The songs and legends of modern folk literature, like other literary styles of this period, prominently express the theme of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. Because of their own creations of the working people, the struggle to reflect the people's anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism is more direct and intense than other literary styles. However, it should be explained that except for a few songs and ballads that appeared in some works of this period, most of the works were collected by liberation folk literature workers among the masses. These works basically preserve the original appearance of folk literature, but some of them may have been sorted out and processed by collectors. In modern folk literature, in addition to songs and legends, the traditional words, drum lyrics and folk songs inherited from the previous generation are still popular in cities, villages and towns, but they generally lack fresh content, and this chapter is ignored for omission.
Section 1 Folk Songs
Modern folk songs are most noteworthy of works reflecting the Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Boxer Rebellion. In the Opium War in which our people resisted capitalist and imperialist aggression, Lin Zexu strictly forbade opium, did not fear violence, resolutely resisted the British invasion, expressed the wishes of the people, and also won the praise of the people: Lin Zexu, banning opium. Burn smoke, by the sea. Fire cannons, hit foreign ships, and scare the devils into a smoke. The Opium War was defeated by the decay and incompetence of the Qing government, but the people's battle against the colonial invasion never stopped. Guangdong's "Sanyuanli Folk Songs" summed up the anti-British struggle of the Chinese people to strike at the colonialists for the first time, and explained the different attitudes of our people and the Qing government toward imperialism. From the folk song "All natures are afraid of officials, afraid of foreigners, and foreigners are afraid of the people," we can see the truth that the Qing government was afraid of weakness against the aggressors, and we also saw the people's contempt for the aggressors and their conviction of their own strength. With the continuous deepening of the struggle, while dealing a serious blow to the internal and external enemies, the people have also deepened their understanding of the class enemy and the national enemy, which is clearly reflected in the folk songs.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was the last great peasant uprising in China's long-term feudal society, which dealt a serious blow to the rule of the Qing government and won the enthusiastic support of the people, who sang their victories in songs and were full of pride: Heavenly Brother Tianyou had high means, fought the Qing soldiers and ran around, won the banner and won the victory of all the people laughing, and won the founding of the Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution lasted fourteen years, and everywhere the Taiping Army went, it was generally welcomed by the people: In April, pomegranates were as red as fire, and "long-haired" soldiers were sent from Southern Xuzhou, who were heavenly soldiers, who coughed and coughed, killing the rich and helping the poor to save the people. This song is popular in Shandong, and it also shows the people's eagerness to see the arrival of their own army. This kind of folk song was also circulated in the minority areas visited by the Taiping Army: the savior of the Miao family was the wing king, and the dead seedlings were ecstatic to the rain. From now on, the cultivation of Qi Luoli will be used as a soldier for the protection of Taiping. This is a Miao folk song, and the Yi and The Servants are similar works.
In the folk songs of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there is also a vivid reflection of the close relationship between the Taiping Army and the people: bamboo leaf green, bamboo leaf incense, the Taiping Army passing through Guazhou Pond. Open the jar and open the urn, there is not a single grain in the house. Taiping Army, unforgettable, beaker clear tea to honor the king. Although this is an ordinary cup of tea, it deeply expresses the love and respect of the working people for the Taiping Army.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom finally failed, but the people did not forget them, and in some folk songs such as "Look at the King of Loyalty is Not Thin" and "Sorrow You Never Look Back", the people's deep nostalgia for the Taiping Army is reflected. And "Don't See Brother Coming Home" is a beautiful lyric poem:
The pea blossoms are red, and the brother of the Taiping Army is gone without a trace. I stayed on the old head at dusk, and I kept it in the middle of the waxing moon for three springs, only to see the geese flying south, and I didn't see my brother coming home.
The pea blossoms are red, and the brother of the Taiping Army is gone without a trace. I made new clothes for him to wear, I built a new house for him to use, only to see the geese flying south, and I did not see my brother return home.
The pea blossoms are red, and the brother of the Taiping Army is gone without a trace. Niangniang cried her head white, and her sister cried red- and her eyes were red, only to see the geese flying south, and did not see her brother return home.
The pea flowers are red in flowering, and the pea pods are good for planting. In the coming year, small peas are planted, the flowers bloom even more red, and the five words of Tai Pingjun's brother will always be remembered in people's hearts.
This is to express the people's deep feelings for the revolution and their ardent nostalgia for the children and soldiers with the voice of a woman looking forward to her lover, and it is even written that the people's confidence in the future is written. The language of the work is simple and fluent, and it adopts the technique of repeated chanting, which is an inherent feature of folk songs.
At the same time as the Taiping Rebellion, the Twister Army in Huaibei, the Black Flag Army in Shandong, the Northwest, the Southwest, and other minority nationalities all revolted one after another, and also produced many outstanding folk songs, especially among the ethnic minorities, which produced some long narrative poems such as "Ode to Zhang Xiumei" (Miao) and "Song of hero Shadir" (Uyghur), which reflected the heroic struggle of the people of all nationalities and the praise of the leaders of the uprising, which are works of epic significance.
The folk songs produced during the Boxer Rebellion have always shown a distinct anti-imperialist color: return my rights to the country and the mountains, and dare to drill the sword, the fire, and the sea master dares to drill, even if the emperor obeys the outside, he will not finish the oath of not killing foreigners. The poem is full of bitter hatred and incomparable contempt for the enemy, and also shows the people's indomitable spirit of struggle and the heroism of not being afraid of sacrifice. The following ballads specifically celebrate the Boxers' fighting actions and reflect the scale of the movement:
The Boxers, really brave, were not afraid of guns and bullets. I only want to destroy the foreigners. Scurry up with a gun. Kill all the heads of foreigners, and China will ensure its security. Don't look at the female soldiers and female generals, kill the East and the West. Kill the East ocean full of sky, kill the West to surrender. Some were frightened and prostrated, and some were frightened to call the bride. The Hui people and the Han people, who were originally a family, prostrated their heads in the altar and went to kill the foreigners.
In line with the needs of the struggle, the folk songs also exposed the crimes of imperialism in carrying out aggressive activities in various parts of our country under the guise of missionary work: there is heaven on the top, Suzhou and Hangzhou on the bottom, and Xuanhua grapes are sweet and fragrant. Believe in what virginity, what catholic church, foreigners, nonsense, harriers fill chickens without kindness.
The people saw the jackal nature of imperialism in the hypocritical propaganda of God and Heaven, and the last sentence stripped them of their religious cloak and made them appear in their original form. The foreign churches in various localities not only directly oppress and exploit the people, but also connived and instructed the parishioners to do wrongdoing and insulted the people, which aroused the people's indignation, and the people called those parishioners who colluded with imperialism and fish and meat as "ermaozi" and gave them powerful lashes in folk songs: Ermao Ye, Ermao Ye, only recognize foreigners and do not recognize fathers. Ventilation reports are not counted, and the waiters and foreigners are in a circle. During the struggle, the people also had a better understanding of the Appearance of the Qing Government's flattery and surrender to the enemy, so the exposure of the feudal rulers also became an important part of such folk songs. Qing Dynasty soldiers, too sparse. When they see foreigners, they are afraid, and when they see the people, they are really fierce. The Qing Dynasty was too incompetent, and foreigners were the ancestors. How many treasures were sent to love, and traitors were promoted to high officials. The work depicts the ugly face of the Qing government bending its knees to the enemy, raising the people's understanding and strengthening the people's fighting spirit. However, the collusion between the Qing government and imperialism could not but make the Boxer Rebellion both anti-imperialist and anti-feudal: Master Brother, beheading foreign heads; Second Master Sister, killing officials and beasts. To overthrow the foreigners and officials, the people have hope. The emperor asks us for grain, and the devil asks us for treasure; and with our great sword, the grain and treasure are not handed over. The work expresses the people's sober understanding and strong will to struggle, and the songs such as "the red light of the woman, the righteous fist of the man; the rush cannot be dispersed, and the catch cannot be completed" shows the people's determination to never yield and the confidence that cannot be destroyed. The Xinhai Revolution was not fully reflected in folk songs, and this was due to the fact that the Xinhai Revolution did not fully mobilize the masses and was not understood by the people. What we see now are only a few folk songs that ridicule and satirize Yuan Shikai and other warlords.
In short, modern folk songs and ballads were produced by our people in the struggle against enemies at home and abroad, so they are generally highly militant, and although some of them are not mature enough in art, their glorious tradition of fighting should be inherited.
Section 2 Legends and Stories
In the course of successive anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles, a large number of legends and stories reflecting the struggle of the masses of the people and praising the people's heroes have also been produced. Although some of the storylines are relatively simple, they initially expressed the feelings and aspirations of the people, won the people's love, and have always been circulated among the masses. At present, the legends and stories of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxer Rebellion have been collected the most, and they are also the most distinctive, which can represent the achievements of modern folklore stories.
The legends and stories of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can be roughly divided into three categories: one is to write about the Taiping Army's heroic and resourceful battle to strike at the enemy and destroy the enemy; the other is to write about the taiping army's close relationship with the people and the people's heartfelt love for the Taiping army; and the other is to write about the people's deep nostalgia for the Taiping army after the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as well as the people's indomitability and revenge.
In these legendary governors, the people described the victorious march of the Taiping Army with joy, and fiercely ridiculed the dimwitted incompetence of the officers and men of the Qing Dynasty, such as "Wisdom Breaks liuhe city", writing that the british king Chen Yucheng used his play to worship the gods to confuse the enemy, secretly dug tunnels at the foot of the city wall, blew open a section of the city wall, and broke through the liuhe city that the enemy claimed to be iron. Others, such as "Zhang Fei of the Taiping Army", "Train Array", and "Taiping Army Breaking The Bag Village", all praise the heroism and good fighting of the Taiping Army and its close cooperation with the people in specific descriptions. This was precisely the expression of the people's liberation from the feudal shackles at that time, and their mood was cheerful and full of vigor. Secondly, they also washed away the feudal landlord class's slander against the Taiping Army, praised the good discipline of the Taiping Army, and their stand of doing things for the people and resolutely cracking down on landlord bullies. The "Landlord's Complaint" is very representative in this regard. It writes that the Taiping Army went to Suzhou to distribute the land to the peasants, and three landlords came to Zhongwang for comment, and Zhongwang asked them to say their reasons. The story continues:
...... [King Zhong] pointed to the first landlord question: "How long is the (your) field?" How wide is it? The landlord could not answer, and his head shook. King Zhong, pointing to the second landlord, asked, "Kana Getian, is it black soil?" Is it loess? The landlord couldn't answer either, shaking his head. King Zhongwang then pointed to the third landlord and asked, "Kanai Getian, how much wheat can you plant?" How many seedlings can be planted? "This landlord can't answer either, and his head is shaking."
King Zhongwang raised his face, slapped the table, and shouted loudly: "Don't know how long and wide the field is, don't know how long and wide the field is, don't know how much wheat can be planted, how many seedlings can be planted, how much can you say that the field is a field?" When the three landlords heard this, their bodies trembled. King Zhong also said: "Since ancient times, the fields have been carved out by the peasants, and they have been occupied by the peasants for thousands of years, and it is completely appropriate to divide the fields among the peasants in this dynasty. Qi Nai Du still dared to sue! "......
On the one hand, through the answer of King Zhongwang, the rationality of the demands of millions of peasants for land is expressed; on the other hand, it also highlights King Zhongwang's vertical position, clear love, and outstanding political ability. The attack of the three landlords at the beginning of the tooth and claw and the subsequent escape of the wolf formed a sharp contrast with the calm and firmness of the King of Zhong. The whole period of history is concentrated, the characters are vivid, the language is bright, the tone is realistic, and it is rich in local colors, which is conducive to the performance of the theme and the circulation of the story. In addition, "A Bunch of Red Dates," "Pulling Cakes," and "Selling Vegetables on Snowy Days" show the strict discipline of the Taiping Army through specific facts, and effectively refute the rumors that the Taiping Army kills people when they see them and robs things when they see them.
The style of the legends and stories of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is plain and simple, and most of the works are like narratives, and there are few fantasy plots and exaggerated descriptions. For example, "A Horse Reins" and the story of an old grandmother who cherished a horse rein that her husband had left behind when she was a horse husband for King Zun, "wrapped it in a red cloth and kept it under the pillow", until she was dying, she instructed her children and grandchildren: "I am dead, and I don't want anything next to me, just the red cloth rice The horse reins, don't throw it away, put it in my coffin." "The extremely ordinary story contains the infinitely deep feelings of the working people for the Taiping Army.
Most of the legends and stories of the Boxers wrote fiery battle scenes, and created a series of heroic images such as Liu Laopa ("The Great Red Sword"), Liu Hei Pagoda ("Liu Hei Pagoda"), Hong Dahai ("Hong Dahai"), Li Daliang, Huang Laosan ("Tota Li Tianwang"), Zonglao Road ("Zonglao Road"), and Bai Lian ("Why Is Andi County Tucheng"), commending the strong patriotic spirit and indomitable national integrity of the Chinese people to the death.
Father Liu in "The Big Red Knife" epitomizes the determination and confidence of our nation to fight strongly. In the face of the surging enemy, he stood at the head of the bridge without fear, holding up the red sword in one hand and raising the red sword in the other, shouting: "Slow motion - Chinese here!" This thunderous cry expressed the anger of our people against the aggressors and made all the imperialist aggressors tremble with fear. Father Liu died after killing and wounding the enemy in large numbers, but his sacrifice was so heroic:
...... Dad said, laughing triumphantly! This laugh is louder than the world is falling apart! "Boom------------------------------------------------------ "Whoops—" The river immediately shook and set off a big wave! "Flutter through—" One by one, the foreign hairs were shocked to the ground, and the foreign guns immediately stopped sounding! Daddy laughed too hard. "Wow" spit out a mouthful of blood...
His body shook and he fell on the river. Before he died, he also instructed his son word by word to go to the Divine Soldier and kill all the foreign devils. The death of the hero is uneven, and he gives people encouragement and hope. Bai Lian in "Why Anci County is Tucheng" was originally a kind girl, but she finally embarked on the road of resistance and punished the enemy with her own life:
...... Seeing her raise her little foot and stomp on it, it boomed--a charming piece of smoke flew up on the flat ground, scattering everywhere, and the whole county collapsed! None of the besieging foreign hairs were left, they were all smashed to death by the city wall! When the smoke subsided, the white lotus disappeared. It was in the center of the county town where she stomped her feet that left a black puddle two acres of land.
Through artistic exaggeration, the image of the white lotus appears so sublime, and she is an indomitable symbol of our nation. "Tota Li Tianwang" not only created the image of Li Daliang and Huang Laosan, two peasant revolutionary heroes, but also reflected the process of the Boxer Rebellion from uprising to defeat and the history of the people's struggle against imperialism at that time.
There are also a small part of the Boxer story that is a fairy tale, such as "The Fishing Boy", "Little Yellow Bull", and "White Hen", which do not depict the struggle of the Boxers in a positive way, but the twists and turns expose the plundering of the wealth of the Chinese people by foreign missionaries and foreign hairy officers and their insatiable nature, and the end of the story punishes these foreign invaders fiercely, which has a strong romantic color.
As mentioned earlier, the style of the legendary story of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is relatively plain and simple, basically realistic, while the legendary story of the Boxer Rebellion is abrupt and brilliant, showing the style of romanticism. The heroic characters in the Boxer rebellion stories are portrayals of the working people themselves and have their basis in reality; but they often give the heroic characters superhuman strength and talent through exaggeration and fantasy. This is the essence of folklore stories. Through these stories, we have effectively encouraged the revolutionary struggle of our people, and we have also played a certain reference role in today's creation, especially in shaping the image of new heroes.
brief summary
The development of modern literature clearly shows the following important characteristics
The political and militant nature of literature, that is, the role of literature as an instrument of stage struggle, has become more and more intense and remarkable with the development of modern society. Gong Zizhen unveiled the prelude to modern literature, and most of his poems exposed practical problems from the perspective of political and social history, consciously making his poetic works a tool for real-world political and social criticism. Later, Feng Guifen, Wu Tao, Huang Zunxian, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and others in the "new school of poetry" and "new style" more directly propagated reformist ideas and closely coordinated with the reformist political and cultural movements. The leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom advocated "writing in the documentary," and their poems were flames and weapons that inspired the revolutionary fighting spirit of the broad masses of the people and overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The bourgeois and petty-bourgeois revolutionaries Zhang Binglin and Qiu Jin and a large number of poets of the "Nanshe" have more consciously made their poetic works serve the national and democratic revolution. This is a progressive literary front that represents the mainstream of modern literary development. It is full of political struggles. To varying degrees, it reflects the main content of the development of modern society, that is, the content of the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and patriotic democracy. At the same time, the writers of the "orthodox" school, from the early Song poetry school to the "Tongguang body" poets, as well as the "Tongcheng school" ancient writers and "Changzhou school" lyricists, in the revolutionary trend, also used their works, or directly propagated feudal ideas and opposed the people's revolution; or denigrated the new trend, resisted new ideas and new cultures, or mourned the spring and autumn, modeled mountains and fan shui, sang and whitewashed Taiping: consciously or unconsciously served to safeguard the Qing Dynasty's traitorous surrender and feudalism. Their works also naturally form a reactionary and decadent literary front, which is a countercurrent of modern literature. This opposition of the progressive reactionary and decadent literary front is more obvious and acute than in any previous historical period, and is a reflection of the rapid social development and complex class struggle of modern times.
The subject matter and content of literature, that is, the field in which literature reflects reality, has expanded unprecedentedly. Poetry and opera novels are like this. Poetry, in particular, is particularly prominent. Progressive poets not only systematically reflect many important events in modern history, but also increasingly reflect the "wonders" of the "New Age," which are the new things, new ideas, new knowledge, and so on of the capitalist world. Ships, trains, telegraphs, the seas, foreign customs, democracy, freedom, equality, evolution, revolution, and even religious and scientific knowledge became the object of their chanting. Even some pseudo-periodist poets, under the impact of the movement of reality, could not but include in poetry with certain new things. As a result of the strengthening of the political nature, in order to make this traditional art form, which is familiar to the broad social strata, better serve the revolutionary struggle, play a role in boosting morale, opening up the people's wisdom, and inspiring people's hearts, progressive poets cannot but break those "quaint," "elegant," and other outdated concepts, so that all new things and new things, mundane things, can be included in poetry; songs, satires, sighs, and discussions are all expressed in poetry.
The fine artistic traditions of realism and romanticism were inherited and developed. Gong Zizhen first broke through the rule of pseudo-antiquarism and formalism since the middle of the Qing Dynasty and became a romantic poet in the early modern period. But many of his prose and some of his poems and sentences also express a profound spirit of realism. Some of the poems embody a combination of the two. Many later reformist and revolutionary writers continued in his footsteps, further developing Romanticism and Realism in the struggle against various forms of antiquarianism and formalism. In particular, realism has become a conscious creative movement in the literary world. Lin Changyi's "Poetry of shooting eagle building" and Chen Yingchang's "Qing Shiduo" concretely reflect the realist view of poetry creation. Pei Qingqiao's "Aggressive Yin" is devoted to the decaying reality of the anti-British Qing army along the coast of Zhejiang; Huang Zunxian systematically reflects the major events of modern times with the vast majority of poems; the prose, novels, and operas of many progressive writers all focus on exposing the decay and darkness of realpolitik society; and the novels and operas emphasize their educational role in reforming society; all this shows the rising trend of realist literary thought and the creative movement, which has merged with romanticism into the mainstream of modern literature. All pseudo-antiquism and formalism are dwarfed and lifeless.
Due to the strengthening of modern literature and politics, as well as the expansion of themes and contents, the form, language, and even stylistic characteristics of literature have also changed. There is a general trend towards popularization. Many of the excellent works in modern poetry are the "new music style" and the more free and liberating "ancient style". Many poets learned to write bamboo branches and mountain songs. This all shows the requirements for a change in the form, methods of expression and tools of poetry. Gong Zizhen's poems are informal, and he consciously uses various forms. His poems are almost casual. Huang Zunxian clearly advocated that "I write my mouth by hand" and enter the poem as a "dialect proverb" and "not named and one grid, not specific". All this illustrates the poet's efforts to break through the old forms. With the development of the bourgeois reform movement and the revolutionary movement, the popular expression of poetry developed in two directions: on the one hand, it was required to be combined with music so that it could be sung so that it could be widely circulated; on the other hand, it was required that the language be simple, easy to read and understand, free in form, and convenient in expression. Many poets wrote so-called "songs", such works as Huang Zunxian, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Binglin, Qiu Jin, Gao Xu, etc. The prose not only has Liang Qichao's "new style of work for ease and smooth access", but also many vernacular texts have appeared under the requirements of language integration. Although Zhang Binglin advocated Wei Jinwen, he also praised the "Revolutionary Army" with a "shallow dew" in the sense of semantics, believing that "the people of Hengheng should be like this." He also wrote such political papers. Kunqu opera was replaced by Peking Opera, and the production of drama and the use of folk literature in many aspects are all manifestations that require popularization. Chen Tianhua's "Turning Back" is a famous work of popular propaganda written in the form of folk singing. Due to the rapid changes and intricate contradictions in modern society, as well as the limitations of the writers' own stage positions and world views, the development of modern literature has presented an unprecedentedly complicated situation. Although the consciousness of literature in serving politics has greatly improved, the emergence of works often lags behind political movements. Many of the reformist poems and famous novels were produced during the period of the democratic revolution. Although these works themselves have a certain progressive nature and have a certain positive impact, in fact they have played a more negative role in countering the revolutionary trend. Many progressive writers were weak in their power over feudal culture; and their progress was often manifested in only one period. Many writers often sentence two people before and after. Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Binglin and so on are all famous representatives. "Orthodox" writers, contrary to the times, are their basic tendencies, but under the influence of real social movements, they cannot be completely indifferent, so they often write certain desirable works. The poets of the "Song Poetry School" and the ancient writers of the "Tongcheng School" have individual works of more significance. Writers of the old and new schools all have works with contradictory content and form. Also for the above reasons, modern literature presents a clear transitional state. Traditional literature, represented by the "Tongguang body" poem, the "Changzhou School" word, and the "Tongcheng School" ancient text, is still active for a while. Although progressive literature is based on anti-imperialist patriotism and democracy, it is not deep and extensive; the old forms and styles cannot be broken, and the popularization is not complete. My writer thinks that this is only the need to open up the people's wisdom, and lacks understanding and efforts of the people whose literary development should inherit innovation and move towards a broad social strata. Some writers, such as Yan Fu and Lin Shu, also believed in the expressive role of ancient texts and opposed the popularization of literary language. The artistic image is immature, and it is most prominently expressed at a young age. Some novels only propagate their own political ideas and ideals in the form of novels, and do not create the understanding of the character image; many novels aim to widely expose darkness, implicate things, have a loose structure, and rarely create typical images of the times. The so-called condemnation novels of the late Qing Dynasty mostly had this shortcoming. These are all manifestations of a transitional state. But modern literature has been successful. Its basic themes of anti-imperialist patriotism and democratic domination, its spirit and method of realisticism and romanticism, its breakthrough of old forms, and its exploration and efforts to unify languages and move toward popularization have all prepared certain historical conditions for new literature after May Fourth.
