Read the shoot as you go
This book continues the consistent style of his "History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin", that is, the valuable point is that it is comprehensive. The degree of nuance is beyond imagination, and it is a grand view and breathtaking. As sir said at the beginning of the preface, together with his "History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin", "ten years of energy, these two books", I think this statement is not false.
If you think about it, the length of this book is as many as a million words, there are ten chapters, and under each chapter, there are multiple large sections, and under this, there are several subsections. Therefore, just looking at the catalog, it has become a grand view. Moreover, the account of the political history of his period occupies only two-fifths of the book (chapters 1 to 2, and chapters 7 to 8), and there are many socio-economic statements about each period.
colophon
In addition, it is a comprehensive narrative and summary of the content and development of the canon system, foreign exchanges, academic thought, religious culture, culture and art, science and technology, and other aspects. Although I think I have already had enough understanding of the history of the Tang Dynasty, so although reading this book is very easy, it will at most play a role in combing through the knowledge gained from beginning to end, because if nothing else, it is just a series of programs of a hundred pulpits, I think about the Tang Dynasty, I have watched no less than a dozen or hundreds of episodes of programs before, such as about the Sui Dynasty, I have brushed mengman's "The Great Sui Storm" many times, and the magnificent history of the period from the end of the Sui To the beginning of the Tang Dynasty is Yu Gengzhe's "The Founding of the Tang Dynasty" Directly related to the Tang Dynasty, there are even more numerous, such as Mengman's "Wu Zetian", and there is no doubt that she herself became famous for it, as well as the "Long Hate Song" that she introduced Ton xuanzong. In addition, not to mention that Meng Xianshi, Yu Gengzhe, Han Sheng and others have given a number of series of programs on the Tang Dynasty here, it is worth mentioning here that Han Sheng's "Back of sheng Tang" and Yu Gengzhe's "The Daily Life of the Sui and Tang People" in the past two years are particularly recommended, because of the reality and popularity, compared with other series of programs in the Hundred Pulpits, there is still a certain degree of scholarship. The latter, in particular, is a new perspective for us, giving us a relatively in-depth understanding of the daily lives of the common people of its time. These programs can be said to be the best of a hundred pulpits, and I have seen them more than once, and even most of them have entered the public eye with this. In addition, Sun Yinggang's more than three hundred episodes of Tang history lessons, I have listened to it many times.
But even so, after all, books are different from those audio and video in form, and the effect is naturally very different. Because for oneself, the two ways of acquiring knowledge are different, the former is actively acquired, while the latter is passively received. Perhaps, this is the meaning of words, and the value of books, but also in today's network technology is so developed, and those teachers who stand on the three-foot podium to teach, why are they still trying to write when theoretically video images can be permanently preserved? Of course, this is at least one of the reasons.
Back to the point. As I said earlier, before reading this book, my expectation for this is to be able to help me re-sort out the history of the Tang Dynasty in a complete and meticulous way, and I think it should achieve the expected results, but it is still only in terms of the political history of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it does not even include aspects related to social economy, let alone the various philosophical religions, academic ideas, culture and art. After reading it, on the one hand, Mr. Zhang's knowledge is profound, and on the other hand, he is ashamed of the shallowness of his own foundation. After reading this book, I am in a state of confusion, like a mess, unable to quickly digest and absorb the knowledge in it. For example, I finished reading this book last night, and I am still like this, I feel a lot, but I don't know where to start.
Although this situation cannot be changed for a while, after all, this book has been read, in addition to the need to read this book again in the future, I think it is also necessary for me to further deepen my impression by reading and impressing the content I have read.
As mentioned earlier, in terms of the political history of the Tang Dynasty, the foundation laid through various channels before is still relatively solid, so the first or second chapters of this book on the political history of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (the first chapter contains the politics and economy of the Sui Dynasty, and the second chapter is an introduction and discussion of the political history of the middle and early Tang Dynasty), because the economic part is also relatively small, so I see it very easily. In the case of a large-scale indoctrination and subsequent influx into the brain, the new knowledge obtained here is only equivalent to fragmentation and fills some gaps in the original foundation. Of course, while reading, the mind is also combing through the historical context of its period, so that it becomes clearer than before.
Although in between, the gentleman's introduction to the politics of his period was modest, and for me, there was nothing new, but he went through it on the basis of my original, and further improved his own knowledge system like checking for omissions and filling in the gaps. But Mr. Mister's evaluation of the characters, as well as his views on a certain historical event, as well as the process of discussion, the way and method, all refreshed me.
For example, how does an object know that it has made great progress during its time? In addition to the positive account in the texts, it is also reflected in the amount of taxation paid by the government. For another example, in the middle of this, he emphasized that in the Sui Dynasty, which combined the Juntian system with the prefectural military system, the imperial power was highly concentrated, and this concentration could be said to be unprecedented. It has a good side and a bad side. The former is directly reflected in the convenience of state administration, which can concentrate on doing great things; the latter directly derives the question, that is, in this case, what if the emperor sitting on the dragon chair is an uneasy and lonely master? For example, the Sui Dynasty Emperor. The result was that the people's burdens were so heavy that they could not be repeated, and large-scale peasant uprisings broke out one after another until the dynasty was completely overthrown. For example, the Sui Dynasty, which existed for only thirty-eight years from 581 to 618 years, flourished and declined under such circumstances, and thus quickly went to ruin.
In the middle of this, he pointed out that the connection and construction of the Grand Canal was inevitable, and if there was no Sui Emperor, there would be other emperors to do this. The reason is simple, since the two Han Dynasties, China's economic center has moved south, the south has gradually become the richest place in the world at that time, while the Fertile Guanzhong region is only a political center, becoming a gathering place for nobles, while the economy is gradually declining. At this time, a hub connecting the political and economic centers was needed, and in that era, land transport certainly did not make sense, and only the way of water transport was carried out, so that the two could communicate with each other, and the river was the carrier of water transport, so it was inevitable to build an unprecedented canal.
Mr. Li's evaluation of the characters, the pattern of temperament, is also refreshing and breathtaking.
For example, when he briefly explained and discussed some issues in the field of Sui and Tang Dynasty history research in the preface, he jumped out of the so-called right and wrong of the individual, good and evil, good or bad loyalty, and looked at whether the impact on his political system was positive, and tried to summarize the controversial Wu Zetian. He said:
Wu Zetian was a controversial figure, in terms of merit, Wu Zetian was more excessive than meritorious, the Juntian system began to be destroyed in her hands, the prefectural military system began to be abolished in her hands, and the inflated government agencies also brought adverse effects to the Tang Dynasty; however, Wu Zetian could vigorously promote talents, and this could not be erased.
I think this also echoes Sun Yinggang's view that history and human nature have never been black and white, good or evil, and naturally cannot be interpreted in this way.
For another example, when he talked about the Yongzhen reform in the Shunzong period, he did not have a high evaluation of the two kings who led him, and in the words of his husband, these two people were just "crappy politicians". He said:
The two kings are two crappy politicians who are really not enough. Among the eight Simas, such as Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi, they were a generation of talented people, so they could neither fully affirm nor deny this incident.
Think about how a reform by a group of activists around a sick emperor could not fail? These people had no political mind, no political power, and no social reputation, at that time, there were five prime ministers, only Wei Zhiyi entered the prime minister team through the recommendation of the second king, so the failure of this reform was inevitable, and it also made me think of the Penghu Reform Law.
During this period, through mr. Gentleman's meticulous and detailed narration, somehow, history itself made me extremely moved. In fact, Emperor Jingzong's younger brother Wenzong wanted to make a difference, but at that time, the town was strong, the eunuchs were stubborn, and the party strife was gradually intensifying in his grandfather Xianzong Yuan and the end, all of which imprisoned his hands and feet, and the two sentences he said made me remember it vividly and sighed. The first is the exclamation of the intensifying and endless party struggle, he said: "It is easy to go to Hebei and it is difficult to go to the imperial court. Second, after the Ganlu Incident, when he was imprisoned by the eunuchs, he asked the people around him which emperor he could compare with before him, and then he couldn't help but think of the sad thing, and then he said something, he said:
Hao and Xian were subject to the powerful princes, and now they were subject to domestic slaves, in other words, it was better to perish!
An emperor, in such a situation, said such a thing again, which is really regrettable.
In addition, when talking about the foreign exchanges of the Tang Dynasty, relying on various historical materials, as well as various folk classics such as Master Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", more than a hundred large and small nationalities, their historical changes, in the middle of this, attracted me in addition to their different customs and ethnic characteristics, as well as the relationship with the Tang Dynasty, what moved me was that Mr. Tubo talked about the rise and fall of Tubo, introduced the anshi rebellion, Tubo expanded to the interior, and the people at the bottom of the people's attachment to the Tang court. For example, in the second year of Emperor Muzong of Tang 's reign (822 AD), during Zhang Yuanding's envoy to Tubo because of his alliance, according to the New Book of Tang and the Biography of Tubo:
Yuan Ding over The Chengji, Wuchuan, to the river Guangwu Liang, so the city of Guo Wei, Lanzhou are all japonica rice, peach and plum Yu Liu Cen Wei. Every household is Tang people, see the messenger Li Gai, sandwich Taoist temple. When they arrived at Longzhi City, the elderly and thousands of people prayed and wept, and asked Tianzi if he was safe, saying: "The army did not come here, and the present descendants have not forgotten the Tang costume, and the imperial court still thinks of it?" When will the soldiers come? All words have been whimpered. Secretly asked, Fengzhou people also.
In general, the political history part is also relatively detailed, and there are also many wonderful expositions, which make me refreshed, but when the eighth chapter introduces the short and complex history of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms, it is relatively brief, and even most of them are spliced together with quotations from various historical sources, which is even unreadable, especially for its own original historical context, not only has it not been sorted out, but after reading this chapter, the thoughts are even more chaotic.
Among them, I was relatively impressed only by the fact that the Five Dynasties were five alternate dynasties in the north from 907 to 960 AD, characterized by the short establishment of the country, and most of the monarchs were of ethnic minority blood, and the only one in the Ten Kingdoms, the Northern Han Dynasty, whose founding monarch was the brother of Liu Zhiyuan, the founding monarch of the Five Dynasties. There are also so-called ten kingdoms that do not coexist at the same time, such as the same Shu land, but there is a distinction between before and after Shu, the former Wang Jian, Wang Yan father and son, the latter Meng Zhixiang, Meng Chang father and son, and Meng Zhixiang, the founding monarch of the Later Shu in the Ten Kingdoms, was originally a general of the Five Dynasties and Later Tang.
In the introduction and discussion of the economic and political system and the military system of the Tang Dynasty in the third and fourth chapters, in terms of economy, what impressed me was the change of the rent and mediocrity to the two tax laws, which was also a reform that had to be made after the Anshi Rebellion, which further aggravated the internal and external importance, and the increasingly weak and small government. There is also the destruction of the Juntian system and the collapse of the prefectural military system, and I remember that Mr. Juntian has already pointed out in the preface that the Juntian system was not an inevitable product of that era. The reason why the Southern Dynasty did not exist, but the Northern Dynasty did, is due to the ensuing phenomenon of clan society brought about by the invasion of ethnic minorities, and with the development of society, the destruction of the Juntian system, and the disintegration of the Prefectural Military System established on this basis, from the Wu Zetian period to the Anshi Rebellion, is the process of the decline of the Juntian system and the Prefectural Military System.
Interestingly, with regard to the administrative system, through the change of the names of officials of the Tang Dynasty listed by Mr. Tang, I found that the name changes were particularly frequent during the periods of Wu Zetian and Tang Xuanzong, which shows that the two were energetic. In addition, he also noticed that since Tang Taizong, through the contradictions between clans, the effect of suppressing the clans headed by the five surnames and seven families has been achieved. It is just that this is an extremely long process, and it can even be said that the Tang Dynasty has never been able to completely reverse such a situation, and even since Wu Zetian, the increasingly prosperous imperial examination system has suppressed it with minimal, which is just as Sun Yinggang said, no matter what kind of system, there is no doubt that rich people are one step ahead of ordinary people to adapt to the new rules, thus changing their appearance and becoming successful in it. This can only be seen from the fact that mr. Tang listed at the end of the list of prime ministers from five surnames and seven families, the number of people can be seen.
In the middle of this, when Mr. Li introduced the economic and demographic situation in his period, how many paragraphs quoted the first-hand information left from the Tang Dynasty, headed by the Dunhuang documents, although I did not read the contents of this part very well, and even turned it over, but as far as the content selected by Mr. Huang was all-encompassing, for me, there was still a sense of grand view. For example, when talking about the household registration system in the Tang Dynasty, Mr. Li quoted a lot of fragments from that time, and as one of the personal names jumped back on the paper, I really sighed, because behind the lines of names, there were once living lives.
In the last two chapters on ideology and culture, philosophy and religion, literature and art, I think it is the highlight of this book, especially the highlights, and it is also the most refreshing place for me. However, due to the limitations of memory and time, I probably can't write down all I want to say, but I will do my best, because the content of these two chapters is so rich that I will definitely read this part again as soon as possible.
First, he takes the development of scripture at that time as the end, and then recounts the prosperity of historiography in his period. What impressed me about the former was Kong Yingda's adherence to "notes do not violate the scriptures, and omissions do not break the notes". Mr. The latter introduced Liu Zhiji's views on the personal character and writing style of historians who "do not pay attention to words, are concise and concise, and break superstitions", which also impressed me. For example, regarding the conciseness of words, the "Hanshu Zhang Cang Biography" has a sentence that "there is no tooth in the old man's mouth", and Liu Zhiji believes that as long as the "old toothless" is retained, it is enough to describe. Not only was a quarter of the twenty-four histories compiled in the Tang Dynasty, but the atmosphere of historical notes also developed in the Tang Dynasty, and the quality was greatly improved, such as today's Three Commentaries on the History of history, in addition to the collection of interpretations, the other Suo Yin and Justice were also written by Sima Zhen and Zhang Shoujie of the Tang Dynasty. In addition, the Zhang Huai notes of the Book of later Han are also from its period. All of these have extremely high historical value.
In this section, the last thing that impressed me was that in addition to those canonical histories, Mr. Li made a comprehensive review of other "miscellaneous histories". Although many of those classics have been scattered, and although I found that most of the Four Libraries of the Qing Dynasty classified them into the category of novels, these are, after all, first-hand materials for understanding the Tang Dynasty, and it is a crucial channel to further understand the real history in addition to the boring history, because although it is what people have seen and heard, there are inevitably empty places, so they are not included in the history, but this is the most true record of history at that time. It is precisely because of the circulation of these various literati notes novels in addition to the main history that we know more about the brilliant Datang. Of course, most of it can also be echoed with the situation recorded in the canonical history.
For example, in the "Duyang Miscellaneous Compilation", the eunuch Yu Chao'en was arrogant and arrogant when he was suzong, and he recorded a small story, which impressed me. The story goes like this:
Yu Chao'en was so arrogant that the secretary of state did not dare to look up. Those who are rulers or decide on political affairs, and those who do not plan, are blind: "The affairs of the world are not in my care." ”...... Chao En's youngest son, Ling Hui, in the fourteenth and fifteenth year, began to give things to the inner temple, and on the occasion of Chao En, he specially gave green yan. Unsubjected months... Chao'en... Yu went forward and said: "The emblem of the young male order of the subjects, under the staff, may Your Majesty give a special gold medal to surpass it." Shang did not have time to speak, and Chao En had already ordered the priest to hold the purple robe, and the ling emblem was thanked in front of the palace, although shang knew that it was impossible, he said to Chao En: "Qing'er is wearing a chapter dress, and it is advisable to call it also." ”
Think about it, Yu Chao'en made Suzong unable to come to power, and Suzong could not do anything about it, and the strength of his power and arrogance could be seen.
In general, I counted, Mr. in fact listed dozens of hundreds of major notebook novels from the Tang Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with a wide variety of types and rich contents, which can be described as a grand view, and also made me marvel. In the middle of this, the listed classics, Mr. Not only gave a complete introduction to the writing age and life of the classics and their authors, but at the same time, Mr. himself mostly had a long or short evaluation of them, and after this, he would also quote the original text of the most representative story to get a glimpse of the original appearance, such as the above-mentioned story of Yu Chao'en letting Su Zong not come to Taiwan, which was cited by Mr. Suzong. All these things are really a number of family treasures, and his erudition can be imagined from this, and it is even more admirable.
Here, I would also like to quote a passage from the self-prologue written by Mr. Shi Feibai's son of the virgin Shi Feibai when he talked about the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the Four Libraries of the Whole Book were attributed to the category of "Fishing Rocks and Talks":
So, Shandong has no one to hear about. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, he avoided the surface of the river with the first school book, and began to fish in Jiangzhu. After cutting the river, the first school book is not Lu, the heirs guard our house, and they no longer think of making progress. Wang Shi hanged, the time shifted things, will be gone, arbitrary, traced to the paper, get two hundred and twenty articles, the title of the "Fishing Rock Standing Talk" Yunyun.
This is the author's self-evident trace, which is also quoted by Mr. Wang, otherwise I would not have known about this book, let alone seen this text, but when I browsed here, I felt an inexplicable feeling in my heart. The situation of small people floating in the torrent of history is fully revealed here, although this is only a small piece of cold text, but the author's exclamation of his life has jumped on the paper, in fact, in the face of this torrent of history, who has not been like this in the past and the present? Each of us is just a small wave of it.
In terms of tang dynasty philosophical thought, the first thing that must be discussed is the introduction and discussion of the east of Buddhism, the process of localization, the introduction and discussion of the emergence of roots in the middle and the blossoming of brilliant flowers, and the introduction and discussion of history, Mr. Li introduced the study from Xuanzang to Yijing, the development of Buddhist scripture interpretation, and so on. As for the thought itself, there is naturally a historical narrative, for example, Mr. First introduced the situation in which Buddhism has derived from various schools in the process of localization, such as Master Xuanzang belongs to the Fa Xiang Sect, and then introduces and explains the ideological content of the development process of some major schools. Although I don't know much about this aspect, mainly in pursuit of speed and my own knowledge is extremely shallow, so some parts, I even turned it over, but there are a few points I still remember, in this move to make a few points in order to further deepen the impression.
First of all, through his explanation of his various schools, and finally summing it up, it can be seen that he does not take Buddhism itself for granted. Because if any religion wants to develop in the local area, it will inevitably establish political ties, at least with the permission of the local government and the recognition of the national level, religion can be widely spread in the local area.
Of course, this is especially true of the need for Buddhism, as a vast religion, to be identified at the national level. And to make the national identity represented by the ruler, there must be a place to attract the ruler, to put it bluntly, in short, in ancient society was recognized by the state religion, religion must be in its favor, add the content of maintaining the rule and spread it, and become a tool for the ruler to better rule. Therefore, the spread of religion and the identity of the state are two-way. Here, he points out that Buddhism, as a philosophy of birth, in order to do so in the interests of the rulers and to be able to spread them widely, vigorously disseminated the negative parts of it to the people at the bottom, and thus became a tool of the rulers. But at the same time, while Buddhism was spreading to the East, in order to adapt to the situation in the Central Plains, many monks formulated many Qing rules and precepts that adapted to the Central Plains. Even so, how things have a more prosperous and declining process, Buddhism in Wu Zetian and Zhongzong to get the highlight of the moment, widely spread, from the state to social recognition at the same time, can not avoid their own corruption, at the same time, the large number of Buddhist temples, but also increased the expenditure of the state finances, at this time coupled with some of its different scholars anti-Buddhism, the emergence of a large number of ideas from the reality of this fierce criticism of the treatise, coupled with some politicians from the middle of the wave, and then after a long time, This has led to a crackdown at the national level.
As we all know, in the history of China, there are three emperors who set off three anti-Buddha anti-Buddhism campaigns that are very famous, they are the Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor, the Northern Zhou Wudi Emperor and Tang Wuzong, known as the Three Wus, they have all suppressed Buddhism in all directions, and even suppressed it, but after the first two baths, Buddhism can be blown again in the spring, and the development and spread are more vigorous, but the impact of the destruction of Buddhism in Tang Wuzong's later years is fatal. Although this campaign to exterminate Buddhism cried out from August of the fifth year of Huichang (845 AD) to The death of Emperor Wuzong in March of the following year, his uncle Xuanzong took the throne and comprehensively restored Buddhism in order to settle the situation, but Buddhism collapsed, which did not return to its highlight moment in the Central Plains... Of course, there is a reason for the strength of this, but I think some of the factors can not be ignored.
Secondly, I was impressed by the Theological Program of the Huayan Sect of "One is Everything, All is One", and the seeds it put forward and the current theory, I think the former can be said to be its systematic world view, while the latter is the view of life. Although mr. as a materialist is not satisfied with this, and even criticizes his absurd theory, I want to think more about it, I think it will help to open up the brain, especially the former, which reminds me of Zhuangzi's "Theory of Qi Things".
In addition, as we all know, Zen Buddhism, which is also the most indigenized, pays attention to stick drinking and enlightenment, and Mr. Pointed out that this theory is also an inevitable product of adapting to the situation in the Central Plains, for two reasons, one is that the buddhist scriptures translated by the monks who took the scriptures from wutianzhu at that time have been many, and the religious systems of various sects are becoming more and more perfect and meticulous, so for the people at the bottom, it is almost impossible to read tens of millions of words of Buddhist scriptures to roughly understand the knowledge system, and the form of enlightenment is much more convenient The second is that this form of enlightenment is also very popular for those who have done bad things, especially for those who are high-ranking and noble in the upper class, which is a good consolation, as long as they have an epiphany, they can become Buddhas, and the so-called lay down the butcher's knife and become Buddhas on the ground, so this kind of philosophical thinking is very popular with the upper class. In addition, because Zen Buddhism pays attention to the transmission of the heart and does not write much, the least hit among the Buddhas in Huichang is Zen Buddhism.
As mentioned earlier, the development of religion is indispensable for the support of the political level. The perfect embodiment of this phenomenon, here I would also like to cite the development of Manichaeism in the Sanyi religion. First of all, Manichaeism can be said to be the state religion of Hui, and its ideology advocates the theory of two sects and three worlds, which can be said to be two supporting points in its ideological system, the former is to say that the composition of this world is composed of light and darkness and sects, and the forces of the two are dissipated and incompatible, while Manichaeism believes that there will eventually be a war between the two, and then according to Manichaeism, light can eventually overcome darkness; the so-called three worlds are the three stages of the past, present and future forces. Manichaeism believes that life is dark, and vegetables have a light factor, if people want to wash away the innate darkness, in the light and dark battle not to be engulfed, in fact, it is very simple, as long as you eat more vegetarian, so on this point away, Manichaeism and Buddhism advocate very similar.
Since the Anshi Rebellion, because of the great merits of the Uighurs and the strengthening of their power in them, Manichaeism has been widely spread in the Central Plains, and the government has also built a large number of temples for it, but when the rising Arab Empire made the Uighurs decline rapidly, Manichaeism was gradually suppressed in Middle-earth, so that in huichang to destroy the Buddha, manichaeism bore the brunt of it. However, due to the simplicity of thought and the simplicity of the canon, it was still welcomed by the people at the bottom, so Manichaeism spread to the underground and appeared in the historical materials from time to time. It is said that the predecessor of mingjiao in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties was Manichaeism.
In addition, he also pointed out that Taoism in the Tang Dynasty was completely different from the Taoist school in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the two could never be divided into the first. He said:
In fact, Li Tan was the founder of Taoist thought, and he had nothing to do with Taoism. Taoism was developed from the witchcraft of the gods and had nothing to do with Lao Tzu's thought.
As for "posthumously honoring Zhuangzi as a True Person of South China, Liezi as a True Person of Chong Hui, changing the book of "Zhuangzi" to "The True Classic of South China", and changing the book of "Liezi" to "The True Classic of Chong Void", this is even more a pretext. Immediately afterward, the gentleman said:
Facts have proved that the ideas of Zhuangzi and Liezi are completely unrelated to Taoist thought.
The prosperity of Taoism, in addition to the rulers for their own rule to find a sacred coat, to attract the rulers, but also the part of their ideological system immortality, therefore, most of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were long-term taking Dan medicine, but the number is more or less, and later often can not achieve the effect they want, not only failed to achieve the effect of prolonging life, but counterproductive, resulting in their early death, such as Wenzong, Wuzong, even Xianzong, Xuanzong can not be spared, really take food and seek immortals, mostly mistaken by medicine!
In contrast to this kind of idealism and even mysticism, what refreshed me was the materialistic view of evolutionary history headed by Liu Yuxi Liu Zongyuan and others. I was particularly impressed by Mr. Liu Yuxi's interpretation of The Treatise on Heaven. In addition, he also explained Han Yu's zun Meng, the Daoist theory proposed, and from the point of view of his teacher and Mr. Zhang Taiyan, who was also his teacher and friend, he put forward a new interpretation of the scope of the "eight generations" in Han Yu's "decline of the eight generations of Wenqi and the drowning of the World of Daoji".
In the final chapter of literature and art, what impressed and touched me the most was the part that introduced the poems and words of the Five Dynasties of Tang. As the publishing house cited the highlight, just the poetry part, the book is enough to quote a thousand poems, what is this concept? Although I think that there are still many inadequacies in the quotations of some well-known poets and lyricists about their works, their form is already a grand view, and I admire Mr. Erudition even more, as far as I am concerned, it is almost beyond imagination, I have browsed here, often thinking "how can a person's knowledge be so profound"? And that' again, is really in front of me. It is as if he knows the life and deeds of each of the poets and lyricists in it, cherishes each of his poems, and has a more or less unique comment on each person's style.
Although my references to more than a thousand poems and works are not well understood, or even turned over, what impresses me about the presentation of the works themselves is that before the Anshi Chaos, the poet's keen heart was Liu Changqing's unique six-word poem, which was Du Fu's deepest exclamation of the situation at the end of "New Marriage" and "No Home", the so-called "many mistakes in personnel, and Jun Yong." ... Life is homeless, how to be steamy. It is the beautiful and immortal poems left by those poets in the short course of their own lives, the most authentic reflection and record of what they think and live in. All of this shocked and moved me immensely.
Of course, in addition, I think there is something to be said for mr. Himself's comments. For example, in his comments on Li Bai's works in the heaviest part of Li Du, he said:
The biggest feature of Li Bai's works is that he not only formed his own unique style of heroic progress, but also expressed in the diversification of his writing art. No matter what genre, no matter what kind of subject matter, as long as it is written through Li Bai, it will achieve high artistic achievements. He was able to write majestic long stories, but at the same time he could write short poems that were fresh and idyllic.
In addition, his views on the contrast between Li Bai and Du Fu believe that the two have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they are both treasures of Chinese civilization, and there is no need to compare, let alone compare.
For another example, I was also impressed by mr. Tang's division of the middle and late Tang Dynasties, saying:
After Tianbao, until the ninth year of Emperor Wenzong of Tang (835 AD), I called it the Middle Tang, and after the Ganlu Incident, I classified it as the Late Tang. The three dynasties of Suzong, Daizong, and Dezong were a period. XianZong Yuanhe was another period, and Han Yu, Zhang Yuan, and Wang Jian were its representatives. Muzong Changqing, Bai Juyi, Yuan Shu out, another period.
Also, in the part about words, Mr. Li pointed out that poetry was originally able to sing, but since Liang Chen's palace poetry, the quality of poetry has improved, but it has gradually become unable to sing, which is the background of the birth and development of words. The last point is worth saying that Mr. Wei Zhuang's "Bodhisattva Man" four songs, although brief, I think is very in place. He said:
...... Write about parting feelings and resentment, such as resentment. When the Central Plains are in swing, Guan Luo is disturbed, and it is impossible to live, and finally walks to the Western Shu, and the thoughts of the homeland are faint and sad, and they cannot be read.
It can be seen that the experience is deep.
In the part of introducing the painting calligraphy of the Five Dynasties of tang, Mr. Introduced many people who have achieved achievements in their fields, in addition to introducing their artistic characteristics and artistic achievements, I was impressed, Mr. pointed out that the copying of popular Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty also enabled more people to have the opportunity to practice calligraphy, thus promoting the development of Tang Dynasty calligraphy on the side, and at the same time integrating the artistic characteristics of the previous calligraphy families.
In the final section of science and technology, what struck me greatly was the great progress in the concept of medical treatment in the Tang Dynasty. Interestingly, after introducing Sun Simiao's major advances, when talking about the superstitious side of his academic system, I unexpectedly learned that the "urgent as the law" in "Nezha" is the spell that Sun Simiao uses to remind people to drive away malaria ghosts.
……
As mentioned above, although there are still too many things I want to say that have not been written, but this alone has created a culmination since I wrote my book review, the word count is nearly 10,000, which even I did not expect, and used so much ink, there will be many impressive places that have not been written, I have to say that this is a great regret. But everything has flaws.
Moreover, for me, this is only the end of the end, and there are shortcomings, which makes me look forward to the reunion with this book in the future.
Finally, I would like to say that last night a friend asked me if the materialist view of history in this book was strong or not, and he didn't like this way of writing very much, and so did I. As for this book, the materialist view of history is definitely there, but compared to his "History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin", this shadow has faded much.
In addition, although this book is slightly lacking in insight, it is meticulous and comprehensive, and it is a monograph rather than a treatise, so in this regard, the high score of Douban 9+ is also deserved, even more than Lu Simian's "History of the Five Dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasties", which is more than a very good introductory book. Although before reading it, I think it needs a certain foundation to better understand the whole content of this book.
In the afternoon, I just finished reading Mr. Wang Zhongji's two-volume "History of the Five Dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasties", which is a million words, according to the author, this book took him more than ten years from planning to completion, and this book is still the same as his "History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin", which is beyond imagination and comprehensive, it can be said that it is an encyclopedia about the Tang Dynasty. For me, after reading it, there are thousands of things, I need to sort out and digest it in my head in this short period of time, and tomorrow I will be ready to write a paragraph about this book, hoping to write out everything I want to say at that time! Next, I am ready to start reading Xue Aihua's The Golden Peach of Samarkand, a classic in a sinology work about the study of imported products from the Tang Dynasty. Since the end of October last year, I decided and began to read my own selection of history books, and then further understand and sort out the history of China, all the way down, now has arrived in the Tang Dynasty, and I plan to read historical works about its period, there are only two, in addition to Wang Zhongji's "History of the Five Dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasties", that is, the "Golden Peach of Samarkand" on the study of imported products from the Tang Dynasty, at first I felt that it was not enough, but the former's meticulousness and comprehensiveness really amazed me after reading this book, I think only the content of this one, It's enough for me to digest for a while now.
This is what I said to another friend the night I ended reading the book, the night before. And at this moment, without further ado, tomorrow I will start reading The Golden Peach of Samarkand!