Dr. Zhong Zhenzhen was born in 1950 in Nanjing. He is currently a professor at Nanjing Normal University and a doctoral supervisor. Director of the Institute of Ancient Literature Collation. He is also the guidance professor of the "Foreign Scholars Chinese Culture Research Scholarship" of the National Scholarship Council, the president of the Chinese Rhyme Literature Association, the vice president of the Global Chinese Poetry Association, the consultant of the Chinese Poetry Society, the general consultant of the "Poetry Conference" of CCTV, the consultant of the poetry platform of "Listening to the Rain in the Small Building", and the Distinguished Professor of the Wenjin Pulpit of the National Library. He has been invited to lecture at more than 30 famous overseas universities such as Yale and Stanford in the United States.
Professor Zhong Zhenzhen Q&A Mailbox(77)
Song Fan Cheng's poem "Boiling Bottle Floating Wax"
Late Spring Pastoral Miscellaneous (Twelve Songs of Ten)
[Song] Fan Chengda
The valley rain is like dust, and the boiled bottle of floating wax is trying new.
Peonies are ripe with sepals and cherries, and no flowers are allowed to fall into the spring.
Netizen Yan Nanfei asked: Please sir, how to understand the "boiled bottle floating wax" in this poem? Thanks a lot!
Zhong Zhenzhen answered: I would like to answer this question in two steps.
(1) First say "floating wax".
At the same time as Fan Chengda, Lu You had a poem from "Early Summer": "It has passed the day of raccoon flowers, and the line has opened a rice dumpling feast." Shop sell floating wax wine, step by step carrying rice boats. ”
And "Twilight Spring" poems four of them are four: "The removal has passed the beginning of the twilight spring, and the color boats are more than ten miles apart." Floating wax likes to taste the new store wine, and the dust idles the bad yuan book. ”
Ming Zheng Zhen's "Mr. Shou Wu Professor" poems two of the two also said: "Zhen Ku Xiao Bao Hou Mackerel ripe, Bao Urn Spring Floating Wax Ant Xin." ”
In addition, Yang Rong's poem "Filial Piety Hall for Lü Shangshu" says: "Gong Used to be next to his mother at home, and he was in the high hall at dusk. Qing Qing Ant floating wax, colorful clothes even flying geese. ”
According to the comprehensive investigation of Fan Cheng's poems and the above poems, it can be seen that "floating wax" refers to wine.
If we only examine the poems of Fan Chengda and Lu You, two Southern Song Poets, we have a reason to say it in more detail: this is a kind of wine brewed in the countryside at that time, matured in late spring and early summer, and opened the altar.
Why do you say "floating wax"?
"Wax" is an oil produced by animals, plants or minerals that is plastic, can melt, can burn, but cannot be dissolved in water. Song Chen Jing's "Xiang Spectrum" Volume II "Ambergris" said: "Half a pound of white honey is fried, and the floating wax is removed." Volume III of "Merlin Xiang" said: "White honey forty-two, heavy soup boiled, go to the floating wax." "Honey contains wax, and wax is inedible, so the wax floating on the surface of the honey soup must be skimmed off. According to this speculation, is this wine also mixed with honey?
Of course, you can also think from another perspective. According to the above-quoted Mingren poems, "Bao'oun Spring Floating Wax Ant Xin" and "QingQin Huang Ant Floating Wax" clouds, "wax" and "ants" are mentioned together, perhaps "wax" is not beeswax, but also like "ants", it is just a metaphor. In the ancient poems related to wine, the word "floating ants" was common, such as The poem "Spring Cola" of Jin Wang Shu said: "Floating ants in the mash, sitting side by side." Tao Yuanming's "Proposed Elegy" three of the two: "Spring mash is born floating ants, when can you taste more." Southern Dynasty Liang Xiao Gang's "Wounded Away From the New Body Poem" said: "The floating ants in the bowl cannot be drunk, and the jade emblem between the qinjian adjusts the crane." Northern Zhou Yuxin's "Zhengdan Meng Zhao Wang Zhao Wine Poem" says: "Meteors fall towards the spring, floating ants bloom in spring." Tang Luobin Wang's poem "Autumn Rao Lu Daoist Chen Wenlin" says: "The jade pillar is far away from the hong, and the golden one floats in the air." Du Fu's poem "Twenty Rhymes to the King of Ruyang" says: "Xian Li comes to floating ants, strange hair or give eagles." Liu Yuxi's poem "Reward Lotte Shirt Wine See Mail" says: "The wine law is spread to Wu Mi is good, and the dance clothes are still more and more light." The fragrance of the floating ants is very strong, and the dress is light and the mood is alive. Lu Tong's poem "Sending Han Xi Shangren" says: "It is better to go to the Yang Tang and pluck the floating ants." Wen Tingjun's poem "Li Yu's Virgin Sending a New Pickle to Take Away the Pen Drama Reward" says: "I have hated the drifting warbler to deceive the guests, and I will floating ants and Liu Lang." Tortoise Meng's "Village Night Part II" is one of them: "Open the bottle floating ant green, try to write autumn energy." "Of course, "Floating ants" cannot mean ants floating on the surface of the wine, but rather refers to the rice lees floating on the surface of the wine." "Floating wax" may also refer to the white debris floating on the surface of the wine.
Due to the lack of literature, I cannot be sure whether the "floating wax" is a real or figurative, and I can only put forward the assumption that I think is reasonable, and pray that the wise people will be correct.
(2) Say "boiling bottle" again.
Han Yangxiong's "Interpretation of dialects of other countries by the Emissaries of Xuanxuan" Volume V: "缶... Its small one is called a bottle. In ancient times, the so-called "bottle" mainly referred to a smaller container made of pottery or ceramics.
Northern Wei Jia Sixun's "Qi Min Zhi Shu" Volume VII "Making Divine Comedy Cake Wine" says: "Where the winter moon brews wine, the cold does not develop (fermentation), with a tile bottle of hot soup, firmly plugged the mouth, and boiled the bottle in the kettle (iron pot) soup (boiling water), making it extremely hot, leading out (taking out), holding (placing) the wine urn, and the whiskers are immediately hairy." ”
However, carefully chanting Fan Cheng's poem "Boiling bottle floating wax is trying to taste new" sentence means that at present- in late spring this year, the newly brewed wine is being tasted; therefore, the word "boiled bottle" seems not to be far away from the near, tracing back to last winter's winemaking. That is to say, the word "boiling bottle" in "Qi Min Yao Shu" is only accidentally the same as Fan Cheng's poem, and it is not necessarily related.
Unlike modern "distilled spirits", ancient wines were rice wine, i.e. "brewed sake". From the perspective of health, rice wine is moderately heated before drinking, which is more beneficial to health. "Boiling bottle" is the way to heat the wine - or to boil the bottle with the wine in an iron pot; or to boil the bottle first and then inject the wine into the bottle, which can achieve the effect of heating. If it is a wine mixed with honey, heating can also make the wax in the honey precipitate and float on the surface of the wine, which is easy to skim off.
Considering that "boiling bottle" and "floating wax" are used together, perhaps the "wax" of "floating wax" really refers to beeswax, which is more reasonable.
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