Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian are two indispensable characters in China's folk bao gong opera, extending to Peking Opera, that is, the protagonists of the famous section "The Case of Gongmei", and the story between them is believed to be familiar to many people.
The story tells that there was a poor scholar named Chen Shimei, under the continuous encouragement and help of his wife Qin Xianglian, he was finally able to enter Beijing to take the exam and successfully became a Champion Lang, the emperor at that time took a fancy to him, and gave the princess Xu to Chen Shimei, and he was able to completely turn himself into a horse master of the dynasty.
In order to live a life of wealth and nobility forever, Chen Shimei hid the fact that he had a wife and children from the imperial family, but as time went on, his wife Qin Xianglian still took his children to Beijing to find a husband, and Chen Shimei's horse feet were exposed.
After the East Window Incident, both Bao Gong and the Three Dynasties Elder Wang Yanling urged this Yuanlang to recognize his wife and children, and also said that he would not pursue his crime of deception too much, but Chen Shimei always refused to compromise. So the question is, why would a Yuanlang prefer to be beheaded rather than recognize his wife?
Photo: Chen Shimei has always refused to compromise stills
First, Chen Shimei's "helplessness"?
1. Prototype research
First of all, although the Peking Opera "The Case of Chen Mei" is a fictional literary and artistic work, after research, it has been found that there are really two characters in history, Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian, and some scholars say that Chen Shimei's archetypal character is Chen Shimei, an official during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, who also has a name called Chen Niangu.
It is said that during his tenure as an official, he was upright and honest, not forced by the powerful, always upright, and thus offended many powerful people, those who looked at him unfavorably, they wanted to make up a story to destroy his image in the hearts of the people, so there was a series of follow-up stories.
In fact, he and Qin Xianglian are very affectionate, of course, this is just as a small knowledge to give you science popularization, the authenticity of the matter we will not discuss in depth today.
Photo: Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian go to court stills
2. Chen Shimei's concerns
We return the focus to the matter of why Chen Shimei did not recognize Qin Xianglian, in Dahui's view, perhaps it is not that Chen Shimei does not want to recognize, but some characteristics that are unique to that era at that time, so that he directly dare not recognize.
Here a question arises: If Chen Shimei really recognizes his wife, how should his wife and children live in the future? Chen Shimei naturally committed the crime of deceiving the king, but with the double guarantee of Bao Gong and Wang Yanling, coupled with the fact that the Great Song Dynasty has always had the atmosphere of "emphasizing literature and suppressing martial arts", Chen Shimei will most likely not be punished excessively.
In other words, even if Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian recognize each other, the former does not have to worry about his own life at all, on the other hand, if he does not recognize each other, there is a possibility of being killed by Bao Gong.
Image: Chen Shimei does not recognize Qin Xianglian stills
For Chen Shimei, who is not afraid of death, what worries do he have in his heart? Dahui thinks that his biggest worry or concern is still in the princess, to know the original wife status of men in ancient society, but in addition to the highest in the family, this is a universal value, and the wife's birth status has little to do with it.
However, Chen Shimei's original wife was Qin Xianglian, not the Princess of the Great Song dynasty with golden branches and jade leaves, which was embarrassing, was the princess of the hall going to be the second room? Once Chen Shimei recognized his wife and children, the princess, whether she was really angry or just for the sake of face, would definitely throw the door away, and then Chen Shimei's career path would really become unknown.
Under the guarantee of Bao Gong and others, although they can survive, they also have stains on their bodies that cannot be washed away, and no one can do anything about it. In addition, the court was like a battlefield, and when the ministers saw that Chen Shimei had lost his patron, and the emperor also began to dislike this Yuanlang, then how the officials treated him, the results could be imagined.
Image: Princess and Qin Xianglian stills
Second, Chen Shimei's real concern
1. Special era background
For a poor student like Chen Shimei, career is basically equal to everything in life, even if it is to keep his career, he is unlikely to recognize Qin Xianglian.
For him, without the blessing of his official position, everything he has now will return to the original point overnight. In our folk there is such an old saying: "It is better to have nothing, not to have nothing", which means that you have suffered and suffered before, you feel nothing, if you have enjoyed it at the beginning, then the subsequent suffering and suffering, whether it is mental or physical, is very difficult to accept.
In other words, for the vast majority of ordinary people, the "two stubble bitterness" of this life is not so easy to eat, and even think about it is still a terrible thing.
Therefore, to sum up Chen Shimei's reluctance to recognize his wife and biological children until his death, the main reason is still the fear of losing his official position, leaving his career and returning to his previous poor life.
Photo: Stills of Chen Shimei living a luxurious life in the Horse Mansion
2. Chen Shimei's determination
We can also understand that in the two extreme life options of "death" and "hard life", Chen Shimei would rather choose the former than live as hard as before.
To be fair, judging from the universal values of modern people at present, it is still relatively more important to choose the latter at this critical juncture of life, because everyone understands the simple truth that "it is better to die than to live".
At the beginning, when Dahui watched "The Case of Chen Mei", although he scorned Chen Shimei's behavior in his heart, on the other hand, he still had a bit of "admiration" for his ideological consciousness, he completely subverted the most basic "survival principle" of our modern people, and there was a feeling that Lao Tzu was addicted anyway, and he would not lose money when he died, and to "beautify" it again, he also had a little "dedication to love" meaning.
Image: Chen Shimei is still being hammered
But it is obvious that Chen Shimei did not think about her feelings from the perspective of his wife Qin Xianglian at all, and the reason why he was able to have everything in front of him was not what Qin Xianglian had dedicated day and night in exchange for it?
Chen Shimei strives to pursue the ideal life she likes, which originally does not carry original sin, but it is a bit unhuman to base a superior life and the so-called "ideal" on the pain of his wife and children's life.
From this story, it is not difficult for us to see that there is a kind of paranoia that Chen Shimei is accustomed to feudal literati, in layman's terms, that is, "to die to face and suffer from sin."
Photo: Stills of Chen Shimei's pursuit of an ideal life
Of course, this is still a relative euphemism, to put it bluntly, this is a kind of meanness in human nature, a typical selfishness. Therefore, I think that Chen Shimei's final result is deserved.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!