Welcome to pay attention to "Fangzhi Sichuan"!
There is a purple weed
Pang Yu
As a child, there was a small garden by the school playground. Spring warm blossoms, summer nights under the moon, autumn breeze slightly cool, winter warm sun, teachers like to move out of the rattan chairs, serve enamel tea cups, to the garden scattered around sitting, talk about the ancient road, talk about the world.
In the garden, except for one cow heart plum and a few yang locust trees, there are only a few flowers. A camellia tree, born obliquely, one person with a high branch, the branches are delicate, and the big red flowers are fat and thick, and the red is dazzling. A cage of seasonal flowers, growing in clusters, gathered around the garden, the flowers are layers of reddish, as pale as if they have been washed. There is also an itchy tree, the trunk is high and straight, touched, feels smooth, as if there is no bark, very high branches, sparse branches, clusters of pink flowers, bright and fierce blooming in the clouds. It is said that if you gently scratch its thick trunk, the branches on the high ground, the sparse leaves, and the flowers that bloom brightly will tremble like a breeze.
Our home kitchen, next to the small garden. The curvy camellia tree, with its leafy branches and brilliant flowers, is just outside the window. I climbed up the tree and lay reclining obliquely at its branches, sleeping. Ignoring him, he stood up, craned his neck and looked in through the window, and his mother was busy at the wood stove, preparing dinner for us. Moon flowers, I do not pity, pinch a flower that is in full bloom, tear the petals one by one, and discard the flower buds casually. And the itchy tree, I patronize the most. When the wind is quiet, I like to scratch and look. The branches and leaves that were high above seemed to be moving, as if they were not moving, and whether they were trembling or not could not be confirmed. The more I couldn't understand it, the more I tried to figure it out, scratching every day, scratching all the time, and the trunk of the tree was scratched with a clearly visible mark, oozing out a pale green sap. I am not the only one who left the mark, everyone wants to scratch it, they are scratching it, they all want to see the strange scenery of the itchy tree without wind.
Father said, everyone said: Itchy tree, called bauhinia flower, flower, is redbud flower.
Under the slope of the farm yard around the school, there are fruit trees that also bloom. Peach blossoms, plum blossoms, apricot blossoms, pear blossoms are everywhere, cherry blossoms, loquat flowers, pomegranate flowers are occasionally visible. The stubble is opened lively every year, and not many people pay attention. What everyone cares about is that the flowers are more fruitful every day after zero. In the small garden of the school, only trees that bloom and do not bear fruit, flowers that bear fruit and cannot be eaten, especially itchy trees that are said to gently scratch the trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers to tremble, are difficult to see elsewhere, which is very rare.
Because it is strange, it is particularly concerned. The farmer who picked up the dung burden passed by, looked up at the itchy tree, and grinned lightly, as if he had a meeting with the tree and the flower that no one else knew. The woman with the firewood on her back stopped under the itchy tree, saw that the bauhinia flowers on the top of the tree were in full bloom, and quickly straightened her scattered hair. According to the local custom, if a boy is afraid of other people's arms, he must be afraid of his mother-in-law when he grows up (the hometown people call his wife a mother-in-law). The neighboring peasant children, seeing that the teacher was not in the small garden, quietly came and scratched the tree, scratching and shouting: afraid of the mother-in-law tree, afraid of the mother-in-law tree. And the itchy tree, moving or not moving, stood there demurely, hiding its branches and flowers in the thick fog, deep in the clouds.
Grow up, leave the small garden, for a long time, and never see the tickling tree flowers. When you read about flowers in the book and hear people talk about what flowers and flowers are beautiful, you will think of the itchy tree in the small garden, think of the bauhinia on the itchy tree, and think: It is the most peculiar tree, the most peculiar flower. Later, many itchy trees were planted in the flower beds and roadsides of the small city, low and low, slender and slender, although there were also smooth trunks, sparse branches and leaves, and also a bunch of pink flowers, but in the end they were small and stingy, lacking the charm of itchy trees and bauhinia flowers. Looking at them, I thought of the itchy tree in the small garden, the redbud flowers on the itchy tree, and felt: It is the real redbud. Its smooth trunk, straight and straight upwards, rising higher and higher, around the sparse foliage, the fog steamed, a bunch of pink flowers, in the steaming fog, both clear and blurry, suddenly more and more confused, but suddenly more and more dazzling.
Reading Wang Zengqi's "Ziwei", see the text said: "Now many places call it 'afraid of itching trees' or 'itchy trees'. And quoted the Southern Song Dynasty Ge Lifang's "Rhyme Yang Qiu": "The claw is the original branch and leaf, commonly known as 'impatient with itchy flowers'." "Only then did I know that my father was wrong, everyone was wrong, and I followed suit: Bauhinia, who was not afraid of itching; who was afraid of itching, was Ziwei; the itchy tree in the school garden when I was a child was not Bauhinia but Ziwei; I called Bauhinia in my mouth for decades, but Ziwei.
Speaking of Ziwei, it is generally thought of the sentence in Bai Juyi's "Ziwei Poems" that "Ziwei flowers to Ziwei Lang". Wang Zengqi quoted the New Book of Tang and the Hundred Officials Zhi II as saying: "'In the first year of the new century, the Zhongshu Province was changed to Ziwei Province, and the Zhongshu Ling was known as Ziwei Ling. Bai Juyi was once a Zhongshu waiter, so he called himself Ziwei Lang. Bai Juyi has written more than one poem "Ziwei Flower", which is often quoted as the seven absolutes of the sentence "Ziwei Flower to ZiweiLang", and the whole poem is: "Your Excellency Silk Lun is quiet, and the bell and drum tower is carved in the long leak." Who is the companion for sitting alone at dusk? Ziwei flower to Ziwei Lang. Wang Zengqi interpreted the poem and said: "Zhongshu Shilang is going to the palace on duty, sitting alone in the office, it is inevitable that it is a little lonely, but this is not an errand that ordinary people can get, and the poem reveals a little pride." 'Ziwei flower to Ziweilang' makes people feel a little romantic, in fact, there is not. But if you have a little romantic association, you can. The "loneliness" in the poem is considerable at a glance. "A little proud", as if there were also. "Romantic" is not only there, but also thick: dusk, sitting alone with Ziwei, as far as the eye can see, is the red color of the blooming Ziwei, the sniffing of the nose, is the unique floral fragrance of Ziwei, at this time, whether it is sunk into chaos without thought, or remembering the few people who have fallen into the world, or the song and swallow dance of the small wild cherry, all belong to the "romantic association"! Wang Zengqi is Wang Zengqi, he can see through your mind. He may not think so, but he does not insist, nothing is necessary, and he is free to scatter. However, in my mind, the Ziwei that Bai Juyi faced was not the Ziwei in the small garden, whose branches and flowers were in the clouds, but the short, clustered ziwei that grew together.
Shen Shengyi's article "Official Ziwei's Own Look" in "Study Flowers and Trees" also mentions Ziwei and Bai Juyi. "The Guangqun Fang Genealogy contains its form and history: 'Every breeze arrives, the delicate and trembling, the dancing swallows are amazing, and it is not enough to be metaphorical. This flower is planted in Tang Dynasty Province, taking its durability and cuteness. Therefore, in the first year of the Tang Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was changed to Ziwei Province, and Zhongshu Ling and Zhongshu Shilang were Ziwei Ling and Ziwei Shilang. In Shen Shengyi's view, during the Tang Kaiyuan period, "changing the Zhongshu Province to Ziwei Province, Zhongshu Ling to Ziwei Ling", not out of thin air, but because "this flower is planted more in the province", it is based on flowers. Shen Shengyi also interpreted Bai Juyi's poem "Ziwei Flower": "I prefer Bai Juyi, who has also been a Zhongshu She, these two sentences: 'Who is the companion sitting alone at dusk, Ziwei Flower to ZiWeilang.'" ’...... It creates a quiet, melancholy and leisurely mood and atmosphere, which is quite inspiring. "Quiet or lonely, self-satisfied." In addition, there is a sense of pity. This pity should be what Wang Zengqi called romanticism. It can be seen that when a literati reads poetry, the meaning is slightly the same.
The strange thing is that when I read this poem, I think less about Ziwei and think more about the people who "changed the Zhongshu Province to Ziwei Province, and the Zhongshu Ling to Ziwei Ling". Kaiyuan is the era name of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and the New Book of Tang records the change of name: "The first year of the new century... In December, Gengyin, amnesty, change of yuan, and give internal and external official orders. Zhongshu Province was changed to Ziwei Province, Menxia Province was Huangmen Province, and Shizhong was the prison. The Old Book of Tang's Xuanzong Benji also contains this matter, and the words are similar. Obviously, the person who changed Zhongshu Province to Ziwei Province was Li Longji of Tang Xuanzong. Why should it be changed, history is not recorded. Bai Juyi's poem says that there was Ziwei in Zhongshu Province when he served, but Bai Juyi was born in 772, which cannot prove that there was Ziwei in Zhongshu Province in the first year of the new century (741). The "Guangqun Fang Genealogy" added and deleted by Wang Xiangjin of the Ming Dynasty and Wang Hao of the Qing Dynasty said that "this flower was planted in the province of the Tang Dynasty", but the specific time was not specified. Therefore, because of the name change of the flower, you can only listen to it as a palm.
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, was one of the famous rulers in history, "He was an outstanding ruler, and he left an indelible mark on the history of that time." (Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties) The Kaiyuan dynasty he created is still talked about by people today. His romantic and amorous love affair with Yang Guifei, through the rendering of the "Long Hate Song" "in the heavenly wish to be a winged bird, in the earth wish to be a lianli branch", is unknown to everyone, no one knows. He is also good at writing joy, "multi-art especially knows the rhythm of music, good at eight points of the book." (Old Book of Tang, Xuanzong Benji), is a "literary and artistic emperor" who also has the martial arts of Wenzhi. Only he would change the modest Zhongshu Province into the romantic And boundless Ziwei Province. Because of his change, Bai Juyi was able to leave such a thoughtless verse as "Ziwei Flower to Ziwei Lang". Therefore, Shen Shengyi said: "From this name change, you can also imagine the Tang Dynasty, Kaiyuan Wencai." And this "Tang Dynasty style, Kaiyuan literary style" is inseparable from Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, and even in a sense, it is his style.
Ziwei (Photo by Pengzhou Xianshi, courtesy of Fang Zhi Sichuan)
In a trance, I crossed and sat in the Ziwei Province of Datang. In the courtyard, there is a purple weed tree, the trunk is straight, touched, the feel is smooth, as if there is no bark, very high branches, sparse branches, clusters of pink flowers, bright and fierce blooming in the clouds. I tickled it gently, and it trembled amorously. The petals are scattered, the leaves are fluttering, and their undulating posture is like the graceful flying sky in the Dunhuang murals, flying far away, getting closer and closer to me, the skin is shining, and the eyebrows are arguable.
This purple weed is deeply rooted in my memory. Penetrating the barrier of time and space, you can see, you can touch, you can scratch. This purple weed is also deeply rooted in my imagination. As long as you think of its smooth trunk, sparse branches, and clusters of pink flowers, you will be lost in your dreams, and you will fly away and do not know where to stop.
Author series of articles
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Author:Pang Yu (Xuanhan County, Sichuan Province)
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan
Some of Fangzhi Sichuan's pictures, audio and video come from the Internet, only to disseminate more information. The copyright of the pictures, audio and video contained in the article belongs to the original author or media.