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Lecture Preview | Yu Gengzhe: Bashu or Lingnan — Where did Concubine Yang’s litchi come from?
March 25, 2023 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Topic: Bashu or Lingnan—Where did Concubine Yang’s lychees come from?
As soon as the lychee is mentioned, the image of vermilion skin and fat-like flesh immediately pops up in the mind, and it is dripping with juice, sweet and mellow, with endless aftertaste. As Bai Juyi described, “The flower is like a grape, the core is like a loquat, the shell is like a red silk, the membrane is like a purple silk, the meat is as white as ice and snow, and the syrup is sweet and sour like cheese.”
And those two popular poems:
Looking back at Chang’an, there are piles of embroidery, and thousands of gates on the top of the mountain are opened one after another.
A concubine who rides the world of mortals laughs, but no one knows that it is Lychee.——Du Mu “Passing the Huaqing Palace”
In the four seasons of spring at the foot of Luofu Mountain, Lu tangerine and red bayberry are new.
Eat 300 lychees a day, never give up on being a native of Lingnan.——Su Shi’s “A Wonderful Huizhou”
As to where the lychees eaten by imperial concubines come from, it has always been a classic controversy in the historian circles. From Tang to Song to today, there have been many lawsuits, and there is no consensus. The controversy centered on “Lingnan theory” and “Bashu theory”.
There seems to be no doubt about this question in the Tang Dynasty, that is, it came from Lingnan. “Tang Kingdom History Supplement” contains: “Concubine Yang Guifei was born in Shu, and she likes litchi. She was born in the South China Sea, especially those who are better than Shu, so she gallops forward every year. However, it is ripe in the summer, and it will be defeated after a long stay. The descendants do not know. Of.”
However, the distance from Lingnan to Chang’an is extremely long, and it is difficult to preserve litchi. “If you leave the original branch, the color will change in one day, the fragrance will change in two days, the taste will change in three days, and the color and fragrance will disappear after four or five days.” From time to time, it inevitably makes people wonder, can the postmen in the Tang Dynasty really achieve the “mission must be fulfilled” like SF Express?
Since the Song Dynasty, the “Bashu Theory” has emerged, that is, the lychee of the imperial concubine comes from Bashu, which is relatively close to the road, and the imperial concubine grew up in Shu, and eating lychees from Shu can relieve homesickness. The “Litchi Ancient Road” from Bashu to Chang’an. Although the “Bashu Theory” lacks direct historical records, its advantage seems to be “scientific arguments”.
“The distance of the road is a problem, and the difficulty of the road is also a problem, and it is a big problem. The Shu Road is short, but the Shu Road is difficult. It is still difficult to reach Chang’an within three or four days. This is a problem that must be considered.”
At the same time, the lychee “preservation technique” of the Tang people may be more superb than we imagined.
In this lecture, Professor Yu Gengzhe will lead us to analyze the doubts of “Lingnan Theory” and “Bashu Theory” through historical materials and meticulous logic, and from the “small” proposition of “Where Concubine Yang Guifei’s lychees come from”, Expand new horizons for looking at ancient technical problems.
Activity time:
March 25 (Saturday)
19:00-21:00
way of participation:
❶ Offline ParticipationVenue: South Study Room of Shenzhen Library
👉1. There is no need to make an appointment to participate in the event, and the seats are limited on a first-come-first-served basis.
👉2. The event is open to readers over 13 years old
❷ Online participation: multi-platform live broadcast
Speakers:
Born in Xianyang, Shaanxi in 1971. Bachelor and Master of Shaanxi Normal University, Ph.D. of Wuhan University, Postdoctoral of Nankai University. He is currently a professor at the School of History and Culture of Shaanxi Normal University, engaged in the teaching and research of Sui and Tang Dynasties. The research fields mainly include ancient clothing, food, housing and transportation, social life, medical and social history, etc. Published dozens of papers in authoritative and core journals such as “Chinese Social Sciences”, “Historical Research”, “Ethnic Studies”, and some articles were “Chinese Social Science Digest”, “Xinhua Digest”, “University Liberal Arts Academic Digest”, “Guangming Daily” ” Reprinted from the full text or excerpted from the opinions of National People’s Congress Copied Materials, it has won the Shaanxi Province Philosophy and Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award eight times, and the Shaanxi Province Philosophy and Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award for Colleges and Universities First, Second, and Third Prizes. In 2007, he was selected into the “New Century Excellent Talents Support Program” by the Ministry of Education. Lectured on the national online high-quality video open course “Daily Life of Sui and Tang Dynasties – History from Small to Big”, and published a book of the same name. Invited by CCTV to lecture on “The Truth of Di Renjie”, “Discovering Shangguan Wan’er”, “The Legend of the Heroes of the Tang Dynasty”, “The Prosperous Age of Kaiyuan”, “The Lives of the People in the Sui and Tang Dynasties” by CCTV.
Sponsor: Shenzhen Library
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