Reading | the unevenness of the Mongolian network, not reducing Qingfen, reading "Mao Dun Speaks chinese mythology"

Text/Cao Hui

If Confucian culture is taken as orthodox, then Chinese mythology is a sour and delicious appetizer, a piece of sweet sugar that we taste in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the world. Walking into the book "Mao Dun Tells Chinese Mythology", the pleasant and fantastic, strange and comfortable that the myth cannot be hidden, intertwined with each other, is amazing and enjoyable.

So, the question is, what exactly is a myth? Mythology is a folk tale popular in ancient times, describing the actions of gods beyond human ability, although absurd and nonsensical, but the ancient people told each other and believed it. Every Chinese mythological story is a full and round pearl. For a long time, Chinese mythology and story are scattered sand, and Mao Dun is the "architect" who piles this scattered sand into a castle.

Compared with history, myths and history are not many, and the reason is that they have been lost and tampered with in the long river of time. The rest is not necessarily the original. People with hearts such as Mao Dun summarized and sorted it out, which is a special gift he gave to the country and the people. The book is detailed in content, divided into two parts, objectively and systematically summarizes Chinese mythology in chronological order, and expounds its branches, development and region one by one, clearly expressing its views and opinions in the relevant materials cited, which is a scientific and responsible research system, and also the attitude of scholars. In the first part, the first chapter points out several fundamental problems of Chinese mythology one by one, of course, starting from the first mythological story book "Shan Hai Jing" on the mainland, the second chapter explains the preservation and modification of Chinese mythology in the inheritance, the third chapter explains the evolution of Chinese mythology with the myth of the Queen Mother of the West as an example, the fourth chapter uses the evolution of the myth of "Sacred Mountain Kunlun" to illustrate the mythological cosmology of the ancients due to the imagination of "different parties", and the fifth chapter talks about the giant race and the nether world. The sixth chapter introduces the myths of nature and others, the seventh chapter is more interesting, with Emperor Jun, Yi, and Yu to outline the "lineage of the gods" of Chinese mythology, and then conclude with the eighth chapter - this book is written for three questions in the future, which has a great suspense and stimulates the reader's interest in reading. The next part focuses on the study, preservation, and significance of Chinese myths, as well as the introduction of non-mainstream Chinese myths such as the Chu Ci.

The development process of Chinese mythology, for the layman, can be described as a random flower that is becoming more and more attractive to the eye, but for the insider, there are many unsatisfactory points, such as the missing era mentioned in the book. The book analyzes the context of the development of Chinese mythology, from the source to the development to the change, the past and present lives of Chinese mythology have become the "condiment" for future generations of Chinese people, enriching the talk of Chinese for thousands of years. Mao Dun is a well-deserved "pioneer" of Chinese mythology.

In the development of Chinese mythology, some factors have been constantly evolving, and the reason is nothing more than artificial improvement in order to meet the needs of the times. For example, the evolution of the myth of the Queen Mother of the West has clouds in the "Classic of The West Mountain" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and the Queen Mother of the West is the fierce god of the half-human and half-beast "Si Tian Zhi Li and the Five Cruelties"; in the "North Classic of The Inner Sea", then the cloud "the West Queen Mother ladders a few and wears a victorious staff, and there are three green birds in the south, feeding the West Queen Mother, in the north of Kunlun"; later, in the "Great Wilderness Of the West Classic", from her shape, "leopard tooth tiger tail, hair dai sheng"; the West Queen Mother in the book "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" has made a lot of progress, "the tiger and leopard are flocks, the birds and magpies are everywhere, and the fate does not move, I am the emperor's daughter, He Shimin" The Queen Mother of the West of Ji shen, who has the attitude of a human king, can now sing and answer with Mu Tianzi; until the book "The Story of Han Wu" by The Name Ban Gu, which describes the meeting between the Queen Mother of the West and Emperor Wu of Han, it is said that "the Queen Mother is to, riding on the purple car, the ban girl is riding, Dai Qisheng, the green qi is like a cloud, there are two green birds, and the attendant mother is next to the mother", not to mention that the West Queen Mother here has been upgraded to the human form of the god for thirty beautiful people, and her smile is "This peach is three thousand years a book, not planted in the lower soil", adding a lot of magic; in "Huainan Zi", it evolved into" Yi asked the immortal medicine to the West Queen Mother", and transformed the West Queen Mother into an immortal; then, Wei Jinjian made the West Queen Mother the leader of the group of immortals, which was the final evolution of the myth of the West Queen Mother.

This book is very informative. Focus on the strange book of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Because the book is wonderful and spectacular. This book was once regarded as a banned book, and its content brought us too much shock. As a mythological work, this book is not only eye-catching in content, but also has a variety of genre definitions. Some put it in the geography category, some put it in the literature category, and some people put it in the general category. Different angles, taken from different, can be said to be fair and reasonable, the mother said that the mother is reasonable, I think it is more appropriate to think or the comprehensive class.

The myth of the Queen Mother of the West mentioned earlier was originally disclosed in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, of course, the books such as Chu Ci, Zhuangzi, Liezi, Ten Continents, and Huayang Guozhi are equally appealing, especially the two books of Chu Ci and Liezi, which have a remarkable status in this book. The evolution of the cosmology is also what is to be discussed in the book. Mao Dun also explained the evolution of the myth of the opening up of China and the West, the myth of the destruction and re-creation of the heavens and the earth in china and the west, and the myth of Kunlun of the Sacred Mountain. At the same time, the myths of the ancients due to the imagination of "aliens", the myths of the giants and the nether world, the myths of the natural world, and others, especially the "world of gods" of Chinese mythology, such as Fuxi, The Yellow Emperor, Dijun and Yi, Yu, etc., and even the main gods in Chinese mythology, as well as the water god Gonggong, Lei Gongdian, River God, Luoshen, etc. also have explanations.

Detailed and convincing citations are another feature of the book. Convincing the reader is the most powerful. The book peels back the cocoon and draws the thread, and the exposition is reasonable and moderate, and it does not lose its literary style, which shows the strength and dedication of Mao Dun to the book. Such as the myth of Yuhua Bear and Tushan Female Fossils, the history of the Three Kings and Five Emperors in xu's "Three-Five Calendars" quoted in the "Taiping Imperial Records", the interpretation of "Chu Ci" in the "Book of Han and Zhu Maichen Biography", the charming "Mountain Ghost", the relevant introduction in the Sui Shu and JingShu Zhi, the quotation from the "Yi Zhi Ci", and the introduction of the God of Spring in Wang Jia's "Collected Remains"...

What is valuable is that although the book is written about Chinese mythology, there are also comparisons of foreign myths in the meantime, like flowers and willows, which are used very appropriately and not bluntly, highlighting Mao Dun's knowledge and talent in penetrating The Chinese and Western. For example, in the Greek mythology that Mao Dun wrote about the "Heavenly Question", Prometheus stole the fire of the heavenly court to give to mankind; for example, the nordic myth was changed after Christianity prevailed in Northern Europe, and many of the original gods of Northern Europe were Christianized, etc. These contents show Mao Dun's profound cultural foundation, and the content of the book is compacted and not shallow.

Regardless of genre or content, the book should not be classified as a literary book in the strict sense, and it seems more appropriate to include it in the general category. The structure of the whole book is concise and the context is clear, which makes people read that Chinese mythology no longer feels cloudy and foggy, but clear at a glance. The content of the book is more rigorous, not empty. Obviously, Mao Dun has put a lot of effort into this part of Chinese mythology, and every mythical story discussed in the book has a very clear explanation of its origins, branches and vines, and it is worthy of scrutiny.

If the day is poetic as a kind of beauty, and the name rein lock is said to be a temptation, then Chinese mythology is definitely a heart pill and a pleasant dan in the gap of the years, and it is the self-sufficiency and ease of a moment of relaxation. "Myth is the product of faith, and faith is the product of experience. Ordinary people find the branches of the soul in the myth, which is the charm of the myth. The book "Mao Dun Tells Chinese Mythology" can be called "a landmark work that cannot be bypassed to this day when it comes to 'myth'."