Hello everyone, I am learning from history.
The last issue wrote the story of the ancient Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors personally writing the Spring Festival League, "How to Write the Spring Festival Couplet?" These several Qianlong and Kangxi Imperial Pen Spring Leagues can be collected, and when checking the data, a very interesting detail was found: the Qing Dynasty Royal Spring League system was actually white!
Photo note: The Emperor's throne in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City
In the "Spring League" of Fu Cha Dunchong's "Records of the Yanjing Years" at the end of the Qing Dynasty, such an interesting phenomenon is recorded: ordinary people write the Spring League on red paper, and when they go to the inner court and the homes of the princes of the clan, they use "white paper" to write the Spring League.
As we all know, the Spring Festival union represents festivities and blessings, and generally uses a big red background color and writes auspicious words with black ink, wishing the whole family happiness in the new year and blessings the country with smooth wind and rain. But why did the Qing Dynasty royal family use white?
Picture note: A white couplet at the Daqing Gate of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang
There are three reasons for this.
<h1 style="text-align: left;">, the Manchus revere white</h1>
Before entering the Central Plains, the Manchus were a fishing and hunting people living in the bitter cold regions of the northeast.
The local natural environment and their living conditions limit the popularity of bright colors such as red, and you can imagine that if you wear red to hunt in the snow, you will definitely find nothing, and even be easily found by wild animals and attacked.
Therefore, the long-term environment has cultivated the national characteristics of the Manchus who advocate white and do not like red very much.
In the Manchu customs, white symbolizes light and justice; the Manchu shamanism believes that white is the true color of the heavens, the gods, and the sun, moon, and stars. The Manchus want to kill white horses when they sacrifice to the heavens, and even hunt the falcon Hai Dongqing, using pure white "jade claws" as the top product.
As early as the Song Dynasty, the "Chronicle of the Great Golden Kingdom" recorded that after the Establishment of the Golden Kingdom by Yan Akuta, the folk preferred white: "The golden custom is good and white. Self-destruction of the Liao dynasty Song, gradually there are literary ornaments.
<h1 style="text-align: left;"> second, the Forbidden City is too red</h1>
After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they gradually learned the model of the Central Plains Dynasty to govern the world, and re-established the ruling center of the Qing Dynasty on the basis of the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty.
Friends who have been to the Forbidden City know that the two colors of red and yellow are widely used in the buildings of the Forbidden City, and almost all the palace walls, gates, and pillars are mainly vermilion.
Under such an environment, if the spring league with red as the background color is still used, the spring league posted is basically not displayed, and it cannot reflect the festive and peaceful atmosphere of the New Year.
In his book "Yang ji zhai series", Wu Zhendi, a scholar of the late Qing Dynasty, wrote in detail the materials, posting time, and the source of the couplet text in the Qing Dynasty.
According to records, ordinary people generally posted the Spring League Chinese New Year's Eve afternoon, but the Qing Dynasty Royal Spring League began to be posted around the twentieth day of the Waxing Moon.
Around the twentieth day of the lunar month, the national government affairs departments will hold a "sealing" ceremony, and the official seal will be sealed in a box indicating that it will no longer handle government affairs this year and begin to concentrate on the New Year. Of course, the emperor's jade seal also had to be "sealed", and the day before the "sealing of the treasure", the palace began to put the prepared Spring League inscribed on the white silk, and the door god hung and posted everywhere in the palace.
The red walls of the Forbidden City, the Zhumen Gate and the spring joint of white silk, "the color is particularly beautiful"!
The day before the seal of the treasure in December, the entrance door is linked, the door screen is equipped with a fan, and the same door god is hung. It was withdrawn at the end of the first month of the following year. The door is combined with a white silk brocade ink book, which reflects the Zhu title and is particularly beautiful in color. Written by the Hanlin Gongkai. The lianyu was written by Qianlongjian Zichen, and the manuscript was stored in the Qing Secret Hall. - "Yang Ji Zhai Series"
<h1 style="text-align: left;"> iii</h1>
The third reason is that in order to show its privilege, the Qing Dynasty imperial family not only distinguished itself from ordinary people in terms of social status, but even in folk customs such as the Spring League, it had to distinguish it from ordinary people.
Photo note: A white couplet on the Great Qing Gate of the Imperial Palace in Shenyang
Therefore, on the Spring League posting, ordinary people used the Spring League with red paper and black characters, while the Manchu Qing Royal Family used the white Spring League.
According to the records, the white spring league is not only a privilege belonging to the clan, but also the white spring league must also be affixed with different colored edges to show the distinction between different eight flags.
According to the "Records of the Yanjing Dynasty", the people in the clan should also be based on the eight banners to which they belong, for example, those who are red flags should inlaid the white paper spring joint with a red edge, and if it is a blue flag, they should inlay the spring union with a blue edge.
It is even mandatory that the white Spring League is a symbol of the status of the clan room, and ordinary people are not allowed to use it without permission!
After the sacrificial stove, it is gradually glued, thousands of doors, and a new look. Or use Zhu notes, or use red paper, but the inner court and the princes of the clan and other examples use white paper, with red edges and blue edges, and those who are not members of the clan are not allowed to use it. - "The Chronicles of Yanjing"
It is precisely because of the above three reasons that during the entire reign of the Qing Dynasty, the Forbidden City where the emperor lived and the mansion where the imperial family lived, during the Spring Festival every year, the Spring Festival was white. (End)
Text/Take history as a mirror
Graph/Network
References/
"Forbidden City 2017.01" "Qing Palace Spring League Talk" Li Wenjun
"Spring League Customs Interesting Talk" Liu Taipin