Every year on May 1, International Labor Day is celebrated. And the mainland has its own Labor Day thousands of years ago!
According to the Jin Dynasty literary historian and medical scientist Huangfu Mi in the "Imperial Century" records, the "Three Emperors" of the head of the "Three Emperors" Fuxi heavy agriculture and mulberry farming, ploughing the fields, every year on the second day of the second lunar month to "drive the ploughing", the people also have to start farming on this day.
Sima Qian also recorded in the "Historical Records" that King Wu of Zhou held a grand ceremony on the second day of February, led hundreds of civil and military officials to plough the land, and set this day as the "Spring Dragon Festival", which opened the prelude to the national farming.
In the Tang Dynasty, the second day of February was officially designated as the "Ploughing Festival" or "Labor and Peasant Festival", which was a traditional festival advocating labor in ancient China. At this time, the earth thawed, the weather became warmer, the emperor led hundreds of officials out of the palace to plow the land, loosen the soil, symbolically participate in labor, and the peasants tied red silk cloth to the farm tools to sow seeds.
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the meaning of the second day of the second month of February was further expanded, which was not only the "Ploughing Festival", but also the "Flower Dynasty Festival" and "Walking Green Festival". However, because the ancients believed that the second day of the second month of February was approaching, and the spring ploughing work would also begin from there, no matter how the content of the festival changed, the nature of labor has been continued.
Qing Chen Mei's "Cultivation and Weaving Map" is one of them
In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor also specially built the Xiannong Altar and circled a piece of land for the emperor to cultivate.
Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty set up a "one-acre garden" in the southwest corner of the Old Summer Palace, and on the second day of February every year, he would lead the court officials, empresses, and palace maids to plough the fields.
One of the Qing "Yongzheng Cultivation and Weaving Map".
The Qing government also stipulated, "All cultivators over 70 years old shall be exempted from taxes and miscellaneous errands, and will be rewarded with one horse of silk, ten catties of cotton, and one stone of rice on the Labor and Peasants' Day." It means that the government treats workers who have worked hard all their lives.
Bearing hardships and standing hard work is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has had the excellent quality of hard work and love of labor, and has taken "labor is the most glorious" as its moral consensus. Today, let us pay tribute to all the workers!
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Li Zhuoyang