(Award-winning paper of the 17th China (Yuncheng) Couplet Forum, Couplet School and Couplet Inheritance and Development Seminar)

At the opening ceremony of the 10th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 9th National Congress of the Chinese Writers' Association, state leaders called on the vast number of literary and art workers to work hard to build the literary peak of the era of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Couplet workers, especially creators, as an important member of literary and art workers, should also take climbing the artistic peak of couplets as their own responsibility. To this end, we need to do a lot of work now and for a long time to come. One of the most important points is to stand at the peak of the youth league art, stand on the shoulders of everyone in the youth league and inherit the writing skills of the youth league.

In recent years, with the rise and drive of collecting couplets, many authors take the award-winning couplets as the main imitation objects, and after success, they inspire more people to follow suit, forming a vicious circle and producing a large number of "applicants" couplets. Its main characteristics are: slogan, empty talk, slander, no unique discovery, true feelings and personality expression. This part of the author is compared to Mr Taiping Liu's "mechanical operator". Mr. Liu pointed out that "after the alienation from' literary creation' to' mechanical operation', not only the spirituality of literature will be lost, but also the spiritual value of life will be lost" (preface to Jia Lian 300 Books 20 13). How to get out of the misunderstanding of "rushing to write such cliches as' preaching, preface and going to the river'" (preface to 20 15 Jia Lian 300 Couples)? Mr. Liu believes that "only by inheriting the most wonderful formal skills summarized and used by the masters of couplets in previous dynasties can we push the couplets culture to a higher level worthy of our predecessors" (Preface to China Couplets Collection). The Youth League is such an artistic peak with "the most wonderful formal skills". So, what are the "formal skills" of the Youth League that are worth learning and inheriting? The author thinks that the couplets in Qing Dynasty embody their literary attributes, stylistic features and stylistic advantages to the greatest extent, and modern people should inherit the writing skills of couplets in Qing Dynasty from at least the following three aspects.

First, inherit the clever antithesis of the Qing Federation. Duality is the most essential attribute of couplets and the only stylistic element of couplets. In this respect, it can be said that the United States in the Qing Dynasty highly recognized and consciously followed it, and explored and developed various antithesis techniques, some of which were so skillful that they changed their state (extreme) that they were dazzling and amazing. Take two birthday couplets recorded in "Talk about Couplets" as an example. Huang Bichuan He Xiang was born in Shaanxi, and Lee Guo, the great-grandfather of the satrap, celebrated his 60th birthday. Said: "Philosopher General Li, an elite of 72, locked the key of 102; The history of longevity column, five thousand virtues, eight thousand spring and autumn. " On the seventieth birthday of Yu Yue Li Hehong Zhang, a couplet said: "Yue was born in the Song Dynasty and returned to Daoguang for three years, until the eighth year of Guangxu; Lambs are packed with wine, and the first ten days are over. I wish the elders a thousand years old. " (The couplet in Yu Yue's Spring Festival couplets in the Hall is entitled "Li Shaoquan's 60th Birthday Couplet in Guo Xiang") A pair of figures and a pair of heavy words are extremely ingenious and wonderful. I guess, if you didn't think of a way to get your hands on it, the Qing Dynasty couplets would never be easily made as birthday couplets, otherwise they would be laughed at. On the other hand, the antithetical use of modern couplets mainly has some disadvantages, such as rigidity, relatively broad and single technique. In some couplets, it is difficult to find subtle rhetorical devices such as color pairs, numerical equivalence, self-matching, metonymy pairs, etc., and most of them are "four seas" versus "Millennium" and "splendid" versus "harmony". On the basis of collecting 374 kinds of traditional antithesis, Professor Zhu Chengping of Jinan University summed up 99 kinds of antithesis rhetoric, and couplets in Qing Dynasty almost covered all the techniques of antithesis. But how was it handed down today? Looking at today's antithesis, it seems that there are only a few commonly used methods, and the antithesis techniques commonly used by the Qing Dynasty are almost lost, and few people have used them. The fundamental reason is that quite a few authors have not deeply realized that antithesis is the lifeblood of couplets, the engine of couplets' progress and the stunt that couplets are proud of. To inherit the skills of Violet Pile, it is necessary to open the arsenal of Violet Pile, use all 18 weapons and strive to master everything.

Second, inherit the clever sentence pattern of violet. With the development of couplets in Qing Dynasty, the sentence patterns are rich and colorful. There are regular sentences, scattered sentences, compound sentence, long sentences, short sentences, four sentences, seven sentences and even twenty sentences, all of which have different combinations, forming a colorful modality. For example, Tao Shu wrote Li Anyun of Liyang Academy in Lixian County: "Taiwan meets fireflies, such as Che Wuzi, and is called a scholar; Wash Mo Chi and see how talented Fan Wenqi is. " Two clauses, one with four words and the rhythm of two (or one or two), belong to legal sentences; Binary sentences are eight characters, and the rhythm is 1322, which belongs to prose sentences. It can be seen that the author intends to break free from the shackles of sentences. Another example is Li Xiucheng (talking about Hong Xiuquan): "Get it immediately, treat it immediately, and build the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom between bows, blades and cymbals for hundreds of millions of years, which is clean and healthy; Expedition to the east and the west to save 2 1 province innocent people in from the mire is called benevolence and righteousness. " There are four clauses, the first two of which are four sentences. By using the method of compound words, the third sentence suddenly comes with a prose sentence of 15, and finally ends with four words, which is magnificent and enjoyable to read. On the other hand, it is difficult to see this swaying change in modern couplets arrangement. For example, most of the fifteen words are arranged in four or four, and five-character and seven-character sentences have also been popular. To inherit the skills of incorruptible sentence patterns, we should dare to choose various sentence patterns according to the needs of content, emotional expression and practical suspension, and practice the ability to move freely and handle sentence syntax calmly regardless of the length of couplets.

Third, inherit the diverse techniques of the Youth Federation. The writing techniques of couplets are numerous and meticulous, and there are no complicated and diverse stylistic techniques like couplets, which sometimes even make people feel trivial. In front of us, we have learned the diversity of incorruptible methods from antithesis and sentence patterns. In fact, every pore of the Youth League is saturated with the blood of technology. In order to catch a glimpse of the whole leopard, this paper focuses on the unique expression of couplets-pulling people as a lining. Taking characters as the background is one of the most commonly used techniques in the couplets of figures in Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan brought this technique into full play and achieved perfection. When it comes to pulling people to make linings, some people will first think of the Guandi Temple in Yongji, Shanxi: "First, martial arts are sacred, great men are eternal, and Da Song is eternal; After the announcement, it is holy, one in Shandong and one in Shanxi. " Perhaps it is from this famous couplet that people get the impression that as a foil, the identity, status, achievements and fame of both sides should be equivalent, or at least close. However, the author found that this is not the case after a preliminary study of a large number of masterpieces by famous artists in the Qing Dynasty. Theoretically, according to the philosophical principle that things are generally related, any two (groups) people can compare with each other. The key is to do two things: first, find out the comparison points (same, similar, similar, similar, opposite, related, etc. ); The second is to measure the quantity and pay attention to the words that express the degree and nature. It only needs a little comparison, but it is actually two or more. Investigate the comparison points of figures in Qing Dynasty, such as surnames, first names, characters and numbers. There are land types, such as native place, county hope, official place, burial place, etc. ; Sometimes, such as birth year, death year, death year, year, age, etc. Some things, such as life experience, talent, official position, achievements, etc. Take two elegiac couplets as an example. Zeng Guofan took Liu Songshan's arm and said: "The meritorious service is like Ma Fubo, and the bone belongs to Wan Li; Jingcheng is worse than Yue Zhongwu, two years younger than him. " In the first part of the league, Liu and Ma were compared in occupation (soldier, comrade), meritorious service (security riot, same or similar) and cause of death (killed in battle, same). The second part compares Liu and Yue Fei from the aspects of occupation (soldier, fellow soldier), character (loyalty, fellow soldier) and death (Yue is 39 years old and Liu is 37 years old, similar). Huang Daorang took Tachibu to the cloud: "Looking back more than 700 miles, Tanzhou is more agile in the eighth day and more agile in the fifth day. What is the pride of frogs? They fly strangely, both in ancient and modern times. The 39-year-old general lost his family in Yue and his family in Lu, but Gong Rong died well, which allowed him to see the favor and was ashamed to kill Song Ming and Si Ling. " Compared with Yue Fei and Lu Xiangsheng, the All-China Federation general Tahib mainly has the following seven points: occupation (soldier, same); Personality (brave, loyal, the same); 39 years old, same; Posthumous title (Yue and Ta Shu are loyal to Wu, the same); Battlefield (Yuetan House, Ta Xiangtan; The same or similar); The meritorious military service (quelling the chaos, Yue and Lu resisted; The same or similar); Cause of death (Yue and Lu died in private, Ta died in public, the same or the opposite). Comparing Emperor Xianfeng with Huaizong in Ming Taizu, there are two main points: attitude (Xianfeng's kindness to the tower, the death of Yue, and Huaizong's pity for Lu, just the opposite); Name of Mausoleum (Emperor Gaozong is the Yongling in Shaoxing, while Emperor Huaizong is the Ming Tombs, the same below). The identity, status, achievements and fame of the two elegiac couplets cannot be completely compared, and it is very reluctant to say that they are close. However, when finding the comparison point, there are adverbs such as "slightly" and "poor" that show appropriate limits, which makes people feel flattered. On the other hand, people's couplets nowadays, whether they are heroes of the Anti-Japanese War or elegiac couplets of contemporary celebrities, are mostly positive compliments, and people are rarely seen as a foil, which is monotonous. If we can bring one or two weapons similar to pulling people from the treasure house of Qing techniques as linings, we can change the face of stereotyped characters and lack of individuality.

In recent years, the author regards Wu Gongheng's couplets as treasures, takes Zeng's ancestor Zeng as a teacher, and is determined to carry forward the ancestral work of couplet culture. Under the trend that the advertising flavor of the award-winning joint of the joint altar is getting stronger and stronger, and the old routines are becoming more and more indiscriminate, the author tries to get rid of the common disadvantages of the cliches and slogans of "applicant style" and "veteran cadre style" and try to avoid the flashy and trite flavor that may appear in "high imitation style", so as to walk out of a new road of joint creation without advertising and personalized application and initially form his own style. Of course, the author is always on the road to inherit the brushwork of the Qing Dynasty and climb the peak of couplet art. Whether I apply or not, the author will regard "violet flavor" as the unswerving artistic pursuit of couplet creation and never stop.

"Oriental Sun City", Ceng Laoshi wrote such couplets as Sun Temple.