Do the types of ancient letters represent different meanings? What kinds are there?

Broadly speaking, official letters between ancient countries, imperial edicts issued by the emperor, documents submitted by his men to the king and private letters between relatives and friends can all be called letters, but the first three are official documents, and the scope of literature studied in this paper is limited to the latter.

Long ago, letters became an important part of China's ancient prose. There are always different opinions about the origin of letters. Scholars are mostly influenced by the theory of Chunqiu. Liu Xie said in "Wen Xin Diao Long Secretary": "The political leisure of the three generations is quite sparse; In the Spring and Autumn Period, we recruited talents and filled books. " It means that there were not many government affairs in ancient times, and the frequency of using letters was relatively low. However, in the Spring and Autumn Period, due to frequent government exchanges between vassal states, many letters were produced. Therefore, most people think that letters came into being in the Spring and Autumn Period, and gradually evolved from early official books. However, Liu Xie only introduced the development and prosperity of letters, and did not involve specific sources of letters.

In addition, Yao Nai's Collection of Ancient Chinese Characters in Qing Dynasty and Zeng Guofan's Miscellaneous Notes on Classics and History both regard Shangshu Yingjun as the originator of letters. Yao Nai collected 13 kinds of articles, including argumentation, preface and postscript, recitation, calligraphy, preface, imperial edict, biography, epitaph, miscellaneous notes, ode, ci fu and mourning. In the preface, in the Spring and Autumn Period, scholars from all over the world either told each other face to face or left their own books, which all meant one thing. The Warring States said that the scholar was a master at that time, and when he was appointed as a minister, he entered the discussion. If he has been to a country, or he is a foreign king, he will be included in this series. "

Zeng Guofan said in "A Hundred Miscellaneous Notes on Classics and History": "Books and Jane, peers tell each other. The classics such as Jun Xuan and Zuo Zhuan are the words of Zheng Zijia, Shu Xiang and Lu Xiang. Later generations called it book, revelation, shift, Jane, single, knife and pencil, post. " Mr. Chu Binjie also mentioned this problem in "An Introduction to China Ancient Style": "The earliest calligraphy and letters in China were produced in the Spring and Autumn Period. Zuo Zhuan contains letters from Zheng Zijia and Zhao (in the 17th year of Wengong), suicide notes (in the 7th year of Chenggong), letters from Zi Chan and Fan, etc. , is the earliest preserved manuscript in China. However, judging from the content and writing purpose of these letters, they are quite different from what the later generations generally call letters. From the perspective of transmitting information, they have the nature of letters, but in terms of content and function, they are actually written diplomatic rhetoric, or slightly equal to the' credentials' of exchanges between countries. "

Regarding the specific time of the source of letters, Mr. Zhao believes that both Shuo and Chunqiu are due to the lack of strong evidence in the history of China's literary letters, and it is impossible to verify the specific source of letters. In the early days, the concept of "faith" was vague, and chapters, tables, plays and discussions were written equally. With the continuous development of the concept of letters and the gradual subdivision of styles, the concept of "letters" has become more and more clear. In the Preface to Essays in Ming Dynasty, Wu Ne said: "In the past, courtiers kept playing, friends and old friends kept reciprocating, and they always said' books'. Recently, courtiers have said that it is called' table play', but only between friends and old people is it called' book'. "

He further clarified the concept of letters from official letters between courtiers and private stationery exchanged between relatives and friends, which was limited to letters between friends and old friends. Later, in order to distinguish official documents from private letters, "the former is generally called' writing' or' playing books', which belongs to the category of official documents' playing sparse' (also called' playing discussion'); The latter is called' book' for short, or' letter',' letter' and' letter', which belongs to the category of practical writing. " In this way, letters are defined as private letters between relatives and friends, which greatly narrows the scope of the concept of "letters" and becomes the so-called letters in the modern sense.

Letters, as a practical style in China's ancient prose, have experienced a continuous evolution from production to maturity. During this period, due to different carriers, uses and identities, letters produced many different names, mainly including "Xie", "Za", "Jane", "Tie", "Xin" and "Kai". "Writing" is named after the ancients used bamboo slips and wooden boards as materials for writing and recording words. Han Xu Shen said in Shuowen: "Thanks, the book version is also. A foot long, it is said that books are not books. " Later, it was often used by officials to write letters to queens, princes and princes. "Zha" is also called "Shu Zha" because the board used is thin and small sawdust. "Both Jane and I use wood as writing materials. Later, it turned to the name of the letter, which is what the Han people call a letter.

Up to now, it is a combination of public and private, but few friends are called Zagreb. As for "Jane", Xu Shi once said: "Jane is also a bit, and Chen Qi is also a bit, or a simple hand, or a small Jane, or a ruler." It can be seen that "Jane" is a short and casual envelope; "Post", the book is called Silk Book; "Letter" is called it because it has an envelope in the process of transmission. It can be seen that although these names are different, they are all letters, but they have different titles because of the different materials of ancient Chinese characters. There are many other names, which are closely related to the relationship between superiors and subordinates in feudal society. For example, "Kai, Kai also, Cheng Kai's meaning is also", and both the beginning and the end of the letter say "A certain Kai". "If you are alone, you will avoid the emperor."

It has been popular since Wei and Jin Dynasties. Mr. Chu Binjie said: "In ancient times, there was a difference between playing and writing. It was in the Wei and Jin Dynasties that monarchs and kings were given the name "Qi". As for' Book Seven', it refers to the correspondence between ordinary relatives and friends. The former is an upward official document and the latter is a general application text. " The table is used by officials to express their feelings. "The ancients gave you a dedication, which was called a letter. There are four kinds of etiquette in the Han dynasty, and the third is table, but it is only used to express feelings. " It is a kind of official document covering rank and power, and has a unique name because of the different objects presented.