Chapter 11 The first part is selected from the cultural relics Section 11 to talk about the beard problem of the ancients from the cultural relics (2)

In fact, in the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang's appearance was like a woman, and Chen Ping's beauty was like a crown of jade. In the historical records, although they are not particularly praised, there is no evidence of irony.When he arrived in the Three Kingdoms, in order to ease Guan Yu's grievances, Zhuge Liang deliberately said that a certain person was "not as outstanding as the bean".However, the "Dianlue" said that the commanders of the Yellow Turbans in Heishan called themselves "Zigen".According to historical records, when Cao Cao saw the envoy of the Huns, he felt ashamed that his appearance was ordinary and not enough to convince people from afar.At that time, the intention was of course that Cui Yan was tall and tall, with a good beard and style, and he would surely win the respect of the Huns envoys.But the result was not successful.Because even when the hairy-cheeked Xiongnu envoy was questioned by Cao Cao, he still praised the knife catcher beside him as handsome and extraordinary, and did not recognize Cui Yan's outstanding appearance!Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there are records that some people love beards very much. For example, "Book of Jin" said that Zhang Hua was very beautiful, and he made silk ropes to wrap his beards. It can be proved that there were various protective measures for beards at that time, but there was still not much relationship with handsome men.On the contrary, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, society became more and more sick, so "He Lang applied powder and Xun Ling incense", a man with a feminine posture was actually the standard of beauty for a while.When the historical biography narrates this point, although it is deeply ironic, this kind of morbid aesthetic view on men continued to have a significant impact in society until the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.This can be seen from the "Shi Shuo" records that Pan An went to the street, women threw fruit full of carts, Zuo Si entered the market, and women threw stones and other stories.In short, this era is really not conducive to people with long beards!Xie Lingyun, a poet of the Southern Dynasties, had a good beard during his lifetime. After his death, he donated it to Huan Temple in Nanhai and put it on the statue of Vimalakirti. People have died, so they have to use waste, which is not considered difficult.However, in terms of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, when the contradictions and struggles among the Hu tribes in the north were fierce, there was no clear record in history that at a certain period, when seeing a person with a high nose bridge and a lot of beard, he would cut a knife without asking why!

After the Tuoba family unified the north in the Yuan and Wei Dynasties, beards should be given special attention, but not.Just look at the images of the characters reflected in a large number of stone carvings, clay sculptures and murals. Most of them always have bare mouths. It can be seen that most of them belong to the Hu nationality in the north, and most of them have never grown beards even in middle age.In the handed down "Northern Qi School Book Picture" as portraits of Wei Shou and others, there are also several without beards, and the most bearded in the painting is the groom.

As for the mustaches, which were lifted up and drooped along the way, it laid the foundation for three or five beards in the future. At the same time, there were also people who grew old without beards.In addition to the part of Han Luoyang portrait bricks, the newly unearthed useful and important materials should be the images of two senior military officers holding ritual swords, wearing double armor and outer robes at the gate of the brick tomb in Dengxian County, Henan Province in the Southern Dynasties. .The second is the image of a group of ministers in the lower part of the Vimalakirti mural in Dunhuang Cave 220 in Tang Zhenguan, in the picture of the emperor listening to the Dharma.This mural is very realistic, and it may be based on the images of Emperor Taizong and the Eighteen Scholars of the Hongwen Museum painted by the Yan Liben brothers. The most important thing is that there are several ministers among them who are already over middle-aged, but they don't grow beards.A few of them may look handsome, but their beards hang down obediently.In short, apart from the established fact that Taizong was born with a curly beard, and Yuchi Jingde was painted with a beard to show his heroism, there is still no evidence that a beard is one of the characteristics of a handsome man.In general, the hairy beard still shows up on people with low status, such as the groom in Han Gan's "Two Horses Picture", the tea cooker in "Xiao Yi Earning Lanting Picture", and the secretary holding a clapper in the Zhangwan mural in Xianyang, Shaanxi. Le Chang, also looks very lush and green on his face!

So did society really change after the mid-Tang Dynasty, as Mr. Wang said that people must grow beards in middle age?Not quite.There are quite a few portraits of famous officials of past dynasties at hand, because the time may be late, they are not very reliable, and they are not intended to be quoted.In the "Picture of the Nine Elders in Xiangshan Mountain" painted by the Song Dynasty, there are many famous sages in their seventies and eighties with bare chins.In addition, "Pictures of Luoyang Qiying" and "Pictures of Elegant Collection in the West Garden" are based on the current events drawn by people at that time, which should be quite reliable. It can still be seen that there are many people who have passed forty without beards. The portraits of Huang Lizhou and Pu Liuxian are similar.

Regarding this small problem, proceeding from reality, it is also very meaningful to try to explore some common sense.At least we can get the following understanding: 1. Although the issue of beards is an ordinary and trivial matter, it cannot be called an academic, but academic experts are familiar with it. When the writing occasionally involves its history, it is impossible to have a more comprehensive and specific understanding without some practical investigation and research. .If you only start from taking it for granted, it will be difficult to be pertinent when extending it, and it will easily lead to mistakes.

2. From the study of cultural relics, the ancient system of grooming, daily clothing, production and labor, and carriages and boats, as well as its applications, can really help us inspire new knowledge, revise ancient books, and obtain many useful and useful things. It is worth paying attention to now. Scholars give a little due attention.Insufficient literature on ancient events is too much to deal with. If we can bring this research work method of comprehensive cultural relics and literature to the level of understanding, we can encourage some young and strong people who study literature and history and have a certain amount of literature knowledge to break the convention and face nearly ten years. The cultural relics unearthed in the year and the cultural relics handed down from ancient times, respectively, and boldly and earnestly explored for ten or eight years. There are many gaps or inconsistencies in the study of Chinese cultural history, and many new discoveries and enrichments will surely be expected.I hope that new academic research will make new progress. First of all, there must be some progress in research methods, and some people are willing to overcome difficulties without fear of difficulties and become pioneers!

3. Seeing the big from childhood, because China’s history is too long, it is difficult to understand any problem thoroughly with literature verification in many places.Some questions are either completely blank, or some are misinterpreted by later commentators, resulting in a specious impression that needs to be corrected and clarified.Especially the development of things, if we want to figure it out, we must broaden our horizons, put it on a relatively solid and extensive material basis, and combine cultural relics and documents to achieve more reliable results. new conclusions.We must talk about it, draw it, describe it, and then we can expect it to conform to the true nature of history!

As for this research method of combining cultural relics and documents to confirm each other, does it work?Are there any disadvantages in the benefits?I would like to know from the results or available.Personally speaking, my level of thinking is low, I have read very few ancient books, and I only know a little about cultural relics, so my achievements in research work are naturally limited.Even when it comes to beards, there are always mistakes that need to be corrected.However, if domestic literature and history experts and scholars are willing to break away from the traditional methods of studying literature and history and pay attention to these millions of cultural relics, I personally always believe that it will definitely bring Chinese cultural research to a new direction and obtain new things that are not easy to imagine. Harvest!

Note Two months ago, I saw the news in Nanfang Daily that many art experts had heatedly discussed whether more historical background knowledge is needed to make historical paintings, and whether such knowledge is important, such as understanding the system of clothing guys and so on.Unfortunately, not all records were available.I'm a layman in art, so I don't know much about how an artist can complete his task if he doesn't learn the necessary knowledge of historical subjects with a more realistic attitude.I just follow the general idea of ​​dealing with cultural relics. If you appraise an important story painting, whether it is a mural or a scroll handed down from generation to generation, you should not judge it from what you wear, wear, sit on, eat, use, what you hold in your hand when you are fighting, or when you go out. Riding, riding... To compare and search comprehensively and specifically, it is impossible to know its content and relative age.The identification work needs to be more comprehensive, and this knowledge is also required.As for making historical paintings and sculptures in the new era to educate the people, how can we grasp the proper historical atmosphere if we only do it based on a little interest?Audiences who are accustomed to watching Beijing opera, and who have been deeply influenced by Ming and Qing engravings and modern comic strips, are very easy to be satisfied, but the artist himself is also satisfied because of this?Personally, I always think that way, if you are engaged in the painting and sculpture of historical themes, as well as the prop design comrades engaged in historical dramas, if you want to raise your work to the seriousness it should, it is best to start from realism first, and have a deeper understanding of what is necessary in the theme. Understand things, add some romanticism on this basis, add some personal imagination, the combination of the two is just right, and the results will definitely be better.So far, our general historical paintings and sculptures have not passed the test. This is related to the artist's basic attitude towards this work, and it is also related to the fact that our cultural relics work is not detailed and in-depth enough, and the reference materials are not comprehensive enough.Because according to the conditions, it could have made a big leap forward compared with "Seventy-two Sages", "Five Hundred Famous Figures", "Water Margin Leaves", "Lanxiaotang Painting Biography", etc., but in fact it is not easy to break through.Therefore, when painting Cao Cao, he would be unknowingly influenced by Hao Shouchen's appearance, but as Xiang Yu, he would wear curved wings and headdress and armor in Song and Yuan Dynasties like Wang Lingguan, which inevitably fell behind the requirements of the times.In the future, let us work together to make better cooperation and come to pass this level!

Written in Beijing on September 15, 1961