On the first day of the first lunar month, people send New Year blessings to their relatives and friends. However, I would like to recommend my friends to read a poem that is particularly meaningful, and if you can get spiritual motivation from it, it will outweigh all the New Year wishes.
The flavor of 2024 is getting stronger This poem is "Yuan Ri" by the Northern Song Dynasty politician Wang Anshi. "Yuan Ri" means the first day of the first lunar month. Here's how the poem is written:
The sound of firecrackers in the year old,
The spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu.
Thousands of households
Always replace the new peach with the old charm.
Artistically, the poem has a high level of achievement.
The first sentence "one year old in the sound of firecrackers" is the first to catch people's hearts, that is, the first to describe the sound heard by the ear, all of a sudden people into the crackling firecrackling atmosphere of firecrackers, feel the cold winter, usher in the new year's warm atmosphere.
The second sentence "the spring breeze sends warmth into Tusu" is immersive, that is, it is really in the environment where spring goes to winter and thousands of households welcome the new year, and feels the warm spring breeze sends warmth into people's homes, which is doubly happy and exciting.
The third sentence of "thousands of households are in the sun" is to look at the sun rising in early spring, sprinkling bright light all over thousands of households, as if calling on people who are at home to avoid the cold in winter to come out quickly, urging people to forge ahead.
The fourth sentence "always replace the new peach with the old one" is intended to be beyond words, on the surface it is written that people are at their own doorstep, with a new peach symbol symbolizing auspiciousness to replace the old peach charm, but in fact it reflects the author's firm belief, that is: things always have to be metabolized by the old and new, and the old anachronistic things must be changed to create new things that conform to the times.
Every year on the first day of the first lunar month is a grand festival of the Chinese nation, and there are many things to write about on this day. However, Wang Anshi only grasped the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze, thousands of households, the sunshine of early spring, peach charms and other most characteristic things to write, showing a very magnificent vision and artistic conception. Therefore, it is a very masterful writing technique.
Poetry and words are the tradition of the ancient Chinese literati. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty faced a serious crisis of empty internal treasury and external strong enemy incursion. In 1069, he appointed Wang Anshi as the governor of the council and presided over the reform of the new policy, hoping to achieve a rich country and a strong army, and get rid of internal and external crises. During the Spring Festival of this year, Wang Anshi composed this poem. The phrase "always replace the new peach with the old" reflects his belief that the new policy will succeed. However, from a historical point of view, Wang Anshi's reform of the new policy later succeeded and failed, in fact, it is precisely reflected in the poem "always replace the new peach with the old charm". The replacement of the old charm with the new peach is the spontaneous behavior of the people. However, Wang Anshi's reform of the law and the new policy mainly relied on the promotion of the emperor and the court, and the interests of the ruler were first considered, so he did not really mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses, which was also an important reason for his final failure.
However, for people today, reading this poem can still understand more philosophy of life. The years go by, winter will always pass, spring will always come, the rain and snow will eventually melt, and the sun will rise as usual. Regardless of whether the past is good or bad, it is better to work with everyone to throw away the old one, replace it with the new one, put down the burden, and move forward lightly, the future will always be full of infinite hope and infinite possibilities, and happiness is in our own hands!