Wang Zhaojun is one of the four beauties of China. She was born ordinary, and was not valued when she was in the Han Palace, but she left her name because she married the Xiongnu for thousands of years. Wang Zhaojun in the history books has no news after the death of her second husband, leaving only a green tomb with "grass on the grave".
However, many literati in later generations wrote many derivative works about Zhaojun according to history, and constructed various causes of death such as Zhaojun's poisoning, depression death, and toujiang death. Among them, throwing himself into the river and dying has become the mainstream of Zhaojun's literary works, why is this?
Above_ Wang Zhaojun (c. 54 BC – 19 BC), courtesy name Zhaojun
The year of Wang Zhaojun's birth and death is unknown, but his place of origin is available. According to Han chinese records, Wang Zhaojun was a native of The Southern County, Western Han Dynasty, that is, a native of present-day Xingshan County, Hubei Province. Before going to the Xiongnu, Wang Zhaojun once entered the palace as a good son. In the first year of The Ning Dynasty, the Xiongnu called out han evil Shan Yu to meet the Han Yuan Emperor for "the infinite transmission of baosai, and the matter of no military revolution on the side". The xiongnu leader Zhi Zhidan Yu was disrespectful and unjust to the Han Dynasty, but Han Xiandan Yu took the initiative to see him in order to repair the relationship between Han and Hungary, which made the Han Yuan Emperor Long Yan very happy. At that time, Wang Zhaojun was not chosen as a concubine, so Emperor Yuan of Han gave Hu Han evil Shan Yu some treasures and gave Wang Zhaojun, a son of the Liang family, to Shan Yu as his wife. After a long stretch of yellow sand road, Zhaojun embarked on a journey of peace and affection.
The xiongnu's wife was the Fu clan, and Wang Zhaojun was known as the "Ninghu Fu clan". After marrying the Xiongnu, Wang Zhaojun gave birth to a son, Yi Tu Zhiyashi, for Hu Han Evil Shan Yu, who was the king of the Right Day. Hu Han was evil and pro-Han, and he was not thin to Wang Zhaojun, and Wang Zhaojun was also a member of the Fu clan, so Wang Zhaojun could have lived a good life. Unfortunately, Hu Han died of illness less than three years after marriage, and Wang Zhaojun, as a Central Plains woman and widow, could not help but fall into a passive situation.
Above_ Zhaojun out of the jam
According to Xiongnu customs, Wang Zhaojun wanted to marry his descendants, which made Wang Zhaojun, who had received etiquette education in the Central Plains since childhood, unbearable. She "wrote to ask for return", and the result was "emperor cheng's edict from Hu customs". In desperation, Wang Zhaojun married a "son" and gave birth to two daughters, Yun Wei Xu Bu Ju Ci and Dang Yu Ju Ci. More than ten years later, the compound strain was tired and died alone, and there was no record of Wang Zhaojun in the history books. Wang Mang claimed that the empress dowager had written to the Xiongnu asking Wang Zhaojun's eldest daughter, Su Buju, to join the service, but Wang Zhaojun's own condition was "half covered by the pipa". When was Wang Zhaojun born? Why did he die? When did he die? No one knows the answer. Only a green tomb was left behind for people to hang.
The daughter of the commoner Zhaojun was married to the Xiongnu, and the second marriage had no news, and she did not know the end, leaving only the "Aozuka" as a posterity, and many ancients had infinite curiosity about this mysterious and great woman.
Above_ Western Han Dynasty Xiongnu territory
The history books do not point out the cause of Wang Zhaojun's death, but many literati use the pen as a medium to invite Wang Zhaojun to enter the poem, and also use their rich imagination to arrange different causes of death for Wang Zhaojun.
1. "Qin Cao": Taking poison said
The author of the Qin Cao is unknown, but it contains many folklore from the Qilu region. The "Qin Cao" also records the deeds of Wang Zhaojun, saying that Wang Zhaojun took the initiative to request peace and kisses, and later the Xiongnu missed their homeland and composed "Song of Grievance Thinking" to express depression. After the death of Hu Han, Wang Zhaojun could not stand the custom of the Xiongnu father dying his wife and mother, and "committed suicide by swallowing medicine". There was a lot of white grass in the territory of the Xiongnu, and the tomb of Wang Zhaojun was duqing, called "Qingzuka".
2. "Wang Zhaojun Variation": Depressed and sick and dead
Many works of the Tang Dynasty write that Wang Zhaojun was depressed after he left the plug, and here is the popular "Wang Zhaojun Variations" as an example to briefly introduce the depression of Zhaojun. Wang Zhaojun was forced to leave the blockade because he was seen by the Xiongnu. When he arrived in the Xiongnu region, Wang Zhaojun was afraid of cattle and sheep screaming, and was not accustomed to cheese with a dirty taste, so he hated like a mountain, was worried like a sea, unfortunately fell ill, became emaciated, and finally slept forever in one night. The Xiongnu buried her in the north of the Yellow River, and the surrendered city could be seen in the southwest.
Above_ The tomb of Zhaojun is located on the south bank of the Dahei River, nine kilometers south of the southern suburbs of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
3. "Han Palace Autumn" and so on: Throwing the river to death
Ma Zhiyuan's "Han Palace Autumn" writes that Wang Zhaojun threw himself into the river and died, let's first look at what "Han Palace Autumn" says. Wang Zhaojun was painted ugly because he refused to bribe Mao Yanshou, and he was not allowed to see the king, so he had to play the pipa to relieve his boredom. Once the Han Yuan Emperor toured the palace and found zhaojun beautiful, so he named her a concubine, and the two were very affectionate. Mao Yanshou fled to the Xiongnu and instigated the Xiongnu to threaten Emperor Yuan of Han with sacrificing Wang Zhaojun to keep peace. Under pressure, Emperor Yuan of Han had no choice but to agree and bid farewell to Wang Zhaojun at Baqiao. Wang Zhaojun traveled to Heilongjiang, on the border between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, and committed suicide by throwing himself into the river.
After that, throwing himself into the river and dying became the ending wind direction of Zhaojun's story. For example, the Ming Dynasty folk legend "Newly Carved Like Notes Wang Zhaojun Out of the Plug and Rong Record" arranged for Wang Zhaojun to throw himself into the Wujiang River, You Dong's "Hanging Pipa" Wang Zhaojun threw water at the junction, and The Snow Tree master "Double Phoenix Strange Edge" Wang Zhaojun was buried in the Baiyang River.
As can be seen from the above, the literati used their rich imagination to create very different "causes of death".
Above_ Wang Zhaojun and Hu Han Evil Shan Yu statue
So why do later generations of literati prefer to arrange for Wang Zhaojun to "throw himself into the river" to die, rather than taking poison to death, and end up depressed? It should be said that the ending arrangement of Zhaojun to the river was influenced by the concept of chastity and the Confucian patriotic spirit of ruling the world.
First, the influence of the concept of chastity
The concept of chastity is also an important factor influencing Zhaojun to throw the river. Wang Zhaojun was a han dynasty man, and he still found the primitive custom of his father dying and marrying his mother unbearable. And most of the works such as "Han Palace Autumn" were written after the Song Dynasty, and the concept of "civilization" was more respected. Song Dynasty Theory proposed "saving heavenly reason, destroying people's desires", women keeping festivals is "heavenly reason", and chastity arches began to be popular in various places. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang regarded women's observance of festivals as an important part of indoctrination. The Ming Dynasty promoted women's observance of the festival in terms of policy and culture. In terms of policy, widows who observe the festival are exempted from military service and praise martyrs; culturally, women's textbooks such as the "Female Commandment", "Internal Training", and "Women's Training" are multi-pronged, and stricter moral requirements are put forward for women. As a result, the practice of observance prevailed in the folk, and women became accessories to men to some extent. After the Qing Dynasty, people paid more attention to women's chastity.
Above_ Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang
Literati, of course, were also influenced by the idea of chastity. The Han Dynasty "Qin Cao" felt that Wang Zhaojun should not marry a "son", and arranged in the work that Wang Zhaojun did not want to remarry after marrying Shan Yu, and committed suicide by taking poison. The images of Wang Zhaojun in "Qin Cao" and Wang Zhaojun in the history books are partially overlapping, and they are both married women who face the problem of etiquette and customs. The literati after the Song Dynasty were more critical of Wang Zhaojun's chastity, either deliberately emphasizing that Wang Zhaojun was not married to the Xiongnu, or designing Wang Zhaojun as a concubine of the Yuan Emperor and unwilling to serve the second husband, in short, unwilling to recognize Zhaojun and Shan as a couple.
Although Wang Zhaojun was unmarried, he was already a member of the court. In The Imperial Household, she may have become a concubine of Emperor Yuan. Later, he was given to the Xiongnu by the Yuan Emperor to become the wife of the Huns. The subordinate men changed, and Wang Zhaojun favored the Han room, and naturally wanted to show his loyalty by throwing himself into the river. In history, Wang Zhaojun and Emperor Yuan of Han were not concubines and emperors, and the literati fabricated the love between the two to "make up for the hatred" for Zhaojun. Later, he wrote that Wang Zhaojun was martyred in the river, which is the embodiment of the chastity concept of a woman who does not serve her second husband.
Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC – 278 BC) was a Chinese poet and politician of the State of Chu during the Warring States period
Second, the theory of "throwing into the river" embodies the Confucian patriotic spirit of ruling the world
Examining the plot of TouJiang from the perspective of literary history, it can be found that toujiang is not only an ending of death in literary history, but also sometimes a symbol of loyalty to the country. After Qu Yuan of the Warring States surrendered to the Miluo River, he was called loyal and patriotic by posterity. Qu Yuan's "Leaving sorrow" often compares the melancholy and loyal woman to herself who is frustrated and loyal.
Zhaojun tossing the river is actually the embodiment of male literati showing that they have the idea of loyalty and patriotism. Why? It should be noted that Wang Zhaojun's "Zhaojun" is actually the title given by Emperor Yuan of Han, and Zhaojun's real name is Wang Yan. "Zhaojun" as a title has rich political connotations. Zhao, that is, the sun is bright, has the meaning of the sun shining. "Jun" is a common female title in the Han Dynasty. "Zhaojun" refers to the great mission of the woman to spread the light of the Han family to the Xiongnu and tranquilize The Fanhu.
In Zhaojun literature, Zhaojun's closeness to the Han Emperor and his affection for the Han Emperor show that male literati pursue an ideal relationship between monarch and subject, so that their value can be brought into play. And Zhaojun throwing himself into the river, not doing two things, can also be regarded as a male literati with the idea of loyalty to the two lords.
Author: Xia Zhen Correction/Editor: Lilith
Resources:
[1] Xue Fan, "The Inheritance and Flow of Wang Zhaojun's Story"
[2] Zhang Wende, "Wang Zhaojun's Story Inheritance and Transmutation"
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author