Friends, did you know? In ancient China, when you were lifted, people said that you "climbed the immortal gui" and "stepped into the clouds"; If you fall off the list, they will politely say that you are "Sun Shanwai" and "Red Silk".
"Kindergarten Qionglin" has such words, vividly depicting the two different titles of the imperial examination and the list, that is, "Pan Xiangui, Bu Qingyun, all speak of glory; Outside Sun Mountain, red Le Silk, is always nameless. ”
The "climbing immortal cinnamon" in this sentence climbs the laurel tree in the mythical and legendary moon, referring to the imperial examination.
"Bu Qingyun", Qingyun, refers to high-ranking officials and Houlu, and refers to the imperial examination.
"Sun Shan Wai" and "Red Silk" originate from two allusions.
"Pan Xiangui, step Qingyun, all speak of glory; Sun Shan Wai, Red Silk, always nameless" means,
"Panxian Gui" and "Bu Qingyun" are all synonyms for Jinshi and the first, and the glory is developed. "Sun Shanwai" and "Red Silk" are all tactful words that are unknown on the list and have not been examined.
"Sun Shan Wai"
The saying "Sun Shanwai" originates from the allusion of the ancient imperial examination. In the imperial examination, if a person's results do not rank at the top, they will be described as "Sun Shanwai".
Although Sun Shan successfully made the list, his ranking was not prominent. After he returned to his hometown, in the face of the inquiries of his fellow villagers, he skillfully replied with a poem: "The name is everywhere Sun Mountain, and Xian Lang is even outside Sun Mountain." This sentence subtly conveys the regret of those who did not win.
Since then, the idiom "name has fallen to Sun Mountain" has spread to describe people who fail to meet their wishes in examinations or selections. And "Sun Shanwai" has become a vivid commentary on this idiom, vividly depicting those regrets that pass by success.
"Red Silk"
The term "red silk" originally originated from the costumes of the children of the scholars in ancient Chengdu, specifically referring to the belt carefully woven with red silk, narrow and delicate, like a red butterfly dancing lightly on the fingertips.
Lu You mentioned in "Notes on the Old School" that at that time, the children of scholars in Chengdu, regardless of their family background, were all dressed in reed cloth clothes, and the eye-catching red silk was tied around their waists, which became their unique identity.
However, the passage of time has shifted the meaning of the red silk in a subtle way.
In the Song Dynasty, an allusion to an imperial examination gave it a new connotation. The scholar Liu Ji was greatly displeased by his unique literary style, especially his bizarre and dangerous rhetoric.
When Liu Ji's test paper was placed in front of Ouyang Xiu's eyes, Ouyang Xiu recognized this unique style at a glance. In anger, he used a red pen to draw eye-catching horizontal lines on the test papers, erasing all of Liu Ji's articles, jokingly calling them all
"Red Silk".
This incident quickly spread among literati and writers, and "red silk" became synonymous with scribbling or deleting articles with a red pen.
Shen Kuo recorded this history in detail in "Mengxi Writings: Personnel I", so that the story of Hongle Silk has been passed down to this day. Nowadays, when we mention the red silk, we will not only think of the costumes of the children of the ancient Chengdu scholars, but also think of the scholar Liu Ji, who encountered the "red silk" because of his unique literary style, and Ouyang Xiu, who used the red pen as a sword and dared to challenge the literary grotesque.