When I set foot on the ancient Guanzhong city of Qinchuan, it was already evening. Sunset in Shaanxi plain is much later than that in the south, and it is still on at 7 pm, but it refuses to hide.

I stand on the Drum Tower in West Street, which is located in the center of Xi. It was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and is a landmark building of Xi. Every evening, the Ming city wall will beat the drums to tell the time, echoing the opposite bell tower into a "morning bell and dusk drum." In the long years, drums came from afar through time and space, reminding the world of dynasty changes and personnel changes.

Climb the stairs and lean against the railing, overlooking the whole ancient city. Looking up is an old story of the ancients under the sky, and bowing down is an uninterrupted movement of Huimin Street today. The past and the modern are combined here to form a strange landscape, which makes people suddenly feel what tonight is.

From the Western Zhou Dynasty in 1057 BC, the Qin, Han, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties 13 established their capitals here, which lasted 1 140 years. The ancient capital of thirteen dynasties is beyond words. It is a history book that can never be read. You can approach it, touch it and appreciate it, but you will never really understand it. However, the bright moon of the Han Dynasty and the brilliance of the Tang Dynasty lurk in the cracks of this book. Its shimmer is enough to guide me through the thousand years of time and space to it, like approaching an old man who has lost the glory of life, cautious and excited.

Leaning against the brick wall of the ancient city, the afterglow of the sunset dyed the ancient city with a warm golden color. Feel its temperature with your hands, then time and space drift away, and listen with your ears, as if you heard someone wearing a blue crown and stepping on a horse.

This is the prosperous Chang 'an, the Tang Dynasty.

Chang 'an has a profound ancient meaning.

"Chang' an Avenue is even narrow and oblique, and the green cattle and white horses are seven fragrant cars.

The jade chariot crosses the main place, and the golden whip flows to Hou's house.

There are thousands of colors on the side of butterflies and thousands of colors on the silver platform of green trees.

Passing through the window is acacia, and the double que is even hung with phoenix wings.

Liang Jia's painting pavilion ascended to heaven, and the golden stem of Han Emperor was straight outside the cloud.

I don't know each other in front of the building. "

To restore the excitement and prosperity of Chang 'an in Tang Dynasty, we should first read Lu's Ancient Meaning of Chang 'an. When writing this poem, Lu was only eighteen years old, and he had just been admitted to Jinshi. He is a literary official in Li Shimin's younger brother Deng's palace.

As usual, the young poet in the early Tang Dynasty wandered around Chang 'an City, only to see the white horses of princes and nobles in the street, flowers and birds dancing together on both sides of the street, carved columns and painted pavilions in luxury houses towering into the sky, tea shops and brothels singing and dancing. These fascinating pictures spread out before the poet's eyes and were written into songs, which really constructed a magnificent picture of life in the imperial city for future generations.

Here, what I want to say is that the area within the Ming city wall is actually the capital city established by the Ming people, named Xi 'an, which means permanent stability in the west. It was called Chang 'an before the Ming Dynasty, and it was the seat of the imperial city. The total area of Chang 'an City in Tang Dynasty was about ten times that of Xi City Wall today. This city was the economic and cultural center of China and even the whole world at that time, with smooth layout, numerous shops and prosperous market.

Chang 'an City consists of fourteen horizontal streets and eleven vertical streets. One of the most famous is Suzaku Street, which is the main street running north and south, and is the "Chang 'an Street" written in Lu's poems. This street is 150 meters wide and 5020 meters long, which can accommodate eight carriages. Suzaku Street is located on the central axis of Chang 'an, which divides Chang 'an into east and west cities.

In Chang 'an, where countries come to Korea, Suzaku Street is the only avenue to enter the inner city of Chang 'an. As you can imagine, with the drums of Chengtianmen ringing every day, the Mingde Gate at the southern end of the street slowly opens, and people from afar outside the city, conference semifinals and caravans from Central Asia and Persia begin to enter this imperial city one after another. What a lively scene! New york, Tokyo and Paris are nothing. As early as the 7th century in the East, they were well-deserved international metropolises.

At that time, Lu was sitting on Suzaku Street with rolling horses and chariots. He must have fallen in love with the prosperity in the rolling world of mortals, but he was easily lost. The poet finally woke up in this excitement. So he said, "Why don't you give up your life? I would rather be a mandarin duck than a fairy. " Being a couple of love birds is admirable, but I can't see you after two trips. "

There is no perfect destination in the world, and you have never seen the love that flies together, just like this prosperous time will eventually end, which is something to be lamented.

Walking outside today's Suzaku Gate and walking south along the Little Wild Goose Pagoda, we can see that both sides of the road have been replaced by various modern buildings. If you are willing to listen, the stone road hidden under the ancient locust tree, under the cold street lamp, may still be silently telling some of the prosperity and grandeur of the past.

The prosperous times are full of buildings.

When people talk about the Tang Dynasty, they usually divide it into four periods according to the titles of Tang poems compiled by Yang Shihong in Yuan Dynasty and Gao Lian in Ming Dynasty: early period, prosperous period, middle period and late period.

The prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty began with the rule of Zhenguan and ended with the Anshi Rebellion. The early Tang Dynasty just occupied the most quintessential period of 65,438+000 years, from Li Shimin of Emperor Taizong to Li Zhi and then to Wu Zetian. Thanks to these monarchs' strategies of governing the country, the Chinese nation at that time was strong in national strength and graceful in bearing, showing unprecedented vitality.

I like the early Tang Dynasty, because it is the beginning of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, prosperity begins to flourish, romance ends, and there is still a long time for it to slowly polish in the next few hundred years. There were still some lazy and willful postures in the early Tang Dynasty. The past slowly got up, with tolerance, and the six palaces were wiped out.

Chang 'an, as the capital city at that time, benefited from the cultural blending and open trend of thought after the Five Kingdoms Rebellion, and many famous poets, bachelors, monks and actresses appeared at that time. At that time, Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei and Meng Haoran were not yet born, but a number of romantic talents such as Zhang, Luo, Yang Jiong and Song were born in the sky of the Tang Dynasty, which initiated and led the cultural value orientation of the Tang Dynasty and laid a solid foundation for the brilliant artistic achievements of the Tang Dynasty.

Chang 'an, a city, has been endowed with irreplaceable amorous feelings because these romantic figures have interpreted many wonderful stories. There were many wizards in the Tang Dynasty. Because there were so many interesting stories, I chose one or two interesting ones to share with you.

Chen Ziang is the most outstanding poet who made important contributions to the theoretical innovation of poetry in the early Tang Dynasty. He wrote "Thinking about the world and crying alone", which started the fable style in Tang poetry. But when he was young, Chen Ziang was definitely a super cool rich second generation. He came to Chang 'an from Shu, but he was not appreciated because of his talent. One day, when Chen Ziang was on the street, he saw a harpsichord sold for thousands of dollars, which aroused people's curiosity. He had a brainwave and bought it without saying anything, and invited everyone to move to Xuanyang tomorrow to listen to him play the piano. The next day, many people heard voices and came to see them. He picked up Hu Qin and said, "Chen Ziang, a native of Shu, is unknown." Should we pay attention to this cheap work? "He said, and smashed the precious Hu Qin in public, and then presented his poems to all the participants. As a result, Chen Ziang became famous one day.

Is it awesome? From the perspective of modern people, Chen Ziang is definitely a marketing wizard. Of course, such a vigorous personal show must first be based on your own rich talents. You have to have enough confidence to have willful capital, right?

Then I turned back to the Four Masters of the Early Tang Dynasty. In addition to the above, the other three are Yang Jiong. My favorite is Wang Bo. We all know that Wang Bo is the first of the Four Masters, and he became a scholar before he was twenty. Obviously, he is also a young and famous wayward constantly chauffeured. When he was an official in Pei, cockfighting was very popular among the princes and ministers at that time, and the most common thing he did was to accompany the prince to cockfighting. Fighting, you know this is not serious, right? But he happened to write an article "Chicken of Bawang", and as a result, Xuanzong was so angry that he was driven out of the palace.

A crooked talent or a wizard, in short, people are really talented. Many of his articles are often masterpieces of improvisation and originality. Of course, the most interesting story about him is the origin of Preface to Wang Tengting. On the Double Ninth Festival in the second year of last Yuan Dynasty, Governor Yan of Nanchang rebuilt the pavilion and gave a big banquet, inviting scholars from far and near to preface the pavilion poems. It happened that Wang Bo was passing by, so he went to the dinner party when he had nothing to do. Originally, Qi Huangong was going to let his son-in-law Wu make a preface to show his literary talent in front of everyone and boost his family style. When preparing the preface, everyone present was hypocritical and modest, because they knew the master's intention. As a result, Wang Bo blindsided and didn't understand the situation, so he volunteered to write Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion on the spot. Imagine Wu being shot by a second on the spot. It's funny and interesting. There are geniuses in this world, whether you admit it or not.

This preface, written in parallel prose, is lively and powerful, and reads like scattered stars all over the sky. It is definitely a classic in Tang poetry. Every time I read "The setting sun is lonely in Qi Fei, the autumn waters are * * * and the sky is one color", when this poem disappears, I can't help but be deeply impressed by Wang Bo's casual literary talent. Unfortunately, this peerless talent did not bring good luck to his life. Wang Bo was only 26 years old when he drowned in the South China Sea.

Among the four outstanding men in the early Tang Dynasty, except Yang Jiong, the other three all died young and their fate was bumpy. This seems to have some inevitable connection with the times and personality. They are young and famous, brilliant, full of fantasy and passion for fame, but in the end they can only be trapped in the helpless officialdom reality. This is the sorrow of many feudal literati.

"The clouds are long and the stars have changed for a few years. Where is the emperor in the cabinet today? Beyond the threshold, the Yangtze River flows by itself. "

Looking back at the world, who is not a drop in the ocean?

4 Writing style of porcelain

During this trip to Xi, I stayed in Xi 'an Beilin Museum for a long time. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the Palace Museum in the national calligraphy field, and the original calligraphy collected in it is absolutely eye-opening. Wandering in the forest of steles, listening to the explanation recorded by the tour guide and stroking the strokes and paintings on the forest of steles, you can feel that every word written by everyone flows through your fingers, which is probably the so-called eternal vitality brought by art.

The great calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty, like poets, are definitely a star-studded era in the history of China. Ou Yangxun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, Liu Songquan and Yan Zhenqing. Just pull one out, they are all big coffee-level figures.

But among so many families, the most interesting one is Zhang Xu. To paraphrase a tour guide, this madman, who was revered as "the sage of grass" by later generations, can definitely be called an idol figure in the art world of the Tang Dynasty, except that people take the rock route. According to Old Tang Book, Zhang Xu was a good drinker and often ran away as drunk as a fiddler. Sometimes when his old man is in a good mood, he will dip his hair in ink and throw it into the book like a ghost.

I have to say that this unique artistic style has not been found for five thousand years. However, because he really made the gods cry in calligraphy, his wild and unruly style didn't really affect anyone. The world let him toss and turn and didn't arrest him with courtesy.

Speaking of which, it seems that genius always has many quirks. For example, Van Gogh Rikui personally cut off his ears and gave them to his lover. Schopenhauer never asked anyone to cut his hair or shave him. You are ashamed to admit that you are a genius without some unusual behavior.

And the stories of Zhang Xu and Yan Zhenqing are also very interesting.

It is said that Yan Zhenqing decided to resign as a teacher because Zhang Xu was so famous. Yan Zhenqing, who is born in a noble family and has a strict family style, is a bit funny to go to worship such a wild and unruly teacher as Zhang Xu. At this time, Zhang Xu is a famous figure in Luoyang. He lives in Pei Jing's house and drinks with celebrities every day, ignoring this colleague from Chang 'an. Born in Yan Zhenqing, who is honest and frank, he often doesn't take part in this kind of scene, so he has to stand there every day.

However, people who love art are always persistent and resilient. No matter how Zhang Xu ignored him, Yan Zhenqing never left. Later, he simply moved to Pei Jing's house and lingered, pestering Zhang Xu every day to learn calligraphy skills.

Tired of being pestered, I only gave Zhang Xu four words: study hard and practice hard. There is no other way.

When Yan Zhenqing 35 Feng went to Zhang Xu for the second time, Zhang Xu saw that Yan Zhenqing worked really hard and finally passed on all his life experiences. It was not until Zhang Xu's True Story that Yan Zhenqing was truly enlightened in calligraphy and saw "Yan Ti" in later generations.

Crazy as Zhang Xu, you can say that he is brilliant, but what can make people famous in the world must be his persistence and fanaticism in calligraphy and his persistence in a specific field. In fact, any success can only come from this.

5 Changyi Chang Anyue

At the last stop of Xi, I went to Li Huaqing Palace to listen to the performance of Song of Eternal Sorrow.

Huaqing Palace is built on the back of Mount Li, with pavilions and pavilions all over Mount Li, with beautiful scenery and its own style. This palace was built in the early years of the Tang Dynasty and flourished during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty loves this Lishan Palace fondly and will come here for a long time every October.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the moonlight on Mount Li began to rise. It will be late, the lights in Huaqing Palace will light up gradually, and the pool in the garden will be full of yiliu. Wandering among pavilions, feeling the mountain breeze blowing and listening to music, as if this moonlight was the Chang 'an month of that year.

Judging from the performance alone, the performance of Song of Eternal Sorrow can be said to be very wonderful. This stage play directly abandons many plots that are not suitable for children in the stories of Tang and Yang Guifei, and beautifies their love.

Let's not discuss whether this love-hate relationship is true or not, but at the end of the performance, when the old Li Longji appeared, I still had an indescribable sadness. This sadness is not because of the death of love, not because the fragrance of a generation of beautiful women disappears, but because you clearly see that the elegance of a prosperous dynasty behind him is gone. After the Anshi Rebellion, the glorious Tang Dynasty finally went down in history and became a thing of the past.

When I visited the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, there was an entire exhibition hall full of objects unearthed in the Tang Dynasty. The cultural relics displayed in it all represent the advanced civilization of that era, and everything is a rare treasure today. After the Tang Dynasty, the history of Xi 'an seems simple enough to be summarized in one sentence.

Prosperity will decline, which is the law of all things in the world. Although everyone can understand the truth, it still can't stop future generations from remembering and cherishing moderns, which happened here.

Zhang is a famous court poet in the early Tang Dynasty, and once wrote Yuefu poem "Moonlit Night on a Spring River".

"Who first saw the moon by the river? When did Jiang Yue take the photo at the beginning of the year? Life is endless from generation to generation, and Jiangyue is similar year after year. " I don't know who Jiang Yue treats, but the Yangtze River sends water. "

Generation after generation, every year, time is always indomitable. It seems heartless, but we must believe that there must be something in this world that can last forever, such as the pursuit of art and the yearning for a better life.

Looking up, I saw this round of full moon on Huaqing Pool, as if it were Chang 'an Moon of that year. It is always round and empty, as calm as water, as if it had seen countless joys and sorrows in the world.

Why don't you pour a pot of wine and have a drink with you in this flower room this month and go back to the Tang Dynasty?