Mingren painted "Shangyuan Lantern Map" (detail).
The history of riddles in our country is very long. According to the examiner, it can be traced back to the "Zuo Chuan", the "word of the Chinese", and the "shooting" of Dongfang Shuo, which is also mentioned in the sixty-second episode of "Dream of the Red Mansion" as a wine order. These are very old. Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon" said:"Enigmatics, reciprocate each other's words, and make the riddles faint. ”The actual riddle is the ancient hidden language. The most famous is the late Han Dynasty Cai Zhonglang's book "Cao E Tablet" Yin "Yellow Silk Young Woman, Grandson Yu Jiu" eight characters, which was interpreted by Yang Xiu as "wonderful words" four characters. Based on this, a good story was written in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Yang Xiu is very smart. Cao operated the door of Xiangguo's mansion, looking at it from the past, and wrote a "live" word on the door, people did not know what it meant, Yang Xiu said: "The door is alive, and it is wide." "The prime minister thinks it's too big. He often guessed Cao Cao's riddle, which was "catching lice on the tiger's head - a ghost who doesn't know death", and finally gave away a small life because he guessed the word "chicken ribs". It can be seen that the riddle is not a random guess. 
Stills from the old version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Lantern riddles flourished in the five or six hundred years since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and became the most interesting word game, the story of the Lantern Festival. Good works are also constantly evolving, and they are creating many forms, which are called styles. Zhu Cunli's "Ancient and Modern Hook Yuan" cloud: test lantern riddles, there are 24 grids. "Cao Ege" is the most, and the second is as good as increasing the loss. Increase the loss grid, that is, from the qualified. Kong Beihai began to write a clutch poem, one of its four words, which is combined with the six characters of "Lu Guo Kong Rong Wenju". Yu Waifu has Su Huang, homophony, alias, split words, Haoshou, snow hat, Go, jade belt, foundation, crown, positive shoes, distraction, rolling blinds, climbing the stairs, plain heart, heavy door, idle beads, weeping willows, brocade screens, slippery head Zen, bottomless sac Zhuge. It's not as good as knowing the heart for the ancient.
According to Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Banknotes": "After that, the heel was sublimated, and there were many days." It is said that the white drawing, the collection, the bell, the bell, the curtain, the hat, the boots, the waist, the brocade screen, also known as the mandarin duck. ”
The lantern riddle Jia Zheng's sad words, painted by Sun Wen of the Qing Dynasty.
In addition to the duplicates, there are more than 30 kinds of "grids" in a single book. Those who are proficient in this way will speak of characteristics, truths, and examples. This riddle trail alone is enough to show the wisdom and learning of the predecessors. The words of Chai Sang quoted at the beginning of the article are so-called "riddles are very classic, from the top to the lyrics and songs, and those who are not profound in learning are in the middle." Approximately riddles can be divided into two or three categories in the first place. NamelyOne is purely for literati and bachelors to show off their knowledge and compile it with profound knowledgeThe so-called "Wenhu" is the play of literati bachelors. The other isThe elderly, children, and folk are compiled in daily life and oral colloquialismsJiangnan is commonly known as "mystery and riddle", and Beijing is commonly known as "guessing boring" and "breaking boring". This is a folk play, which fully shows the simple wisdom and taste of the folk. The other kind is the one that is appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar. Some of the riddles are very elegant, but the guessed riddles are the most ordinary things. Or the riddle and the riddle are very popular, but they are extremely ingenious and seamless, which fully shows the author's extraordinary talent. There is a clear distinction between the literary and the elegant. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Shen Taiyun compiled the "Extract of Chinese Studies", and its collection of riddles was announced in Zhongyun: only those who are interested in the calligrapher can follow it, and those who are interested in the rivers and lakes will not log in.
The so-called "calligrapher's intention", that is, whether elegant or popular, must be thoughtful and interesting. The so-called "Jianghu meaning" is vulgar, clumsy, marketable, ingenious, coppery, thoughtless, and interesting. It is only made up, or pretended to be profound, stupid and stubborn. Of course, this distinction is not easy to make. In connection with "Dream of Red Mansions", Jia Mu said: "The monkey stands lightly on the tree", and the riddle is "lychee", which is a little interesting, and the riddle and the riddle are very popular. Baoyu's riddle: "Sitting in the south, facing in the north, like sorrow and sorrow, like joy and joy." The riddle is elegant and ingenious, but the riddle is an ordinary thing - a mirror. As far as riddles are concerned, this kind of riddle has a "scholarly meaning" and is good. Don't say anything else, Jia Huan's "The eldest brother has only eight horns, and the second brother has horns and only two ......"Very shoddy, that is, Daiyu's" is long with two sleeves of cigarettes, and there is no ...... in the pianoGuessing as "more fragrant", it is also very carved, and it is ruthless to talk about riddles, and it is only deliberately elegant to speak. Of course, when Cao Gong wrote this book, he was completely deliberately arranged, hinting at the future fate of the people in the book. This is in the "Gengchen Ben" and "Jiachen Ben", there are recorded "fat reviews", such as the "Gengchen Ben" Tanchun riddle commented: This spring exploration is far from the right prophecy, so that this person will not go away, and the future will be defeated, and the descendants will not be scattered, sad and sad!
Tanchun marries far away. Jia Chenben" commented on the cloud after the mystery of Baoyu: "This mirror of Baoyu is full of flowers and moons." "Gengchen Ben" is at the end of this book, and there is a general comment of Tera Wat Suo: "This time it was not done and Qin passed away, sigh." Ding Haixia, Tera Wat Suo. ”It can be seen that this book is deliberately managed by Cao Xueqin, using riddles to hint at the future of the characters in the book. It is worth noting that some of these riddles do not seem to have been created by Cao Xueqin. Baoyu's "sitting on the south side......A mystery has been seen in the "Huangshan Mystery" compiled by the master of Mohanzhai. The owner of Mohanzhai is Feng Menglong, so this mystery has existed in the Ming Dynasty. The only thing I saw was the lead copy of the "Rare Texts of Chinese Studies" compiled by the owner of the Xiangxia Pavilion, which was not very reliable. If you can find the riddle books published in the Ming Dynasty or the early Qing Dynasty, such as "Mystery Society Notes", He Congshan's "Qianwen Tiger", Xu Jingxiang's "Covering Heaven and Earth", etc., you may be able to find the source of the riddles written by Cao Xueqin. In the fiftieth chapter, the riddles compiled by Li Kun and Li Qi were the toys of the bookbag, and they were not interesting to be placed in the general "Four Books" puzzles and anagrams at that time, which were not excellent works. The author is a foil to Xiangyun's mystery, which is appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar. "Playing monkeys" with a few sentences from "Dian Jiang Lip" to "Separation of Streams and Ravines" to "Difficult to Continue" in the future, which is both vulgar and interesting, and it can be regarded as middle and upper in riddles at that time. is at the center of these riddles. The riddles of Baochai, Baoyu, Daiyu and the ten nostalgic quatrains of Baoqin are also the talents of the characters in the book. 
Cao Xueqin wrote a lot of riddles in "Dream of Red Mansions" in both places? This is closely related to the social customs of the time. Because it is something that is appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar, there is hardly a single intellectuals in the Ming and Qing dynasties who have not been exposed to itIn the study room of enlightenment education, many teachers even use it as a means to inspire children's thinking. Like pairs, many people fall in love with it at a very young age and will not fade into old age. In the past few hundred years, sweat cows are abundant, I really don't know how affectionate the creation of lantern riddles, the following to give a few examples, you can make a comparison with the riddles in "Dream of Red Mansions", first give three "four books" riddles: riddles: a little rouge. Mystery: "Red is also small." ”
Mystery: Officialdom is like a play. The answer to the riddle: "Superior and excellent." ”
Mystery: Rely on the king's words to report peace. The answer to the puzzle: "You don't have to believe your words." Try to look at the above three riddles, isn't it much more dexterous and thoughtful than Li Kun's "Guanyin has no family biography" in "Dream of Red Mansions", guessing that "although good is not significant"? At that time, the "Four Books" was a compulsory reading material for enlightenment in private schools around the world, as long as people who could read the books for five or six years, there was no one who did not memorize itAlmost all intellectuals can memorize the "Four Books" word for word throughout their lives, so there are many riddles made with the "Four Books" sentences, which are the most common of the literati's lantern riddlesSo as soon as Li Kun came up, he made up two "four books" riddles. Of course, these games, which were considered the most ordinary games more than 200 years ago, are now too profound and unattainable for readers. There are extremely ingenious. For example, the riddle is Song Yufu's Chinese: There is a woman in the east neighbor of the minister, and she has been peeking at the minister for three years. The mystery shoots Tang poetry: "It's always a jade relationship." Another riddle is the Chinese language in "West Chamber": how to turn when he is about to go to Qiubo. The title of the book is "Lisao". Another example is the word riddle: "sweep", and the sentence of the riddle "The Legend of the West Chamber": "Half pushes and half does." The riddle is a word: "fowl", and the riddle "The Legend of the West Chamber" sentences: "There will be less and more separation." These are all very ingenious, but they are all compiled and guessed on the basis of being very familiar with the poems and "West Chamber". In the old days, there were many people who had this kind of ability and talent. After understanding the specific situation in the history of this culture, it is not strange that Xiangyun and others have written chapters and cited miscellaneous books, but on the contrary, they feel that what the author writes is very real and very life-like. 
Baoqin's poetic riddles, a set of ten poems, are also not original. In Liang Zhangju's "Returning to the Field" in Qianjiashi, Zhongyun: "At the beginning of the country, Mao Ji could make seven and sixteen songs, and each sentence concealed the name of an ancient......."So it was a biography. It is the most famous creation of the poetic riddle. Mao Ji was a Shunzhi Jinshi and a famous scholar in the early Qing Dynasty. Sui'an people, the word will marquis. Painter again. His famous work is "Spring and Autumn Three Biography Examination Differences". At that time, he was on the same level as Mao Qiling. His sixteen riddle poems have been handed down to future generations, and some people have commented on them. However, for ordinary people, it is still relatively profound. Let's take an example to see this. The title of the poem "Old Peasant" cloud: The middle man drove the calf out of the front village, and he must avoid the beasts of Nanshan. It also spoke with Zhu'er, and the teeth fell back to root over the years. The above four lines of poetry are guessed to be the names of four ancient people. The first sentence is "Mu Zhong", "Mu" is herding cattle, and "Zhong" is the general name of Uncle Ji Zhizhong, that is, the second boy. The Spring and Autumn Period. The second sentence is "Yang Tiger". The south of the mountain is the yang of the mountain, and the north of the mountain is the yin of the mountain. "Hundred Beasts" is the king of beasts, the name of the tiger, so it is the "Yang Tiger". The Spring and Autumn Lu people, the retainers of the Zhong family, the word goods, also known as "yang goods". It is rumored to look like Confucius. The third sentence is guessed as "confession". At the same time as Mencius, Mencius has a title called "Confession". The fourth sentence is guessed as "Yi Ya", the people of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. The above four people are all names in the "Four Books" of enlightenment books at that time, and they are not obscure classics. (This article is excerpted from "Lantern Riddles" in "The Customs of Red Mansions", published by Chung Hwa Book Company in November 2023.) The title is proposed by the editor).