文壇逸事

《永樂大典》失蹤之謎

《永樂大典》是中國古代最為成熟、最為杰出的“百科全書”。永樂三年（1405年），明成祖下令編纂《永樂大典》，高僧姚廣孝和翰林學士解縉帶領3000多文臣接手了這項任務，前后耗時4年。《永樂大典》正文22877卷，裝成11095冊，總字數約3.7億字。而目前，在全世界范圍內，已經發現的《永樂大典》只有800余卷、400冊左右，不到原書的4％。更令人不解的是，目前全世界各地收藏的《永樂大典》全都是副本，而正本至今一卷也沒有發現。

當今研究《永樂大典》的權威學者欒貴明認為，《永樂大典》正本最后的出現時間是在嘉靖的喪葬期間，所以，這兩者之間應該有密切的關聯。

如果《永樂大典》正本被嘉靖皇帝帶入永陵，將來正本的出土無疑會震驚整個世界。然而，這一切猜想在打開永陵地宮之前，只能是一個理論上的假設。（閔捷）

“福”字為何倒貼

貼“福”字無論是現在還是過去，都寄托了人們對福的向往和追求。民間為了更充分地體現這種向往和追求，許多地方干脆將“福”字倒過來貼，借“福”字倒了的諧音表示“福氣到了”的寓意。關于倒貼福字，有這樣一種有趣的傳說：

清咸豐年間的一個春節前夕，恭王府大管家為討主子歡心，寫了幾個斗大的“福”字，叫人貼于庫房和王府的大門上。有一家丁因目不識丁，竟將大門上的“福”字貼倒了。為此，恭親王的福晉（妻子）十分氣惱，欲鞭罰懲戒。幸好大管家是個能說善辯之人，他怕福晉怪罪下來連累自身，慌忙跪地陳述：“奴才常聽人說，恭親王壽高福大造化大，如今大福真的倒（到）了，乃吉祥之兆。”恭親王福晉一聽，轉怒為喜，心想：怪不得過往行人都說恭親王福倒（到）了，吉語說千遍，金銀增萬貫，一般的奴才，還真想不出這招呢!遂賞管家和家丁各50兩銀子。（王達人）

Mystery of Yongle Encyclopedia

The Yongle Encyclopedia was the most complete and splendid encyclopedia in ancient China. Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty ordered to have the encyclopedia compiled. It took more than 3，000 scholars 4 years to put together 22，877 volumes into 11，095 books in about 370 million characters. However， only 800 volumes in about 400 books of the encyclopedia have been found around the world. And they are all copies. None of the originals has ever been seen.

Luan Guiming， an authoritative scholar of this encyclopedia， holds that the last time the original encyclopedia was seen was during the mourning and burial period of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. He believes that the missing of the originals of the encyclopedia is closely connected with the emperor’s burial. If the original was entombed with the emperor， there will be a day when it is unearthed. However， this is only an educated conjecture. The missing of the Yongle Encyclopedia will remain a mystery for a long while before the emperor’s mausoleum is unearthed.

Why is 福 Posted Upside Down?

It has long been a Chinese custom to post the character 福 (fortune) in bright red on doors， windows and walls on festive occasions such as the Spring Festival and wedding ceremonies. Some people in some places are in the habit of posting the character upside down， celebrating the best wish for the auspicious arrival of 福. They justify their practice with such an explanation: as 福 (upside down) and 福 (arrival) are homophones， double wishes can be achieved with the word posted upside down.

As a legend goes， the tradition started with the chamberlain at the Lord Gong’s residence in the years of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty. The chamberlain wrote a few large-sized 福 for the New Year and told his underlings to post them on the main gates of the residence and warehouses. However， an illiterate servant posted a 福 upside down. When hearing pedestrians say 福 at the residence was upside down， the lord’s wife was enraged and wanted to get the poor servant caned. The chamberlain knew he would be held responsible if the servant was punished for the error. The quick-minded chamberlain tried to explain the error away， saying that he had long since known that the lord was blessed with fortune and it was a good sign that fortune had actually arrived. With this explanation， people’s remarks about the 福 posted upside down could be regarded as best wishes uttered by these people. The lord’s wife was pleased to hear so many people say the arrival of fortune at the residence. So instead of punishing the servant， she gave a large award to the chamberlain and the servant.

(Translated by David)