【History and Culture】The lychees that Yang Guifei ate are actually produced in Shudi? ‖ Zhang Xin

The lychees that Yang Guifei ate were actually produced in Shudi?

ZHANG Xin

In the summer heat, if you can eat a few fresh lychees, the sweet taste may be able to soothe the heat in your heart. "A red dust concubine laughs, no one knows that it is Lychee." This popular poem vividly reflects the ancients' love for lychees. Sima Xiangru of the Han Dynasty wrote in "Shanglin Fu": "So Lu Orange Xia Ripe, Huang Gan Orange Qiao, Loquat Persimmon, Tingnai Magnolia, 梬 (yǐng) Zao Yangmei, Cherry Pu Tao, Yinfu 薁 (yù) Di, 荅 (dá) 遝 (tà) Lizhi, Luo Hu Harem, Lie in the North Garden." "The "branch" here means lychee, which means to cut off the branch. The ancients have realized that lychee, a fruit, cannot leave the branches and leaves, and if cut off from the branches, it is extremely perishable.

Beginning in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the name of lychee changed, from "leaving branch" to "lychee" that we are more familiar with today. However, in ancient times, when transportation was inconvenient, it was really a rather tricky problem for "foodies" to eat sweet lychees.

Where did the lychees that Yang Guifei ate come from?

The most famous poems related to lychee are undoubtedly Du Mu's "Three Songs of the Absolute Sentences of the Passing Huaqing Palace, One of them": "Chang'an looks back and embroidered piles, and the top of the mountain opens a thousand doors." A red dust concubine laughed, and no one knew that it was Lychee. It is said that the lychee variety "Concubine Xiao" is named after this verse.

Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty also said in "Compendium of Materia Medica, Guosan Lychee": "According to Baiju Yiyun: If you leave this branch, the color changes in one day, and the taste changes in three days." then the name of fragmentation, or take this righteousness. It can be seen that Li Shizhen also emphasized the fact that lychees have a short shelf life after leaving the branches. Therefore, the old saying is cloudy: lychee changes color in one day, fragrance changes in two days, taste changes in three days, and color and fragrance disappear in four or five days.

In the "New Book of Tang, Houfei Yang Guifei's Biography", it is recorded: "A concubine who loves lychees will want to give birth to it, but she rides and teleports, travels thousands of miles, and her taste has not changed and has reached Jingshi." There is also in the "Supplement to the History of the Tang Kingdom": "Yang Guifei was born in Shu, good at eating lychees, born in the South China Sea, especially victorious over Shu, so she galloped forward every year." However, Fang is ripe in the summer, and the sustenance is defeated, and the descendants do not know about it. Both materials record Yang Guifei's love of eating Lingnan lychees. But is that really the case? Su Shi, a literary magnate of the Song Dynasty, questioned the authenticity of this story, and Su Shi wrote in the Tongjian Tang Dynasty: "At this time, Litchi came from Fuzhou, not Lingnan. ”

"Fuzhou" refers to today's Fuling, Chongqing, and Su Shi believed that the lychees that Yang Guifei ate did not come from Lingnan, but from Shudi, which was Yang Guifei's hometown. Considering the reality of inconvenient transportation in ancient times, the fresh lychees that Yang Guifei ate were far more likely to come from Bashu than from Lingnan.

However, no matter how fast the lychees are transported from other places to the palace, the foodies who love lychees cannot experience the freshness and joy of eating them freshly picked. In order to avoid damage to the taste of lychees during transportation, the ancients tried their best to taste the taste of delicious fruits as soon as possible. Song Huizong is also a big fan of Litchi. In order to taste fresh lychees for the first time, he came up with a way to transplant lychee trees as a whole: he ordered people to cut the lychee trees out of the soil, plant them in pots, and then transport the lychee trees to Kaifeng by water, and carefully cultivate them in the palace. Although lychee trees are tropical plants, a small number of lychee trees have adapted to the natural environment of North China and successfully flowered and bore fruit. Song Huizong liked lychees and was happy to share them with the ministers, and his poem "His Highness Bohol's Lychee Chengshi Gives Wang Anzhong" records that after the lychee outside the Bohol Hall was ripe, he gave the fruit to the minister's grace: "His Highness Bohol Lychee Dan, the crown of wen and martial arts is a hundred barbarians." Si and the courtier had the same taste, and the red dust flew over the Yan Mountain. ”

Poets who take the initiative to "bring goods"

Lychees are delicious, mouthwatering, and have made many poets write moving poems for them. The Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Cheng described the beautiful scenery of Chengdu's lychees ripening and vast rivers in "Chengdu Qu": "The Jinjiang River is near the west of the smoke and green, and the new rain mountain head is ripe with lychees." There are many restaurants on the side of the bridge, and tourists love to stay at whom. "In the poet's eyes, the new rain is shining, the smoke is vast, the mountains are on the ridges, the lychees are red, and the four wilds are full of fragrance. The beautiful scenery is mesmerizing, the delicious lychees are mouthwatering, and the bridge in front of you is also prosperous like a dream. Distant business is close to Jia, tourists are weaving, business is prosperous, water transportation is busy, and restaurants are prosperous. On the banks of the Jinjiang River in Chengdu, the delicious lychees accompanied by the aroma of wine are the scenery of the Tang Dynasty that has not faded for thousands of years.

Bai Juyi not only loves lychees, but also personally participates in the activities of planting lychees. Bai Juyi wrote the poem "Planting Lychees": "Red pearls are cute, and white whiskers are too guarded." Ten years of knot knows who is there, and grows lychees in the court. "Using pearls as a metaphor for the flesh of lychees, vividly expressing its tender and crystalline brilliance. It can take ten years or more for lychees to go from planting the fruit tree to bearing fruit. The poet was old at the time of writing this poem. Time flies, things are different, and I don't know if I will have the opportunity to taste delicious fruits when the lychees are ripe, but planting fruit trees at this moment still makes people feel happy and full of anticipation.

If "Planting Lychee" conveys a trace of sadness mixed in the brightness, "Lychee House to Wine" is full of the joy of tasting fruit and appreciating wine: "Lychee is newly ripe chicken crown color, soju first blooms amber fragrance." If you want to pick a branch and pour it out, there are no guests in the West Building to taste it. "Taste this poem, only feel that this little poem has all the colors and fragrances, and just chanting this poem will bring people multi-sensory aesthetic enjoyment. The poet uses the bright and eye-catching chicken comb as a metaphor for the color of the shell when the lychee is ripe, and amber as a metaphor for the color of soju, but the poet is not satisfied with just describing the visual perception brought by lychee and soju, a "fragrant" word injects soul into the lychee and soju, and also mobilizes the reader's sense of smell and taste, describing the whole poem as full of vitality and vivid color.

Ouyang Xiu wrote "Langtosha Wuling Mai Autumn Residue": "Wuling Mai Autumn Residue. Lizi Chudan. Crystal pills in the silk sac. It is a pity that the Tianjiao students are far away, not close to Chang'an. The first sentence indicates the place of origin, the second sentence uses a "dan" character to describe the ripe state of lychee, and the third sentence describes the appearance and internal quality of lychee, the order is orderly, and the description is vivid. When the lychee is ripe, the peel is purple, the surface is wrinkled, and the flesh is translucent coagulated. The use of "crystal pills in the silk saccha" here is a metaphor for lychee, which not only has a realistic image, but also arouses people's association with its color, taste and shape, and has a sense of vitality.

The Ming Dynasty poet Qiu Jun also made no secret of his love for Lingnan lychee in "Yong Lizhi": "There are no more precious fruits in the world, and the skin of jade snow is covered with silk." A natural taste, pitiful birth is the end of the world. In the poet's opinion, lychee is the most delicious fruit in the world, and "Yuxue Skin Cover Yarn" depicts lychee delicate and cute from the perspective of color and texture. The last two sentences even write about the poet's preference for Hainan lychees. In the poet's view, the reason why Hainan lychee is born with an unparalleled sweet and delicious way is because it grows in the unique promontory world, which can achieve its otherworldly delicious way and be so loved. This poem not only shows the author's incredible praise for the fruit of lychee, but also shows his deep feelings for the homeland of Hainan. The feeling of hometown is cleverly embedded in the poem, making the whole poem more meaningful and meaningful.

The lychee in the painting can also be human

Lychee-loving diners not only write poems admiring lychees, but also depict lychees with a clever pen. Legend to have been painted by Emperor Huizong of Song, the "Sketching Lingmao Diagram" vividly depicts the interesting scene of lychees ripening and birds salivating. The artist's depiction of lychees is extremely detailed, and the viewer can clearly see the bumps of different sizes on each lychee. The size, color, shape, posture, direction, position, and ripening state of the lychee are different, and the huge fruit is hidden among the green leaves of the branches, making people feel the joy of fruit ripening, and the sweet fruit smell wafts from the picture. The brightly feathered birds looked at the huge fruit of the branches, already salivating, and they opened their mouths and chirped, as if they were discussing with their companions how to peck through the hard skin of lychees. Butterflies dance and gardenias bloom in the wind, creating the charm of nature in summer. Song Huizong advocated the meticulousness of the objects and paid attention to the expression of natural vitality, and from this painting, we can feel his distinctive painting style, interspersed with exquisite objects full of fascinating natural interest.

Modern painter Qi Baishi also often paints lychees, Zeng Yun: "Peony is the king of flowers, lychee is the king of fruits, cabbage is the king of vegetables", which shows Qi Baishi's preference for lychees. Qi Baishi also wrote the "Litchi Poem": "Dansa dotted the stream rattan paper, and the fragrant basket was clear and dewy." Fruits should be the first, especially known in the world. "Qi Baishi's lychee paintings in his later years were colorful and strong, forming a distinct personal style. He painted a painting of "Lychee Chicken". In the picture, several ripe lychees slope down from the upper right corner, occupying the main body of the picture, and two fluffy chickens stand under the lychee fruit, thinking about the bright and delicious food in the air. The painter uses a dry pen to re-ink the main trunk of the lychee, and the pen is thick and quaint, with the meaning of seal writing. When painting leaves, the painter's brush has more moisture on the belly, and the written leaves have a large water content, and the moisture and color are fused, making the leaves vibrant and green. The brightly colored lychee fruit is hidden under the leaves, like a shy beauty. The ink color on the two chicks is rich in color, and the traces of light ink on the rice paper are just like the fluff of the chicken. The artist sketched the body structure of the chicken with only a few strokes, vividly conveying the spirit.

Lingnan painter Rong Shushi's lychee is even more vivid and well-known. Rong Shushi studied under Gao Qifeng, especially good at painting lychees. His Chinese painting works show the distinctive characteristics of the Lingnan School: he paints many southern styles and landscapes, the rules and brush and ink are not conventional, and the colors are bright and elegant, which is pleasing to the eye. His lychee works, bone brushes, thick and powerful branch lines, particularly rich twists when painting leaves, bright and colorful colors, and fresh and lovely overall style. He is painting lychee fruits in real time, paying special attention to expressing the volume of lychees, and the color changes make the fruits look three-dimensional and vivid. The depiction of lychee spots is also extremely detailed, and the artist will carefully outline every ring on the lychee and the bumps in the ring. The size, tenderness, dryness, color, and posture of the leaves are extremely rich, and from the color of the leaves alone, they show a natural transition from cold and warm tones such as tender yellow, tender green, light green, grass green, emerald green, flower blue, ochre, ochre, and rouge. The picture is mostly accompanied by birds such as bald owls,, and gray magpies, and the spirited birds shuttle through the lychee forest, enjoying the food that nature has given them.

Admire the lychee in poetry and painting, relive the historical allusions related to lychee, and often feel elegant and romantic. Nature has created such delicious fruits for human beings, and human beings have also used their talents to chant delicious lychees, thanking nature's gifts. The emergence of lychee not only enriches our taste buds and gives us endless enjoyment, but also drives countless literati to create a wonderful lychee culture, which is a mutual achievement between nature and humanities.

Source: West China Metropolis Daily, July 17, 2023, A15 edition

Author: Zhang Xin