"Foot color" is a word widely used in the officialdom of Song Dynasty. For example, Fan Zhongyan's letter "With Duke Wei of Han Dynasty": "My son has to wait on the left shift in the temple ... I have applied for the appearance of my feet, and now I submit it. If there are instructions, please pay attention. " The "foot color" here is a kind of resume. People in the Song Dynasty must submit their full colors if they want to enter the official career. So what are the contents of foot color in Song Dynasty? According to Volume III of Zhao Sheng's "Administering and Accepting Categories" in the Song Dynasty, "When you first enter an official position, you must have: native place, registered permanent residence, three generations of titles, family background, age and birth history. If the note is granted to the sender, it will be added to the master. Regardless of sin or not, respect the concept that the cloud is not the party member of Yuan You; Shaoxing, that is, the cloud has nothing to do with Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Zhu CuO, Wang Fu and other relatives; Calling Guan Bao to commit a crime and adding people between Qingyuan and Qingyuan is not a pseudo-study. " Visible, foot color contains the main resume information and political stance.
The reason why the word "foot color" is used in personal resume and political stance may be related to "foot" just like "resume". The road a person has traveled is his resume, and the place where a person stands on his feet is his position. And "color" refers to kinds and categories, such as "people of all colors" we often say. Foot color determines a person's identity, background, status and becomes a person's identity.
"Jiao" and "Jiao" are homophones in Mandarin nowadays, but they were different in ancient times. According to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Jiao was pronounced in ancient times, and its pronunciation was equivalent to Jue. Feet, spoon cut. Pronunciation is equivalent to angle. But even in ancient times, these two pronunciations were not clear, and there would be confusion in writing. In the Song Dynasty, Zhu's "Reply to Renxing Fu Shu" said: "If you don't write words, I wonder if you want to record the role of repentance?" The "role" in this song record is actually "foot color", which refers to the resume.
It is very natural that "foot color" appears in China traditional operas, and the specific role played by actors is called foot color. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Li Dou's "Yangzhou Painting Boat" recorded: "The beginning and end of the pear garden are foremen. Below the vice end, the old student was born ... This color is called masculine color; Lao Dan and Zheng Dan ... are called female feet. " In China traditional operas, "foot color" is generally written as "role", which is a relatively late thing. Although the word "role" can be found in Zhu's letters, some Yuan songs and some books in Qing Dynasty, such as the so-called article "Wang Daliang on the role" in Li Yuanyuan by Huang Fangzhuo in Qing Dynasty, it is not mainstream or popular enough in terms of vocabulary use. Until the end of 19, the word "foot color" was still used in Shanghai Shenbao's report on Chinese opera, while "Li Chunlai's prudent role" appeared in Shenbao on August 22, 1907. Since then, the word "role" has been used in the reports of Shenbao. Gradually, "role" gradually replaced "foot color" and became a more popular and standardized writing.
After "role" gained a firm foothold in the vocabulary of Chinese opera, with the increasing influence of Chinese opera and later film and television works, the word role was extended to other fields. We often say that we should play a supporting role in our work, and the meaning of role here also includes identity. In this way, "role" (foot color) gradually evolved from the initial identity category into a drama vocabulary, and returned to the original intention in a cycle.
(Source: People's Daily Online)