Double team: Liu Tang, Yan Suochi!

[Date: September 2005-16] Source: Private Detective Author: Liang Yusheng [font: large, medium and small]

Among all kinds of couplets, the so-called "Jue" is probably of interest to most people. There must be two characteristics: first, it has been circulating among the people for a long time, some are right, and some are not. And "right" is not equal to "right". Second, it is difficult. Anything that can be called "absolute" has some special conditions.

For example, as many people know, "Yan Suochi Liu Tang" belongs to the first part with special restrictions. The radicals of these five words include the "five elements" of Jin Mu's fire, water and soil, and the bottom line should also have the "five elements". This couplet has been circulated among the people for a long time. I don't know how many people have used their brains, but few of them are right.

Some people formally (all have five elements) object to "building zhenhai tower with ashes" (Zhenmei Building is in Guangzhou), but it doesn't really make sense. Moreover, "Liu Tang in Yansuochi" is a beautiful five-character poem, and "zhenhai tower heaps ashes" is only "understandable". The elegance and vulgarity between the two are incalculable in the Tao.

Later, someone changed the word "grey" into the word "cannon" and turned it into a "cannon-piled Zhenhai Tower".

"Gun pile" is much better than "ash pile", but it is still not good enough. Because the word "pile" is too weak, what's the use of piling a lot of guns in zhenhai tower? If it is used to bomb the enemy, the word "heap" is very difficult to use.

It has also been pointed out that "the gun rack is Zhenjiang City". Zhenjiang and Guguazhou face each other across the river, and the situation is dangerous. It has been dubbed "the gun rack" and is quite imposing. But there are still flaws. Because the word "lock" and the word "frame" are both flat, the word "pond" and the word "river" are both flat, and two of the five words are not flat, which is not a qualified confrontation.

In fact, Liu Tang by Yan Suochi is a poem by predecessors. See Chen Zisheng's Collection of the Legacy of Zhongzhou Caotang in the Late Ming Dynasty. There are as many as four antitheses used by Chen Zisheng in Yansuochi Liu Tang.

Chen Zisheng (16 14 to 1692, from Nanhai, Guangdong) was the younger brother of Chen Zizhuang, a famous loyal minister in the late Ming Dynasty (see Ming History 278 for his life). His name is Sheng Qiao, and he was given a job by the official etiquette department of the Ming Dynasty. I recently saw this collection of poems from a friend, only to know that this so-called "absolute" has been circulating for at least 300 years. For 300 years, I don't know how many people have tried their best to "clear its name", but I don't know its origin. This is also a miracle.

There are Liubo songs in Volume 16 of the Collection of the Remains of Zhongzhou Caotang, and the preface says: "The five elements of the guest are strict with each other, so they become two Liubo songs, which are in line with the doers."

A cloud:

Smoke locks the pond willow, and the lamp hangs the brocade threshold wave.

Echoing the first dance, folding willows and smelling songs.

The second cloud:

The lamp hangs down the brocade threshold wave, and the smoke locks the pond willow.

I dreamed of the five lakes and the mouth of the Langjia levee.

Under the sentence "the lamp hangs down the brocade threshold wave", note that "the cloud hangs down" is "full". I think the author tied these two words together because it is difficult to decide which is better and which is worse.

Chen Yusheng used the "lamp hanging brocade threshold" to "smoke lock the pond willow"; Very poetic, "Hanging Lights" is "realistic"; If it is easy to "fill the lamp", it means "empty writing" and "light" refers to light, and the word "fill" is beneficial to see its "weight"; This is similar to the so-called symbolism in modern literature. However, if we follow the "right path", the word "vertical" is still better.

Although there are five elements in this sentence-the lamp hangs over the brocade threshold wave-Chen Zisheng is still not satisfied, because the words "lamp" and "smoke" both come from "fire", and he feels that his works are lacking. This is the strict requirement of the ancients for themselves. Then there is the "Song of Liu Xiaohong" cloud:

Smoke locks the pond willow, and the sales peak is extremely fragrant.

The east branch stops the spring water, and the south wing complains about the autumn wind.

From Feng Pin Ji Sai Hong to Yan Suo Tang Liu, the artistic conception is very high. However, because he is too strict with himself, "wind" and "smoke" are beside the word "fire", and he is not satisfied, so he makes a cloud:

Smoke locks the pond willow, and the bell sinks the desk lamp.

My heart is red and dense, my eyes are green and clear.

"Zhong Shentai" and "Yan Suoliu", the "five elements" of both sides are not as important as the other side, which can be described as painstaking. But the theory of poetry is a bit reluctant, which seems less natural than the combination of "hanging lights" and "lighthouse sales".

There is another antithesis in "Clearing Banknotes", which is another well-answered sentence after Chen Zisheng's four antitheses (including the sentence of "filling the lamp"). The opposite is:

Dengshen Village Temple Bell

The sentence "light is deep" has a good artistic conception, and it is a kind of writing method of "taking the virtual with the real". "Deep" (far-reaching) is not only a description of the location of the village temple, but also a visual experience of the lighting. "Zhong" refers to the bell, and "Village Temple Bell" is a description of hearing. This sentence can be interpreted as "a place where the lights are faintly visible in the bells of the distant village temple." In terms of artistic conception, it seems that it is better than Chen Yusheng's "light hanging over brocade threshold wave", but according to Chen Zisheng's strict requirements, "light" and "smoke" are still beside the word "fire". However, I don't think it is necessary to ask for the "radical" of this word in order to avoid overlapping.

After the liberation, the bottom links of "Yansuochi Liu Tang" have made new development, and some of them have added new links, which is also worth mentioning.

In the 1960s, I saw a duality in Yangcheng Evening News:

Boiling tea and cutting the wall spring

This couplet is said to have been written by a professor named Yan in Peking University, but the author forgot its name. The five elements of the first pair of couplets "Yan Suochi Liu Tang" are all on the left, while the five elements of "Tea Boiling and Chiseling Springs" are all at the foot of the word (the four points below the word "boiled" symbolize the appearance of raging flames, so this word belongs to the "fire" department in the dictionary). The confrontation can be called two baht. It is also true to say "wall-cutting spring". This pair of sentences is reversed, even making tea is also the water of "wall-cutting spring". However, if strict requirements conform to the art of couplets, "wall-cutting spring" is a proper noun, which is a bit reluctant to be used in "pond willow" (a common noun).

Last year, a Hong Kong gentleman, Mr. Luo Guangbin, imitated the style of Chen Zisheng, and also used a poem couplet to describe "Yansuochi Liu Tang", which was quite characteristic of the scenery of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and every sentence was in line with the "standard". A poem entitled "Appreciation in the Rotating Hall" wrote:

Liu Tangyan Suochi, Gangcheng Teppanyaki.

Add ants to the revolving hall, and the scenery is easy to find.

The Revolving Hall is a revolving restaurant (a 60-story building) in the center of Taiwan Province. "Green slave" is a green foam on the surface of wine, and it is also synonymous with wine. Teppanyaki is a slice of roast beef made in Japan. "Gangcheng Teppanyaki" has the flavor of Zhi Zhu's ci, which is interesting because of its vulgarity. Fighting against "Yan Suochi Liu Tang" is also called by both sides (five elements are on the side).

The second song is entitled "Banquet in White Swan Hotel":

Smoke locks the pond willow, and the court wears brocade column lights.

Inviting Zhuhai night, the horn is full of friends.

White Swan Hotel is located in Guangzhou Shamian "Ting", which is flat by the water. The sand surface used to be a sandbar, but today it is filled with sand surface. The author has a note: "White Swan Hotel is on the right side of Goose Feet, and there are artificial rockeries, stone ponds and willows in the garden. Brocade lamp says the lamp post is very beautiful, and so is the light near the White Swan Hotel. "

Luo Guangbin's other challenge is the "Lighthouse Paving the Harbour", which is also an innovation.

The new idea is to have local scenery; Ships cover the sea of Hong Kong like boats, and every harbor must be equipped with lighthouse signs to prevent ships from hitting rocks.