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《永乐大典》失踪之谜
《永乐大典》是中国古代最为成熟、最为杰出的“百科全书”。永乐三年（1405年），明成祖下令编纂《永乐大典》，高僧姚广孝和翰林学士解缙带领3000多文臣接手了这项任务，前后耗时4年。《永乐大典》正文22877卷，装成11095册，总字数约3.7亿字。而目前，在全世界范围内，已经发现的《永乐大典》只有800余卷、400册左右，不到原书的4％。更令人不解的是，目前全世界各地收藏的《永乐大典》全都是副本，而正本至今一卷也没有发现。
当今研究《永乐大典》的权威学者栾贵明认为，《永乐大典》正本最后的出现时间是在嘉靖的丧葬期间，所以，这两者之间应该有密切的关联。
如果《永乐大典》正本被嘉靖皇帝带入永陵，将来正本的出土无疑会震惊整个世界。然而，这一切猜想在打开永陵地宫之前，只能是一个理论上的假设。（闵捷）
“福”字为何倒贴
贴“福”字无论是现在还是过去，都寄托了人们对福的向往和追求。民间为了更充分地体现这种向往和追求，许多地方干脆将“福”字倒过来贴，借“福”字倒了的谐音表示“福气到了”的寓意。关于倒贴福字，有这样一种有趣的传说：
清咸丰年间的一个春节前夕，恭王府大管家为讨主子欢心，写了几个斗大的“福”字，叫人贴于库房和王府的大门上。有一家丁因目不识丁，竟将大门上的“福”字贴倒了。为此，恭亲王的福晋（妻子）十分气恼，欲鞭罚惩戒。幸好大管家是个能说善辩之人，他怕福晋怪罪下来连累自身，慌忙跪地陈述：“奴才常听人说，恭亲王寿高福大造化大，如今大福真的倒（到）了，乃吉祥之兆。”恭亲王福晋一听，转怒为喜，心想：怪不得过往行人都说恭亲王福倒（到）了，吉语说千遍，金银增万贯，一般的奴才，还真想不出这招呢!遂赏管家和家丁各50两银子。（王达人）
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)
《永乐大典》是中国古代最为成熟、最为杰出的“百科全书”。永乐三年（1405年），明成祖下令编纂《永乐大典》，高僧姚广孝和翰林学士解缙带领3000多文臣接手了这项任务，前后耗时4年。《永乐大典》正文22877卷，装成11095册，总字数约3.7亿字。而目前，在全世界范围内，已经发现的《永乐大典》只有800余卷、400册左右，不到原书的4％。更令人不解的是，目前全世界各地收藏的《永乐大典》全都是副本，而正本至今一卷也没有发现。
当今研究《永乐大典》的权威学者栾贵明认为，《永乐大典》正本最后的出现时间是在嘉靖的丧葬期间，所以，这两者之间应该有密切的关联。
如果《永乐大典》正本被嘉靖皇帝带入永陵，将来正本的出土无疑会震惊整个世界。然而，这一切猜想在打开永陵地宫之前，只能是一个理论上的假设。（闵捷）
“福”字为何倒贴
贴“福”字无论是现在还是过去，都寄托了人们对福的向往和追求。民间为了更充分地体现这种向往和追求，许多地方干脆将“福”字倒过来贴，借“福”字倒了的谐音表示“福气到了”的寓意。关于倒贴福字，有这样一种有趣的传说：
清咸丰年间的一个春节前夕，恭王府大管家为讨主子欢心，写了几个斗大的“福”字，叫人贴于库房和王府的大门上。有一家丁因目不识丁，竟将大门上的“福”字贴倒了。为此，恭亲王的福晋（妻子）十分气恼，欲鞭罚惩戒。幸好大管家是个能说善辩之人，他怕福晋怪罪下来连累自身，慌忙跪地陈述：“奴才常听人说，恭亲王寿高福大造化大，如今大福真的倒（到）了，乃吉祥之兆。”恭亲王福晋一听，转怒为喜，心想：怪不得过往行人都说恭亲王福倒（到）了，吉语说千遍，金银增万贯，一般的奴才，还真想不出这招呢!遂赏管家和家丁各50两银子。（王达人）
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)