Inherit the writing skills of Qing couplets and climb to the peak of couplet art

Zeng Xiaoyun (Ruijin, Jiangxi)

(Award-winning paper at the 17th China (Yuncheng) Couplet Forum Couplet Genre and Couplet Inheritance and Development Seminar)

In China At the opening ceremonies of the 10th National Congress of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 9th National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association, national leaders called on literary and art workers to work hard to build a literary and artistic peak in the era of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As important members of literary and artistic workers, couplet workers, especially creators, should also take it as their own responsibility to reach the peak of couplet art. To this end, we need to do a lot of work now and for a long time to come. One of the important ones is to stand at the pinnacle of Qinglian art, stand on the shoulders of everyone in Qinglian, and inherit the writing skills of Qinglian.

In recent years, with the rise and drive of the couplet campaign, many authors have taken the award-winning couplets as their main objects of imitation. After their success, they have inspired more people to imitate, forming a vicious circle and producing a series of A large number of "applicant body" couplets. Its main characteristics are: slogans, empty words and flattery, without original discoveries, true feelings and expressions of personality. The author of this part was likened to a "machine operator" by Mr. Liu Taipin. Mr. Liu pointed out, "After the alienation of 'literary creation' into 'mechanical operation', not only the spirituality of literature is lost, but more sadly, the spiritual value of life is also lost" (Preface to "Three Hundred Couples of Good Luck 2013") . How to get rid of the misunderstanding of "swarming to write the clichés of 'propaganda, preface, and riverside pictures'" (preface to "Three Hundred Couplets of 2015")? Mr. Liu believes that “the only way to push the couplet culture to a higher level worthy of its predecessors is to inherit the most sublime formal techniques summarized and used by past generations of couplet masters” (Collection of Chinese Couplet Works <2013 Vol. >Preface). The Qing couplet is such an artistic peak with "the most sublime formal skills". So, what are the "formal techniques" in Qinglian that are worth learning from and inheriting? The author believes that Qing couplets embody the literary attributes, stylistic characteristics and stylistic advantages of couplets to the greatest extent. People today should inherit the writing skills of Qing couplets from at least the following three aspects.

First, inherit the Qing Dynasty’s skillful duel. Antithesis is the most essential attribute of couplets and the only stylistic element of couplets. In this regard, it can be said that the Lianjia in the Qing Dynasty highly recognized and consciously followed it, and discovered and developed various fighting techniques. Some of the fighting skills were so skillful that they were dazzling and amazing. Take the two birthday couplets recorded in "Couplets" as an example. Huang Bichuan's couplet congratulating Li Hongzhang's 60th birthday on his grand-gong, who was born in Shaanxi Province, said: "General Li, the wise heir, is an elite of seventy-two, and has a hundred and two keys; the longevity star column has five thousand virtues, and eight thousand springs and autumns." Yu Yue's couplet congratulated Li Hongzhang on his seventieth birthday. : "Yue Jiangsheng was born in the Song Dynasty, dating back to the third year of Daoguang and the eighth year of Guangxu; the wine collection of Laobao was first held on the tenth day of the Yuan Dynasty to wish the elders a long life." (This couplet is titled "Li Shaoquan" in Yu Yue's "Chun Zaitang Couplet Recording") The couplet of the prime minister's sixtieth birthday), the combination of numbers and emphasis on characters is extremely ingenious and can be called a masterpiece. The author speculates that the Lian family in the Qing Dynasty would never have made a birthday couplet easily without thinking of the confrontational tactics they believed they were good at, otherwise they would be laughed at. On the other hand, the current use of antithetical couplets mainly suffers from the shortcomings of rigid, relatively broad, and single techniques. In some couplets, it is difficult to find exquisite small pairs such as color pairs and number pairs, special pairings such as self-pairing and borrowed pairings, and rhetorical techniques such as emphasis on words and compound words. Most of them are filled with "four seas" and "qianqiu" ", "Splendid" versus "Harmonious" and the like. Professor Zhu Chengping of Jinan University summarized 99 types of antithetical rhetoric based on the collection of 374 traditional couplets, and the Qing couplet covers almost all antithetical techniques. But how well do people today inherit it? Looking at the battles in today's league, it seems that there are only a few conventional methods. The common battle techniques in Qinglian have been almost lost, and few people have used them. The root cause is that quite a few authors do not have a deep understanding that antithesis is the lifeblood of couplets, the engine that enables them to move forward, and the unique skill that couplets are proud of. In order to inherit the skills of Qinglian fighting, we must open up the arsenal of weapons in Qinglian fighting, use eighteen kinds of weapons, and strive to achieve proficiency in all.

Second, inherit the smart sentence structure of Qinglian. Couplets developed into the Qing Dynasty, and their sentence patterns showed a colorful style. There are regular sentences, prose sentences, parallel sentences, long sentences, short sentences, four-character sentences, seven-character sentences, and even twenty-character sentences. Various sentence patterns have different combinations, forming a colorful mood with flying kites and fish. For example, Tao Shu wrote in the couplet of Liyang Academy in Lixian County: "When you meet Nang Ying on the stage, you will be called a scholar just like Cha Wuzi; when you wash your ink next to the pool, you will see what a scholar Fan Xiwen is."

"Two clauses, one clause with four characters and a rhythm of two and two (can also be one, one and two), is a regular sentence; the second clause has eight characters and a rhythm of one, three and two, which is a prose sentence. It can be seen that the author deliberately departed from Another example is Li Xiucheng's (some say Hong Xiuquan) inscription on the palace of Zhongwang: "Get it immediately, rule it immediately, and build the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for hundreds of millions of years between the bows and swords. Those who are sincere and healthy; facing east." Conquer, march to the west, save the innocent and good people of the twenty-one provinces from the danger of water and fire, this is called a benevolent person. "Four clauses, the first two clauses have a four-character sentence structure and use compound rhetoric techniques. The third clause suddenly comes into a fifteen-character long prose sentence, and finally ends with four characters. It is majestic and very readable. It's enjoyable. Looking back at the arrangement of couplets today, it's hard to see such swaying changes. For example, most of the fifteen-character couplets are arranged in four-four-seven characters, and the five-character and seven-character rhyme sentences were once popular in the Qing Dynasty. To master the art of sentence structure, you must dare to try to use various sentence patterns according to the needs of content, emotional expression and practical suspension, and develop the ability to freely handle sentence patterns and syntax regardless of long or short couplets.

Third, inherit the various techniques of Qing couplets. The writing techniques of couplets are various and detailed. No stylistic techniques are as complicated and diverse as couplets, which sometimes make people feel trivial. Learn about the diversity of Qing couplet techniques. In fact, every pore of Qing couplets is soaked in the blood of techniques. To get a glimpse of the leopard, let’s focus on the unique expression technique of couplets - pulling people in as background. It is one of the most commonly used techniques for figure couplets in the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan used this method to its fullest extent and reached great perfection. When it comes to attracting people as background, some people will first think of the couplets of Guandi Temple in Yongji, Shanxi: "First the warriors and the gods; The Han Dynasty lasted for eternity, and the Song Dynasty lasted for eternity. After the Han Dynasty was promulgated and sainted, there was only one person in Shandong and one person in Shanxi. "Perhaps it is from this famous couplet that people have the impression that the identity, status, achievements, and fame of both parties should be quite equal, or at least close. But the author has analyzed a large number of joint works by famous artists in the Qing Dynasty. Preliminary research found that this is not the case. Theoretically, according to the philosophical principle that things are universally connected, any two (groups) of comparable characters can complement each other. The key is to find two points. Accurate comparison points (same, similar, close, similar, opposite, related, etc.); second, use a good sense of proportion and pay attention to the words used to express degree, nature, etc. Only one point of comparison is enough. In practice, it is usually two. Point or above. When examining the comparative points of Qing Lianla people, there are name categories, such as surname, first name, title, number, etc.; there are place categories, such as place of birth, county, official residence, burial place, etc.; sometimes there are categories, such as Year of birth, year of death, age, year, age, etc.; and other matters, such as life experience, talent, official position, performance, etc. Take two elegiac couplets for Liu Songshan as an example: "The merits of the deeds are similar to those of Ma Fubo, and the bones will be returned to thousands of miles." He is worse than Yue Zhongwu, and his life span is two years shorter. "The first couplet compares the Liu family to Zhu Ma Fubo, and the points of comparison are occupation (soldiers, the same), meritorious service (pacifying the border, the same or similar) and the cause of death (death in battle, the same); the second couplet compares the Liu family to Zhu Yuefei, and compares them to The points of comparison are occupation (soldier, the same), character (loyalty, the same), age (Yue is thirty-nine years old, Liu is thirty-seven years old, similar). State, eight days of victory, five days of even more victory, why is the frog in the well so arrogant, flying here with false claims, it is amazing that there are two loyal warriors in the past and present; the thirty-nine-year-old famous general, the Yue family mourns, the Lu family still mourns, but the soldier and horse died well, Yun Ying I am ashamed to kill the two Silings of Song and Ming Dynasty. "Comparing General Taqibu with Yue Fei and Lu Xiangsheng, the comparison points mainly include the following seven points: occupation (soldier, the same); character (bravery, loyalty, the same); age (thirty-nine years old, the same); posthumous title Title (Yue and Ta's posthumous title Zhongwu, the same); battlefield (Yue Tanzhou, Ta Xiangtan; the same or similar); military achievements (quelled the chaos, Yue and Lu defended each other; the same or similar); cause of death (Yue and Lu died due to selfish reasons, Ta died in the line of duty, the same or opposite). When comparing Emperor Xianfeng with Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty and Huaizong of the Ming Dynasty, there are two main points of comparison: attitude (Xianfeng was kind to Ta, Gaozong unjustly killed Yue, and Huaizong was not sympathetic to Lu, but the opposite). ; It is also very reluctant, but the comparison point is accurately found, and the adverbs such as "slightly" and "worse" reflect the sense of proportion, so it makes people feel that they are not overly praised. In contrast, most of today's couplets, whether they are anti-Japanese war heroes or contemporary celebrities, are elegiac couplets. It is praised from the front, and pulling people as foils is rare, and it seems monotonous. If you can use one or two weapons like pulling people as foils from the treasure house of Qinglian techniques, you can change the appearance of the characters being monotonous and lacking in personality. .

In recent years, the author regards Wu Gongheng's "Couplet Talk" as a treasure book, regards Zeng Wenzhenggong, the ancestor of the Zeng family, as his master, and is determined to carry forward the ancestral tradition of couplet culture as his own responsibility. Under the trend of the award-winning association's advertisements becoming more and more intense and the old routines becoming more and more common, the author strives to abandon the common shortcomings of clichés and slogans of "applicant body" and "veteran body", and try to avoid " "High imitation body" may have a flashy and outdated atmosphere, thus embarking on a new path of de-advertising and focusing on personalization, and initially formed its own style. Of course, for the author, inheriting the writing skills of Qing couplets and climbing to the peak of couplet art are always on the road. Regardless of whether I apply or not, the author will take "Qing couplet flavor" as his unswerving artistic pursuit in couplet creation and will never stop.

"Oriental Sun City" campaign couplets, this is how Teacher Zeng wrote the Sun Temple couplets