Text/Danqing
I was really surprised by this visit to Baiju, and I knew in the past that Shi Nai'an, who wrote "Water Margin", was a Jiangsu Xinghua person. This time when I went to his memorial site, I was shocked, how he had become a Dafeng person again. Now in this world, all the historical and cultural celebrities who can bring tourism benefits to the local area, everyone is grabbing, and later read the introduction, the original historical Kuba River area is really the Xinghua land boundary, which is not surprising. First, let's talk about the origin of the name White Colt. "Kyaukyo White Colt, in the Valley of the Other Sky." A bunch of raw swords, its people are like jade. "Named after the White Horse in the Book of Poetry, it was originally a land of bullets on the bank of the Kushiba River, and it was also one of the important salt fields in history. The endless salt boats on the Chuanchang River not only brought wealth and prosperity to this land, but also provided a thick soil for the birth of the emperor's magnum opus "Water Margin".
Shi Nai'an, who is a legendary person, after experiencing the dangers of the imperial government, went to Baiju to stop ashore on the ship, and with the help of this land, he avoided the world for decades and devoted himself to writing the ancient book "Water Margin". It was the reeds by the Kushiba River that triggered his endless talent, borrowing the natural ecological environment of the White Colt Farm, he washed his pen and studied ink in the quiet Kushiba River, and rubbed everything here into the vast water of the Liangshan Mountain, composing a legend of a green forest good man who was a hero of the grass and recklessness for the chaotic world.
Shi Nai'an, whose real name is Yanduan, was born in Baijuchang, Hailing County, Taizhou, to a poor boat family. In his childhood, he followed his father to Suzhou, and in his youth, he was able to study and participate in scientific examinations in peace, and after taking the Kyoto examination, he unfortunately fell behind, and at the age of 29, he failed to be named in the gold list, and went to Yuncheng County, Shandong Province, on the recommendation of Liu Benshan, the superintendent of the Guozi Supervision Department. In the two years of Yuncheng, he led the people to plant mulberry silkworms and collect more materials about the heroic stories of Liangshan.
Located in the mountains southwest of Lu, Yuncheng is the holy land of the peasant revolt in the old days, the place where the heroes of Liangshan gather righteousness, known as "Liangshan one hundred single eight generals, seventy-two in Yuncheng" said. Shi Nai'an has admired the loyal and courageous Liangshan good men since childhood, and during his time in Yuncheng, he visited and collected a large number of stories of good men in Liangshan, and even went to the Liangshan area to investigate and understand the local customs and customs, food and drink, and dialect and local language. The Yellow River in the north pillow, the Liangshan in the South Binjing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the smoke waves are vast, when these places that were originally only heard are really displayed in front of the eyes, in addition to the sigh that haunts the chest cavity, it also sows in his heart the seeds of the heroic hero who wrote "gather brothers in Liangshan, and marry heroes in the water". Shi Nai'an was not born until the age of 35 and was appointed to the affairs of Qiantang County, but because of his disagreement with the magnates involved, he resigned from the government in anger and sent himself as an apprentice and wrote a book. At this time, it was the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the corrupt and incompetent Yuan Dynasty government was facing disintegration, And Chen Youyi, Zhu Yuanzhang and other low-level fighters revolted one after another, and for a while wolf smoke was everywhere. Shi Nai'an's Fellow Baiju Villager Zhang Shicheng also rose up at this time, quickly occupying a large area of the city in Jiangnan with the momentum of breaking bamboo, and finally claiming the throne in Suzhou. After Zhang Shicheng succeeded in his campaign, Shi Nai'an followed Lu Chao's example and others and became his staff at zhang Shicheng's appointment, bent on saving the country and the state. Who knew that Zhang Shicheng, who claimed to be the queen, not only became more and more extravagant in his life, but even surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty government, killing his good generals and loyal subjects, causing people to leave in a cold mood. As Zhang Shicheng's staff member, Shi Nai'an, who witnessed the vigorous splendor and fiasco of Zhang Shicheng's uprising, was always difficult to calm down, but helpless.
Seeing that the leader of the rebellion who was once admired was now attached to Emperor Yuan, this made Shi Nai'an extremely disappointed, and his repeated advice was rejected, and Shi Nai'an reluctantly resigned from the government. After leaving, Shi Nai'an went to the area around the mansion in Zhutang Town, Jiangyin City, to make a living as a teacher. Soon after suzhou was destroyed, Zhang Shicheng's army was defeated and killed, and Zhu Yuanzhang went all out to hunt down the remnants of Zhang. In order to avoid the scourge of war, Shi Nai'an went north to return to his hometown of Baiju Field, where he spent a quiet day and devoted himself to the writing of "Water Margin". In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Nai'an was arrested and imprisoned for writing a book advocating rebellion, and was later rescued by his classmate Liu Bowen in The third year of Ming Hongwu (1370) and died of a body of pain and illness in Huai'an.
Throughout Shi Nai'an's life, the upheaval and displacement is the most appropriate portrayal, he wants to be an official but the political road is not smooth, he wants to hide in the world and is unwilling, only to bury his head and think deeply about his own life path, he loves to chat with the local salt farmers when he has nothing to do, and absorbs fresh life accumulation from these low-level people, but when he returns to his study, countless military past events are presented in front of his eyes, making him excited, making him sad, and making him depressed in the passion of the heart. Facing the reeds outside the window, let him lament the magic of the Creator, they gather and grow, especially in groups, huddled together for warmth, united in purpose, with their own weak body but can flutter in the wind, in the waves, what is this quality? They rely on each other to change from weak to strong. Countless times he saw the reeds in the wind and rain, struggling bitterly in the fierce wind on the side of the river beach and the side of the river, and several plants fell, and more still stood side by side, dancing against the wind, without losing the wind bone. Everything in life shows him the unique charm of life, and these feelings that usually look very bland have prompted him to enter a journey of reflecting on the trajectory of his life, this reflection, this feeling, this excitement, this excitement, prompting him to calm down his life, after countless spring, summer, autumn and winter cycles. A long novel that vibrates deafeningly, a reckless picture of a hero in the jianghu, and between the lines are Shi Nai'an's deepest sorrow and love for the country and the nation.
When we open the "Water Margin" today, we see that the magnificent scenery of Liangshan Water Berth is not only the vastness of The Liang Shan Shui Po in Yuncheng, but also more compatible with the tranquility and wind bones of the water town in northern Jiangsu. Song Jiang, who was loyal and courageous, did not lack the shadow of Zhang Shicheng, who succeeded in his deeds, and the prototype of Wu Song who fought with the White Tiger in Jingyang Gang was Bian Yuanheng, a subordinate of Zhang Shicheng, who fought the tiger with his bare hands, Li Guanghuarong, a sharp archer, Pan Yuanming, who was born out of Zhang Shicheng's subordinates, who was skilled in archery, and even the words in the mouths of this group of grassy and good men were also mixed with the dialect of Yuncheng and the vernacular and vernacular of Baiju...
From the relevant materials I collected from here, I found that the original name of "Water Margin" was "The Legend of the Heroes of jianghu", he noticed that the title of the book was too explicit, and thought that there was a verse in the "Book of Poetry" that "come to the dynasty and walk the horse, lead the West Water Margin", so he took the meaning of "Water Margin" and "in the wild", so he named it "Water Margin". Who could have predicted that this "anti" book would somehow reach Zhu Yuanzhang's hands, and that would be enough, and for this reason he suffered a prison disaster. Fortunately, Shi Nai'an was a very knowledgeable person, and he quickly continued to write about Song Jiang's acceptance of Zhao'an, the conquest of Fang La, and finally the suicide by taking poison with Li Kui, so as to avoid being cut off his head and released home. Until his death, the doorman Luo Guanzhong sorted out the manuscript of his "Water Margin" and engraved it into a book, a tragic epic of the working people's rebellion against power, which finally came out after several twists and tribulations. The writing and publication of "Water Margin" is the most persistent persistence of the literati Shi Nai'an, who has the heart of the people, and it took hundreds of years to be listed in the four famous works of China and become the precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. No wonder when I stepped into this cultural shrine, I looked up and saw the tall door head: Shi Nai'an Memorial Hall, six words, it was actually written by Mr. Qi Gong.
Square in front of the Shi Nai An Memorial Hall
Our group had lunch at the town government canteen, and the town secretary asked me to stop by to see the Shuihu Street they had rectified in recent years. I got on the car and walked through the bustling Shuihu Street, and I didn't see the feeling of the car stopping to investigate. At the end of the car, the Kushiba River, which has flowed for nearly a thousand years, appeared in front of the eyes, surrounded by an open area, and there were several small fishing boats on the river in the distance, which was leisurely moored in the water, which was quite a bit of water town style. Entering the gate of ticket inspection, the three-hole water berth bridge is like a crescent moon lying on the river, the bridge is engraved with a series of familiar water margin stories, and the golden flag of "For The Skywalker" dances fiercely in mid-air, as if recalling the story of that year with tourists. According to historical records, after the death of Shi Nai'an, Shi's descendants established the Shi Clan Ancestral Hall in the former residence of Baijuchang where he had taken refuge and created "Water Margin", which was unfortunately destroyed in the war during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and after government appropriations, the new site of Huajiaduo was newly selected as the reconstruction site of the Shi Clan Ancestral Hall, which was later renamed "Shi Nai'an Memorial Hall". Directly opposite the gate, a statue of Shi Nai'an holding a scroll stands in front of it, which is a clear image with deep eyebrows.
What we see now is this memorial hall, which is currently only a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit, although it is a new antique building, but the volume is huge, plus the three parts of the monument corridor, the memorial hall, and the Shi Clan Ancestral Hall that are connected together, it seems that the designer really spent a lot of thought. This is a three-in, three-out Hui style building, the overall layout is reasonable and compact, plain green brick tiles, solemn roof ridges and tails, the vegetation and buildings in the courtyard give people a simple and elegant cultural atmosphere, the space layout of the display is impressive, it really seems to return to that special era. The most valuable thing is that the details of each moment of content enrichment are handled in place, and the geographical location is superior, and it is close to the historical river, giving people the feeling of returning to history. Especially seeing the evaluation of Shi Nai'an by his old friend Mr. Feng Qiyong, sadness suddenly appeared. I have had many years of relatively similar contacts with Mr. Feng Qiyong, and Mr. Feng's wind and bone article should be the magic weapon for my generation's self-improvement. I remember that before my husband died, Xie Chensheng and I visited him on behalf of the Research Institute, and promised him that in the next year, if we want to go to the Flame Mountain in Turpan, Xinjiang to see the newly discovered Ruins of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist Temple in Mutougou, on behalf of the Turpan Research Institute of xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, I welcome the consultants of our institute to go back to investigate, and promise to let the director of the Archaeological Research Institute of our institute report to him on the entire excavation work in person. But soon after, his old man returned from the west in a crane, which became an eternal regret in my heart.
Shi Nai'an Memorial Hall Monument Gallery
Turn left after exiting the gate of the memorial hall and walk through a short winding path to enter the Shi Nai'an Monument Corridor. The two long monuments are separated on both sides of the river, and the poems in the corridor are of different ages and fonts, but they are all related to Shi Nai'an and the "Water Margin", and reading the inscriptions seems to travel back to the past era through time and space. Winter is not a lively Long Shouting Pavilion lonely waiting for the echo of history, leisurely flowing east of the Kushiba River silently unfolding the memory of yesterday, the existence of this group of buildings in the Dewa pink wall, adding a unique delicacy to the Baiju Town in this land of bullets, and the broad and profound elements of culture provide a name for the ancestors of the Baiju Ancient Town that future generations must remember, he is Shi Nai'an! It was he who used his life and blood to leave us a classic work that has been passed down through the ages in this land. Every inch of land where a celebrity has lived is a holy place for dreams for those who come after it, and they are one of the city's true and eternal cultural symbols.
As a portrayal of a social mode of production and way of life, culture carries a symbol of national cohesion, unity and creativity, and is the ideological destination and value support of a nation. To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must not only reproduce China's outstanding contributions and important position in the world political, economic, scientific and technological arena, but also realize the rejuvenation of Chinese culture and civilization at a deeper level. Whether culture can go out depends on the connotation and attractiveness of culture, and whether it can be recognized by other cultural systems. I hope that the party committee and government departments of Baiju Town can continue to attach great importance to the comprehensive study of Shi Nai'an, the historical space and ecological environment where he survived, and the academic research of Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin" should be carried out uninterruptedly. Cherish the legacy of history, improve the grade of academic research, and sing Shi Nai'an, Baiju Town is also famous all over the world.
(The author is a columnist of the China News Network's Double Creation China Column)