Chapter 86 Lantern Festival - Literary Creation at the Right Time

Couplets are an exquisite stroke in Chinese traditional literature, and their content is all-encompassing and beautiful.Lantern Lantern Festival is a traditional custom of the Chinese people. Throughout the ages, there have been countless interesting Lantern Festival couplets. In the Southern Song Dynasty, when the treacherous official Jia Sidao was guarding Huaiyin (now Yangzhou), there was a year when the lanterns were lit on the Lantern Festival. Some of the diners took lines from Tang poems and made a lantern couplet: The world is three points bright moon night, Yangzhou Shili Xiaohonglou.

The meaning of the words is appropriate, and it combines the atmosphere of the festival with the aesthetics of the literati. It is said that this is the beginning of the Lantern Festival, and people in the past dynasties have followed suit.Hanging lantern couplets on gates or conspicuous pillars not only adds festive interest to the Lantern Festival, but also adds appreciation for people who appreciate lanterns. Zhang Ying and Zhang Tingyu, who were born in Tongcheng, Anhui Province in the Qing Dynasty, were known as "father and son double bachelors, old and young prime ministers". They were both masters in writing couplets.One year during the Lantern Festival, Zhang's house was decorated with lanterns and colorful lights and firecrackers were set off as usual.The old prime minister looked at the beaming scene, and opened his mouth to say a couplet:

High-burning red candles reflect the long sky, bright, and the light covers the ground. This actually contains a layer of meaning, which is to try Zhang Tingyu's literary talent.Zhang Tingyu thought for a moment, and suddenly heard a firecracker outside the door, and immediately connected the next couplet: At low points, the firecrackers shook the earth, made a loud noise, and breathed out into the sky. This second couplet is neat and seamless.The upper couplet is well done, and the second couplet is well matched, which can be called a wonderful couple. There are many historical stories and legends about the Lantern Festival, and the most talked about is probably the story about Wang Anshi Miaolian of the Northern Song Dynasty as a matchmaker.

It is said that when Wang Anshi was 20 years old, he went to Beijing to take the exam. When he passed by a village, it was just in time for the Lantern Festival. The village was decorated with lanterns and festoons, which was very beautiful.Wang Anshi was admiring the lanterns while walking, when he suddenly saw a revolving lantern hanging high above the door of a large family. Revolving lanterns, lights revolving, lights off horses stop. When Wang Anshi saw it, he couldn't answer for a while, so he kept it in his heart.A few days later, he arrived in the capital and took the exam. Because of his outstanding writing skills, he was summoned by the chief examiner on the spot.Seeing that Wang Anshi was in high spirits, the examiner must have quick thinking, so he said yes with the flying tiger flag fluttering in the wind:

Flying tiger flag, flag flying tiger, flag rolling tiger hide. Wang Anshi suddenly remembered the Shanglian he had seen during the Lantern Festival, and when he said it, it was actually perfect.The examiner was overjoyed, thinking that he was an unborn talent.Later, Wang Anshi was admitted as a Jinshi.When Yimian returned to his hometown, he passed by that family again, and when he heard that no one had answered the couplet, he replied with the couplet issued by the chief examiner.The head of the household was overjoyed and thought that he was right, so he married his daughter to Wang Anshi.A coincidental couplet has achieved two happy events for Wang Anshi.

Of course, the legend is just a legend. Wang Anshi was from the Northern Song Dynasty, and Jia Sidao was from the Southern Song Dynasty. If the lantern couplets only started in the Southern Song Dynasty, how could Wang Anshi in the Northern Song Dynasty have the chance to marry the lanterns?