我在绍兴的第一站是沈园，它是南宋（公元1127年—1279年）时期修建的园林，经过几次修复才向游客开放。沈园闻名至今，大概主要是因为陆游和唐婉的爱情悲剧。
和沈园一样，兰亭也是一个故事比风景更出名的地方。虽然兰亭本身就是一个园林杰作，而且是一个历史文化含量非常丰富的园林，但是到兰亭游览的人们最感兴趣的还是风景之外那些动人的故事。兰亭的名气，完全来自王羲之等东晋（公元317年—420年）文人一次曲水流觞（qū shuǐ liú shānɡ）的活动。
我在这两个地方听故事的同时还拍到了很多好看的照片。
My first stop in Shaoxing was Shen Garden, a garden built during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), which was open to the tourists after being renovated. Its reputation, to a large extent, may come from the love tragedy about Lu You and Tang Wan.
Like Shen Garden, there is also a famous story behind Lan Pavilion. Although Lan Pavilion itself is a masterpiece of garden art and full of historical and cultural significance, most tourists are more interested in the stories underlying it rather than its scenery. Lan Pavilion became famous totally because of Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher and some other men of letters in East Jin Dynasty (317-420) and a game called Qushuiliushang.
I took many beautiful photos while listening to the beautiful stories in these two places.
Window of Knowledge
If you know something about Chinese modern literature, you must know Lu Xun, one of the most celebrated writers in 20th century China. In his works, there are many descriptions about the “water cities” in south China. As a matter of fact, all these water cities with different names in his works allude to Shaoxing, the hometown of Lun Xun as well as many other characters in his works, such as Aunt Xianglin, Kong Yiji, A Q and Run Tu, etc.
Peculiar to Shaoxing, the wupeng boat has black half-round-shaped awnings. In Chinese, “wu” means black and “peng” means awning, hence the name wupeng boat. In the past when water transportation prevailed in this region, this kind of boat was the primary means of transportation in Shaoxing. However, nowadays it has become mainly a tourist attraction of reminiscence instead of a means of transportation.
Lu You (1125-1210) was a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. He and his wife, Tang Wan, loved each other very much. However, owning to the interference from their families, they had to be separated from each other. Naturally, both of them are deeply heartbroken. Many years later, they met each other again in Shen Garden. The sentimental poet wrote a sad and moving poem entitled Chaitoufeng for his beloved, and Tang Wan also wrote a poem in reply. Years later, Tang Wan passed away but Lu You’s love for her lasted throughout his life.
Qushuiliushang (曲水流觞)was a game played in ancient China. Sitting along the winding river, the players put their cups full of wine in the upper reaches of the river and let them flow with the water. If the cup stops in front of someone, this person must drink the wine. Later it gradually developed into a cultural custom that people not only drank but also had to write extempore verses. The most famous story about Qushuiliushang has to do with Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher of the East Jin Dynasty. Once, he played Qushuiliushang with his friends in Lan Pavilion, insisting that each should make an extempore verse and those who could not would be punished by having to drink. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Later, they compiled their verses into an anthology and Wang Xizhi wrote a preface to it, called Preface to Lan Pavilion, which became a great masterpiece of Chinese calligraphy.
