Who has a funny version of "Thousand Characters"?

The first sentence heaven and earth are mysterious and yellow

The meaning of this sentence is relatively simple, that is to say, the sky is black and the ground is yellow. The poetic point is:

"God/why are you so dark/ground/why are you so yellow!"

This sentence is actually copied from the Book of Changes. The original words are: "The husband is mysterious and yellow, and heaven and earth are mixed."

Tian Zi comes first! The earth is the kindest?

About heaven and earth, our ancestors left many myths: It is said that Pangu, the giant of the universe, opened heaven and earth, and then human beings came into being and occupied the earth. Later, Zhu Rong, the god of water, and Vulcan fought to eat swan eggs (unlucky children are worthless! It is also said that * * * workers are Zhu Rong's sons). The earliest cynic * * * workers in history were furious and didn't fight Zhoushan, which led to the sky were to fall, fires in the forest, floods and beasts eating people. Fortunately, the "March 8th Red Flag Bearer, May 1st Labor Medal Winner, Excellent Part-time Bricklayer" in Wonderland has moved to The goddess patching the sky, but the consequences of the fall of the northwest and the fall of the southeast cannot be changed.

Because the ancestors could not explain the origin of heaven and earth and various natural phenomena, and did not understand and master the laws of nature, they visualized and personified the power of nature and created many myths and legends.

Why is Tian Zi the first? This is because Qianziwen has a wide influence, and later generations also use the word order of Qianziwen to count. For example, the account books, album numbers and even the page numbers of imperial examination papers of some businesses and shops are arranged according to the word order of thousands of words. Today, in Tianjin, a relatively large city near the Bohai Sea in China, several streets along the Haihe River in the city are named like this.

What is the sky? Does it just mean that this piece on our head looks blue during the day (now because the air is not very gray) and looks black at night, but there is no emptiness of the actual object? Not only that, the meaning of the word "day" has been extended and expanded. Summarizing the previous explanations, "Tian" mainly includes the following three meanings:

One is "heaven" in the scientific sense, which refers to the concepts of time and space. One revolution of the earth is a day, which is the concept of time; Boundless space is the sky, and this is the concept of space. These two concepts are known to all people in the world.

The second is to abstract the things that are supreme or dominate the world as "heaven". For example, the ancient emperors called it "giving orders", and the peasant uprising or occupying mountains as kings also called it "doing heaven for heaven". The "heaven" here is an abstract thing and an empty excuse. Why is the sky so far-sighted and only for you to do things for it? Who saw that God authorized you personally? At the swearing-in ceremony, which was very popular in the old society, several people knelt on the ground and chanted, "There is yellow sky above, and the earth below. I am sworn brothers with others, and I don't want to be born on the same day in the same year, but want to die on the same day in the same year." In fact, genius doesn't care about you-why is it yellow here? Don't worry, we'll talk about the word "yellow" later. "Houtu" is a name. Legend has it that the son of an angry young worker is a social god, also known as the land god.

The third is the psychological "heaven". We often say that "everything is providence" means this, which is equivalent to a psychologically recognized fate. We often say "My God", which can be used to express many emotions such as surprise, sigh or helplessness. For example, in Song Yuan's Injustice of Dou E, Dou E painfully cursed: "Earth, what are you, good or bad? God, you are wrong! " Why do people do this? Sima Qian in Historical Records? It is clearly explained in the Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng: "The rich in heaven is the beginning of man; Parents are the foundation of people. If you are poor, you will carry your roots, so you will be very tired. Painful and desolate, I don't want to call my parents. " It is an instinctive psychological reaction of human beings to cry for heaven and earth and cry for father and mother. The same is true of foreigners, who always say, "Oh, my God!" Coupled with the unique body language of foreigners, the whole thing is quite scary.

In contrast, there is not so much talk about "earth", but because "heaven" is the boss, I am always forced to show my face behind "heaven" I can't help it. We are the second child. "Tian Xingjian, the gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement; The terrain is Kun, and the gentleman carries things with morality. " The earth has been carrying everything with a heavy attitude, including the smartest and most insidious animal-man. Compared with the sky above, the land is really based on its own responsibilities and down-to-earth. People are also used to comparing the earth to their mother. When I was a child, the teacher taught everyone to sing grass. A little classmate asked the teacher, "Why is Mother Earth so weird?" The teacher asked why it was strange. The classmate said, "Didn't the song say,' Rivers and mountains raised me, and Mother Earth hugged my sister'? Why does Mother Earth only hug her sister and not me? "

There is a fable that there is a chicken (it is poultry, don't get me wrong! ) I envy seeing the birds flying in the sky doing nothing and singing happily on the high branches all day. I also want to show off myself, and maybe I can choose Super Girl! So he struggled to jump on the lowest tree, cleared his throat and was ready to start singing. An easy-to-fall fox slipped under the tree, jumped up and killed the chicken. Why is it a "perishable" fox? Because the fox's feet are slippery.

This story tells us a truth: if you want nothing, you must reach a high enough level. For example, in a unit, ordinary employees are likely to be punished for being lazy, but leaders are different, and no one can control anything. If the earth has feelings, it certainly doesn't want to be trampled by all things, but because it is not high enough, it has to endure.

When I tried to escape, I met again.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty and for a long time afterwards, "Heaven and Earth are mysterious and yellow" has been written as "Heaven and Earth are yellow" because Emperor Kangxi's name was Michelle Ye. After Yong Zhengdi Yin Zhen ascended the throne, in order to avoid anonymity, she also wrote "Female Mu Jie Zhen" as "Female Mu Jie". There are many words in Qian Wen Zi that have been temporarily changed due to taboos, so I won't list them here.

If a word is occupied by the emperor, others will no longer want to use it, and all words that are taboo to the emperor should be changed. For example, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Chinese herbal medicine Scrophularia was renamed Yuanshan, Guangdong Xuanshan Temple was renamed Yuanshan Temple, and Nanjing Xuanwu Lake was renamed Wuying Lake.

Taboo is a custom with China characteristics in Chinese history. You can't directly say or write the names of monarchs and elders. In case of words that should be taboo, you can't pronounce them, but you have to "change your pronunciation" or "change your words", which is called "reading white" For example, in A Dream of Red Mansions, Lin Daiyu used the word "min" to avoid her mother's taboo. When writing taboo words, we should adopt the method of "empty word", "lack of pen" or "changing words" according to regulations, which is called "writing white". For example, in ancient literature, the word "autumn" was sometimes written as "Zheng". We are used to saying that typos are "white characters", which comes from taboos.

When was the taboo clause stipulated? Some people say that the only evidence is that Xia Hou began to write Xia Hou in Shan Hai Jing, which shows that the Xia Dynasty began to rectify these useless things. But in Shangshu, the names of Xia and Shang monarchs are straightforward. Why? Some people think that the reason why The Classic of Mountains and Seas avoids enlightenment is because people in the Han Dynasty avoided Emperor Liu Qi when copying books. It is generally believed that taboos originated in the Zhou Dynasty, but they were not strict in the Zhou Dynasty, as long as they avoided countries, officials, mountains and rivers, hidden diseases, livestock and coins. Later, the overlord clause of taboo was carried forward. In order to maintain the supremacy of imperial power and highlight their special status, emperors of all dynasties actively promoted it, shifting the focus of taboos and expanding the scope of taboos.

Some people are unconvinced: I used a sentence to prevent you from being an emperor. Why not use it? I want to use it. What can you do to me? You really don't believe in evil spirits. In a dynasty where taboos prevailed, if you have to use taboo words, you are asking for it. "Discussion on the Law of the Tang Dynasty" stipulates that it is a heinous crime of "disrespect" to call the emperor by his first name subjectively and intentionally, even if it is an objective or unintentional violation, it will be punished. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, was a monk and rebelled, so ministers knew that he hated the word "monk thief" very much, but one of them had no eyes. Xu Yikui, a professor at Hangzhou University, wrote a congratulatory form to the emperor, using the phrase "a born saint rules the world". After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang flew into a rage and said, "A living monk is almost like a thief. Kill! " This is how Xu Yikui was killed.

Some people also want to use taboos to promote and make a fortune. During the Qianlong period, there was a governor named Haicheng. He came across a book named Zi Guan published by Wang Xihou, a juren in Jiangxi Province, which wrote the names of three emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. If he gets the treasure, he will report it to the emperor quickly, thinking that the emperor will definitely reward me. Therefore, Qianlong ordered Wang Xihou and his descendants to be beheaded, and then "rewarded" Haicheng for two things: one was to be dismissed from his post, and the other was to be sentenced to death with a reprieve. It's really hurting others and yourself! It is estimated that Haicheng's intestines are regretful.

There is also a famous taboo tragedy. Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, became famous at the age of seven with lofty aspirations. It is generally believed in the society that Li He's fame is like an old lady blowing her nose-catching it with her hands. However, when Li He went to take the Jinshi exam, he was told that he was not qualified to take the exam. Li He refused to accept that I was born in Hong Miao and had no civil criminal record. Why did you say I didn't pass the exam? I'll sue you for enrollment corruption! The examiner kindly asked him, "What's your mother's name?" Li He said, "Do you care?" The examiner quickly said, "I'm sorry, I just finished watching a Chinese odyssey and asked the wrong question." I asked your father's name? " Master Li said, "My father's surname is Li Biao Su Jin. What's wrong? " The examiner asked again, "What do you want to test here?" Li He said: "You don't have to ask, I'm admitted to Jinshi!" The examiner said, "Your father's taboo" gold "conflicts with Jinshi's" gold ". Don't you dare to take the exam. If you don't cure your blasphemy, you will be cheap. What are you doing here? "Li He was cut off from his official career, which made him very desperate and died of depression at the age of 27. Anyone with a discerning eye will find that this taboo is too far-fetched, and someone must be up to something. We will uncover the inside story later.

Throughout the ages, more and more stories about taboos have led to more and more changes in words. Although there is basically no need to avoid the taboos of the previous dynasty after the change of dynasty, some words that have been changed for many years are difficult to change, so they have been handed down. For example, in the Tang dynasty, in order to avoid the ancestor of Li, the word "tiger" was changed to "blade"; In order to avoid Li Shimin's taboo, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, one of the six ministries, was changed to the Ministry of Housing. In the Song Dynasty, in order to avoid the taboo of Song Zhenzong and Zhao Heng, the legendary "Da 'e" in the moon was changed to "Chang 'e" and so on. The emperors of every dynasty and generation had to improvise, which caused a lot of confusion.

Taboo habits did not disappear with the demise of feudal society. During the "Cultural Revolution", there was a lyric in the Peking Opera "Wu Hu Shan": "Catch Luanping, catch Hu Biao, and take the wolves alive and howl." The original version of this lyric is "Take Luan Ping alive, take Hu Biao alive, take a pinch of hair alive". At that time, the words "table" and "Mao" could not be said casually, let alone used on villains, so I quickly changed them. If it is changed later, the consequences may be quite serious.

Speaking of taboos, Li Ao said: "Don't say, don't say, it's wrong to say it! Taboo this habit, think of it really doesn't make sense, can be said to be a bad habit unique to China in the world, a bad habit of asking for trouble. Let's take a look at foreign countries. Foreign countries and China are just the opposite. Foreign devils think that the best way to respect a person is not to mention his name, but to mention him. "

Where are the roots of China people's taboo bad habits? On the National Character of China Confucian Ethical Civilization. Confucius advocated telling lies when appropriate. He wrote Spring and Autumn Annals on the principle of "being ashamed of venerable persons, being ashamed of saints, and being afraid of illness by relatives". In fact, taboo is to cover up shame for others, which is an integral part of Confucian moral concept. In fact, it is a kind of humanistic care, which embodies the very human side of the seemingly rigid Confucian ethics and morality, and there is no substantive mistake in itself. What's the shame of being called by your name? This is the result of future generations of people in power carrying forward taboos with ulterior motives. Slowly, people gradually regard deliberately exaggerating or concealing the truth as a taboo category, which leads to the non-disclosure and distortion of information, and then leads to the lack of integrity, which is exactly what Confucian ethics and morality oppose and strive to change. So a strange phenomenon is formed: the taboo advocated by Confucianism has an influence on the Confucian ethical system itself.

1949, an engineer named Murphy, a captain of the US Air Force, felt that one of his colleagues was unlucky, so he made fun of him and said, "If something is likely to be screwed up, if you do it, it will be screwed up." Unexpectedly, this joke soon spread in the United States and all over the world, and the meaning of this joke gradually expanded, and finally evolved into this: "If something bad is possible, no matter how likely it is, it will always happen and cause the greatest possible loss." This is the famous Murphy's Law.

Murphy's law can be simply understood as ten words: you obviously want to avoid it, but you meet it again. On the contrary, the possibility of small probability events will be great, and if there is luck in dealing with the unlikely problems, it will have quite serious consequences. No civilization or nation is perfect, and regret is inevitable. The key lies in whether we have the courage to face up to regrets and take effective corrective measures, instead of "avoiding" with luck and taboos. Only in this way can our civilization be more rational and inclusive, and our national character be more plump and sound.

From supreme to vulgar

In ancient China, yellow has always been the representative color of imperial power, symbolizing nobility. Why and when did yellow begin to be pushed to the supreme throne?

This should start with China's Five Elements Theory. Judging from the existing literature, as early as the end of primitive society, although our ancestors used myths and legends to explain some unclear natural phenomena, they already had a simple materialistic view and established the five elements theory, which was an abstract explanation of the world. Later, the theory of five elements was developed by the Yin-Yang school and became a far-reaching philosophical thought in the history of China's thought.

According to the theory of Yin and Yang, the world is made up of the movements and changes of substances with five basic properties: gold, wood, water, fire and earth. The colors corresponding to these five substances are white, blue, black, red and yellow. Every dynasty in the history of China has its own attributes-of course, some were decided by the people of that dynasty, and some were imposed by later generations. For example, the Shang dynasty belonged to Jinde and advocated white; The Zhou dynasty was a fire virtue, advocating red; Western Han Dynasty is a local virtue, advocating yellow; The Eastern Han Dynasty was a fire virtue, advocating red; Nanliang, which has thousands of characters, is a wooden country, advocating cyan and so on.

At the end of primitive society, yellow was favored by former tribal leaders in China at that time. As his own title suggests, this leader is the Yellow Emperor. The yellow emperor's surname is not Huang, but Ji and Xuanyuan.

Comrade Ji Xuanyuan took a fancy to yellow because one day, he saw the appearance of "big cockroaches, big cockroaches", that is, big earthworms and big grubs (commonly known as "la la la" or "local dogs"), and said, "Native nature wins!" Tuhuang, so it is considered as "the virtue of soil" (virtue is attribute; Rui, a symbol of good luck), so I advocate yellow. This may be the earliest record of the official launch of yellow. Although many later dynasties had different attributes, they basically admired yellow.

What's good about yellow? The ancients believed that yellow was the beauty of neutralization, and its naturalness was not easy in the world. "Huang Chengtian's virtue is the most beautiful, so his respect for color is also heavy", which fully embodies the ancestors' love, dependence and worship of land, which is mainly based on cultivated land resources. The idea that imperial power is in the center is also a reason why the emperor fell in love with yellow. "Spring and Autumn Biography" said that "the state-owned Thai society of the son of heaven has cyan in the east, red in the south, white in the west, black in the north and yellow in the middle". There is also a saying that the emperor thinks he is the sun in the sky, and the sun is yellow, so yellow is the color of the emperor.

According to documents, before the Sui Dynasty, yellow was not the royal color. After Qin Shihuang unified China, the theory of five elements has developed well, so he used a group of rotten staff officers under him to calculate according to the principle that the five elements are mutually dependent and mutually resistant.