The grass in the south of the Yangtze River has not withered in autumn.
On the moonlit night of Bridge 24,
Where does Jade Man teach oral sex?
This poem is from Du Mu, a great poet in the late Tang Dynasty, to Han Chuo, the magistrate of Yangzhou. It can be said that among all the poems praising Yangzhou, this one is the most popular and household name. Especially the last two sentences, became the classic badge of Yangzhou's beautiful scenery. In fact, it is from these two poems that many people get to know Twenty-four Bridges, Slender West Lake and then Yangzhou. However, who knows that Du Mu's poem, which is almost a swan song, left a mystery for later generations: What does the twenty-four bridges mean? Where is it located? With the passage of time, like many things in the world, in fact, the 24 th Bridge has been lost in the depths of historical clouds. Nowadays, to explore its origin, we can only rely on various written records. In the poems about Yangzhou left by the past dynasties, the image of Twenty-four Bridges appears frequently, among which there are naturally different views on its recording and understanding. Looking around, it's like Yangzhou in spring. Carefully combing these words hidden in paper photo albums can be roughly summarized as follows:
A bridge said. The most powerful evidence is Jiang Kui, a Taoist priest in Baishi, who famously wrote, "Yangzhou is a famous city with a slow mind": "Twenty-four bridges are still there, but Leng Yue is silent. After reading the red medicine by the bridge, you will know who to live for every year! " Appreciating the artistic conception between the lines is undoubtedly a bridge. The Twenty-four Bridges described by other poets in the Song Dynasty, which lived with Taoist Baishi, can also be considered as a bridge. For example, Han Qi: "Twenty-four bridges are full of willows, and the spring breeze is full of pearls"; Zhao Gongyu: "The bridge is in the great cause and has fallen today"; Wu Wenying: "Twenty-four Bridges North and South, Luocun powder", and so on.
Tan Qian, a historian in the early Qing Dynasty, recorded his visit to the Twenty-four Bridges in his diary Travel Notes to the North, and wrote a poem for this purpose: "The setting sun road is connected with wheels and hooves, and the bright moon helps the west." The footbridge on the bridge is launched, and the flowers are still blaming themselves. " It is not difficult to see that he regards the Twenty-four Bridge as a bridge. Wu Qi, a poet in Qing Dynasty, is the author of Yangzhou Painting Boat and Wang, the author of Yangzhou Visiting Victory in the Republic of China. Wu Qi said in the Preface to Yangzhou Advocacy: "There is a small bridge in West China Erli, and Zhu Lanbi (adding a word" tile "under the word" autumn ") is called Fireworks jathyapple, which is said to be the former site of the Twenty-four Bridges, hence the name." In his masterpiece "The 15th Volume of Yangzhou Painting Boat", Li Dou thinks that Wu Qi's "theory of beauty" is covered by the attached poems. He thought, "The Twenty-four Bridge, the Wu Jia Brick Bridge, is a red medicine bridge behind Xichuntai." No matter which bridge the Twenty-four Bridges refer to, they all have one thing in common. In their works, the Twenty-four Bridges all appear as a bridge.
In addition, there is a story about the origin of the Twenty-four Bridges in Yang Di Yan Shi compiled by Qidong Savage in Ming Dynasty: Yang Di and Hou Yaozong went to a newly-built stone bridge to enjoy the moon, and Hou Yaozong asked, "What's the name of this bridge?" "There is no name," said Yang-ti. Hou Yaozong said, "Since I don't have a name, why don't your majesty name him for today's situation and keep it as a story for the next day?" "That makes sense," said Yang-ti. He bowed his head and thought for a moment, then counted around and said, "The scenery is won by people, so there are seven sages and five old halls, all of which are famous for their numbers. My royal wife and I have sixteen concubines, including Zhu Guier, Yuanbao, Wu Jiangxian, Xue Zhier, Duo Niang and Tuo Niang. There are twenty-four people here, so it's called twenty-four bridge. Isn't it wonderful? " The crowd rejoiced and said, "What a twenty-four bridge! Explain that your majesty is selfless and has no intention of forgetting each other. " Twenty-four Bridges got its name from this. Of course, this is what the novelist said, and its credibility needs to be treated with caution, but we can also know that scholars at that time were generally willing to regard the Twenty-four Bridge as a bridge.
Twenty-four bridges said. This view was first put forward by Shen Kuo in the Northern Song Dynasty. As an outstanding scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo implemented the 24 bridges in Yangzhou one by one with a scientific method and a pragmatic attitude, and recorded the names and geographical locations of the 24 bridges in detail in his masterpiece Meng Qian Bi Tan. However, it was pointed out that there were actually only 23 bridges listed by Shen Kuo, among which Xiama Bridge appeared twice. For a small city, it seems impossible to have two bridges with the same name in different places. In this paper, the two bridges demolished refer to the same bridge. So Shen Kuo's statement is unconvincing, so let's doubt it.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Xiangzhi wrote in The Victory of the Land: "The Sui Dynasty built twenty-four bridges, named after Chengmen Fangcheng. After the establishment of Zhoucheng in Hannah Quinlivan in Han Dynasty, it was distributed in buildings and no bridges were built. The so-called twenty-four bridges are life or death and cannot be tested. "
Number display. Some people think that the 24 th Bridge is the bridge numbered 24 in Yangzhou. The numbered bridge often appears in ancient poems, such as Du Fu's poem "I don't know Nantang Road, but now I know five bridges"; Jiang Kui's poem "Song stopped at Songling Road and looked back at the Fourteenth Bridge of Yanbo" and so on. In the poems about Yangzhou, there are indeed many such examples. For example, Shi Jianwu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, "There are countless spring trips. Remember which bridge in Yangzhou?" Zhang Qiao's "Send an Old Friend to Yangzhou": "The Moon and the Moon Remember to Find the Place, and the City Lock the 15 th Bridge of Dongfeng." Amin poet Lin Zhang wrote: "I wonder which bridge of Qinhuai River will send Yangzhou tonight?" Yao, a friend of Wang, one of the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty, also wrote a poem "Remember Yangzhou Guo and find which bridge is king". This statement is just a speculation. Perhaps there was a practice of numbering bridges in Yangzhou at that time, but direct evidence is needed to say that Bridge No.24 is a bridge No.24.
Generally speaking. In the ancient culture of China, there were some common usages of numbers with empty meaning and general meaning, such as "three lives are lucky", "it is better to build a seven-level pagoda to save a life", "nine-story platform starts from the foundation soil", "three hundred and sixty lines", "seventy-two changes" and "three thousand weak waters". The figures here are not accurate. So the twenty-four bridges are also used to refer to the number of bridges in Yangzhou? It can only be said that it is possible, and there is no direct and conclusive evidence like number theory. It's just that someone provided an obscure circumstantial evidence on the grounds that Du Muhao entered poetry with numbers. Indeed, specific figures appear in many of Du Mu's poems, such as "Jiang Nanchun Jueju": "Four hundred and eighty halls in the Southern Dynasties, how many towers are misty and rainy." Village Swallow: "Han Guan 145, put more bead curtains and close the windows." "Luo Zhong sent Chu Shi to Dongdu": "Han Yan in 400 years, Zhou Zong in 30 generations; 23 Li blocked, 89 high. ..... ",etc., are general statements and approximate figures, and it is very likely that Yangzhou 24 Bridge will be the same.
The above statement is self-evident, and no one can overwhelm the persuasiveness of the other side, and no one can overthrow the other side's point of view, so the mystery of the Twenty-four Bridges has not been determined. However, the unresolved suspense of life experience does not affect people's imagination of the Twenty-four Bridges, including Mr. Feng Zikai, a master of modern prose. Mr. Feng described this in his article "Yangzhou Dream" because he taught his son to read "Yangzhou Slow". "I miss the past and I am fascinated by the ancient Weiyang resort. I miss the fireworks in March and the spring breeze ten miles away. When I read the sentence "Twenty-four Bridges are still there", I suddenly made a heart-warming visit to Yangzhou, whose name I had heard for a long time. After arriving in Yangzhou, Mr. Feng decided to visit the famous Twenty-four Bridges: "I hope these Twenty-four Bridges can satisfy my homesickness. "Look at their visit:
Go to the street to rent a car and say "to the twenty-fourth bridge", but the young driver doesn't know and shakes his head. An elderly man said he knew, but he advised us, "This place is far away and desolate. What are you going to do? " I can't say "to pay a New Year call", so I have to lie and say "to see my friends". The man smiled and said, "There are not many people there!" Embarrassed, I replied hesitantly, "To tell the truth, we just want to see the bridge." The drivers all laughed. At this time, an old man walked out of the shop next to him and smiled and said to the driver, "Take them away. They are outside the west gate. They came to see this small bridge. " He turned to me and said, "This bridge used to be famous, but now it is desolate, and there is nothing nearby." I think the old man has read Tang poetry and knows Moonlight on the Twenty-four Bridges. His smile was very special and he mumbled, "These fools!" "
After walking for more than half an hour, the car stopped in the middle of the field and straddled a small bridge on a ditch-shaped river. The drivers all said, "Here we are, this is Bridge 24." When we got off the bus, everyone expressed disappointment except "Ouch!" Nothing else. As soon as I finished singing, I took out my camera and prepared for photography. The driver saw it and said in vain, "I'm here to take pictures." "Want to build a bridge?" "Want to talk?" If I don't forgive myself, I will pretend to be an engineer, which will save me trouble. The driver went to the shade to have a rest and smoke. I'm a little uneasy: is this small bridge a twenty-four bridge after all? In order to find out the truth, I ran to a farmer who was working in a nearby field and asked him, "Comrade, what bridge is this?" He replied, "Twenty-four bridges." I didn't trust myself. I ran to the door of a small house by the bridge and saw an old woman with a white head sitting doing needlework. I asked again, "Excuse me, old woman, what bridge is this?" The old woman simply said, "Bridge 24." That's reassuring. We'll take pictures of Bridge 24. When the bridge dried up, the narrowest part was only seven or eight feet. A new one came across and said, "Leng Yue is silent", which made everyone feel heartbroken.
I'm afraid there are not a few people who are "disappointed" like Mr. Feng Zikai. But perhaps Du Mu's poems are too beautiful and moving, or perhaps the scenery in Yangzhou is too beautiful and elegant, and many people are willing to come all the way here to be "disappointed". Academic disputes and lawsuits can't be ended, but the Twenty-four Bridges are a rich gift of history and culture after all. Today, people have the responsibility to restore them and let more people share them. 1986, the state and local governments allocated 2.46 million yuan. According to the record of Yangzhou Painting Boat, the famous Yangzhou painter Yao Yuan's Eight Scenes on the River, Spring Moon, Ganlong Southern Tour Ceremony and other related historical materials, the restoration scheme was designed in combination with the current situation of topography. Covering an area of about 7 hectares, the scenic spot is a group of classical garden buildings, including the newly-built Twenty-four Bridges, Linglong Flower Border, Xichuntai, Cross Pavilion, Double-eaved Pavilion and Jiuqu Bridge, as well as the later-built Wangchunlou, Trestle and Jingxiang Bookstore. Its layout is tortuous and its structure is spacious and relaxed. The turning point is a landscape painting, which not only blends with the surrounding scenery of Slender West Lake, but also becomes a scenic spot of "Ganlong Water Tour Line". The promenade on both sides of the lake extends along the cloud wall, and the land and water are parallel. The whole scenic spot plays a connecting role in the artistic conception of "two embankments with flowers and willows all by water and mountains all the way". As the focus of the scenic spot, the 24 th Bridge is a single arch stone bridge, 24 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, with 24 steps up and down, surrounded by 24 white jade railings, and carved clouds and moons on the railing. I don't see the name of Bridge 24, but it coincides with the meaning of "24" everywhere. There are two flower stands on both sides of the waterfront pier, with flowers planted on them, which are unbeaten in four seasons. The whole bridge deliberately creates the artistic conception of clouds, water, flowers and moon everywhere. On the east side of the arch bridge is a curved beam bridge, with two rows of stone benches on both sides of the beam bridge and a pavilion at the top of the bridge-flute pavilion, full moon night, moon in bridge opening, moonlight in the sky and moon shadow in the water. If there are women playing the flute here, wouldn't it be a reappearance of Du Mu's fairyland of "Twenty-four Bridges on the Moon Night, where can jade people teach to play the flute"? Undoubtedly, compared with the "Twenty-four Bridges" seen by Mr. Feng Zikai, the new Twenty-four Bridges with such high configuration are a sky and an underground. If the old man Baishi can set out from Jiuquan, he will definitely give a sigh of "Du reward, it is not surprising that today is heavy".
Corresponding to the dispute of twenty-four bridges, the new twenty-four bridges correspond to twenty-four places. Such a clever idea should be said to be a compromise. After all, literally, it seems that the name Twenty-four Bridges can hardly be separated from the number Twenty-four. Even if it has been concluded in academic circles that the twenty-four bridges are twenty-four, not one bridge or anything else, it is impossible to build large buildings and twenty-four bridges in the Slender West Lake-Shugang Scenic Area, with thinness as the beauty. Therefore, it is an appropriate choice to endow this new bridge with many twenty-four bridges and let it carry the profound and complex cultural connotation of the twenty-four bridges.
The dispute over place names has existed since ancient times. Another famous poem by Du Mu, Xinghua Village, said: "It rains a lot during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " It has caused people to argue about where the "Xinghua Village" is. Some people say it's in Fenyang, Shanxi, Guichi, Anhui and Fengxian, Jiangsu. Some people say it's totally fake. The argument lasted for many years and was inconclusive. Although literati and scholars have been engaged in a pen and ink lawsuit for more than a thousand years, it has been carried out in a gentle and calm atmosphere from beginning to end. As for the dispute over place names, other places are not so elegant and quiet. A few years ago, there were heated debates and debates in several places in China about where Chibi was and where Zhuge Liang's "ploughing" was. Several places have organized teams of experts to go to court one after another, but the exchange of pen and ink is not enough. Some even use administrative power, and some even add fists and feet. Despite the big fight, it is not a rigorous academic attitude to return the historical truth, but to win a piece of tourism and cultural resources for the local area. "Culture sets the stage, economy plays the opera". The drunkard's intention is not to drink, but to care about economy and tourism. Exploring the unknown and revealing the truth is a primitive motive force for people to engage in academic activities, but once utilitarian factors are injected into it, academics will easily deteriorate and scholars' professional ethics and conscience will be in danger of going astray. Fortunately, the dispute over the Twenty-four Bridges did not fall into this stereotype, which seems to be related to Yangzhou's weak tendency and lack of legendary soil.
With the prosperity of tourism in recent years, the reputation of Twenty-four Bridges has spread far and wide, and tourists are coming in an endless stream. The publicity and promotion of the park management department has also increased. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, in cooperation with CCTV, a grand "Tianya * * * at this time" large-scale literary evening was held in the 24 th Bridge Scenic Area. The whole scenic spot has become a huge stage, with moonlight in the sky, colorful ground and sparkling lake. Here and now, the world is intoxicated with this scene. The program was broadcast live by TV stations in Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province, Hongkong and Singapore. Whether it is a new friend or an old friend, I believe that tens of thousands of viewers will appreciate the gentle charm of the 24 th Bridge; But at the same time, it can be believed that among these tens of thousands of people, there are certainly very few people who understand and pay attention to the mystery of the Twenty-four Bridges. The new 24 th Bridge is so similar to the "24 th Bridge", and the surrounding scenery is so in line with the artistic conception in the poem. I am afraid that tourists from all over the world will not stubbornly or pedantically "visit here" in order to deliberately pursue a so-called truth. Aside from these arguments in the study, as an ordinary tourist, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery around you, such as "Wan Jing suspected embroidered paintings, Qian Shan became richer with Zhao Hui Claire", and think about the beautiful artistic conception of "Twenty-four bridges on a moonlit night, jade people teach flute". This is the "Twenty-four Bridges" in the minds of many tourists. Why should we care whether it is "true" or "false", whether it is a bridge, a twenty-four bridge or something else? As Wei Yuan, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said, "When smoke and water are divided into one person, the twenty-four bridges are full of spring scenery. Pu Wei suspects rain, but who knows that the lake fog is swimming dust? " Sometimes, people would rather trust their eyes than their ears.
Therefore, with the passage of time, I am afraid that more and more people will agree with the 24 th Bridge in the 24 th Bridge Scenic Area. After a few years, perhaps the question of where the Twenty-four Bridges are located will be forced to retire to the depths of the study, only occasionally someone will turn up from the corner of the page and give a groan or two, that's all.