Chapter 7 Chapter Five Restoring the Standards of Physical Beauty Before the Tang Dynasty

Aesthetics is a part of philosophy, a beautiful life is a part of human life, and the standard of aesthetics is the noblest and most beautiful ideal of human life.The importance of aesthetics lies not only in his philosophical, artistic, and literary aspects of the form of life and social concepts, but especially in his establishment of an ideal of life, so that everyone can improve their lives unconsciously and move towards this ideal. go. Physical beauty is the most common concept in aesthetics, but also the most difficult concept to express.Western methods of expressing physical beauty include sculpture, painting, literature and so on.In the Greek era, sculpture has been developed to the pinnacle, which not only represents the typical Greek national beauty, but also makes us admire and appreciate it today.China's sculpture is relatively underdeveloped, such as the statues of Yungang Longmen, which are rare.As for the surviving ancient paintings, they have gradually decreased after the chaos. The oldest paintings are probably attributed to Gu Kaizhi of the Jin Dynasty, but they are mostly based on the identification of later generations.Therefore, if we want to explain the standards of physical beauty in the past dynasties in China, we can only focus on literature, especially poetry.Moreover, literature and poetry are the most representative of the psychology and customs of a certain era.

The physique of the Chinese nation was originally vigorous and beautiful, but unfortunately it gradually degenerated and became decadent.Don't say that our distant ancestors lived in caves, drank blood like hair, conquered the natural environment, and opened up beautiful rivers and mountains, all relying on their great and strong physique. Foot six inches, isn't that an upright, burly and majestic appearance? (That is to say, the Shang and Zhou rulers were smaller than the current ones, but no matter how they are combined, they must be much taller than today's people.) As for Chinese literature, the earliest one is the Book of Songs.In the Book of Songs, there are many places describing the physical beauty of men and women.The handsome men in the Book of Songs can be represented by Uncle Duan.How beautiful is he?A great man, Matata, who dances in the public court, is as powerful as a tiger, and holds his bridle like a group.Uncle Yutian rides a horse, holds a bridle like a group, and two horses dance like a dancer; Uncle is in the sou, with a fiery weapon, barebacked and violent tiger, presented to the public office, and uncle Wuxuan, abstaining from hurting his daughter.This kind of man with strong body and strong body, riding and flying was recognized as the most beautiful typical man at that time, so everyone praised him as Shu Yutian, there is no one in the alley;Not as good as uncle, beautiful and benevolent!We should pay attention to this last sentence, which is clearly marked with beautiful words.The standard woman in the Book of Songs can be Zhuang Jiang.What about her beauty?The tall man is tall, and he wears brocade clothes; the tall man is Ao Ao, who is said to be in the suburbs;It can be seen that she is not petite and exquisite, nor is she thin and soft; she is strong, plump, dignified and beautiful.The expression poems in the Book of Songs describe the love between a man and a woman. The imaginary character is a beautiful person, huge and curly, sleepy and inactive, and sluggish in the center.There is a beautiful person, huge and dignified, sleeping and doing nothing, tossing and turning on the pillow.This kind of lyrical love poem expresses a great and majestic gesture.

This aesthetic concept was maintained until the Han Dynasty.When Mrs. Li of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was about to die of illness, she didn't want Emperor Wu to visit him because she didn't want Emperor Wu to see her sick face.Relatives outside the Han Dynasty, there are many famous generals, such as Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, Li Guangli in the Western Han Dynasty, and Dou Xian in the Eastern Han Dynasty.The aesthetic standards of the Eastern Han Dynasty have not been lowered.The woman described in Longxi Xing is: a good woman goes out to meet her, and she is very happy.The so-called pleasure of applying is just a symbol of plumpness and joy.The same is true in the late Han and early Wei dynasties.The beauties entrusted in Cao Zijian's Luoshen Fu are as graceful as a frightened bird, like a dragon swimming, with Yao Qiuju and luxuriant spring pine.How lively Jinghong Youlong is!How plump is Qiuju Chunsong!The characters in the female Shizhen scrolls painted by Gu Kaizhi in the Jin Dynasty also fully demonstrate health, size, and solemnity.Even in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the standard has not changed.The portrait of Yungang is a great remnant of the Northern Wei Dynasty, showing the standard of the body at that time.Yang Kan's waiter can walk a horse, and Li Bo's younger sister can untie a bow, these are the fashions of women in this era.It is the woman whom the monarch of the Northern Qi Dynasty fell in love with, or the woman who is most in uniform in Qingcheng, and who can shoot around with the king again.

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China.Tang Gaozu Tang Taizong, who created the world with his brilliant martial arts, has a vigorous physique, which is self-evident.The standard beauty of the Tang Dynasty was Yang Taizhen who was described the most in literature.Bai Juyi described Yang Taizhen's beauty as a lotus like a face and a willow like an eyebrow.The beauty of ring fat is a tribute to her voluptuous body.Mrs. Guo Guo accepted the Lord's grace and entered the Golden Gate on a horse in Pingming. His sisters entered the palace on horseback, not on sedan chairs or on sliding poles.This is not only true for concubines and noble relatives, but also for court ladies.Wang Jian's palace poems describe the court life of the Tang Dynasty the most.He wrote: Shoot the palace maids to stay in red makeup, and each has a new bow.This kind of martial spirit has become the fashion of the moment.When a country is strong and prosperous, not only martial arts are developed, but also the physique of the nation is strong and vigorous, majestic and tall, not sneaky.

The decline of the Chinese nation can be seen especially from the Song Dynasty, especially from the Southern Song Dynasty.This is most evident in literature.Mrs. Huarui in the early Song Dynasty said that the demise of Meng Shu was the disarmament of 140,000 troops, and none of them was a man.Why don't the soldiers in the army become men?The words of the two masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty more fully showed the spirit of depression and depression at that time.Li Houzhu's famous line is: The rain is gurgling outside the curtain, the spring is fading, and Luo Qun can't bear the cold at five o'clock.This kind of zest for life, no wonder he has to sink his waist and pan his temples.That's why he resigned from the temple in haste the most. The Jiaofang still sang farewell songs and wept to Gong'e.On the day when he was captive and resigned from the temple, instead of crying bitterly to the ancestral tablet, he wept against the maid of honor. I cannot but admire his leisurely manner!By the time of the Huiqin Emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, although Huizong's handwriting was exquisite and his paintings were excellent, their physiques were not enough to wait until the days of the Five Kingdoms City.In the late Northern Song Dynasty, Qin Shaoyou's poems about the affectionate peony with spring tears and the weak rose lying on Xiaozhi's daughter can be used as a portrayal of the literati at that time.This was true in the Northern Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty.Literary works are full of decadence.Among the poets at that time, the one who was least affected by the atmosphere of the times wanted to push Lu Fangweng.He said: Lao Tzu is still worthy of the desert, how can you lords weep at the new pavilion!It is no longer forced to speak loudly.He is the most ardently patriotic person, but in the end he also became like an old man who has traveled a thousand miles away, and his body has fallen asleep like a spring silkworm;As for the women of the Song Dynasty?Li Qingzhao, the greatest poetess in China, described women as a westerly wind, thinner than a yellow flower, living the life that Nie Shengqiong described as tears on the pillow and rain on the front, dripping to the bright through the window.This is really frail and sad to the point of unimaginable!Yuan is a foreign race, originally very strong, but the strong ones are the nomads of the Yuan Dynasty, not the people from the Central Plains.It is even more unspeakable to descend to the Ming Dynasty.The woman Mrs. Yang Sheng'an described is a woman with heavy eyes, faded eyebrows, frightened and frightened, and a weak and lonely woman in the fragrant place; a woman with a strong waist and limbs;As for pouring the phoenix head from the gold vase, holding the jade cup with fine wine, kneading the phoenix head of the golden lotus, trembling the jade hook, trimming the phoenix head of the golden hairpin, and revealing the spring's sharp jade hands, this is simply carving yourself into a tool for men to play with!This is true for standard women, but what about standard men?Her description is that Yingying is too skinny!This decadent and sluggish fashion spread to the end of Ming Dynasty and became even worse.Wu Meicun, a well-known Chinese writer of poetry and history, described Liu Zeqing, the general of Linhuai in the Ming Dynasty, saying: Linhuai Ranger started from Shandong, and the silver kite team under his tent was red.This is exactly the so-called situation of singing and dancing without being physically strong, so why fight?How can such a social situation be achieved without perishing the country?In the early Qing Dynasty, let alone.A Dream of Red Mansions is a masterpiece describing family life in the heyday of the early Qing Dynasty. The standard woman in it is the well-known Lin Daiyu.The most beautiful part of him is spitting green phlegm, and the poor lung disease has reached the third stage, and this standard of beauty has been completed!At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the bodies of the political authorities and literati were just as Liang Rengong said: Bobo is old, but the corpse is still alive, and the young is graceful and weak.Can everyone find a better description?

How bad our general physique is now is astonishing!Take a special example.Why are the four eastern provinces so easy to lose?It was because the officials of the frontier at that time were not strong enough to sing and dance.The senior generals are like this, so I heard that there is a brigade commander below who washes his face every morning with eight basins of water, because he not only does various grooming, but also applies cream.As a result, the division commander did not dare to see the brigade commander, the brigade commander did not dare to see the regiment commander, the regiment commander did not dare to see the battalion commander, and the battalion commander did not dare to see the soldiers.Jie Shu actually taught him how to ascend the Jade Throne, and the Nong's family has been privy to Jin'ou ever since.When the September 18th Incident happened, the commander-in-chief was still watching Mei Lanfang's "Universal Front" in the Zhonghe Garden in Beiping, so he didn't dare to report it to the left and right, and went to dance after watching it.These are facts that historians will never forget, nor should they.People in the Qing Dynasty chanted the poem of Wu Wangtai: "Dancing on the stage lying on the side of the stage, it can be seen that they are also sleepless people."Yes, everyone is a person who does not sleep, but they are teaching lessons when they do not sleep, but we are dancing when we are not sleeping!How can the four eastern provinces not lose?How can the country not suffer great pain?

The decline of physique is naturally reflected in the decadence of spirit.How vigorous the literature of the Tang Dynasty was!There is also a reason for the so-called decline of the eight generations of literature.The Song Dynasty was far behind.At that time, Lu Fangweng's poems and Xin Jiaxuan's poems were probably the only ones who were able to be independent and not be moved by the atmosphere of the times.There are naturally many reasons for the physical weakness of the Chinese people, such as the oppression of foreign races several times, and the harm of stereotyped parts and small feet for more than a thousand years, among which the most serious.There is still opium smoke in the past hundred years!When the body is weakened, the spirit is degraded.If we want to cheer up now, we must restore our pre-Tang physique, we must restore our pre-Tang body beauty standards!

The rise and fall of a dynasty has a lot to do with the strength of the authorities.If you don't believe me, I invite you to take a look at a photocopied portrait of successive emperors in the Beiping Antiquities Exhibition.All the emperors who founded the country were strong in stature and imposing: if they saw that the generations were getting thinner and weaker, and when the little white faces appeared, they would be the last generation of descendants.The end of the dynasty was at this time.Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was Long Zhun Longyan, so it goes without saying that he had a good physique; Emperor Wu's body was certainly not bad.When Emperor Cheng arrived, he took Shenxie ointment.Emperor Ai and Emperor Ping are both weak and sick ghosts.Guangwu and Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty were either born in hundreds of battles, or they were tireless.When Emperor Chong, Emperor Zhi, Emperor Huan, Emperor Ling, and Emperor Xian were all like children, how could they not be teased by the eunuchs?How can Cao's father and son not have the heart to replace them?Tang Gaozu and Taizong's physiques were so vigorous, but when it came to Yizong, Huaizong, and Zhaozong, they were obviously in decline.Needless to say, the two masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty.The Taizu and Taizong of the Song Dynasty were all martial arts that were too literary, but it was wrong when it came to Zhezong, Huizong, and Qinzong.As for Lizong and Duzong in the Southern Song Dynasty, they are really poor people!Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong of the Yuan Dynasty were both strong and strong men who opened up territories. Emperor Taiding, Emperor Wenzong, and Emperor Shun, like the emperors of previous dynasties, became delicate and weak, so they were expelled from Mobei by Mingzu in one fell swoop.Ming Taizu was a reckless hero, and Chengzu was a great figure who personally raised soldiers for the Northern Expedition.When they arrived at Shenzong, Guangzong and Xizong, they degenerated.Are Fu Wang and Tang Wang worth mentioning?Not to mention the nomadic people of Qingben, Tianming Tiancong, Kangxi personally led the army to go north to the desert several times. If the health is not good, it will be difficult to do it.But in Tongzhi, Guangxu and now Henry Puyi, all of them are weak and thin white-faced scholars. How can the Qing court survive?Wang Jinggong once chanted with emotion: the overlord takes Erjiang alone, and most of his descendants surrender with a hundred cities.If he sees this book of portraits of emperors of all dynasties, he can get the best answer in it.The quality of a monarch's personality can symbolize the success of a dynasty.Couldn't the physical strength of an entire nation symbolize the prosperity and decline of a nation?If we want to restore the past glory of our nation, we must first restore the standard of physical beauty of our nation before the Tang Dynasty!

There is a reason for the strength of the country.When I was at a German university, I often lived with German students.Once I saw them in the basement of the university, throwing beer bottles on the table for a meal, and then they started a fencing contest.One of them cut off the tip of his nose unexpectedly, but he didn't panic at all. He immediately put the tip of his nose in his mouth and went to the doctor to sew it up.The next day, his nose was covered with white money, and he still went to school to attend lectures as usual, without any expression of pain.This is really the spirit of the so-called Ur︱Germania!It is the spirit in the ancient heroic poem of Nieblungen!That's why I often say that I would rather see young people dressed in leafy clothes, riding bare horses with shining knives and guns, galloping and hunting in the forest and wilderness like our ancestors, rather than seeing flies slipping on their heads, Wearing black patent leather shoes on the feet, and a face of cream, dancing and fooling around under the colorful neon lights with a pale face!Send yourself to the grave early, and send the nation to decline!