On New Year's Day 1932, the stubborn "Hunan cattle" Chen Zizhan (1898-1990) wrote a "New Patriotic Song", which was written as follows: "1932, New Year's Day pen, great luck." Chu crazy old man. "New Year's Day Hair Pen", a phrase that is slightly unfamiliar to people today, is nothing more than such a small scene of the New Year: on the first day of the New Year, spread out the red paper, pick up the pen dipped in ink, and write down the long and short auspicious words. A stroke that falls on the paper opens the door of the New Year and also signs the good luck of the year. This is a typical scene of traditional literati opening the New Year.
Like Chen Zizhan, there were many people who left articles because of the New Year's Day pen, and there were many in the Republic of China period. Zhou Zuoren, Tian Han, Yu Pingbo, Qian Gechuan and others have all left works related to the "New Year's Day Hair Pen". This series of literati chose "New Year's Day writing", not on a whim, but to follow the long tradition of readers.
Du Fengzhi's "New Year's Day Pen Lifting, Ruyi Daji" in Du Fengzhi's "Diary of a Eunuch yue in Wangxingguan" is from the "Qing Dynasty Manuscript Banknotes"
I. Liang Zhangju on "New Year's Day Writing"
During the Jiadao period of the Qing Dynasty, Liang Zhangju (1775-1849), a Fujianese who was familiar with his past, traced the tradition of "New Year's Day Writing" in volume VII of the "Continuation of the Traces of the Waves". According to Liang Zhangju's records, at least in the Jiadao period, "New Year's Day pen" has become a common social phenomenon. Liang Zhangju wrote: "When people write on New Year's Day every year, they must first use the two languages of the Red Letter Zhuang Shu, such as 'New Year's Day opening pen, Pepsi Daji', or 'moving pen', or 'raising pen', both scholars, farmers, industrialists and merchants, and there is no necessary writing by people. Whether it is called "sending a pen", "moving a pen", "opening a pen" or "raising a pen", in short, people from all walks of life choose to pick up a pen on this day and write down their own auspicious words.
Liang Zhangju's "Discussion on the Traces of the Waves" Volume 1 Shadow, pictured from the National Library of China "Chinese Ancient Books Resource Library"
The New Year's Day tradition does not originate in the Qing Dynasty, but has a much older history. Liang Zhangju once asked his father, Ryazantu, when the custom originated. Ryazan's answer was: "It seems that there is precedence." The predecessors often wrote 'put the pen', and the "Five Lantern Society Yuan" contains the words of Jing Ci Daochang: "The years of the dynasty put the pen, everything is auspicious, this is the three villages baozheng shumen." And "Da Mei Zu Jing" Yun: "The years of the dynasty put the pen, everything is auspicious, remember the East Village Black Li Four, every year personally written in front of the door." Then this matter has been around for a long time. Ryazan tu traces the tradition of writing on New Year's Day to the Song Dynasty, arguing that the monk Jingci Daochang (1090-1171) mentioned this custom in his speech. The first people to try the New Year's Day test were probably a group of folk writers whose behavior was ridiculed by the intellectual elite, including senior monks and masters. However, since the invention of the Song Dynasty, this tradition has been firmly rooted in Chinese culture and has continued to penetrate from the bottom up. Along the Qing Dynasty, from the military minister to the Luodi Xiucai, all of them were infected with this wind.
When Liang Zhangju discussed the New Year's Day writing, this tradition, which used to be ridiculed as a word game in Sanjia Village, has become a common belief among readers, especially those who read the imperial examination. Readers will write the good wish of the New Year's Day - "all things are lucky", gradually narrowed to a specific scope of reading and even the field of examination, in order to pin the hope of reading and the good wish of success in the examination. In the same entry in "The Continuation of the Traces of the Waves", Liang Zhangju recalls:
Remembering that when Yu was young, the first senior official in the opening year must order the book "New Year's Day to open the pen, read the book into the benefit" eight characters, Qianlong Xinhai year, then order the book "New Year's Day to open the pen, into the pan first." "It was the autumn of that year, and the fruit entered the first place in the county. On the New Year's Day of the Year of Jiayin, yu yu said: "Ru should now be lifted, but the book 'New Year's Day Lifting Pen' can also be." "It is the year fruit raised in the township. (The Continuation of the Traces of the Waves, Vol. VII)
Liang Zhangju's father, Ryazan Tu (the first senior prince), was clearly a faithful believer in the long tradition of writing on New Year's Day. Ryazantu believes that the auspicious words written at the beginning of the New Year's Day can be largely fulfilled. Although these auspicious words are chosen by oneself, in the process of practice, it is still necessary to adjust the priorities of these auspicious words so that the wish can be realized more smoothly. According to Liang Zhangju's recollection, the New Year's Day pen held by his father is divided into three stages, of which the dividing points are into pan and Yingju, which are commonly known as Kao Xiucai and KaoJu. Before Liang Zhangju kao Xiucai, the New Year's book was "New Year's Day to write, reading into benefits", corresponding to encouraging children to read, the so-called "study well, every day upwards" can be. In The year of Liang Zhangju's examination, Qianlong Xinhai (1791), Ryazan Tu asked Liang Zhangju to rewrite the auspicious language, "reading into benefits" to "entering the pan first", a clear change is that the desire for exam success overwhelmed the pure reading progress. As for Qianlong Jiayin (1794), Liang Zhangju participated in the township examination, and Ryazan Tu had a new saying, believing that it was enough to write "New Year's Day and raise a pen" at this time. This time to reduce the content of the writing, probably because the "New Year's Day pen lifting" pun, in addition to implying the opening of the New Year's Day, but also with the word "lifting" to care for the high school lifting people's wishes.
Through Liang Zhangju's pen, we can clearly see the change in the meaning of the pen raised on New Year's Day. Ryazan Tu focused the content of the New Year's Day pen from "all things are auspicious" to the success of the scientific expedition, and this series of instructions made this tradition tinged with literati colors, and eventually became the "reader's" New Year's Day pen. The series of "mysterious operations" of the superstitious New Year's Day pen of Ryazan were actually fulfilled one by one in his son Liang Zhangju, and it is no wonder that the New Year's Day pen has also left a deep imprint on Liang Zhangju's mind since then.
Second, the general style of the New Year's Day pen
Is there any special form of Writing for the New Year? If it is considered a ritual, when exactly does this event begin in the New Year? What do writers need to pay attention to? What are the requirements for paper and ink for New Year's pens? What makes this event a favorite of all walks of life, especially literati, in various New Year's activities? Through the records of many literati diaries, it is possible to try to give brief answers to these questions to see the basic style of writing in the New Year.
The core essence of the New Year's pen is that it is the first act of writing the New Year, and there are some conventional rules in time. Most of the New Year's pens are on New Year's Day, so the New Year's pen may also be called "Yuan Day Writing". However, some writers are unable to start writing on New Year's Day due to physical, weather and other reasons, and their New Year's pen can also start a few days after New Year's Day. The New Year's Writing of the Tongcheng Scholar Xiao Mu Guangxu in the Seventh Year (1881) only began on the second day of the first month. In the thirteenth year of Guangxu, the twenty-second year of Guangxu, the twenty-third year of Guangxu and other years, due to beriberi, dizziness, cold weather and ice in Yantai, Xiao Mu did not try to write on New Year's Day. However, at the latest, on the fifteenth day of the first month, Xiao Mu always had to open his own pen. As for the specific time of the pen, it is often uncertain, but it is mainly concentrated in the morning, and sometimes in the early morning. Most people like to write a pen and then go to celebrate the New Year, or deal with other affairs. Some people choose to send pens between various social interactions, and even some people choose to write at night. It can be seen that the time of the New Year's pen is not fixed, mainly on New Year's Day, but it is not harmful to be a few days late, generally at work, but it is also harmless at night.
Although the time of the New Year's pen is uncertain, the psychology of the pen is inevitably solemn. On New Year's Day of the old calendar, or other times in the first month, when I first picked up a pen, for the literati, it was inevitable that it would be solemn, and there might be some mystery along with it. Qi Jingyi (1871-1936), the grandson of Qi Shichang (1825-1892), once had a poem, "The year is the most distinct today, and the writing is full of joy in the East", which expresses the love of the literati for this day's writing. Yu Pingbo's "New Year's Day Examination" recalls this old tradition, which is that "after writing on the big red paper 'New Year's Day, I will go out to worship the New Year according to the direction of the happy gods contained in the yellow calendar." Write first, then take a step, and the New Year will fill your heart with joy.
Qi Jingyi's diary reads: "The year is the most distinct today, and the words are joyful in the East." Pictured from the "Compendium of the Diary of banknotes collected by the Institute of Modern History"
As for paper and ink and other writing utensils, there seems to be no fixed requirements for the New Year pen, the general ordinary paper and ink can be, of course, there are also some people who choose Zhu Mo. As for the use of pens, the paypeople even use five-color pens. For those who are more serious, they not only use new paper, but also try new ink. Such as Fan Yin (1830-?) of Shaoxing, Zhejiang The new year of Guangxu (1878) New Year's Day diary cloud: "The first book is red, try the ink of the new model bian zhouzi,very firm and fine, but new and greasy, and must be used after three years." "The ink used is the famous Hu Kaiwen autocratic ink. It can be seen how much Fan Yin attaches importance to the New Year's writing.
In the New Year, the writing itself is very important, and the content of the writing is also exquisite. Different people often have specific connotations in their New Year's writings. As far as the form of expression is concerned, the number of words varies, such as single, four, five or seven long, etc.; in terms of content, it is even more different. New Year's pen can write a single word, such as Zeng Guofan Daoguang Twenty-three Years (1843) Yuan Day Diary Cloud, "Unknown from ... Grind ink to try pen, write the word 'filial piety' and the word 'respect', and write the course list. More commonly used are the familiar auspicious words, such as "all things are prosperous", "great luck", "all things are auspicious" and so on. There are also many folk writers, such as the Hankou Nian custom of writing the pen language, "The New Year starts the dragon and tiger pen, and the auspiciousness is great until the end of the year". In my hometown of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, my father also told me that the New Year's pen was a cloud of clouds: "The New Year is a big auspicious chang, and the four seasons of the year are safe." The more outstanding literati chose poetry as the main content of the New Year's writing. The New Year's Day of Huang Pengnian (1824-1890) of Guizhou people mostly begins with New Year's Day poems, such as "New Year's Day Trial Pen" poems in the sixth year of Xianfeng, seven years of Xianfeng, and nine years of Xianfeng. On the first day of the first month of the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871), even fill in the word test pen, "Ruixue flew, the good year can be predicted, the filler word is a test pen, when in Wuchang". As for the content of the New Year's test, the poems can also be paralleled with the auspicious language, because the auspicious words written by Huang Pengnian in this year are "Five Blessings Descending to the Heavens". In any case, most of the text of the New Year's pen is auspicious. Just as Qi Jingyi's "Gu Ting Diary" in 1932, the first day of the first lunar month, these are "auspicious things and auspicious odes".
Huang Pengnian's "Diary of a Yuan'an" tried to write on the New Year's Day of the tenth year of Tongzhi, pictured from the "Shanghai Library Collection of Manuscripts and Banknote Diaries Series"
What is written in the New Year's audition may not be all written text, and sometimes you can also paint and post. For the twenty-seven-year-old Wu Dayi, in the midst of war, the New Year still has the sadness of not being able to be discharged, and the opening of the second day of the first month of the first month of xin younian (1861) is a painting of the window heart, the so-called "rain window is boring, so as to dispel boredom", and did not write down the auspicious words of the test pen. It is not uncommon to choose to start with painting, Ni Daosun's "Haifeng Diary" Jiaqing nineteenth year (1814) on the second day of the first month, "painting a piece of paper under the lamp, enough to break the silence". This is ni Daosun's first writing since the New Year. On the New Year's Day of the first year of Guangxu (1875), Tao Maoxuan's "Jishan Diary" recorded: "Wash and study the test pen, learn the Han stele to count the paper", it seems that it is the beginning of the New Year's pen with the Linbei post.
In short, in terms of content, there is no special requirement for the ceremony of writing in the New Year. The auspicious language is naturally a large quantity, but the literati who are not limited to this can choose what they want to write at will. In this regard, the new year's pen ceremony is loose, and literate people of different regions and at different levels (not necessarily literati) can choose the writing tradition he accepts at will and write down what he sees as appropriate. Even some persistent literati can create their own New Year writing style.
Du Fengzhi's "Diary of the Eunuch Yue of wangxingguan" Guangxu seventh year New Year's Day book red, pictured from the "Qing Dynasty Manuscript Manuscript"
Third, the power of the shadow and the dimension of self-examination
New Year's Day as a watershed in the timing, with its charm of removing the old cloth and the new cloth, people unconsciously want to do something on this day, in order to vaguely echo the magic of the season. On the first day of the first lunar month, whether it is to worship ancestors, worship the god of merit, the god of the middle, incense, silent prayer, etc., or walk in the direction of the god of joy, it may be a reaction to the power of obedience to this festival. Jiangsu Yizheng Fang Dinglu (1824-1890) "Diary of Amber Zhai" Guangxu Seventh Year (1871) New Year's Day diary clearly wrote: "Shen carved the beginning of the pen, honoring the "Spirit Chess". "In Fang Dinglu's New Year's event, the opening and use of the Spirit Chess Sutra for divination are regarded as similar things, highlighting the mysterious side of the opening pen. In the face of the unknown new year, looking back at the old years that have passed, some prospects for the unpredictable fate and the summary of themselves will also arise spontaneously. As a result, a feeling of communication and self-renewal spread out on various behaviors on New Year's Day. The New Year's test pen, in terms of its functional connotations, also shows its magic in the power of the shadow and the dimension of self-examination.
Fang Dinglu's diary records that "the Green Dragon opened the pen ... Shen carved the pen and paid homage to the "Spirit Chess"" ". The picture is from the "Compendium of the Diary of banknotes collected by the Institute of Modern History".
Many Qing Dynasty diaries write many things about communicating with the gods on the first day of the first lunar month. For example, He Yinzhuo's "Diary of hoeing the Moon Pavilion" in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty does not record the new year's writing, but on the second day of the first two days of the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu (1899), it is still written that "arrange sacrifices, worship the gods, and the family is sincere, and in order to silently bless me from now on, God will learn from it." On the New Year's Day of the Thirty-fourth Year of Guangxu (1908), He Yinzhuo "entered the heavens and the earth with a petal of incense, the heart was devout, the smoke was clear and straight, through the occupation of the city, the heavens and the sky were not set up, and the heart was self-sufficient, or it would not eventually be abandoned." ...... A family celebrates, is full of food and cakes, and is related to both wealth and officials, and so on." In He Yinliang's life in the first month, it seems that everything is full of metaphors. The incense lit on New Year's Day was seen by him as part of divination. The family ate a lot of hair cake, and he also built up the vision of "getting rich" and "rising" through the relationship of voice. These metaphorical New Year's events are not only the practice of the Ho family's life, but also become part of the New Year's diary through The Pen of He Yin. The diary thus preserves conclusive evidence for the communication between the literati and the gods in the New Year.
In the way of communicating with the gods in the New Year, the New Year's pen is more obscure in the text, but there are not many New Year's pens for the gods. For example, Yao Yongxuan's "Diary of Shen Yixuan" Xin Di Diary (1891) first two days of the cloud: "The number of teeth cards, the cloud: 'Open the paddock widely, shoot the deer to get the deer.'" Gu Pan is self-satisfied, and the middle will be stacked. So he wrote it on red paper, and recorded it in the second sentence of "I often feel that the business in my chest is full, and I must know that there are many bitter people in the world." Although Yao Yongkuo himself believed that "he often feels that the business in his chest is full, and he must know that there are many bitter people in the world" to write for the New Year, he has raised his teeth and written on red paper, which has constituted a de facto New Year's pen. Yao Yong's act of writing shows the communication effect between the New Year's pen and the power of youming. It also shows that the New Year's pen may not be the first time in fact the New Year, but a constructive subjective decision to write. In a diary, the author has the power to decide which content will be written in the New Year, which leads to some texts that are not written for the first time in the New Year are identified as New Year's pens.
The content of the New Year's pen has both a side that leads to the divinity and a candle that illuminates the heart. When they turn the pen back to themselves, the content of Confucian spiritual cultivation becomes the best choice for writing. On the morning of New Year's Day in the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), after greeting relatives and friends and drinking jujube soup, Li Hongyi (1831-1885), who was idle in Suzhou, sent a few lines of writing and wrote down the contents in his diary:
Cultivate the gods on virtue, and know that the gods should be spring. Know the fate is not afraid, forgiveness is not blind, and it is too much to go. Purify your heart, free from dust. Where there is a sight, it is not seen. I'm not in the right place, raptors are tame. There is nothing to do, calm and peaceful. Trouble and horror, for the heart of the hazel. Loss and loss, new and new. Gentle and endless, like the eternity of the moon.
The content of the New Year's Day pen contained in Li Hongyi's "Diary of Lin Su" is from the "Shanghai Library Collection of Banknote Diaries Series"
Li Hongyi also used a Zhu pen to mark the cloud in the sky: "God is sex, and it should be quiet." This series of self-exhortation words about mental cultivation is Li Hongyi's motivation for himself. This kind of encouragement does not seek the gods, but is mostly a requirement for Taoist cultivation, and it is also mixed with some Buddhist practice methods. Li Hongyi belongs to the special belief in the New Year's pen, pay attention to the use of caution in the author. His "Diary of Lin Su" Tongzhi thirteen years (1884) New Year's Day, "sitting on Wan Mo Zhai issued a pen, the book Tongcheng Zhang Wen and Gong "Cheng Huai Yuan Language" number." ...... Read the three volumes of "Cheng Huai Yuan Language" at night. "On the third day of the first lunar month, with "Huang Sulin", "Daoyin Monument". For reading and writing at other times in the New Year, Li Hongyi is solemn. Li Hongyi's actions represent a class of Confucian influencers, who often cannot forget the idea of "main respect" when writing. For example, Sun Xuan (1896-1945), whose diary rarely records the events of the New Year's writing, "Yilou Diary" 壬寅 (1932) On the first day of the first lunar month, after getting up early to burn incense to worship the ancestors, that is, "opening a written test Zhang Yu "Jing Zhai Ming", "Jing Zhai Ming" said that "things are ever-changing, unifying the heart", emphasizing the important role of the heart, reflecting a kind of concern for the inner world.
People who are cautious about writing in the New Year believe that this series of actions can bring good luck to the New Year. Jicheng Diary Guangxu Twenty-five Years (1899) on the first day of the first lunar month, "inheriting water and ink, writing the end of the book, getting a new meaning." The so-called "new meaning" here may indicate that Yoshijo is very satisfied with this test and believes that this time it is written with the meaning of the New Year. Another layer of meaning may be to write in a diary, thinking that it has something new. In short, in Jicheng's view, the beginning of the new year is able to add a fresh meaning to fate.
Between the power of the ghost and personal introspection, for the reader, there is no doubt that scientific research is the biggest thing. The contingency of the imperial examination has given rise to many behaviors about induction signs and even superstitions. And many literati's New Year's tests, as discussed by Liang Zhangju above, are closely related to scientific expeditions. Take the Anhui man Sun Dian (1855-1891), who had been the curtain in Jinan, for example, whose person has survived the "Diary of Menghai Huaguan", which contains the events of Guangxu from seven to thirteen years, and the diary only records the new year of Guangxu's eleventh year (1885) on New Year's Day, "Morning rise, hair pen, word cloud: '... There is a destiny, and it is willing to take its crown. Return to the widows, and take care of the children. Yongqing reunion, family fun. In the first month of the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886), Sun Dian, who had fallen in the first place, seemed to have quickly forgotten about the matter of writing, and in addition to the record of "throwing yuan chips", the third to fifth days of the first year were all wrapped up in hand talk (playing Go). In the first month of the thirteenth year of Guangxu, the family is still mainly talking about hand. In Sun Dian's New Year's Day diary for many years after that, in addition to the New Year, he made many plays, watched dramas, and "threw yuantu" with the owner of the residence, etc., and did not mention the matter of writing. Sun Dian's occasional or flashy New Year's pen shows that he does not attach importance to this, but this is the general situation of the Qing Dynasty literati's New Year's pen. The literati's New Year's writing is like Chinese's prayer for god, focusing on immediate effects, and once the statute of limitations passes, whether it is spiritual or not, it is forgotten.
Fourth, the pure reader Xiao Mu's "test pen"
For middle- and lower-class literati, the New Year's Day test pen conveys a strong desire, although the fame and wealth are out of reach, but this belief has been transformed into a habit. Xiao Mu (1834-1904), a scholar from Tongcheng, Anhui Province, would carefully try to write on the first day of the first lunar month of each year, concentrate on reading and writing, and explicitly publish these acts in his diary. Xiao Mu, who was lonely and cold in his youth and could not expand after middle age, only relied on school books, teaching halls, and entering the curtain to make a living, and showed the true colors of a real reader with the "Jingfu Diary" that spanned decades between Xianfeng and Guangxu. For Xiao Mu, who is obsessed with reading and collecting township literature, trying on pens in the New Year is an ordinary act that is as indispensable as dressing and eating.
Xiao Mu's first day of the New Year usually revolves around several themes: trying pens, worshipping ancestors, eating, and celebrating the New Year. The time of the audition is usually in the early morning, or at a certain time in the morning. Xiao Mu always completed the audition before the transactional activities such as ancestor worship. On the one hand, this shows that he is very good at planning time for daily classes, and on the other hand, it means that he regards the audition activity as a priority task for the New Year. For example, Xianfeng Xin Younian (1861) New Year's Day Diary Cloud: "Xin You's New Year's Day, open the door when ugly, smell the sound of firecrackers, and even have a peaceful wind." After lying down, carving up, washing the face to enter the school, sitting, after trying the pen, worship the ancestors. For Xiao Mu, the first thing to do when entering the hall in the early morning is to try the pen, and after the test pen, it is the collective ancestor worship activity. The diary is very brief, but in the daily life of the flowing account, the test pen is in a conspicuous position after all.
For Xiao Mu, the test pen is not a deliberate performance behavior that shows the characteristics of the reader, but a naturally revealed living habit. Writing and reading runs through Xiao Mu's daily life, and on new year's day, it is just a natural extension of many ordinary days. Reading articles, flipping through books, sorting out books, trying pens, this series of things related to the cause of reading, Xiao Mu never fell behind on New Year's Day or the next day or two. Xiao Mu did not write down the specific content of the New Year's test in his diary, but when he deduced his meaning, I am afraid that it is still mainly auspicious. What can be deduced is that the books That Xiao Mu read on this day were carefully selected. On the New Year's Day of the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), Xiao Mu tried to write in the morning, "After recording a poem by Tang Wenzheng, take the "Biography of Wei Xian" of the Book of Han, and approve it in two and a half pages. The next day, he also "took the biography of Wei Xuancheng and approached his approval point." This choice, or there are some deliberate ingredients. Wei Xian (148-60 BC) was a Great Confucian of ZouLu during the Western Han Dynasty, and the ancestor Wei Meng (228-156 BC) was the King of Chu Yuan, and the Book of Han reproduced several chapters of his long poems, some people said that it was satire, and some people said that it was "recounting the aspirations of the ancestors". Wei Xian's four sons are all famous, Wei Xuancheng (?) - 36 BC) after the position to the prime minister. Zou Lu said in a proverb: "The widow is full of gold, it is better to have a classic." These readings by Xiao Mu are full of symbolism and pin his hopes on the individual and the family. And the poems of Tang Bin that Xiao Mu read on this day were also like reading Zhang Ying's collected poems on the New Year's Day of the eighth year of Tongzhi (1867), probably hoping to contaminate the blessings of famous courtiers. Those famous courtiers of the dynasty who were just bright and bright, and the graceful Taige poems they created, I am afraid that they can also add some dignified and rich good luck to people. Xiao Mu deliberately read these poems, and inadvertently revealed his desire for wealth and good fortune. Of course, Xiao Mu's New Year's reading is not always so selective. Just like the New Year's Day of the Tenth Year of The Reign (1871), Xiao Mu read the "Collected Interpretations of the Rizhilu", and on the New Year's Day of the Eleventh Year of the Tongzhi Dynasty, he read the "Four Books of the King's Ding". These two books do not have much internal connection with the New Year. This is not difficult to understand, after all, reading and writing are like breathing for Xiao Mu. Excluding the special festive atmosphere of the New Year, such a day is just another ordinary reading day.
For people who do not leave the pen and the book in their daily lives, although the action of trying to write is ordinary, the special day of the New Year makes this series of writing actions become ritualistic and become a small hint that can carry wishes. From the Xianfeng Decade (1860) to the Guangxu Decade (1884), in the twenty-five years, except for the fifth year of Guangxu (1879) because of "cold weather, can not try to write", the remaining twenty-four years of New Year's Day, Xiao Mu wrote the word "test pen" in his diary. In this long twenty-five years, Xiao Mu gradually entered the old age of knowing the destiny of heaven from a 26-year-old young man, and the test pen was his special insistence on not giving up his prayers in the new year. Although we have no way of knowing exactly what Xiao Mu wrote in his test writing, he should still have some extravagant hopes for fame and wealth over the years.
Xiao Mu's "Jingfu Diary" Guangxu New Year's Day Diary Cloud "Day in the Day", pictured from the "Shanghai Library Collection of Banknote Diary Series"
After the sixth year of Guangxu (1880), Xiao Mu's surviving New Year's Day diary still had nineteen years, but only the New Year's Day diary of the eighteenth year of Guangxu and the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu explicitly mentioned the matter of "test writing". After the age of fifty, Xiao Mu's entire physical and mental state has gradually declined, sometimes he suffers from illness, such as Guangxu suffered from beriberi around the new year's Day of the thirteenth year, and could not get out of bed; sometimes suffered from livelihood, such as Guangxu fifteen years later, Xiao Mu lived in profit and money, and in the New Year, he could only "talk about trivia and play dice" with his buddies. Xiao Mu, who knew the year of the Mandate of Heaven, no longer hoped how much the test pen could improve his living conditions, so he was also quite indifferent to this solemn ceremony. The occasional or occasional New Year's test in the diary during these nineteen years may have been promoted by Xiao Mu's long-term habit of reading and writing, but it also saw Xiao Mu's reading life in his later years.
On the New Year's Day of the eighteenth year of Guangxu (1892), Xiao Mu's New Year still began in the east building of the Cantonese Dialect Hall of the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Before dawn, his brother Zhongzhen came to urge him to prepare for the ceremony, Xiao Mu quickly got up to wash his face, drank tea, straightened his clothes, went to the lobby, and performed three kneeling and nine prostrations to the throne of Confucius. After dawn, he accompanied the general office of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the department of dispatch. After doing all this, Xiao Mu returned to the Canton Dialect Hall, sincerely burning incense and trying to write. It was not until eleven o'clock in the morning that Xiao Mufang went out to celebrate the New Year.
In addition to celebrating the New Year and being celebrated, Xiao Mu also read the "Collected Writings of Zhang Wenduan", especially "reading his expressions to help the auspicious prosperity". Subsequently, he also read Lu Wenbi's "Notes on Reading History". At night, Xiao Mu sat down against the candle for a while and then went to sleep. On the New Year's Day of the eighteenth year of Guangxu, it was cloudy all day, and the rain that began at four o'clock in the evening continued until late at night. For Xiao Mu, a reader, on the first day of the new year, everything he did was to read books as the fundamental purpose, and the purpose of ushering in and sending them was to keep his position and create a good environment for reading. And to kneel three times and nine times to the throne of Confucius, and to burn incense to test the pen, is to pray sincerely to the master to bless the New Year's museum with smooth and smooth affairs. Like everyone else, his wish is all auspicious for the New Year, expressed in a way that is unique to the reader. Xiao Mu chose to read the chapters and tables full of the vision of the gods from the collection of the famous Tongcheng xiang Zhang Ying, in order to convey the auspicious Xingtou. Xiao Mu did not live up to the "human design" of his readers, on the second and third day of the first month of the first month, Xiao Mu successively recorded Zhang Xuecheng's articles, and in the next few days, he hardly stopped writing for a day.
Xiao Mu, who kept wearing his hands, always did the duty of a reader. After the age of fifty, he did not solemnly write down the "New Year's Audition" in his diary every year, but in the first few days of the New Year, Xiao Mu was always close to the books, and did not go away from the books and competed for wine and food. On the New Year's Day of the nineteenth year of Guangxu (1893), Xiao Mu's brothers and nephews all came to play at home, but he was still "playing books day and night, sipping tea and adapting himself". In the morning, he divinated the year's "personal events" and "annual achievements", and perhaps he also wrote auspicious words, but this did not appear in the diary. On the second day of the first month of the first month, Xiao Mu sorted out last year's income and expenditure. On the third day of the first month, Xiao Mu inspected all kinds of books and read the Zhuzi Annals again. On the fourth day of the first month, Xiao Mu still cleaned up the annals and bound his diary for the year of Renchen. In the lively New Year's activities, Xiao Mu never let go of the reading string in his heart.
Even if he was unwell in the New Year, Xiao Mu never let go of his beloved pen. On the first day of the first lunar month in the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894), Xiao Mu's sore arm was still unwell since he went to Lala, but after breakfast the next day, he still picked up his pen and "remembered the schedule since December 25 of the winter", and used Zhu Pen to proofread "Xu Riding Provincial Collection". On the New Year's Day of the twenty-first year of Guangxu, although Xiao Mu, who had a new year's illness, did not have a special test pen, but after his dizziness after dinner, he still "remembered the schedule and counted", so as to open the actual New Year's pen.
For low-level readers like Xiao Mu, the worldly running often encounters a wall, and it is difficult to be proud of life. Fortunately, those ancestors Tezawa continued to give him strength. It is conceivable that Xiao Mu's reading and writing should always be accompanied by the belief that words have power. On the first day of each new year, this ancient custom of trying to write constantly reminds literati like Xiao Mu that reading and writing is still a promising thing and worth looking forward to. Even after people reach middle age, Pepsi Xiaosuo, the New Year's Eve, will still occasionally think of this custom. The "test pen" that occasionally appeared in his diary in the eighteenth year of Guangxu and the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu shows that he still has a residual belief in the "test pen" and the hope it brings.
In all the new years after adulthood, Xiao Mu never left the book and the pen, showing the true color of a pure reader in the late Qing Dynasty. The last day of Xiao Mu's diary was July 4, 1904, the 30th year of Guangxu, and on this day his diary had only a few numbers: "Qing, reading field poems every day." In the last days of his life, Xiao Mu was still reading the poems of the widow Qian Chengzhi (1612-1693, a native of Tongcheng, Anhui, late tianjian). Life goes on, reading and writing, Xiao Mu can be described as a saint of China's "word religion".
The New Year's Pen, so for Xiao Mu, became a unique bright moment in the New Year, like a beam of light illuminating the darkness and unhappiness of his old years of dust and servants. The Reading pen of the New Year also gives Xiao Mu, whose life is extremely unstable, a spiritual anchor. In addition to the ritual sacrifices and entertainment activities agreed upon in the New Year, the New Year's pen provides a sharp contrast and highlights the characteristics of the literati. In the midst of the New Year's uproar, this small gesture provided a moment of tranquility for a literati like Xiao Mu. Amid the sound of firecrackers and shouts, the silent writing shows the charm of silence and recognizes the power of words.
Fifth, the family nature of the New Year's pen
As a universal ritual activity, New Year pen writing was once spread throughout China. Zhong Shuhe's "New Year's Day Examination" believes: "Among the elders, all the family members who have pens and stones, this trend has continued until about 1949, including Mr. Winter Baking in the countryside and the farmers, industrialists and merchants who 'cultivate and read heirlooms' and 'know what's'. In fact, even during the "seventeen-year period", private diaries still retain records of New Year's writings. After the reform and opening up, the tradition of writing in the New Year has been revived again. The endless vitality of the New Year's writing tradition makes people unconsciously want to spy on the dynamics of its endless life. For example, in the family, how is the tradition of writing pens in the New Year established? Does the universal New Year's pen penetrate into the boudoir outside the mainstream male literati group? Where exactly are the boundaries of this traditional power?
Although the New Year pen is a common New Year custom, it also shows a clear familial nature. The aforementioned Liang Zhangju's "Continuation of the Traces of the Waves" mentions that his grandfather asked him to write a pen in the New Year, which shows the factors in the Liang family's New Year pen. In the Zeng Guofan family, this tradition has a clear trajectory in time and form. Zeng Guofan's diary from the twenty-third year of Daoguang (1843), that is, there are records of New Year's Day test writing, and although there have been times when they have quit writing, the diary of Daoguang Twenty-five Years, Tongzhi Six Years, and Tongzhi Nine New Year's Day has clearly recorded the trial pen. Zeng Guofan's insistence on writing in the New Year and recording it in his diary should have affected his son Zeng Jize (1839-1890). Zeng Guofan Tongzhi diary on the first day of the first month of the ninth year, "After breakfast,...... Rotate to the shogunate to celebrate the New Year. In the upper room, the family pays tribute, and tries to write. Zeng Jize's diary on the same day recorded, "In the afternoon, I learned to write a piece of paper, and I wrote a lot of zero words." On this day, Zeng Jize was in the shogunate of Zeng Guofan, reading the diary of the father and son duo, and it can be seen that Zeng Jize's afternoon learning is exactly his de facto New Year's writing. Zeng Jize's diary clearly records the issuance of the pen, starting from the next year. Judging from the existing diary of Zeng Jize, there are thirteen years of the first day of the first month of the new month, and the issue of the pen is prominently mentioned. Zeng Jize also retained the habit of Zeng Guofan's New Year's writing to try on the pen. In addition, Zeng Jize's diary clearly wrote how such traditions were maintained at home, and his New Year's Day diary cloud in the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886): "From the third moment of Tatsumi ... After the pen was issued, the kai nei people led their children to worship their ancestors and receive congratulations, and the children sent pens to the children. It can be seen that the New Year's pen in the Zeng Guofan family is no longer a personal New Year's choice, but a matter of family inheritance. From the matter of looking at the children's generations, it can be preliminarily speculated that the pen has become a family cultural landscape deliberately operated by the Zeng family during the New Year. This kind of New Year's scene when the elderly watch their children and grandchildren write should be a family cultural affair run by many poetry and book families. In Wenzhou, thousands of kilometers away from Hunan, the local scholar Zhang Tang (1860-1942) diary on the first day of the first lunar month of the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919), "There is snow, the children open their pens, and the eldest and third children chant the five laws." The New Year's pen is related to the fragrance of books and the family's reading career, so for the Shuxiang Mendi, many descendants of the family have begun to write in the New Year, which not only shows that there are successors to the family's reading career, but also symbolizes the prosperity of the family.
Writing in the New Year is a tradition that has been disciplined by generations of literati. Parents write, and children are also asked to write like this. For children of reading people, the first day lesson on New Year's Day may be to send a pen, and after the pen is issued, it is play and entertainment. As Zhong Shuhe said in "New Year's Day Hair Pen", this morning, "under the arrangement of the adults, after washing, he was called to sit well, grind ink and paper, use a brush to write down the eight words 'New Year's Day Hair Pen, all the best', paste it on the wall, the task is completed, you can play until the sixteenth day of the first month to see the dragon lamp." Zeng Guofan and Zhong Shuhe are both Hunan people, while Liang Zhangju, Lin Zexu and others are all Fujian people, does this indicate that there may be some regional or ethnic characteristics in the ritualistic activity of writing in the New Year? At least as far as the Eight Banners of Manchuria are concerned, from the palace to the general ministers and the children of the Eight Banners, they all like to write single words in the New Year's pen, showing certain ethnic characteristics.
Feng Wanlin's "Pei Yun's Diary" is included in the eighth series of rare historical materials in modern and modern China, "Five Kinds of Modern Women's Diaries (One Outer One)".
The New Year's test pen is gradually immersed in the boudoir, which proves the grandeur of this wind. Not many diary diaries survive in the Qing Dynasty, and even fewer clearly record the events of new year's day. Feng Wanlin (1848-1914), a native of DaiXian County, Shanxi, was the wife of Dong Wencan of Hongdong, and his Diary of Pei Yun contains the events of the sixth, seventh, eighth years of Tongzhi and the New Year's Day of the Tenth Year of Guangxu, of which the New Year's Day diary of the Tenth Year of Guangxu was cloudy, "Sunny and windless." The chanting is even noon. Try to write in letters. "On the second day of the first year, "use the tooth card to teach the year". New Year divination and pen test writing, is the Hongdong Dong family tradition, Dong Lin, Dong Wenhuan (1833-1877) brothers "Guanfu Shanfang Diary" and "Da Nang Shanfang Diary" have New Year's Day tooth card divination, "I Ching" divination records ("Guanfu Shanfang Diary" Tongzhi fourth year of the first month of the first month of the first month of the "divination card", "Da Nang Shanfang Diary" Tongzhi second year of the first month of the first year of the "Yuan Day test pen, and then use Dongpo Chinese New Year's Eve rhyme". It seems that Feng Wanlin's attempt to write may be related to the Dong family's New Year's Day pen test. However, unlike the way the Dong brothers wrote many test poems, Feng's test pen was a calligraphy. Unfortunately, Feng Wanlin's diary clearly records that the New Year's Day "test pen" is only the last time. His diary of the New Year's Day of the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868) records the Yapai Lesson, and the diary of the fifth day of the first month of the seventh year of Tongzhi begins to mention "zuo kai" (p. 62), which may also be an audition. Although there are few records of women trying to write on traditional Chinese New Year, Feng Wanlin's diary at least shows that the boudoir has been soaked in this style.
In short, the New Year's Pen is the first collective literary carnival of all readers in the New Year, a grand gathering of faith, wishes, uneasiness and encouragement. The first words written in the new year not only declare hope and prayer, but also imply auspiciousness and blessings, but also reveal their longings, losses and regrets in the old times at a deep level. These highly abstract auspicious terms reflect universal aspirations, abstract ideals, but these stylized terms are also rooted in everyday life and practical needs. Some literati changed their language and used methods such as writing poems on the first day, which made these words more diverse. While looking forward to the beauty of the New Year and the future, some New Year's writings reminiscing about the past are full of sighs and are equally intriguing. Chen Naiqian (1896-1971), a famous modern philologist, opened his diary in 1959, "Young chickens sing on the pillow, and old people come to the pillow to listen to the chickens." Turning his head for more than thirty years, he did not consume only a few sounds. Pineapple sentence. He tried to write on New Year's Day, when he was sixty and four. Chen Naiqian's diary of the first month of existence for 16 years is the only one that has recorded the examination and writing. For the elderly in the difficult times, it is not surprising that the New Year pen is opened in a sigh mode, but it is enough to make people feel infinite emotion about the multi-end of the New Year pen style. Naturally, these diverse characteristics make the New Year's pen a part of the display of moral cultivation and literary skills. The literati can use it not only to express popular visions, but also to express the subtle demands of individuals.
Still seeing the Qing Dynasty as a link in the chain of "Confucian China" (Levinson), it is impossible not to make some religious explanations for the universal Yuan-Day writing activities of the Qing Dynasty literati. Like many literati in traditional China, many of the writing activities of the Qing Dynasty literati can be shrouded in "literati beliefs", the core of which is the Confucian ideal of "self-cultivation, family unity, governance, and peace in the world", and many of the words attached to it can be regarded as footnotes to this literati belief. The writings of the Sutras and the poems of The Guardian Dao can be regarded as products of this belief. The Yuan-Day Script once again confirms this belief, and integrates it with folk customs and hides it.
This article is a phased result of the major project of the National Social Science Foundation of China" "Narrative, Collation and Research of Modern Chinese Diaries" (18ZDA259), which was first published by The Paper (www.thepaper.cn). The author is affiliation with the School of Humanities, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.