So, how to "sit" is called "sitting in a sitting position"?
Data-filtered="filtered "East Han stone relief" Lecture Map ",in which the characters are seated.
"Sit still" —— The most appropriate sitting posture in ancient times
The ancient "sitting" is different from the modern "sitting". Before Qin and Han Dynasties, the concept of "sitting" was relatively broad, and "sitting", "sitting", "kneeling" and "worshiping" all belonged to the category of sitting, which was the most polite sitting posture at that time. "Sit", also known as "sit", "sit" and "kneel", refers to this sitting method.
Sitting is the most decent sitting posture in the early days, that is, sitting on the ground with your knees, your legs flat on the ground and your hips attached to your heels. According to textual research, Taiping's special posture of "corpse sitting" originated from the gods' offering sacrifices is an authoritative posture. At that time, nobles or people with status were sitting in public places.
The same sitting posture also has different "sitting postures". The theory of sitting posture was called "sitting capacity" by the ancients, and it is an integral part of "containing classics". Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty wrote a chapter on Jing Rong in his new book, in which "Zuo Rong" demanded:
"Sit upright, not bad but not down, look at it in balance, sit upright, look down on the knees of the venerable, look up, but you can't see sitting upright in the ordinary, and sit humble." In today's words, sit up straight, don't stretch your calves long and short, and don't touch the ground. The eyes are flat, which is called "sitting"; Head slightly lower, eyes staring at the knees of the venerable person opposite, called "sit down"; Looking down at a place not more than a few feet away from you is "sitting down"; When the head is completely low and even the elbows are drooping, it is called "squat".
What Jia Yi said about "sitting by the seat" is actually the conventional "sitting by the seat", that is, "sitting on the floor". According to the analysis, Jia Yi's Jing Rong may be a "etiquette textbook" specially written for princes. It can be seen that "how to sit" was really important at that time.
In addition to the "sitting method" on fixed occasions, there are also special requirements similar to today's bus travel behavior. Before Qin and Han Dynasties, people were divided into "riding by car" and "standing by car", that is, sitting and standing, which were limited by "riding capacity" and "standing capacity" respectively.
Data-filtered="filtered "sitting cross-legged in the" Travel Map "painted by Yan in the Tang Dynasty.
"Extremely Sitting"-The most casual sitting posture of the ancients
In the pre-Qin period, it was impolite not to sit or sit in disorder. Yuan Jean, an old friend of Confucius, was once scolded by Confucius for doing nothing. Once, the original soil stretched its legs and waited for Confucius, that is, "the original soil was destroyed." According to the Analects of Confucius, Confucius became angry on the spot. He hit the calf of the native soil with a cane and scolded: "The youngest son is childless, but he is speechless, and he will not die when he is old, because he is a thief." It probably means that you are rude when you are young, but you will be a loser when you grow up. Old people waste food and are pests.
In fact, in daily life, people can't all be "doing nothing". It can be seen that Confucius cursed the original soil too much. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, in addition to ceremonial sitting, there were many daily sitting methods, such as squatting and squatting in private. Squatting and sitting on the basket are relatively comfortable and free, which is a relatively casual rest posture of the ancients.
"Squat" means that the soles of the feet and buttocks touch the ground and the knees are arched, which means "squat". What is the way to sit on a basket? A Qing and Duan Yucai said in the Notes on Explaining Words: "When you squat, you sit on your hips and stretch your feet forward." Just stretch your legs into a figure of eight, which looks like a dustpan. The "Yi" of the original soil should be such a sitting posture.
From the analysis of the shape of the cultural relics unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province, these two more life-oriented sitting methods are actually the sitting methods of the Oriental Yi people (the original residents in Jiangsu and Shandong today) during the Yin and Shang Dynasties. Compared with the "civilization" in the Central Plains, they are naturally primitive and vulgar. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the sitting method of the original soil was called "Yi", which was the source.
"Sitting with Hands Down" —— The sitting posture of ancient women to prevent "exposure"
As for the most primitive symbolic meaning of squatting posture, some folklore scholars believe that it is a reflection of ancient people's reproductive worship. Frogs with amazing fertility are all sitting in this way, so squatting is also called "frog sitting", which means female. This frog-shaped statue is often painted on ancient round-bellied objects unearthed in modern archaeology.
Squatting and sitting in the basket are easy to expose, and sitting in the basket with legs stretched is particularly easy to "strip off". Mencius' wife once sat with her legs crossed like this and was seen by Mencius. She almost got divorced. According to Xi * * * Han Ying's Biography of Korean Poetry:
"Mencius' wife lives alone and lives in the house. When Mencius entered the room, his mother said, "My wife is rude, please go. "There is a reason why Mencius reacted so strongly. At that time, women wore open-backed pants and didn't have the habit of * * *. What kind of scandal is it? Mencius, who is very particular about ethics, may not make a mountain out of a molehill if he wants to drive his wife back to her family.
It is worth noting that this sitting method is not only a matter of "naked" and rudeness. If someone sits and looks at people like this, it is an insult to the other party. In the words of Historical Records of the Emperor Gaozu, they are called "bad people". When Jing Ke learned that he had failed in stabbing the king of Qin, he was "leaning on the bar and laughing, sitting on his back and scolding".
How can a woman sit without being rude? We can know from the origin of the word "female". "Female" is an pictographic character. Judging from the glyphs of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Xiao Zhuan, it is a sitting posture: knees on the ground, hips on the ground, hands crossed and hanging in front of you. "Sitting with hands down" can not only prevent "exposure", but also be similar to the word "female", as well as "mother" and "concubine", which was the most elegant sitting posture for women at that time.
Data-filtered="filtered "Figure: The mural of" sitting on the bed "in Cave 257 of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, the earliest image of China people sitting on a bench.
"Sit with your feet down" —— The latest sitting posture in the late Han Dynasty
Now the bed is a kind of sleeping equipment, but in the early days, its first function was to sit. Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi said: "A bed is a place to sit." . In the era before the appearance and popularization of chairs, the ancients mainly sat on beds or mats at home. This kind of bed is also called sofa. Sitting on the sofa is basically the same as sitting on the floor. Still on your knees, with your hips on your heels. However, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to the appearance of "Hu Chuang", the sitting method has also changed.
The so-called "Hu Chuang" is a simple folding chair, named after it was introduced from the conference semifinals in the western regions. Gu Tao, a poet in the Song Dynasty, said in the article "Qing Louis Sit at leisure": "Hu beds should be closed to meet feet, and toilets should be worn to accommodate sitting, regardless of weight." The posture of sitting on the Hu bed is very similar to that of modern people. The ancients called it "sitting with feet down", which was the latest sitting method at that time.
The earliest recorded celebrity who "sat with his feet down" was Liu Hong of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Records of the Five Elements in the History of the Later Han Dynasty records: "The Emperor Ling loves Khufu, Zhang Hu, Hu Chuang, Zuo Hu, Fan Hu, Hu Konghou, Hu Di and Hu Dance, and all the princes in Kyoto contend for it." Because of the emperor's love, this fashionable sitting method first became popular among the nobles in Beijing. At present, the earliest sitting statue of Hu bed can be seen in Dunhuang Mogao grottoes, Cave 257 of the Northern Wei Dynasty, sitting on Hu bed.
The Emperor of Sui Dynasty avoided Hu and started a "Hu-going Movement", and all the names with the word "Hu" were changed. For example, the name of the cucumber that everyone often eats has been changed from "cucumber"; Hu Chuang changed his name to "bed".
On the basis of delivering the bed, Li Longji's entourage of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also created a "leisure seat" for him to sit on when he traveled. Since then, the bed has been constantly transformed, and the backrest and armrest have been slowly designed so that you can "lean", so the "chair" appeared and the bed was renamed as the "top chair". In The Autumn Banquet in Tang Lin, especially written in the first year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, people sit in the highest chair with backrest. The top spot not only changed the sitting posture of ancient people, but also still affects people's sitting posture.
Data-filtered = "filtered" "Autumn Banquet in Tang Lin", in which the seating position is "the top spot" (partly painted by Ming Youzi).
"Sit"-Song people sat out of the highest realm.
Five dynasties ago, although "Hu Chuang" appeared and "sitting with your feet down" was not uncommon, "sitting on the floor" was still regarded as a noble sitting posture. For example, in the strict "Step by Step" in the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong still sat cross-legged, rather than "sitting with his feet down".
During the Five Dynasties, traditional "sitting on the couch" and fashionable "sitting on the chair" began to go hand in hand in social occasions. Both of these sitting methods appeared in the painting Han Xizai's Night Banquet by Gu, a painter in the Southern Tang Dynasty. After the Five Dynasties, people's sitting posture has been basically unified as "sitting with their feet down"-the ancient people in China have realized "modernization" since then.
Data-filtered="filtered "Figure: Cold dew sitting in September.
However, the traditional sitting method has not completely disappeared because of the popularity and popularization of "hanging feet". On the contrary, it was favored as a means of fitness and health preservation, and even "sitting" was raised to a state in the Song Dynasty. It is said that the famous "Twenty-four Solar Terms Sitting Power Diagram" was created by Chen Tuan, a famous master of "Sleeping Power" and a Taoist figure in the Song Dynasty. According to the changes of the 24 solar terms in 12 months, different sitting postures are adopted to achieve the purpose of keeping in good health, because Chen Tuan was once called "Mr. Yi Xi" and was also called "Chen Xiyi's Sitting Power Map" in Jianghu.
For example, in the upcoming cold dew solar term, there is a "sitting method map of cold dew September Festival", which reads: "Sit up straight at noon every day, raise your arms, lift your body, knock your teeth about three or five degrees, and exhale and rinse your mouth." It is said that it can treat rheumatism, headache, hemorrhoids and other diseases, but whether this statement is reliable has not been studied.
This kind of "sitting" is actually the "internal alchemy" advocated by the ancient Dan family, and it is also highly praised by later health care experts. Gao Jiao, the author of the Ming Dynasty health monograph "Eight Notes on Respect for Life", actively advocated "sitting power" and compiled Chen Tuo's "Sitting Power". It should be noted that this sitting method is different from Buddhism's "meditation", that is, "sitting on a plate" and "sitting on * * *". (Source: Peak Art Center)