"Affection stops at ceremony", also known as "Affection stops at ceremony", is an ancient description of the relationship between men and women. Affection, that is, human emotions are generated between men and women; To stop at the ceremony is to be bound by the etiquette.

This sentence comes from Guanju in the Book of Songs, which describes a young man who can't sleep because he misses a woman. Confucius' student son wrote a biography saying,' It's all about courtesy and righteousness', that is, Confucius advocated' being happy without lewdness'.

。 It's ok to talk about love, but it can't go beyond the boundaries of etiquette. According to the description of poetry, this boundary is mainly aimed at nobles, and women's feelings can't be robbed. The "stop" here does not mean to stop feelings, but means to stop within the scope allowed by the etiquette, and you can't do anything beyond the etiquette because of love.

In fact, the content of Guanju is very simple. It is about a gentleman's pursuit of a lady, and he is upset when he can't get a lady, and he can't sleep over and over again. I am very happy when I get a "lady". I ask people to play music to celebrate and make the "lady" happy.

The identity of the characters in the works is very clear: "Gentleman" is a general term for aristocrats in the era of The Book of Songs, and this "Gentleman" has a considerable position in preparing the music of lyres, harps, bells and drums. I used to interpret this poem as a "folk love song", but I'm afraid it's not right. It should describe the life of the aristocratic class.

It turned out to be a wedding song, which was sung by the man's family to praise the bride and wish a happy marriage. Many ballads in The Book of Songs, National Style, have both general lyrical meaning and entertainment function, and are also practical in etiquette. However, it is not clear what use some poems were originally sent to later generations, so they are only treated as ordinary songs.

Extended information:

The Book of Songs, the earliest collection of poems, is the beginning of China's ancient poems. It collected 311 poems from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (from the 11th century to the 6th century before), of which 6 were Sheng poems, that is, there were only titles but no contents, which were called six Sheng poems (. ?

The author of The Book of Songs is anonymous, and most of them have been unable to be verified. They were collected by Yin Jifu and edited by Confucius. In the pre-Qin period, The Book of Songs was called "The Book of Songs", or it was called "The Book of Songs 3" in whole numbers. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was honored as a Confucian classic, and it was originally called The Book of Songs, which has been used ever since. The Book of Songs is divided into three parts: Feng, Ya and Ode.

Confucius once summarized the purpose of the Book of Songs as "innocence" and educated his disciples to read the Book of Songs as the standard for their statements and actions. Among the pre-Qin philosophers, many people quoted the Book of Songs, such as Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, etc., quoted the sentences in the Book of Songs to enhance their persuasiveness. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, The Book of Songs was regarded as a classic by Confucianism and became one of the Six Classics and Five Classics.

References: The Book of Songs-Baidu Encyclopedia