Chapter 649

"What we know now is 'High hall, bright mirror, grieving white hair,' but what is written here is 'Bedside, bright mirror, grieving white hair.'"

"What we know now is 'Morning like green silk, evening becomes snow,' but what is written here is 'Morning like green clouds, evening becomes snow.'"

"What we know now is 'Heaven born my talent, it must be useful,' but what is written here is 'Heaven born my disciple, has handsome talent.'"

"What we know now is 'Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all been lonely,' but what is written here is 'Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all died out.'"

When Fang Yang said this, he couldn't help but smile, and the others, upon hearing what Fang Yang said, also couldn't help but laugh.

"It really is arrogant and proud, and even more like Li Bai."

677. Since Ancient Times, Sages and Worthies Have All Died Out, Only the Drinker Leaves Their Name! (Seeking Full Subscription)

Most of these cultural relic experts had studied Li Bai as a person.

They understood, to some extent, what kind of personality Li Bai had.

Compared to the poems they were mostly familiar with now, it was clear that this poem actually fit Li Bai's personality better.

I am a genius, and you all are dead!

If Li Bai were to manifest in front of them, he would probably be such an arrogant person.

【Popularity】 +1+1+1+1.

——【Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all died out; that's too fierce.】

——【Hahaha, he even cursed himself to death.】

——【He also said later, 'Only the drinker leaves their name.'】

——【Li Bai is not a sage; the entire history of China has only produced three sages.】

——【Yes, Confucius, Mencius, Wang Yangming.】

——【Are Xunzi, Laozi not sages? Is Zhang Zhongjing not a sage?】

——【No, it's not Confucius; it's Wang Yangming and half of Zeng Guofan?】

——【Just talking nonsense??? And Zeng Guofan? Why don't you mention Li Hongzhang?】

——【Who decides who is a sage? It's all just to fit political needs, just like singing praises of hardship and labor now.】

——【Poetry was all changed by later generations for the sake of rhyme. In fact, many poets were just acting on impulse; the atmosphere was right, and they blurted it out. How could there be such strict rhyming rules? The Ming and Qing dynasties valued rules the most, and their poetry was the worst.】

——【With Cao Xueqin and Nalan Xingde holding it up, the Qing Dynasty can't be called the worst, but you are right that the Ming and Qing dynasties valued rules the most.】

——【My favorite is Nalan Xingde's poetry.】

——【Qianlong's terrible poems can't be held up by Nalan Xingde; that stamp-crazy maniac destroyed many ancient books and famous paintings.】

——【Qianlong's stamps cause devaluation.】

——【Cao Xueqin is a pen name; *Dream of the Red Chamber* was written by someone from the late Ming Dynasty; don't associate it with the Qing Dynasty.】

——【With Qianlong's one or two pieces there, how can it not be the worst?】

——【Hahahaha, everyone is inexplicably annoyed by him.】

——【The Qing Dynasty was all about being particular; those with power and influence were blindly particular, and those without were poorly particular.】

——【Was the 'Ming' in the past written with the 'eye' radical? I discovered Li Bai wrote a typo.】

——【Variant characters; sometimes it's a real mistake, sometimes it's intentional.】

——【This isn't Li Bai's handwriting, just a hand-copied version from the Tang Dynasty.】

——【I have a friend who has existed since the Three Kingdoms period and is still alive today; he told me that much of the history we see now is wrong, and many poems have been changed.】

——【I said I was Qin Shi Huang, but no one believed me; now someone can prove it for me!】

——【...】

——【So we are watching a harmonized version.】

——【Many things you see are.】

——【'Since ancient times, worthies have all died out, only the drinker leaves their name.' Yes, this is clearly rhyming!!】

——【This is clearly rhyming; why didn't I see it?】

——【But in terms of tone, 'lonely' (oblique-oblique) vs 'name' (level-level), this makes the rhythm more fluent, meaning it's more catchy when you read it.】

——【Isn't 'died out' also oblique-oblique?】

——【You can't use modern rhyming to study it; this rhyme should be based on the accent of the Tang Dynasty.】

——【The Tang Dynasty used Middle Chinese; those who study phonology can roughly know the pronunciation of that time.】

——【Actually, I'm very curious about how people spoke in the past; how do you study it? There are no recordings or anything. Is it just pure speculation? In reality, it might not be true.】

678. Phonology, Rhyme Systems! (Seeking Full Subscription)

——【For example, modern Mandarin has Pinyin and the International Phonetic Alphabet. If you know these things, theoretically you can know how modern Mandarin is pronounced. The pronunciation of ancient Chinese is similar. Phonology has been an important study since ancient times, with many works. The Tang Dynasty had the *Qieyun*, one of the subjects in the imperial examinations. The Song Dynasty had the *Dà Sòng Chóngxiū Guǎngyùn*, and the Qing Dynasty had the *Wǔfāng Yuányīn*. However, language pronunciation is constantly evolving; Old Chinese, Middle Chinese, and Late Middle Chinese are all different. You can't say it's restored, but you can roughly know it.】

——【Phonology is very difficult; it's a specialized discipline. Chinese phonology also has initial and final systems. The initial system has thirty-six letters, using Chinese characters to represent Chinese initials, called 'letters,' such as using the character 'Ming' to represent the 'm' initial, 'Lai' to represent the 'l' initial, etc.】

——【So complicated. Honestly, can you read a sentence using ancient language? I don't know what it feels like.】

——【Amazing! There are few people who understand tone patterns now; have we regressed?】

——【Wait, isn't this the Slender Gold script? It should be from the Song Dynasty; how did it end up in the Tang Dynasty?】

——【Compare it carefully; is this Slender Gold script?】

——【Could it be that all the documents we see are not first-hand?】

——【What you can see is only what others want you to see, just like *Journey to the West*; the original work seems dark as hell, but you don't feel that way watching the TV series, right?】

——【The articles you read and the videos you watch, which piece of cultural dissemination hasn't been filtered?】

——【Everything you see is just what others have organized for you.】

——【Most of the poems we memorize have been changed by later generations. When I first found out, I felt deceived, really.】

——【This is what matches Li Bai's true nature!】

——【Li Bai's *Song on the River* is the truly crazy one: 'When the mood is high, the brush shakes the Five Peaks; when the poem is finished, I laugh proudly and soar over the Cangzhou.' Unfortunately, because of a line later on, it can't be in textbooks.】

——【'Carrying a courtesan, letting the waves decide whether to stay or go'—if this were in a textbook, how would you explain it to children?】

——【'High hall' is more like something Li Bai would write than 'bedside.'】

——【Mirrors are usually in the room, right? When you get up in the morning, you look in the mirror in the room; who runs to the high hall to look in the mirror as soon as they get up? 'Bedside' is more appropriate.】

——【Li Bai's poetry is good because of his rich imagination; if you use a normal perspective, is he still Li Bai?】

——【Imagination isn't just random thinking; it has to fit. 'High hall' is a place that values etiquette. Running to the high hall disheveled in the morning to look in the mirror? If he is a scholar, he wouldn't make such a mistake, right?】

——【If he values etiquette, would he say 'Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all been lonely'? Or even 'died out'?】

——【It's just crazy words; it doesn't mean he doesn't understand etiquette. Note, this is while persuading someone to drink, so he's somewhat tipsy. At that time, the ancient sages he referred to must have indeed all died.】

——【Since it's crazy words, does he *have* to look in the mirror at the bedside?】

——【The artistic conception expressed is different; don't you understand? It starts slow, from slow to fast.】

Fang Yang didn't expect that because of a poem that was slightly different from the modern version, it would lead to such heated discussion, with people even saying all sorts of things directly.

He found it unbelievable when he noticed this.

However, a smile quickly appeared on his face again.

It was actually a very good thing that they were so happy.

At least for Fang Yang, it was indeed like this.

679. Continue Digging? The Only Place Preserved Intact! (Seeking Full Subscription)

"Ahem, everyone, don't argue because of things in the past."

"Although your arguing is actually a good thing, there's really no need for the rest."

When Fang Yang said this, his tone was exceptionally serious.

It is normal for everyone to have different meanings while discussing.

But if they were to start arguing directly because of these differences, then it was completely unnecessary.

"This is a very precious cultural relic."

The Cultural Relics Bureau staff said so.

However, they felt somewhat uncomfortable that this poem was spread out directly and seen by so many people.

They had actually seen everything said in the livestream just now, and they didn't know how these people had deduced it, but they had guessed seven or eight out of ten, and it was all very correct.

It was so correct that they felt somewhat embarrassed themselves.

Indeed, there were some things that could not be leaked.

If it were done in private, they would have directly sealed this poem away.

There might even have been some other issues, but to have it spread out under the sun like this was absolutely impossible.

Thinking of this, they couldn't help but sigh, and at the same time, they turned the topic directly to Fang Yang.