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 Tenth National Congress of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Ninth 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 lot of "application style" 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 skills" 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 followed it consciously, 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 one 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 Song Dynasty, dating back to the third year of Daoguang and the eighth year of Guangxu; Lao Zhen wine set, first on the tenth day of the Yuan Dynasty, wishing the elders a long life." (This couplet in Yu Yue's "Chun Zaitang Couplet Record" is titled "Li Shaoquan" 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 use of antithetical couplets today 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 Li 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 Two (can also be one, one, two), belongs to the rhythmic sentence; the two-part sentence has eight characters, the rhythm is one, three, two, and belongs to the prose sentence. It can be seen that the author deliberately tried to break away from the constraints of verses. Another example is the couplet written by Li Xiucheng (one version of Hong Xiuquan) in 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 honest and strong will conquer from the east and conquer from the west." "To save the innocent people of the twenty-one provinces from the danger of fire and water, they are called benevolent people." Four clauses, the first two clauses are four-character sentences, and the use of compound words is used, and the third clause suddenly comes with a fifteen-character sentence. The long prose sentence ends with four words, which is majestic and enjoyable to read. On the other hand, it is difficult to see such swaying changes in the arrangement of couplets today. For example, most of the fifteen-character sentences are arranged in four-four-seven, and five-character and seven-character rhymes were once very popular.
To inherit the skill of clear couplet sentence patterns, one must dare to try 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 Qinglian. There are various techniques for writing couplets, and they are very detailed. No stylistic technique is as complex and diverse as couplets, which sometimes even make people feel trivial. Previously we have experienced the diversity of clear couplet techniques from the antithesis and sentence patterns. In fact, every pore of Qinglian is soaked with the blood of technique. In order to get a glimpse of the leopard, we will focus on the unique expression technique of couplets - pulling people in as a foil. Drawing people in as background is one of the most commonly used techniques in figure couplets in the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan used this technique to its fullest extent and achieved great perfection. When it comes to attracting people to serve as foils, some people will first think of the temple couplet of Guandi in Yongji, Shanxi: "First the warriors and Mu became gods, and the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty lasted through the ages; later, the literature and propaganda became holy, one person in Shandong and one person in Shanxi." Perhaps it is from this point. In the subtitle couplet, people have the impression that the identity, status, achievements, and fame of the two parties should be quite equal, or at least close to each other. However, after preliminary research on a large number of joint works by famous artists in the Qing Dynasty, the author found that this is not the case. Theoretically, according to the philosophical principle that things are universally connected, any two (groups) of compared characters can complement each other. The key is to do two things: first, find the point of comparison (identical, similar, close, similar, opposite, related, etc.); second, be careful about the use of words to express degree, nature, etc. The comparison point only needs one point, but in practice it is usually two points or more. When looking at the comparative points of people from Lianla in the Qing Dynasty, there are name categories, such as surname, first name, given name, name, etc.; there are place categories, such as place of birth, county, official residence, burial place, etc.; and there are sometimes categories, such as birth year and death year. , age, year, age, etc.; event categories, such as life experience, talent, official position, performance, etc. Take two elegiac couplets as an example. Zeng Guofan's couplet to Liu Songshan says: "The merits are similar to those of Ma Fubo, and his bones will be returned thousands of miles away; the sincerity is worse than that of Yue Zhongwu, and his life span is two years shorter." The first couplet compares Liu to Ma Fubo, and the points of comparison are occupation (soldiers, the same), meritorious deeds (Anbian put down the rebellion, the same or similar) and the cause of death (dead in battle, the same); the second couplet compares the Liu family to Zhu Yue Fei, and the points of comparison are occupation (soldier, the same), character (loyalty, the same), and age (Yue 30th Nine years old, Liu is thirty-seven years old, similar). Huang Dao Rang and the pagoda Qibu Lian said: "Traveling back more than 700 miles to Tanzhou, we can achieve victory in eight days, and even more victory in five days. How could a frog in a well be arrogant and make false claims? It's amazing that there are both loyal warriors in the past and present; count the thirty-nine-year-old famous generals." The Yue family is in mourning, and the Lu family is still in mourning. However, the soldiers and horses died well, and Ying Ying was treated favorably. It is shameful to kill the two Silings of Song and Ming Dynasties. "The whole league compared Taqibu with Yue Fei and Lu Xiangsheng. The main points of comparison are as follows: Occupation (soldier, the same); Character (bravery, loyalty, the same); Age (thirty-nine years old, the same); Posthumous title (Yue, Ta Zhongwu, the same); Battlefield (Yue Tanzhou, Ta Xiangtan; the same or similar) ); war merits (quelled the rebellion, Yue and Lu defended each other; the same or similar); cause of death (Yue and Lu died in private affairs, Ta died in the line of duty, the same or opposite). He also compared Emperor Xianfeng with Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty and Huaizong of the Ming Dynasty. There are two main points of comparison: attitude (Xianfeng met the tower with kindness, Gaozong killed Yue unjustly, and Huaizong did not pity Lu, on the contrary); the name of the mausoleum (Gaozong was from Shaoxing). Yong Siling and Huaizong are the same as the Siling Tombs of the Ming Tombs). The two elegiac couplets mainly compare the identity, status, achievements, and fame of the person. They cannot be completely compared, and it is difficult to say that they are close. However, the comparison point has been found accurately, and the adverbs such as "slightly" and "worse" reflect the sense of proportion. It makes people feel that it is too praiseworthy. In contrast, today's couplets, whether they are anti-Japanese war heroes or contemporary celebrities, mostly praise them from the front, and it is rare to see them as foils, which makes them seem monotonous. If we could use one or two weapons like pulling people as foils from the treasure house of Qing couplet techniques, we could almost change the appearance of character couplets that are monotonous and lack individuality.
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