The ancients paid great attention to the etiquette of kneeling, especially a man with backbone, who would not give this gift to others easily. His original intention is that a kneeling person is as precious as gold and will not kneel to others casually.
Many times, a man's bow is also linked to his personality and face. If a man is asked to kneel to others, it is considered to be the greatest humiliation of his personality. People often refuse to kneel on the grounds that only a show can kill and not humiliate. Therefore, kneeling is more important than life. A famous saying does not mean that he would rather die standing than live on his knees, which shows the weight of kneeling.
2. This sentence comes from the lyrics of San Hui Yuan, a Beijing opera. His script was written in the Spring and Autumn Period. He went out for ten years, practiced medicine in Shandong, and met his wife Luo Meiying in Sangyuan when he returned home to visit relatives, but they were strangers. Hu Qiu was blamed for molesting his wife in the garden. When he came home, the truth came out and his wife was angry and sad. Autumn mother ordered Hu Qiu to kneel down with his wife to make amends, but Hu Qiu didn't want to, so she wrote a lyric poem.
On the similarities and differences between Chinese and western kneeling postures;
As the saying goes, men have gold under their knees, which means that men kneel easily without saying anything. However, this is still different at home and abroad.
Traditionally, men's knees in China are very expensive, not to say that men have gold under their knees. However, China men's golden knees can be soft and hard.
You are soft, which means that men must not kneel. In the history of our country, men often kneel, and they kneel voluntarily, sometimes not for a day. On some important occasions, bowing down is a great etiquette. Often, at home, it shows filial piety, while outside, it shows reverence and gratitude.
Worship of religion and heaven is expressed by bowing. For example, in ancient times, when people prayed to God to worship their ancestors, old people and young people often knelt down and prayed for God's blessing, good weather and national peace. Ordinary people pay homage to their ancestors at the end of the year, and they also grow old and young in chronological order, bow down and kowtow to meet their predecessors in the underworld. Life is beautiful.
Folk customs, in some major festivals, bow down is also an indispensable etiquette. For example, in the past, every New Year, the younger generation had to pay New Year greetings to their elders. The highlight is to kneel and kowtow and wish the elders a long life, so as to get a big red envelope. It's not clear whether bowing down to the elders implies praying for God's blessing. In the past, newlyweds had to bow to their ancestors and parents at weddings. The opening ceremony of the official visit to Gaotang on the second day after the wedding also began with bowing down. In the Spring Festival and other important festivals of the Chinese nation, it is also a beautiful scenery for family members to bow down and congratulate. Today, in Southeast Asia, where traditional customs are still maintained, it is still very popular for Chinese to bow to their elders in the New Year. I just saw a news that Yang Ziqiong, a Hong Kong artist, bowed to his parents during the Spring Festival in accordance with Malaysian customs. This example is not very good. She is a woman. However, it can also explain the problem to some extent.
In some officialdom, bowing was a sign of the beginning of a day's work. I think everyone has seen the drama of the Qing Dynasty. Among them, officials go to the morning court every day, starting from kneeling on the ground, which may be similar to our punching in today. If someone wants to play a script, he must kneel down first and then explain it to the queen mother or the emperor. If you can't stand up straight, talk on your knees. Therefore, your knees start working before your mouth moves.
I once read unofficial history's statement that foreign envoys of the Qing Dynasty submitted credentials, and the differences between Chinese and foreign etiquette made etiquette officials very headache, and foreign envoys did not kneel. In order not to offend the Western Empress Dowager, Westernization officials had to lie, saying that foreigners could only kneel and salute. As a result, in the later Boxer Movement, westerners were beaten on the knees, thinking that it was the Achilles heel of foreigners.
There is also a story in modern times. Some people have helped a lot, and the beneficiaries don't know how to thank them, or because words can't express them, or because money can't be repaid, they often kneel down to thank them involuntarily. This is a very heavy etiquette, which often makes the receiver at a loss. Whether it is the person who kneels or the person who is kneeling, it is a shocking scene. If the person kneeling is an old man, the younger generation often dare not accept it, fearing that the ceremony will lead to his death.
When it's hard, it's that men kneel easily without saying anything. In some cases, bowing becomes a sign of punishment or contempt for the weak, which is a heavy way of humiliation. Sometimes, it is even more important to make a person bow down than to kill him.
In the folk, when a family dispute or joint crime occurs, the party who has done something wrong or failed will often kneel down to the successful party to show his mistake and submission; Gangsters fight in the street, and after the outcome is decided, the winner sometimes makes the loser kneel and humiliate the other side to show that he has given up and begged for mercy. At this time, bowing your head, to a certain extent, has the ingredients of mainly and self-blame.
Many times, a man's bow is also linked to his personality and face. If a man is asked to kneel to others, it is considered to be the greatest humiliation of his personality. People often refuse to kneel on the grounds that only a show can kill and not humiliate. Therefore, kneeling is more important than life. A famous saying does not mean that he would rather die standing than live on his knees, which shows the weight of kneeling.
In addition, in the past, in officialdom, officials who committed crimes were not able to sign arrest warrants standing up and then be baked away by the police in handcuffs, as they are today. The plot seen from the movie is that the criminal officer has to kneel down to take the order, remove the ribbon and take it away. Of course, kneeling at this time and kneeling when receiving the imperial edict of promotion have essentially different meanings.
In addition to bowing to heaven, imperial power, elders and others, in the relationship between men and women, men rarely kneel to the woman's half. Perhaps for most men, it is not only a shameful thing to kneel down to a woman as a wife, but also difficult for villains and women to raise. How can they kneel down to them? In the history of China, it is natural for women to kneel to men-it is said that the image of ancient female characters is that women kneel on the tray above their heads, facing their masters, who are mostly men. Of course, there are no examples of men kneeling to women of the same age, but there will not be many. It can be said that in family life, asking men to kneel down is a disguised punishment if it is not teasing and frolicking between husband and wife. It is not often heard that someone who doesn't do what his wife wants should go home and kneel on the washboard.
On the contrary, contrary to China men, Western men don't take bowing so seriously. For them, bowing their heads is just a sign of etiquette, not on the line, not on the face, not even on the height of life. Although western men have a long history of collapse, compared with China men, their knees are not so expensive. Sometimes they take kneeling seriously, and sometimes they don't. So western men can't call it gold under their knees, they can only call it brass.
When they are serious, bowing is a ceremony and a sign of respect.
Western men kneel to religion. In church, when they pray, they sometimes kneel down and pray to God. In countries where politics and religion are integrated, such as some royal families in Europe, bishops often put crowns on the heads of kings or queens at important ceremonies such as enthronement and coronation. The difference is the ceremony. In the Middle Ages, bishops usually sat, and kings knelt before him to receive the crown. There are some changes now. But the king sat, the bishop stood and put the crown on the king's head.
Western men kneel to the royal family. At the handover ceremony of the throne, those who accept the throne should kneel down, and the old king often wears a crown on his successor's head. As seen in the movie, at the royal ceremony, the recipient should kneel down, at least on one leg, and the queen can be promoted from a commoner to a knight with a sword.
Western men kneel to women. In a solemn marriage proposal ceremony, men usually kneel on one leg, holding rings and roses in their hands, and ask women if they want to marry me. I remember many years ago, I watched American movies with Olympic cards, and the moonlight was sultry. Two leading men knelt down to propose to the heroine. Modern people don't pay much attention to this marriage proposal ceremony. However, if a man proposes by kneeling, it will surprise the woman, at least she will think it is a very solemn life commitment.
Although western men often bow on important occasions, sometimes they don't take it seriously. When it's not that serious, bowing has little to do with personality, at least unlike China men, bowing is more important than life, so it can be said that western men have no gold under their knees, and if they have it, it's just brass.
For example, when western men fight, they rarely make the loser kneel to show victory and humiliate the other side. On the one hand, it may come from cultural differences and think that the sense of humiliation of kneeling is not very high and it is not worth doing; On the other hand, it may be that they have self-knowledge. If the losers are made to kneel, they will say that they are not members of the royal family, let alone bishops or gods, and there is no reverence in kneeling; To put it mildly, they don't want to be women and let another man kneel down for them.
In addition, there are not many die-hard loyalists among western men who are car-scrapping and face-saving Many people mainly serve quickly, and often one side will bow its head before playing a few rounds. On the premise of not giving up the fundamental principle, they don't value face as much as China people do. As you often see in movies, when fighting, one side is tough and the other side gives in immediately. It can be speculated that if someone asked them to choose between life and kneeling, they would probably choose to kneel and stay in Qingshan without fear of firewood. Perhaps this is also the influence of humanism. This is why westerners don't pay much attention to being prisoners of war-except traitors and spies, of course, which will lead to the welcome return of American prisoners of war in Iraq. However, this is unthinkable in eastern countries. Historically, it is shameful to be a prisoner for whatever reason. There is a saying that you can't be a prisoner in Japan, and there is also a historical tradition that you can't be a prisoner in China, which can be seen from the example of volunteer prisoners of war in the Korean War.
I don't know whether gold or brass is better under a person's knee. In addition to national and commercial affairs, in family affairs and daily life, sometimes owning gold will make people live very tired, but owning brass is easier to get rid of. As a matter of fact, there is an old saying in China that taking a step back and broadening the horizon will have the same effect to some extent.