The history of jade in China can be said to have a long history. From the mixed use of jade in the Paleolithic era to the exquisite jade articles of the Neolithic Age, people's aesthetic consciousness of jade was gradually improved. At that time, people converted jade into gods and worshipped them. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ornamental function of jade articles was valued by people, and its aesthetic value gradually concealed social values. After the Han Dynasty, the function of jade was mainly based on viewing. In such a long evolution of jade culture, people used jade to compare everything to the ultimate "beauty." Jade is a comparison of good things such as wealth, virtue, knowledge, appearance, and faith. The rich cultural connotation reflected by jade can be confirmed from the language.
In the Chinese Dictionary, there are as many as 1268 words and phrases with jade as the root. I am afraid that none of the same root words in Chinese vocabulary can be compared with it. In such vast jade words, the words related to women are the majority, accounting for about one tenth of the total. Why do people especially like to use jade as a comparison when describing women? What reflects the aesthetic psychology of people? What kind of relationship does jade have with women's beauty? This article tries to analyze from the cultural point of view.
(1) Lihua Xiuyu, Han female Jiao Zhuyan
"Lihua Xiuyu, Han female Jiao Zhuyan", this poem is a good sentence in Li Bai's "Southern Travel", here the "jade" is a metaphor for a woman's beauty. The use of "jade" to symbolize the use of beauty, as early as in the "Book of Songs · National Wind" has recorded: "The son of the other, beautiful as jade, different from the public", "white pure bunch, there are women like jade" and so on. Taking the "Book of Songs" as an opportunity, people have created a large number of vocabulary along the tradition of using Yubi. These words are produced in different eras and reflect the influence in different historical periods. The author tries to analyze the use cases of "Jade" in the records of "Jade", and analyzes the use cases and cultural implications in the various dynasties.
During the Warring States period, Song Yu of Chu State sang in "Fei Fu": "Red Yan, Yu Meiqi, 吟 "Qing Shang", chasing the levy." "Lv's Spring and Autumn Period: Guizhi" records: "Hui Gong was in the second year, and the erotic color was slow and he was a good jade girl." The "Jade" and "Jade Girl" here are all used to represent beautiful women. In the Jin Dynasty, Wang Jia’s "Remaining Records and Post-Han" also has a similar record: "The Emperor of the Emperor took a boat to swim, so that the palace people took it, and the people who chose the jade-colored light body were obsessed and shaken in the canal." It can be seen from these historical materials that the perfect woman who is referred to by the "Jade" seems to be in a state of being admired and played with no dignity and personality.
Of course, there are also verses that simply describe women's beauty with "Jade." The land machine of the Jin Dynasty has a wonderful saying of "Who is the person who cares, and the city is in a bomb." "Long eyebrows and cross-faced jade face, 皓 wrist roll light gauze" is the poem of Liang Daiqiu in the Southern Dynasties. The poetry Li Bai also has a good sentence of "Yu face Yexi female, green moth red powder makeup". The “Yu Rong”, “Yu Face” and “Jade Face” here all describe the woman’s manners and looks beautiful.
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the words that describe women as good as jade appear in large numbers. Such as: "Yu Ren", "Yu Xian", "Yu Yu", "Yu Tong", "Yu Run", "Jade Cheek", "Jade Moth", "Jade Slave", "Jade Furong", "Yu Er ", Yu Zhen", "Yu Jing people." Most of these rich words are produced by the literati. From these poems describing women's appearance, one can feel the aesthetic tendency of ancient times. The standard of the ancients to distinguish jade is summarized in the "Jade Age" of Chen. "The body is like gelatin, the essence of light is rich, the quality is thick and warm, and the sound is loud." In the traditional culture of China, the introverted, gentle, gentle and rigid The woman reaches the realm of beauty. In this way, jade and women are in harmony with each other in the aesthetic essence and aesthetic direction. The long-term accumulation of language fully reflects this thinking.
In the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many words in the opera that looked at the jade. Such as: the Yuan Dynasty Zhang Mingshan's "fog and clouds, Chu Palace waist makeup, is just the "Yu Tianxian" in the Jade Heavenly Immortal"; in the class Weizhi set of "Who is Yuqing? "Yu Qing" in the "Zhu Zhongyuan's set of songs", "Yu-Ji-Juan Juan", "Jade-armed Juan" in the Wang Zhongyuan set of songs; Yu Yuting, Yu Yu, Yu Yu, and Yu Yu all refer to women's beauty. Why are there so many words with jade as the root to refer to beauty? This is related to the aesthetic status and cultural status of jade in Chinese society. In the long historical period, people seem to be able to realize a style of the times, a national habit, a social psychology, and a group temperament in the aesthetic change of jade. As a rich cultural carrier, jade not only reflects people's external behavioral norms and some rules and regulations, but also penetrates deep into people's hearts, affecting people's way of thinking and aesthetic mode. As Yu Yu of the Qing Dynasty said in the "Community of the Qur'an: Erya II": "Between the ancients, those who are beautiful are the words of Yu. The "Jade Food" of "Shangshu" and the "Jade Girl" of "Book of Rites" ', "Yu Jin" of "Yi Li" is also also." "Yu Yu appearance" is an important branch of many jade cultures, Qi Hongming once pointed out: "The female surname of a nation is the nation The flower of civilization is the flower of the country of the civilized country."
Chinese people's recognition or expectation of beauty is gentle and elegant, gentle and leisurely, restrained and implicit. For example, "Shi Shuo Xin Yu Yin Xian" describes the beauty of two women: "Mrs. Wang's feelings are scattered, so there is a forest atmosphere; Gu Jia women's heart and soul, it is a show of the house." And the jade is firm, The warmth of jade color, the hardship of true jade, the delightful beauty of jade, this aesthetic psychology and aesthetic enjoyment, complement the psychological beauty of the beautiful women. Under this kind of aesthetic convergence, there are rich words that compare the beauty of women with jade. This is the positive aspect of our work to see the problem. In fact, the situation of women in ancient Chinese society tells people that so many words with jade are used in women, perhaps reflecting the negative aspects of traditional culture. We try to analyze it from this angle.
(2) Qinglian two-petal opening, Yuxi double-pointed 跷
"The two petals of Qinglian are opened, and the double-pointed jade of the jade" is the verse in the Ming Dynasty jade, "Qingjiang cited. Here, "jade" refers to the little foot of a woman after the foot-binding, which was regarded as the most beautiful at that time. The little feet became an important measure for people in ancient China to examine the beauty of women. In the Tang Dynasty Du Mu's "Socks", there is a verse "The ruler is reduced by four points, and the fiber and jade are wrapped in light clouds." Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from the Liao Zhai • Weaver Girl" also includes: "Invisible painting before the three-inch Lingbo jade The tip of the word. People use a very subtle mind to appreciate this flawless beauty. "Jade hook" and "Jade bow" also mean this meaning. Seen in the episode of Wu Changling in the Yuan Dynasty, "Zheng Zhenghao·Mei Shuo", "The three-inch lining of the enamel skirt, the ten fingers of the spring, such as silver." and Xu Lin of the Ming Dynasty in the "Embroidery of the Emperor": "掀Luo Shuo jade hook, bow shoes skirt lined with double crested heads." Both use "Jade Hook" to reproduce the woman's exquisite and beautiful and beautiful. "Yu Gong" was found in Wang Qilin's "Gusu Competition" in the Qing Dynasty: "To understand the true bead skirt, Lingbo is a pair of jade bows." It can be seen from these historical materials that the small feet have become popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. How is this atmosphere formed?
According to historical records, the first woman's foot-binding was born in the late Tang Dynasty. There was a palace lady in the Litang Palace in the Southern Tang Dynasty. She was good at singing and dancing. Li Wei made a golden lotus flower and let her mother use her feet to make her small and upper, then Dancing on the lotus, the dance is therefore extraordinarily light and elegant. Later scholars believe that the foot-binding has been since then. At the beginning of the birth, the foot-binding is an aesthetic appreciation of the male-to-female light-skinned or slim figure. When this aesthetic becomes mainstream, the foot-binding becomes a custom. Women are entangled, and mothers who want to make their daughters grow into true ladies and marry decent people will be bound to girls from an early age. "Jade Hook", "Yu Yu" and "Yu Gong" are formed in such a large cultural background. From such cultural words, we can explore the great influence this aesthetic tendency has on women. Men worship, enjoy, and sing their little feet as a loving object. In order to obtain approval and favor, the woman is willing to enter the vulgar and endure this persecution of the body. The wind of foot-binding spread throughout the Central Plains. The emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Kangxi, forbidden the Chinese to be bound, was withdrawn a few years later. The Manchu girl soon began to imitate the foot-binding of the Central Plains girl. In the Qing Dynasty, Fang Wei had divided his feet into five categories and eighteen types. A pair of small feet should have the following conditions: fat, soft, show. He said: "Skin is cold, strong is delicate. Folks can not be treated with medicine! So fat is 腴 Run, soft and soft, and the show is elegant. But fat is not meat, soft is not wrapped, show is not, and fat Soft or can be shaped, show but be a god." People use their little feet as a work of art to play and appreciate. The evolution of the foot-binding custom has become a means of restraining women. Scholars and literati vie for appreciation in poetry and poetry. And use "jade" to compare and enhance this beauty.
People not only use "jade" to describe the little feet of women. Women's body, body, voice, smile, and gestures are all given the meaning of jade, used to express people's praise, appreciation and dedication to women. Such as: jade, jade claw (refers to the beauty of women's nails); jade tip, jade finger, jade onion, jade, jade fiber, jade fiber (slim and beautiful fingers); jade muscle, jade soft, jade snow, jade Jade (the clean and delicate skin); jade handle, jade arm, jade (referring to the woman's arm); jade, jade, jade, jade, jade, jade, jade and other jade words, almost All parts of the woman's body can be beautified with "jade". These words comprehensively show the woman's static beauty. There are also many words describing the beauty of women's dynamics. For example, “Yu Ting”, “Yu Zi”, “Yu Ting Ting” and “Jade Spirit” all vividly reproduce the beautiful posture of women. There is also a rich idiom with a jade-like appearance, which uses a variety of jade to compare women to reflect their aesthetic standards. Inner beauty, ice clear jade; external beauty, fairy jade color; concrete beauty, powder makeup jade; abstract beauty, Yaohuan yoga; body beauty, slim; skin beauty, ice muscle jade bone. The beautiful woman is crying, it is the beaded jade; the beautiful and delicate, is the jade soft flower soft, soft jade fragrance, warm fragrance soft jade, Wen Xiangyan jade; the beauty of the voice is the beaded jade; the woman's bright and beautiful, is the ice slip jade The woman who is born in the door is Jinzhiyuye, Qiongzhiyuye; the woman’s unfortunate death is Xiangxiaoyu reduction, Yuxixiangxiao, jade broken pearl sinking, jade burial buried, and Zhu Shenyu.
Jade and women are closely linked by the inextricable links. After a long history of accumulation, a rich jade word was produced. When we use and appreciate these words, on the one hand we have realized people's appreciation of women's beauty, recognition of the value of jade, and people's recognition and approval of the aesthetic value of the two. On the other hand, it also reflects the negative aspects of traditional culture. It exposes the social reality that women's status is extremely low in Chinese society. The concept of patriarchal attitudes in Chinese society has existed since the Yin Dynasty. "Han Feizi" has such a detailed record that "the male is the same, the female is the killer." This killing of the baby girl is popular in the Shang Dynasty. That is to say, the birth of a woman is not good, and it is a matter of course. When the aesthetic standards represented by "Yu Yu", "Jade Hook" and "Yu Gong" went to the other extreme, it has become a slogan for persecution and restraint women.
(3) Conclusion
Liu Datong put forward in the "Ancient Gu Yu": "The opening of the culture of Fu Siwu, the jade is the oldest, and the others are all behind." Many scholars even believe that there is a jade age in Chinese history. The assumption is not yet finalized, but the profound influence of jade culture in China is felt. Just as Dr. Joseph Needham, the great scientist of the United Kingdom, once praised: "The hobby of jade can be said to be one of the characteristics of Chinese culture. Its texture, shape and color have inspired the souls of sculptors, painters and poets for more than 3,000 years. "The rich jade words are born in such a big cultural background." Jade and women come together under the aesthetic convergence of form and spirit. The image of words with jade as the root reflects two aspects of Chinese women's culture. This article will analyze this slightly, from which we can see the rich connotation of Chinese jade culture.