The ancient people of the North said: "Summer insects cannot speak of ice." This is not entirely true. Nowadays, the north wind is howling and the temperature is plummeting. At the flower, bird, fish and insect market, artificially bred grasshoppers are already on the market.

There is a scene in the TV series "The Last Emperor": the young emperor Puyi, who was sitting next to the Queen Mother, looked dismissively at the kneeling ministers and concentrated on taking out a gourd from his arms. Opening the lid, a grasshopper ran out...

There is no written record of whether Puyi played with grasshoppers in the palace when he was a child, but it is true that the Qing court bred winter insects. There is written evidence. According to Mr. Wang Shixiang's research, as early as the early Qing Dynasty, folk insect breeding methods and the custom of appreciating chirping insects in winter were introduced to the Forbidden City.

Qi Baishi·Gourd and Grasshopper (one of the books on flowers, grass and insects)

Raising grasshoppers in the palace means "all nations come to court"

Emperor Kangxi wrote A poem: "The weft grows till late spring." Luowei is the grasshopper. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" says: "There are insects with defensible abdomen, green color, leaping with their legs, and singing with short wings. Their sound is noisy, summer insects are also called Luowei... With their noisy sound, they are called "noisy insects". "Children", now usually written as "Katydids", belong to the family Katydidae and overwinter with eggs. The Luowei poems sung by Emperor Kangxi have already survived winter and reached late spring - the third month of the lunar calendar. The poem says: "In autumn, I hate the noisy ears, but now I have a brocade bag full of them. I pass by the incense pavilion with the sound of wax, and receive the sound of jade in spring." - In autumn, I thought it was noisy, but now I want to keep it in the brocade bag. inside. It has been chirping throughout the twelfth lunar month, and has already chirped into spring, integrating into the Spring Festival music. Of course, these grasshoppers are artificially hatched.

Emperor Qianlong also wrote a poem "Ode to "Luowei" poem. The poem says: "Everyone knows that the grasshopper sings in autumn (everyone knows the grasshopper's call in autumn), but why do we hear the chirping in our ears (why do we hear the grasshopper's cry at this time)?" He wrote in the preface of this poem. Annotations were made on this: "During the emperor's time, he ordered Chenyuan envoys to take the weft and plant it in the greenhouse. The cover was like a warm flower that could open the bottom of the wax. Every time a banquet was held, an embroidery cage was placed, and the chirping sound was endless. . Take this as an example: "Fengchen Garden is an agency under the Ministry of Internal Affairs that manages gardens and rivers. This preface by Qianlong says that since the Kangxi period, Fenchenyuan has been following the emperor's instructions to artificially hatch grasshoppers every year like raising flowers in a greenhouse and let them scream until the end of the twelfth lunar month. When there is a banquet at the end of the year, put them in brocade cages and listen to their cries. This has become a common practice in the Qing Dynasty. Mr. Wang Shixiang heard from Zhao Zichen, who has been breeding winter insects for generations. His father heard from the eunuch in the palace: Every year from the Spring Festival to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a brazier and charcoal are placed in the warm pavilion of the palace, and the shelves around it are filled with grasshopper gourds. "It chimes day and night, and the sound is deafening, which means 'All nations come to court'."

Xia Renhu's "Qing Gong Ci" also contains records about the keeping of singing insects in the Qing court in winter: "Yuan Dynasty On the night of Qianqing, there was a banquet for the ministers, and the Tang flowers were laid out in front of the banquet. Autumn insects suddenly sounded at the bottom of Aoshan Mountain, and the concubines in the Prime Minister's Palace were laughing. "The explanation says that on the night of the Lantern Festival, the emperor held a banquet in the Qianqing Palace to entertain the ministers, and there was a greenhouse in front of the banquet. Cultivated peonies, peonies and other flowers. Inside the lantern mountain are crickets adopted in autumn. "After the music was played, the crickets chirped and came out of Aoshan Mountain." Xia Shi said that the autumn insects were adopted in autumn. It is not accurate. The chirping autumn insects, like the peonies and peonies that bloom on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, are also artificially cultivated. There is another section: Wang Shixiang said that the chirping in the palace in winter was grasshoppers, and Xia Renhu said it was crickets. Xia Renhu is from Jiangsu. Maybe he can't tell the difference between grasshoppers and crickets. Maybe there are both grasshoppers and crickets in the palace.

Those who play with winter bugs are wealthy idlers

The people of the Ming Dynasty had already mastered the technology of artificial breeding and hatching of crickets. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" says: "To promote the sense of autumn, autumn will be born... People in the capital can plant them today and keep them singing late in the winter." It also introduced in detail the method of artificial breeding of crickets: raising crickets in autumn In a pot covered with soil, let the crickets lay their eggs in the soil. In winter, put the pot on the heated kang, cover it with silk wool, and sprinkle water on the silk wool every day. After five or six days, "the soil will crawl", and after another seven or eight days, white larvae will emerge from the eggs. Place the larvae on vegetable leaves, still cover them with silk wool, and sprinkle them with water every day. After a month, they will grow wings, turn black, and be able to chirp, but the chirping will be softer than that of crickets in autumn. The book also said that crickets are not the only insects that people can enjoy, but there are also golden bells and grasshoppers. In fact, among the artificially bred winter insects, there are also oil gourds, golden bells, smacking lips, spinners, etc.

Katydids, crickets, oil gourds, smacking lips, golden bells, and weavers all belong to the class Insecta, order Orthoptera, family Gryllidae, or family Katydidae. Youhulu is also written as Youhulu and Youhulu. It is similar to a cricket, but larger than a cricket. It is also one of the song insects that people like to keep as pets. Golden bell, "black, sharp in front and plump in the back, with divergent whiskers and tail, leaps and sings with wings, and its sound is like a rippling sound... It is named after it, so it is called golden bell." In fact, these insects are all passed by Wing fluttering - the elytra rubbing against each other - produces sound.

The raising of autumn insects flourished in the Qing Dynasty. Pan Rongbi's "Records of Success in the Imperial Capital" said: "Young men are good at raising autumn insects." To raise grasshoppers, "carve them into gourds, inlaid with silver teeth, store them in your arms, eat tender soybean sprouts, bright red radish, and occasionally eat them with thick soup." "In the midst of a crowd of people sitting in a crowd of people, a clear rhyme stood out from their chests..." - In the middle of winter, among a crowd of people in a crowd of people sitting in a crowd of seats, they suddenly heard the sound of a grasshopper, and everyone was surprised and looked for the source of the sound. , the eyes finally focused on the grasshopper farmer, thus bringing great honor to this person.

Mr. Jin Shoushen's "Life in Old Beijing: Raising Autumn Insects" has a relatively detailed introduction to the artificial breeding methods of these autumn insects. The procedural steps he described are similar to those in "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital". 》Absolutely the same. At the end of the article, he talks about the fact that in the past, there were people in Beijing who "played the game of life" such as Cricket Zhao, Si Mian Chen, Xu Shi, Zahe Mian Wenzi, and Xiao Yangzi. Mr. Jin Shoushen said: "It is easy to buy insects that are pleasant to the ears, but it is too difficult to hatch them to make a profit." Because artificial hatching is too difficult, the price of autumn insects in winter must not be cheap. Fucha Dunchong said in "The Years of Yanjing": "There are also oil gourds. In the autumn season, one penny can buy more than ten. By October, one can be worth thousands of pence. Its song is sonorous. It's intermittent, trembling and long. It's sad and joyful to listen to it on a winter night. It's just like the idle people. "

In the old days, people who played with winter bugs were all wealthy idlers. Mr. Wang Shixiang mentioned in "Autumn Insects" that Mr. Guan Pinghu, who loved autumn insects, spent five yuan to buy a Western Mountain Green Grasshopper at Longfu Temple. This Grasshopper was "old, with bruises on its belly and missing legs. He knew that he would die within five or six days, but the teacher was still happy to return home with five yuan. He said with a smile: "Even if you live for five days. Listen to the flowers in one day." One yuan is worth it!" Five yuan could buy two bags of "foreign white noodles" at that time.

To raise song insects in winter, you cannot use cages, but use gourds. The gourd used to raise grasshoppers is a type of gourd device. Gourd ware, also known as "gourd ware", is a unique handicraft in my country that combines artificial and natural elements. When the gourd flowers fall and the fruits begin to develop, a specific mold is placed on the young gourd. After maturity, it is transformed into a gourd vessel with a little arrangement.

What is Shahe Liu’s gourd?

There is a baggage in the traditional cross talk "Ma Guapa". It is said that a young master Yangzi exchanged a mule for a grasshopper: a big green grasshopper, and a "Shahe Liu" outside. Gourd, this gourd "has a golden gall bladder". Later, he explained, "This mule costs more than 400 yuan!" - Even if it is an exaggeration, a grasshopper and a mule are not equivalent in value. This exchange is obviously extremely unequal. Isn't this young master Yangzi too stupid to willingly trade a big mule for a grasshopper? The crosstalk said that the reason why this exchange could be established was because there was still this "Shahe Liu, my Chang'er, and the gourd with the golden silk gallbladder". There is another explanation here in this cross talk in the past:

A: "This is not surprising, that grasshopper gourd is good, it belongs to Shahe Liu."

B : "What is Liu's gourd in Shahe?"

A: "You don't know that there is a man named Liu in Shahe. The gourds he grows are the best for raising grasshoppers."

"Shahe Liu" is said to be a person named Liu in Shahe who is good at growing gourds. "I am Chang'er", the pronunciation of the child's voice falls on the verb "长". Long, here is a verb, to grow long. The gourd of "Ben Chang'er" means a gourd that grows on its own without artificial intervention, which is different from a gourd that grows by being restricted by "Fan".

"Snatching the Mandarin Jacket" was created in the late Qing Dynasty at the end of the 20th century. It was first a popular joke, and it has been said by almost all famous cross talk artists in the future. When it comes to gourds, people say they come from "Shaheliu". As for the Shahe among them, which county is it, Wuqing? From Ji County? Or from Changping? Additional certification is required. There is a saying that "Shahe Liu" gourds are only sold in Tianjin, so this Shahe should be the Wuqing Shahe closest to Tianjin. Nowadays, merchants and entertainment circles refer to "Shahe Liu" as "Sanhe Liu", saying that he was born in the Xianfeng period and his name was Liu Qing (some say he was named Liu Xianting). Maybe it's not the same "Liu" as "Shahe Liu". In a TV series, a grasshopper gourd produced by "Sanhe Liu" sold for 300,000 yuan. This may also be a "joke".

There is something special about grasshopper gourds

Whether it is a gourd from "Ben Changer" or a gourd made from a fan, the gourd needs to be sawed off if it is used to raise grasshoppers and other winter insects. Add the handle, add the mouth, and put the lid on, otherwise wouldn't the Grasshopper in the gourd be able to escape at any time? Depending on the winter insects raised in the gourd, the accessory parts on the mouth of the gourd are also different. This is a major feature of Chinese culture: no matter what you do, there are strict rules and details. Just like a popular saying on the Peking Opera stage: "If you are stunned and worn, you can never wear the wrong one." The same is true for raising birds. You can use the same cage for what kind of bird you raise. You can't make the wrong choice. Therefore, whether it is the court or the private sector, gourds of different shapes must be used to raise different winter insects.

Wang Shixiang pointed out in the article "Calling Grasshoppers in the Forbidden City" that the grasshopper gourd that appeared in the TV series "The Last Emperor" was used to raise oil gourds, not grasshoppers. Wang Shixiang gave a more detailed introduction to the differences between gourds for different uses in his self-selected collection "Jin Hui Dui Winter Insects". In short, the grasshopper gourd has a pointed bottom, a thick waist and a long belly; the oil gourd has a round bottom and a short and thick belly. The biggest difference between the two is that there is no frame on the mouth of the gourd, and the lid is made of a round piece cut off from a large gourd with holes drilled into it. The oil gourds and Jinzhong'er gourds have a frame on the mouth, and a hollow carved core is inlaid in the frame. There is no need to cover the grasshopper gourd.

Wang Shixiang, the "player" in Beijing

After the reform and opening up, people's living standards have improved, and the technology for breeding autumn insects has also improved. Raising winter insects is no longer the exclusive preserve of a few rich people. There is an abundant supply of grasshopper gourds, including those made by "original Changer" and those made by Fan. The pattern decoration on the gourds can be embossed, branded or printed. The mouth of the gourd includes red sandalwood, ivory, and horn; the core is made of coconut shell, boxwood, ivory, tortoise shell, jade, and even emerald. Depending on the materials, the prices naturally vary greatly. To buy a Grasshopper gourd, you can spend dozens of yuan, or you can spend one to two thousand yuan, or even more.

However, Mr. Wang Shixiang said that today’s businessmen can’t tell which kind of gourd they are raising. Almost all gourds have ivory or mahogany frames and raised cores. "It's a bit timid." ——Times change, and so do concepts. Nowadays, people raise chirping insects just for fun: the loud chirping of the grasshoppers and the beautiful gourds are enough. As for whether the gourd is special, it doesn't matter so much.