Chapter 23 Section 3 Gifts and Posts

It is just a kind of etiquette that the above-mentioned scholars should present gifts when they meet each other, and they are also called "Zhizhi".In the later period, anyone who gave something to others as a show of respect was directly called giving a "gift". In ancient Chinese society, gift giving was essential in social activities.Later on, there are more and more mysteries.Giving gifts to others, because relatives are far or near, friends are thick or thin, and gifts have different weights. To measure the thickness and weigh the weight, you need to be careful in mastering the scale.Because "it is impolite to come and not to go", not only need to weigh what is sent out, but also estimate what is sent by others.Estimating what the other party may give, considering how to return the gift, and rewarding the person who gave the gift, this requires foresight, and it is not an easy task.Classical novels are famous works that reflect the social conditions in the late feudal society, and there are a large number of examples of gift giving recorded in them.Deng Yunxiang's "Tan of the Customs of Red Mansions" divides the gifts into eight categories.One is purely a gift of friendship.For example, in the thirty-first chapter, Shi Xiangyun gave his sisters crimson stone rings. Although the things are small, they can be given or received, which is also a gift.The second is the gift for the first meeting, which is often called the gift of meeting.Among them, some are for friendship, some are for politeness, and some are for other purposes. The situation is more complicated.The third is the gift-giving of red and white weddings.Marriage, engagement of a daughter, and birthday are red and happy events; death is a funeral, but Baishou is also a happy event, called "white wedding".In addition, there are building houses and beams, moving to new houses, doing Buddhist ceremonies, etc., all of which are given gifts as happy events.All kinds of weddings and ceremonies, except for those with special relationships, generally contain more "rituals" and less "love".The fourth is birthday gifts. Generally, birthdays are different from birthday gifts, and the gifts given are also different according to the status of the birthday person.The fifth is rituals. Gifts should be given during Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice, Laba and other festivals.Gifts should be sent between relatives and friends, and between superiors and subordinates; the court should also send gifts to the families of princes and noble relatives, but instead of saying "send", it is called "reward".There are also those who use festival gifts to "beat the autumn wind", that is, relying on their power, they send some worthless gifts (such as couplets on New Year's Day) to wealthy families in exchange for more valuable gifts such as money and property. , the profit is true.The sixth is to send native products, which used to be called "supplying soil rituals".Traveling in ancient times was not easy. When you travel long distances to other places, you always have to bring some local specialties as gifts.For example, in the sixteenth chapter, it is written that Daiyu came back from the south of the Yangtze River and "distributed some paper and pens and other things to Baochai, Yingchun, Baoyu, etc.", which also belongs to this category.Seven is a gift between relatives and friends, rich and poor.For example, in the exchange of gifts between Grandma Liu and Rongguo Mansion, although Grandma Liu only gave some melons, fruits and dried vegetables, she got more gifts and subsidies in return, but its nature is different from "beating the autumn wind" and extorting money.The eighth is the gift of drilling camp.That is to use gifts as a means to make friends with dignitaries and win relationships, so as to achieve the purpose of speculation and gain greater benefits.The above eight types summarize the general types of gift giving.

Generally, for weddings, weddings, and various big gifts, a gift list is required for gift giving, and a gift account is required for receiving gifts.When giving rich gifts, pay attention to four colors and eight colors, and singular numbers cannot be given.After presenting the gift list, the recipient can accept all the gifts, or not at all.In most cases, what is received and what is returned is what is listed on the gift slip, marked "respect" under the items received, and "thank you" under the items not accepted, and then handed over the gift slip to the gift giver. man brings back to his master.The purpose of keeping the book of rites is mainly to prepare for reference when the other party has something to return in the future.As for the gift giver, it is customary to give money as a reward.

There are also "famous posts" associated with gift giving.Name posts, also known as "posts", are equivalent to today's business cards.Famous posts originated very early in our country.According to records, during the Qin and Han Dynasties, when people visited for an audience, they began to use name cards to announce their names.However, the name post at that time was to flatten the bamboo and wood chips and write his own name, which was also called "Ye", and later also called "thorn". "Historical Records Biography of Li Sheng Lu Jia" records that Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, led his troops to Chenliu (now southeast of Kaifeng, Henan Province), and Li Shiqi "visited at the gate of the army" and asked to see Liu Bang.Liu Bang thought that Li Shiqi was just an ordinary "Confucian" and he didn't want to see him, so he sent an envoy to thank him, "Li Sheng glared at the envoy and pressed his sword...the envoy was afraid and lost the envoy. "Guest, a strong man in the world, scolds the ministers, and the ministers are afraid, so that they will be lost." Liu Bang then summoned Li Sheng.The "Ye" mentioned here is a famous post.After the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the invention of papermaking, name cards began to be made of paper, and there were names such as "name", "famous paper" and "famous stab".Because some famous posts include their own official titles in addition to their hometown and name, they are also called "Jueli thorns".The "door shape" popular among bureaucrats and bureaucrats in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the "handbook" used by subordinates to meet their superiors and students to meet their teachers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties also belong to the category of famous posts.

The function of the name post was originally used by people to announce their names when they came to visit and ask for an interview.But gradually, during the New Year and festivals, I did not go to the door, but sent servants to the relatives and friends' homes to deliver famous stabs to congratulate the festival.In Southern Song Dynasty Zhou Mi's "Gui Xin Miscellaneous Knowledge" said: "The gift of congratulations in the festival sequence, those who cannot come in person, every time they are named with a bunch of thorns, so that a servant will vote for it, which is commonplace." "Uncle Yu Biao Wu Sizhang has a funny nature. He has no servants to go out during the festival, and wanders around the door. It happened that my friend Shen Zi, a public servant, sent a thorn to him. I took it for a long time and looked at it. They were all relatives, so I drank (drinked) it with wine. (Secretly) it is easy to (exchange) it with one's own stabbing. Shen servant does not realize (not aware of it), because he throws it everywhere, and he knows (all) Wu's stabbing." Wu Sizhang's trick of dropping the bag was quite ingenious, and it became popular among people for a while. The jokes of mutual legends.This phenomenon of posting famous posts during festivals is similar to the fact that people send each other New Year's cards when we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new year.

The ancients attached great importance to the famous post, and it almost became the representative of the person. When sending a gift, sending someone to carry the gift and holding the famous post at the same time is equivalent to sending it in person, which is more polite and solemn.Therefore, in the late feudal society, dignitaries sent their servants to give gifts, and they usually presented their own name cards at the same time to show respect.For example, in Chapter 11 of Jia Jing's birthday, Jia Rong said: "The princes of the four families of Nan'an County King, Dongping County King, Xining County King, and Beijing County King, and Zhenguo Bull Mansion, etc., are loyal to Jinghou Shi. The government and other eight families all sent people to bring birthday gifts with name cards."

In addition, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, famous posts were also used for entertaining guests to dinners and inviting doctors to treat illnesses at home.Asking someone to invite you with a name card is like inviting someone yourself.Accepting the name card means accepting the invitation in person; returning the name card does not mean not accepting the invitation, but just not daring to bear the etiquette of inviting in person.The tenth chapter records that Jia Zhen asked Qin Keqing for a doctor and said, "I have asked someone to invite someone with my famous card." The person who went there came back and reported: "The slave just arrived at Uncle Feng's house and invited him with the master's famous card." Sir, the gentleman said: "Just now the uncle here also told me, but he only came home after paying homage for a day today. At this time, the spirit is really unable to support. Even if you go to the house, you can't check the pulse. You have to get it." Adjust your breath for one night, and you must come to the mansion tomorrow." He also said: "Medical medicine is shallow, so I dare not recommend it again, because Uncle Feng and the mansion have said so, and I have to go, you go back to Ming for me first." I really don’t dare to use the name post as an adult’s.’ And I asked my servant to take it back.” Here is a description of a situation where the name post was used at that time.