Spring Festival couplets are a new style derived from China's ancient parallel prose and a traditional literary form of China's poetry. It is different from ancient parallel prose and poetry, and it is a unique independent style. Although the antithetical couplets in regular poems or parallel prose are often wonderful couplets, they can only be called couplets if they exist independently of regular poems or parallel prose. Its most striking feature is that it is paired in form, and the two couplets are "pairs" with each other, and they take care of each other and are closely related in content. The upper and lower couplets must have a complete and unified structure and clear and concise language. The specific requirements are as follows:

First, the number of words in the upper and lower couplets should be equal.

For example: "The Spring Festival is rich every year, good years and peace, and step by step." This pair of Spring Festival couplets has seven words each, and the number of words in the upper and lower couplets is equal, which is the most basic requirement of Spring Festival couplets. But there are other phenomena. 19 16 After the death of Yuan Shikai, the national people rushed to tell each other, rejoicing and dancing. A scholar in Sichuan claimed to go to Beijing to send Yuan Shikai an elegiac couplet. Hearing this, the villagers were surprised and puzzled. They opened the couplet he wrote and read:

Yuan Shikai is eternal.

Long live the people of China

It makes people laugh after reading it. The literati deliberately asked, "What are you laughing at?" An outspoken young man said, "How can the word' Yuan Shikai' in the first part of the League be compared with the word' China people' in the second part?" The scholar laughed at Chi's voice and said, "Yes, Yuan Shikai is sorry for the people of China!" Although this story is about "elegiac couplet", and "elegiac couplet" also belongs to a kind of couplets, which shows that the number of words in the upper and lower couplets must be equal regardless of Spring Festival couplets or other couplets. If not, it can only be a very individual alternative.

Second, the upper and lower conjunctions should be consistent and the part of speech should be consistent.

In other words, the phrases that make up the upper couplet are several words respectively, and the corresponding phrases of the lower couplet must also be several words respectively. The part of speech of upper and lower conjunctions indicates the category nature of words, such as nouns, verbs and adjectives. , should be arranged equally, both identity and relativity. As just listed, "the Spring Festival is rich every year, and the good years are peaceful and step by step." Each couplet consists of three phrases, namely: Spring Festival-Prosperity-Good Year, Good Year-Peace-Good Life. The upper and lower conjunctions are the same. "Xin" and "home" in this pair of Spring Festival couplets are adjectives. Spring, age, wealth and peace are all nouns. Niannian and Bubu are adverbs, and Hao and Gao are verbs. This requirement is mainly to better express the ideological content in symmetrical artistic language.

Third, the top and bottom should be harmonious.

In the expression of couplets, we should pay attention to the relative melody, that is, the tone is even and gentle. This is mainly for the sake of harmonious phonology, scattered ups and downs, and pleasing to the ear. According to legend, Ji Xiaolan once went south to Hangzhou, and a friend gave a banquet to welcome him. During the dinner, the host and guest answered each other. Ji Xiaolan is very witty, and his friends convince him that he is an orphan in the north. Xiaolan disapprovingly said: "Northern talents are all over the Great Wall; Where does the man's words start? " A friend said, "I went to the north a few years ago and brought a couplet. No one can match me." Xiaolan was dubious and asked, "Dude, which sentence did you make the other party unable to answer?" His friend read the first part fluently:

The twin towers are faint, with seven floors in all directions.

Ji Xiaolan laughed after hearing this, and said, "It's because they feel disdainful to answer such a simple sentence that they can't be right!" The friend asked inexplicably, "So, how should the bottom line be right?" Ji Xiaolan blurted out:

Shake hands, five fingers are three long and two short.

After listening to this, this friend not only found the bottom line, but also admired Ji Xiaolan's extraordinary intelligence. This pair of "twin towers" is vague, with seven floors extending in all directions; The couplets with one hand swaying and three long fingers and two short fingers achieve the artistic effect of harmonious sound and rhyme, scattered ups and downs and pleasing to the ear.

Fourth, avoid crossing your hands.

The so-called "crossing hands" means semantic repetition and a waste of pen and ink. For example, the Spring Festival couplets commonly used by merchants in the old days have a word: "Business is booming all over the world, and financial resources are flourishing up to three rivers". This pair of Spring Festival couplets is even and neat, which complements the atmosphere of "Congratulations on getting rich" in firecrackers and is well received by the business community. However, further study will reveal that "connecting the four seas" and "reaching the three rivers" have the same meaning and the semantics are repeated, so the term of couplets is called "fighting". Seven words combined with a * * * only have fourteen words, six of which express the contents of three words, resulting in semantic repetition. Couplets are the most concise style in the article, and it is absolutely not allowed to waste pen and ink. In order to provide more information with fewer words, it is necessary to avoid two conjunctions saying the same meaning. For example, in Spring Festival couplets, using "Zhen Gan Kun", "Shocking the earth", "Normal light" and "Teng Rui Qi" is also a semantic repetition, which belongs to the problem of crossing hands.

Fifth, choose the antithesis of couplets.

Cross-dressing, also known as cross-dressing, cross-linking. Except for elegiac couplets and birthday couplets, most of them should be used. Cross-linking is closely related to the content of couplets. A good horizontal shawl can play a icing on the cake. In other words, crossing is the sublimation of the content of couplets, the theme of couplets and the finishing touch. In writing skills, horizontal style can be divided into three forms:

First, couplets are freehand brushwork, with titles such as "New Year" and "Happy New Year". , and the purpose of posting couplets is to directly call the roll;

Second, couplets are freehand brushwork, and banners are the crowning touch. For example, the banner of "Prosperity in the New Year, Better Life in a Good Year" is "Lucky Star shines high", which reveals that the key to realizing the content of couplets is "Lucky Star shines high", which is the finishing touch; Third, couplets complement each other, such as "reducing the burden and loving the people, the vast east wind often sends warmth;" The horizontal comment of "helping the poor and helping the needy, always caring for the rain and dew, spring rain" is "bright future", which complements the couplets, not only reveals the people's incomparable gratitude to the CPC Central Committee for "always being warm" and "always caring", but also praises the great future and glory of the party. The reverse string is mostly four words. In the past, the cross-linking was written horizontally from right to left. Now it is often written from left to right, and writing from right to left is a formal way of writing. The horizontal shawl should be stuck in the middle of the lintel, and its font should be consistent with the style of the upper and lower couplets, echoing up and down.