采莲探源

Probing into the origin of "CAILIAN"

“采莲”是中国古代文学的常见主题之一。从发生的时间上看,采莲分为秋天的“采莲子”与春夏之交的“采新莲”;文学作品中的“采莲”,多为描绘春夏之交的采新莲。从发生的地域上看,“采新莲”最早产生于古代荆楚“江南”地区,是古代江南地区的端午民俗,以后才逐渐扩展到其他地区。

＂Cailian＂ （it literally means collecting lotuses） is one of the common themes in Chinese classic literature. In time ,＂Cailian＂ divides into collecting the fruit of autumn lotus and collecting new flowers of lotus in the middle of spring and summer; in literary works, ＂Cailian＂ mostly describes collecting new lotus flowers in the middle of spring and summerin literary works. On region, ＂Cailian＂ originated from ancient Jiangnan （＂Southward to the Yangtze River in Hubei Province＂）, and this kind of activity originates from folk custom of Dragon Boat Festival in ancient Jiangnan.