Chapter 45: Master, Stop Chanting

"First, let's discuss the refinement of characters, which appears simplest yet is actually the most difficult."

Zhao Bian pointed to the examples within and said, "Refining characters is not actually about finding suitable characters, but about finding suitable sounds."

"Parallel sentences and antithesis require the harmony of level and oblique tones. Just look at how 'Cloudy Mountains, Layered Peaks' opposes 'Misty Waters, Floating Raft'."

"Here, both 'Layered' and 'Peak' are oblique tones, while 'Floating' and 'Raft' both belong to level tones. It looks neat, but it actually commits the taboo of 'ending with the same tone'—all four characters form a pair of double-level and double-oblique oppositions, making the rhyme sound like a broken-stringed zither, lacking the beauty of fluctuation."

To be honest, this matter of level and oblique tones is quite headache-inducing.

Writing policy essays basically does not require level and oblique tones; one can freely express oneself, but the metrics of poetry and rhapsody are extremely rigorous.

Besides the antithesis of the characters themselves, it also involves the antithesis of sounds!

You must know that the Great Song had no Hanyu Pinyin; the pronunciation of every character needed to be judged based on the fanqie and rhyme categories in the Guangyun.

Moreover, never try to be clever and rely on Hanyu Pinyin to judge, because the pronunciation of Song Dynasty Chinese and modern Chinese are fundamentally different in many details!

The Song Dynasty Chinese system was based on the "Four Tones and Eight Modulations," having formed the four tones of level, rising, departing, and entering; however, due to the opposition of clear and murky initials, the four tones were each divided into yin and yang, finely subdividing into an eight-modulation system. A significant difference from modern Chinese is that the entering tone was independent, ending with a stop consonant rhyme, pronounced short and abrupt, unlike modern Chinese which merges it into other tones.

If one must use modern Chinese as a reference, one should look for dialects closer to Song Dynasty Chinese, which are the Hakka dialect and the Wu dialect.

The characteristic of the Hakka dialect is that it completely preserves the entering tone rhymes of Song Dynasty Chinese, and it usually has six to seven tones, close to the eight-modulation system of Song Dynasty Chinese, with fine differentiation of tone values.

Furthermore, the Hakka dialect has the same usage of function words as Song Dynasty Chinese, such as "xi" (is), "mao" (none), and "ngam" (just), and it has rich sentence-final particles, such as "me" and "bo," and so on.

In addition, the Hakka dialect has many ancient pronunciations, such as "hang" (walk) and "siak" (eat), which are extremely similar to the pronunciation of Song Dynasty Chinese.

The characteristic of the Wu dialect is that it preserves the fully murky initials of Song Dynasty Chinese, and the entering tones are divided into yin and yang; therefore, singing Song lyrics in the soft Wu language usually sounds much more pleasant than singing them in modern Chinese.

Returning to this point, judging from the level and oblique attributes of individual characters, the level and oblique properties of the four characters are indeed no problem.

But the problem is that writing poetry and rhapsody is not the same as matching couplets!

What is required is not just the opposition of level and oblique tones; one could even say that in the antithesis of parallel prose or poetry and rhapsody, simple opposition of level and oblique tones is merely the basic content. To advance further, one must pay attention to the alternating beauty of "oblique topping oblique, level topping level."

I believe that once an ordinary person ponders this far, they will already start to feel dizzy.

Fortunately, Lu Beigu's comprehension ability was quite adequate, and he could still keep up with Zhao Bian's teaching train of thought.

Zhao Bian continued, "And if we change 'Layered Peaks' to 'Arrayed Peaks' and 'Floating Raft' to 'Lost Ferry,' opposing 'oblique-oblique' with 'level-level,' although it fits the level and oblique tones, the two characters 'Lost Ferry' belong to the 'Zhi Rhyme' and the 'Zhen Rhyme' respectively, so it is ultimately not the best choice. Therefore, it is better to change it to 'Misty Waters, Vast and Boundless,' which not only preserves the opposition of level and oblique tones but also conforms to the 'Yang Rhyme' from beginning to end, truly revealing the harmony of sound and rhythm."

Seeing that Lu Beigu seemed to have some realization, Zhao Bian pointed to the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection hanging in the main room, which he had transcribed when practicing calligraphy.

"Look at how 'Lofty Mountains, Steep Hills' opposes 'Clear Streams, Rushing Rapids.' At first glance, isn't it quite ordinary?"

Lu Beigu nodded; indeed, it looked nothing special, but Zhao Bian's calligraphy was truly beautiful.

It was the kind of beauty that even someone who knew nothing about calligraphy could see, belonging to the realm of aesthetics.

And if Lu Beigu's own practiced regular script were placed above for comparison, it would be as if there were a gap between a child writing stroke by stroke and a calligrapher who could produce work effortlessly.

However, this did not matter; the Song Dynasty imperial examinations did not require calligraphy to be very beautiful, because for important exams, the test papers were transcribed before being sent for grading, so no matter how beautifully you wrote on the paper, it was useless.

So if one is just coping with the exam and not pursuing art, then the calligraphy one practices only needs to be written neatly enough for people to recognize clearly, as long as it is not written like a dog crawling.

"The text is indeed not stunning, but if viewed from the perspective of rhyme and level-oblique tones, there is much to discuss. Wang Youjun's piece here appears natural, but actually secretly conforms to the beauty of alternating level and oblique tones."

"Here, 'Steep' is a departing tone, and 'Hill' is a rising tone; although they both belong to oblique tones, one is hard and the other is soft, just like the tension of a zither string."

Zhao Bian's finger moved again to the two characters "Rushing Rapids."

"And the character 'Rushing' is an entering tone, short and abrupt, while the character 'Rapids' is a level tone, long and continuous; this is the very model of 'oblique topping oblique, level topping level.' Do you understand?"

Lu Beigu very much wanted to playfully say a sentence.

Master, stop chanting.

But those words only flashed through his mind and vanished.

He still answered seriously, "I understand; the explanation is very genuine and easy to comprehend."

To be honest, things like the metrics of poetry and rhapsody.

Without someone teaching, the intricacies within it would take a year of pondering to figure out on one's own.

But if someone teaches, and one's aptitude is good enough, many things are actually just a matter of a thin layer of window paper!

After all, even if the content is awkward or complex, when stripped bare, it is just those things, all of which have rules to follow.

What is the most feared thing in exams?

Of course, it is not fearing memorizing questions, but fearing the need for free expression!

Precisely because of this, many candidates are actually quite good at copying sutras and poetry and rhapsody, but when it comes to policy essays, they are terrible; simply put, their learning is insufficient, and they lack their own viewpoints.

And it was precisely because Lu Beigu had already demonstrated his ability in "viewpoints" to Zhao Bian.

That is why Zhao Bian was so patient in teaching Lu Beigu.

Because Zhao Bian knew very well that Lu Beigu had talent and aptitude; the only problem was that he did not understand the rules within.

And rules can be taught.

Unknowingly, a whole morning passed.

Lu Beigu's understanding of level and oblique metrics had also greatly deepened compared to before.

Just as he was about to ask a question, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from outside.

A scribe rushed in and whispered a few words in Zhao Bian's ear.

Lu Beigu vaguely heard a few blurred words.

"There is a serious criminal at the Circuit Commissioner for Punishments and Prisons."

Zhao Bian's expression became solemn, and he said to Lu Beigu, "I have official business to handle. Go back and memorize this manuscript thoroughly; I will test you tomorrow."

Lu Beigu immediately rose politely to take his leave.

When he walked out of the yamen, the sun was already near noon.

Lu Beigu looked back at that simple government office, feeling somewhat emotional in his heart; who could have thought that Zhao Bian, the "Iron-Faced Censor" famous throughout the court and the country, would be so patient and meticulous when teaching him?

——————

① The Guangyun is a phonological work written by Chen Pengnian and Qiu Yong in the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Its purpose was to expand upon the Qieyun. The entire book is divided into five volumes, containing 26,194 characters and 191,692 words of annotations. It is divided into 206 rhymes: 57 level tones (28 upper level, 29 lower level), 55 rising tones, 60 departing tones, and 34 entering tones. It has 13 more rhymes than the Qieyun, and the number of characters has doubled compared to the Qieyun. It served as a phonological reference book for Song Dynasty candidates.

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