his affection for lovesickness.
There is also the Song Dynasty Li Zhiyi's "Bu Operator I Live in the Head of the Yangtze River":
I live at the head of the Yangtze River, and I live at the end of the Yangtze River.
Thinking about the jun every day, he did not see the jun, and drank the water of the Yangtze River together.
When will this water rest, and when will this hatred be over?
May the king's heart be like my heart, and will not live up to his wishes.
Use the river to write the spatial barrier and emotional connection between the two sides, see the profound in the simplicity, sincere love, and pour out.
2. Convey affection with pleasure
The ancients also used music to euphemistically express their affection, such as Sima Xiangru's "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix". Sima Xiang was like a guest of Zhuo's family, and when he saw Zhuo Wenjun, he liked it, so he played and sang in the lobby of the Zhuo family:
"Feng Xi Feng Xi returned to his hometown and traveled all over the world to seek his phoenix." There are beautiful ladies in the boudoir, and the room is full of people poisoning my intestines. What is the reason for the neck to be a Mandarin duck..."
This kind of wording of love was blunt, bold, and warm, which made Zhuo Wenjun, who was listening behind the curtain, feel moved, and after meeting with Sima Xiangru, he fell in love at first sight and agreed to elope.
3. Letters and letters
Qian Wei, the king of Wuyue, missed his wife Dai Shi, who returned to his mother's home, and expressed his affection through letters. He walked out of the palace gate one day, saw the peach red willow green at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain, ten thousand purple and thousand red, and thought that he and Mrs. Dai had not been seen for many days, and could not help but have a little thought, and wrote a letter with a pen: "Strange flowers bloom, but slowly return." Although there are only a few words, they are sincere and delicate.
4. Give away your personal belongings
The ancients also loved to give accessories or other items that they had carried with them for a long time, and such gifts were considered to represent themselves, so they were more sincere. In ancient times, women really felt that they had met their sweethearts, and they were even willing to cut off a strand of their own green silk to give to each other, which was considered to be the most affectionate. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", Dai Yu gave Bao Yu a sachet, and later misunderstood that he gave it to someone else, gambling on cutting one that he was making, but he did not know that Bao Yu had worn it closely. The little daughter in love jumped on the paper.
5. Gifts of relics symbolizing loyalty and invincibility
When the relationship between the two progressed to a certain extent, the ancients gave a profound relic to express their loyalty and dedication. Take tea, for example. According to the Ming Dynasty Liu Wentai's "Essentials of Materia Medica", "The wedding of the world is not good for tea." The cover is not transplantable, as a metaphor for the absence of a new alliance. ”
Sixth, thrush
In ancient traditional Confucianism, men were not willing to put on makeup for their wives, so their willingness to bend over and thrush their wives was a manifestation of love to the depths. Zhang Chang, a han Dynasty minister, used thrushes to express his love for his wife: his wife meijiao was injured when she was young and left a defect, so he drew eyebrows for his wife every day before the shang dynasty, and the emperor also asked him about it. This incident attracted the pursuit of countless young girls at that time.
Different forms of love expression in ancient times not only have a very strong charm of the times, but also can also reflect a different view of love. Expressing love is not about valuable gifts, but about the most sincere intentions.