Are Song people really stupid? Why do pre-Qin jokes always make fun of Song people?

◎ Although the word "Qiao Chu" first appeared in the Song Dynasty, there were jokes and funny stories in the pre-Qin period to illustrate a certain truth. Strangely, it is always the Song people who are repeatedly ridiculed in jokes.

Exposing the stupidity of Song people began with Liezi. Liezi? According to Yang Zhu, there was a farmer in Song State who often wore dirty clothes in winter. In spring, he exposed himself to the sun. He didn't know there were mansions and foxes in the world. He said to his wife, "I don't know who the sun is; There will be a generous reward for honoring my king. This contented farmer was originally poor, but he regarded his temporary comfort as the greatest enjoyment in the world, thinking that everyone would think so, so he dedicated the enjoyment of sunbathing to my king. It was ridiculous.

Later, in Mencius, the hero who encouraged Miao Zi was the Song people; In Zhuangzi, it was the Song people who thought of selling hats and clothes in the land of thorns. He is also the Song people waiting for him in Everything is done wrong. In the Warring States Policy and the Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu, there are also jokes that laugh at the stupidity of Song people. The poets in the Song Dynasty written by philosophers can't tell things apart, and they don't know how to change, and the ending is mostly bad luck.

It is ridiculous that people in Song Dynasty sometimes show some cleverness and do some brilliant things. Liezi? In Fu Shuo, a man of the Song Dynasty found an iou on the road, and people took it home without knowing it. When they counted the number of teeth on the IOUs, they couldn't restrain their joy and secretly told their neighbors: I'm going to make a fortune this time! As a result, an iou with no name and surname attracted an empty joy.

When talking about the relationship between monarch and minister, Han Feizi once took Zhuang's wine as an example: Zhuang's wine was very good, but no one bought it until it turned sour. The reason is that he has a vicious dog at home, which makes people afraid. Zhuang can brew good wine, but it is not easy to sell. It can be seen that Song people are capable in small things, but they are stupid in other things.

1. Song State was founded by descendants of Yin people. During the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Song State in Shangqiu, Henan Province, was named Uncle Wei after the demise of the Shang Dynasty. Song Guojun often said modestly that Guo Song is the legacy of national subjugation. Losers are the weak, and the strong laugh at the weak. This is an iron law in which the law of the jungle prevails.

Second, the title of Song was the highest in the early Zhou Dynasty, and only Feng Guolu and even Feng of the Duke of Zhou could compete with it. Song dynasty was given a high title, but its national strength was very weak. Rulers in other countries are jealous and look down on Song Dynasty, and ridicule can be used as an outlet for this jealousy.

Third, after the Song Dynasty was the Yin Dynasty, the rulers of other countries were mostly the Zhou Dynasty, and the culture of Zhou and Yin was very different. Wang Guowei said in On the System of Yin and Zhou Dynasties that the political and cultural changes in China did not take place during the Yin and Zhou Dynasties. Although the Yin people were blocked after the Song Dynasty, they would not keep the same political system as the Shang Dynasty, and they were bound to move closer to the Zhou Dynasty, but they still retained many things of the Yin people in cultural customs. This will make the surrounding Zhou rulers disgusted, just like Ah Q despises the people in the city and calls the bench a stool; Fried bighead carp with shredded onion instead of half an inch long onion leaves. Therefore, when people talk about fools' jokes, they often put them on Song people.

Fourthly, after the Western Zhou Dynasty entered the Spring and Autumn Period, wars between vassal states were frequent, political forces were reorganized, the original aristocratic system collapsed, and the rules of the game in aristocratic society gradually disappeared. Strangely, the state of Song, which is in the middle and lower national strength, still retains many etiquette systems that are not suitable for competitions. For example, Song Xianggong's noble rules of war, such as not beating drums and killing two hairs, were once dismissed by Mao Zedong as the benevolence and morality like pigs, which undoubtedly increased the talk for people in other countries. Editor/Shi Yongling