Text/Lihua Heart Language
"Yuan Chun Provincial Relatives" should be a climactic part of the whole "Dream of the Red Chamber", and she is also the most prosperous period in the whole Jia Province. When Cao Xueqin wrote this part during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, she recalled a lot of the grandeur of her family when she was young. "Therefore, the real thing will be hidden" in order to circulate "Dream of the Red Chamber" to the world, but the author is extremely eager for posterity to "who understands the taste?" To enable the reader to understand his hidden intentions and unveil the hidden "true things" of the face. There are two plots in the book, which are both true and "unreasonable", which are "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives" and "Qin Keqing's Funeral". There is no instance of "Yuanfei Provincial Relatives" in the Qing Dynasty, so who is the historical prototype of "Yuanfei Provincial Relatives"?
I am a native of Tianjin, and I live and work in the area of Shuixizhuang in Tianjin, and in reading the Dream of the Red Chamber and understanding the history of Tianjin Shuixizhuang, I found that the historical prototype of "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives" should be Empress Xiaoxianchun of Qianlong. Why?
I. The meticulous arrangement in the "Yuan Concubine Provincial Relatives" and the royal honor guard behind the true empress.
When we read the eighteenth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives", you will find that Cao Xueqin wrote very real and specific, with clear details, as if to guide the reader to the scene. In these passages, there are many fat criticisms, and in the luxurious and solemn royal ceremonies, the fat criticism: "describe Bishaw", "it is rare that he can write it, it is the person who passes by", "The most difficult part of the "Stone Record" is that it cannot be touched in other books", "There is really something".
In the feudal totalitarian society, "no book can be touched" is only the actual record of the actions of the emperor and the empress. There is an important criticism in this paragraph: "The Book of Stones is used to the pen of special offenders and non-offenders, which is really shocking to read." Cao Xueqin dared to write down the royal activity "Bi Xiao", and this offending way of writing is worrying. And the lipogram exonerates the author, which is what the author witnessed personally, and there is no exaggeration of fictional charges, and there is no error in the true reproduction. It shows that the description of "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives" is all based on facts.
The life material of the plot of "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives" originates from the late winter of the thirteenth year of Qianlong, when Empress Xiaoxianchun accompanied the Qianlong Emperor on an eastern tour, and toured the grand scenery of the Lucky River West Village. Shuixizhuang was originally a private garden villa built by Tianjin Luyan giant merchant Zha Riqian and his son, which flourished in the Qianlong period. On October 19, 12012, in order to welcome Qianlong's eastern tour, he moved the tomb of Li Qin, his wife. According to the "Manuscript of the Copper Drum Book" volume 31 "The Late Wife Li Anren Relocated To Cuo Xiaozhi" recorded: "The Son of Heaven will be fortunate to be in Donglu, and Tianjin is the place through which Fengcao must pass, so the people of Tianjin are called Cuihua Linxing, and they must not be stationed without a place to stay, and the terrain is suitable, but the water west is appropriate, and the Ezuma Quan cuo is still in the north of Zhuang, and he has moved to the house." "
In the dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Fu also carried out the entire preparatory activity to welcome his daughter Yuan Chun Province, "Since the eighth day of the first month of the first month, there have been eunuchs who have come out to see the direction first, where to change clothes, where to sit in Yan, where to receive gifts, where to feast, where to retreat. Another inspector of local prime ministers, Guan Fang eunuchs, and others brought out many small eunuchs, and the guards and curtains were closed everywhere, pointing out where the people of Jia Province retreated, where they knelt, where they ate, where they announced, and where they were notified. "
How nuanced this description is, it is obviously based on the fact that some private garden is located. If the emperor and the queen were lucky to travel in the imperial garden of their own palace or the royal garden outside the palace, there was no need to have those etiquettes, nor did they have to be so cumbersome. Many red scholars and readers feel that there is a "true empress" hidden behind the "Yuan Concubine" in the text of "Yuan Fei Provincial Relatives". The most direct evidence is the royal honor guard in the yuan concubine's provincial relatives, the scale of the honor guard exceeds the treatment of the noble concubine, and more importantly, there is a blatant appearance of "a pair of dragons and phoenixes, pheasant feathers", this dragon and phoenix decoration is the emperor's special honor guard, and other concubines must not be used casually. It is not known whether this detail is the author's intentional flaw, or whether he inadvertently wrote the empress dowager's honor guard that he witnessed in reality into the book. The honor guard of the "Yuan Concubine" reflects her true identity as a "true empress". This is precisely where the author's grand strokes are clever, using a detailed description to achieve the purpose of "leaking the heavenly opportunity", which not only achieves "the real thing hidden", but also enables future generations to "understand the taste".
Second, the lipogram points out the prototype and historical record of the "Yuan Fei Provincial Pro"
The most important and direct point out the identity of the "Yuan Concubine" is a bold batch: "Wen Zhonggong's Grandmother". This is the 16th time, Jia Lian and Feng Jie talked about the yuan concubine will be provincial, and Grandma Zhao said: "So, our family is also going to pick up the big miss?" Gengchen Ben commented on the side of this paragraph: "Wen Zhonggong's mama." "Duke Wen Zhonggong" was a scholar of the Qianlong Dynasty, Fu Heng of the First Rank, the younger brother of Empress Qianlong, who for a time was prominent, and died in July of the 34th year of Qianlong, and was posthumously known as "Duke Wen Zhonggong". The eldest lady of her family was naturally Fu Heng's sister---- Empress Xiaoxianchun of the Qianlong Emperor. Only those who are very familiar with the tone of Fu Heng's family's frequent mention of "our big miss" can write this batch of words.
In addition, shu Dun's criticism of the "Suiyuan Poetry" mentioned: "In the fifty-sixth or seventh year of Qianlong, I saw a manuscript of the book "Dream of the Red Chamber", or the cloud refers to the Pearl Family, or the Cloud refers to the Fu Heng Family. "If these two statements are so identical, they are not isolated. In fact, only Empress Xiaoxian is qualified and may be provincial, and from the analysis of the phrase "Wen Zhonggong's Mama" and "Fu Heng's family affairs", the life prototype of the "Yuan Concubine" who can really save relatives should be Empress XiaoxianChun.
According to the "Patrol Luck" at the beginning of the "Tianjin County New Chronicle", "In February of the thirteenth year of Qianlong, Emperor Gaozong toured the east and returned in March. In Tianjin, he was blessed with the long reed salt merchants, and was exempted from three-tenths of the money and grain in the following year, and rewarded the military and civilians with more than seventy-eight. "In Shuixizhuang was greatly welcomed, whether he could take the opportunity to meet his relatives, the historical data is not detailed, but Xiaoxian's brother Fu Qing has been serving as the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, has a residence and relatives in Tianjin, and in recent years has found a bundle of letters ---- Fu Qing's son, and the place of discovery is in Tianjin. Just a month later, winter turned to spring, and Empress Xiaoxian suddenly died violently on the canal on March 11. As it is said in "Dream of the Red Chamber": "Joy and glory are just right, and hatred is impermanent." Watch and throw everything away. Swinging, soul consuming. Looking at hometown, the road is far away and the mountains are high. These things that were spread throughout the country made Cao Xueqin can use artistic techniques to write the image of the Yuan Concubine.
Empress Xiaoxian visited Shuixizhuang with the emperor during his eastern tour of the thirteenth year of Qianlong at the end of the winter. In order to welcome the emperor's station, Qianlong carried out an expansion of Shuixizhuang in the twelfth year. This royal event is an excellent material for "YuanFei Provincial Relatives", and it can also explain why the author must write "Yuanfei Provincial Relatives" at the end of winter, and it turns out that the prototype material of this grand situation, "Empress Xiaoxian Patrols Shuixizhuang", is at the end of winter.
Reference: Han Jichen's "Red Chamber Dream Water West Village"
【About the author】Zhang Lihua, female, pen name Lihua Xinyu. A native of Tianjin, he once worked in the government research office; he is now a member of the Tianjin Dream of the Red Chamber Research Association; his essays have been published in Tianjin Daily, Bohai Morning Post, Mingzhen World and other newspapers and periodicals. More than 200 articles have been recommended by major online platforms.