The beauty of the first Tang Li
Author: Dong Ruo (Yan Wenlong)
After reading a lifetime of literary works, I found that the real subject of creation is male literati, and the life ideal of male literati is nothing more than that:
"Repair, Qi, Rule, Peace";
"Reaching the rule and helping the world";
"To Jun Yao Shun".
If you delay in women, it is tantamount to self-defeat and lose your plaything. Naturally, before the Tang Dynasty, there were very few who could be recognized for portraying beautiful women.
To say classics, that is, one poem and two fu.
In "Shijing, Weifeng, Shuoren", when it comes to beauty, I am afraid that the most attractive thing to us is:
The hands are like soft trees, and the skin is like cream. The collar is like a clam, and the teeth are like a rhinoceros. The head of the moth eyebrows, the clever smile, the beautiful eyes.
We don't care whose daughter, whose wife, whose sister, whose sister-in-law she is?
Inquiring about these details is completely the next step, and now we are immediately attracted by the stunning talent of this beauty.
What is "dazzling"? It turns out that this is.
What is "wow"? Of course, this is.
Look! Her slender jade fingers are as tender as spring thatch, ten fingers sharpened, white and red;
And lo and behold! Her skin is white and delicate, condensed like oil;
Isn't it? The neck is slender and soft, as rich and smooth as a clam;
Isn't it? The teeth were white and bright, as small and neat as a gourd;
Ouch, her forehead is square and clean, and the moth eyebrows are curved, so thin that her eyes are reluctant to bend;
Ouch, her beautiful eyes are like a flowing cloud, Gu Pansheng is bright, smiling, hooking the soul.
It's just a close-up shot of the movie, and the stunner moves people and floats down.
And all this is thanks to the four metaphors that rush straight down.
Song Yu's "Deng Apprentice Son's Lustful Fu", writing about beauty, I am afraid that I can't forget the "son of the owner":
The beauty of the world is Mo Ruochen of the Chu Kingdom, the beauty of the Chu Kingdom is Mo Ruochen Li, and the beauty of the courtier is the son of the owner of Mo Ruochen. For the son of the proprietor, an increase of one cent is too long, and a subtraction of one point is too short; Powder is too white, Shi Zhu is too red; The eyebrows are like green feathers, and the muscles are like white snow; The waist is like a bundle, and the teeth are like shells; Yanran smiled, confused Yangcheng, and lost Cai. However, this woman has been on the wall for three years, and she has not been allowed to do so.
It is in Zhou Zao's rendering, in the indispensable increase and subtraction, in the powder and Shi Zhu indispensable; In the metaphor and arrangement of "eyebrows", "muscles", "waists" and "teeth", the "son of the owner" is just right, suitable for repair, and the body shape and plate of "waist like a bundle".
It seems clumsy, it seems to be too folk, it seems to borrow a mathematical exclusion method, but it is the most dazzling pearl in the "Qingming Upper River Map".
In Cao Zhi's "Luoshen Fu", when it comes to beauty, the most unforgettable thing is the flickering and swift flying beauty of the goddess Luoshui:
Its shape is also like a frightening hong, and it is like a dragon. Rong Yao Qiu Ju, Hua Mao Chunsong. It is like a light cloud covering the moon, fluttering like a flowing wind and returning snow. From afar, like the sun rising towards the sky; Forced to notice, Zhao Ruofu burst out of the waves. Slim and short. If the shoulders are cut, the waist is like Josu. Neck lengthening show, hao essence exposed. Fang Ze Wujia, Lead Waver Royal. Yun Hair, eyebrow trimming. Dan's lips are bright on the outside, bright teeth are fresh on the inside, bright eyes are good, and he has the right to assist. Magnificent, quiet and relaxed. Tender and flattering. Strange costumes, bone images should be pictured. The brilliance of the cloth, the brilliance of the Yaoyao. Wear gold and emerald jewelry, embellished with pearls to dazzle the body. Practice the literature of traveling far away, and drag the light clothes of mist. The fragrance of the micro-orchid is gentle, and the steps are hesitant in the corner of the mountain.
Here, with a larger space, a more magnificent atmosphere, a larger activity space, and a more extravagant description, the square inch sketch is transformed into a huge large painting, and the static description is turned into a dynamic display.
The same is a metaphor, no longer just satisfied with the metaphor, but ingenious three times in a row, the whole text flows in the battle, presents neat beauty in the flow, and highlights the beauty of jagged changes in the neatness.
That "like a frightening hong, gentle like a dragon", is very dynamic, as if you are in a 3D movie;
That "Ling Bo microstep, Luo socks dust", as if seeing his person, seems to be coming towards us.
It turned out that the term "bright eyes and bright teeth" turned out to be a contraction of "bright teeth are fresh inside, bright eyes are good".
I want to say that this kind of depiction of beauty is unprecedented, and I am afraid that there are few people in the evolutionary history described.
The rest, perhaps, we can only glimpse in the palace poetry of the Southern Dynasty.
But it has been regarded as narrow-minded, morbid, unhealthy, and has been under the crusade of orthodox writers, after all, it is a kind of depravity, a perversion, an incorrigible depravity.
It seems that to appreciate the beauty of famous artists, the only way to appreciate is to enter Song Ci.
November 7, 2022Yiteng Onsen Valley
About the author:
Dongruo, formerly known as Yan Wenlong. Professor, writer, scholar, Jiangxi Province college entrance examination language proposition person. He was the deputy dean of the School of Literature and Journalism and Communication, and a senior visiting scholar at the Institute of Ancient Books Collation of Fudan University.
Vice President of the Chinese Speculative Education Research Association, Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Rhetoric Society, Director of the Chinese Chinese Literature Modernization Society, Standing Director of the Chinese Fuzzy Linguistics Research Association, and Standing Director of the Scientific Committee of the Study of Chinese Literature.
He has published 18 books such as the collection of essays "Moon in Boxin" and "Moon Point Wave Heart", biography "Biography of Zhou Deqing", "Late Tang Giant Zheng Partridge", "Yao Mian Commentary", and literary criticism "Subversion and Transcendence: The Rhetorical Survival of Shi Tiesheng's Literary Works".