Tell me the relevant Chinese couplet information?

Spring couplets are also called "door pairs", "spring posts", "couples" and "couples". They describe the background of the times and express good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words. unique literary form. Every Spring Festival, every household, whether in urban or rural areas, selects a red Spring Festival couplet and pastes it on the door to add a festive atmosphere to the festival.

The folk custom of posting Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival began in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, loved couplets so much that he not only wrote them himself, but also often encouraged his subordinates to write them. One New Year's Eve, he issued a decree: "The homes of ministers and scholars must add a Spring Festival couplet on their door." On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Taizu went on a patrol incognito and was very happy to see the Spring Festival couplets complementing each other. When he walked to a house and saw that there were no Spring Festival couplets on the door, he asked why. It turns out that the owner is a pig butcher, and he is worried that he can't find anyone to write Spring Festival couplets. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately wrote the Spring Festival couplets "Cleave the road of life and death with both hands, cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife" and gave it to this family. From this story, we can see Zhu Yuanzhang’s strong promotion of Spring Festival couplets, and it was precisely because of his strong promotion that the Spring Festival couplets became more popular.

In the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets have been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju’s monograph on Spring Festival couplets, "Three Couples on the Threshold", has a detailed account of the origins of couplets and the characteristics of various works. Discussion. Spring couplets had become a literary and art form at that time.

There are many types of Spring Festival couplets. According to the place of use, they can be divided into door centers, frame pairs, horizontal drapes, spring strips, bucket squares, etc. The "door center" is affixed to the upper center of the door panel; the "frame pair" is affixed to the left and right door frames; the "horizontal stripe" is affixed to the crossbar of the door; the "spring strips" are affixed to the corresponding places according to different contents; "Dojin" is also called "door leaf", which is square and diamond-shaped, and is often posted on furniture and screen walls.

At the same time, every household must paste the word "福", large and small, on the door, wall and lintel. Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival is a long-standing folk custom in my country. According to "Meng Liang Lu" records: "On the first day of the new year, I shop for department stores, paint door-god peach charms, and welcome the Spring Festival..."; "Every family of scholars and common people, big or small, sweeps the door, removes dust, cleans the courtyard, and The door god hangs a bell, nails peach charms, puts up spring signs, and offers sacrifices to the ancestors." The "spring card" in the article is the word "福" written on red paper.

The current interpretation of the word "福" is "happiness", but in the past it meant "blessing" and "luck". Posting the word "福" during the Spring Festival, whether now or in the past, expresses people's yearning for a happy life and their wishes for a better future. In order to more fully reflect this yearning and wish, people simply paste the word "福" upside down, which means "happiness has fallen" and "blessing has arrived".

There is also a folk legend about the word "福" stuck upside down. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, used the word "福" as a secret sign to prepare for murder. The kind-hearted Empress Ma decided to avoid the tragedy of killing, so she ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character "福" on their doors before dawn.

Of course no one dared to disobey Queen Ma's will, so every door had the word "福" posted on it. One of the families was illiterate and actually pasted the word "福" upside down. On the next day, the emperor sent someone to check the streets and found that every family had pasted the stickers with the character "福", and one family had the character "福" upside down. The emperor was furious after hearing the report, and immediately ordered the imperial guards to kill the entire family. Empress Ma realized what happened and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "that family knew you are coming today, so had purposely turned the label with the character "福" upside down. Doesn't that mean "luck arrives"?" The emperor heard that it made sense, and gave the order Let him go, and a catastrophe is finally eliminated. From then on, people began to paste the character "福" upside down, firstly to bring good luck, and secondly to commemorate Queen Ma.

There are also folk people who carefully draw the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity stars, longevity peaches, carps jumping over dragon gates, good harvests, dragons and phoenixes, etc. In the past, there was a folk saying that "on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, every family writes big characters". The word "福" used to be mostly handwritten, but now it is sold in markets and shops.

Literary interpretation

Spring couplets are a type of couplets. Couplets can be divided into various forms such as Spring couplets, birthday couplets, elegiac couplets, door couplets, hall couplets, temple couplets, scenic spot couplets, commercial couplets, game couplets, etc., and Spring couplets are just one of them. The so-called couplets are the vertical and downward couplets that are hung or affixed on the pillars or door frames in front of the hall. Therefore, couplets are also called couplets. This kind of couplet is an independent style consisting of two strings of equal number of words, opposing each other, and having a certain connotation. That is to say, there is no limit to the number of words in the upper and lower couplets, but they must be equal, the content must be meaningful, the level must be regular, and the contrast must be neat.

Anything that meets these conditions is a couplet, otherwise it is not a couplet.

Couplets are a long-standing literary form unique to our Chinese nation. It originally originated from peach charms. Peach charms are two peach boards hung on door frames in ancient my country. They are painted or engraved with figures or writings to ward off evil spirits. Peach charms appeared as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Chinese New Year, there was a custom of hanging painted or engraved peach charms of "Shen Tu" and "Yulei" on the left and right sides of the door.

So why can peach wood avoid disasters and exorcise evil spirits? According to records in the ancient Chinese mythology "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", there was a mountain in ancient times that was a world of ghosts, called the Ghost Domain. At the gate of this ghost domain, there is a large peach tree, with a crown that can cover three thousand miles. There lives a golden rooster in the tree, responsible for announcing the dawn every day. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the early morning, the ghosts who wander out at night must be driven back to the ghost land. On both sides of the gate of the ghost domain stood two gods and men named Shen Tu and Yu Lei. If ghosts do something harmful to nature at night, Shen Tu and Yu Lei will immediately catch them, tie them up with ropes, and send them to feed the tigers. Therefore, all ghosts are afraid of Shen Tu and Yu Lei. In this way, the custom of using tea, Yulei and peach trees to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters spread among the people. They used peach wood to carve the images of Shen Tu and Yu Lei, or carved the names of Shen Tu and Yu Lei on peach wood boards and hung them at the door of their homes to avoid evil and harm. This kind of peach wood board is called "Peach Run".

How did the Spring Festival couplets come about?

It is said that Meng Chang, the king of Shu during the Five Dynasties, was a king who liked to be unconventional. On New Year's Eve at the end of 964 AD, he had a whim and made the couplets come into being. One of his bachelors named Xin Yinxun wrote two sentences on a peach board and hung them as peach charms on the door frame of his residence. These two sentences are "New Year's greetings, happy festivals and Changchun". The main idea of ??the previous sentence is: In the New Year, we enjoy the legacy of our ancestors. The main idea of ??the next sentence is: The festival heralds the everlasting spring. Since then, the form and content of Taofu have changed, which is not only reflected in the use of parallel couplets to replace "Shen Tu" and "Yulei", but also expanded the connotation of Taofu, not only to ward off evil and disaster, but also to Added content of prayers and wishes. This became the earliest Spring Festival couplets in our country.

By the Song Dynasty, it was quite common to write couplets on peach boards. Wang Anshi's poem "Yuan Ri" writes: "The sound of firecrackers eliminates the new year, and the spring breeze brings warmth into Tusu. Thousands of households always replace old talismans with new peaches." It reflects that every New Year's Eve, every household The grand occasion of hanging peach charms. At the same time, with the emergence of door gods and the use of red paper to write peach charms, which symbolized happiness and auspiciousness, the mission of the peach charms in the past to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters was gradually transferred to the door gods, and the content of the peach charms evolved to express people's prayers for good luck in the coming year. Good wishes for advent and abundant harvest.

The term "Spring Couplets" appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. After Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty became emperor, he liked the pomp and bustle and liked the peach charms posted by wealthy families every New Year's Eve, so he wanted to promote it. Before New Year's Eve one year, he issued an imperial edict requiring every household in Jinling to paste Spring Festival couplets written on red paper on the door frame to welcome the New Year. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the Spring Festival couplets incognito from house to house. Whenever he saw a well-written Spring Festival couplet, he was very happy and praised it full of praise. When he was inspecting, he saw that a family did not post Spring Festival couplets. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry and asked the reason. The attendant replied: This is a master who is engaged in killing pigs and trimming pigs. They are very busy during the New Year and have not had time to hire someone to write them. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to bring pens, inks, paper and inkstones and write a couplet for the family: "Cleave the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off the root of right and wrong with one knife." After writing, he continued to patrol. After a while, when Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace after completing his inspection, he passed by here again. When he saw that the butcher's house had not posted the Spring Festival couplets written by him, he asked what was going on? The owner of the family replied respectfully: "This couplet was written by the emperor himself. We hang it high in the middle hall and burn incense to worship it every day." Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy after hearing this and ordered his attendants to reward the family with thirty taels of silver. It can be seen that the naming and promotion of "Spring Festival Couplets" were only promoted in every household by Zhu Yuanzhang through administrative orders and imperial edicts.

With the passage of time, Spring Festival couplets have become a broad concept, and many subsidiary categories have emerged. According to the place of use, it can be divided into frame pairs, horizontal drapes, spring strips, bucket squares, etc.

The "frame pairs" affixed to the left and right doorframes are our common Spring Festival couplets; the "horizontal strips" affixed to the crossbar of the door are the horizontal scrolls of the Spring Festival couplets; the "spring strips" are affixed to the corresponding ones according to different contents. Local single text, such as "Look up to see happiness", "Enter and exit safely", "Congratulations on getting rich" and other words posted in the courtyard during the New Year; "Dou Jin", also called "door leaf", is a square rhombus , usually posted on furniture, single doors or screen walls. During the Spring Festival, people like to paste the word "福" upside down, which belongs to this kind of "Dou Jin".

Chinese people’s attachment to Spring Festival couplets

If we count from the Qin and Han dynasties, the history of pasting Spring Festival couplets in our country has been two thousand years, so why have our people always been so fond of pasting Spring Festival couplets? This involves the traditional thinking and concepts of our people. As the saying goes: "The plan for a year begins with spring." Our people have had an optimistic mindset since ancient times, that is, placing their hope in the future and praying that the future will bring them good luck. No matter what happy, proud or unsatisfactory things happened in the past year, I always hope that the next year will be better. Therefore, when the New Year is about to come, posting Spring Festival couplets exactly achieves this purpose. best choice. They use Spring Festival couplets to express their joy and happiness for the past year, or to express their expectations and high hopes for the new year. In their traditional concept, having a good start in the year is the most pleasant and auspicious thing. Therefore, every Spring Festival, they express their good feelings and good expectations for the future by posting Spring Festival couplets. . At the same time, our people pay great attention to the festive, auspicious and lively Spring Festival. Eating well, drinking well, wearing new clothes, setting off firecrackers, visiting relatives and friends, etc. are all reflections of the festive psychology. Posting Spring Festival couplets just strengthens people's festive psychology. and an external means of rendering the atmosphere.

Requirements for writing Spring Festival couplets

Spring couplets are not only a new style derived from ancient Chinese parallel prose, but also a literary form that draws on the tradition of Chinese poetry. It is different from ancient parallel prose and poetry. It is an independent style with a unique form. Although the antithetical sentences in verse or parallel prose are often excellent couplets, they can only be called couplets when they exist independently from verse or parallel prose. Its most striking feature is that it is in pairs in form, the two couplets "oppose" each other, and their contents reflect each other and are closely connected. The upper and lower couplets of a couplet must have a complete and unified structure and clear and concise language. The specific requirements are as follows:

First, the number of words in the upper and lower couplets must be equal.

For example: "The New Year brings wealth and prosperity every year, and the good year brings peace and prosperity." Each couplet of this couplet has seven characters, and the number of characters in the upper and lower couplets is equal. This is the most basic requirement of the Spring Festival couplets. But there are also other phenomena. After the great thief Yuan Shikai died in 1916, people across the country rushed to tell each other, rejoiced and danced. There was a scholar in Sichuan who promised to go to Beijing to send an elegiac couplet to Yuan Shikai. After hearing this, the villagers were shocked and puzzled. They opened the couplet he had written and read: Yuan Shikai is eternal and long live the Chinese people.

After reading this, people couldn't help laughing. The literati deliberately asked: "What are you laughing at?" A young man who was outspoken said: "How can the three words 'Yuan Shikai' in the first couplet match the four words 'Chinese people' in the second couplet?" After hearing this, the literati said, "Chi!" "He laughed and said: "By the way, Yuan Shikai just can't help the Chinese people!" Although this story is about "elegiac couplets", and "elegy couplets" are also a type of couplets, which shows that regardless of Spring Festival couplets Whether it is other couplets, the number of characters in the upper and lower couplets must be equal. If they are not equal, it can only be a very special one.

Second, the phrases in the upper and lower couplets must be the same, and the parts of speech must be consistent.

That is to say, each phrase that makes up the first couplet must have several words, and the corresponding phrases in the second couplet must also have several words. The part-of-speech of the upper and lower couplets means that the category properties of the words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc., must be arranged in equal order, both the same and relative. For example, as mentioned just now, "New Year brings wealth and good fortune every year, good year brings peace and prosperity." Each couplet consists of three phrases, namely: New Year - wealth - good luck every year, good year - peace - and good health every year. The upper and lower couplets are the same. The words "new" and "good" in this couplet are both adjectives. "Spring", "Sui", "Wealth" and "Peace" are all nouns. "Nian Nian" and "Bu Bu" are both adverbs, and "好" and "高" are both verbs. This requirement is mainly to use symmetrical artistic language to better express ideological content.

Third, the upper and lower lines must be balanced.

In the way of expressing the upper and lower couplets, we should pay attention to the relative rhythm, that is, the harmony of level and oblique.

This is mainly for the sake of harmonious phonology, scattered ups and downs, melodiousness and sonority. It is said that Ji Xiaolan came to Hangzhou on a trip south, and a friend held a banquet for him to cleanse himself. During the banquet, the guests and host responded in couplets. Ji Xiaolan was quick in thinking and could make perfect sentences when speaking. His friends were convinced and praised him as an orphan in the North. Xiaolan said disapprovingly: "There are talented people in the north all over the Great Wall and beyond; where do we start talking about it?" A friend said: "I went to the north a few years ago and brought a couplet with me, but no one could match it. Xiaolan was dubious and asked: "Brother, what sentence did you say that made the other party unable to answer it?" His friend read out the first couplet smoothly: The twin towers are faintly visible in all directions on the seventh floor. Ji Xiaolan laughed loudly after hearing this and said: "Such a simple sentence, they feel that they don't bother to answer, so they said it is not correct!" The friend asked in confusion: "Then, how should the second line be correct?" Ji Xiaolan He blurted out: Shaking his palm alone, his five fingers are three long and two short. After hearing this, the friend not only found the second couplet, but also admired Ji Xiaolan's intelligence. This couplet of "Twin towers are faintly visible, seven floors are in all directions; a single palm is shaking, five fingers are three long and two short", which achieves the harmonious balance of levels and achieves the harmonious, uneven, melodious, sonorous and powerful artistic effect.

Fourth, avoid closing your palms.

The so-called "putting the palms together" repeats the meaning and wastes pen and ink. For example, one of the Spring Festival couplets commonly used by merchants in the old days said, "Business is booming all over the world, and wealth is booming as far as Sanjiang." This pair of Spring Festival couplets is smooth and regular, with neat contrasts, and it is in harmony with the atmosphere of "congratulations on getting rich" amidst the sound of firecrackers. It is very popular in the business community. But if you study further, you will find that "connecting the four seas" and "reaching three rivers" have the same meaning, with repeated semantics. The term for the couplet is called "gasshou". There are only fourteen characters in a seven-character couplet, six of which express the content of three characters, which leads to semantic duplication. Couplets are the most concise style in articles, and no waste of pen and ink is allowed. In order to provide more information in fewer words, it is necessary to avoid two couplets saying the same meaning. For example, in the New Year couplets, using "shaking the universe" versus "shocking the world", and "promoting auspicious light" versus "teng auspicious energy" are also semantic repetitions, and they all belong to the problem of "joining the palms".

Fifth, choose the horizontal pattern of the couplet.

Hengpi is also called horizontal batch, horizontal forehead and horizontal couplet. Except for elegiac couplets and longevity couplets, most of the horizontal drapes are used. There is an inseparable relationship between horizontal phi and the content of the couplet. A good horizontal draping can be the icing on the cake. In other words, a horizontal line is the sublimation of the content of a couplet, the theme of the couplet, and the finishing touch. In terms of writing techniques, the most common forms can be divided into three forms:

The first is freehand couplets, with titles draped horizontally, such as "Celebrate the Spring Festival", "Happy New Year", etc., directly naming the purpose of posting the couplets. ;

The second is the freehand couplets, which are highlighted on the banners. For example, "May the New Year be prosperous and prosperous every year, and the good years and years of peace will be better and better". It is "the auspicious star shines high", which is the finishing touch; the third is that the couplets are complementary and mutually reinforcing, for example, "Reduce the burden and care for the people, the mighty east wind often brings warmth; help the poor and relieve poverty, the Xiaoxiao spring rain always cares about love" is the horizontal comment of "The future is bright ", and the couplet complement each other and complement each other. They not only reveal the people's incomparable gratitude to the Party Central Committee for its "constant warmth" and "general care", but also praise the party's great future and brilliance. Hengpi mostly has four characters. In the past, Hengpi was written horizontally from right to left. Nowadays, it is mostly written from left to right. Writing from right to left is the formal way of writing. The horizontal banner should be affixed in the middle of the door lintel, and its font should be consistent with the style of the upper and lower couplets, echoing the upper and lower lines.

How to choose Spring Festival couplets?

Spring Festival couplets are widespread, and almost every household posts them during the Spring Festival. Not only that, even some businesses and enterprises such as restaurants, hair salons, hotels, and grocery stores also post Spring Festival couplets. This involves the issue of how to choose Spring Festival couplets.

First of all, Spring Festival couplets should highlight healthy aesthetic concepts and aesthetic pursuits.

Whether it is residents or units posting Spring Festival couplets, they should reflect a healthy aesthetic taste and pursuit. Some of this aesthetic pursuit is based on the prosperity and prosperity of the motherland. For example, "Spring returns and hundreds of flowers bloom on the earth, and everything in China glows with the warm sun." Such Spring Festival couplets summarize the prosperity of the motherland when hundreds of flowers are blooming and all things are shining, eulogize the new look of the new era, and reveal the creator of the couplets' praise of the ever-changing and beautiful life of the motherland.

Some Spring Festival couplets express the family's pursuit and yearning for a better future, such as, "One night, two years in a row, every year will be satisfactory, and the fifth watch will be divided into two years, and every year will be satisfactory." "As time goes by, people live longer, and spring fills the universe with blessings." This kind of family Spring Festival couplets expresses blessings and wishes for the coming year, hoping that everything will go well and that everything will go well.

Secondly, posting Spring Festival couplets is best to reflect your personality.

Since the purpose of posting Spring Festival couplets is to express certain hopes and blessings, then different people, different industries, and different identities will have different wishes and blessings from others, so posting Spring Festival couplets should be in line with your own needs. characteristics. For example, "The spring is good, the crops are strong and the seedlings are strong; the people are new and the rice is abundant." This is a Spring Festival couplet that reflects farmers' hopes and blessings for the new year. "The department stores are dazzling, and the cabinets are full of spring, summer, autumn and winter goods; the buildings are prosperous, and the east, west, north and south buildings are full of customers." This is a Spring Festival couplet to promote business prosperity. "A piece of chalk turns into continuous rain and nourishes peaches and plums; a three-foot podium sways the spring breeze caressing the pillars." This is the Spring Festival couplet posted by the teacher's family. This kind of Spring Festival couplets that reflect their respective characteristics further highlights their incomparable love for their jobs and their loyal professionalism. Of course, those Spring Festival couplets that start from the country's macro perspective, praise the prosperity of the country, express love for the motherland and socialism, and enthusiastically praise the future of the country and society, can be posted by both families and work units. There is no doubt that these couplets can be posted . When we talk about expressing individuality, we mainly emphasize not posting Spring Festival couplets in series. That is to say, as a working-class family, it would make people laugh if they put up a Spring Festival couplet that says, "If you work hard to raise pigs, the family of three will have a happy life; if you work hard in farming, the fruits will be abundant in the autumn."

Third, the posting of Spring Festival couplets.

The posting of Spring Festival couplets must comply with traditional rules, and the Spring Festival couplets must be posted vertically. The upper couplet should be affixed to the right hand side (i.e., the left side of the door), and the second couplet should be affixed to the left hand side (i.e., the right side of the door). The upper and lower couplets cannot be pasted backwards. For example, "Spring returns and all flowers bloom on the earth, and the sun warms all things in China." cannot be posted as "Spring returns and all flowers bloom in China." In terms of content, the first couplet and the second line have a causal relationship. Because "spring returns to the earth and hundreds of flowers bloom", "all things in China glow with the warmth of the sun". If it is posted upside down, it will reverse the causal relationship and make it awkward to read. Looking at the level and level, we can judge the upper and lower couplets from the level of the upper and lower sentences of the Spring Festival couplets. The last word "Yan" in the first couplet of this couplet has four tones, which is the flat tone. The last word "Hui" in the second line is a single tone, that is, a oblique tone. Generally speaking, if the last word is in the third or fourth tone (oblique tone), it is the first couplet, and if the last word is in the first or second tone (flat tone), it is the second couplet. But there are also couplets where the last word of the first couplet is in flat tone and the last word of the second couplet is in oblique tone. Don’t think that all the couplets that end in oblique tone are the first couplets. In this case, it is necessary to judge the upper and lower couplets from the content of the Spring Festival couplets. This requires us to read the couplet carefully when posting and truly understand the content of the couplet.

In addition, the size of the Spring Festival couplets should be coordinated with the door of your home. It is best to affix Spring Festival couplets with a width of 15 to 20 centimeters on the doorways of residents' homes, while it is best to affix Spring Festival couplets of about 20 to 30 centimeters on the doorways of merchant houses, according to the width of the door, so as to appear coordinated and generous. As for the doors of some tall buildings, if Spring Festival couplets are pasted, the width of the Spring Festival couplets should not exceed 40 centimeters.

For example:

The pear blossom courtyard is beautiful at night,

There is a gentle breeze in the catkin pond.

The mountain of books has a road and diligence is the path,

The sea of ??learning is boundless and the boat is made of hard work.

The sound of firecrackers bids farewell to the old year,

The red plum blossoms welcome the new year

The classification, specifications and creation methods of couplets

Couplets Classification

The Qing Dynasty Liang Zhangju's "Couplet Cong Hua", "Couplet Continuation Hua" and "Couplet Three Hua" divided the couplets into ten categories, namely stories, responses, temples, buildings, scenic spots, Aphorisms, anecdotes, elegies, collections of sentences, miscellaneous affixes. The "Collection of Couplets" published during the Republic of China divided the couplets into twenty categories, namely celebrations, condolences, buildings, schools, businesses, guild halls, ancestral temples, monasteries, theaters, houses, gardens, old age, places of interest, investment Gift, fragrance, collection of words, collection of sentences, comedy, vernacular, miscellaneous. Both classification methods are divided by practical scope, but the latter is more detailed than the former. If classified according to the text structure, rhetorical skills, and logical relationships of couplets, there are forty to fifty types. For example:

1. Dual forms: speech pair, matter pair, positive pair, opposition, work pair, broad pair, flowing pair, palindrome pair, thimble pair, etc.

2． Rhetorical techniques: metaphor, exaggeration, rhetoric, pun, question, homophony.

3. Word usage skills: embedded words, hidden words, compound words, repeated words, radicals, word analysis, word splitting, numbers, etc.

4. Logical structure: juxtaposition, transition, choice, cause and effect.

With the development of society and the further development of culture, the subjects of couplets will be more complete and perfect.

Standards and Creation of Couplets

As the name suggests, couplets must be in "pairs", that is, they consist of an upper couplet and a lower couplet. The number of words in the upper and lower couplets must be equal, and the content must be consistent, that is, the upper and lower couplets must be "connected" together. Two unrelated sentences cannot be randomly combined to form a couplet. The subject of couplets is a comprehensive subject with complex content, diverse forms, and strict requirements for contrast and balance. This book will describe and analyze the creation methods according to the standards of couplets for reference by those who learn to write couplets.

After seizing the fruits of the Revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai, the great thief of the country, began to dream of becoming an emperor, but he died before the robe came on stage. After his death, someone gave him an elegiac couplet, which read:

Yuan Shikai will live forever;

Long live the Chinese people.

Literally, there is no malice in this couplet, but if you read it carefully, you will find that the first couplet has five characters and the second couplet has six characters. This elegiac couplet is so sorry! One of the deacons saw the clues and secretly said to the mourner: The purpose of this elegiac couplet is not good. It means that we, Mr. Yuan, have failed the people!

This little story illustrates that the number of characters in the upper and lower couplets must be equal. Couplets are generally written vertically, with the last character of the first couplet (oblique tone) affixed to the right (upper hand), and the last character (flat tone) of the second couplet affixed to the left (lower hand).

Although the antithesis of couplets is similar to that of poetry, it is more demanding than poetry. There are broad and narrow couplets. A wide pair only requires that the contents of the upper and lower couplets are connected to form a couplet, while a narrow pair must be written strictly according to the standards of "Li Weng Duiyun". However, in practical couplets, wide pairs are more often used, while narrow pairs are often used because the requirements for antithesis are too strict, which restricts people's thinking and is suspected of being harmful to the text, so it is rarely used.

3. Chinese four tones and couplets

The rules of level and obliqueness of couplets are basically the same as those of poetry. Yiyin applies the basic rule of poetry that one, three, and five are ignored, and two, four, and six are distinct.

How to determine the upper and lower lines of a couplet? In addition to distinguishing from the content of the couplet, it is more important to judge from the equivocal tone at the end of the couplet. The couplets strictly stipulate that the last word of the first couplet should be in oblique tone, and the last word of the second couplet should be in flat tone. Later generations called this rule the ups and downs. It must be noted that the "four tones" of ancient Chinese and modern Chinese are somewhat different. Since the promotion of Hanyu pinyin and the adoption of Beijing pronunciation as the national common language, the same Chinese characters have changed. For example, according to the phonological standard of "Peiwen Yunfu", the four tones are Ping, Shang, Qu and Ru. Ping tone is classified as "ping", and Shang, Lai and Ru are all summarized into "廄". According to the Beijing intonation, it is divided into Yinping, Yangping, Shangsheng and Qusheng. As a result, there are more characters for Pingsheng and there is no "ru" sound. Some of the characters for Qushengsheng are classified into Pingsheng. This is worthwhile for comrades who are learning to compose couplets. Attention. Since ancient times, many language scholars have made a relatively detailed explanation of the four tones of ancient Chinese. Ru Shivacu made the following analysis in his book "Jade Key Song Jue":

1. Ping - Ping Sing and Ping Dao, don't be too low. When read, the pronunciation is gentle, the ending sound is long, and there is a lingering rhyme.

2. Go up - shout loudly and violently. The pronunciation is loud, the sound is short, and there is no ending.

3. Go - go away with clear mourning. The pronunciation of the falling tone is round and round, and the ending sound is short and high-pitched.

4. Enter - the entry sound is short and urgent. The pronunciation of the entering tone is simple and urgent, and the closing tone is short, low, and has no ending.

Generally speaking, Ping tone characters have a gentle sound and a long ending sound. The oblique characters have a short final sound or no final sound. Modern linguist Mr. Liu Bannong first affirmed that Shi Vacuum's analysis of the four tones of ancient Chinese was correct. Mr. Bannong added based on his own research. He said: "The flat tone has the least twists and turns, which is commonly known as the balanced tone. The two tones that go up have the most twists, either rising, falling, falling, or rising. It should be an unbalanced tone with the shortest entry tone, which is called promoting tone." Mr. Bannong's discussion is simple and clear. Mr. Zhang Shilu more briefly divided the flat tones into two categories. The flat tones are where the long steps are, and the oblique tones are where the short steps are. The main difference between the long and short tones is the flat tones.

The author also believes that the four tones of ancient Chinese, in addition to being divided into long steps and short steps, also have very different pronunciation levels. For example, take "Dongdong Liangdu" as an example. Starting from the flat tone, the scale gradually increases to The falling tone reaches its peak, that is, the third tone has the highest pronunciation. The entrance sound plummets, the volume is low, short and concise. In short: the flat voice is sad and peaceful, the rising voice is sharp and raised, the falling voice is clear and distant, and the entering voice is straight and quick. The above discussion is just a general method, and readers can verify it in their study and practice.

In order to practice the ability to distinguish the four tones, the ancients listed the following thirty-two characters as characters for training the basic knowledge of ping and lei. As long as you can skillfully master the ping and lei of these characters, then the ping and lei of other characters will be You can draw parallels and understand it immediately after reading it.

1． One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ninety. These ten numbers are in order: enter, go, level, go up, enter, enter, go up.

2. A, B, B, D, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Rengui. The levels of this cross are: enter, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up.

3. Zichou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu did not apply for You Shu Hai. These twelve characters are: Shang Shang Ping Shang Ping Shang Shang Ping Shang Enter Shang.

The four tones of Chinese are marked with Beijing intonation, which are Yinping, Yangping, rising tone and falling tone. They all evolved from the four tones of ancient Chinese. People are still used to judging couplets tones. The four tones of ancient Chinese are used as the standard. Nowadays, apart from correcting pronunciation, the four tones of modern Chinese are rarely used to compose dialogues, write poems, and fill in lyrics. But with the promotion of Mandarin and the passage of time, the four tones of modern Chinese have finally been accepted by people.

4. You must know: some Chinese characters have always been used interchangeably, and can be used in flat or oblique sounds, such as kan, jiao, wei, si, pang... A few examples are as follows:

(1)" "Look" is used as a flat tone: the daily incense burner produces purple smoke, and you can see the waterfall hanging in front of the river in the distance; the water flows down three thousand feet, which is suspected to be the Milky Way falling from the sky.

(2) "Look" is made in a flat sound: the plums drip with sourness and splash on the teeth, the bananas are green and covered with window screens; the day is long and I fall asleep with no thoughts, and I watch the children catching willow flowers.

(3) "Jiao" is pronounced in a flat tone: the cherries, apricots, peach and durians are blooming one after another, so Jiao is planted one by one by the window; the bamboo shadows are leaning against the willows, and the clear shade enters the house.

(4) "Teach" is made in oblique tone: Chalk life is also happy, and good talents are educated according to their aptitude; the garden is full of peaches and plums, full of vitality, turning into rain and spring breeze in succession.

(5) "Wei" is a flat tone: One is to move to Changsha, looking west to Chang'an but not seeing home; the jade flute is played in the Yellow Crane Tower, and the plum blossoms fall in May in Jiangcheng.

(6) "Wei" is pronounced in a oblique tone: It was originally for the King of Han to accomplish great feats, but he did not take himself into consideration. I had known that the rabbit would end up cooking the dog, but I regretted that I would end up fishing in Huaiyin.

4. Phrase structure of couplets

In addition to requiring rhyme and antithesis, couplets also have certain rules for phrases and structures. Such as:

Shake red;

Poly green.

(Single group, two-character structure)

Humility benefits;

Full losses.

(Single group, three-character structure)

Be content with what you have;

Be able to endure and be at peace with yourself.

(Single group, four-character structure)

Gardenias are placed in concentric knots;

The lotus blooms with pedunculated flowers.

(Single group, five-character structure)

A branch of Conggui is full of fragrance;

Kunshan's jade connects the city.

(Complex group, six-character structure)

The peach-leaf warbler cries wetness on the spring river;

It rains at night and the plum-blossom butterfly dreams of coldness.

(Compound group, seven-character structure)

The sea accepts hundreds of rivers, and it is big when it is tolerant;

Standing on a wall with thousands of feet, it is strong if there is no desire.

(Complex group, eight-character structure)

Retell the past and present;

Retell the joys and sorrows again from the beginning.

(Complex group, nine-character structure)

Three thousand tigers and benign beasts, reaching the land of Youyan;

The dragon flies in ninety-five, reopening the sky of the Song Dynasty.

(Complex group, cross structure)

Forty thousand green coins, the bright moon and clear breeze are valuable now;

A pair of white jade, the famous poet and general have no companions in ancient times.

(Compound group, eleven-character structure)

The heaven and the earth show great mercy, and the innocent and gray-headed people feel the same;

The ancient and modern have been honored, and the nine states and all nations have been favored. Glory.

(Complex group, twelve-character structure)

The phrases and structures of the upper and lower couplets should be consistent and unified. The upper couplet has a verb-object structure, and the second couplet must also be a verb-object structure. Phrases with an object structure, such as "shake red; polygonate green." The upper line is a positive phrase, and the second line must also be opposite to it with a positive phrase, such as "Tongxinknot" and "Bingdihua", which have the same phrase structure. When planning the layout of couplet phrases, it is important to note that the phrase structure of the upper and lower couplets must be the same. This is also an important rule that couplet authors must follow.

5. The rules for starting sentences of couplets

There are two rules for starting sentences of couplets, namely "Zhi Qi" and "Qi Qi", which are the same as regular poems. The second character of the couplet has the sound of "Zhi". It is called Qiqi, and the second character is the sound "ping", which means Pingqi. For example:

Five-character couplet in slanted form:

The country is broken by mountains and rivers; the city is springy and has deep vegetation.

●●○○● ○○●●○

Why should a room be elegant? The fragrance of flowers is not much.

●●○○● ○○●●○

The second character of the first line of the first line in the oblique style uses the oblique tone, and the second character of the second line uses the flat tone.