History has no truth, only one truth remains. - Ma Weidu
Speaking of ancient stories, I think many people will think of "Sima Guang smashing the cylinder" for the first time in their minds.
This is a very interesting philosophical story.
A child named Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty, when he saw someone fall into the cylinder, he moved his mind and lifted a stone on the road to smash the large cylinder, so that the people inside could be saved.
After this incident, Sima Guang, who was only seven years old, was named ZhenjingShi, and the story of "Sima Guang smashing the cylinder" has also been passed down to this day and has become a compulsory content in textbooks.
However, it is such a rather allegorical story, but it was questioned by Ma Weidu, a collector in the mainland, and his reason was very simple: the Song Dynasty could not burn a large cylinder, so Sima Guang had no cylinder to smash.
However, this view of his was quickly slapped in the face by an idiom.
First, Ma Weidu is his own person
Why do some people care about Ma Weidu's views and some people question them? This also starts from Ma Weidu's status in the cultural relics industry.
When Ma Weidu first entered society, he was actually engaged in literary creation.
During the years when he was writing with a pen, he left a lot of classic works, and also participated in the creation of many classic film and television works such as "The Story of the Editorial Department".
It is precisely because of such achievements that Ma Weidu has more confidence to step into the collection industry.
In Beijing in the 1980s, there were many treasures circulating in the market, which were upside down in the hands of traders, mixed with a number of fakes.
If someone can discern the pearls, they can "pick up the leaks" and buy these artifacts at a very low price.
It just so happens that Ma Weidu is a person with a poisonous eye.
He seized the opportunity, like a big wave of sand, among the various vendors, Zhou Xuan, and pocketed the real treasure. By the 1990s, his collection of cultural relics had included cultural plays, jade, ancient furniture and other categories, and the number had reached thousands.
Of course, if he were an ordinary collector, Ma Weidu might not be so famous, and his great strength lies in the fact that he combines his talent for writing with the collection of cultural relics, not only good at collecting, but also able to speak the Tao, dare to put forward his own views.
Such a combination of strength and strength made Ma Weidu a well-known collector, and also gave him more opportunities to go to the public.
In many cases, Ma Weidu's views are novel and sharp, and the questions he raises are questions that ordinary people have never thought about and never doubted.
For example, he once put forward a point of view on a program, that is, the story of Sima Guang smashing the cylinder is false, and the Song Dynasty did not have the process of making cylinders, so Sima Guang had no cylinder to smash.
This view made a female professor in the history department of Peking University gag on the spot, not knowing how to refute him.
However, outside the venue, many spectators refuted it one by one according to Ma Weidu's point of view.
Second, the distinction between "cylinder" and "urn"
Since Ma Weidu dared to raise this issue in public, he must have his own point of view.
His first basis is that Sima Guang's ability to smash the cylinder is not real in itself.
Because Sima Guang was still a seven-year-old child at that time, it was not easy to lift a large stone, how could he easily lift the stone and smash it into the cylinder?
This view makes it difficult to argue with, after all, we cannot go back to ancient times and know whether seven-year-olds at that time were able to move stones.
However, it is a bit far-fetched to deny the story recorded in the History of song on this difficult reason alone.
Obviously, Ma Weidu also knew this, so he put forward a more powerful point of view, that is, judging from the craftsmanship of the Song Dynasty, they could not burn a large cylinder, and there was no cylinder, and the story of "Sima Guang smashing the cylinder" naturally did not hold.
So, is this really the case? If we want to refute this view of Ma Weidu, we must also start from the source of this story, that is, the "History of Song".
The "History of Song" records such a sentence: "The light holding the stone breaks the urn, the water bursts, and the child has to live."
That is to say, in history, Sima Guang broke an urn with a stone, not a cylinder.
Although there is only a one-word difference, there is a fundamental difference between the two.
Indeed, the technology of firing large cylinders only appeared in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and those large cylinders with porcelain glaze were also one of the representatives of the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, this kind of cylinder is extremely strong, not to mention Sima Guang, even a strong adult man may not be able to smash it.
Therefore, what Sima Guang really smashed was actually the urn. However, after such a statement came out, some people put forward a rebuttal.
They believe that the role of the urn is to hold pickles, how small is the capacity of a jar containing pickles, presumably needless to say, how can it hold a child?
At this point, we have to distinguish the difference in the function of the ancient urn and the current urn.
It is true that the current urn is relatively small and can be used to hold pickles, but the ancient urn was very large and was often used to hold water. And the best evidence of this distinction is an idiom allusion to "please enter the urn."
During the period when Wu Zetian was in power, in order to completely eradicate the rebellious party, a group of cool officials were trained, and in order to force people to confess, their means could be said to be all-purpose, and this "inviting the king into the urn" was one of them.
A large urn was first found, then it was set on a fire and roasted, and then the prisoner was thrown into the urn, and if he did not confess, he would continue to burn it like this.
From this idiom, it is not difficult to see that the urn at that time was so large that it was more than enough to put down an adult, and how could it not fit a child?
Third, be punched in the face by an idiom
The idiom "Please enter the urn" really punched Ma Weidu in the face and completely refuted his views.
Indeed, although the story of "Sima Guang smashing the cylinder" has been passed down to the present, the original "urn" has become the current "cylinder", but it is undeniable that "Sima Guang smashing the cylinder" is a real thing that happened in history, the Song Dynasty did have an urn, and the origin of the idiom "please enter the urn" also proves that the urn can indeed hold a person.
Therefore, Ma Weidu only denied this classic historical allusion by saying that "the Song Dynasty could not burn a large vat", which was a bit too one-sided.
Think about it from another angle, is there a possibility that the container that was called an "urn" by the Song Dynasty is the "cylinder" of the future?
Of course, such a statement needs to be further confirmed.
However, starting from this matter itself, when there is a doubt about an event in history, it is still necessary to ensure that the problem is solved on the basis of a high degree of understanding of history and restoring history.