(3) Hometown of myths, legends and stories

Shanxi has a long history, so prehistoric myths, ancient legends and stories of later generations are particularly rich. Some of them become the basis of ancient history, some become idiom stories, and some become novels and plays.

1. Myths and legends

The more popular ones are Nu Wa's making people, refining stones to make up the sky, Fuxi's making gossip, tying ropes, Shennong's tasting a hundred herbs, Huangdi's fighting against Chiyou, the wedding ceremony, banishing Danzhu, killing for nine days, Hou Ji's growing grain, ploughing mountains, playing the piano and singing the south wind, keeping silkworms in line with the princess, arranging the calendar, and Dayu's water control. These stories all happened in Shanxi, concentrated in the south of Shanxi.

These myths and legends may not be credible, but they reflect the bumpy process that our ancestors made a living by hunting and gathering and turned to agricultural economy. These characters may not actually exist, but this process did happen. For example, Nu Wa and Fuxi were originally brothers and sisters, and human beings were created by them, reflecting the most primitive group marriage and reproductive behavior in the hybrid period of the marriage system. The goddess fills the sky, reflecting that the period has entered the Neolithic age, and people have learned to use pottery, so they thought of turning mud into stone to make up for rainy days. Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, and the collection economy was very developed. He learned to choose edible things and began to choose and grow them. This is why Hou Ji grows grain and Wang Shun plows the land to the top of the mountain to develop Yuncheng Salt Field. Yao's image of being close to the people is actually regardless of class, and the life and treatment of the leaders are the same as those of the people, which is the historical stage of the primitive commune. With the development of economy, there was more than enough food, exchange appeared and private ownership sprouted. Therefore, Yao's son tried to seize Shun's rights, and was first exiled and then killed. Yao's nine-day war is a portrayal of the hot weather in a period. Dayu's flood control shows that the ice age has passed, the warm interglacial period has come, rainwater and meltwater are flooding everywhere, production is destroyed (flash floods washed away fields and floods flooded crops), and life is in danger (water damage, floods, mudslides).

Some of these myths and legends have archaeological evidence, some have geological records, and some can be obtained from social surveys (/kloc-social surveys of primitive tribes since the 8th century). Here, I want to point out a circumstantial evidence that the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou took place in Shanxi. 1984, the dance of "Battle of Chiyou" was unearthed in Pingtougou, Xixiang, Shouyang, which was called "haunted" locally (in fact, it was an alias of Nuo Opera). Chiyou was wearing 24 ghosts, masks and clothes. This ancient dance has survived to this day, not without fire, but as circumstantial evidence that the Yellow Emperor dismembered Chiyou in Yuncheng area. If we can explore it carefully and deeply in Yuncheng, Linfen, Changzhi and other places, this kind of dance of Zhan Chiyou will definitely be preserved, and it may also be found in ancient books.

2. Highlight historical allusions and idioms.

There are many allusions in China's language, which are often translated into idioms. They are the treasures of the Chinese nation. Concise words contain profound philosophy and implication, and are often the condensation of a wonderful historical story.

There are more than 10,000 commonly used idioms in China, which have been edited into thick dictionaries, including the China Idiom Dictionary. I haven't counted how many articles are from Shanxi, but I have read more than 200 pages of Shanxi idiom dictionary. As far as I can remember, I will list some idioms and allusions from Shanxi that are widely used to prove Shanxi's splendid culture.

In ancient mythology, "Jingwei filling the sea" is one of the stories of Changzhi Shennong. The goddess of Emperor Yan, Nong, traveled to the East China Sea and drowned. She turned into a bird of Jingwei and filled the East China Sea with the stone of Mount Hatoyama. This story happened in a big lake in the east of Fajiu, west of the eldest son.

Cutting tung and sealing brother is an allusion to the origin of Jinci Temple. When Zhou Chengwang's brother Tang Shuyu was young, he played in the garden with a teenager who was king. Zhou Chengwang cut a piece of tung leaf into a laurel tree and gave it to Yu Shu. He jokingly said, "I'll give you this laurel tree and make you the Tang Hou." Because the son of heaven was not joking, he later fulfilled this statement and called it Hou at that time. Because of the state-owned Jin Quan in the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to gold. From then on, there was the state of Jin.

If it is not eaten, the king of Wu will cut Zhou and destroy Yin. Former ministers Boyi and Shu Qi refused to eat the food of the Zhou Dynasty and starved to death in Butoushan. Buzhou Mountain is in the south of Yongji, which is the end of Zhongtiao Mountain.

Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, was exiled to the State of Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period and married the daughter of the State of Qin. Since then, the two countries have helped each other and forged a friendship. Finally, the marriage of two surnames is also called Qin Jin's good.

The three factions were divided into Jin, and the state of Jin was dominant in the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, Wei, Zhao and Han overtook the Jin royal family, and finally the three clans carved up the State of Jin, which was recognized by the Zhou Emperor. From then on, the state of Jin perished, and the three kingdoms stood side by side with the four countries of Qi, Chu, Qin and Yan, and were called the Seven Heroes of the Warring States.

When the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, the state of Jin wants to destroy the country by means of danger. The palace minister used the metaphor of "the lips are dead and the teeth are cold" to describe the interdependence and mutual protection between the two countries. When one country dies, another country will not exist, and he persuaded him not to borrow the Tao.

Wei besieged Zhao, attacked Zhao, and Zhao asked Qi for help. Qi did not directly send troops to help Zhao, but surrounded the capital of Wei, and Wei Jun had to retreat to protect himself.

On paper, Qin has been attacking Zhao for a long time, because Lian Po, a veteran, defended the array. Qin pretended that he was old and useless, while Zhao Kuo was young and capable, so Zhao removed Lian Po and made Zhao Kuo a general. As a result, Zhao Kuo only talked about military affairs, and all his 400,000 soldiers were captured by the State of Qin. Zhaobingkeng is located in Gukou Village, Gaoping County today. Because a large number of skeletons have been unearthed, a skeleton temple tourist attraction has been established.

3. Famous stories and plays

China's plays are often adapted from historical stories or novels, and Shanxi is the birthplace of many historical stories or folk stories.

The Orphan of Zhao tells the story that Zhao Shuo, a loyal minister of the State of Jin, was framed by treacherous court official Tu'an Gu and his whole family was killed. Only his son survived, because the son of Zhao's loyal servant was killed. Wu Zhao, who escaped, was raised by Cheng Ying, lived in seclusion in Zangshan, Yuxian for fifteen years, and then came out to take revenge and killed Tu'an Gu. This story has been adapted into various scripts (Orphan of Zhao or Orphan of Tuo) and even translated into Western European languages. This western drama is also staged on Broadway in modern America. It is compared to Shakespeare's Revenge of the Prince. Today, many mountainous areas in Shanxi still have names such as "Tibetan orphan platform", which is considered to be the hiding place of Zhao orphans.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, county representatives fought against Liao and spread a series of stories, many of which were adapted into famous dramas, such as Mu, Shiro Visiting Mother and She Taijun with White Hair. Mukezhai is located in Muge Village, Daixian County, Wutai Mountain (transformed from Muke, the stockade is on Nanshan beam of Muge Village, and the site exists today). Mu laid the Tianmen array in the Jinlong Gorge of Hunyuan. In Taihuai Town, Wutai, there are Wulang Temple (where Yang Wulang became a monk) and Laoyang Gongling Yiguan Tomb (near Jiulonggang).

Yongji has the West Wing "Pujiu Temple". Zhang Sheng climbed over the apricot wall and entered Yingying's boudoir. Now the building is still there, the ancient apricot tree has withered, and the new apricot tree is still standing. There is a passbook drama "Copying Red", and the episode "Full Moon Flower" in the movie "The West Chamber" has been sung so far.

The famous drama "Yutangchun" originated from Hongdong, and "There are no good people in Hongdong County" in "Su San Qi Jie" scolded 100,000 people in Hongdong. Now the busybody is standing on the edge of the big locust tree in the north of the city. In the Ming Dynasty, the county prison was rebuilt and opened as a tourist attraction.

Xue, a native of Xiucun Village, Hejin County, has made outstanding contributions to military politics with Emperor Taizong and Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. Novels include Xue Dongzheng, Xue Dingshan's Western Expedition and Xue Gang's Anti-Tang Dynasty. The former residence "Cold Kiln" is also famous all over the world for Wang Baochuan's eight years of bitter struggle.

The story of a child prodigy "Sima Guang smashed a jar" to save a friend happened in the former residence of Xiaochao Village, Shuitou Town, Xia County.