As a kind of writing, The Book of Songs appeared very early in China, more than 3,000 years ago. Of course, he later became a classic, about 2000 years ago, that is, the Han Dynasty. In order to adapt to the centralized social system in the Han Dynasty, the rulers at that time accepted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion and regarded Confucius' thought as a symbol of unifying and standardizing the national thought, so a famous event happened in the history of China, which was called "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone". Since then, Confucius has been regarded as a "saint", and everything related to Confucius has been painted with sacred colors. Some ancient documents used by Confucius as teaching materials before his death are also called "Classics", including The Book of Songs, The Book of Changes, The Spring and Autumn Annals, The Book of Rites, etc., all of which are called "Five Classics". At the same time, since the Han dynasty, doctors have been set up in the government, and doctors in the Five Classics have been set up to teach relevant personnel. What is "essence"? What I want to say is that Confucius is regarded as a saint, and Confucius thought is regarded as a symbol of unifying the thoughts and behaviors of the whole country by the state and the government. This "classic" has the meaning of "saint", which means that it contains many timeless truths and has rules that should really be followed. It is precisely because of this meaning that "Jing" is considered by ordinary people to be very profound and mysterious, and it is something far away from us. But I think that if the classics are too far away from people, the meaning of the classics will gradually disappear. As the carrier of culture, classics always affect people's lives at different levels, and people will unconsciously accept it. As far as the Book of Songs is concerned, I think many of our classmates have learned many idioms and even middle school Chinese textbooks. This kind of understanding, most students will have. But what I want to say is that in our daily life, in our conversation and in our daily education, we often use some words in the Book of Songs to express our understanding. Here, I'll give you some examples that we encounter in our daily life, which you may know but don't realize. In recent ten years, a writer from Hong Kong and Taiwan, often once a year, once every two years, or once every three to five years, will be liked by mainlanders, especially young people. One of the earliest writers known to mainlanders was a woman writer named Qiong Yao. I think everyone knows this. Several of her novels have been made into TV series, including a TV series called Water Side. As you may know, her name and the TV series on the water are all related to The Book of Songs. There is a poem called "Papaya" in The Book of Songs, and its second chapter is "Give me a peach and repay me with Qiong Yao". It is always good to report. "Qiong Yao's name comes from here." "Guo Guo, this is a very famous poem," Guo Guo ash, the Millennium is frost. The so-called Iraqis are on the water side. Tracing back from it, the road resistance is long; Swim back from there, in the middle of the water "This should be a love poem. A young man, or a young woman, wants to pursue his beloved person before 10 in the autumn morning. He is very depressed. This feeling is fully expressed here. I think this shows that we modern people are still using the ancient form of The Book of Songs to express an emotion, and even its vocabulary and language will appear in our lives. By the way, in our daily life, we often use "returning a peach to a plum" to express the meaning of reciprocity. The idiom "Reward a plum with a peach" does not come from this poem "Papaya", but from another work in the Book of Songs, namely "suppression" in "Ya". There are two sentences in this work, that is, "give me a peach and give me a plum", that is, "reciprocity". Guanju is the first poem in The Book of Songs and should be familiar to people. Why put Guan Ju in the first song of The Book of Songs? There must be a lot of people discussing this problem. I think the reason why Guan Ju was placed in the first article of The Book of Songs shows that the ancestors of China attached great importance to the marriage and even the family of men and women. Because in the eyes of China people, marriage and family between men and women is the foundation and beginning of a society. Guan Ju expressed people's wishes for a beautiful marriage and a happy family. Therefore, in the first chapter of the poem Guanju, "Guanju dove is in Hezhou. My fair lady, a gentleman is a good gentleman. "These four sentences have become people's compliments on the happiness of marriage and family when congratulating the couple, and they are often heard in our lives. In addition, the blessing of "a match made in heaven" often appears in marriage. "A match made in heaven" also comes from The Book of Songs, that is, from "Ya" Daming. This poem praised the relationship between Zhou Wenwang, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, and his wife, so people later used "a match made in heaven" to express their wishes to the newlyweds. There are four words in Guanju that have also become our spoken language, and that is "tossing and turning". These four words are used in the poem to describe the anxiety that men can't get when they pursue women. It vividly depicts the scene that men can't sleep at night and keep turning over because of the pain of acacia. So these four words were later used in life to express the situation that people can't sleep well for various reasons. There are many works in The Book of Songs about the suffering of lovesickness. There is a poem called Caige, which describes the suffering of lovesickness as "I don't see you for a day, like Sanqiu Xi". This kind of performance is also very appropriate and vivid. Besides describing love, we often use The Book of Songs in real life and in communication with friends and colleagues. For example, some of our friends bought a new house and moved to a new home. Everyone congratulated him on "moving". The word "housewarming" also comes from The Book of Songs and appears in Xiaoya's Logging. "Out of the valley, moving trees" means that birds fly from low places to high places, and trees are towering trees. It should be that we often meet to congratulate others on moving to a new house. In addition, congratulations to a friend for giving birth to a child. If it's a boy, it's called "the joy of playing tricks." The word "Nongzhang" also comes from the Book of Songs, in the Four Cadres. In Yusi, it is said that "it is a boy, a bed for sleeping, clothes for dressing and a platform for making friends", which expresses the wish of a family and a friend to have a boy. In addition, for birthdays, we often wish people "longevity is better than Nanshan", which is also from The Book of Songs. In the past, people wished the emperor of feudal society "long life without borders", and the word "long life without borders" also came from the Book of Songs and appeared more than once. In Xiaoya, there is a poem called Natural Forest Protection. This poem is a birthday poem, and there are six chapters in one poem. Among them, in the fourth chapter, "Junyue Parr, long life" appeared. In short, the above shows that although the Book of Songs is a classic, it does have its sacred side in the long-term spread process, and it is alienated from the people. On the other hand, as a concentrated expression of cultural traditions, it will affect our lives in an unknown way at different levels and under different circumstances. For young people who are receiving higher education, they should not only consciously accept its influence, but also consciously understand the Book of Songs, which is the essence of China's cultural tradition. I think this can not only improve our understanding of culture, but also reflect the comprehensive quality of a person who is receiving higher education. This is an important purpose for us to offer China culture courses in universities. This is the first point. The second point I want to talk about is how the Book of Songs became a classic. To understand how The Book of Songs became a classic, we must first understand what the Book of Songs was before it became a classic. In fact, the works in The Book of Songs were originally poems written by our ancestors in China on different occasions. What is poetry? I think there are many explanations in the modern sense. China traditionally believed that poetry expresses ambition, that is, "poetry expresses ambition". The so-called "poetry is what you say" means saying what you think is poetry, that is, poetry expresses people's understanding and feelings about the outside world. Therefore, the book of songs, in its original form, is no different from poems written by modern people. At present, there are 305 songs in The Book of Songs, which are divided into three parts, one of which is called "National Style", and there are 160 songs, most of which were written by the lower classes at that time. The ancients also said that "the hungry sing about their food, and the laborers sing about their things", that is, poetry expresses some feelings of people in life or in the process of doing things. Some of them, according to Zhu, are out of "courtesy". In general life, apart from people's feelings, men and women love each other, and "express their feelings with songs". In the process of communication between men and women, poetry is called "love song" and "love song". In addition to "National Wind", there are 145 songs called "Elegance" and "Ode". The authors of Ya and Ode were mostly officials and ministers of the upper class at that time, equivalent to today's high-level people; Other writers are farmers and ordinary civil servants of the government. There are some works in Ya and Ode that express these authors' views on social problems at that time. There are also some works that the state ordered them to write about offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods. These works are used to express a kind of praise for ancestors and gods, and also hope to protect people by paying homage to these ancestors and gods. Generally speaking, these ancient works, like modern works, express thoughts and feelings. The difference is that these works can be sung. So these works are not sacred to us modern people. These works in The Book of Songs can be said to have been written by different people in different places. At that time, there were no publishing organizations and no media organizations such as TV stations. So, how do these works fit together? Why are these works called "poetry" together? As I said just now, The Book of Songs became a classic because of the historical event of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and worshiping Confucianism alone". Why the Book of Songs was compiled together is related to another historical event, that is, the so-called "ritual and music system" in the Zhou Dynasty. Duke Zhou's system of rites and music is an important event in the history of China. China became a state of etiquette, I think it should be said that it started from the "ritual and music system" of the Duke of Zhou in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. So what is a gift? Simply put, politeness is some basic rules to maintain social order. From a big perspective, like the national laws and regulations system, from a small perspective, it is a variety of social rules. Duke Zhou emphasized "music" when making gifts. He emphasized the coordination of ceremony and music, and used music to coordinate the implementation of ceremony. We will also encounter this situation in modern life. For example, exchanges between the two countries, Chinese leaders visiting foreign countries. On the occasion of welcoming guests, we should play the national anthems of both sides, review the honor guard, and play music when the honor guard reviews. All these can be said to be the cooperation of rites and music. The same is true in ancient times. It is precisely because of the need of this kind of coordination between ceremony and music that the music used in ceremonial occasions must be produced. At that time, a special organization presided over this work, and most of the people who presided over this work were called "Taishi". On the one hand, Taishi sorted out the folk songs collected from all over the country, on the other hand, he matched the poems written by ministers at that time with music for use in various occasions. So the so-called "wind", "elegance" and "ode" are actually the lyrics of music played on different occasions. So at the beginning, there was no such name as The Book of Songs, but it was simply called The Book of Songs, or Poetry 300. For various reasons, we couldn't hear the music at that time, but the lyrics were preserved. This is the work we see in poetry. In the hierarchical society at that time, there was a rule that "doctors should not be punished and Shu Ren should not be polite", so most people didn't understand "poetry". As a manifestation of culture, rites and music were in the hands of a few people at that time, and only aristocratic children could learn and master them. Only by mastering etiquette and music can nobles participate in social activities. Therefore, it can be said that the understanding of rites and music is a sign of a person's social status. In the process of salute, we will also sing music. At the same time, we should know the lyrics of music and understand these works, so we should also use these works in people's communication. Therefore, in the Spring and Autumn Period, in some records and some ancient documents, there are so-called records of "transmitting poems" and "telling poems", that is, quoting "poems" to express our understanding. Being able to express one's thoughts by quoting poems properly was also considered as the embodiment of one's ability and accomplishment in the society at that time. This is the role of The Book of Songs before it became The Book of Songs. So, what is the relationship between Confucius and The Book of Songs? Confucius used this document to educate students, so The Book of Songs will be popular in a wider social level. Confucius himself particularly emphasized the importance of learning poetry. He said, "If you don't learn poetry, you have nothing to say", which means that if you don't learn the works of The Book of Songs, you won't be able to speak, which means that your expression will not be very profound and accurate. After learning the Book of Songs, we can use the Book of Songs to express our feelings and understanding, and at the same time, we can use the Book of Songs to connect feelings to awaken and inspire people's understanding. It can be seen that Confucius attached importance to the Book of Songs. At the same time, Confucius also briefly explained the contents of The Book of Songs. Confucius said, "There are 300 poems. In a word, it says "think naively." "Thinking innocently" means that the Book of Songs expresses very pure feelings and understanding. Confucius also commented on Guan Ju, the first poem in The Book of Songs, which was called "Happy without lewdness, sad without injury". It is precisely because of the relationship between Confucius and The Book of Songs that the Book of Songs has classic significance. But this is just the beginning. The Book of Songs became a classic because it was advocated as an official thought and attracted people's attention. After people pay attention, they will praise and sanctify what Confucius said, the textbooks used by Confucius and all kinds of documents. This process of canonization and canonization is what Professor Zhang Longxi said last time. The Book of Songs is a poem written by people at that time, which is no different from that written by modern people. However, if the works of The Book of Songs want to be classic, they must be upgraded from ordinary literary works to Confucian classics. This process is the process of turning poems written by ordinary people into classics. In the process of canonization, people attach a lot of content to the interpretation of "poetry" that is not the work itself. It can also be said that in the process of canonization of The Book of Songs, many fallacies and heresies were told. Next, I will give two more poems to illustrate how the Book of Songs was canonized. A poem of "National Style" is called "Little Star". "Hey, little star, Oriental 35. Before dawn, going out is public from morning till night. Different lives! "The following is" Wei Xiaoxing, Wei participated ". Susu night levy, hug each other thick, do not disturb your life! "Modern people think that the author or protagonist of this poem is a small official. "Look at that little star, three or five in the East" means that at dusk or before dawn at night, the stars twinkle, but not many. "Staying up late at work" means that the night is in the evening, and "staying up late at work" means working for the public regardless of the morning and evening, so I feel that the treatment and experience are particularly different. This poem is actually a small official's lament for his unfortunate life. People in the Han dynasty said that this poem is another way of saying it, which is called "benefiting women." The so-called "benefiting the next woman" means that the monarch's wife can tolerate the monarch's concubine. She didn't accompany the monarch, but let her accompany the monarch. And I also know that my position is different from my wife's, so my life is different. "Don't disturb my life" means that I can appreciate my wife's kindness. This explanation completely deviated from the original intention of the poem, but emphasized the moral and ethical concepts of the society at that time. Therefore, the word "Xiaoxing" used to be synonymous with concubines. Ji Zi is also a well-known poem: "Green Ji Zi is lingering in my heart. If I didn't go to see you, didn't you receive my letter? Green is what you wear, and leisurely is my feeling. If I never visit you, can't you take the initiative? Come on, always open your eyes, on this high tower. I don't see you for a day, such as March. " This poem is also a love poem: a woman disappeared and complained why the boy she liked didn't come. You don't have to come. Why don't you give me a letter? However, some people in the Han dynasty thought that this was not a love poem, but expressed their dissatisfaction with the abolition of learning. Why was the school cancelled? Because of the war at that time, the school could not attend classes normally. How can he see that this school can't have normal classes? Because of the "green scorpion", students' clothes are relatively simple, which can be said to be clothes. At the same time, it is pointed out that when the school is closed, some students have left the school and some students are still at school. This poem is a condemnation of students who leave school and skip classes. This kind of explanation is actually criticizing the level of the author's thought, and letting people follow the social rules that he thinks must be observed through his explanation. In feudal times, there were many such explanations, which lasted for a long time. In the end, the more sacred the Book of Songs is, the more divorced it is from the author, and the less true it is. The text of The Book of Songs is less than 30,000 words, but with more and more explanations, it has become a Confucian classic. Confucian classics is a kind of specialized knowledge, which is the mainstream of feudal society for two thousand years. This interpretation itself has caused the serious and sacred significance of The Book of Songs. The Book of Songs we see today is based on these layers of explanations. If we want to see its true colors, we must resolve these strange explanations. Therefore, the classic significance of The Book of Songs comes from the process of reading it. The above is the second content. Finally, what I want to say is, how should we view the role of the Book of Songs today? China has advocated the so-called "respecting the ancients and reading classics" since the Han Dynasty. A person should be based on society; To realize his own value, "respecting the ancients and reading classics" is his main means. To achieve fame and career, "respecting the ancient classics" is the foundation. /kloc-After the 9th century, great changes have taken place in China society, which also brought criticism to the traditional culture of China. The most severe criticism is the criticism of Confucianism, including the criticism of Confucian classics. Some important historical events in China society have caused people to think about traditional culture, and at the same time, they have also caused people to think about how to change the backward situation of China compared with the West since the19th century. 19 19 "May 4th" put forward two slogans: one is "Down with Kongjiadian" and the other is "Welcome Mr. De and Mr. Sai". Mr. Dede is "democracy" and Mr. Sai is "science", that is, "democracy" and "science". Judging from these two slogans, our understanding of tradition should be carried out on a new basis. Criticism of tradition is mainly based on the use of scientific and democratic weapons imported from the West. In this case, the traditional Confucian classics collapsed. Confucian classics have become the object of philosophy, history and literature research. Therefore, the study of modern people no longer regards the Book of Songs as a classic book of traditional Confucianism, but as a collection of poems. The so-called poetry collection is actually related to the traditional book classification. Traditional classification refers to Confucian classics, Five Classics and Thirteen Classics. As long as it is a Confucian classic, it belongs to the classic. "History" is history. Except Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and so on are all called "Zi". "Collection" is a personal work, and "collection" is a collection of an era and a style. Modern people no longer put "poetry" in the "classics" part, but in the "anthology" part. In other words, people no longer call "poetry" a classic. Next, I want to say that although Confucius is no longer regarded as a saint, he is a great figure in history; Jing is no longer called a classic, but it is a book that has played an important role in history. I think that's what classicism refers to. If the study of Confucian classics is dissolved into philosophy, history and literature, then the Book of Songs should be a literary work. So I want to talk about the classic or classic significance of The Book of Songs as a literary work, or what important influence does it have on later generations? I want to talk about three main points. First, The Book of Songs is an outstanding embodiment of China's ancient poetry system, and it is also the foundation of later poetry system. As we all know, the basic style of The Book of Songs is four-character poems, but the Book of Songs is not only four-character poems, but also three-character poems, five-character poems, seven-character poems, eight-character poems and three-character poems, five-character poems, seven-character poems and eight-character poems. It can be said that the development of China's ancient poetry is basically from two fonts to four fonts, from five fonts to seven fonts, and even later words and songs. However, the above sentence patterns all exist in the Book of Songs, which laid the foundation for the development of poetry in system and sentence patterns. The Book of Songs also forms another feature of China's poetry, namely rhyme. Judging from the arrangement of rhyme feet, the poems of later generations mainly rhyme with two sentences, that is, two or four sentences, and sometimes one or two sentences, the third sentence is blank, and the fourth sentence rhymes again. For example, Li Bai's "the foot of the bed is bright, is there frost?" ; Looking up, I found that it was moonlight, sinking again, and I suddenly thought of home. " "Light" rhymes with "frost", the third sentence does not rhyme, and the fourth sentence rhymes with "hometown". Some poems don't rhyme in the first sentence, and the second sentence rhymes with the fourth sentence. Wang Zhihuan's poem, "The mountains cover the day, and the Yellow River flows people. But as long as you go up a flight of stairs, you can broaden your horizons by 300 miles. The word "gold" in "Mountain Shades the Day" does not rhyme, but "flow" rhymes with "going up a storey still higher". China's ancient poems have some double rhymes, some one or three rhymes and some whole rhymes. In many cases, it rhymes with two sentences. The Book of Songs basically rhymes in this way. Like "shut off the pigeons, in Hezhou." My fair lady, a gentleman is good ",that is, one, two and four rhymes. Therefore, the rhyming forms of China's ancient poems can be seen in The Book of Songs. The difference is that the rhyme of The Book of Songs is not formed, there is no fixed law, but natural. So I didn't talk about ping in the Book of Songs, like the poems of later generations. Later generations' poems are flat, and flat should be staggered in each poem and other relative poems. Some works in The Book of Songs and even works in the Han Dynasty are actually in line with the level tone, but there are no hard and fast rules, so the era of The Book of Songs is a relatively natural era, but it is indeed the earliest embodiment of the rhythm of later poetry. The second point is the artistic expression of ancient poetry. Speaking of artistic expression, from the Book of Songs, it is a question of fu, comparison and glory related to style, elegance and praise. Middle school teachers have talked about Fu, Bi and Xing, and they don't want to say more, just want to say that this is the relative expression of gentle wind, elegance and praise in The Book of Songs. Ode to Ya is about the classification of The Book of Songs, while Fu Bixing is about the expression of poetry. Fu Bixing is a means of expression. There are many explanations for the specific meaning of Fu Bixing. Here, I want to quote a sentence from Zhu. The so-called fu, is to "apply affairs", in modern words, is a direct narrative and description; Comparison is metaphor, which means comparing one thing with another. This is what Zhu said, "draw inferences from others"; The so-called xing, Zhu said, "Let's talk about other things first to stimulate words", which means that writing poetry should start from other things; Fu, it's a narrative problem, not an example. As for comparison and metaphor, there are also some metaphors in The Book of Songs, such as "rat" and "rat", all of which use rats to describe an unwelcome person. More metaphors are used in sentences. For example, a girl has good skin and is called "skin is like jelly". Xing is the beginning of poetry. For example, "Yao Tao", "Peach blossom every day, burning its China. My son should be at home when he returns to China. " The beginning of this poem is about the beauty of spring, which will remind people of the beauty of girls and the lively atmosphere behind this poem. This is the technique of "xing". The three ways of expression in The Book of Songs have had an impact on later poetry creation. Although the expressive techniques of later poems are rich, they can all be summarized by the so-called fu, bi and xing. Thirdly, I want to talk about tradition. China's poems can be described as realistic poems and romantic poems. People attribute the source of China's realistic poetry tradition to The Book of Songs. Criticism of society and accusations of people's unfair life can be found in the "national style", "elegance" and "elegance" of The Book of Songs. This concern for people and society is the mainstream of China's poetry. The beginning of this mainstream is the Book of Songs. I think, from these three aspects, The Book of Songs has a great influence on the development of China's poetry, which is the classic of The Book of Songs that we understand today.