It is said that Meng Changjun, the monarch of Shu after the Five Dynasties, was a monarch who liked to be unconventional. On New Year's Eve at the end of 964, he had a whim to let a bachelor named Xin write two sentences on the mahogany board and hang them on the door frame of his living room as peach symbols. These two sentences are "Qing Yu in the New Year, Changchun in the First Festival". Enjoy the legacy of the previous generation in the new year. The second sentence is to the effect that festivals indicate that spring is always there. Since then, the form and content of Fu Tao have changed, not only by replacing "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" with parallel couplets, but also by expanding the connotation of Fu Tao, not only to ward off evil spirits and disasters, but also by adding the content of praying and wishing.
Liang Zhangju, a master of couplets in Qing Dynasty, wrote the couplet Conghua, citing the history of Song Dynasty as evidence. Liang is also based on Lang. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang's Shu Konglang (Sikuquanshu) rolled down a cloud: "One year before Shu died, except for his grandson, he ordered the bachelor to write a peach symbol on the bedroom door, with his word merit (Liang cited the word" Fei "before" Gong "), and he wrote a cloud:" The Yuan Dynasty and other books, the History of the Song Dynasty (Volume 479) and the Meng family in Western Shu, are the same.
However, an earlier note, Mao Ting Hakka Dialect, recorded in detail the topic of Fu Tao's antithesis in the last years of Houshu. His book "Signs of Shu State" records: "First, the owner of Shu State gives a pair of peach symbols to the palace gates except Japan every year, and writes the words Yuan, Heng, Li and Zhen respectively. At that time, the fake prince was good at writing letters, chose the peach symbol of the palace's Cexun House, and wrote in his own hand:' The sky is connected to Changchun', which is beautiful. " (According to "Learning Tianjin as the Original")
As early as the Han and Wei Dynasties, there was a custom of hanging the idol of Fu Tao on the door to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters. See Han Yingshao's Custom Yi Tong and Liang Zonggu's Chronicle of Jingchu for details. According to the Mao Ting Hakka dialect, on New Year's Eve every year after the Five Dynasties, a peach symbol with the words "Yuan, Heng, Reason and Truth" will be hung at every palace gate as good luck, which is the embryonic form of Spring Festival couplets. On New Year's Eve in the second year of Gande, Song Taizu (964), the words "Qing Yu hangs in the sky and Changchun meets in the ground" inscribed by the Crown Prince of Houshu at his palace gate should be the earliest known Spring Festival couplets in China.
In 964 AD, after the Lunar New Year's Eve, the court of Shu carved the correct words on the peach symbol. Whether it is Hakka dialect or Shu, it is recorded as a sign. The difference is that the author is the Crown Prince of Meng Chang, the late Shu master, and also Meng Chang himself. Written dialogue is four words and five words. Right or wrong? I think the Mao Ting Hakka dialect is more reliable.
Huang Xiufu, the author of Mao Ting Hakka Dialect, was a learned hermit who entered the Northern Song Dynasty from Houshu. Mao Ting Hakka Dialect consists of ten volumes, which is a compilation and miscellany of what he saw and heard (Summary of Sikuquanshu). The stories recorded in the book are all Sichuan stories, and many of them are contemporary events experienced by the author personally. It happened in the fourth year of Tianxi at the latest (1020), and this book is regarded as the author's work in his later years. Zhang (1029- 107 1), the author of Shukongtong, was not born when he wrote Hakka. Zhang's Shu Lang Lang is a miscellaneous history before and after Shu compiled according to the records of predecessors. It's already second-hand information. Therefore, its record of Fu Tao's inscription is not as credible as Huang Xiufu's Mao Ting Hakka dialect.
The pseudo-Crown Prince mentioned in Shu Zhao is the eldest son of Meng Changjun, the master of the later Shu Dynasty, and his name is Xuanzhe. According to Ouyang Xiu's History of the New Five Dynasties, History of the Song Dynasty and Qing Wu's Annals of the Ten Kingdoms of Renchen in the Spring and Autumn Period, Xuanzhe is young and wise, good at official script, and has tasted the stone carving in Yao Chong's Kouzhen, which is similar to Shu Zhao.
Liang Zhangju's couplets from Conghua Volume I quoted Shu Lang as saying: "This was a prophecy at that time, but it was later affixed with power, but I wonder if there was anything to test before it? "Didn't put the words to death. As Hakka dialect is a contemporary event recorded by contemporary people, it was written earlier than Lang, so the beginning of Spring Festival couplets recorded in Shu Zhao should be more reliable than Lang's related records. Therefore, the first pair of Spring Festival couplets in China's history, which was made on Lunar New Year's Eve in 964 AD, was not written by Meng Chang, but by his son Meng Xuanzhe. This pair of Spring Festival couplets is not "New Year's Eve, Qing Yu, A Festival (Congratulations) Changchun", but "Day hangs in Qing Yu, and the ground meets Changchun".
I hope I can help you!