"The Painting of Lotus Pond in the Cool" Jin Tingbiao, Qing Dynasty (Map source network)
The elegant tastes of ancient scholars in the bitter summer
"After half of July, you will be an iron man." This is a popular saying in the Ming Dynasty, which shows how terrible the summer heat was in the eyes of ancient people.
After June of the lunar calendar, the real hot weather is coming. As the saying goes, "The heat is in three volts". The real hot weather is calculated based on the summer solstice and the beginning of autumn. About from the middle of July to the middle of August in the solar calendar, the temperature in all parts of China is the highest. "The summer scenery is just in June. The fire is bright and the burning gas is fierce", which was said by Fan Qin of the State of Wei during the Three Kingdoms Period in his "Summer Fu". "Six dragons are crowing, and the sun is rising three times. I am tired of sleeping, and I look up to the bed with tired curtains. The sweat is flowing in torrents, and the wind is like soup." This is a statement made by Liang Xiaogang in his "Journey to Bitter Heat" in the Southern Dynasty. You see, Helios drives around the sky with six dragons and never stops running; The sweat on my body was like a torrential rain. The sleeping bed was burning like a torch. I looked up in the courtyard hoping that the wind would blow quickly, but unexpectedly, the wind would be as hot as fire even if it came.
The ancients' "fear of summer" is nothing more than the description of Li Yu, a litterateur and dramatist at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. He said in his "Occasional Postscript of Leisure" that such a "terrible summer" said: "If the sky is only three seasons without summer, then the death of people will be rare... Only because of this time, I feel that the human body is unpredictable, and there are often people in the morning and ghosts in the evening." It means that if the sky is only three seasons of spring, autumn and winter without summer, then the death of people must be rare. Just because of this extra summer, people feel that human life is unpredictable. Often in the morning, it is still a living person, but in the evening, it becomes a dead ghost. He also said: "There are only three ups and downs in the first year of life, which are responsible for the loss of spirit, the birth of disease, and the arrival of death." It means that the most difficult stage of the year is only the dog days in summer. Because of energy consumption, the occurrence of disease, and even the arrival of death, it is often due to the three ups and downs of heat. Therefore, Li Yu said, "So the saying goes, 'After half of July, you will be an iron Luohan.' It is not empty."
However, it is this Li Yu who treats the summer heat better than we imagined. Although Li Yu talked about "fearing the summer", he said: "People always choose to have fun in the spring, and give opportunities to have fun in the ninth summer." It means that people have always chosen the time of having fun in the three months of spring, while I choose the ninety days of summer. Why? He explained that in the 90 days of summer, people's spirit is exhausted and their energy is weak, and their strength is difficult to support their bodies. If they do not enjoy themselves in time, they will be tired and tired. People should do things in spring, autumn and winter, and take one summer to maintain their health.
Li Yu can really play cool! His method of "having fun" in the hot summer is beyond our imagination.
One is not to visit each other. "In summer, there are no visitors, and no guests come. The bandits do not have headscarves, and their clothes and shoes are discarded." In summer, I do not go out to visit guests, and no guests come to me, so that I can not only wear headscarves, but also clothes and shoes.
The second is taking a nap in the shade. "Or lying under the pines, the apes and cranes passed without knowing." Lying under the tall pines, even if the apes passed me and the cranes flew over my head, I did not know.
The third is tasting tea and fruits. "Wash the inkstone in the flying spring, try the tea slave to accumulate snow; eat the melon and the melon will grow outdoors, and eat the fruit and the fruit will fall on the tree head." How pleasant! I wash inkstone with flying spring, and make fragrant tea with snow; If you want to eat melon, it grows outside the door. If you want to eat fruit, it falls from the tree.
The most interesting thing is that Li Yu will also go naked into the lotus leaves scattered in the lotus pond and "hide and seek" with his wife and children. For this reason, he said happily, "It can be said that there is great news in the world. People who are good at life are very happy."
(above) The Painting of Relieving Summer (Liu Guandao, Yuan Dynasty) (below) The Painting of Dreaming Butterflies (Liu Guandao, Song Dynasty)
In ancient times, there were many literati who enjoyed themselves in the hot summer like Li Yu. They understood that "it is better to hate summer than to enjoy it" and adjusted their mentality to cope with the hot summer. Their method of summer vacation is similar to that of Li Yu.
As cool as a chill. Bai Juyi's poem "Relieving the Summer Heat" says: "Why do you want to stay in the courtyard to get rid of the summer heat? There is nothing good in front of you, and there is a breeze under the window. The cooling is from the calm of the mind to the empty of the room. At this time, it is more difficult to protect yourself." There are many places to enjoy the cool. From your own courtyard pavilion to the nearby waterside pavilion, you can become a place to enjoy the cool. "It is cool in the evening, and you can open the pavilion and lie in the open room." "There is much cool in the water pavilion, and I came here late with my idle paddles" (Tang Dynasty, Meng Haoran), "On the high-rise buildings for summer", "People rest in the shade of trees" (Tang Dynasty, Yao He), "Countless cicadas are noisy in the sunset, and sitting in the shadow of the peak is cool. I occasionally see the clear water drops by the stone, and smell the fragrance of pine leaves when the wind passes" (Song Dynasty, Xu Ji), "The beautiful scenery of the whole Sichuan is sparse, and the wind is winding around the threshold" (Song Dynasty, Cai Zhen).
Like taking a nap in the afternoon, this is also a great pleasure in summer. "As long as the pillow is in the sun, it is the hometown of mountains, clouds and rivers" (Tang Dynasty, Du Mu), "when the trees are all over the ground in the afternoon, there is a sound of wandering warblers" (Song Dynasty, Su Shunqin).
Another example is eating cold drinks, which is as enjoyable as people today. "It spreads out the placket, and the white fan shakes gently. When the snow hits the ice, it will sink the plum and the floating melon, not a hundred feet high" (Yuan · Liu Bingzhong), "The green apricot garden will cook the wine, and the floating melon will sink the plum and the ice will be cool" (Yuan · Zhang Kejiu).
And of course, reading is the way to relieve the summer heat. "The south window is dreamy, and the bedside scroll is empty" (Song Huihong), "There are thousands of books and hundreds of scholars. Sitting on the moss and spending the summer" (Song Jingwen, Wang).
The ancient literati's method of relieving summer heat in "bitter summer" was all to enjoy themselves in time, place and people, full of the elegant atmosphere of Chinese intellectuals.