Ancient literati like to pursue a slow life. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Chao wrote in Nightmare Shadow: "People are unwilling to be idle, and they are not idle. You can study when you have time, visit famous mountains when you have time, make friends when you have time, drink when you have time, write books when you have time, and the happiness on earth is great. "
Incense burning means that people process natural spices obtained from animals and plants into different fragrance types and burn them on different occasions to obtain a good sense of smell.
Burning incense has been combined with people's physiological needs and spiritual needs from the beginning. During the prosperous Tang Dynasty in China, dignitaries, literati and wealthy families often competed for incense at parties, and gradually incense became an art and developed together with tea culture. In the Song Dynasty, China's incense burning art, together with ordering tea, arranging flowers and hanging pictures, was regarded as the "four arts" of literati.
There is a poem by Lu Fangweng: "Officials often owe money for studying, and Mi Lu doesn't pay for selling wine. The rest is happy that there is nothing to do now, burning incense and reading Yuxi poems". The ancient people's requirement for burning incense was smokeless but the incense was low and long. In the courtyard of the study, scholars of all ages dream of visitors, and black tea adds fragrance to reading at night. In the quiet night, a faint fragrance is floating and intoxicating. Blurred, read how many prosperous vicissitudes, into plumes of smoke. In the leisurely fragrance, reading with your knees in your arms, or having a conversation, are all meaningful classical China images.
Tea plays an important role in the history of China. Since tea was discovered and drunk, it has been sought after by scholars of all ages. Three or five friends, gathered in the mountains and rivers, sipped tea and talked about their ambitions, showing the elegant demeanor of China literati.
Tea, facing the self-denial of water, becomes tea because of paying; Ye Yun's tea fragrance is like abstaining from fragrance, for keeping the precepts; To endure steaming and frying, being squeezed and rubbing is to endure humiliation; Besides laziness, sober thinking is for diligence; And respect without words, tea tastes the same, for meditation; It is wise to act conveniently and help countless people. Why * * * why? A cup of green tea.
The ancients paid attention to the heat when cooking tea. Boiling water tender, old and moderate, the time and method of adding tea, the way of cooking tea and the quality of "soup flower" all depend on whether the soup is cooked well or not. Xu Mingran described it in Tea Sparse: "As soon as water enters the pot, it must be boiled urgently.
When there is a pine sound, cover it and tell you that it is old and tender. After the crab eye, the water was slightly turbulent, which was the situation at that time. Big waves wash sand, rotating silently, out of place. If they pass it, the soup will be old and won't be used anymore. "The Book of Tea" also said: "Its boiling, like a fish's eye, is a boiling sound; The edge is like a spring bead, which is two boiling points; Make waves and drum waves, let three people boil. It has been served, and the water is too old to eat ("53 Boiling").
China's floral art not only pays attention to the echo of the four seasons, but also pays more attention to the implication of flowers and trees. For example, Bian, a master of flowers and birds in the early Ming Dynasty, once painted a large hall vase, which contained ten kinds of flowers with rich meanings, such as plum, pine, cypress, camellia, narcissus, ganoderma lucidum and persimmon, which meant perfection and all the best.
For busy modern people, the meaning of flower arrangement is more about getting close to nature and discovering the beauty of life. From going to the market or choosing flowers from nature, choosing suitable bottles, designing flowers and implementing them, the artistic process of discovery, appreciation and creation has been completed.
In the Ming Dynasty, the art of flower arrangement in China was not only widely popularized, but also monographs on flower arrangement appeared, such as Orchard Flower Spectrum by Zhang Qiande and History of Bottles by Yuan Hongdao. Chinese flower arrangement art reached its peak in Ming Dynasty, which was quite mature and perfect both technically and theoretically. Stylistically, it emphasizes natural lyricism, elegant and simple expression, elegant Ming Xiu color and simple modeling. However, the art of flower arrangement in Qing dynasty has not been valued, developed and popularized among the people.
"When the Shanjia family has nothing to do at the end of the year, they will celebrate the New Year with plum blossoms." "China people's emotional demand for flower arrangement is obvious.
Burning incense pays attention to the beauty of smell, tasting tea pays attention to the beauty of taste, arranging flowers pays attention to the beauty of touch, and hanging pictures pays attention to the beauty of vision, which is a kind of life aesthetics that integrates the elegance and charm of literati in Song Dynasty.
"Hanging pictures" was first hung next to the tea party seats, and the content was about tea. Evolved to the Song Dynasty, hanging paintings were mainly scrolls of poems, words, characters and paintings. At that time, scholars paid attention to the content and display form of hanging pictures, which was an important activity for home appreciation or elegant collection.