Yang Guifei's legendary life experience has been talked about by people for thousands of years, and her beautiful love story with Tang Xuanzong has made future generations lament. How many literati splashed ink on her and wrote famous sentences that have been circulated for thousands of years. The allusions and operas such as bathing and drunkenness of the imperial concubine have long been known to people.
Because of Yang Guifei's beautiful drifting in historical time and space, she has added several fragrant or sad cultural monuments to the glittering cultural landscape of China, such as Huaqingchi and Maweipo, so that future generations can mourn the history and meditate on the past.
It has been 1000 years since Yang Guifei died, but her shadow still often appears in the lives of China people today. Because of Yang Guifei, litchi planted in China has a beautiful brand-Feizixiao. When people taste sweet litchi, they can't help but think of Yang Guifei, who has a variety of amorous feelings. The flat round bracelet worn by women is called the imperial concubine bracelet, and the reclining chair used by women is called the imperial concubine couch.
Although the whole world knows that Yang Guifei's brother and sister were autocratic and disorderly, which made Emperor Li Longji indulge in debauchery and neglect political affairs, the result was an Anshi rebellion, which led to the decline of the Tang Dynasty empire from the peak of the world. However, people are still saddened by Yang Guifei's tragic ending, because although she was at fault, the responsibility for the decline of the national fortune in the Tang Dynasty could not be borne by her alone. The destruction of any good thing will make people feel sad. The so-called "tragedy is to tear up beauty for people to see", and Yang Guifei staged such a tragedy.
Out of pity and mourning for Yang Guifei, people have been commemorating and mourning her for more than 1000 years. However, where her native place is has always been a mystery. When people worship her in her "hometown", they often have some doubts and worry about whether they have visited the wrong place.
There are five opinions about Yang Guifei's birthplace in history, but now three can be ruled out, and only two are still in dispute.
According to the Yongle Dadian, Yang Guifei is from Yangcun, Rong County, Guangxi. Moreover, Yang Xuanyan, the biological father of Yang Guifei that we know now, is actually her adoptive father. When Yang Xuanyan was in the long history of Rong County, he saw that Yang's peasant daughter was very beautiful, so he bought her and brought her back to Chang 'an as his adopted daughter. This statement has not been accurately verified, because many people think that Yang Guifei is from Sichuan, and there are still relics about Yang Guifei in Dujiangyan today.
There is a Yang Fei Temple ten miles east of Rong County, Guangxi. It is said that Yang Guifei's soul returned there after her death. The local people built this temple to commemorate her, and litchi is also abundant there. There are many inscriptions in the temple that record Yang Guifei's life, but these inscriptions are all from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and there is no Song tablet that can be confirmed. This makes the statement that this place is the hometown of Yang Guifei questioned, because there is no dynasty that does not record the important events and famous people of the previous dynasty, let alone the Song Dynasty with extremely developed culture. An important reason why Xia Dynasty is not recognized internationally is that it is not mentioned in the mature documents of Shang Dynasty, but it was widely publicized in the next generation of Zhou Dynasty, so people think that Xia Dynasty was invented by Zhou people and did not exist at all. For the same reason, it can also be considered that the statement that Yang Guifei's hometown is in Rong County in the introduction was invented by people in Ming and Qing Dynasties for some purpose.
"The world of mortals laughs when riding a princess, but no one knows it is litchi", which is a famous sentence in Du Mu's "Crossing Huaqing Palace". It is said that Yang Guifei likes to eat litchi. Every summer, the courier rides a fast horse to Chang 'an in the heat. It shows that this matter was known in the Tang Dynasty, but there has been disagreement about where litchi should be sent.
Harness the world of mortals
Hong Sheng has a scene of "getting into the fruit" in the Palace of Eternal Life, which describes a scene in which a courier travels long distances from Lingnan to Beijing to deliver litchi. In the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo lamented: "There are 300 lychees a day, so it is better to grow up to be a Lingnan person" and said: "I wonder if God intends to give a brief introduction to Yang Yuhuan, so I sent this stunner to live in a corner of the sea". It can be seen that although Su Dongpo is from Sichuan, he thinks that litchi in Lingnan is far better than that in Sichuan. Ouyang Xiu also has a poem "Langtaosha" that sings lychee. The words read:
Wheat is harvested in Wuling area, and litchi wears Dānlín clothes early. Purple yarn wrinkle, with crystal pills. It's a pity that Tianjiao is far away from Chang 'an. Recalling the past, the imperial concubine especially loves litchi. A bunch of souls scattered on the horse. Only the world of mortals has no posts, and Mount Li is full of eyes.
It is clearly pointed out that Yang Guifei's hobby is Lingnan litchi. It is difficult to explain this hobby if it is not a habit formed from childhood. Therefore, the word Ouyang Xiu has always been regarded as evidence that Yang Guifei's hometown is in Rong County, Guangxi.
However, Sichuanese do not buy this statement. Now Dujiangyan has a scenic spot "Falling Princess Pool" and the remains of Yang Yuhuan's dressing table. The name "Falling Princess Pool" comes from the story that Yang Yuhuan accidentally fell into the pool while playing by the pool when he was a child. Yang Guifei once wrote a poem "Thinking of Hometown" to describe it:
Bashan and Shushui are picturesque, and Qingcheng Mountain is my hometown. The river leads the world, and the ginkgo tree washes the fertilizer.
The records of Dujiangyan County also accurately recorded what happened when Yang Yuhuan fell into the swimming pool when he was young. Yang Shen, a famous scholar in Ming Dynasty, also thought that Yang Guifei was from Dujiangyan. Xerox, a scholar of the Song Dynasty who was an official in the Southern Tang Dynasty, is considered to be the most credible person in Taiping Universe. Because he experienced the Southern Tang Dynasty and was familiar with Tang Shi, he didn't need to avoid the Tang Dynasty in the Song Dynasty, so his views were the most objective, fair and convincing.
In short, Yang Guifei's hometown is still inconclusive, but I think it doesn't matter where her hometown is. What's important is that there was such a legendary beauty in our history, and we were also immersed in her beautiful and sad story. We have been enjoying her poems and plays. Listening to an elegant and euphemistic "drunken imperial concubine" is more interesting than fighting for where your hometown is.
Attachment: "Tragedy is to destroy beautiful things for people to see" comes from On the Collapse of Leifeng Tower in the Tomb, Complete Works of Lu Xun, vol./kloc-0, People's Literature Publishing House, 2005.