Liu Yiqing clearly tells us that white skin, beauty and bright eyes are just appearances, the so-called "appearance", in addition to appearance, there is also behavior. Therefore, it is incomplete to simply describe the handsome man in Wei jin in terms of good looks. In Liu Yiqing's narrative, stories about mannerisms are usually more vivid — probably because mannerisms themselves are actions, which have a stronger showmanship.
[Tang] Sun Wei's "Gao Yitu" (partial), Shanghai Museum collection
Chapter 35 of the Rongzhi chapter says that during the reign of Ma Yi of the Haixi Company, every time everyone went to the court, the court was still dark, and only when Sima Yu, the king of Huiji, came, Ji Yu Xuanang, as if Chao Xia had come in. The other people of the Upper Dynasty stood in the dimly lit court, which was the ideal audience, and Sima Yu's Instrument Yu Xuan Ang was also witnessed by them. Under such circumstances, how Sima Yu's appearance is no longer important, and the audience has been completely impressed. The most crucial word in this story is "every", the so-called "princes and every dynasty", that is, when everyone has such an impression every time they go to the dynasty, Sima Yu has become an indelible mark in their hearts. In fact, although this story seems to have no mention of politics, it is a political prophecy without compromise. Readers of Liu Yiqing's contemporaries must have understood that after the deposed Emperor Sima Yi of the Jin Dynasty was deposed by Huan Wen, it was Sima Yu who succeeded him, and the connection between Chaoxia and the sun (the symbol of the Son of Heaven) was also common sense. The Western Jin Dynasty poet Zhang Xie's "Miscellaneous Poems" has such a verse as "Chaoxia greets the white sun". Therefore, Liu Yiqing here calmly explains the reason why Huan Wen deposed Sima Yi and established Sima Yu: it was Sima Yu who brought bright colors to the dim court, not the emperor Sima Yi at that time, who was completely defeated by Sima Yu in demeanor. It is no wonder that some scholars believe that the public occasion described in "The New Language of the World", although it seems to be lighthearted and pleasant, is actually a full-fledged competitive competition.
"Acting and Youzeshi - Thirty-Six Plans of the World Speaking New Language"
The story of the 38th article of the Rongzhi chapter is also quite interesting:
Yu Changren and his brothers entered Wu and wanted to live in the pavilion. The brothers went up first, and when they saw a group of small houses, they had no intention of avoiding each other. Chang Ren said, "I'll try to see it." "The staff of The Scepter will begin to enter the door, and the guests will look at its divine posture and retreat for a while.
If Sima Yu's direct audience is the courtiers, then the audience in this story is first of all the common people in the guest house, that is, the "small group". Some people may ask whether the "group of small people" has enough judgment and appreciation ability, didn't Confucius mention the "little people" together with women? Since pan an earlier article came out of Luoyang with a slingshot and was surrounded by women may be a sneer, is there also a criticism of Yu Tong here?
In fact, Liu Yiqing, as an indirect viewer, has already given us a clear answer. Pan An is surrounded by women frivolously, while Yu Tong automatically makes the "group small" give way. This means that Yu Tong's demeanor contains "Gong" in his demeanor, which can make the "little man" feel awe. Sima Yu was able to gain the admiration of his peers, while Yu Tong was able to make others awe-inspiring, and Liu Yiqing told us that this was the effect that the appearance and demeanor of the Wei and Jin celebrities should have. What these two stories have in common is that Liu Yiqing actually did not write about the specific behavior of Sima Yu and Yu Tong at all, and the behavior of the two was completely imagined by the audience's reaction. That is to say, compared to having a relatively specific standard of appearance, there is actually no guideline for behavior to follow. If appearance is "yes", then demeanor is "none", and its criterion depends on the viewer's reaction.
[Ming] Qiu Ying's "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest"
When mannerisms are more important than looks, the definition of male beauty has quietly changed. This means that celebrities who are not beautiful, white-skinned or have bright eyes can also rely on their demeanor and demeanor to gain the affirmation of others, and even to defeat others in the indirect competition of public space. On the well-known list of celebrities, Liu Ling is a short, ugly but famous figure. The 13th chapter of the Rongzhi chapter says: "Liu Ling is six feet long, and his appearance is very ugly, and he is leisurely and careless, and the earth is shaped like a skeleton." "Earth-shaped skeleton" is an interesting description, generally referring to unadorned, Jin Shu · The biography of Ji Kang is also used to describe Ji Kang, so it should be considered a positive word at that time. If you compare it with the story of Emperor Wei Ming and He Yan mentioned earlier, and the description of Pei Kai, He Yan (at least in the "New Language of the World") is not powdered, and Pei Kai's "rough clothes and messy head" are also very good, although no one uses "earth-shaped skeletons" to describe He Yan and Pei Kai, but the three stories are consistent in their admiration for nature. In the whole "Rongzhi" section, there is no ink on how the celebrities dressed carefully, nor did any comments at the time praise the dress of the celebrities, perhaps we can boldly speculate that Liu Yiqing's attitude towards the so-called beauty of the so-called people themselves is to attach importance to appearance and demeanor while advocating nature and opposing artificial modification. Attaching both importance to and not attaching importance to the United States in this way is precisely the embodiment of the principle of "intentional or unintentional" in the time of the qing talks.
And Yu Zisong's attitude towards Rongzhi, who proposed "intentional or unintentional", is exactly the same. The 18th chapter of the Rongzhi says that he was "less than seven feet long, with a belt ten around him, and he was depressed." Obviously, from the outside alone, Yu Zisong is a short and fat man, but he doesn't seem to care about his appearance, and "decadence and self-release" is giving people a feeling of decadence and uninhibited. (He Xue's "Chunzhu Jiwen Qin fun": "If Sun Deng plays the piano, he is self-satisfied, the wind god is super-mai, and if you are outside of Liuhe.") "The Biography of Ming Shi Tang Yin": "Yin Shiwen, who was still talented at the beginning, and in his later years he was decadent and self-indulgent, saying that posterity knows that I am not here, and the commentators are hurt." That's all there is to it. It seems that since Liu Yiqing mentioned him in the "Rongzhi" section, it means that Yu Zisong's short, fat and decadent Rongzhi should have a considerable popularity at that time. In fact, in the 33rd article of the "Appreciation of Reputation", Liu Yiqing explicitly praised Yu Zisong through Yu Liang's mouth. At that time, there were many famous people in Sima Yue's palace, all of whom were outstanding people at that time, and Yu Liang said: "Seeing Zi Song in it, he often comes from the God King." "Being able to stand out among so many celebrities fully shows that Yu Zisong, who has a very ordinary appearance and even some ugliness, is superior to others in demeanor and demeanor." Not caring about appearance and being able to get a positive evaluation of Tolerance shows that Yu Zisong has objectively gained the affirmation of others, and whether he subjectively has such a motive may be intentional or unintentional.
[Jin] Gu Kaizhi's "Axe Qin Tu" (Song facsimile part), collection of the Palace Museum
Under the contrast between Liu Ling and Yu Zisong, looking back at Zuo Si, who is also very ugly in the 9th chapter of "Rongzhi", you can compare his realm to liu and Yu. Zuo Si was ugly, which was not a problem; his problem was that he wanted to imitate Pan An clumsily, hoping to use the slingshot to increase his charm, not knowing that the charm actually lay in his own unadornedness. In fact, with the talent of Zuo Si, if he can let go of himself, he will also be a popular figure for a while. However, it is worth noting that Zuo Si and Pan An are similar in age, and when he wants to imitate Pan An like "Dong Shi Gong", he is also a young man. As we all know, Zuo Si moved his family to Luoyang around the age of twenty-two because his sister Zuo Di entered the palace, and after that, zuo Si spent ten years to write the "Three Capitals". That is to say, when he first arrived in Luoyang and wanted to imitate Pan An, he was not as confident in his literary talent— or in himself, as he later became, so he hoped to gain the affirmation of others through the so-called manners, so that he was humiliated instead. So, does Liu Yiqing implicitly criticize young people in his narrative, believing that knowing how to be comfortable with ugly looks requires life experience and age? Judging from the Rongzhi chapter, the answer seems to be yes: almost all the people who are appreciated are people of a certain age and status. This is more proof of the attitude towards male beauty at that time: "talent" is the fundamental, is more important than simple beauty, that is, "talent is greater than appearance", appearance needs to be commensurate with talent to be meaningful. Some scholars have pointed out that "talent" can be regarded as "the inherent talent of human character and temperament", so the "talent" mentioned in this chapter mainly refers to a kind of detachment and self-satisfaction.
The evaluation of his son Wang Tian during the Eastern Jin Dynasty fully reflected this principle. Verse 25 of the Rongzhi says: "Wang Jingyu had a beautiful form, and when he questioned the prince, the prince stroked his shoulder and said, 'Anu, hate is not called!'" Interestingly, in the story, after Wang Dao's words, there is also an evaluation of others: "Respect yu is like a prince." ”
This story can be interpreted at multiple levels, but no matter which level of interpretation highlights the importance and priority of talent for appearance. First of all, we can understand that Wang Dao is really dissatisfied with his son Wang Tian and thinks that he is beautiful but less talented. If this is the interpretation, then the latter sentence can have two understandings: we can understand it as a satire of Wang Dao, since his son Wang Tian is like him everywhere, then If Wang Tian has no talent, Wang Dao will naturally lack talent; we can also understand it as praise for Wang Tian, although Wang Dao is not satisfied with his son, but this is his excessive demand for Wang Tian, in fact, Wang Tian is as good as him.
Portrait of Wang Dao
Similarly, we can also understand Director Wang's evaluation of his son as a kind of performance. That is to say, Wang Dao is not really dissatisfied with his son, but hopes to let the world know the importance of talent through his son's feelings, and let the world not one-sidedly attach importance to and appreciate beauty. Such performances are a continuation of the performances between Confucius and the students. As mentioned earlier, Confucius's accusations against students like Fan Chi or Zai I are probably not really thinking that they are not good, but by accusing them, to warn others or future generations to pay attention to related problems, so in essence, Confucius's accusations against his disciples are a performance of their cooperation. In order to make the performance shocking, Confucius often chose his proud disciples for criticism. If we interpret Wang Dao's words in this way, then it is understandable that Wang Dao chose his beloved son Wang Tian as the object of criticism, because this can better let others understand his views. And when others say that Wang Tian is like his father Wang Dao everywhere, they may really praise Wang Dao and Wang Tian's father and son after realizing Wang Dao's painstaking heart.
Judging from the other stories about Wang Tian in "The New Language of the World", he seems to be a person who is between being praised and criticized, and it is his own person Wang Dao who criticizes him, and those who praise him are outsiders. The 29th chapter of the "Virtue" chapter says that Wang Dao was very happy to see his eldest son Wang Yue, and he was "angry" when he saw Wang Tian ; while in the 106th chapter of the "Appreciation of Reputation", Emperor Jianwen praised Wang Tian as "Lang Yu", and Liu Xiaobiao quoted the "Text Zhi" to comment: "Tian Zhi is clear and noble, and he is crowned for the later generation." Taking Wang Tian as an example for future generations, such an evaluation cannot but be said to be very high. In the 12th chapter of "Jane Pride", Xie Wan wants to visit Wang Tian and Xie An advises him in advance that Wang Tian may not necessarily entertain you. As a result, after Xie Wan left, Wang Tian really washed his hair and sunburned his hair, but he refused to pay attention to him. Xie Wan returned angrily, and Xie An commented that Wang Tian was just not pretentious. Xie An's previous and after-the-fact remarks showed that he knew and appreciated Wang Tian very well. If we refer to Ruan Yu's evaluation of Xie Wan, we know that there is a reason why Wang Tian disdains to associate with Xie Wan. In the 8th chapter of "Jane Pride", Xie Wan asks for a urinal in front of his brother. At that time, Ruan Yu was present and said: "New out of the door, tedious and rude." It is precisely because of Xie Wan's style that when Wang Tian seems to be "sluggish" to him, it reflects Wang Tian's value judgment.
[Southern Dynasty] Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest and Rong Qi period brick painting, Nanjing Museum collection
Even in the third chapter of the "Wrath" chapter, Wang Tian's face changed in the face of his brother Wang Huzhi, who was offensive in his words, which was a manifestation of unpretentiousness. In these stories, Wang Tian is obviously a person with "talent", and his style is completely in line with the actions of the celebrities at that time. In this way, being criticized by Wang Dao and praised by outsiders is Wang Tian's personality in "The New Language of the World", and the 25th chapter of "Rongzhi" does not deviate from this model. Therefore, it is also reasonable to regard Wang Dao's criticism as a kind of Confucius-style performance. Of course, no matter what, the most important thing in this story is that Wang Dao wants to tell us that if there is no talent, then the appearance will lose its foundation, of course, the talent here refers to the temperament, not the talent in the ordinary sense. In the 21st article of the Rongzhi chapter, Zhou Boren commented that Wang Mao's father, Wang Ne, said that "the shape is great, and the elegance is generalized." This is also to praise Wang Ne from both talent and appearance: burly and handsome, with elegant feelings and extraordinary temperament. And the second half of Zhou Boren's sentence is also worth playing, "protect and use it", Wang Necai may be very successful. That is to say, It is the value that Looks and Needs to Be Cherished, Maintained and Carried Forward in Life. The importance of this story is that Zhou Boren's words point out that appearance and talent need to be sustained, which means that people with a flash of inspiration will not be truly affirmed.
The reason why talent is greater than appearance, in a sense, is precisely because compared with appearance, the continuity of "talent" has greater difficulty. Although there are usually beautiful people who sigh late, but since there is a precedent of Gongsun Honghuajia being appreciated for his beauty in the year of Gongsun Honghuajia, it has fully shown that in the eyes of the ancients, the continuity of male beauty is not short, and the short is "talent", because some people's talents may be pretended, and for people who pretend to have dignity, they may only appear "talented" at the moment of pretending, and most of their lives are just a layman.
(This article is excerpted from "Acting and Youzeshi - Thirty-Six Plans of the New Language of the World", the title is prepared by the editor)