The literal meaning of 'Guozhen Li Bai' is that Li and Bai are precious fruits, and this sentence is similar to 'Caizhong Jiejiang' which refers to food. Since ancient times, China has attached great importance to food and has the concept of 'food is paramount to the people'. The Book of Documents, Hong Fan, states that the "Nine Realms" bestowed upon Dayu by heaven were the fundamental laws for governing the country, including the "Eight Policies for Agriculture", with the first being "Food". It is interesting that for thousands of years, in the agricultural production model represented by the cultivation of grains, fruits were not the mainstream food structure in ancient China, and the fruits that ancient people could eat were not as rich and delicious as we have today. However, it cannot be denied that fruits had their own unique cultural genes in ancient China. The ancient Chinese character for "fruit" in Shuowen Jiezi reads: "Fruit is solid on wood. From wood, it resembles the shape of a fruit on top of wood." The ancient Chinese character for "fruit" represents the image of a tree bearing fruit, and its original meaning is to indicate the fruit produced by the tree. In Xiaozhuan, the shape of "fruit" tends to be regular, with the upper part symbolizing the fruit written in the shape of "field". However, the connection between fruit and trees is still clear, and the writing style of "field" above and "wood" below has continued to this day. It can be seen that the shape of "field" in the character "fruit" is not farmland, but a standardization of the image of fruit in early writing. Trees, from sprouting and blooming to bearing mature and plump fruits, have gone through natural nourishment and the sedimentation of time. Therefore, based on its original meaning, "fruit" has been extended to mean "result", "sure enough", and "decisive". This extended path reflects the ancient people's meticulous understanding of the laws of nature. Fruits are an important source of food, especially in the primitive stage where cooking techniques have not yet been mastered. Picking fruits as food is one of the main means of livelihood. The Book of Rites, Book of Rites: "Without cremation, one eats the fruits of plants and trees, the flesh of birds and animals, drinks their blood, and rubs their fur." It tells the scene of ancient food and life. After the development of agricultural civilization, food crops became the main source of food, but ancient people still valued the cultivation and management of fruits. In the Book of Rites, there is a specialized position for "field personnel": "In charge of the country's field garden, the fruits and exotic items of the trees are collected and stored according to the time. All sacrifices and guests share their fruits and delicacies. Enjoyment is also the same." This means that the field personnel are responsible for managing the field garden, planting various precious fruits, and picking and storing them according to the season, supplying them for use in ceremonies, banquets, and other occasions. In the Book of Songs, Pixiu Feng, July, it is recorded that "in June, one eats yuyu and zucchini; in July, one eats hengkui and zucchini; in August, one peels jujube; and in October, one obtains rice." "yuyu," "zucchini," and "jujube" are all fruits, indicating that ancient people paid great attention to eating fruits according to the season. Over thousands of years of dietary practice, ancient people developed a unique understanding of dietary structure, with fruits being an important component. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Su Wen "records:" The five grains are for nourishment, the five fruits are for assistance, the five livestock are for benefit, the five vegetables are for filling, and the fragrance is suitable for consumption to supplement essence and qi. "In the eyes of ancient people, a reasonable dietary structure that combines staple foods, fruits, meat, and vegetables can nourish the body and nourish the spirit. This understanding still has its value today. The character 'Zhen' is composed of oblique jade and harmonic components. In Chinese culture, jade symbolizes warmth, steadfastness, and beauty. Words that use "jade" as a symbol are mostly related to treasures and other beautiful things. The Shuowen Jiezi interprets "Zhen" as "Baoye", which originally refers to precious treasures such as pearls and jade. 'Zhen' also has an adjective meaning, meaning 'valuable, precious', such as' precious treasure, rare book'. In the sentence "Guo Zhen Li Bai", "Zhen" means the verb meaning of "precious to..." and "valued". Today, the verb meaning of 'zhen' representing 'value' is still retained in words such as' cherish ',' cherish ', and' cherish '. The character "Li" in Xiaozhuan is derived from the sound of wood and zi, and in the "Shuowen Jiezi", it is defined as "Guoye". Duan Yucai changed the definition to "Li Guoye", and "Li" represents the fruit of plum. The character "Li" in Chu bamboo slips has the form of "lai" written on top and "zi" written on the bottom, while in later generations, the common writing style is "shang mu zi zi". Li Zi has a slightly sour taste, but in ancient times when fruits were relatively scarce, the very common "Li" was loved by people. The Book of Songs mentions "Li" several times, such as in "Xiaoya: There is a Terrace in Nanshan" where there is "Qi in Nanshan and Li in Beishan", and in "Wang Feng: Ma in Qiuzhong" where there is "Li in Qiuzhong, the son of Bi Liu", it can be seen that Li trees were commonly seen between the hills at that time. Peach blossoms are red, plum blossoms are white. Since the Book of Songs, the two have often been recited together. In the Book of Songs, Zhao Nan, He Bi Ren, there is a line that goes, "He Bi Ren is as beautiful as peach and plum blossoms," using the flowers of peach and plum blossoms to refer to the beauty of a woman's marriage. The flower of peach and plum is often regarded as the representative of spring scenery. In He Zhizhang's "Watching others' peach and plum flowers", there is a saying that "peach flowers are red and plum flowers are white", and in Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Regret", there is a saying that "peach and plum flowers bloom in spring, and wutong leaves fall in autumn". Of course, there is also the well-known line in Huang Tingjian's poem "Sending Huang Ji Fu" that goes, "A cup of wine with peach and plum blossoms in the spring breeze, ten years of lanterns in the night rain of the rivers and lakes." Using peach and plum blossoms in the spring breeze to express the joy of the past is even more unique. In addition to describing the spring scenery, "peach and plum" has also formed some allusions with special meanings. In the Book of Songs, Da Ya, Yi, there is a saying that goes, "If you throw me a peach, repay it with a plum." In the Wei Feng, Papaya, there is a saying that goes, "If you throw me a wooden peach, repay it with Qiong Yao." "If you throw me a wooden plum, repay it with Qiong Jiu." These phrases describe mutual giving, reciprocity, and understanding of the meaning of return, hence the idiom "throw a peach to repay the plum. In the Biography of General Li in the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian praised Li Guang's profound influence in the military and the sincere support of his soldiers with the proverb "Peach blossoms and plum trees speak for themselves, and the lower reaches become suspicious". Later on, people often used this proverb to praise those who are sincere, honest, and of high moral character. They do not need to deliberately flaunt or boast, and can naturally gain people's admiration and followers. Taoli "is also used in Chinese to metaphorically refer to the younger generation cultivated and the students taught. According to Volume 7 of "Han Shi Wai Zhuan", during the Warring States period, the minister of Wei Wenhou, Zi Zhi, fled north due to being convicted and met Jian Zhu. He complained to Jian Zhu that the people he had promoted did not know how to be grateful and would not show kindness to others in the future. Jian Zhu said, "If you plant peach and plum trees in spring, they will be shaded in summer and edible in autumn. Spring trees are full of thorns, and you cannot pick their leaves in summer, but they will be prickly in autumn. From this perspective, the trees you plant today are not your own. Therefore, a gentleman should choose before planting." Planting peach and plum trees in spring will yield shade in summer and fruit in autumn. In this passage, peach and plum trees are used as a metaphor for those reserve talents worth cultivating. Later on, "peach and plum" was used to refer to students. In Bai Juyi's poem "Fenghe Ling Gong Lvye Tang Planting Flowers", it is said: "If you want to have all the peach and plum trees in the world, why plant more flowers in front of the hall?" According to "Zizhi Tongjian - Tang Ji 23", someone once said to Di Renjie, "All the peach and plum trees in the world are in the public gate." This shows that using "peach and plum" to refer to students was already quite common in the Tang Dynasty. To this day, we still use the phrase 'peach and plum blossoms fill the world' to describe the cultivated disciples and students spread all over the world. The oracle bone script shape of "柰" has "shi" at the bottom and piled up firewood at the top. Its original meaning refers to burning firewood for worship and divination of good or bad luck, indicating that "柰" is related to the worship of ghosts and gods. One viewpoint is that the character "柰" in oracle bone script is the original character for "evil spirits". The character '柰' represents fruit and is a later borrowed usage. Compared to 'Li', 'Nai' is not a commonly used word today, and it doesn't sound like a common fruit. In fact, ancient China has a relatively long history of planting "bamboo shoots". Since the Han Dynasty, "bamboo shoots" have been frequently seen in literary works. In Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu", there is a saying "loquat and persimmon shoots, bamboo shoots and magnolia bark"; Cao Zhi was once rewarded with Naiguo, a tribute from Liangzhou, and specially wrote the "Gratitude to Naiguo Table"; There is a line in Zuo Si's "Shu Du Fu" that goes, "Zhu Ying is ripe in spring, and Su Bai is ripe in summer. In the "Guangzhi" written by Guo Yigong of the Jin Dynasty, the types and planting areas of "bamboo shoots" were recorded: "There are three types of bamboo shoots: white, red, and green. Zhangye has white bamboo shoots, and Jiuquan has red bamboo shoots. In the West, there are many bamboo shoots, and families think that there are tens or hundreds of dried bamboo shoots, which are believed to be stored..." It can be seen that "bamboo shoots" were abundant fruits in ancient western regions. Li Shizhen's analysis of what "kao" really is in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" is quite detailed: "In Sanskrit, it is called a" frequent woman "... kao and Lin kao are of the same type and two types. Trees and trees are similar to Lin kao and are large, with the most in the western soil, and can be planted and pressed. There are three colors: white, red, and green. The white one is called Su kao; the red one is Dan kao, also known as Zhu kao; and the green one is called Green kao. Both are ripe in summer. Liangzhou has Winter kao, which is ripe in winter and has a green color. According to Li Shizhen's analysis," Bo "refers to apples, which are similar in variety to Lin Bo and are abundant in the Western Regions. They can be planted or propagated by pressing strips, and there are three types: white, red, and blue. They mainly mature in summer, and Liangzhou also has varieties that mature in winter. Lincong, also known as Huahong or Shaguo, is a tree belonging to the Rosaceae family and the Apple genus. Both have similar tree shapes and fruit shapes, with Lincong fruit being slightly smaller than apples. The word for apple in Japanese comes from the transliteration of "Lin 檎" in Chinese, indicating the close connection between the two. Perhaps it is precisely because "kao" is produced in the Western Regions that it is difficult to grow high-quality fruits in the Central Plains region. Therefore, "kao" was rewarded by the emperor as a precious treasure to his courtiers, and Cao Zhi specifically wrote the "Gratitude for the Gift of kao". 'Pinpo' is a transliteration of Sanskrit, as well as words such as' Pinpo 'and' Pinguo '. This is the result of renaming' nai '. Later, the term' apple 'became popular, and names such as' nai' and 'Pinpo' were rarely seen. The reason why people today feel unfamiliar with 'bai' is partly due to the change in its common name, and partly due to the iteration of apple cultivation technology. The change in naming makes it impossible to directly find a corresponding relationship between ancient names and reality in modern times; And the various types of apples we see today are mostly varieties that have been cultivated and improved since modern times, and there are already differences in taste, appearance, and other aspects between them and ancient varieties such as "ba" and "lin ba". The ancients ate fruits not only to satisfy their appetite, but also to observe the beauty of spring and autumn, perceive the rhythm of life, and use fruits as gifts to convey warmth and kindness between people. Compared to ancient times, today's fruits have been greatly enriched: we can taste a wide variety of fruits from all over the world, and off-season planting and refrigeration technology can help fruits break through seasonal limitations. Some fruits even emerge several new varieties within a few years. While enjoying the deliciousness and nutrition brought by fruits, we should also occasionally stop and explore the ancient stories and cultural memories hidden behind the fruits. (New Society)