Wei Zi sent a wallet.

Wallet, known as Lotus Bag, is a small bag worn in China's ancient traditional clothing. A load is a load, and a bag is a bag, which is a small bag for holding odds and ends. Wallets have various shapes and strong decoration. Shapes are round (oval), (long) square, wishful shape, peach shape, etc. The patterns on it range from flowers and birds to figures, landscapes and poems.

So-called kits, sachets, sachets, sachets, etc. It's actually a variant of the wallet. Although the purse is small, it is meaningful. In A Dream of Red Mansions, one of the four classical novels in ancient China, money bags are almost everywhere, with rich and profound symbolic significance and cultural connotation.

In A Dream of Red Mansions, this small object, the purse, appears dozens of times, which is closely related to the daily life of the protagonist in the book. It not only has practical function, but also has profound spiritual connotation, and even has formed a unique "purse culture".

The most basic function is to store the daily object "Love is serious, the night is sweet, the day is quiet and the jade is fragrant" (Dream of Red Mansions,No. 19). When Jia Baoyu visited others, the attacker naturally took out the "highest etiquette" to collect "two plum blossom sweet cakes in his purse", and the "sweet cake" mentioned here is a kind of spice. This shows that wallets can hold spices.

In "Baochai uses the fan machine to knock the old officials out of the house" (episode 30 of A Dream of Red Mansions), while Mrs. Wang is taking a nap, Jia Baoyu secretly takes out the "Xiangxue Jin Run Pill" in her purse and gives it to Baochuan. Jia Er-She secretly married You Er Yi You Sanjie, thinking of marrying Liu Erlang (episode 65 of A Dream of Red Mansions). Jia Lian and Second Sister You have a secret song, and the purse became the medium for Jia Lian to strike up a conversation: "I forgot to bring the purse of betel nut, so my sister gave me a bite of betel nut."

Different from modern people, the ancients didn't have all kinds of backpacks, satchels and handbags to choose from, and most of the clothes they wore were fat and wide, so they couldn't hold anything. Therefore, a flexible wallet has become the best choice for storing daily necessities. Wallets can be large or small, from spices, snacks and pills to change, seals and snuff bottles.

And there is a "seal". As soon as the knot is pulled, the bag can be shrunk and sealed, and then hung on the skirt or belt, which is foolproof and convenient to take. Moreover, there is no gender restriction on the use of wallets, which can be used by men, women and children. Because of the different styles, colors and shapes, it will not appear abrupt.

Cultural extension of storage function, carrier of gifts, Lantern Festival banquet in Guorongfu, Ningguo Mansion on New Year's Eve (the 53rd time of Dream of Red Mansions), when Jia Zhen was making arrangements, it was an established and fixed etiquette for the Qing court to send a couplet purse at the end of the year. Here, the wallet is a gift from the royal government.

In the Qing dynasty, whenever there was a festival, the emperor would give his courtiers wallets as usual. It is recorded in "The Collection of Raising Ancient Zhai" that at the end of the year, the prince of Mongolia got a pair of big wallets and a share of all kinds of jade and eight treasures; There are four pairs of small purses, one for gold, silver and eight treasures, one for small purses and four for gold and silver coins.

In addition to the emperor's reward, the purse can also be used as a gift between princes and nobles, relatives and friends. In this chapter, after the sacrifice on New Year's Eve, the grandchildren of each family paid homage to the old lady. After the ceremony, they "scattered lucky money and pocketed gold and silver".

In the eighth episode of Jia Baoyu's The Golden Lock, Xue Baochai's psychic coincidence, her grandmother loved Qin Zhong and gave him "a purse and a bag of Venus". In the 42nd episode of Wu Henglanjun's Xie Yan Xiao Yixiang's son Ya Xie Bu Xiangyu, Granny Liu asked Jia Fu for leave, and Yuanyang was ordered to give her many things, such as clothes the old lady didn't wear, noodles and fruits, various precious pills, and two purses containing the son of "Pen Yuanbao Perfect". Yuan Chungui's Dragon Boat Festival gift, "two yarns per person, two horses and two sachets"; When Jia Baoyu was born in the 62nd episode of Han Xiangyun Drunk Sleeping Peony, Xiangling fell in love with pomegranate skirt, the gifts given to him by Wang Xifeng included "palace embroidered purse, which was buckled on all sides".

Jia Baoyu also took out two pieces of "two-star sinking speed" agarwood and instant incense from his purse when he paid homage to Jinchuan, which jumped into a well and died in vain. There are many such guest appearances of Hebao in the chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions, so I won't list them one by one.

As a carrier of gifts and rewards, the purse represents the blessing and care of the elders to the younger generation or the royal family to the courtiers. The shape of wallet and the appearance of embroidery can reflect different blessing meanings.

For example, lotus, plum blossom and other patterns, meaning gentle and noble quality, can be given to women; Cranes and pine trees symbolize longevity and good luck and can be presented to elders and the elderly; The graphic combination of jujube, peanut, longan and lotus seed is homophonic and can be given to newlyweds. Just "superficial articles" can be so varied. Depending on the content, the specific blessings represented are all-encompassing, which can be described as a "universal" gift-giving choice.

In the chapter in which Lin Daiyu cut the sachet by mistake (Dream of Red MansionsNo. 18), the purse is the "protagonist" of the whole storm. In the plot in front of the book, when the Grand View Garden was completed, Jia Baoyu talked about his talent in Kan Kan, and Jia Zheng gloated and praised him repeatedly. The young master was praised, and the servants below demanded rewards one after another, and even took away all Jia Baoyu's jewelry.

When Lin Daiyu heard about it, she came to have a look. Seeing this scene, she mistakenly thought that the wallet she made by herself was also given to the servant casually. I was very angry in my heart, but I was still angry when I returned to my room. I picked up scissors and cut the sachet I was making for Jia Baoyu.

Jia Baoyu hurriedly explained to stop. In fact, he has been wearing the purse that Lin Daiyu gave him, and he has not been taken away by the page. Knowing that she was wrong, Lin Daiyu "regretted cutting the sachet recklessly and bowed her head and said nothing". After so much trouble and noise, they tried to treat each other sincerely, and they made up again.

In the traditional feudal society, people have no freedom of marriage and love, and pay attention to their parents' orders and matchmakers' words. However, as a token of love, purse is the bud of subconscious awakening of power. Although it is still a subtle expression, it reflects the ancient people's brave pursuit of two of a kind's beautiful love. Especially young women.

Ancient women had almost no right to speak. Taking care of their husbands and educating their children was an established life track, and they had no spiritual space at all. But I can use my established skill "Nvhong" to embroider a purse for my sweetheart, and pass on a thousand words and tenderness to each other through the fineness of one stitch and one thread. Sweet and romantic.

The unspeakable taboo of "not going to the table"

In A Dream of Red Mansions (the seventy-third time), a silly old girl who works as a servant in the Grand View Garden accidentally finds a purse with beautiful patterns, but she didn't know it was a spring flower, let alone a fight between two fairies. I happened to meet Mrs. Xing when I got it, and Wang Shanbao gave it to Mrs. Wang. This has caused a big mess, and the Jia family seems to have fried the pot, which even triggered a storm of copying the Grand View Garden.

Coincidentally, I found the note written by Pan Youan to Si Qi, "Two more sachets have been collected". It was originally a message from unmarried men and women, but it turned into a double suicide tragedy. "Before the collapse of the family, family members began to kill each other." From then on, the Jia family began to go downhill step by step.

The small purse in erotic pictures became the fuse of the tragic conflict that Jia finally disintegrated. In addition, in other chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions, there are descriptions of the purse as a symbol of ambiguity and taboo: Jia Rui has bad intentions towards Wang Xifeng, and when he speaks, he "can't help but look at the purse brought by Feng", and his face is confused. Qiaojie was ill, and Jia Lian went out to escape as the pillar of the family.

Because Jia Lian has always been a playboy, he is merciful everywhere. After he came home, Wang Xifeng was full of jealousy. "It's hard to keep clean these two months, but I still left something thick." Among them, women's personal belongings "sachets" are also included. It is precisely because the leather bag is a private thing to wear next to the body that it has an ambiguous color in the eyes of people with ulterior motives.

Under the background of feudal ethics, everyone talks about physiological discoloration, and there is no normal physiological education at all, but anyone who touches this is regarded as a scourge. In fact, it is very common to embroider spring buns in the folk spring palace, and it can even be said that it is the most reliable resource for the bride or newlyweds who are about to get married before marriage.

However, this kind of "dirty" existence is never acceptable to the respected and arrogant royal family like Jia Fu. It seems that everyone can't prove his innocence and nobility unless he sets foot on it. This is actually a kind of cruelty and sorrow of feudal ethics, and it is a gray tone of the times.

Conclusion Modern society often says that "all diseases are cured", which means that owning luxury bags is the greatest satisfaction in life. There was no concept of luxury bags in ancient society, but there were small pockets everywhere.

In A Dream of Red Mansions, it not only witnessed the unfortunate and unfair experiences of Jin Chuaner and others, but also witnessed the shameless faces of respectable people such as Jia Lian and Jia Rui, and also witnessed the pure love between Baoyu and Daiyu, even the "initiator" who eventually led the Grand View Garden to the end. Although the purse is small, it contains rich cultural connotations. It is not only a necessity for storing daily items, but also has a lot of cultural added value. Reference 1. Dream of Red Mansions II. Guzhai collection.