Thousand Characters

Chapter 8

[Original text]

The beginning of writing is to wear clothes.To push the position to give up the country, there is Yu Tao Tang.

【Note】

Manufacture: manufacture, invent.clothing: put on clothes.Clothes: The clothes on the upper body are called clothes, and the skirts on the lower body are called shang.There were no trousers in ancient times, and trousers did not appear until later.Bit: throne, right.Country: country, territory. "Give up the position to the country" means to give up one's own country and power to talented and moral people without reservation.You Yu: The name of the legendary ancient tribe, Shun is its leader.Tao Tang: The legendary name of an ancient tribe, Yao is its leader.The first two sentences of this text are about the time of the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor is known as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. It was from the Yellow Emperor that human beings officially entered the civilization period.The last two sentences talk about Yao and Shun, the last two kings among the five emperors, because they not only had high moral character, but also voluntarily surrendered their throne and power to others.

【Interpretation】

During the time of the Yellow Emperor, Cang Jie created characters based on pictographic, knowing, and borrowing methods, and then Hu Cao invented clothes that people can wear on their upper and lower bodies.Later, Yao unreservedly gave up his country and throne to the virtuous Shun, and Shun unreservedly gave up his own country and throne to the virtuous Yu.

【allusion】

The earliest kings Long, long ago, there were two kings named Yao and Shun.After the death of the Yellow Emperor, Yao took over the throne of the Yellow Emperor. During his more than 70 years of rule, the economy and culture of the tribal alliance were very prosperous, and the people's life was very happy.When Yao was 86 years old, he wanted to find a suitable successor, and everyone recommended Shun to him.But Yao did not hand over the power to Shun immediately. He wanted to investigate whether Shun was the most suitable candidate first, so he married his two daughters to Shun.After a long period of investigation, Yao felt that Shun was indeed a good man, as everyone said, so he reassuredly entrusted Shun with the important task of governing the world.When Shun was old, he, like Yao, gave up his seat to Dayu who managed the floods.This is the "abdication system" that has been praised by later generations in history.

(End of this chapter)