Why does Peach Blossom have the metaphor of red face and thin life ?

This may have something to do with the characteristics of the peach tree. According to the Ming Dynasty Wen Zhenheng's "Chronicles of Long Things", it is recorded: "The peach is early and fruitful, and it withers in ten years, so it is called a short-lived flower."

It is said that the peach tree is precocious in nature, and it can bear fruit in three years, but it will age in six or seven years, and the branches will become thinner and thinner after fruiting, and it is easy to wither after more than ten years, and the age of the tree is not long, and it is even called "short-lived flower". Therefore, the ancients wrote poems with the saying that "plum sour heart tree, peach blossom short-lived branch".

This may also have something to do with the mysterious cultural factors in traditional Chinese culture. The mysterious culture pays attention to feng shui, physiognomy, fortune-telling and other methods, what is the eight-character numerology of "fate of peach blossoms", and what is the physiognomy of "red face and thin life", vaguely and contrary to both sides. Li Yu said that anyone who sees a woman's face similar to a peach blossom, and the color and luster are indistinguishable, should be treated as a flower soul, and it can be concluded that she is not far from death.

But don't say it, lest she grieve. Li Yu judged the life and death of a woman based on her face, which was too absurd.

This may be related to the literati's inheritance of the literary imagery of their predecessors "peach blossom = red face and thin life". The red face is easy to age, and the beauty is easy to decay, which has long been the theme of many poems related to peach blossoms. "Peach Blossom with a Human Face" has become a symbol of poignant love, and has become a pain in the hearts of amorous literati, thus leaving behind an evocative and painful beauty.

The frequent "falling red" imagery in literary works renders countless sadness, once love is metaphorized by peach blossoms, there is always a bit of astringent sourness behind the beauty. Peach blossoms are easy to wither, red faces are easy to grow old, flowers bloom and thanks, cherish the return of spring, and sigh for the thin life of the red face naturally becomes the sad emotion of the literati. <>

Today, we know that there are more than 3,000 varieties of peach trees in the world, and China accounts for about more than 1,000 species. Peach trees are generally divided into two categories: ornamental peaches and edible peaches according to the ornamental value of flowers and leaves and the quality of fruits. There are differences in the classification of peach trees in ancient times, such as the green peach and the red peach that Li Yu said at that time did not belong to the ornamental peach, but today it is an ornamental peach.

However, in the eyes of the ancient literati, even if they were ornamented, they were not necessarily as beautiful as they were. According to Li Yu, the peach trees of "peach cheeks" and "peach spirits" are not in famous garden resorts, "but between the village fences, where the shepherd boy and Qiao Su live". In the poet's pen, I saw a daughter's house in the peach blossom garden, with two blush on her fair face, red in white, white in red, like two pieces of peach, peach blossoms on the human face, reflecting each other.

However, Li Yubi Feng ** "Hey! There is no one who is extremely charming in color than a peach, and a very short life is no more than a peach.

The most delicate flower color is the peach blossom, and the shortest flowering period is also the peach blossom. In fact, Li Yu's statement is not original, this has long been the image of many poets expressing the ephemerality of Shaohua. <>

Chinese love peach blossoms and seem to have an indescribable emotion. The charming and delicate peach blossoms are easily reminiscent of a woman's bright face. Since ancient times, peach blossoms have been often used by poets as a metaphor for beautiful women.

The earliest literary creation of the combination of peach blossoms and women should be the "Book of Songs", a poem "Peach Yao" in the "peach is dying, scorching its flower", through the metaphor of the peach blossom in full bloom, singing the newlywed woman's charm and loveliness, opening a precedent for peach blossoms to metaphorize beauty. Yao Jiheng of the Qing Dynasty praised in the "General Theory of the Book of Poetry": "The peach blossom color is the most colorful, so it is a metaphor for women, and the ancestors of beautiful women are given words through the ages."

This literary image has had a great influence on later generations, and many poets throughout the ages have often used peach blossoms to sing about the appearance of beauties. The love image of peach blossoms originally originated from Cui Hu's "Title Capital City Nanzhuang" in the Tang Dynasty: "Last year, in this gate today, the peach blossoms on the human face were red.

The face of the person does not know where to go, and the peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze. The poem expresses a beautiful love that can not be found, and the contemporaneous Meng Di deduced this poem into a well-known love story in "Poems of Ability, Emotion", and since then, the love image of peach blossoms transformed from beauties has begun to be stereotyped.

Of course, the ancient poets were very particular about the metaphor of the peach blossom beauty, and not all peach blossom varieties can be described as beauty, but it depends on whether it has the so-called "peach cheeks" and "peach spirits". Li Yu, a writer in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, explained: Generally speaking, peach trees, which can be ornamented, may not be able to bear peaches for people to eat, and cannot meet people's needs in two aspects.

If you want peaches to be delicious, you must graft peach branches to other trees, people don't know that peaches are delicious, but they are good at grafting. Similarly, the color of the peach blossom is not good, and it is not good for grafting. The ungrafted peach tree, its flower color is extremely delicate, resembling the face of a beauty, the so-called "peach cheeks", "peach spirit", all refer to the natural ungrafted peach tree.

Peach blossoms are thin.

Pinyin: táo huā bó mìng

[Explanation]: Peach blossom: borrowed to refer to a woman; Thin life: How tragic life is. It is a metaphor for a woman who is beautiful in appearance but has a bad fate.

Pinyin**: THBM[synonyms]: Thin life[Usage]: as an object, a definite; For women

There is no blessing to get the peach blossom beauty, and the life is short.