With the hit of "The Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty", the marriage and travel of the Tang Dynasty people in the play, as well as the description of the people's love to eat cherries and bì luó, including monster cats, phantom tigers, white pythons and other exotic beasts have been talked about by the audience. A few days ago, Wei Fenghua, the screenwriter of the play, was interviewed by a reporter from the Beijing News and interpreted the details of the netizens who appeared in the play.
Beijing News: What exactly is the thing that blows in the play? What is it done?
In the play, Lu Lingfeng took out a fire fold when he was investigating the case, and blew it.
Wei Fenghua: This is called fire folding, which can be understood as ancient matches that can be burned for a long time, and ancient lighters can also be said. It is generally believed that the fire fold appeared during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but it was inconclusive. The fire fold is made of a roll of brown paper in the shape of a "cigar", supplemented with cotton, phosphorus, sulfur, etc., loaded into a bamboo tube of the same thickness, and after lighting the fire fold, it can be illuminated; When not in use, cover it, due to air barrier and lack of oxygen, the fire fold will be in a "half-extinguished" state. If you use it again, pull off the lid and re-ignite it after rapid blowing.
Beijing News: Did this flatbread and other food exist at that time? Is it a common way to eat?
The Tang Dynasty people shown in the play eat.
Wei Fenghua: Cake was a staple food of the Tang Dynasty. In their diet, it occupies the most important position. In the concept of the Tang Dynasty, whether in the soup or not in the soup, as long as it is made of noodles and into a certain shape, it can basically be called a cake. That is to say, compared with now, the range of Tang Dynasty cakes is wider. The preparation method of tang cake is mainly baked, seared, steamed and boiled. Among them, the most popular is Hu Bao Bian, a baked pasta dish that comes from the Western Regions with dumplings. Bai Juyi "Sending Hu Cake and Yang Wanzhou": "The flax cake sample is learned from Kyoto, and the noodles are crispy and fragrant. ”
Beijing News: In the episode "Huangmei Killing", it is said that northerners don't know how to drink tea, and there was no tea in the north in that era?
Wei Fenghua: In China, tea entered ordinary people's homes after the appearance of Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" in the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Although the Chinese people already had the habit of drinking tea in the Sheng Tang Dynasty and before, they were mainly concentrated in the scholar class. The background of the story in the play is that before the prosperous era of the Kaiyuan, tea was not widely popular in the Central Plains, so there is dialogue in the play.
The tea-eating plot shown in the play.
Beijing News: There are monster cats, phantom tigers, white pythons and other foreign beasts in the play, what is the inspiration for several foreign beasts that appear in the play? Where to learn from?
The monster that appears in the play is actually a crocodile.
Wei Fenghua: Let's talk about cats first. Nowadays cats are considered docile little animals. But for a long time in ancient times, this was not the case. Especially in the Sui and Tang dynasties, cats were endowed with mysterious, weird and terrifying colors, and the people of the Tang Dynasty were especially afraid of cat ghosts or cat demons, cat monsters, and cat spirits. The Tang man Zhang Wei "Chaoye Youzai" recorded the story of the so-called cat ghost: "In the season of Sui's great cause, the cat ghost incident, the domestic pension cat is disgusting, quite divine. More than thousands of families in Kyoto and prefectures have been falsely accused. King Xiu of Shu sat there, and the Sui Chamber died, and his affairs also slept. Li Yong said in the "Records of the Golden Valley Garden": "In May of the eighteenth year of Emperor Wen of Sui, cats and ghosts were forbidden, poisonous, disgusting, and wild Taoists. In addition, the "Tang Lü Shu Discussion" pointed out: "Those who create cat ghosts and teach cat ghosts are hanged; Family members or those who do not report it are all flowing three thousand miles. ”
Let's talk about tigers. In people's minds, the protagonist of the Shiki story is a fox. In fact, this is the impression given by "Liaozhai Zhiwei". But this was not the case during the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, the protagonist of Zhiwei was actually a tiger. In many strange notes, not only the image of a tiger appears, but also the record of a tiger turning into a human. Later, Japanese writer Atsushi Nakajima wrote "Records of the Mountain and Moon", based on the story of Li Zhenghuahu in the Tang Dynasty's strange "Xuanmu Zhi". In the play, the tiger and illusion are combined, so the phantom tiger appears.
The python is actually not the protagonist of Tang Zhiwei, and it appeared in Gantang Yi in the play, mainly to fit the characteristics of the inn itself, and at the same time have a difference with the Phantom Tiger, Fuhu Beast, and Tiantie Bear.
In addition, there are also Fuhu beasts in the play. The record of the Fuhu beast appears in the notes of the late Han Dynasty Six Dynasties, "Records of the Ten Continents in the Sea", so by the time of the Tang Dynasty, the qualifications of this foreign beast were already very old. Specifically, during the Western Han Dynasty, there were messengers from the Yue clan who offered this beast from the Roman Empire to Emperor Wudi of Han, who was parading to the place of Anding. Later, some people believed that the tiger beast was actually a badger, which could spray a terrible smell to subdue enemies, including tigers. It will not be concretized in the play, only know that it is a strange beast under the Chinese zhiwei.
The Fuhu beast that appears in the play.
There are also hundred poisonous insects, which are actually a combination of two poisonous insects recorded in "Youyang Miscellaneous", which appeared in the Lingnan region. According to the records of Duan Chengshi, the author of "Youyang Miscellaneous", one of the poisonous insects is good at drilling into people's seven tricks, and finally breaking people's hearts. It's just that it was dramatized in the play, setting it to bite people to death and then turn out of the top of the head, which in itself has a thrilling color, which is required by the plot style, and it is also a case clue discovered by Su Wuname.
As for the Tiantie Bear, it is also a strange beast that appears in "Youyang Miscellaneous", according to the introduction in the book, it comes from the country of Gabiye and can fight lions and capture elephants.
Beijing News: There will also be some foreign beasts in the imported film and television works, in your opinion, what is the difference between the eastern and western foreign beasts?
Wei Fenghua: I think the strange beasts in Chinese style are all characterized by high concepts, and at the same time often have historical origins. In contrast, the exotic beasts of the West may be more in the strangeness of the image. Specifically, among the Chinese-style monsters, there is a strange beast called Birch, which is often called a dream-eating beast in later generations. In the play, it once appeared in the mouth of Fei Ji Shi. In the Tang concept, dead people still dream, and when the deceased's dream is eaten by Birch, then the body begins to decompose. This setting is very possible. In other words, the strange beasts in the Chinese style of strange things have their own "beast design". For another example, the strange beast of Qianqi is considered to be one of the four fierce beasts, which first appeared in the "Zuo Zhuan", and it is also recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas". The characteristic of this exotic beast is that it eats the good, while the fierce one is very obedient. There is also a foreign beast called the pig, its characteristics are the opposite of Qianqi, it is good at distinguishing right from wrong, so its image is often seen in ancient public halls. From this point of view, the strange beasts in the Chinese style are all rooted, not a strange thing that appears out of thin air.
Beijing News: The play mentions the marriage and travel of the Tang Dynasty, the love of cherries and dumplings, and the obsession with spices, what was the specific situation at that time? What kind of food is gluttony?
Wei Fenghua: Let's talk about marriage first. The marriage of the Tang Dynasty is also very particular about whether it is in the early morning or evening. At the height of the Tang Dynasty, the world was peaceful, and women married in the evening, but after the Middle Tang Dynasty, the world became chaotic, so it was slowly changed to early morning, and this custom continued to later generations. Therefore, in the "Chang'an Black Tea" case, the woman married in the evening, which coincided with the social background and customs at that time.
This point of travel, even in the lines, is as much as possible to fit the characteristics of the time. For example, in ancient times, especially in the Tang Dynasty, inns were verbally called "reverse brigades", so there were lines and sayings of the protagonist Lu Lingfeng on the way.
There is a princess in the play who loves to eat cherries, and the storyline of conjuring cherries for the emperor to eat at the illusion conference, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, cherries were in the position of the king of fruits, the so-called "its wood is more yin, the first hundred fruits are ripe, so the ancients are more expensive". Cherry banquets, cherry tasting parties, and various cherry-themed parties and banquets emerge one after another. The royal family of the Li family specially opened cherry orchards in Ouchi, and it became a royal practice to give cherries to ministers. It is worth mentioning that this gift is not plucked for the ministers to eat, but for the ministers to stand under the cherry tree and use their mouths to eat the cherries directly on the branches. At that time, there was a eunuch called Qi Risheng, who specialized in the cultivation of cherries, "raising cherries until the middle of May, the skin is wrinkled like a persimmon, its taste is several times, and people do not know the method." In other words, when the cherries are ripe, they can still be made to fall on the branches through some technology, and the taste is many times sweeter than usual. As for the cherries from other places, the eastern capital Luoyang is the best. At that time, gourmets even used cherries as stuffing to make dumplings, the so-called cherry dumplings, which also appeared in the play. This brings us to gluttony.
The cherry dumplings that everyone loves to eat in the play.
Dumpling is a kind of snack from the Western Regions, such as long baked cakes, filled with filling, open on both sides, mostly made of meat and even crab yellow, sometimes can also be filled with fruits, mainly made by frying, but also steamed. Cherry dumplings appeared during the Tang Dynasty, as recorded in the Youyang Miscellaneous.
As for spices, spices are mentioned both in the tuó god case and the human face flower case. In the case, the spice directly affects whether the protagonist can get out of danger and the judgment of the case. Speaking of spices, they were essential for life in the Tang Dynasty. The empire was grandly opened, Chinese and foreign trade was frequent, silk and porcelain of the Tang Dynasty were transported abroad, and various specialties and treasures from abroad were constantly transported into Chang'an. On the one hand, it shows that this dynasty is indeed open and fashionable; On the other hand, the exotic style and hidden legends brought by foreign products deeply stimulated and satisfied the imagination of the Tang Dynasty. The American scholar Schaferna's bizarre Sinology book "The Golden Peach of Samarkand" once described it as follows: "The seventh century [of the Tang Dynasty] was an era of admiration for foreign objects, when the pursuit of various foreign luxuries and curiosities began to spread from the court, and thus became widely popular among the general class of urban dwellers. "The seventh century is just the beginning. In the following eight or nine centuries, this fashion continued to expand. The obsession with spices is a representative thing. At that time, spices were not only loved by women, but also a must-have for men: aristocratic gatherings, poets reading poems, spices were inseparable. There are many types of imported spices in the Tang Dynasty: dipterocarp, wisteria, suhe, benzoin, aoki... Because of this, many foreign merchants poured precious spices into Chang'an and sold them to emperors and nobles, making a lot of money in a blink of an eye.
Beijing News: In the play, Lu Lingfeng asked the little beggar to buy the Xiao family's wontons, the Yu family's zongzi, and these things in the Tang period are the same as those familiar to everyone in modern times?
Wei Fenghua: The history of wontons predates dumplings, and they were popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Dumplings appeared a little later in the record. But whether it is dumplings or wontons, in fact, there is not much difference between ancient times and now. This can be seen in the prototype of Tang Dynasty dumplings unearthed in Astana, Xinjiang.
About the history of zongzi, naturally even earlier. In the play, there are Xiao family's wontons, Yu family's zongzi, two popular snacks in Chang'an, found in the records of "Youyang Miscellaneous". One of the characteristics of "Tang Dynasty Strange Stories" is to restore the details of life contained in many Tang people's strange notes to the plot. This restoration follows two characteristics, the first is to help promote the plot or case, such as the princess mentioned in "Human Face Flower" who loves to eat the cherries of Leyouyuan, which directly affects Su Wuming's judgment; The mention of the style of the Shi clan also directly reminded Lu Lingfeng, allowing him to lock that the author of "The Legend of Shasi" may be from the Taiyuan Wang Clan. Then there may be a mention of a certain life detail that will not directly promote the case, but it will help increase the texture of Tang life, then I will also add it, such as Chang'an delicacies including the Xiao family's wontons, the Yu family's zongzi and cherry dumplings.
Beijing News: Are there any interesting historical details in the play?
Wei Fenghua: Let's talk about two more small historical details that really need to be explained to the audience. The first is about the title of Japan. After watching the unit "Towering Tower", some viewers asked, did you have the name Japan at that time? According to historical records, from the time of Tang Gaozong, the Tang court and the Tang people began to have the name Japan. At the beginning of this century, Xi'an unearthed the tomb of the Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty, Jing Jincheng (died in the Kaiyuan period). In the epitaph, the Japanese title already appears. It can be seen that during the first year of Emperor Xuanzong, the name Japan already existed and was supported by physical excavations. The story of "The Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty" takes place after the era of Emperor Gaozong and before the era of Emperor Xuanzong, so at this time, it is in line with historical facts that the Tang people called it Japan.
There is also the issue of the Chang'an curfew. Some viewers asked, the Tang Dynasty implemented a curfew system, Chang'an curfew is very strict, curfew at night, Su Wuming, Lu Lingfeng can still take cherries (supporting character names) and Xijun out to eat cherry dumplings? Chang'an did enforce a strict curfew, especially during the early and prosperous Tang dynasties (which became increasingly lax after the Middle Tang dynasty), but curfews were mainly imposed on the main road between fangs. Every evening after the curfew, the doors are closed, but the inside of the shop is still a world of its own, still lively, such as the lights of Pingkang Place. In the play, the protagonist is obviously active in the workshop, so it is in line with the background of the time.
Beijing News reporter Liu Wei
Edit Tong Na
Proofreader Liu Jun