Once, if Guo Mo wanted to study the history of the Qing Dynasty, he found out that the last emperor Puyi did not have a formal job after receiving the amnesty, so he cheekily hired Puyi, wanting him to be his assistant and assist him in studying manchu.
Unexpectedly, after Puyi listened to his intentions, he said coldly: I will not be full of words.
Guo Moruo was stunned after listening to it, and he said to Puyi: You are the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, how can you not speak Manchu? This must be a joke. This incident later caused a protracted debate in the civil society, that is—
Does Puyi really not speak Manchu, or is he deliberately pushing because he does not want to be Guo Moruo's assistant?
First, the possibility that Puyi will not speak Manchu
Manchu refers specifically to the language of the Manchus, and before the Qing dynasty, the use of this language was relatively narrow, limited to the Manchus. After the Qing dynasty entered the customs, the Qing Dynasty, while implementing the "shaving order", once wanted to promote the Manchu language, but because the Manchus did not have a script in the past (their script was only created by Nurhaci in 1599 based on the Mongolian script), the Manchu language was mainly passed on by manchu ancestors.
This form of language transmission can only be adapted to the manchu past life of fishing and farming and nomadism.
The system, civilization and social volume of the Central Plains society far exceeded the original small circle of the Manchus. Relying on the original Manchu vocabulary alone, it is completely impossible to cover all aspects of life.
Therefore, during the Qing Dynasty, Manchu was not popularized in society.
The Manchu rulers, in order to maintain the cultural dignity of their own people, stipulated that the official documents of the imperial court should be written in Manchu, and insisted that the sons of the nobles practice Manchu. But in fact,
In the Kangqian era, many Manchus could no longer use Manchu, and Manchu was gradually used less.
At that time, if there was a person who was proficient in both Manchu and Chinese languages, he would be offered as a "national treasure", such as Zhang Tingyu, a famous minister in the early Qing Dynasty.
Without the support of writing, the language cannot be widely promoted, and there are also a large number of Han Chinese among the Eight Banners nobles. When the Manchu Qing ruled China, it was necessary to enlist Han subjects, and when manchus communicated, it became difficult for the rulers to use Manchu to express themselves. I only hate that I can't use my hands and siblings at the same time, while painting while babbling, I talked for half a day or played the piano to the cow.
Over time, few people in the country could write Manchu, and Manchu gradually withdrew from the stage of social language, only for some elderly Manchus to remember. The last emperor Puyi also mentioned in his biography that the princes in the palace learned Manchu, teaching Manchu colloquialisms, are some old people, they themselves are very old, their speech is not clear, each one of them speaks a different pronunciation, so that the little prince is also very headache to learn.
After barely finishing learning, Manchu did not have much "place to use". Usually, everyone has become accustomed to communicating in Chinese, and after learning Manchu, who do you say to? In short, after learning, I forgot about the light. therefore
Puyi said that he will only have one "Yili"
, which means "flat body". As for the aforementioned, the official documents of the imperial court must be written in Manchu, which must also be handled by the personnel who write official documents, and the emperor is not worried.
Second, Puyi and Guo Moruo
Guo Moruo was a big name in the Chinese literary world, he engaged in poetry creation in his early years, and became famous in the Chinese literary circle. Since the 1920s, he began to study Chinese oracle bones and gold stone inscriptions, and slowly began to become interested in Chinese history. After liberation, Guo Moruo became the first president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of History.
At this time, life is not as tense as in the past, and there is more time to idle. Coupled with the support of state appropriations, Guo Moruo wanted to study the history of the Qing Dynasty.
In the past, China had a tradition that later dynasties had to revise the history of the previous dynasty.
Originally, it was the Republic of China that replaced the Qing Dynasty, but
The Republic of China had a short existence and was constantly in turmoil, and it did not have the energy to complete the work of revising history.
Therefore, after the founding of New China, it was natural to shoulder the responsibility of revising history. To repair the history of the Qing Dynasty, Guo Moruo's first thought was Puyi. Because
For historians, Puyi, the last emperor, is a "living fossil."
If you want to study the history of the Qing Dynasty, there is no better object of study than Puyi. When this idea first arose, Guo Moruo also had a little hesitation. Because Puyi's identity is very special after all, and he does not know how he behaved after he was released from prison, this matter was temporarily shelved.
Look at puyi again. Puyi was pardoned in December 1959, and before that, he never thought that there would be a day when he would regain his freedom. After being released from prison, the first problem Puyi faced was the problem of work. Initially, he rested for half a month at his sister's house. Later, relying on the introduction of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, he went to the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to plant flowers, and when he was transferred to the Institute of Literature and History by Guo Moruo, it was four years later.
In the 1960s, Guo Moruo created a large number of historical dramas like "Wu Zetian" and "Cai Wenji", and later became concerned about the archaeological work of Dingling tombs in the Ming Dynasty. During that time, Guo Moruo saw that Puyi had been released from prison for four years and performed well, so he expressed to Puyi his willingness to hire him as his assistant. Puyi was initially very happy to hear that Guo Mo wanted to serve as his assistant himself.
After all, Puyi's education level is not low, and letting him write articles about memories is always more effective than letting him plant flowers and water. However, he did not expect that Guo Moruo would let him assist in the study of the "Manchu language" and read the literature written in Manchu.
As a Manchu and the last emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Puyi could not speak Manchu. Manchu can not write, Manchu will only say that the phrase "Yili", which is about the meaning of flat body. Therefore, at that time, Puyi could only awkwardly answer Guo Moruo: "I will not speak Manchu!" ”
This incident was naturally "extremely shocking" to Guo Moruo, who wanted to study manchu. However, for Puyi, it is also very helpless. In the study of manchu language, Puyi could not help Guo Lao, but he later entered the Institute of Literature and History. Because in addition to the "Manchu language", he also knew a lot of historical facts about the last imperial dynasty.
epilogue
In 1644, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Qing nobles became the rulers of China. In the eyes of the Manchu rulers at that time, Manchu culture was definitely superior to Han culture. Otherwise, why did they win? Therefore, when magalni's delegation arrived in China, a Manchu prince also expressed to the British the idea that Manchu culture was better. But reality slapped them hard.
In order to maintain the cultural dignity of its own people, the Qing Dynasty tried its best to promote the Manchu language throughout the country, but in the end it ended in failure.
When Guo Moruo went to Puyi to help study the Manchu language, he couldn't believe that the last emperor of the "conqueror" had finally forgotten the original language of his own nation.
Guo Moruo did not know that this was Puyi's unspeakable secret, he thought that Puyi just looked down on him and was unwilling to give him an assistant, so he left awkwardly.