Zhang Yuniang was a woman in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, she was born in a family of official eunuchs, she read poetry since childhood, she wrote two volumes of "Lan Xue Collection" before her death, and many poems were circulated in the world. The Song Dynasty was a special era, not only the number of literati far exceeded that of other dynasties, but even the number of female talents was much more than that of previous dynasties.
Drama Zhang Yuniang
Zhang Yuniang, along with Li Qingzhao, Zhu Shuzhen, and Wu Shuji, is known as the four female lyricists, and most of her writings describe the feelings she had with her fiancé Shen Qi. It has nothing to do with the great righteousness of the family and the country, nor to the national complex, but these poems of "love and love" have described her tragic life, which has made posterity sigh endlessly.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Agarwood shame to recognize the old age, Zhang Yuniang and Shen Yuniang have long been in love</h1>
Zhang Yuniang was born in 1250, the character Ruoqiong, self-proclaimed a virgin. Zhang Yuniang is a young lady of the eunuch family, who has loved to read since she was a child and is extremely good at poetry. Although the Song Dynasty's restrictions on women were more relaxed than in most dynasties, and women with conditions could access books and study at will, in the feudal era, they still could not have the opportunity to travel like men.
Zhang Yuniang has two maids by her side, and she also has a parrot, and the two maids plus a parrot are collectively called "Boudoir Sanqing". It can be seen that Zhang Yuniang's childhood is happy, she usually plays with parrot maids, and composes lyrics and poems in her spare time to pass the lonely time in the boudoir. When she grew up a little, she was also like countless women in the boudoir, secretly sketching the appearance of love in her heart.
Zhang Yuniang and "Boudoir Sanqing"
Presumably, every woman hopes to have a polite and well-dressed prince to know her, and Zhang Yuniang is no exception. This person is Shen Qi, although Shen Qi is Zhang Yuniang's cousin, but the two can also be regarded as green plum bamboo horses. Many people wonder why there were so many love stories between cousins and cousins in ancient times, lu you so, Nalan so, and Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are still like this.
As everyone knows, in the feudal era, the probability of young men and women being able to meet and fall in love freely was too low. There are more possibilities between relatives because they take care of each other less, and in that era of "parental orders, matchmakers' words" both parental consents are far more useful than marriage. Zhang Yuniang's family is a family of officials and eunuchs, her ancestors are all officials, Shen Yu is the seventh grandson of Shen Obscure during the song Huizong period, plus the two families are cousins, the door is under the household, and the parents of both sides have made a marriage contract for the two early.
According to legend, both were born on the fourth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and Shen Yu was only a few hours older than Zhang Yuniang, and the two were engaged at the age of fifteen. After the engagement, the two fell in love and made a vow of the sea. Zhang Yuniang also sewed a sachet by hand to give to Shen Qi, and the things that were given to the south in ancient times were symbols of the promise of love. Zhang Yuniang, as a well-known talented woman, also embroidered a poem on the sachet:
Cherish the heavenly grandson cut zixia, agarwood shame to recognize the old prosperity. Silk Orchid alone embraces the spirit and exercises, and does not bring spring breeze children's flowers.
These love sentences express Zhang Yuniang's secret promise and "love for Shen Qi".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, facing the obstruction of love, Shen Yu rushed to the test for love, and Zhang Yuniang was looking forward to it</h1>
The world is always impermanent, and the decline of the Shen family has ended the marriage contract between the two. Zhang Yuniang is the pearl in the palm of her parents, how can she bear to let her go to the Shen family to suffer? Not all women are as willing as He Zhu's wife to give up the superior life of the royal family, willing to share the happiness and hardships with their husbands and "pick up the lamp and mend clothes" for their husbands.
But Zhang Yuniang is obviously also a "stubborn" woman, she has long cherished the determination of "not marrying Shen Lang", and has never changed. In order to show her attitude, she composed a song "Double Swallow Departure", expressing her sorrow and indignation with "haggard Wei Jiaren, every year sad and alone". Yu Niang's parents watched their daughter becoming increasingly haggard, and in desperation, they could only put forward a request to Shen Qi, "If you want to be a good son-in-law, you must wait for the dragon".
Ancient couples
Shen Qi was originally a person with no heart for fame, and his decision to "enter Beijing to catch the exam" for love was painful compared to it. But with the expectations and waiting of lovers in the hometown, why is such a hardship? At the end of the Song Dynasty, when he was gradually in a chaotic world, he could completely stay in his hometown and guard his lover, and finally Zhang Yuniang's parents would definitely agree to their marriage. But would Shen Qi give up his dignity? Therefore, for the sake of Zhang Yuniang, he will also embark on a career path.
At that time, Shen Yu was already extremely poor, and Zhang Yuniang tearfully took out her private money as a food and accommodation fee for the exam, and wrote a song "Ancient Parting" to her lover. With Zhang Yuniang's expectations, Shen Yu embarked on the road of imperial examination. Although there are not many records about Shen Yu in history, his talent is certainly not bad if he and the talented woman Zhang Yuniang can marry a lifelong lover because of his confidant. How can such a person fail to pass the scientific examination when he goes to take the exam?
Zhang Yuniang, who was waiting at home, wrote a poem of lovesickness while sending it to Shen Qi, which should also be the source of Shen Qi's motivation. Sure enough, Shen Yu successfully passed the final temple examination link and made the high school rankings. Unfortunately, God always likes to make fun of the world, likes to watch the life and death of the world. Just when Shen Yu thought that he could quickly go back to see Zhang Yuniang, perhaps because of a long period of depression and longing, or maybe he had suffered from wind and cold along the way, Shen Yu was seriously ill.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, born not even to the king, death wish to be the same cave also. The two explain what is stubborn love</h1>
When Shen Yu was seriously ill, Zhang Yuniang also sent a letter, in which she once again expressed her loyalty to love: "Birth is not even a jun, and death is willing to be the same cave." Shen Qiang supported the sick body and wrote down the vow of "He Dang drinks cloud liquid and crosses the double luan to return". In 1271, shen qi, who was only twenty-two years old, died of illness, and before he died, he did not see Zhang Yuniang for the last time, and he fell on the way back to his hometown.
I'm afraid that Zhang Yuniang was already dead at the moment after getting the news! If her parents were not still alive, she would definitely die together, just like the poem "Su Qing has nothing to do, resentment and double Feihong" in "Crying Shen Sheng". Although her parents also wanted to choose another concubine for her to relieve her inner worries, she stubbornly said to her parents: "Those who have not died in the concubines, for those who have two parents' ears", it is only because her parents are still there that she did not accompany Shen Lang to die, how can she marry someone else?
Costume couples
In the following days, although Zhang Yuniang was still writing poetry in the boudoir, the happy and expectant Zhang Yuniang had long disappeared, and all that was left was a widowed woman who missed her "dead husband". On the Lantern Festival in 1277 AD, Zhang Yuniang dreamed that Shen Yu was driving a car to pick herself up, and when she woke up, she was sad in her heart and sighed: "Lang shed me? "I fell ill from this, but I still didn't recover for more than half a month, and I died soon after.
There is also a saying that Zhang Yuniang died of hunger strike, but either way, Zhang Yuniang also died six years after Shen Qi's death. Her parents knew that she had died thinking of Shen Qi, so they consulted with the Shen family and buried the two together, fulfilling their wish to "die in the same cave".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the tragedy between Zhang Yuniang and Shen Yu is also a tragedy of the feudal era</h1>
It is said that after Zhang Yuniang's death, one of her maids died of weeping and sorrow, and the other maid did not want to live alone, hanged herself and died, and a few days later even Zhang Yuniang's parrot died of grief. After the death of the "Boudoir Sanqing", the Zhang family buried them next to the tombs of Zhang Yuniang and Shen Yu, which also became the famous local "parrot mound".
Parrot Mound Ruins
The talented women of the Song Dynasty were tragic, and Li Qingzhao and Zhu Shuzhen really had tragic colors in their lives. The difference is that Li Qingzhao is the pain of bereavement and mourning her husband; Zhu Shu is really the pain of grief; Zhang Yuniang's is the pain of having a lover and not being able to become a family member. It was not easy for Shen Yu to be admitted to the imperial examination, and the two had the conditions to spend the rest of their lives together, but at this time, they were torn apart by the god of death.
But in the final analysis, it is still limited by the feudal society's "door to door" mentality, and this gap between classes makes it difficult for the two to marry early. Fortunately, the story of the two has not been buried in history, and the real version of "Liang Zhu" has been recorded by later generations such as "The Biography of Zhang Yuniang" and "The Tomb of zhang Yuniang's Boudoir Sanqing Parrot Tomb Zhenwen" and has been passed down to this day.
Resources:
1. "Sachet Poem"
2. "Double Swallow Departure"
3. "Crying Shen Sheng"