"Water Margin Trivia", by Chang Ming, Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, November 2021.
Synopsis
As one of the "Four Masterpieces", "Water Margin" has been sought after by readers since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and has been interpreted for more than 450 years, and its theme is even more unique. Many of today's writings are interpreted from the standpoint of commercial warfare or scheming, which is naturally one of the methods worthy of respect.
However, in the view of the author of the book, as a layered novel work, "Water Margin" is undoubtedly oriented to the low-level public in the process of formation and dissemination, and its basic emotion is the literary expression of the spirit of folk resistance. Therefore, the author tries to start from the bottom position and social perspective, with forty-two topics, combined with the modern social environment, re-examine the theme of "Water Margin", in order to use this collection of essays to measure the body temperature of the times.
Contents
Inner Chapter Water Margin Character Theory
Greetings 1
Death of Wang Lun
The mystery of the Chao-Song relationship
Liangshan NO.1
A warning of the tragedy of the Jade Kirin
Liangshan's lifelong standing committee member, Zhi duoxing Wu Yong
Lin Chong's fate and Gao Qi's fortune
Zhu Tong went up the mountain
The art of punishing evil
Robber and Buddha
tiger! tiger! tiger!
The legend of the marriage of The Celestial Jetstar
Li Kui's bandit logic
True and false nine-striped dragon
Fishing and killing families
Bad woman with the surname Pan
I'm talking about Hao Siwen
Who can join?
Xiao Rang: What is a literati?
Abuse and evil law in "Water Margin"
Literary factors after the tragedy of the marriage of the third lady
Say "Compete"
The tragedy of Meng Kang
Murderous tailor
Song Qing's way of coming and going
Cao Zheng and the Forbidden Army
The seat of the time shift and the nickname of Liangshan
Story of "Water Margin"
Greetings 2
First year, spring, Wang Zhengyue
Lin Chong and Lu Qian - friendship in the office
Yang Zhi: The poor man in the Birth Anniversary Incident
Prisoner of Liangshan
Pan Jinlian's moral path of decay
Song Jiang's Travels
From miscellaneous dramas to novels – Li Kui's image evolves
Zhu Biao's restructuring and the Zhujiazhuang bloody case
Oath of Iron Coupons with the Chai Family
Shi Jin's value to Shaohua Mountain
Liangshan good han row to see
Who is against Zhao An?
Robe belt with short hits
The book of "Water Margin"
After the recruitment
Another ending of Water Margin
postscript
Self-prologue
Make a preamble, continue the rest, and then go to sleep.
Twenty-eight years later, the essence is still fermenting in the brain.
The painting is half painted, and the lines are not written half.
The completion will be very happy, but halfway down there is no tube.
Halfway through the first life, the talent has already entered the coffin.
There are geniuses, why are we without the second half.
Zhang Jingxuan, "Genius Child 1985"
In June 2018, I was surprisingly decadent. Because this is the tenth year of writing, although with the help of a large number of friends, my first book "Shulin of the Pre-Qin Dynasty" is about to be published, but I know very well that its fate will be like my blog and public account, with few readers.
The upcoming thirty years of age are so stressful that I have no direction at all. I picked up the wine I had quit for a long time, and even sometimes turned on the TV and drank with the characters in the play, trying to get rid of the chaotic thoughts in the simplest and most wayward way.
So I asked a friend out for a drink, and he gave me this advice: "Anyway, you need to work, make good works that are grounded on a popular platform." A year earlier, I had opened an open class on "Himalaya FM" called "Pin "Scream"", but the response was very small, and this time I thought of the words of the author of "Scream": "Only the hobbies of the small people are still in the "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin"." ”
The reason why "Water Margin" was finally chosen instead of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is because to talk about "Three Kingdoms", it is necessary to first do the comparison of history and fiction, and sort out a time-bound context with causal logic, which is quite time-consuming; and reading "Water Margin" can be discussed as you please.
This book is proposed to be called "Water Margin Trivia", "Trivia" is trivial words, so there are historical arguments, literary evaluations, analysis of human nature, and of course, there are also reflections on social issues.
Reading "Water Margin", my biggest feeling is that there are too many uneven things, and it is far from enough to rely on a group of jianghu heroes to help the poor. As it is written at the end of the book "Fishing and Killing The Family":
Lin Fengmian painting "Fishing and Killing Families"
The ending of "Fishing and Killing" may be cruel, but it is very realistic. Xiao En is still the Ruan Xiaoqi, and the society is still the society in "Water Margin". The struggle of the Liangshan Qunying was in vain, only the blood and water of the red Yin Yin on the ground proved that they had come; there was only one immortal legend about loyalty, about righteousness, and about Li Min, which was passed down to the world.
Some people read this article on the "Ancient Novel Network" and thought that this ending was too depressed, but they did not know, this is my truest feeling.
Those marginalized figures in the society at that time felt that "manhood has a skill, does not meet the Lord, succumbs to the villain, and is subject to such a pickled breath", and came to Liangshan with the attitude of "if you know us, go in the water, go in the fire", forgetting that Liangshan is also a small society that needs rules and order. The leaders of Liangshan have soldiers, money, and status, and naturally form their own power, and even become a violent organ, so that some people use this violent organ to indulge the evil of their own human nature - the article "The Tailor Who Kills" in this book analyzes this kind of phenomenon.
Some of the contents of this book were serialized in the Himalaya FM as an open class under the name of "Pin Shui Hu: Power and Humanity of Liangshan", and the reason why the keywords of "power" and "human nature" are circled is because I believe that if the tragedy of Liangshan is to be truly repeated, it is necessary to find something that can constrain both - system and morality. The system prevents the abuse of power, and morality promotes the value of human nature.
Ren Fu paints Water Margin characters
We know that the book "Water Margin" developed from the traditional plain language, and the people who speak the plain language - we call it "speakers" - in order to meet the emotional needs of the general public, always have to eliminate evil and promote good, give people hope, so I firmly believe that "Water Margin" is a book to give people hope, and I also hope that after listening to my lessons or reading this book, you will have a firmer confidence in society and human nature.
So, I'm going to argue against "conspiracy theories." In the analysis of characters, the understanding of human nature is an important principle; in the evaluation of events, the attribution value of the system is pursued. I hope that readers and friends can have a warm blood for life, but also respond with a cold eye. I read with you, out of the book, and back inside.
Therefore, I will take "Water Margin" in my hand, stand in the position of literary history, read it carefully with the reader word by word, and sort out the clues in the book with the most rigorous attitude. Careful readers will surely find that the expression that often appears in my books is "the author of "Water Margin" rather than "Shi Nai'an"; when referring to "Li Zhuowu", the critic of "Water Margin", he is never referred to as "Li Zhen". I do have some consideration of these details.
First of all, the book "Water Margin" is about the work of the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and because the earliest inscription passed down is from the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, some people suspect that it was only in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but the latter theory is rarely accepted. This book is generally believed to have been compiled by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong successively. Gao Ru's "Baichuan Shuzhi" says that it is "Shi Nai'an's ben, Luo Guanzhong's edition", and the three engravings of Jiajing Ben, Tiandu Foreign Minister's Preface, and Yuan Wuya's Periodicals also read "Shi Nai'an Collection, Luo Guanzhong's Revision". However, this information does not mean that "Water Margin" is a collaboration between two people.
Hundred Rivers Chronicles
We know that the original version of Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had two hundred and forty times, the story was very loose, and it was biased towards the number of traditional speakers, and later Mao Zonggang's father and son carefully revised it once, which not only made its tendency to support Liu and Cao more distinct, but also added the discussion that "when the world is said, it will be united for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time", and today's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be so smooth and interesting, which is inseparable from the efforts of Mao Zonggang's father and son. The earliest extant version of the Water Margin is already the Zhengde Ben, and the ages of Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong's lives are very close, so we cannot distinguish which words in the book are Shi Nai'an's and which should be attributed to Luo Guanzhong, so we can only say "the author of "Water Margin" in general.
Second, since water margin is the work of a speaker, later authors—whether Shi Nai'an or Luo Guanzhong—are merely its finishers. At the latest in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were literary works about the Song River, and the earliest thing we see now is the Southern Song Dynasty Gong Kai's "Thirty-Six Praises of the Song River", but it is only thirty-six poems, and there is no detailed record of the process of song Jiang's uprising, but we can be sure that at that time, there were indeed stories of Song Jiang and others.
At the same time as these stories circulated, the art of speaking arose in the folk, which was similar to today's storytelling, and the so-called speakers were similar to today's storytellers. During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were already articles such as "Stone Sun Li", "Blue-faced Beast", "Flower Monk", and "Martial Walker" in the speech, and these are now invisible.
Shi Li Ju Collection "New Publications and Testaments"
The Yuan Dynasty's Pingshu "Great Song Xuanhe and Testament" is the earliest surviving book that records the details of Song Jiang's uprising, and many Yuan miscellaneous dramas also interpret the story of Liangshan Po, unfortunately only six kinds of surviving, namely "Black Whirlwind Double Dedication" (Gao Wenxiu), "Tongleyuan Yanqing Boyu" (Li Wenwei), "Liangshan Po Li Kui Negative Jing" (Kang Jinzhi), "Dukong Mu Wind and Rain Return to Prison" (Anonymous), "Contention for en Three Tigers Descending the Mountain" (Anonymous), "Lu Zhishen Loves Huanghuayu" (Anonymous), Many of the plots in it are different from the "Water Margin" we see today, but the stories such as Zhi Zhi Sheng Gang, Sitting on the Building to Kill Xi, and Li Kui Negative Jing have taken on a rough scale here.
It is conceivable that in addition to these surviving works, many of the works that are now lost are still popular in the Ming Dynasty, and other stories that have not been recorded in writing are also passed on by word of mouth, and Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong are likely to be based on them. Therefore, many of the narrative techniques in the novel are absorbed from the art of speaking, and the story of "Water Margin" is gradually accumulated in different eras, so we cannot analyze the ancient novels such as "Water Margin" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by analyzing modern novels created purely by individual writers.
In the process of circulation, the Water Margin also produced different versions, specifically divided into two systems: traditional and simplified. The number of replies in the simplified version is uncertain, generally speaking, the text is relatively simple, and the description is not very vivid, but its story is very complete, not only has the parts of Liangshan PoJuyi, Zhao An, Zheng Liao, Zheng Fang La, and so on, but also the story of Zheng Wang Qing and Zheng Tian Hu.
Rong Youtang's edition of "Water Margin"
There are only a hundred times in the traditional version, and compared with the simplified version, the story is more tortuous and the language is more vivid, but there is no story such as Zheng Wang Qing and Zheng Tian Hu. The current one hundred and twenty times are a patchwork of the hundred times of the traditional version and the twenty times about Wang Qing and Tian Hu in the middle of the simplified version.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a critic named Jin Shengsi felt that the story after the seventy-first time of "Water Margin" was not the original work of Shi Nai'an, so he deleted it according to his own opinion, and changed the first time to "Wedge", and the main text was retained seventy times, which is the origin of the seventy times of "Water Margin". Jin Shengsi's comments on the seventy-one times this book, including the wedge, are equivalent to today's network "bullet screen", and his opinions are sometimes cute and sometimes thought-provoking, so this seventy times book is the best-selling.
Another kind of comment is given by the name Li Zhen (字卓吾). At that time, there was such a custom, booksellers for the book to be able to sell well, often pretending to be celebrities to comment, for example, they found someone to comment on the "Fengshen Yanyi", but did not know who to use in the name, (Zi Bojing) Just at this time, the literary master of the Jinling School, Zhong Yi, died, so they named the book "New Engraving Bell Bojing Criticizes the Fengshen Yanyi".
"Li Zhuowu Criticizes The Legend of Zhongyi Water Margin"
At present, the "Water Margin" criticized by Li Zhuowu has two kinds of one hundred and twenty copies, although the preface is completely the same, but the content and angle of the commentary are very different. Although Zhou Lianggong clearly pointed out in "Shadow of the Book of the Tree House" that it was Ye Day who entrusted the name of Li Zhuowu, it is still difficult for us to believe that these things came from the same person. However, since the bookseller entrusted the name li zhen, there is no better way to call it in this article, for convenience, and these comments are all called "Li Zhuowu comments", which is a pseudonym shared by different critics.
The first kind of book I used in the process of narration was "The Complete Biography of Zhongyi Water Margin" published by Huangshan Book Club in 1991, which was a book of criticism by Li Zhuowu, one hundred and twenty times; the second was "Jin Shengsi Criticism of Ben Shui Hu" published by Yuelu Book Club in 2006, which was the earliest Jin Sheng Sigh Commentary I personally saw, when I was still a student, and I was quite pleased to get this book. Although various publishing houses have published various fine editions since then, I personally like the binding and typesetting of this book, so it is still used today.
The reason why I want to say the above is to let you understand my basic point of view, to know the meaning of some of the recurring keywords in this book, and it is best to prepare the version of "Water Margin" that is consistent with what I have at hand, so as to start our common reading journey.
The Complete Biography of Zhongyi Water Margin
Postscript
Hu Yinglin's "Shaomu Shanfang Pen Cong" said that a certain big person in the Jiajing and Longqing years had no other books on his desk except "Zhuangzi" and "Water Margin". I guess that's true. Chinese intellectuals do have great enthusiasm for "Water Margin", so in the novel masterpieces, only the sequels of "Water Margin" (Chen Chen's "Water Margin Later Biography", Zhang Hexhui's "Water Margin New Biography"), foreign classics (Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's "Jin Ping Mei") and "Fan Fiction" (Yu Wanchun's "Dang Kouzhi") are all wonderful.
In these works, "Later Biography" can see the national ideology of the Ming and Qing dynasties, "New Biography" can see the patriotic spirit of the War of Resistance, "Jin Ping Mei" can see the picture of life in the late Ming Dynasty, and "Dang KouZhi" can see the hostility of the ordinary intellectual class of the Qing Dynasty to the chaos of the people's rebellion. It can be said that each era has its own interpretation of "Water Margin", or that a history of interpretation of "Water Margin" is precisely the history of changes in Chinese social consciousness.
Friends who have heard my audio book "Pin Shui Hu" on the Himalaya FM probably remember that I have a lot of criticism of some of the settings of the CCTV version of "Water Margin", without him, too "revolutionary", it is completely the echo of the "Comment on the "Water Margin" movement" in the 1970s, and even the character costumes are completely designed according to the peasants, and there is no background of the jianghu heroes. But it is still undeniable that this is the result of the discourse of an era.
Guo Zen painting "Shui Po Liang Shan 108 Will Full Map"
But in the 21st century, what can we see in "Water Margin"? Some people have deciphered conspiracy theories, some people have seen business wars and corporate management, and I have seen the forces at the bottom—the yearning for freedom and the resistance to social injustice. This is actually my original intention of loving "Water Margin", because I have been living and struggling at the bottom, so I have my own unique feelings about the power and humanity portrayed in "Water Margin". These feelings are still emotional, and some people like them and some people criticize them.
But as Lu Xun said, the "History of History" is "the great song of the historian, the rhymeless "Departure"", that is to say, this book is full of emotions and can no longer be obtained in the history books--people may feel pain because of living in difficulties, but I believe that these repeated pains are a rare extra wealth that fate has given us.
In 2019, my first book, Shulin of the Pre-Qin Dynasty, was published by China Zhigong Publishing House, and I was busy communicating details with the editors, from text content to cover design, to greet the first event on my wish list. But at that time I did not know that after the publication of this book, what awaited me was not joy, but loss—I thought that after the first book was published, I was closer to the plan of living from words, but after the book was completed, I was still waiting, and it was already a goalless waiting.
Shu Lin of the Sons of the Pre-Qin Dynasty
So I continued to contribute, trying to find some opportunities to serialize my own work. At that time, when I saw the submission notice of the ancient novel network, I almost did not have any hope and numbly submitted the manuscripts of the "Pin Shui Hu" series, but I did not expect that soon after, The founder of the novel network, Teacher Miao Huaiming, replied to my email and serialized this work in the name of "Water Margin Trivia".
When I was a student at university, I was favored by my teacher, who gave me the time for the last class of the last semester, thus ending the two-year course in literary history. The topic I prepared was "Tasting Tea 'Dream of the Red Chamber'—The Emergence of the Problem of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' and the Flow of Red Studies", and Miao Huaiming's "The Red Chamber in the Wind" was my first reference book. I never imagined that I would one day serialize my works on the novel network sponsored by Mr. Miao, and the teacher's kind and caring attitude when replying to emails made me feel particularly warm.
Serializing articles on the Fiction Network was an important coming-of-age experience for me. If in the previous decade of blog and public account writing, I hope to express, then serial articles on the novel network, for me, mean more sharing. So in the following period, I started my own academic essay writing program and gradually submitted it to the novel network for publication.
Compared with the blogs written before, although it is not so time-sensitive, it has a lot more precipitation, and there are great expectations for the comments received from each article. Although my blog has also been honored to add friends to many senior teachers, I have almost never experienced the publication of an article after so many senior teachers and peers read, giving me encouragement, advice and kind criticism, which is the infinite wealth I have accumulated in the short year of the article series.
Peach Blossom Wood New Year Painting "Water Margin Liangshan One Hundred Singles and Eight Generals"
During the serialization of the article, some readers and friends held a concerned attitude, discussed some issues with me, raised some questions, and naturally made some replies in the follow-up albums.
At first, I didn't mean to do the research of "Water Margin", and some of them were mostly just intentions, so the lines occasionally alluded to someone in history, or commented on something of public concern, borrowing the alcohol of the ancients to pour out the blocks in my heart. For example, "The Killer Tailor" was written because of the "622" Hangzhou Mo Huanjing arson case, and "Speaking Hao Siwen" simply said why I was not motivated in the company.
Of course, these things have little to do with "Water Margin", I am just borrowing the title to play, because whether it is the world of "Water Margin" or today's society, in a sense, it is a jianghu. An important reason why Qin Shi Huang burned books was that the readers "even language poetry books" (Teacher Xin Deyong trained "even" for "yu"), which means to borrow the title to play and borrow the ancient irony of the present. Therefore, the "Book of Even Words and Poetry" is not only the spirit of reading books and making learning alive, but also the good soul of the brave sacrifice that readers have inherited from generation to generation.
The author of "Water Margin" was born in a chaotic world, with a strong sense of distress, and his book is an interpretation of the times in which he is in, which is naturally his historical responsibility; and I live in a completely different era, and I dare not shirk the responsibility of the reader.
Sichuan Mianyang Water Margin character prints
"Through hardships, we do not cheat, and we suffer and become accomplished." Therefore, it is difficult to predict the fate of life. But they can join the WTO and cultivate intelligence. These few lyrics of Li Keqin are the true portrayal of me at this time, reading good books, doing a good job of learning, constantly working hard, constantly improving, and not living up to the expectations of those who help and support me, this is the only thing I should do, and the only thing I can do well.
It was the end of the year, the first winter of the 2020s. Looking back over the past ten years, I have grown from a student to a teacher, from a reader to an author. A friend asked: "If you can start again, will you give up the Chinese language and literature major and choose a major that is more suitable for the job market?" "I told her I didn't regret it.
If I had the opportunity to talk to myself ten years ago, I would like to share Xue Kaiqi's "To Me Ten Years Ago": "You are afraid, you will have the words of the elders warning." Playing a cow or horse for a few years, have you already tamed your livelihood? Are you afraid that there is no better person in the market, and you still have to give in? But I have been in love with nails in the past, and I have not yet melted. "For ten years, walking persistently, loving, and persevering, I can finally meet you in this way with you who are reading at this moment."
Water Margin stamps
Thank you for opening this book, thank you for reading this and reading these words. Thank you readers!
See you in the future!
December 3, 2020
Biography
Recent photo by the author
Chang Ming, pen name Yuting, Yibi Feng resident, a native of Tianjin. His representative works are "Shulin of the Pre-Qin Dynasty" (China Zhigong Publishing House, 2019) and "Water Margin" (Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2021), and he has published many papers in journals such as "Journal of Philology" and "Appreciation of Famous Works". The Sina blog account "Yi Bi Zhai" serializes "Zizhi Tongjian", "Continuing Zizhi Tongjian", "Ming Tongjian" commentary and "Seventeen Kinds of Comments on the History of Chinese Literature", etc., and the Himalayan account "Chang Yu Ting", which teaches "Nine Lectures on Song Ming Science" and "Chang Yu Ting Follows", etc., is well received by the industry.
In order to thank the majority of readers for their love for the WeChat public account of the ancient novel network, this number will select three readers from the message after the article, and each of them will receive a new book "Water Margin Trivia" signed and given by Mr. Chang Ming, who will send it free of charge. Deadline: January 21, 2022 at 24:00.