Whenever we close our eyes and hear the cicadas chirping, we know it's the height of summer. And occasionally listening to the "weakened" cicadas, we know that it is already late autumn. No insect can interpret the "sound of the seasons" so vividly. Few insects penetrate into our culture and customs as deeply as cicadas.
Cicadas not only enjoy the honor of the spokesperson of the seasons, but also enter the Chinese literary culture. Since they are a common insect, how can the always sentimental literati not say a word when they see them? So whether it is an ancient cicada or a modern cicada, although they are singing with the same sound, but the same voice sings different melodies, let's listen to the voice of Chinese history now.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > end the "transfer pill" life and complete a gorgeous transformation</h1>
In the "Wing Cicada", Huaiying of the Jin Dynasty Party once wrote that the cicada "strikes the pill" and becomes a "drinking wind immortal". The ancients believed that cicadas left the dirt and then drilled out to continue the song of the season. Turning pills is actually about an insect called dung beetles, also known as shell lang, because of its love to push dung balls, so in ancient times there was a turning pills name. The ancients first believed that cicadas were metamorphosed through dung beetles, which is actually a misconception.
Duan Cheng's "Xiyang Miscellaneous Tricks" says that cicadas are "transformed by decaying wood", which is also a wrong understanding. The larvae of the cicada are not the same insect as the larvae of the beetle in the decaying wood, but the reason why the ancients thought so was nothing more than to give the cicada a "gorgeous metamorphosis". Just as it is said that fireflies are made of rotten grass, although there is some absurdity, but those unwelcome weeds eventually become beautiful stars, is this not a perfect soul sublimation?
Whether it is Ouyang Xiu's "Singing Cicada Fu" or Zhang Yu's "Listening to Cicada Songs", they all give the cicada a lot of space in the work, and compare the "juvenile" and "adult" to prove that the development of the cicada is a perfect transformation. Why is that?
In fact, in that dark era, these people of insight in ancient times were pressured by feudal rulers again and again, and in the court where villains ruled, most of them would not be reused. And every person of insight wants to carry out a gorgeous transformation, from a small worm in the dirt or a shell lang pushing a dung ball to a cicada flying in the sky, the sound attracts the attention of countless people, and then a hundred responses to achieve their ambitions. Therefore, this little cicada actually carries the hope of countless people with lofty ideals.
Maybe they are wrong from the scientific dimension, but the depth of love these heroes for this land, they are indeed real examples.
Of course, not all poets make such mistakes, and some writers have embarked on the right "scientific path". Ancient poetry also contains objective descriptions of the cicada's living conditions. Zuo Jiao's "Cicada Metamorphosis" depicts the degeneration process of cicadas in detail. Since his description is based on a detailed observation of natural phenomena, he can write the real life law of insects in detail, which has a strong objectivity. For example, the process of writing cicadas from larvae crawling out of the ground to feathering into adults is written in quite detail and vividness, especially sentences such as "even raising wooden fists and throwing themselves into the established" and "thin wings and the rising sun begins to shine", writing "vivid and vivid", as if a peeling cicada is in front of our eyes, the larva ends the dark life, and then climbs out of the hole, it climbs up the branches delicately, and the wings gradually turn black, and a perfect evolution is carried out. At the last moment, facing the rising sun, this beautiful creature finally ascended the branch and flew away. What a vibrant scene, the birth of a new life, and the most beautiful transformation of heaven and earth.
The cicada, which was originally just an inconspicuous little insect, flew into Chinese literature and began its other metamorphosis. They begin to "mourn", "rhyme", "mourn", carrying the author's infinite thoughts.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > drinking dew and not eating, which is inherently noble</h1>
The ancients discovered the special way of eating cicadas very early on, calling it "drinking clear dew". In Cao Zhi's "Cicada Endowment", he wrote such an ancient famous sentence as "perching on a high branch and looking up at the head, gargling the clear stream of dew". Qu Yuan, who was watching by the river, once shouted "Falling Dew towards drinking Mulan". Zhuangzi, the founder of the "Runaway Sect", also looked up to the sky and said that immortals could "suck wind and drink dew."
Cicadas survive by sucking sap from a tapered stinging mouthpiece and do not eat solid food. In the eyes of the ancients, this is the kind of people who are struggling to seek the indisputable purity of the world, which is simply "not eating fireworks in the world", which is precisely the realm that countless ancient celebrities most yearn for.
In the eyes of these ancients, cicadas transformed from small insects in the soil into beautiful cicadas, out of the mud and not stained, they eat wind and drink dew, how noble. It is precisely in this way that this association has attracted countless literati and inkers, and this "drinking dew and constant freshness" has always been the highest realm that the hermits are struggling to pursue.
The cicada drinks dew and does not eat, it is its millions of years of evolution, the cicada has a good feeling for liquid food, which is not worthy of special praise. But the poets resonate with their own ideals of life, they put thousands of sorrows and feelings on the cicada, in the dark ages, in the decadent dynasty, the literati desperately look for that piece of peace in their hearts, in the cicada's body, they found that small piece of white, this is what they are looking for.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > chilling and poignant, playing the pain of melancholy</h1>
The sound of cicadas in summer can always give people a sense of freshness and joy, while the chill of autumn cicadas is sound, making people's emotions drop instantly. Although the cicada has no feelings, the feelings of those literati and inkers around the cicada are quite rich, so the cicada takes on the heavy responsibility of "empathy".
Every literati has different encounters, and in the face of embarrassment, they are full of emotions. A chilling cry instantly made the emotions of the literati burst out at the same time. For different cicadas, they play different literary effects. In the face of the cicadas, the most famous is the poet Liu Yong's "cold cicadas are miserable", after thousands of years of history, we seem to be able to travel through the time tunnel to the Northern Song Dynasty, feel the pain of the poet's farewell, and then listen to the cry of the cicadas, how can this scene not make people break their intestines?
About cicadas, in addition to the bearer of literature, there are more sad stories. As early as the Han Dynasty great Confucian Dong Zhongshu answered Niu Heng's question "Why are cicadas also called Qi women", he told a sad folk story.
Qi Lost the favor of expectations and became a victim of ancient politics. She hated the king's widowhood, and in her grief she fell seriously ill, thus ending her miserable life. And the legend that she died of illness finally turned into a cicada, singing in the tree constantly and desolately, telling the hearer about this sad past, bringing her own pain back to the world, so that the hearer fell into infinite pain and sympathy, and from then on, the cicada also had a new name, known as "Qi Girl".
The poignant sound of cicadas will not only blend with sad stories, but also often appear with some desolate scenes. The Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You's "Smelling Cicadas in Autumn" sketches us a picture of infinite sorrow, which we cannot forget for a long time. In this scene, what is presented to us is the "slanting sun" and the "long pavilion", full of a desolate atmosphere. It is in this atmosphere that Lu You said the famous sentence "The cicadas in the world are the most hated, and sending all the pedestrians to send autumn" is the famous sentence.
Just as the slanting sun shone on the parting of the long pavilion, the parting sorrow burst out, and the poet could no longer control his emotions. In the face of this melancholy "cicada chirping", the poet is really "hated", sending the deceased and sending autumn, the long winter does not know when it will end, just like the feudal and decadent Southern Song Dynasty, when will it be able to recover this homeland of the Central Plains?
Thinking of this, and listening to the sound of the cicadas, Lu You transferred his ambition to return to his homeland and his infinite sorrow for the country to this little cicada. Let every reader seem to have returned to the corrupt and dark Southern Song Dynasty, watching the soldiers of the Jin Dynasty trampling on our homeland, such hatred and sorrow, how can the words be exhausted.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
The insect book defines the life of cicadas as follows: "Four years of dark labor, a month of pleasure in the sun." ”
This is the life of a cicada.
After several years of "dark labor" life, these cicadas underwent a magnificent metamorphosis. God has given them the ability to sing, dear readers, please do not complain about this "cicada chirping" noise anymore. They have tasted the pain of darkness for years, and now that they have suffered so much, please give them the right to sing. Singing in the light for months, they will die, and this time, for light and freedom.
A cicada plays the music of summer, but also plays the melody of Chinese culture, such a lovely cicada, why should we hate its sound and be irritable?