The origin of couplets

There are different opinions about the origin of couplets. But the origin of couplets can basically be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period more than two thousand years ago. It is generally believed that the predecessor of couplets is "Fu Tao".

According to Huainanzi, the so-called Taofu, also known as "Peach Stems", are two "one-inch-wide, seven-eight-inch-long" mahogany boards hung on the left and right doors of the main entrance, which are used to exorcise ghosts and eliminate evil spirits, and are painted with legendary gods such as "Shen Tu" and "Li Lei" or books.

This is also known as the "door god" among the people. According to historical records, as early as before the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols in every household in the Central Plains of China during the Spring Festival.

There is a crescent mountain in the sea. There is a big peach tree on the mountain, which twists and turns for three thousand miles. Its branches are called the ghost gate in the northeast, and all ghosts come in and out. There are two gods in the world, one is Shen Tu and the other is Lei Yu, who read and lead all ghosts. Evil spirits eat tigers with reeds. So the Yellow Emperor made a ceremony to drive away time, set up a peach man, painted a shrine and a tiger at the portal, and hung a reed rope to resist evil spirits. (Shan Hai Jing is quoted from Lun Heng Ding Gui)?

The general idea of this passage is that in the vast sea, there is a mountain called Dushuo Mountain, and there is a big peach tree on it. This peach tree is unstoppable, its branches are winding and stretching for 3000 miles. In the northeast of peach branches, there is a place where peach branches are sparse, forming a door called "ghost gate", from which all the "ghosts" in the world come in and out.

There are two gods on the "Gate of Hell"-one is Shen Tu, and the other is Lei Yu. They are responsible for identifying ghosts in the world. Whenever they see "evil spirits" who are unreasonable and harmful to people, they tie them up with ropes made of reeds and feed them to tigers. Because these two brothers can help people ward off evil spirits, the Yellow Emperor issued an order to the whole country. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every household should carve the statues of Shen Tu and Lei Yu with peach poles and hang them in front of the door on New Year's Eve.

At the same time, a rope made of reeds is hung at the top of the gate, and a tiger is painted on the second door to avoid the intrusion of monsters. Since then, people have set up Taotao people, nailed red boards on doors, painted images of two gods and tigers, and hung reeds on doors to ward off evil spirits.

Later, people thought wood carving was too troublesome, so they drew two statues directly on the mahogany board, engraved with the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu, and hung them on both sides of the door on New Year's Eve afternoon to ward off evil spirits. But the word "Lei Yu" on one side and the word "tea" on the other are asymmetrical and unsightly, so someone added the word "God" before the word "tea" and changed it into "Lei Yu" and "Shen Tu".

This may be regarded as the earliest man (God) and a famous couple, which is a "symbol of peach", and its appearance is a key step to produce couplets.

Until the Song Dynasty, the Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". Couplets are not limited to being engraved on peach symbols, but used on couplets, which are called "couplets" in later generations. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that "Fu Tao" was really called "Spring Festival couplets". According to Ming Dynasty scholar Chen, "Spring Festival couplets began in".

Jinling, the imperial capital, don't send messages before New Year's Eve. Officials and scholars are at home and add a pair of Spring Festival couplets at the door so that the emperor can walk out of sight. "Zhu Yuanzhang not only travels incognito, but also enjoys it. He also personally presented Spring Festival couplets to Bachelor Tao An and others. The emperor's advocacy made the Spring Festival couplets increasingly prosperous, and finally formed an enduring fashion.

Fu Cha Dunchong's Yanjing Spring Festival couplets in Qing Dynasty recorded: "Spring Festival couplets are also Fu Tao. Since entering the customs, some scholars have written Spring Festival couplets under the eaves of the city in order to moisten their pens. After the sacrifice, it gradually tilted up and thousands of families took on a new look. " The relationship between Spring Festival couplets and Taofu can also be seen from the traditional Spring Festival couplets "firecrackers to get rid of the old/Taofu to renew the new" and Wang Anshi's poem "Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones".

This custom lasted for more than 1000 years. It was not until after the Five Dynasties that people began to replace the names of the two immortals with auspicious characters and the red boards with ordinary boards (or red paper) that the evolution of couplets was completed.

So, what is the earliest couplet in the cultural history of China? On this issue, couplets also have many views. It is generally believed that the earliest couplets were inscribed by Meng Chang, the master of Shu in the Five Dynasties.

Meng Chang's inscription and postscript are recorded in the Hakka dialects of Meng, Zhang and Huang Xiu, the couplet dialect of Liang Zhangju, and Tan Sitong's Records of Shi Juying.

For example, the book "Shu Konglang" said: "Before Shu returned to the Song Dynasty, Shi Xin, a bachelor in Changling, wrote a peach symbol on the bedroom door, claiming that his words were not meritorious, and said,' New Year's Day is Changchun'." After Shu Ping, the court named Lu Yuqing as the birthday of Taizu, knowing Chengdu and Changchun. "

In the Qing Dynasty, Liang Zhangju's couplet "Yu Cong" also recorded: "The couplet began in Fu Tao, with the Changlian in chang meng, Sichuan as the oldest". According to the book, Meng Chang, the monarch of Shu after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, claimed to have written a pair of couplets on New Year's Eve the year before he returned to Song Dynasty, which was the beginning of the Spring Festival couplets and passed down from generation to generation until today.

The reason for this is that there is a little-known plot, which says that after the destruction of Shu in the Northern Song Dynasty, Chengdu was its capital, and then the court appointed the first magistrate as a ceremony for Meng Changjun's surrender to the Song Dynasty. Lv Yuqing, the name of the magistrate, only added the word "Qing Yu" written by Mongolia, and the word "Changchun" was the birthday of the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. Named after Changchun, he called on his subjects to hold celebrations.

Let this day be a sacred day in the future. The word "Changchun" coincides with the last word in Meng Changjun's "Changchun in Jiajie"-a magistrate and an emperor. Of course, people have to be regarded as gods, and Meng Chang's Spring Festival couplets also follow. Today, this pair of Spring Festival couplets is still in people's minds.

But this may not be the case. In the 25th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1899), there were Spring Festival couplets in the Tang Dynasty in the Dunhuang suicide note unearthed in a Tibetan sutra cave in Mogao Grottoes, Gansu, China. These Spring Festival couplets are:

Year end: Sanyang began to spread; Open the fourth order first.

Yan Fuxing a new day; There is no limit to celebrating a person's birthday.

Beginning of spring Day: Baoji can ward off evil spirits; Yan Rui Jie Cheng Xiang.

Spring has begun; Fukiko, Sun Chang.

Once again: the anniversary; There is no disaster every month.

Guarding by door gods; Ghosts hide and bury.

Stein (06 10) in Dunhuang suicide note ends with "Written on August 5th, 11th year of Kaiyuan, Liu voted for my second uncle". The title of the "Eleventh Year of Kaiyuan" here is 723 AD, which shows that the Spring Festival couplets of Dunhuang suicide notes are 240 years earlier than those of Meng Changjun.

But the fact is not limited to this. In the preface written by Mr. Li Jingfeng for Liang Shi's "China ancient and modern clever couplet", it is mentioned that there is a couplet between Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin: sending cold snow; Welcome the New Year and celebrate it.

Moreover, according to "China Couplet Integration Hubei Volume", the earliest creation time of couplets is the volume written by Jiangxia Wang (Li) in front of Jiangxia Taoist Temple:

The mountains are gentle and gentle, and the flowing water leaks secrets. Savages are not allowed to cross.

The trees in the distance are desolate, and the cranes in Yun Qi contain wonderful principles, but they are curious with the poets.

After all, the above statement is still uncertain, because it is said that Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, wrote several famous couplets hundreds of years ago, and there is also a widely circulated story.

It is said that one year when Wang Xizhi moved from his hometown of Langya, Shandong Province to Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, it was the end of the year, so Wang Xizhi wrote a pair of Spring Festival couplets as usual-"Spring Breeze, Spring Scenes, New Year's Eve, New Scenes" for his family to stick on both sides of the gate. Unexpectedly, because Wang Xizhi's calligraphy was the best in the world, he was highly respected by people at that time. As soon as this couplet was posted, it was uncovered at night.

The next day, after his family told Wang Xizhi, Wang Xizhi was not angry, so he took a pen and wrote a pair-"Ti Ying Polaris, the southern suburb of Yanyu" for his family to post it again. Who knows, when I saw it at dawn the next day, the couplet was unveiled again. But this day is already New Year's Eve, and tomorrow is New Year's Day. Seeing red Spring Festival couplets hanging in front of every household in the neighborhood, but there was no one in front of my house, Mrs. Wang was anxious to urge her husband to find a way.

Wang Xizhi thought for a moment, smiled, and then wrote another pair. After writing, he asked his family to cut out a couplet and put the first half on the door: happiness will not come twice, but it will not rain alone. Sure enough, someone stole it at night. But in the moonlight, I can see that this couplet is unlucky. Although Wang Xizhi is a famous calligrapher, he can't take down this couplet full of dangerous predictions and hang it up.

The thief had to sigh and slip away in the night. At dawn on the first day of the new year, Wang Xizhi went out yesterday to post a half-cut. At this time, many people are watching. When you look at it, the couplet becomes: happiness has never doubled up to now, but it never rains but pours last night. When everyone saw it, they cheered in unison and applauded.

In recent years, it has been suggested that couplets on New Year's Eve have become a custom in the Five Dynasties. The earliest couplets were written by Liu and his sister Liu Lingxian, writers of the Southern Liang Dynasty. This is recorded in Tan Sitong's Notes on Shi Juying's Residence, saying that Liu Xiaozhuo could not be dismissed from office, and the title was linked to the door: "Close the door to celebrate the hanging, lie high and thank you."

His sister also made a pair of couplets: "The fallen flowers are still in harmony, and they are reunited with the orchid." Although the couplets are short-term, every sentence is beautiful and engraved on the door. It can be said that it is the earliest couplet recorded in China's history books. And this couplet is four or five hundred years earlier than Meng Changjun.