Riddle:
Riddles mainly refer to the innuendo of things or words for people to guess, and can also be extended to things with mysteries. The riddle originated from the ancient folk in China, and it has evolved for thousands of years. It is a cultural product created by the collective wisdom of the ancient working people in China. On June 7th, 2008, Riddle was approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The origin of the riddle:
The riddle originated from the ancient people of China and was the creation of the collective wisdom of the ancient people. It is impossible for someone to put the invention right of riddles into practice.
The riddle originated from folk oral literature, which was created by our ancestors in the long-term practice of production, labor and life, and is the expression of the wisdom of working people. The processing innovation of post-Canon people has a mystery of meaning. Generally speaking, folk riddles are riddles, and literary riddles are lantern riddles, which are also collectively called riddles. Historical data show that in slave society, ancestors began to express their thoughts and feelings with obscure and tortuous songs.
According to the Book of Songs and Tang Shi, "Mourning that day? Give it to you. " It means: Sun, when will you die? Let me die with you! According to legend, Xia Jie, the emperor of Xia Dynasty, was cruel and heartless, and the people were too angry to make any noise. They vent their anger in secret words, so there is such a ballad. This ballad uses metaphor to curse the tyrant Xia Jie.
Xia Jie once said, "I have a world, just like the sky has its day. If it dies, I will die. " This ballad can be said to be the earliest riddle sprout in China. Another example is the Shang Dynasty short ballad "Woman Carrying a Basket" found in the Book of Changes, which can also be regarded as one of the earliest riddles in China: "The woman carrying a basket has no reality, and the scholar cutting the sheep has no blood."
Using the "contradiction method" common in traditional riddles, the scene of a young shepherd couple shearing wool on the pasture is skillfully shown, and "answering each other's words" is difficult to guess, which is similar to a riddle. This is just the embryo of the riddle. There was no such proper name at that time.
The earliest riddle was first created by the folk collective and passed down from mouth to mouth. At first, it did not attract the attention of scholars, so it was not reflected in the text. In this way, a long-standing folk riddle has been formed among illiterate working people. In addition, riddles mainly spread between the upper class and literati, and spread in the form of words.