In 1900, the Dunhuang scripture collection stone room was opened.
Just like a dark room containing peerless martial arts secrets was opened, countless precious documents were rediscovered, including a large number of manuscripts of Tang Dynasty poetry.
There are many works of famous poets here, including Liu Xiyi, Chen Ziang, Meng Haoran, Li Bai, Gao Shi, Cen Shen, Bai Juyi, etc.
There are many discoveries that are very precious, such as Wei Zhuang's long narrative poem "Qin Fu Yin", which describes the chaos during the Huangchao Uprising at the end of Tang Dynasty.
However, this long poem was lost in the Song Dynasty. It was not until it was discovered in Dunhuang that the world had the chance to see the true content of this poem again.
There is also Li Bai's "Pity the Bottle Empty". Some scholars believe that compared with the handed down "Will Enter the Wine", it can better reflect Li Bai's "madness", and it is closer to the original version created by Li Bai.
Such a large number of manuscripts of poetry collections appeared in the distant Dunhuang, which shows the great influence of Tang poetry.
These works became popular and out of the circle, and were widely copied by literati and scholars of various ethnic groups. They spread from the Central Plains to Hexi, and came to Dunhuang.
Why does poetry have such a big influence in China?
How does it break through barriers and constantly reach new artistic heights in the exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups?
Why does it carry the common emotions of all ethnic groups?
Recently, the Chinese national newspaper "Tao Zhonghua" conducted an exclusive interview with Professor Monman on this topic.
Reporter: China is a country of poetry. In the past, many people had the words "Heirloom of Poetry and Rites" written on their doors. What impact do you think poetry has had on the cultural character of Chinese people?
Monman: China is a country of poetry.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius taught his disciples the six classics of "Poetry", "Book", "Ritual", "Music", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn". Since then, "Poetry" has become the most important cultural classic of the Chinese nation.
Elevating poetry to the level of "classics", using poetry to express common national beliefs and convey common national spirit, I am afraid that only China has such cultural characteristics in the world.
Chinese classical poetry has come all the way from "Book of Songs" and "Chu Songs", carrying the characteristics of Chinese ritual and music civilization, and also shaping the gentle and honest character of Chinese people.
Let's take "poetry and etiquette" as an example. Why should "poetry" and "ritual" be listed side by side?
Because the characteristic of Chinese civilization is the civilization of ritual and music, Xunzi said: "Music contracts, rituals are different." "Rites" shape the social order with differences, while "music" promotes group harmony.
However, "music" in ancient times was played in conjunction with "poetry", and "poetry" spread through words, of course, is more stable than "music" spread through musical scores.
Later, "Yue", one of the six classics, was lost, and "poetry" gradually replaced "music", representing the spirit of harmony in Chinese culture, and became a symbol of civilization alongside "ritual".
The Chinese cultural tradition with Confucianism as the main body has also formed a "poetry education" that uses poetry to express, guide, and enhance the soul, increase the beauty of life, smooth interpersonal relationships, understand the hearts of society, and improve social governance.
The coexistence of poetry education and ritual education is not only the cultural and educational tradition of Confucianism, but also the path of personal cultivation. Generations of Chinese people have been influenced and enlightened by "poetry and etiquette family inheritance", turning the people into customs and cultivating talents to benefit the world.
On the gate of the Chinese people is written "Heirs of Poems and Ceremonies", and the Chinese inside the gate have also formed a cultural character that expresses their aspirations through poetry and expresses their feelings through poetry.
Confucius said: "If you don't study poetry, you can't speak." In ancient China, the most basic criterion for judging whether a person is a talented man or woman is whether he (she) can write poetry.
Poetry is not only an important yardstick for measuring Chinese literary talents, but also a basic way for Chinese people to express their emotions.
The Chinese mainly rely on poetry instead of religion to transcend reality and achieve emotional satisfaction.
Let’s take the bright moon we look up at every day as an example. We use poems to endow it with various emotional connotations. The loneliness of "three people"; there is the elegance of "the bright moon shines among the pines, and the clear spring stone flows upwards", and there is also the majesty of "the bright moon rises from the Tianshan Mountains, and the vast sea of clouds"; It is deep, and it has the lofty sentiment of "both Huaiyi, Xingzhuang, thinking about flying, wanting to go to the blue sky and embrace the bright moon".
We Chinese not only use poetry to sing about our lives and soothe our hearts, but also use poetry to enlighten our children and shape their spiritual world. This is the most dynamic "poetry and etiquette family".
Reporter: Mr. Chen Yinke emphasizes "poetry to prove history". Poetry is the witness of history. From the "Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin Dynasty to the "Yuefu Poems" in the Han Dynasty and then to Tang Poetry and Song Ci, some allusions and images in the poems have precipitated the common historical memory and culture of all ethnic groups. Emotion, please introduce the content of this aspect.
Mengman: There are many such allusions and images in Chinese poetry.
For example, we all know that "swan goose" can represent letters in poetry.
This image actually comes from the historical allusion of Su Wu herding sheep.
When Su Wu was sent as an envoy to the Xiongnu, he was detained by the Xiongnu.
Su Wu was unyielding and imprisoned in Beihai to herd sheep.
Emperor Zhaodi of the Han Dynasty reconciled with the Xiongnu after he ascended the throne, and sent envoys to the Xiongnu, demanding that Su Wu and others be released.
The Xiongnu Shanyu lied to the emissary that Su Wu was dead.
Later, when the envoys of the Han Dynasty learned about the real situation, they blamed Shan Yu and said: "Our emperor shot down a wild goose in Shanglin Garden. On the goose's feet was tied a letter written by Su Wu, saying that he was herding sheep in Beihai. How can you lie to me?" What about it?" Shan Yu was shocked when he heard this, and said, "Su Wu's loyalty has moved even a bird!" Finally, he sent Su Wu back.
Obviously, the image of "Swan Goose Passing Letters" originally came from the mutual exchanges between various ethnic groups in ancient China, and the deep emotion of loyalty to the motherland it expresses also belongs to the Han and Hungarian ethnic groups at the same time!
Give another example of "breaking willows".
"Folding Willows" represents farewell and homesickness in classical Chinese poetry.
How did it come about?
"The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Caiwei" says: "In the past, I went away, and the willows are Yiyi. Now I come to think about it, and it is raining and snowing."
A soldier returning home from an expedition recalled the scene when he left home, when the green wicker brushed his face.
Since then, wicker has been associated with farewell, and has an image of homesickness, which is the source of Han culture.
Later, when the northern minorities entered the Central Plains, they fully accepted this image and wrote it into their poems.
There is "Folding Willow Branches" in the "Drum Horn and Horizontal Blowing Song" by the Yuefu of the Northern Dynasties. The poem says: "If you get on the horse, you don't catch the whip, but you will bend the willow branches. If you get off the horse and play the flute, you will kill the traveler." Obviously, in the hearts of the children of the Northern Dynasties, willows also represent Reluctant to give up to hometown and relatives.
Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in "Whispering the Flute in Luocheng on a Spring Night": "The sound of someone's jade flute flying in the dark, scattered into the spring breeze and filled Luocheng. No one can't afford the love of their hometown when they hear the willows in this nocturne." In the unified Tang Dynasty In the dynasties, "Folding Willow" has long been a familiar tune for children of all ethnic groups. People don't need to pick up a wicker, as long as they hear the tune of "Folding Willow", they can naturally feel homesick. Isn't this just an image in the Is it the best performance of transfer and promotion among different ethnic groups?
In fact, not only "Folding Willows", but also "Guanshanyue", "Longtou Water", "Luomeihua" and other Northern Dynasty Yuefu tunes are sung in the mouths and hearts of the children of Hu Han, expressing the common homesickness.
So why are there so many images of "homesickness"?
Because homesickness, like the patriotism we just mentioned, is the common emotional pursuit of us Chinese.
In the long course of historical development, people from all corners of the country have gathered in this land of China to form a common Chinese nation.
During this process, people kept leaving their hometowns and traveling here and there, and only then did they walk out of China's vast territory and splendid civilization.
When I look back at my hometown on the big stage of China, I will slowly find that as the collective memory of Chinese people, the feeling of homesickness is eternal, but at the same time, the scope of my hometown will become larger and larger. The Chinese "anti-recognized that other lands are their hometowns", and finally established the common hometown of China.
When we talk about exploring Chinese civilization today, one of the most important things is to understand the nostalgia of the Chinese people. It's a foreign country."
Reporter: The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of poetry development. The national integration of the Southern and Northern Dynasties injected a simple and strong temperament into the prosperity of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. What is the relationship between this and the formation of the poetry style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty?
What impact did it have on the development of Tang poetry?
Mengman: Why the peak of Chinese poetry appeared in the Tang Dynasty, in fact, is largely due to the great integration of nationalities during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
The Northern Dynasties provided Tang poetry with a simple and vigorous temperament, and the Southern Dynasties provided Tang poetry with elegant and beautiful expressions.
Let me talk about the Southern Dynasty first.
The "Yongming Style" produced in the Southern Dynasties is the source of metrical poetry in the Tang Dynasty. With the sonorous rhythm of "Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping, Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping", Chinese classical poetry has the most exquisite and distinctive style. The way of expression is a great contribution of the Southern Dynasties.
At the same time, whether it is "Wu Song Ci" or "Xi Qu Ge" in the Southern Dynasties, they repeatedly describe the beautiful landscapes and graceful love in the south of the Yangtze River, which have also become important themes in Tang poetry.
Look at the Northern Dynasty again.
Poems of the Northern Dynasties profoundly influenced the strength and bearing of Tang poetry.
Unlike the euphemistic and delicate people of the Southern Dynasty, the hearts of the children of the Northern Dynasty are vigorous and simple.
For example, the folk song "Folding Willows" in the Northern Dynasties: "A strong man must be a fast horse, and a fast horse must be a strong man. Pedal across the yellow dust, and then separate the male and female."
Isn't this the prototype of the later "Mulan Ci"?
It's just that Mulan went further. What she said was "Two rabbits walk side by side, and An Neng can tell whether I am male or female." Such tough words come from the mouth of a boudoir daughter, what a heroic spirit it is!
This kind of heroism, we will often see in the frontier poems of the Tang Dynasty. If you don't break Loulan, you will never return it", isn't it the classic expression of this kind of heroism!
It was on the land of Youyan, which is close to the northern grassland, that Chen Ziang wrote the eternally famous "Taiwan Song of Dengyouzhou": "I don't see the ancients before, and I don't see the comers in the future. When I think about the long distance of heaven and earth, I feel sad and weep!" Although the poem is only four lines short, it opened up the majestic style of Tang Dynasty poetry, and Chen Ziang was also known as the "Poetry Bone" for this reason, and was repeatedly appreciated by later generations.
This kind of open-mindedness and heroic atmosphere is the precious gift of folk songs of the Northern Dynasties to Tang poetry.
The Tang Dynasty itself was the result of the great integration of nationalities and cultures of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Poets in the Tang Dynasty also consciously or unconsciously combined the beautiful and elegant expressions of southern poetry with the simple and vigorous spirit of northern poetry, and used them in their creations. middle.
The coexistence of elegance and strength of character has established the unsurpassable height of Tang poetry in the history of Chinese art.
Reporter: Many of the poems we are familiar with now come from the creations of ethnic minority poets, such as Yuan Haowen, Yelu Chucai, etc.
Why can poetry break through national barriers?
How does the communication and blending of nationalities promote the production of new poetic masterpieces and new poetic spirits?
Mengman: Poetry represents the common aesthetic orientation and value pursuit of the Chinese nation, which can transcend the barriers of the nation.
Give two of the most classic examples.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zixi, the son of Chu State, was granted the title of Lord E.
At that time, Edi was still dominated by Yue people.
One night, Zibai went out on a boat, and sang an impromptu song for the Yue people who were punting him: "Tonight, when is the night, when I am in the middle of the river, and when today, I will be in the same boat with the prince. I am ashamed, and I am shamed by Haoxibuzi." , The heart is constantly troubled, and I know the prince. There are trees in the mountains, and there are branches in the trees, and I say that you don’t know.” What a touching emotion!
Immediately, according to Chu people's etiquette, Zi Xi solemnly put a silk quilt embroidered with beautiful patterns on his body.
You must know that this love song was sung in the language of the Yue people, and the Yue people were also known as the people who speak the tongue of birds. The poems we see today are actually translations, but this does not mean that It will reduce the charm of this poem. "There are trees in the mountains, and there are branches in the trees, and the heart is happy with the king, and you don't know it" has become the common emotional pursuit of the Chinese nation, which has moved generations of Chinese people.
Another example is "Chile Song".
"Chilechuan, under the Yin Mountain. The sky is like a dome, covering the four fields. The sky is blue, the fields are vast, and the wind blows and the grass looks low, and cattle and sheep can be seen."
In 546 AD, the Eastern Wei Dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yubi.
Most of the 100,000 troops were killed or injured, and the coach Gao Huan couldn't get sick.
It was in such a gloomy atmosphere that Hu Lujin, a general from the Chile tribe, sang the "Song of Chile".
The majestic and desolate singing moved everyone, the morale of the army was inspired, and the army was saved.
When Hu Lujin sang, what language did he use?
Some people think it is Chile language, some people think it is Xianbei language.
Later, a literati who was proficient in both the language of the northern people and Chinese translated it into Chinese, and this is how the wonderful "Chile Song" we see today came into being.
Today, the Chile people who are good at fighting have already disappeared in the wind and smoke of history. However, as long as the "Chile Song" is still there, the Chile people will be immortal forever.
Chinese poetry was born in the production and life of the Chinese people, and grew up in the communication and integration of the Chinese nation.
"Gongyang Biography" says: "The hungry sing about their food, and the laborers sing about their affairs." All kinds of problems that people encounter in production and life can be expressed through poetry, which makes poetry form a lot of themes. Such as pastoral poems, frontier poems, boudoir complaint poems, farewell poems, nostalgic poems, epic poems and so on.
At the same time, due to the characteristics of Chinese syllables and the need for emotional expression, poetry developed from the original four-character poems to five-character poems and seven-character poems, and later formed more flexible words and songs.
These characteristics determine that classical poetry has a strong content bearing capacity, emotional coverage and aesthetic expression. It can accommodate and inspire the lives and hearts of children of all ethnic groups in China. Therefore, whether it is Li Bai, Du Fu, Yelu Chucai, Yuan Hao Asking questions, they can find emotional sustenance in the poems and express their inner voice.
Li Bai's family traveled to the Central Plains along the Silk Road, which makes his poems more romantic and majestic.
Liu Yuxi originally had the blood of the Huns, but when he was demoted to Kuizhou, he created the famous "Zhuzhi Ci" with the tunes bred by the mountains and rivers.
"Yangliuqing and Qingjiang River are level, and I can hear the sound of singing on the Langjiang River. The sun rises in the east and rains in the west, so there is no sunshine but there is sunshine."
Yelu Chucai, Yuan Haowen, etc. in the Yuan Dynasty, their poems reflected the characteristics of the times, because the era in which they lived was the era when the Mongolian army was galloping. In this period of China, ethnic conflicts were extremely sharp, so their poems included The living conditions of various ethnic groups, such as: the living customs of the Han people in the Central Plains, the living conditions of the Mongolians, the customs of the Western Regions, etc., and at the same time express their urgent hope for the great integration of the nationalities.
In my opinion, the communication, communication and blending of the various ethnic groups in China on this land of China is just like what is sung in this song "Bamboo Branch Ci": "The sun rises in the east and rains in the west, and the road is sunny but sunny."
Respondent profile:
Monman, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of History and Culture, Minzu University of China.
His research fields are the history of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties and the history of women in ancient China.
("Dao Zhonghua" WeChat public account)