Who is the author of China’s first couplet and what is its content?

About the saying "New Year's Day brings Yuqing, Jiajie's name is Changchun"

New Year's Day brings Yuqing;

Jiajie's name is Changchun.

——Written by Meng Chang

This couplet written by Meng Chang is inscribed on the Taofu. It is an ancient custom to write the names of the legendary gods "Shen Tu" and "Yulei" on a peach board on New Year's Day (now the Spring Festival) and hang them by the door to drive away ghosts and avoid evil. According to the "Book of Mountains and Seas", it is said that the brothers Shen Tu and Yu Lei lived under the big peach tree on Dushuo Mountain. This peach tree stretches for three thousand miles, and thousands of ghosts haunt the ghost gate in the northeast. When Shen Tu and Yu Lei saw evil spirits, they tied them up and fed them to tigers. Therefore, since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people have regarded Shen Tu and Yu Lei as the "door gods" of "weiji". It was not until Meng Chang inscribed couplets on the peach charms that the peach charms were originally used to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate ghosts, but became a special style used by the author to express certain themes and thoughts. This was the beginning of "Spring Couplets". It is generally believed that Lianyu began in Hou Shu during the Five Dynasties.

There are four theories about this couplet:

"Ancient and Modern Poetry" says: "Changzi is good at writing etiquette, because he took the official book from this palace and said: 'The sky is hanging down and the celebration is over. ", the ground connects to Changchun," and literature sprouted here." According to this, the couplet is "The sky hangs down, the earth connects to Changchun." The author is Meng Zhe, the son of Meng Chang. The same is recorded in Huang Xiu's "Maoting Guest Talk".

"Luozhong Jiyilu" says: "Meng Shu built a Cexun Mansion near the palace city, and Shi Chang's son Zhe lived in it. Chang wrote a peach charm at the end of the year: 'The rest will fall from heaven. Qing, Sheng Zuo Changchun. "Zhe worships and accepts it, placed on the left and right of the bedroom door." According to this, the couplet is "Heaven descends to Qing, Sheng Zuo Changchun", and the author is Meng Chang himself.

"Tan Yuan" says: "Xin Yinxun served Meng Chang in Shu and became a bachelor. Master Wang (Note: Song Jun) will be punished every year before the death, and Chang ordered the bachelor to write two lines of poetry and peach symbols. Above. Yin Xun's title says: "The New Year brings Yu Qing, and the festival is called Changchun." According to this, the couplet is "The New Year brings Yu Qing, and the festival is called Changchun." The author is Xin Yinxun.

The "History of the Song Dynasty·Shu Family" says: "When Meng Chang died every year, he ordered a scholar to compose a poem, write a peach charm, and place it around the door of his bed. In the last years of his life, Xin Yinxun wrote a poem, and Chang claimed that he was not a worker. The pen says: 'New Year's greetings are celebrated, and festivals are celebrated in Changchun.'" This couplet is the same as "Tan Yuan", but the author is no longer Xin Yinxun but Meng Chang. "History of the Song Dynasty·Five Elements Chronicles" and "Shu 梼杌" contain the same.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the last statement has generally been adopted. The "last year" was the year before Meng Chang "returned to the Song Dynasty", that is, the second year of Qiande (964 AD) of Song Taizu (Zhao Kuangyin). From then on, posting couplets during the Spring Festival gradually became a folk custom. Wang Anshi's poem "Yuan Ri", "Thousands of households always replace old talismans with new peaches" is enough to prove this point.

What is the meaning of this couplet?

Literally, "Na" means "enjoyment"; "Yu Qing" used to refer to "the legacy of the ancestors". "Book of Changes·Kun·Wenyan": "A house that accumulates good deeds must have more than enough." Celebrate.” The main idea of ??the first couplet is: Enjoy the legacy of our ancestors in the New Year. The main idea of ??the second line is: the festive season heralds the everlasting spirit of spring.

From this point of view, this couplet is just a way to welcome the spring and pray for blessings, with nothing new.

Strictly speaking, this couplet is not very regular in terms of level and obliqueness. Although people think it is the earliest recorded couplet so far, it is so famous not because it is the first, let alone because of its high artistic level, but because people in the Song Dynasty thought it was a prophecy, foretelling that the Song Dynasty would destroy Shu.

On the Spring Festival of 964 AD, Meng Chang made this couplet. In 965, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin sent troops to unify Hou Shu, took Meng Chang and others away, and at the same time appointed a man named Lu Yuqing to be the governor of Chengdu ( Originally the capital of Hou Shu), he was the local governor. In addition, Song Taizu named his birthday on February 16th of the lunar calendar every year as "Changchun Festival" in the first year of Jianlong (960 AD), which is the so-called "Holy Festival". When Meng Chang surrendered to the Song Dynasty, it was the birthday of Song Taizu. Whether this situation and the conjunction is a coincidence or whether it was known in advance cannot be tested now. However, it is undeniable that the Spring Festival couplets written by Meng Chang left an important page in the history of the development of couplets in our country.