Friends who are quite involved in sinology must know that many of Mr. Dongpo's poems quote the allusion of "Xizi". From Su Shi's literary works, we can see that regarding the ending of Xi Shi in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, he personally preferred to "return to Theory with Fan Li".
The story of the Wu-Yue controversy is more familiar to us, since ancient times, this kind of war epic often mixed with a period of children's love, after the fall of the Wu kingdom, Fan Ligong retired and disappeared in the sight of the Yue people, there is a saying that he took away the world's first beauty Xi Shi, the two of them in a certain unknown human scenery for the rest of their lives.
Speaking of the love between Fan Li and Xi Shi, it is quite in line with the way of modern "sadistic" film and television dramas: when Fan Li came out of the mountain, he wanted to help the lord solve the Wu Kingdom. To this end, he formulated a set of "beauty plans" to collect some beautiful women to use to seduce King Wu. In the end, the kung fu paid off, and under Fan Li's search, he finally found a woman who met the conditions - Xi Shi.
However, Fan Li actually fell in love with this woman at first sight. Unfortunately, loyalty and love cannot be combined, and Fan Li had to give up his happiness for the sake of the future of Yue Guo and send his lover to the Wu Palace. Before the two parted, Fan Li promised that one day he would lead the Vietnamese army to flatten wu palace, and then he would take his sweetheart away and fly high.
This difference, that is, twenty years, the Yue people from top to bottom are united in their hatred and hatred, and finally they have repaid the revenge of Wu Guo with one arrow. Fan Li knew very well that although his lord and father could share hardships and hardships, they could not be rich and noble, so he had already made plans to retire after his achievements. On the day of the destruction of the city, Fan Li infiltrated the Wu Palace and took his sweetheart Xi Shi out of the palace, and no one has ever met these two since.
In the ancient times of etiquette, this slightly "deviant" love story was widely praised by the people, and many ancient writers also liked to include this romantic allusion in their own texts. The writer who used this allusion the most in literary works was Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty.
"If you want to make the West Lake more beautiful than the West Lake, it is always appropriate to apply heavy makeup and light makeup."
Since I learned this poem in the primary school Chinese textbook, the author has a strong yearning for west lake. After growing up and visiting the West Lake, I finally understood the true meaning of Su Dongpo's reference to this classic. The beauty of the West Lake, the natural crown of the Central Plains. Comparing the lake to the national color and heavenly fragrance is really appropriate.
However, the poem does not mention Where Xizi went. What really quotes Fan Lixi's allusion is the poem "The Second Rhyme Generation Leaves Farewell", in which "He went away in the first year of the year, and should remember the old residence of the Nong family in the west" is a metaphor for the ending of Xizi. In addition, this allusion is also mentioned in the Bodhisattva Man and The Fan Li.
Why does Su Dongpo frequently quote the book of Xi Shi's seclusion? What's the hidden story?
Friends who are familiar with history know that Xizi and Xihu do not have much contact except for the word "Xi" in their names. Xi Shi's birthplace is in yueguo, and in detail, it is Huiji, which is now Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Later, after Being sent to wu palace, Xizi lived in Gusu for more than twenty years.
Even in the real history, xizi's final ending is to go into hiding with his sweetheart, and the two join hands to sail the "Five Lakes", presumably they have never been to the West Lake. After all, the "Five Lakes" of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is not the same concept as the "Five Lakes" in the idiom "Five Lakes and Four Seas". At that time, the "Five Lakes" referred to only five famous lakes in Wuyue (there must be a beautiful Taihu Lake).
Obviously, it is far-fetched to insist that there is a connection between Xizi and West Lake, so why does Mr. Dongpo always link the two together? If you want to understand the secrets, you must also look at the relationship between the allusions of Xi Shi and Fan Li's retreat and Su Dongpo's life experience and mental journey.
Mr. Dongpo was very fortunate in his early years, and at the age of twenty, he gained fame and became the youngest official in the dynasty. Unfortunately, luck did not accompany this great poet often, and he suffered a tribulation in his middle age, that is, the "Wutai Poetry Case" that nearly killed him. Under the deliberate slander of some New Party figures, Su Dongpo was unable to defend himself, and was beaten into prison by the emperor and immediately demoted to Huangzhou.
In the past few years of being degraded, Su Dongpo has experienced the coldness of the world, and people have gradually become rational. Although Mr. Dongpo still wants to shine for the country, he has a great dislike for the power field. After the death of Emperor Shenzong, Su Dongpo was given a chance to return to the official field and was promoted to the prefect of Hangzhou.
During his several years here, Mr. Dongpo devoted himself to the well-being of the people and the construction of water conservancy for the benefit of one party. Although Su Dongpo was still an idealist like in his early years, at this time he had begun to consider retiring from his achievements.
He very much hoped that he could be like Fan Li, retreating after achieving fame and achieving fame, taking his sweetheart away and flying high, free from various power struggles.
Therefore, when Su Dongpo was creating, he would quote the allusions of Xi Shi and Fan Li extremely frequently, and he thought that such a life was the fastest.
Resources:
【"Su Dongpo", "Xi Shi of China's Four Beauties"】