Valley, rain, spring, light, and blue.
Every year between April 19 and 21, when the sun reaches 30 degrees of ecliptic longitude, it is the valley rain in China's 20 and 40 solar terms.
At 21:59:33 on April 19, we entered this year's valley rain season.
On this day, in the sacrificial square of Cangjie Temple Scenic Area, Shiguan Town, Baishui County, Weinan City, Baishui County Party Committee and County Government, Weinan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and other departments will hold a series of theme activities of "Saluting the Character Shengcangjie and Inheriting Chinese Character Culture". At the event site, the intangible cultural heritage project of Shaanxi Province "Four Instruments and Nine Regulations - Guyu Sacrifice Cangjie Ceremony" will be displayed, the third "Cangjie Cup" Global Chinese Character Competition will be launched, and calligraphy and painting art exchanges will be carried out.
In the Baishui folk, there is also the custom of visiting the Holy Lord Cang during the rainy season. People hope that Cang Shengye can bless the children to open their wisdom and succeed in their studies.
Cangjie, according to legend, was the historian of the Yellow Emperor and the earliest creator of Chinese characters, and was revered as the ancestor of writing. Legend has it that Cangjie observed the paw prints of animals, birds and birds, referred to the lines of the palm, followed the direction of the stars, combined with the direction of the mountains and rivers, and created a written word, ending the era of "knotted rope notes".
Gu Yu is also the "Chinese Language Day" of the United Nations. The establishment of this language day is related to Cangjie.
In 2010, the United Nations Department of Global Communications announced the launch of the United Chinese Language Day, which aims to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity, and to promote the equal use of the six official languages, including Chinese, at the United Nations. The day of the United Chinese Language Day is different for each language. For example, English Language Day is set on the birthday and death day of the great British writer William Shakespeare, and Russian Language Day is the birthday of the famous Russian writer and poet Pushkin.
Kanji is one of the oldest scripts in the world and the most spoken language in the world, having been designated as one of the six official languages of the United Nations at its inception. On November 12, 2010, the first United Nations "Chinese Language Day" celebration was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Since 2011, the United Nations has held the "Chinese Language Day" on April 20 of the lunar calendar ("Guyu" in the Chinese lunar calendar).
Cangjie makes words
Qingming Festival Yellow Emperor,Valley Rain Festival 仓颉。
The production of writing is a milestone event in the history of human development.
Cangjie was originally surnamed Hou Gang, named Jie, named Shi Huang, born in the era of the Yellow Emperor in ancient times, and was a native of Guyangwu (now Yangwu Village, Baishui County, Weinan City). "Cang" is the surname given by the Yellow Emperor. Legend has it that Cangjie pioneered the "Bird Trace Book", which moved the heavens and the earth. The Yellow Emperor deeply felt that his merits were outstanding, and he gave him the surname "Cang" (倉), which means that the king is one person and the next king. However, Cangjie thought that he was only a grass person, so he added a grass prefix to "cang", so now there are two ways to write "cang" and "cang".
Is the production of Chinese characters the credit of Cangjie alone or collectively? Experts cite scriptures and classics for research.
The earliest mention of Cangjie was Xunzi in the Warring States Period. "Xunzi Unmasking" said: "There are many good books, and Cangjie is the only one." ”
The pre-Qin "Han Feizi Five Worms" recorded: "In the past, Cangjie's writings were also, those who were self-ring were called private, and those who betrayed their selfishness were called public." ”
In the Qin and Han dynasties, "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period" said that Cangjie had "four eyes with a dragon's face" and "a sound of wisdom", which is extraordinary in appearance. It is recorded in "Lü's Spring and Autumn Junshou": "Xi Zhong made a car, Cangjie made a book, Houji made a crop, Gao Tao made a punishment, Kunwu made a pottery, and Xia Qi made a city." ”
During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, Prime Minister Li Si compiled the enlightenment textbook "Cangjie Chapter" to promote the text, the first sentence of which was: "Cangjie wrote a book to teach the heirs." ”
The one who connects Cangjie with grain and rain is the Han "Huainanzi Benjing Xun": "In the past, Cangjie wrote books, and the sky rained and the ghosts cried at night." It means that after Cangjie succeeded in creating words, it was earth-shattering, and human beings could reveal the secrets of ghosts and gods from now on, and the ghosts were so frightened that they cried. Heaven was worried that from then on, the deception would sprout, people would abandon farming, and the world would lack food, so it rained corn.
Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty absorbed and sorted out the records of Cangjie characters in the classics of his predecessors in "Shuowen Jie Zi", and officially wrote it into the history of early Chinese characters. The preface of "Shuowen Jie Zi" says: "The ancients were the king of the world, looking up at the sky, looking down at the law on the ground, watching the birds and beasts of the text and the earth, taking all the bodies close and taking all things from afar; and Shennong's, knotting the rope for governance, and unifying its affairs. The industry is complicated, and the decoration is sprouting. The historian of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie, saw the traces of birds and beasts, knew that the reason could be different, and the first book deed".
"At the beginning of Cangjie's writing, the cover is like a pictogram, so it is called the text. After that, the shape and sound are mutually beneficial, that is, the word is called. The writer is the foundation of the image, and the writer is the mother of the word. ”
In modern times, the great writer, thinker, and revolutionary Lu Xun wrote in "Miscellaneous Conversations Outside the Door": "There is more than one Cangjie, some carve a little picture on the handle of the knife, and some draw some pictures on the portal. The origin of Chinese characters may not escape this example. In Mr. Lu Xun's view, Cangjie, as a historian, is the collector and recreator of words.
The creation of writing has created a carrier for the spread of Chinese civilization and the unification of the country. In the course of history, Chinese characters have evolved. From the earliest oracle bone inscriptions, to the Chinese characters we write today, they have undergone the evolution of many fonts.
When Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, there were already eight kinds of writing in the world: big seal, small seal, carved characters, insect scripts, facsimile seals, signature books, 殳书, and official scripts. The first emperor clarified the law, decreed the law, and promoted the "same document".
In order to "be the same as the document", the most important thing is to first unify the writing of the text. Qin Prime Minister Li Si took the matter of the Seven Kingdoms Script "Book with the Text". Based on the Qin script, Li Si supplemented the new characters of the other six countries, and improved the large seal and unified it into the writing strokes of the small seal. Qin used the small seal as an official document, a book, and a contract. Supplemented by official scripts, its utility lies in making it easy to identify and write.
Cheng Miao, a contemporary of Weinan who was Li Si, was an important contributor to the "book and text" and the integrator of the official book. Cheng Miao, Xiatai (now Xiatai Town, Linwei District) County. He was selected to serve as a grain and grass officer in the army, but because "Yiyang" was mistaken for "Nanyang" in the official documents written in daily penmanship, delaying the transportation of grain and grass, he was imprisoned in Yunyang Prison for ten years. While in prison, he improved the convenient writing of the officials, gaining less and losing more so that it was horizontal and vertical. The first emperor appointed Cheng Miao as the minister of imperial history, specializing in the reform of writing. Because most of the words created by Cheng Miao are used by Xu officials, they are called "official books".
Lishu is a major change in the history of mainland writing and even calligraphy. Since then, Chinese characters have gradually changed from graphics to strokes, complex to simple, and also laid the foundation for regular script.
Qin's unification of writing, "Tongwen" promoted the dissemination and recording of ideology and culture, and enhanced the sense of national identity and centripetal force.
Why is it in the Guyu Festival in Cangjie?
The 24 solar terms are the crystallization of the wisdom of China's agricultural civilization. It clearly embodies the wisdom of the Chinese people to do their best to cope with nature and live in harmony with nature.
Guyu is the sixth of the 24 solar terms and the last solar term of spring, which means "rain gives birth to a hundred grains". At this time, the trees are green and dark, and the flowers are blooming brightly. Moistened by the rain, a variety of crops thrive.
There are also a variety of legendary versions of the Guyu Festival Cangjie, mainly according to the "Huainanzi Benjing Training": "The former Cangjie made a book, and the sky rained, and the ghost cried at night". Mr. Zheng Xinmiao, the former director of the Palace Museum in Weinan, talked about the origin of "Guyu Festival Cangjie" in "Cangjie Temple Records", and wrote that "according to the Western Han Dynasty, it was placed in 'Suyi County', which was named after 'Tianyu Su', which is the close proximity of the Ya and also contains the meaning of commemoration." On the day of "Gu Yu" in the lunar calendar today, the people of the three nearby counties gathered in the historian to hold a grand temple fair to worship Cangjie, and its coming has gradually changed. ”
The origin of another Guyu festival Cangjie is that the legend Cangjie once said in a dream: "I want a bumper harvest of grains, so that the people of the world can have food." "The next day it was really full of grains. The Yellow Emperor took the day of the rain as a festival, called the Valley Rain Festival.
Cangjie is a figure in ancient myths and legends, and there is no way to verify his true history. However, mythology is an oral description and explanation of the natural and social phenomena with artistic significance that people unconsciously imagined when science and technology were not developed in ancient times. It is also a kind of documentary supplement to prehistory.
On December 3, 2014, the notice of the State Council on announcing the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items was released, and the folk literature "Cangjie Legend" jointly declared by Baishui County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, and Luonan County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, was selected into the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
What words did Cangjie make?
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the "Baishui County Chronicles" recorded: "Cangjie made two volumes, and then lost it in the war." However, the tablet of "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" in Cangjie Temple still exists.
Liu Zhiji, an expert in Chinese character research, professor and doctoral supervisor of East China Normal University, said in an article on the perception of the stele of "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" that Shanghai Wai Chinese University received a lovely donation --- the tablet rubbing of "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book", which was exhibited in the second exhibition hall of the Shanghai Foreign Language Museum.
The stele of "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" is said to be the original shape of the hieroglyphs made by Cangjie in that year, and this stele was erected in October of the 19th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1754 AD). The 28 characters engraved on the tablet were copied and written by Liang Shanchang of Baishui Zhixian County at that time.
The stele of "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" is black throughout, and there is the words "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" in seal script directly above. The 28 characters on the stele are composed of small graphics and pictures, and there are basic structural rules such as pictograms, signifiers, meanings, and shapes and sounds.
The people who worship the Cangjie Temple believe that they will become wiser when they touch the bird track tablet, and call it the "wisdom tablet". Over the years, this stele has been touched black and shiny. Now, the stele of the "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book" has been protected, and tourists consciously no longer touch it.
What exactly are these 28 characters? From ancient times to the present, scholars and experts have been studying and deciphering them.
Now the earliest information preserving these 28 characters is "Chunhua Pavilion Post". In the third year of Chunhua in the Song Dynasty (992 AD), Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ordered the scholar Wang to select the calligraphy of the past dynasties in the inner house, copy it on the jujube wood board, and give it to the minister.
In 1984, the Song Dynasty Wang's book "Chunhua Pavilion Post" reprinted by Shanghai Bookstore deciphered them as: "Wu Ji Jia B, the first and the first friends, the world, the style of the light of the name, the left of the family, by the Chishui respect, the spear kettle."
Liu Zhiji, a professor and doctoral supervisor of East China Normal University, introduced the content recorded in the tablet of "Cangjie Bird Trace Book", and believed that there are two widely recognized theories in modern times, one is "the theory of remembering the history of merit", and the other is "the theory of the picture scroll of the prosperous era".
"The history book of merit says" believes that the first sentence "Wuji Jiayi" refers to the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. The Yellow Emperor tribe occupies the position of the leader of all tribes (including the Yandi tribe and the Jiuli tribe of Chiyou), and is loved and supported by the leaders of all tribes, and the tribes get along with each other amicably. This sentence also contains the history of the Great War between the Yellow Emperor, the Yan Emperor and the Chi You. "The Yellow Emperor's tribe has been passed down from generation to generation, fighting in the east and fighting in the west, and its exemplary and righteous actions have been carried forward and disseminated, and passed on to future generations. "Style Qi Guang Name" refers to the Yellow Emperor's tribe worships and respects the totem very much, and uses the clouds in the sky and natural landscapes to order officials, each performing its own duties, and governing the world. After the war, the ancestors cooperated and helped each other, harvested crops, cleared weeds, rebuilt their homes, and achieved social stability and peace. "Respected by Chishui, Ge Spear Axe" eight words describe that after the end of the war, people under the wise leadership of the Yellow Emperor, carrying Ge spear and production and living utensils, nomadic hunting in the lush vegetation place, developing production, and living a good life.
The "Picture Scroll of the Prosperous Age" is based on the original meaning of each ancient Chinese character, and it is believed that this is a historical picture scroll showing the Yellow Emperor's founding of the peaceful and prosperous era. In ancient times, people went out hunting with weapons, and they offered the food they obtained from hunting to totems and ancestors, and people swore together that they would live together forever. On a clear day, everyone helps each other harvest the crops and build a home, and in the evening they can share food, cheer and drink, and the next day they go to cultivate new territory.
Perhaps, with the deepening of research, there will be new theories about the cracking of the stele of the "Cangsheng Bird Trace Book".
Tongde
As the ancestor of culture, there are many commemorative relics such as Cangjie word platform, Cangjie Mausoleum, and Cangjie Temple in the country.
It is recorded in the "Spring and Autumn Wei Yuan Life Bud" that Cangjie "died and buried Yazhili Township Pavilion (Ya is Ya County, the ancient name of Baishui County. Lixiang Pavilion, now Shiguan Township)".
Baishui Cangjie Temple is located in Shiguan Village, Shiguan Town, about 35 kilometers north of the county seat, is the only remaining temple in China to commemorate the invention and creation of writing, and the ancient cypress is still verdant in the temple. In June 2001, Baishui Cangjie Temple was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.
According to the record of "Cangjie Temple Tablet", Cangjie Temple has been quite large-scale in the fifth year of Han Yanxi (162 years). There are more than 40 ancient cypress trees more than 1,000 years old in the temple, among which the "Cangjie hand planted cypress" tree is about 5,000 years old. The ancient cypress group of Cangjie Temple, the ancient cypress group of the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in Qiaoshan, and the ancient cypress group of Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province are known as the three major ancient temples and ancient cypress groups in China.
In October 1948, the Northwest Field Army held its first party congress in Wuzhuang Village, Shiguan Township, Baishui County. After the meeting, the troops rested, and the headquarters was set up in Cangjie Temple. The commander-in-chief, Peng Dehuai, wrote an inscription to protect the Cangjie Temple building and the ancient cypress.
The ancient monument of Cangjie Temple is also very famous, the most famous is the "Cangjie Temple Tablet" engraved in the fifth year of Yanxi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the "Guangwu General Tablet" erected in the fourth year of the former Qin Jianyuan (368 AD). Mr. Zheng Xinmiao commented in "The Legend of Cangjie Temple": The former is an ancient li, with a stretched structure and smooth lines, and the latter is a modern li, which is sparse and bright, rough and elegant. Yu Youren and others gave a very high evaluation and was known as "superb". Now the two steles of "Cangjie Temple Tablet" and "Guangwu General Tablet" are relocated to the collection of Xi'an Stele Forest.
The Cangjie tomb mound in Cangjie Temple is 4 meters high, 48 meters in circumference, it is a large earthen mound, it has been in the Eastern Han Dynasty for five years, and it is now completely protected. There is a three-meter-high six-sided brick flower wall around the tomb, and after Zhu Qinglan worshiped the Cangjie Temple, he paid someone to build it on his behalf. There are two doors on the flower wall, the east gate is "painting hexagram and then opening the text ancestor", the lower link is "knotting rope new bird and insect book", and the horizontal batch is "Tongde".
Spread the light of Chinese civilization
If culture is prosperous, the country will be prosperous.
Cultural relics and cultural heritage carry the genes and blood of the Chinese nation, and are non-renewable and irreplaceable resources of China's excellent civilization.
Cangjie created the earliest writing by observing and condensing the wisdom of the vast number of working people. The development and evolution of Chinese characters spread Chinese civilization to the world. According to relevant reports on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by the end of 2022, more than 180 countries and regions around the world have carried out Chinese education, and more than 30 million foreign countries are learning Chinese, and more and more international organizations, institutions, enterprises and individuals have begun to use Chinese as a language for work, study and life.
In the new era, in order to actively promote the protection and utilization of cultural relics and the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage, explore the multiple values of cultural relics and cultural heritage, and disseminate more value symbols and cultural products that carry Chinese culture and Chinese spirit, Weinan has also carried out a variety of activities.
Create a collective ceremony of the Guyu Festival Cangjie. Since 2006, Baishui County has carried out the folk cultural activity of "Guyu Festival Cangjie", combining public sacrifices with folk sacrifices. The first China Baishui International Cangjie Cultural Tourism Festival, the "Belt and Road" Chinese Character Release Activity and the Guyu Sacrifice Ceremony were held. At the same time, the Guyu ancient temple fair is used to hold a series of activities for the promotion of various folk customs, operas, gongs and drums, and research and tourism.
The inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage have been strengthened. Baishui County has established a three-level inheritance system of counties, towns and villages, and set up Cangjie Temple, Cangjie Garden, Cangjie Xuan, Yangwu Village Transmission Institute, etc., to train inheritors. "The Legend of Cangjie" was included in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in 2014. Baishui County has successively built Cangjie Park and Cangjie Pavilion in the county seat, and built Cangjie Pavilion and stele and text park at the site of the original Cangjie Temple, providing an immersive experience venue for the inheritance of Cangjie legend.
Promote and disseminate Cangjie culture. Carry out cultural activities such as the "Everyone Speaks Cangjie" Youth Speech Contest, the essay collection for primary and secondary school students with the theme of "I Love Chinese Characters", and the youth research tour of "Wearing Hanfu, Practicing Han Rituals, Visiting Holy Temples, and Reciting Classics". Organize relevant scholars and experts to excavate and sort out the sacrificial specifications and sacrificial rituals, etc., and create hand-painted comic books "The Legend of Cangjie", cultural theme song "Ode to Cangjie" and other literary and artistic works. Cangjie Temple's research activities with the theme of "Seeking the Roots of Chinese Characters and Exploring the Source of Culture" have also been selected as the first batch of provincial-level primary and secondary school students' research and practice education bases in Shaanxi Province. In recent years, the "Guyu Festival Cangjie" activity has also been broadcast live on the Internet to shape the cultural identity of Cangjie.
Innovative communication tells China's story well. CCTV-9 "Excavating the Codes of Chinese Characters and Exploring the Genes of Cultural Context" series of documentaries ""Words" from Meeting You" in the first season of "Guyu Chapter" is dedicated to the propaganda and reporting of Cangjie Temple as a symbol of the origin of Chinese characters. In 2022, the animation film "The Legend of Cangjie" declared by Weinan Radio and Television Station was selected as a key support project of the National Folk Tale Animation Creation Project (Online Cartoon). At present, the film has completed production.
Included in the plan to promote the integration of culture and tourism. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Integrated Development of Cultural Tourism in Weinan City" formulated the "1458" development strategy relying on the resource advantages of "mountain, water, city, mausoleum and red". Among them, the Weibei Sage Culture and Dongfu Folk Customs Experience Tourism Belt is planned to take the tourist scenic road and leisure experience greenway as the axis, and connect the Shisheng culture, the imperial tomb culture, the Cangjie culture, the Dukang wine culture, the pottery culture and the Zhonghua County, the pear orchard, the cherry orchard and other core resources to create the Weibei sage culture and Dongfu folk customs experience tourism belt.
The history of the development and evolution of Chinese characters is also a microcosm of the endless growth of Chinese civilization. Seeing words as faces and saluting Cangjie is also a common action to explore the origin of Chinese characters and tell Chinese stories well.
(Source: Weinan Radio and Television Station)