It is said that Meng Chang, the king of the post Shu state in the Five Dynasties, was a maverick monarch. On the new year's Eve in 964, he had a strange idea. He asked one of his bachelors, Xin yinxun, to write two sentences on the mahogany board, which was hung on the doorframe of his house as a peach symbol. These two words are 'New Year's day, Jiajie Changchun'.
In the new year, we enjoy the legacy of our predecessors. The second sentence is to the effect that spring is always in the season. Since then, the form and content of Taofu have changed, which is not only reflected in the beginning of using parallel couplets to replace the "sacred tea" and "Yu Lei", but also expanded the connotation of Taofu, not only to avoid evil and drive disaster, but also to increase the content of blessing and blessing. This has become the earliest couplet in China.
By the Song Dynasty, it was quite common to write couplets on mahogany boards. Wang Anshi wrote in his poem "the first day" that the sound of firecrackers can be removed in one year, and the spring breeze can send warmth into Tusu. Thousands of families always exchange the new peaches for the old ones on the new year's Eve, which reflects the grand occasion of every family hanging the peaches on New Year's Eve. At the same time, with the appearance of the door god and the use of red paper symbolizing happiness and auspiciousness to write Taofu, the mission of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters shouldered by the previous Taofu gradually transferred to the door god, and the content of Taofu evolved to express people's good wishes to pray for the next year's luck and harvest.
The word "spring couplet" appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, became the emperor, he liked to play in a row, and he also liked the peach runes posted by big families on New Year's Eve, so he wanted to promote them. One year before the new year's Eve, he issued a royal decree that every household in Jinling should paste spring couplets written in red paper on the door frame to welcome the new year.
On the morning of the first day of the lunar new year, Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the Spring Festival couplets from door to door. Whenever he saw the Spring Festival couplets well written, he was very happy and praised. During the inspection, Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he saw that a spring festival couplet had not been pasted. He asked why. The waiter replied: This is a master who is engaged in killing pigs and raising pigs. He is very busy in the new year and has not yet had time to ask someone to write. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to bring ink, paper and inkstone to write a couplet for the book: 'split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut the right and wrong roots with one knife. 'when you're finished, continue to patrol.
After a period of time, when Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the court after his inspection, he passed by again. When he saw that the butcher's house had not pasted the spring couplet he wrote, he asked what was the matter. The owner replied respectfully: 'the spring couplet was written by the Emperor himself, and we were hanging in the middle hall, burning incense every day. 'Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and ordered the servants to give the family thirty Liang silver. It can be seen that the name and promotion of "spring festival couplet" was promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang's administrative order and imperial decree.