It is said that it should be "borrowing a book and returning a book." At first glance, you may not recognize this word, which means "returning things to Zhao". At first glance, you may not recognize this word. When pronounced as "chi", it is interpreted as an ancient pottery wine vessel. There is a record in Zhu Dunru's "After Hearing and Seeing" of the Song Dynasty: "The colorful clothes grabbed the skirt and took it off, and I will change it when I wake up." Let’s talk about an allusion and everyone will understand. In ancient times, there was an allusion about borrowing books and returning them. It means that anyone who collects books is afraid of others borrowing them. If a friend invites you to borrow them, you have to borrow them. Books cannot be borrowed in vain. When you borrow a book, you must pay attention to the book. The host gives a bottle of wine, and the person who returns the book also gives a bottle of wine. This is called "borrowing a book and returning a book." It is to remind the borrower to send some wine to the owner of the book, which is meaningful, and at the same time, this reflects the value of the book.

This proverb spread to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang people changed "chi" to "chi" in their records. For example, Duan Chengshi's "The Continuation of Youyang Zazu" Volume 4: "Today's people say: Borrowing books and returning books is a fool." This means that if you have a book and lend it to others, you are a fool; if you borrow another person's book, you are a fool. It would also be a fool to send it to others. The meaning of this proverb seems to be easier to understand: it is a satire on the common bad habit of borrowing things without returning them. Many people borrow things from others, use them as conveniences, and are reluctant to return them, so they pretend to have forgotten them and take them as their own with peace of mind, even if they don't ask for them. With all due respect, this problem is also serious in the intellectual community, especially when it comes to borrowing books between private individuals. Originally, books were for knowledgeable people, and knowledgeable people should be educated, but this is not the case. Knowledge and education are not the same thing. If you don’t see it, Mr. Kong Yiji stole someone else’s book, because what he stole was " "Books", you can say without shame: "Stealing books is not stealing, but what is done by scholars, can it be called stealing?" As for "borrowing", it is even more trivial. He is busy studying knowledge all day long, so he has no time to be restrained. Borrow and return these sections? Therefore, borrowing books is not normal, but those who borrow and return them are fools. Precisely because the borrowers behave in this way, the book collectors are also cunning and do not lend out the books they have. Whoever borrows his own books If you give it to anyone else, he is a fool. This is the basis for the proverb "Borrowing a book makes you crazy, and returning a book makes you crazy". It is said that Mark Twain had a famous saying: "Never lend books to your friends, because the books on my bookshelf are all borrowed." He also posted a small note on his bookshelf: "Books and my wife will not be lent to anyone." It seems that this trend is not only true in China, but also in the United States. Later, the two proverbs "Borrowing a book and returning it to an idiot" continued to grow in legend, developing from "One Idiot, Two Idiots" to "Four Idiots". Li Kuangyi's "Zi Xia Ji": "Borrowing books: Commonly known as borrowing from one idiot, borrowing from the second idiot, asking for the third idiot, and returning the fourth idiot." It is more detailed and comprehensive: borrowing books from others when you know that others will not borrow them, This is one kind of stupidity; lending the book to someone else knowing that they won't return it, this is the second kind of stupidity; being shameless and asking for it from someone who doesn't return it, this is the third kind of stupidity; being obediently giving it to someone else once they ask for it, this is the fourth kind of stupidity. stupid. Loans, borrows, requests, and repayments all come from him. This actually means that the borrowing behavior of scholars is pedantic, poor, and foolish.

But it needs to be said that throughout the ages, books have been circulated mainly through loans. Modern people mainly rely on libraries to read books. In ancient times, apart from the royal family, there were no libraries. Most people, unless they were rich, could not afford to buy a library. Therefore, reading books mainly relies on loans from friends. Borrowing someone else's book, copying it quickly, and then returning the original copy to others was the most common process for book publishing and dissemination in ancient times. If borrowing and returning books has been tabooed since ancient times, as the above-mentioned proverb says, so that people are ridiculed as fools, then it would be difficult to explain the rapid spread of ancient books among the people, and it would not be consistent with the majority of Chinese scholars' desire to impart knowledge. dedication and friendly character in interpersonal communication. Therefore, although the saying in the Tang Dynasty that "borrowing a book makes you crazy, returning a book makes you crazy" is based on reality, it is not the original meaning of this ancient proverb. Later, people in the Song Dynasty finally discovered its original truth through in-depth research on this ancient proverb. According to the fact that "Chi", "Chi" and "瓻" have the same pronunciation, the so-called "borrowing books and becoming crazy" is a verbal miscommunication of "borrowing books and becoming crazy". "绻", sometimes also written as "鸱", is a kind of wine storage vessel with a big belly and a small mouth. The five-character rhyme of "瓻" in Sun Yi's "Tang Yun" is written under the word "瓻": "wine vessel. The big ones are one stone, and the small ones are one stone." The five buckets are used to hold wine bottles in ancient times. "The word "绻" in "Ji Yun" is also noted: "In ancient times, when borrowing books, you would give a cup of wine when you borrow a book, and you would also give a cup of wine when you return a book." It turns out that the ancients believed in "reciprocity". When borrowing a book from someone, you would bring a bottle of wine as a gift when you go, and a bottle of wine as a thank you gift when you return the book. "also. Huang Shanshangu asked his friend Hu Chao to borrow books and wrote a poem, in which there are two lines: "I would like you to lend me a collection of books, and I will give you a bag of unlocking fish every time." - I want to borrow your book collection, and I will do it when the time comes. I’m sending you a gift of wine, and please open the fish lock on your bookcase (ancient elephant casting, the fish does not close its eyes day and night, symbolizing vigilance, so the lock is often cast in the shape of a fish). He once borrowed a book from someone before going on a far journey. The owner of the book was worried. He wrote a poem and said: "Don't regret borrowing a book for a thousand miles, and return it to you one day." Su Dongpo also knew the ancient ritual of borrowing and returning books. So he also said in the poem: "If you don't hold two owl wine, are you willing to borrow a cart of books?" Qin Shaoyou once learned that his friend was writing a book and wanted to borrow it to read, so he wrote a poem to him: "Zhixu "Chunming" "Records of Retiring to the Chao Dynasty", if you borrow it to watch, you should return it with a piece of paper.

"Su Xiang was a poor scholar. His family was so poor that he only had a few boxes of books left. If he wanted to borrow books from others, he would not have any gifts to give them. His poem "Don't say that he is poor and sick and only has three boxes, but he has borrowed books without a single box." This is what happened to the poet Ai Xingfu, who was also poor. One time, he wanted to borrow books from a retired official in order to collate ancient books, but he was worried that he could not afford the money to borrow and return the books. "Three hogs, I am ashamed to borrow even one owl." Quan Zuwang has a poem "Inscribed on Ping Huazhai Wine Vessels", which says: "Every day I drink nothing, but I still can't finish it, and I leave one 卮 for borrowing books", which means, I can't bear to drink good wine. I drink some every day and don't dare to drink it all. I always keep a cup as a gift for borrowing books.

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