What's the story behind the peach blossom metaphor of "unlucky" beauty?

In the spring of March, the spring breeze is swaying and peach blossoms are in full bloom. "Trees are as charming as red, and thousands of plants burn in spring." With the arrival of the best flowering period and peak of peach blossom viewing, various peach blossom festivals have been held in various places. Tourists wander in the peach forest, all of them are relaxed and intoxicated.

Charming and beautiful peach blossoms are easily reminiscent of women's beautiful faces. Since ancient times, peach blossom has been commonly used by poets as a metaphor for beauty. The earliest literary creation that combined peach blossoms with women was The Book of Songs: a poem in peach blossoms, Peach Blossoms Fly, Burning Their Flowers, describes the blooming of peach blossoms by contrast, sings the charm of newly married women, and opens a precedent for using peach blossoms to compare beauty.

This literary image has a great influence on later generations. I wonder how many poets often praise this beauty with peach blossoms. The love image of peach blossom originated from Cui Hu's "South Village of Jingcheng" in the Tang Dynasty, expressing a kind of beautiful love that can't be met;

"Last year today, in front of this door, peach blossoms set each other off.

Today, I came here again. I don't know where the girl went. Only the peach blossoms are still there, smiling in full bloom in the spring breeze. "

Of course, ancient poets attached great importance to peach blossom as a beautiful metaphor. Not all peach varieties can be described as beautiful, but it depends on whether there are so-called "peach cheeks" and "peach cymbals".

Li Yu, a writer in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, explained: Generally speaking, peach trees, as ornamental trees, may not bear peaches for people to eat, which cannot meet the needs of both people. Whoever wants peaches to be delicious must graft peach branches to other trees. People don't know that peaches are delicious, but they are good for grafting. Similarly, the color of peach blossoms is not good, and it is not easy to graft. An ungrafted peach tree is extremely delicate and beautiful in color, resembling a beautiful face. The so-called "peach cheeks" and "peach cymbals" both refer to natural ungrafted peach trees.

Today, there are more than 3,000 kinds of peach trees in the world, and China accounts for about 1000. Peach trees are generally divided into ornamental peaches and edible peaches according to the ornamental value of flowers and leaves and the quality of fruits. There were differences on the classification of peach trees in ancient times. For example, the peaches and crimson peaches mentioned by Li Yu at that time did not belong to ornamental peaches, but today they belong to ornamental peaches.

According to Li Yu, peach trees with "peach cheeks" and "peach petals" are not in the scenic spots of famous gardens, but "between country fences, where shepherds and old people live". In the poet's works, I saw the seed of a loving daughter's home in the Peach Blossom Garden. Her white face was flushed with two pieces, white and red, just like two pieces of peach blossoms, which set each other off.

However, Li Yu's pen turned: "Hey! The most attractive color is peach, and the shortest life is peach. This is the saying that' beauty is unlucky'. " It means: the most charming color is peach blossom, and the shortest flowering period is peach blossom, which means peach blossom!

In fact, Li Yu's theory is not original, which has long been the image of many poets expressing youth. For example:

In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian's Gong Ci: "Looking for the residual red on the treetops, a piece of rain flies eastward", thanking the lady for her regret over the color decline with peach blossoms in late spring.

Liu Yuxi's "Nine Poems on Bamboo Branches": "Peach blossoms are everywhere, and the spring water hits the mountain stream. Bonuses are easy to decline, such as Lang Yi, and water is infinite. " It describes that love is sincere at first, but in the end it is like this fragile peach blossom. "

Li He's "Into the Wine": "Love is that teenagers will be dusk, and peach blossoms will fall in red rain." Taking the falling peach blossoms as an apt metaphor, "red rain" has become a metaphor of fleeting youth.

In the Song Dynasty, Lu You sighed, "Peach blossoms fall and the pool is idle. Although there is a mountain alliance, it is difficult to trust the book. " The passionate love between Lu You and Tang Wan is described as sentimental, and there is an indissoluble bond between peach blossom and sadness.

In a Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin in Qing Dynasty, Lin Daiyu, who was alone, felt sad and self-pity when she saw peach blossoms falling everywhere. She wrote "Peach Blossom Walk":' Tears are easy to dry when looking at flowers, and tears are exhausted in spring',' There is no sad song for me, and I don't know when flowers will fall and people will die', and she sang it before the fragrance dissipated.

Spring is in a hurry and there are countless red flowers; No matter how good the spring is, it will eventually pass away; No matter how beautiful the peach blossom is, it will eventually fall apart.

Beauty is like all love and pink. With the fleeting years of youth, the delicate appearance and beautiful love are gone, giving birth to a kind of sadness that beauty is getting older and a kind of vicissitudes of life as time goes by.

In fact, the ancients often compared peach blossoms to the "bad luck" of beauty, which may be related to the characteristics of peach trees.

According to the Chronicle of Wen Zhenheng in Ming Dynasty, "Peach bears fruit early and withers after ten years, so it is called short-lived flower." It is said that peach trees are precocious and can bear fruit in three years, but they will age in six or seven years, and then the branches will become thinner and thinner. It is easy to wither after more than ten years, and its age is not long, and it is even called "short-lived flower". Therefore, the ancients wrote poems that "plums are sour-hearted trees and peach blossoms are short-lived branches".

This metaphor may also be related to the mysterious cultural factors in China's traditional culture. Mysterious culture pays attention to geomantic omen, physiognomy and fortune telling. The eight-character numerology of "peach blossom" and the five senses of "unlucky beauty" are vague and ambiguous. Li Yu said that whenever a woman's face is similar to a peach blossom and the color is indistinguishable, she should regard it as a flower soul, and she can be judged that she is not far from death. But don't say it, lest she be sad. Of course, it is absurd for Li Yu to judge a woman's life and death by her appearance.

In addition, ancient literati followed the literary image of "Peach Blossom = Beauty and Misfortune". Beauty is easy to age and beauty is easy to decline, which has long been the theme of many poems related to peach blossom. "Peach Blossom with a Face" has become a symbol of sadness and pain in the hearts of sentimental literati, thus leaving a painful beauty with endless aftertaste. The common image of "falling red" in literary works has rendered countless sorrows. Once love is compared to peach blossom, there is always a little bitterness behind beauty. Peach blossom is easy to wither, beauty is easy to get old, flowers bloom and fall, and it is natural to regret when spring returns to the earth. Sighing for the misfortune of beauty has become the sad mood of literati. ?

Of course, the women described by the ancients are not all beautiful and unfortunate peach blossom images. There are not only the image of a strong peasant woman and peach blossom, but also those women who are as strong, healthy, beautiful, hardworking and full of life breath as the bride in the Book of Songs. There is also the strong loyalty of peach blossoms, just like Li, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai in Peach Blossom Fan, and Yan Ziqiong, a peach fairy in the mirror.

It should be said that the peach blossom images described by the ancients are rich and varied. Describing beautiful women with peach blossoms not only highlights their beauty, but also symbolizes their fate and future. People and flowers set each other off, and flowers and people blend together, forming a composite literary image of peach blossom and human face. With the changes of the times, this literary image reflects the social and cultural thoughts and cultural pursuits of literati in different times, from the sturdy and healthy reproductive worship in ancient times to the sad and lyrical expression full of strong life consciousness in the Middle Ages, and then to the moral spirit of pursuing self-worth in modern times. These cultural creations of the ancients, like "blazing peach blossoms", fully demonstrated the strong vitality of China traditional culture.