Professor Zhou Benchun (1921-2002), a famous scholar of literature and history.
Now is the era of "great works", and when I say "great works", I mainly refer to the huge size of books. The books are getting thicker and thicker, and the folios are getting bigger and bigger. In the early years, when I was working on the bookshelf at home, the collection of books at hand was mainly 32 open, and only the Zhonghua Bookstore version of "Quan Tang Wen" was 16 open, so only a small number of wide shelves were played. Unexpectedly, in recent years, more and more "huge works" have poured into my home, and the wide frame is seriously insufficient, which makes me chagrin. Some of the "tomes" were so big that I had to lie on the shelves. My attitude toward "great works" is to stay away, even if they are given by friends. Most of the books I love to read are "little books", and only they can keep me in my hands. I even have a grudge against some of my friends who are good at writing "tomes": Why is it written so thickly? Is the academic content of a work directly proportional to its volume?
Why am I suddenly complaining? Only because I recently re-read Mr. Zhou Benchun's "Notes on Reading Common Books", I have a lot of feelings. Published by Jiangsu Education Publishing House in 1990, the book is only 310 pages, and it is a small 32-folio book, which is a real "small book". The binding is also extremely simple, the gray-blue cover, the title of the book and the name of the author and publisher are all imitated Song or Song style. In fact, Mr. Zhou himself has written well, and he has a close relationship with calligraphy masters such as Lin Sanzhi, and it is not difficult to write the title of the book or ask for someone to sign it. Such binding should be the reason for the pursuit of simplicity. When I was visiting the bookstore, I stumbled upon this small book, "reading common books" is my life purpose, and I saw that it was written by Mr. Zhou, so I immediately bought it. Because Mr. Zhou had previously been responsible for revising the manuscript of the Quanqing Ci Shunkang Volume at the request of Mr. Cheng Qianfan, he reviewed the original manuscript of up to 7 million words word by word, correcting many errors and corrections. I had heard Mr. Cheng and Mr. Zhou Xunchu talk about it, and I thought that a scholar who could enter the course and teach the Fa Eye on Tuesday must be profoundly learned. Since then, this little book has been inserted on my bookshelf and read from time to time. In the spring of 2006, I was lecturing on "Du Shi Studies" for graduate students in Room 301 of the NTU Teaching Building, and in order to infer when the "Du Shi Pseudo-Su Notes" appeared and to refer to the age of the writing of the previous collection of Hu Zai's "Yu Yin Cong Dialect of Cangxi Yu Yin", I said: "There is a preface in front of the previous collection of "Yu Yin Cong Dialect of Cangxi", which was written in the eighteenth year of Shaoxing, that is, in 1148. ...... On the face of it, we can use this preface of Hu Zai when dealing with this question, and the time it is signed is very clear, that is, 1148. Unfortunately, this material cannot be used. Because although the preface to the "Yuyin Cong Dialect of Cangxi" was written in 1148, and his book was written first and then written, the book had not yet been written when he wrote the preface, so the real time of writing this book was much later, and it had reached the thirty-first or thirty-second year of Shaoxing, that is, 1161 or 1162. This research result was made by the late Professor Zhou Benchun of Huaiyin Normal University. Zhou Benchun has a book, called "Reading Common Books", which is a very inconspicuous small book, very thin, the cover is also very simple, may not be much attention to the average person, but there are good insights in this book. This old gentleman is very down-to-earth in his studies, he studies one by one, he said that this "Yuxi Yu Hidden Cong" written in the preface, the book is in the back, I think this conclusion can be completely established. This passage appeared in the recording of the lecture that year, and was later collected word for word into the humble book "Du Fu's Poetry Lecture Record" published by the Guangxi Normal University Publishing House, so it can now be quoted. This proves that my admiration for this little book has a long history.
The "Self-Introduction" of the "Notes on Reading Common Books" says: "Gu Tinglin wrote the Rizhilu, emphasizing the need to 'mine copper in the mountains'. Today's words, it is to use first-hand materials as a basis, and to despise the opportunistic behavior of the barnyard sellers who pick up people's teeth and wisdom. I am ashamed of myself, but I take Gu Tinglin's words as a guideline. Sometimes when I see the arguments in some articles, I often like to find its roots, and in the process, I often have some different views. "The words are simple and unpretentious, but they are self-congratulatory and bitter learning experiences, and they are also an introductory guide for future generations." The whole book contains 68 articles, the length of which is only a few pages, and the shortest ones, such as "Xie Ke" and "Jin Li Tong Shan", are even less than one page, which can be called veritable short articles. Regardless of the length of these articles, they have their own unique insights, have sufficient documentary basis, and are indeed the result of "mining copper in the mountains". For example, the "Original Name Of The Kouluo" is called "The New Language of the Great Tang Dynasty" in the preface to Liu Su's "New Language of the Tang Dynasty", and the four different titles of the book in the "Narrative of the World Sayings" of Wang Zao of the Southern Song Dynasty and says that "now the "New Language of the World speaks the new language of the world" and other materials, as circumstantial evidence of the phrase "the nearest Song Linchuan Wang Yiqing wrote "The New Language of the World" in Liu Zhiji's "Stone Miscellaneous Sayings", proving that the title of the book "The New Language of the World Speaks of the World" is not a latecomer, the testimony is detailed, and the reference is sufficient. Another example is "Not a Forgery" that refutes the Qing Dynasty's "forgery theory" as "reckless and broken", and its writing time is before the papers of Zhang Peiheng and Wang Shuizhao, which can be called a lonely and first-mover. Mr. Zhou has been teaching all his life, teaching Chinese at Nanjing No. 1 Middle School and Pingqiao Middle School, and teaching Chinese at Nanjing Normal College and Huaiyin Normal College, and some of the articles in this book are subtitled "Ancient Literature Preparation Record" or "Teaching Picking Up Zero", which are the crystallization of his teaching experience. It is not difficult to imagine that Mr. Zhou told the students the results of these thoughts in the classroom, and the spiritual communication between teachers and students that produced flowers and smiles was far better than the textbook as a standard answer.
Mr. Zhou's academic achievements are the most important in the ancient books school. For example, "Tang Yin Yan Signature" (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1981), "The Collection of Mr. Zhenchuan" (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1985), "Tang Caizi Biography Correction" (Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House, 1987), "Xiaocang Shanfang Poetry Collection" (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1987), "Poetry Total Turtle" (People's Literature Publishing House, 1987), and the re-revision of "Yu Yin Cong Dialect of Xiangxi" (People's Literature Publishing House, 1992), etc., are all excellent ancient book collation works. Mr. Yu Xianhao of Nanjing Normal University said: "Most people think that the ancient books commonly used in the school are relatively easy to do and do not require many inventions, in fact, this is a very wrong view. It should be pointed out that some people are engaged in the work of ancient book schools under the guidance of this kind of thinking, and as a result, there are a large number of common sense errors and jokes. Practice has proved that it is necessary to have profound academic literacy, profound knowledge and a serious attitude towards learning in order to engage in the work of point school ancient books. What I admire most about Mr. Ben Chun is in this regard. Indeed, after Mr. Zhou's careful proofreading, these classics have been accurately broken sentences and proofread, which provides great convenience for readers. In addition, Mr. Zhou also conducted in-depth research on the book and its author while proofreading ancient books, and the results were reflected in the prefaces of each article, such as Hu Zhenheng, the author of the "Tang Yin Decoy Signature", who not only had no biography of the "History of Ming", but also had no xingzhi inscription. Mr. Zhou quoted extensively in the "Preface" and checked the historical materials to clarify his family lineage and life history, and to clarify the achievements and shortcomings of the book. Mr. Zhou included this book, as well as the preface to the "Collection of Mr. Zhenchuan" and the "Collection of Poems of Kokura Yamabo", which is very appropriate, and they are indeed academic papers with original significance.
Mr. Zhou is not only personally engaged in the ancient book school, but also concerned about the published ancient book school point works, and directly expresses his views on the problems found, and the "Reading School Feeling Record" included in this book can be called a representative work in this regard. The text points out: "The so-called point book of the ancients refers to the correction of its misspellings, the correct pronunciation and the breaking of its sentence reading. Today's school point ancient books, in order to facilitate beginners, the rate of adding new punctuation, special names, quotation marks, etc., the more convenient the reader is, the higher the requirements for the proofreader. A slight negligence, a fallacy. In recent years, he has dabbled in many such punctuation books, and in addition to teaching, he has also engaged in a number of school work. It is sweet and bitter, and it is slightly heartfelt. Essay notes, the name of the reading school with the sense of the record, in order to be in the same good. The whole text is divided into four sections, which list a large number of examples from the aspects of chronology, place names, personal names, sentence reading, etc., not only pointing out their mistakes, but also analyzing the reasons for their mistakes. Strips are analyzed, fine into the millimeter. Some people mistakenly think that such articles are boring and boring, but they are not. "Biography of Beishi Xing Shao" Yun: "(Xing Shao) has many books, but not much school. Seeing the school book, he laughed and said, 'What a fool!' The books of the world cannot be read all over again until death, and they can begin to re-examine this. Thinking about the wrong book every day is even more appropriate. "The fittest", Yue also, fast also. Why can "thinking about the wrong book" become "one fit"? Because the discovery of mistakes and the search for truth are two aspects of the same thing, the result of "thinking about mistakes" is also to correct the text, which is of course pleasant. Gu Guangxi, a famous surveyor of the Qing Dynasty, called himself "Si Shi Zhai" and said: "Thinking and not being able to do anything, trapped in the heart, weighing in worry, the emperor Is as good as what he has lost and is not visible, and people always laugh at his discomfort, not discomfort, but ask for it to be appropriate." Thinking and gaining, the heart is opened for it, the eyes are enlightened, and suddenly it is like enlightening the ghost room and knowing, and the world is suitable, and there is no suitable for this. I suspect that when Mr. Zhou found a mistake in the ancient books and came up with the reason for the error, he must have also had the feeling of "not being suitable for this". Although I lack the ability to "think appropriately", I can't help but be amused when I read some of the examples given in "Reading School With Feelings". Compare it to this article: "The Zhonghua Bookstore's school point book "Waving Records and Later Recordings of Yu Shu" on page 289: 'Zeng Wensu's ten sons, the most beloved of his grandfather Kong Qinggong. There is Shou Ziyun: "Jiangnan Hakka, there is Ning Xin'er." The third article called the big hand, a brother with a good eyebrow. There are many. Push a thousand miles. From Wowa, Chi Mo Leans on Good. Title parrot, endowed with green mountains. It is necessary to return to the healthy time, not to be proud of the time. "Later, the grandfather was famous for his words, and it can be said that father and son were confidants." The punctuation of the middle shou word cannot be read, but in fact, it is only the ear of "Double Tone Looking at Jiangnan", when marked as: 'Jiangnan Guest, home has Ning Xin'er. The third article called the big hand, a brother with a good eyebrow. There are many pushes. Thousand Mile Foot, from Wowa Pond. Mo Yishan asked the parrot endowment, and the green mountains must be returned when they are healthy. Not proud at the time. 'Combining these two misconceptions, where long and short sentences are encountered, if the lexical law is not first understood, it is not advisable to suddenly drop the lead and yellow. "The words are broken, the knife is cut, the pain is painful, and this is not the case." Such a fun and good text, how boring!
Zhou Benchun's Notes on Reading Common Books.
In addition to "Notes on Reading Common Books", Mr. Zhou also wrote a smaller "small book", "Poetry and Mongolian Language", which is also a small 32-folio book, and the whole book is only 240 pages. However, readers certainly do not dare to despise this book, because it is included in the second series of the "Story Club Scholars' Pulpit Series" of the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, and the other eight books collected in this series are: He Lin's "Culture and Life", Zhu Ziqing's "Reading Guide", Gu Jiegang's "I and the Ancient History Discernment", Zhu Guangqian's "On Literature", Luo Jizu's "Memoirs of The Ink Maid", Zheng Zhenduo's "Three Notes on the Western Truth", Zhang Taiyan's "A Brief Discussion of Guoxue", and Xia Junzun Ye Shengtao's "Article Speech". Which of these "little books" is not more valuable than some of today's "great works" as thick as bricks? Reading Mr. Zhou's "Little Book", his voice and smile appeared in front of his eyes. Although Yu sheng was late, he had the honor of meeting mr. Zhou several times on the campus of NTU and at academic conferences in other places. I remember that he was strong and walked well, unlike a scholar who had been lying on the bench for many years. Remember that he had a cheerful and frank personality, unlike a tortured "rightist". Mr. Zhou was sent to the countryside of northern Jiangsu in 1965 to work as a farmer, and was later criticized for fighting, but in his 1968 poem "Self-Deprecation", he said: "For the cattle to echo the horses, it is the ghosts that are the people who are independent." Even if the strong face is contested, it is difficult for the crowd to say female and yellow. "Only such a straightforward person can write such an outspoken book." Wen is like a person, what a lie!
Mo Lifeng