[Lightscreen]
["In practical terms, whether in ancient or modern times, because the first day of the first lunar month is the true beginning of the year, all kinds of complicated matters pile up on this day, making it very hard to relax.
For common people, starting from the Jin dynasty, there was already the custom of staying up on New Year's Eve. Only when dawn came on the first day did the vigil truly end. After exchanging greetings, everyone went back to their own rooms and slept deeply.
For the emperor and the officials, things were even busier. The Grand Court Assembly was written into the Rites of Zhou and was the highest-level court ceremony of the feudal era. From Qin and Han through Ming and Qing, the Grand Court Assembly was passed down generation after generation without interruption.
In addition, each dynasty added its own extra duties. For example, in Qin, sacrifices to Heaven were still held on the first day of the year. In Tang, these sacrifices were moved to the winter solstice, but a new event called the Grand Display was added to show off to tributary states. Song, being weak in warfare and unable to intimidate tributaries militarily, simply expanded the process to three days. The first day held meetings, the second day held banquets, and the third day held something like a sports meet, letting Song generals compete in archery with envoys from Western Xia, Jiaozhi, Dali, and other states.
When it comes to New Year busywork, ancient people and modern people actually share a lot in common. For example, in Tang, when New Year etiquette was already quite developed, many poems were written about the first day of the year. One famous example is Bai Juyi's On New Year's Day, Facing Wine.
This poem, written when Bai Juyi was seventy, mostly expresses feelings about the passage of time. But it also records the unavoidable social obligations of Tang New Year.
When going out on New Year's Day, you had to bow to peers, kneel to elders, drink at every banquet, and go back and forth between visits until you were exhausted. In a way, it is not that different from modern times.
Because of this, Shangyuan Festival, the one festival that truly allowed everyone to participate, formally rose to prominence.
The rise of Shangyuan Festival followed a familiar pattern. The Han dynasty set the date, and Tang and Song made it flourish."]
"This Yuan New Year's Day, later Tang and Song are busy. Why does it skip over my Han alone?"
Liu Bei complained with a smile, counting on his fingers as he spoke.
"From Emperor Guangwu onward, every Han emperor had to appear at Deyang Hall at the start of the year. Ministers civil and military, regional governors, tribal chiefs, and envoys from dozens of foreign states all came to submit memorials and pay respects. Just that alone is exhausting."
"On top of that, local accounting records had to be examined, to judge a year's gains and losses, assess officials' merits and faults, and stabilize foreign relations. Where is the time to rest?"
Though he called it complaining, there was no real dissatisfaction in Liu Bei's tone. Everyone could see the smile at the corner of their lord's mouth, so they could only bow together and say their lord had worked hard.
As for Song's unique New Year procedures, no one present was foolish enough to miss the meaning.
If competing in archery with tributary envoys was truly a good idea, why had Han and Tang never done it?
In the end, it was simply a matter of declining military power, forced to rely on side methods to maintain prestige.
Not being in Song, they could not judge right or wrong. But seeing such procedures, they truly felt a sense of helplessness.
To everyone's bows, Liu Bei only said that it was the emperor who worked hard, and that he dared not take credit.
After all, during New Year he only drank a cup of wine and ate a meal with his ministers. What hardship was that?
The one who truly suffered was the emperor now held by the Cao bandit in Ye City.
When the topic turned to the emperor held by Cao Cao, everyone nodded in agreement.
Yes, yes, the Han emperor truly has it hard.
After this passed, Kongming recalled something from the light screen.
"That Tang Li Shimin made golden name cards and inscribed congratulations, and later generations all followed. Perhaps that was also to ease this kind of New Year burden."
They had even received one of those cards in later times. Kongming still remembered it.
He also clearly remembered later evaluations, saying greeting cards were still used even in future ages.
[Lightscreen]
["Unlike the first day of the first month, the fifteenth day of the first month can be said to have been personally shaped by Emperor Wu of Han in his pursuit of cultural unification.
Academically, Emperor Wu dismissed the Hundred Schools and honored Confucianism alone. In divine worship, he also promoted the exclusive worship of the God Taiyi.
In Western Han, Daoism had not yet formed. Worship targets included the Three Sovereigns, Five Emperors, and various mountain and river gods, but there was no unified supreme deity.
In promoting the exclusive worship of Taiyi, Emperor Wu was very skilled.
First, fangshi claimed Taiyi was extremely powerful, earning imperial favor. This broke the pre-Qin concept of a vague Heavenly Emperor and formally established altar worship.
A few years later, a bronze tripod was unearthed in Hedong as an auspicious omen. Coincidentally, it depicted Taiyi assisting the Five Emperors.
Over the next two years, Emperor Wu conducted massive sacrifices. Even when performing the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, he used rites for Taiyi, formally shaping Taiyi into the supreme god of the Han dynasty.
At the same time, in the Taichu Calendar, Emperor Wu personally designated the fifteenth day of the first month as the day to worship Taiyi, lighting lamps through the night at Ganquan Palace. The people followed suit.
From this, it is hard to say how much Wu Zetian later learned from Liu Che when she played with auspicious omens, though her level was far inferior.
Later, in Eastern Han, the Taiping Jing was gradually perfected. During Emperor Huan's reign, the Daoist genius Zhang Daoling first proposed the concept of the Three Yuan Festivals: Heavenly Official grants blessings, Earthly Official forgives sins, Water Official relieves disasters. Each was assigned a sacrifice date. The internal logic was similar to Zhang Jiao's talisman water, using ritual to influence people.
As everyone knows, religions are very good at riding trends. Early Daoism was no exception. The Heavenly Official naturally became identified with Han's Taiyi.
The Taiyi worship date designated by Liu Che, after the fall of Han and evolution through the Northern and Southern Dynasties, naturally became known as Shangyuan Festival.
By Sui, celebrating Shangyuan was already a tradition. By Tang, it went even further. As everyone knows, the Li royal house claimed descent from Laozi, so Shangyuan became a legal holiday in Tang.
Although it became Shangyuan Festival, Emperor Wu's lamp-lighting ritual was preserved.
For Tang people, this was extremely popular. You could not light lamps in daytime, so nighttime celebration meant curfew was temporarily lifted. The people could celebrate all night, something very rare before Song.
Another reason Shangyuan flourished in Tang, besides releasing pressure after New Year, was that it became Tang's true Valentine's Day.
When Shangyuan opened, curfew was lifted, men and women met freely, with few restrictions. That was the real scene.
The Old Book of Tang records that during Shangyuan, four years after the Shenlong Coup, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian and Empress Wei went incognito to Chang'an to watch the lamps.
To show imperial grace, Li Xian also ordered several thousand palace maids to be released to tour the city at night. By morning, many were missing.
After investigation, it was found that many palace maids had fallen in love with young men outside the palace during Shangyuan and chose to elope with their beloved, fleeing and never returning.
Later in Song, Shangyuan's Valentine's Day nature became even more obvious.
For example, Ouyang Xiu wrote: Last year on Lantern Night, the flower market was bright as day. When the moon rose over the willow tops, we met after dusk. This clearly depicts lovers meeting.
Xin Qiji's famous line, searching for her a thousand times, also describes Shangyuan, and is so famous it needs no repetition."]
"So the rise of Taiyi and the transformation into the Three Yuan Festivals followed this logic."
Du Ruhui found it fascinating.
The historical materials mentioned by later generations were actually familiar to these civil officials. But when it came to tracing the root logic, they were still far behind later scholars.
For example, later generations saying Emperor Wu sought cultural unification made everything suddenly clear.
Looking back at later explanations and combining them with their own study of records, Du Ruhui better understood the phrase that Emperor Wu installed software on the Chinese machine.
Culture is something you can see and feel but cannot grasp as a concrete object. Calling it software truly carried meaning.
Qin built the hardware. Han installed the software. Then what should Zhenguan do to upgrade this machine and reform it?
Many thoughts rose in Du Ruhui's mind.
Li Shimin, seeing the quoted phrase everyone knows, had slightly reddened cheeks but still argued firmly.
"Laozi's surname is Li. My surname is also Li. A thousand years ago, we must share the same origin. How can I not call him an ancestor?"
Everyone politely cupped their hands and nodded, expressing casual agreement.
Empress Zhangsun did not even bother to nod. She simply looked at Li Shimin with expectation written all over her face.
If Li Xian could go out incognito with his empress, why could not her husband?
Li Shimin thought of last year's sudden incognito outing and how it had caused some complaints later. He nodded in response.
This year's festival, he had already decided to absorb the lessons of a thousand years and let the people rejoice.
As emperor, he naturally needed to go out and inspect the results. Bringing the empress along was only proper.
"But if we lift the curfew, this…"
Others looked forward to a curfew-free Chang'an. Zhangsun Wuji felt a headache coming on.
Fang Xuanling understood the difficulty and advised.
"Full-city lamps carry fire risks. If criminals cause trouble, the consequences may be serious."
These warnings quickly cooled everyone down. Chang'an's population was enormous. If curfew was lifted and everyone poured into the streets, even with brilliant lamps, there would be dark corners. If criminals stirred trouble, it could be ten times easier and cause a hundred times more damage.
"We cannot give up eating because of fear of choking," Li Shimin said firmly.
"Your Majesty may dispatch the Hundred Cavalry to patrol all major streets, to be prepared," Wei Zheng suggested.
Yuchi Jingde opposed for once.
"The Hundred Cavalry are only a little over a thousand. In Chang'an they are a drop in the bucket. To truly secure the night, the Two Palace Armies must be used."
Du Ruhui frowned.
"The Imperial Guards are fierce men. If they clash with civilians, punishments will be hard to judge. Not appropriate."
Qin Qiong supported his old brother.
"To stabilize a city, only the Imperial Guards will do. Deploy elite units along the streets. Use the Hundred Cavalry and the Six Doors agents for finer gaps, and combine with the Unorthodox Command to suppress troublemakers, to secure Chang'an's peace."
This made both civil and military officials fall silent. The more they thought, the more feasible it seemed. The only concern was:
"Such mobilization may waste state strength. The people celebrate while the army toils. This may cause resentment," Wei Zheng worried.
Li Shimin stepped forward, not looking at his ministers but at the prosperous scenes on the light screen.
"How is this waste? In the future, when the Western Regions are secured, ten thousand tribes will enter Chang'an to pay tribute. The complexity then will far exceed this. The labor of Shangyuan will serve as training for what comes later."
"I do not intend to boast of wealth and give free goods to barbarians. The Imperial Guards will enforce fairness. Let Tang people earn the barbarians' money and grow rich."
How could they not know of empty displays of wealth? In the sixth year of Daye, Emperor Yang gathered foreign chiefs in Luoyang, staged massive spectacles, fed barbarians for free, and even wrapped silk around trees. Barbarians asked why such silk was not given to poorly clothed Chinese.
That became a laughingstock after Sui fell.
But Li Shimin had once said that Tang would also hold grand displays, this time backed by military might, forcing the barbarians to entertain Tang.
Now it was clear His Majesty remembered that ambition well.
Wei Zheng felt gratified. Du Ruhui felt anticipation. Yuchi Jingde felt excited. All bowed in agreement.
[Lightscreen]
["Beyond this, the most noteworthy part of Shangyuan Festival is of course the lantern fair.
From Emperor Wu of Han through Sui, lamp lighting was always a privilege of the ruling class, since ordinary people did not have enough lamp oil to waste.
Emperor Yang of Sui, by modern standards, was a lover of spectacles. He raised Shangyuan's standard by burning dozens of piles of expensive agarwood mixed with incense through the night.
Tang could not afford such extravagance and instead overtook on technology.
Over more than a hundred years, Shangyuan lanterns kept innovating. Early on, they only mimicked animal shapes structurally. Later, lanterns similar to Kongming lanterns using heat principles appeared, known as revolving shadow lanterns, or running-horse lanterns.
By Emperor Xuanzong's time, Shangyuan reached a peak. From human-shaped lantern maids to lantern mountains and hundred-branch lantern trees, styles multiplied.
But common people could never outplay emperors. After Li Dan became emperor, he built a seven-layer, twenty-zhang-high revolving lantern to celebrate.
Li Longji was not to be outdone. At Shangyang Palace he built a lantern tower 150 chi high, hung with pearls and jade as wind chimes, ringing harmoniously in the breeze, truly magnificent.
By Song, lantern viewing rights were released to the people. Commoners could not build spectacles, so merchants set up lanterns to attract customers. In this process, someone combined ancient character riddles with lanterns, and lantern riddles were born.
By Ming and Qing, lantern riddles became an important part of Shangyuan. But due to shortened holidays and other factors, overall grandeur declined compared to Tang and Song.
In modern times, visiting lantern fairs on the fifteenth still exists.
But due to work and study, the level of celebration cannot match Tang and Song. After all, theirs was a legal holiday.
However, in terms of lantern refinement, complexity, and scale, modern times completely overwhelm ancient times.
In brightness, color richness, and stability, electric lights leave ancient candles far behind."]