Writer Zhang Yun
From the encyclopedia-style "Chinese Monster Stories (Complete Collection)", to the childlike healing novel "Monster Qitan", to the cultural popularization program "Monster Investigation Bureau" with more than one million views... In the past two years, the post-80s writer Zhang Yun's research on monster culture has gradually aroused the common concern of the public and the academic community. "With the development of society, many monster stories have been slowly forgotten, and it is urgent to salvage this cultural heritage." Having spent ten years "catching" 1,080 kinds of monsters from the classics, he hopes to introduce Chinese monsters to everyone in a way that is closer to young people,000 years of storytelling, so that the stories that have been circulating for 5,000 years can continue to be told.
▍ 70% of Japanese yokai come from China
Zhang Yun grew up in the countryside of northern Anhui, when there was not much entertainment, his favorite was to listen to the old people tell strange stories under the big locust tree at the mouth of the village. "Some of those stories were personally experienced by them, some were passed on by word of mouth, and some were seen by old people who had gone to private school from Zhiwei novels." These strange talks not only made Zhang Yun listen to it with relish, but also let him understand a lot of principles of being a person, such as stressing honesty, kindness, and so on.
Later, as he grew older, Zhang Yun slowly fell in love with history, and he not only read the classics of the main history, but also loved to read those zhiwei notes and legendary wild history. "It's a fun world, and every now and then there are monsters that pop up that I like." Studying monsters has become Zhang Yun's extracurricular hobby.
What really prompted him to start systematically grooming the yokai culture was a small thing in 2007. "At that time, I went to visit an animation exhibition in Shanghai and saw many middle school students wearing all kinds of clothes, including many monsters. I asked one of the children, do you know what kind of monster you are dressed up with? He said, 'Of course, you know that birds, tengu, and gluttony are all Japanese monsters.' This answer greatly stimulated Zhang Yun: "These monsters were all created by our ancestors, and they are also recorded in the classics, how did they become Japanese?" ”
Zhang Yun knows that yokai science is a prominent science in Japan, "especially the yokai anime such as InuYasha and Natsume's Friend's Account have a great influence on young people in China. However, another fact is that "at least 70% of Japanese yokai come from China, and only 10% of Japanese yokai are native." ”
In Zhang Yun's view, a large reason for the popularity of Japanese yokai culture is that it established yokai science at the end of the 19th century, becoming the first country in the world to study yokai as a science, and from the official to the folk collective efforts, making yokai a shining business card of Japanese culture. And this is exactly what China, the "origin" of the monster, lacks. Zhang Yun made up his mind to sort out a complete list of Chinese monsters and correct the names of Chinese monsters.
▍ 1080 kinds of "catching demons" that lasted for ten years
China's monster culture has a long history and has never been broken for 5,000 years. Trying to gather all the monsters is like a big wave of sand, the process is long and arduous. The first solution is the definition of the monster. "The Japanese definition of yokai doesn't apply to us, and there are ethnic and cultural differences." After repeated research and deliberation by Zhang Yun, he defines Chinese monsters as "strange and grotesque phenomena or things that originate from real life but transcend people's normal cognition."
The reason why the emphasis on "coming from real life" is precisely where the value of youkai science lies in Zhang Yun's mind. "The records in the main history are all about the emperors and generals and the events of the country, and the lives of ordinary people are often hidden in these strange stories. Through the monster stories in ancient books, we can not only see the organizational structure, costumes and folklore, and religious ethics of the society at that time, but also glimpse the ancient people's outlook on life and values. According to Zhang Yun's definition, the well-known monsters like those in Journey to the West are not in his research scope because they belong to literary creation.
In order to "catch the demon", Zhang Yun has been running between the major libraries for seven or eight years, flipping through thousands of ancient books such as the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", "The Book of Divine Anomalies", "Search for God", "Baopuzi", "Natural history" and so on, from Zhiwei notes to zhengshi classics, as long as it is possible to hide monster stories, he will not let go easily. "Sometimes it takes a long time to find a monster, and I am ecstatic."
In order to make it easier for young people to read, he translated the obscure text into the vernacular, classified it, and revised nearly 20 drafts. In the end, the "Story of Chinese Monsters", which took ten years to create, was finally published last year, and 1,080 kinds of monsters established a huge Chinese monster system. "During my writing, I always felt that these monsters were bustling around me. When I finished typing the last word, it was as if I heard their cheers behind me. I hope that one day my children will tell the story of these monsters and tell their partners: This is the monster we Chinese. ”
▍ His monsters have a human touch
As the most complete and well-organized monograph on monster research in China at present, "The Story of Chinese Monsters" has received the recommendation and attention of many historians and folklore experts after publication, and has also obtained good sales, and zhang Yun has also gained a new title - "The Man Who Gave the Monster a Household Registration". However, he didn't stop there.
"'Tales of Chinese Monsters' is derived from ancient books, and many of the ways of telling them are not suitable for the tastes of modern readers." As a result, Zhang Yun recently launched a new book "Monster Qitan". The novel borrows the growth experience of a rural teenager and connects 12 Chinese monsters with different personalities. "Monsters are not terrible, on the contrary, they are very cute." Zhang Yun's research found that unlike most Japanese yokai, most of China's yokai are kind to people, even full of humanity. For example, one of the monsters he likes in the book, "Gate Guard Grass", is from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", which is a cute little demon, "put it on the door, the bad guy passes by, it will shout loudly, to protect the safety of the owner."
There are no thrilling adventures in "Monster Wonder", every story is warm and healing, and every illustration is full of strong Chinese style. "Monsters arise in the cracks between people's hearts and the world, and writing about monsters is actually writing about ourselves." Zhang Yun hopes that every reader of this book can briefly withdraw from the pressures of urban life and travel to the animistic world. "In fact, the rural town in the book has the shadow of my childhood life, where there are mountains, rivers, rice fields, and simple folk customs. I want to bring this long-lost beauty to the children who grew up in the city. ”
"At present, the second part of the "Monster Strange Tan" series has been written, and the protagonist will continue to encounter new monsters and new stories on the way to growth." At the same time, Zhang Yun is also working on writing a picture book for Chinese monsters, and will officially release the "standard photos" of 100 monsters, and this work will continue. In his view, it is quite urgent to study and promote Chinese monster culture, and many folk tales have become a masterpiece.
"We cannot simply use feudal superstition to beat the monster to death with a stick, but we should look at it dialectically from the perspective of culture, sociology, history, and ethnology, and continue this precious cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors." Zhang Yun said.
Source Beijing Evening News
Reporter Li Li
Process Editor Wu Yue