This book is an indispensable step for future generations to learn philology and philology, both in writing and in expounding scientific theories.
Shuowen Jiezi reflects the long history and culture of ancient China, including politics, economy, science, culture, philosophy and religion.
This paper focuses on four aspects: the ancient thought of divine right and kingship, the tragic fate of the lower working people in ancient times, the improvement of ancient productive forces and the ancient jade culture in China.
1. Introduction to Shuo Wen Jie Zi
Shuowen Jiezi, or Shuowen for short, was written by Xu Shen, a famous scholar of ancient Chinese classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Shuowen is the first systematic and complete dictionary in China, which mainly focuses on analyzing the form of Chinese characters, explaining the meaning of words and recognizing pronunciation and reading.
Judging from the font, these characters are mainly Xiao Zhuan. Xu Shen collected 9353 ancient Chinese characters before the Han Dynasty, and added 1 163 variants, it became * * * 105 16.
He adopted the theory of "Six Books" and defined the form of Chinese characters from six aspects: pictograph, signifier, knowing, pictophonetic characters, transliteration and borrowing. His explanations are not based on subjective assumptions, but all have some truth, and many explanations can be found in classical literature.
For example, the word "shoot", "Speaking of dogs": "Shoot, it must be a servant. Kill or die. "
It can be seen that "death" means "falling forward" and "falling down". "Zuo Zhuan became a public for two years" "Shoot him right and die in the car". To "die in the car" is to throw yourself into the car.
According to the arrangement order, Xu Shen divided ancient Chinese characters into 540 parts, and the Chinese characters in the same part are often related in sound and meaning. This way of arranging Chinese characters by radicals created the compilation style of dictionaries in later generations.
The publication of Shuo Wen Jie Zi is a milestone in the history of literature education in China.
Both the style of the book and the scientific theory expounded in the book have unparalleled inspiration and creativity for future generations, and are an indispensable ladder for future generations to learn philology and philology.
As Mr. Wang Ning said:
"For more than 1,800 years, Shuowen Jiezi has created learning with a book, which people call Shuowen or Xu Xue. Especially since the Qing Dynasty, there have been a large number of great works on Shuowen, and branches of Shuowen, such as stylistics, Chinese character morphology, Chinese character semantics, Chinese character pragmatics and Chinese character culturology, have been born, which laid the foundation for the basic theoretical construction of Chinese characters. "
Below we focus on the ancient culture of China reflected in Shuo Wen Jie Zi.
China Ancient Culture Reflected in Shuo Wen Jie Zi.
Chinese characters were originally hieroglyphics, but later they were simplified into pictographs and signifiers. On the basis of these unique characters, there have been combined words such as knowing words and pictophonetic words, and their phonological features have gradually increased, and many pictophonetic words are also onomatopoeic words.
By analyzing the physical structure and internal combination rules of Chinese characters, people can imagine the intention of ancestors when they created Chinese characters:
Some use simple lines to outline the outline, some use indicators to mark the places that need to be emphasized, some use several parts to express a complete meaning, and some are divided into two parts, one part indicates the meaning category of the word, and the other part indicates the pronunciation of the word.
Xu Shen's explanation is to grasp this feature of Chinese characters, not only to study the evolution law of Chinese characters in general, but also to explore the intention of the creator of Chinese characters and explain the cultural connotation behind the form of Chinese characters through careful observation of the structure of Chinese characters.
Let's analyze it with concrete examples.
(1) The ruling class uses theocracy and kingship to exercise spiritual rule over the working people.
In ancient times, people's productivity level was extremely low, and they lived a primitive gathering and hunting life.
They can't make a scientific explanation for the appearance of human beings, the formation of the sun, the moon and the stars, the changes of wind, rain and lightning, and the evolution of things around them.
Faced with powerful natural forces, they often have a sense of awe of nature, so the concept of natural god is formed in their minds.
In slave society and feudal society, this god-fearing thought became the spiritual shackles for slave owners and landlords to rule the people.
Especially in feudal society, the supreme ruler took advantage of the working people's awe of heaven and God, regarded himself as the son of heaven, that is, the son of heaven, and ruled the people on behalf of the will of the gods, and did not allow ordinary people to plot resistance.
The same is true of the "divine right of monarchy" in the West.
Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi embodies this idea. In Shuo Wen Shi Wen Bu: "God, the gods cause everything." God is the creator of man and nature.
In our country, there is a story about Nu Wa making people out of clay. The ancients feared gods and were extremely superstitious, which was mainly reflected in divination and sacrificial activities.
The ancient divination objects were tortoise shells and yarrow, and the divination objects were called divination.
"Said Wen Gui Bu": "Tortoise is old. Those who have flesh outside the bones are also. From it. The nature of heaven and earth, broad shoulders without males, turtles with males. "
The reason why "turtle" is called "old" is because "old" means "long", that is, turtles have a long life.
Yarrow was regarded as sacred grass by the ancients. There are many words related to divination in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, such as omen and chastity.
The ancients could make sacrifices with pigs, cows, sheep, jade and other physical objects. For example, Cao Gui argued in Zuo Zhuan that "sacrifice jade and silk, dare to add".
"Sacrifice" refers to pigs, cows, sheep, etc.
In addition, there are human sacrifices, mostly using prisoners of war to sacrifice to the gods, "Shuo Wen Shi Wen Bu": "Sacrifice, sacrifice also. From the show. To pack meat. "
The Book of Rites and the Moon Order teaches "sacrifice" as "killing".
Human sacrifice is a form of human sacrifice besides directly killing people and sacrificing their heads. According to Records of the Historian Qin Benji, as many as 177 people died after Qin Mugong's death, most of them were slaves.
It is said that when Qin Shihuang died, all craftsmen who built underground tombs and concubines who had never been born in the harem were buried with him.
In ancient times, the person in charge of sacrifice was called "witch" or "wish". "Shi Wen Supplement": "I hope that those who praise the Lord will follow the instructions and follow the children's mouths. One day away from the province; Yi said it was a mouth and a witch. "
There are many words about sacrifice in Shuo Wen, such as Shuo Wen Yu Bu: "Spirits, witches and jade serve the gods."
Wu Wenbu said, "A wizard can serve the gods. Men are called wizards and women are called wizards."
In class society, kingship is supreme, and the king owns everything in the world. His words are laws, and his actions are role models.
From the establishment of slave society to Qin and Han dynasties, the thought of kingship has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. Everyone thinks it is natural to obey the king's orders, because the king is the son of the Emperor of Heaven and sent by heaven to rule the world.
From Confucius, the founder of Confucian school, to Dong Zhongshu, the master of Confucianism, to Xu Shen, whose Confucian classics are unparalleled, there is no exception.
Said the cloth: "Wang, the world is alive. Dong Zhongshu said: Ancient writers were the kings of three paintings. The three are heaven and earth, and the participants are kings. Confucius said: Three kings have always been. "
"Wang" consists of "three" and "|", in which three horizontal lines represent heaven, earth and people respectively. Gods and ghosts are always frightening, and people are side by side. The "people" here are actually kings.
"Said Wen Ren Bu": "People, the nature of the field is the most expensive."
It can be seen that the status of heaven, earth and man is unequal, and people regard the king as the most distinguished of the three.
(B) the tragic fate of the lower classes in ancient times
In the later period of primitive society, the development of productive forces led to the emergence of private ownership and the polarization between the rich and the poor in society, so there appeared two classes: slave owners and slaves.
It took 1600 years from the slave society of Shang Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty where Xu Shen lived.
Although society has changed several times, there are a large group of people living at the bottom of society in every era, and their total name is slaves.
Maybe their names were different in each dynasty, but their fate was the same. They have no freedom of life and live a miserable life.
Shuowen has given us a wealth of information in this respect.
First, let's look at the source of slaves.
Shuowen Minbu: "All the people are budding. From the image of ancient Chinese. "
The motto of Meng is Meng. The vulgar words in ancient Chinese came from women (that is, slave words), as if they were tied up and dragged away.
Of course, prisoners of war are not limited to those who have fought, but also include prisoners of war plundered from defeated countries.
Male prisoners are often killed as sacrifices or food at first, and then forced to serve hard labor; Female prisoners become handmaiden, engaged in housework, and also become the venting tool of their masters.
"Shuo Wen": "Minister, quote also. Things are like surrender. "
"Pull" was originally used to pull livestock, but in order to prevent prisoners of war from escaping, they were tied up with ropes and taken back.
"Men are ministers and women are concubines" (Zuo Zhuan Xi Gong Seventeen Years), that's it.
Another important source of slaves is the use of women as collateral for debts in the late primitive society.
Let's first take a look at some words about female slaves in the women's department of Shuowen.
Slave, handmaiden. All ancient sinners. Zhou Li said: Its slaves, men go into crime, and women go into caves. From women, and from.
Female, female, pictographic.
Maids, women are inferior. From handmaid, humble voice.
Since the patriarchal commune, due to economic reasons, women's status in the family has gradually decreased, and they have to obey their husbands and become their slaves in the family.
They obey their father at home and their husbands after marriage.
Mr. Lv Zongda believes that "it is also the beginning of slave society to start treating women who pay debts as slaves". He believes that "female" is the word "slave" of ancient slaves.
Poor people take their daughters as collateral because they can't pay their debts.
After women become slaves, they mainly engage in housework such as cooking, cooking and washing clothes. They must obey their master's orders absolutely.
In Shuowen, female characters are trained as women, female characters are trained, and female characters are also trained.
Biography of Women: "Wei Quwo is the loser, and Dr. Wei is like the mother of ears." The "negative" here is "woman"
Shuowen Beibu: "Negative, not worth borrowing." This also shows that an important reason why women become slaves is to pay their debts with their bodies.
Women are physically tortured and mentally discriminated against.
Women's Department of Shuowen: "Wow, women are really dirty. Hey, from a female voice. "
"Han Law": "You can't worship the temple when you see it." That is, women are required not to participate in sacrifices during their official holidays.
In such a society, women can only do what they are told and resist a little, that is, be imprisoned or punished.
On Twain's Supplement: "Hey, where the apprentice lives."
The above mainly introduces the situation of some female slaves, and their misfortune reflects the fate of the whole slave class.
At that time, the life of slaves was miserable. They have no life safety guarantee, they are often recruited to fight for slave owners and may be executed at any time, whether you are guilty or not.
Shuowen contains: "Sacrifice, sacrifice also. From the program, come and hold meat. " This reflects that slave owners in the society at that time could take slaves as sacrifices or sacrifices.
(C) the improvement of the ancient productivity level
The Chinese nation is a hardworking and intelligent nation. For thousands of years, the broad masses of the people have built a splendid Chinese civilization with their own hands and wisdom.
Writing is the carrier of culture and the living fossil of social development. Through Shuo Wen Jie Zi, we can imagine the course of human beings from ignorance to civilization.
1, the development of ancient agriculture
In primitive society, people's productivity level is relatively low and they can only live in groups. They collect the fruits of plants and make a living by fishing and hunting.
"Shuo Wen Mu Bu": "Pick, row and take. From wood, from claws. "
Shuowen Animal Department: "Animals are animals. The shape of the elephant's ears, head and feet. " In ancient China, the descent of wild animals was an activity of catching animals.
"Shuowen" Dog Department: "Hunting, fire field also." "Hey, defender."
Shou Hexiang explained two hunting methods in ancient times. Hunting is hunting with fire, that is, burning the mountain forest with water, burning it or forcing it to jump off a cliff and die. You catch animals with nets and traps.
Later, people kept cows, horses, sheep, pigs and other animals that had not been eaten in captivity, and found ways to sow and cultivate crops in long-term collection activities.
Their lifestyle has also changed, from gathering and hunting to agricultural production.
Shuo Wen Cao Bu: "Storage."
Primitive agriculture is very dependent on itself, and they mainly use slash-and-burn methods.
Shuowen: "Burn, burn fields." "Domain, fire also." That is, first burn the weeds with torches, and then cultivate them.
Due to the backward productivity and poor land use efficiency, there are "leisure fields" and "big fields".
Talking about Zou Wenbu: "Go forever, go forever, and live easily." It is also "anti-agriculture".
A "fallow field" is a field planted for one year and used as a pasture in the second year. "Going through the field" is a field cultivated in turn, and "ploughing" is a field cultivated once every three years.
2. The development of ancient handicraft industry
With the development of ancient agriculture, handicraft industry has also made great progress, mainly reflected in the development of ceramics, smelting, brewing and other industries.
A large number of words in Shuowen can illustrate this point.
"Shuo Wen Zuo Bu": "Pottery, earthenware also. Save your voice from the bag. The ancients Kunwu made pottery. "
Shuowen Zuobu records a large number of pottery with different shapes and sizes. Gou, prepare for fire, long neck Gou also; The cash register also rang from behind; Fired tiles and pottery.
It can be seen that pottery has been widely used in ancient times, from building materials on roofs to containers for storing money, which also shows the rapid development of pottery industry at that time.
With the development of charcoal, metallurgical industry has developed greatly.
"Shuo Wen Bu": "Smelting, selling also. Later, it expanded to melt gold. " "Shuo Wen Jin Wen Bu": "The method of melting and smelting devices is also." "Cang Xie": "Melting it, charcoal stove, so selling iron is also." "Charcoal burns wood."
The ancients turned wood into charcoal for boiling water or smelting.
Said Jin Wenbu: "Silver is also platinum." "Lead, green gold." "Tin, silver and lead are also used." (Tin is blue gold, which was called bronze in ancient times) "Iron is also black gold." "Collar, copper and iron".
It can be seen that the ancients classified metals very carefully, and they have realized the different properties and functions of these metals.
People's tools have changed from stone tools to bronze and iron. This change in raw materials shows the rapid development of production and culture at that time.
It can be seen from the "collar" that people had discovered this mineral deposit at that time and realized that it could be used to make solid tools after smelting, so they named it "collar". Together with charcoal for smelting, the ancients had metallurgical ability.
China's papermaking is generally considered by later generations to be invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Ye Fan in the Jin Dynasty recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty that Cai Lun "thought that paper was made of bark, hemp head, cloth and fishing net".
In fact, in Shuowen, there have been records about the making process and tools of paper.
Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Paper is a stack." Say Zhu Wenbu: "Aluminum foil, this is a stack." Shuowen Water Department: "Xu, wading in water."
At first, the ancients used random wadding to make paper. The method is to soak it in water first, then float it and stir it into slurry. Then drain the water with a reed board, spread it evenly, and dry it to make paper.
Shuowen Main Book: "Hey, the beds are stacked." The word "basket" is a tool for making paper.
The textile industry in ancient China developed rapidly, and the main raw materials were silk and hemp.
Many words in Shuowen recorded the process of spinning with hemp in ancient times.
"Shuo Bu": "Lin, the general name of flowers is also. Lin's handwriting is also small. Microfiber is working, pictographic. "
Say cloth: "Horse, and Lin Tong. The people rule under the house. From the vast, from the forest. "
Forest and hemp are variant characters, which refer to tiny and fragmentary fibers. When making, the hemp is connected first, then pinched together by hand, and then the pinched things are connected one by one as a long thread for textile.
The words "Yan, Ji, Ji" in Shuowen recorded this process. "Hey, the results are also captured"; "Seize, performance also"; "Performance, too."
Hemp must be cleaned before spinning. Shuo Wen Jie Zi says, "Practice, practice." In ancient times, hemp can be washed with water or rubbed with ash to remove defects.
The ancient wine-making industry was very developed, which gave birth to a long Chinese wine culture.
Wine can make people excited, forget their immediate troubles, inspire people and keep fit. Wine can also be a disaster, it can even ruin people's reputation and ruin the country.
Xu Shen seems to have noticed this long ago. There are as many as 66 words with "one" as the radical in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, which directly or indirectly reflects some characteristics of people in brewing and drinking before the Eastern Han Dynasty.
"Shuo Wen You Bu": "Wine, that's all. So on the good and evil of human nature. Judging from the sound of water, it is also made, and it is made by good or bad luck. The ancients tasted the wine mash and tasted the beauty, so they were careless. "
Actually, it's wrong to blame wine. Wine is not a sentient thing, its good and evil come from people's good and evil.
In the pre-Qin period, drinking has become a custom and culture. From dignitaries to ordinary people, people should drink alcohol when they meet sacrifices or other important occasions.
Shuo Wen You Bu * * contains 67 words, which makes a concise record of the brewing method, brewing time, wine taste, wine color, wine turbidity and drinking customs.
"Shuowen" Mibu: "Shit, I'm drunk. From the meters, Cao Sheng. " This word is all koji.
Daqu is made from barley, rice and other grains, and contains a lot of starch blocks of yeast and microorganisms.
Adding distiller's yeast in the production process can make starch saccharify and alcoholize at the same time, and directly turn grain into wine.
Qu determines the quality and variety of wine, and its invention can be said to be a milestone in the history of wine making.
(D) Ancient jade culture
The ancients admired jade very much because of its hard texture, bright color and warm touch. The ancients personified it, expressed their feelings for it and reflected their aesthetic taste.
Shuo Wen Yu Wen Bu: "Jade is the beauty of stone. There are five virtues, moist and warm, and benevolent. "
From the outside, we can know the middle and justice; Its voice is loud and clear, dedicated to far-reaching, indomitable and fearless; Sharp and cheap, but not branches, is also. Like the connection of three jade, its penetration is also.
Generally speaking, jade, a good stone, has five virtues: it is warm and moist, which is a metaphor for benevolent people; The texture of jade, from the outside to the inside, is a metaphor of righteous soil; Its voice is soothing and melodious, spreading to the distance, which is an intelligent analogy; It is unyielding and is an example for warriors; It's sharp, but it won't hurt. It's an example of an honest man.
Jade characters are all like three Pian Yu, with a rope in the middle.
Shuo Yu Wen Bu is nearly 130 words, which introduces the types, shapes, components, colors and functions of jade.
The fine classification of jade also reflects the profound understanding of jade by the ancients, the superb level of jade management and the simple aesthetic taste of the ancients.
Because of this, jade has penetrated into all aspects of human life, including sacrifice, political power, employment, interpersonal relationship, clothing, aesthetic taste and so on.
Such as "Said Bu": "Dragon, pray for the drought. Long Wen. "
Dragon is a jade used to pray for the gods to drive away the drought during sacrifice.
"Shuo Wen" Jade: "Hey, the princes hold the emperor of the Gui Dynasty, and the emperor holds the jade to take risks, just like plowing the crown."
Zhou Li said: "The son of heaven holds four inches." The "Huan" here refers to the keepsake of the princes appearing before the emperor.
Paper Jade Department: "Hey, jade is also full of ears." The "Tang" here is a kind of drink, which implies that you pretend not to hear the right and wrong in front of you.
In a word, there are many kinds of jade articles in the pre-Qin period, which shows that people's stone carving art has reached a high level at that time.
At the same time, in the minds of people in the pre-Qin period, jade has become a symbol of noble virtue, and jade almost never leaves the body.
This cultural awareness is beyond the wine culture, but the difference is that the wine culture is getting worse and worse now, while the jade culture has been declining. We can only glimpse the glorious past from Shuowen.
III: Conclusion
Generally speaking, Shuowen Jiezi, as an immortal masterpiece in Chinese history, is still an important and classic Chinese reference book, which has great use value.
At the same time, it has great reference value in carrying forward the excellent culture of the motherland and helping future generations to understand the history of China.
Remarks: This article is a reprinted article.