Since ancient times, there has been a game of fighting against hundreds of grasses, also known as fighting against grass and flowers. The origin is very early. A poem by Liu Yuxi of the Tang Dynasty includes "If the king of Wu fights with hundreds of herbs, it is better to owe Xi Shi". It says that at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Wu and Xi Shi were already playing with herbs in the palace.
This is also recorded in "Zhongwu Jiwen" written by Gong Mingzhi of the Song Dynasty. The King of Wu, referring to Fu Chai, had his capital in Wu (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). During his prime, he fought for the dominant position among the kings. The Yue people fought with them and were defeated repeatedly, and their capital, Kuaiji, was also captured. Legend has it that Gou Jian, the king of Yue, ordered Fan Li to find the beautiful woman Xi Shi and give it to Fu Chai, the king of Wu, in order to take revenge. After Fu Cha obtained Xi Shi, he specially built the Guanwa Palace on Yanshi Mountain (today's Xilingyan Mountain in Suzhou City) to the west of the capital, and he and Xi Shi had fun in the palace all day long. As a result, the imperial court was gradually abandoned, and the national power was empty, and was eventually destroyed by the King of Yue. The play of grass fighting was already practiced in the Zhou Dynasty, and "The Book of Songs·Zhou Nan·Fu Tong" may be used as circumstantial evidence. Zhai Hao of the Qing Dynasty said in Volume 30 of "Popular Edition" "Fighting with Hundreds of Grasses": "Shen Gong's "Shi Shuo" uses "芣苢" as the words for children's grass fighting and ballads, so this play already existed in the early Zhou Dynasty." Shen Pei, a native of Lu in the Han Dynasty, formed his own school of interpretation of the Book of Songs, and was known as "Lu Poetry". However, the "early Zhou Dynasty" mentioned here is slightly incorrect. Most people today believe that "Zhou Nan" was probably written between the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The whole poem of "裊苢" is as follows:
Collect the 芣苢 and pick it up in thin words.
It’s easy to pick up the grass and brush it off with thin words.
It’s easy to pick and choose, but I can’t explain it in words.
Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai and Cai Cai Cai Cai Cai did not say anything.
It’s easy to pick and choose, but to say nothing about it.
Plantain is the root of the plant. The most popular way of playing grass fighting games and the one most commonly used by children is to compare the toughness of the grass. The specific method of playing is to make two grasses (or flower stems) cross each other, and the two people each pinch the two ends of the grass and pull hard until one grass is pulled off. The side with continuous grass wins. Plantain is a good material for playing with grass, and it remains so to this day. Shen Pei's "Shi Shuo" says: ""Fuyou" is a poem about children playing and playing with grass." There are many differences in the interpretation of this poet. The Shen family is not a family, and it is for reference only. Shen Pei's "Shi Shuo" is the first introduction to "fighting with grass" and explains that until the Han Dynasty, fighting with grass was also a game that children loved to play. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, fighting with grass had evolved into a festival custom in the south. "Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, in addition to eating rice dumplings, drinking realgar wine, and holding dragon boat races, Han people also form the custom of playing with herb.
The reason why the show of fighting with herb is so popular at this time is because of the ancient custom that May is the evil month and the poisonous month, and you must collect hundreds of herbs to relieve troubles and tide over the difficulties. The herbs include mugwort, calamus, etc., which can be made into human shapes and nailed to the door to remove poisonous gases; five-color ropes can be hung on them. Children's necks, arms, etc. can be protected from disasters for a hundred years, so they are called "hundred-year-old ropes". They were originally made of herbs, but were later painted. These activities are not completely superstitious, but also have certain scientific reasons. For example, mugwort, also known as mugwort, mugwort, mugwort, and mugwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family. It can be used as medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. It has a warm nature and a bitter taste, and its function is to remove cold and dampness. Dried and burned, it can repel mosquitoes and flies. Its leaves are processed like velvet and are called "moxa velvet", which is used as acupuncture material. In the south, at the beginning of May, it is midsummer, and it is rainy and humid. Bacteria multiply quickly, making it easy to get sick and hang. Placing moxa leaves and calamus in front of the door can help drive away evil spirits and eliminate viruses. In this way, people go to the countryside to collect herbs. During this activity, the entertainment-style grass fighting game will naturally occur and become popular. Therefore, "Shijiyuan" says: "Competing to collect hundreds of herbs, it is said that hundreds of herbs are used to eliminate poisonous gases. In the old days, there was a scene of fighting with grass." "Quite reasonable. Hundreds of flowers are blooming in the courtyard, and the orioles are singing and the swallows are dancing in their hometown. I don't like drinking and playing guessing games, and I will spend my time fighting grass.
"Four Seasons Suitable Taboos" by Ming Zhaiyou: "Jingchu Ji" Said: On the third day of the third lunar month, there was a grass-fighting show among the people. Gao Qi's poem "Fighting Grass" said: "Pick them all over the grass and spread them across the winding sills in the east." ? According to the second volume of "Qing Yilu", Liu Yuan, the queen of the Southern Han Dynasty, ordered the palace maids to play flower fighting in the late spring. The gameplay was to open the back garden every morning. Go to the garden to pick flowers and plants. After a while, the queen ordered them to return to the palace at the same time and lock the garden gate. After breakfast, the ladies gathered in the palace to compare the number of flowers and plants they picked. The losers were punished each day. The gates were guarded by eunuchs, and the maids had to be searched and their names checked when entering and leaving. The legal system was so strict that the later master Liu Yuan was called "Hua Ban" at that time. According to historical records, when he was in power, the government was corrupt and the eunuchs were monopolizing their power. He only did this. In the fourth year of the emperor's reign, Song soldiers captured the capital Panyu (today's Guangzhou, Guangdong) and surrendered.
During the Qing Dynasty, the court painter Jin Tingbiao created a "Sketch of a Group of Infants Fighting", which is now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. This painting is a hanging scroll, showing a group of boys playing in grass and grass among flowers on a lake. The characters are realistic and the colors are bright. On the upper left side of the painting, there is a poem and inscription written by Emperor Qianlong: "Weeping poplars, strange stones and luxuriant grass, red and green baskets are poured out to fight against each other. A child's heart loves business, and the famous saying is that there is a stream of water. Jiashen Summer Imperial Inscription." According to the title We know that this painting was made before the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the 29th year of Qianlong's reign (1764). This painting provides an image of the entire process of children from collecting grass to fighting grass, which is very precious.