In 1573, Emperor Mingshen ascended the throne with the era name Wanli. Until his death in 1620, the Wanli Emperor reigned for forty-eight years. During this "Wanli period", Chinese culture has made great achievements in many aspects. Even after the Qing army entered the Central Plains, Han chinese readers often missed that era with great attachment.
Dong Qichang's Cursive Huaisu Self-Narration This volume is a work written by Dong Qichang in the boat during Chongzhen's thirteenth year (1634) Mid-Autumn Festival outing. Eighty old men traveled with a group of people, accidentally wanted to read, and performed a period of backhand skills on the spot, showing Dong Qichang's confidence in gu ti familiarity, which can be described as old books. He put forward the theory of the "Southern and Northern Sects", which divided the boundaries between literati painting and professional painters.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Jiangxi scholar Xu Shipu (1608-1658) wrote a letter to a friend, commenting on the prosperity of the Wanli years:
When the Divine Sect was there, the heavens reigned supreme. Ruo Zhao Gaoyi (Zhao Nanxing, 1550-1627), Gu Wuxi (Gu Xiancheng, 1550-1612), Zou Jishui (Zou Yuanbiao, 1551-1624), Haiqiongzhou (Hai Rui, 1514-1587) Moral Festival, Yuan Jiaxing (Yuan Huang, 1533-1606), Jiao Molin (Jiao Zhilin, 1541-1620), Dong Huating (Dong Qichang, 1555-1636) calligraphy and painting, Xu Shanghai (Xu Guangqi, 1562-1620), The calendar of Li Xishi (Matthew Ricci, 1552-1610), the lyrics of Tang Linchuan (Tang Xianzu, 1550-1617), the Materia Medica of Li Fengci (Li Shizhen, 1518-1593), the zigzag of Zhao Yinjun (Zhao Miguang, 1559-1625). The Tao of the Shi clan (Shi Dabin), the Ye of the Gu clan (unknown name), the ink of the Fang clan (Fang Yulu, 1541-1608), the ink of the Cheng clan (Cheng Junfang, 1541-1610), the Lu clan (Lu Zigang) attacking jade, and the He clan (He Zhen, 1535-1604) can all be engraved with the ancient authors.
Scholar Li Zhaoliang wrote the book "Declassifying the Whole Map of The Kunyu Wanguo: Surveying and Mapping the World in the Ming Dynasty", pointing out that the map contains more than a thousand Chinese place names that westerners do not know, and cannot be known unless they visit the place in person. It is argued that the "Kunyu Wanguo Quantu" was actually composed by the Ming Dynasty and re-examined by Matteo Ricci to take Fang Zhi. The map was an eye-opener for Chinese intellectuals, and the Wanli Emperor loved it so much that he made it into a screen and placed it on his bedside.
From moral style to academic thought, from calligraphy and painting art to literature and opera, from astronomical almanac to traditional medicine, from writing to engraving, from smelting to jade, Xu Shipu listed the outstanding achievements of cultural representatives during the Wanli years, and believed that they were comparable to the ancient heroes.
Ni Yuanlu's "Book of With Zhu Tangling"
Collection of he Chuangshi Calligraphy Art Cultural and Educational Foundation (Taiwan).
Mr. He Guoqing's book "Wanli Driving" has brought us to that desirable era. In addition to the text description, the book is accompanied by hundreds of calligraphy and paintings created by characters from the Wanli dynasty, including the handwriting of Jiao Zhu, Xu Guangqi, Yuan Huang, Dong Qichang, Li Shizhen, Tang Xianzu and others mentioned in Xu Shipu's list. Seeing things and thinking about people, the sages in the book have become more intimate and lovely.
Xu Guangqi's "Inscription Qinhe Gaofeng Poem" was composed for the 60,000 words of Shanghai Famous Sage". New Taipei Xuhui Middle School, Guangqi Society, Shanghai Xujiahui, these names are all named after Xu Guangqi.
Tang Xianzu was nineteen years old when he wrote this work in the Seven Absolute Books of Xingshu. 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of the deaths of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, and we should pay high tribute to both the masters of theatre!
Looking back on the Wanli years, for me, who once worked in political science, there were always two lingering questions: What made the glory of the Wanli years? And what made this splendor fall apart more than twenty years after the death of the Myōjin Sect?
Independence Yi "Health Ming" is said to be independent and easy to master the art of medicine, and the method of planting pox was transmitted to Japan, and many medical books circulating in the folk are entrusted with the name of his work.
There is no shortage of scholars who have discussed these two issues. Whether it is from the beginning of the Age of Discovery, or the use of the Silver Age to describe the economic situation at that time, it is to explore the external environment of the Wanli Era. The relaxation of imperial court policies, the development of the commodity economy, the prosperity of urban culture, and the exuberance of printing culture were all regarded as the internal catalysts of multiculturalism during the Wanli period. Analysis is always calm and rational, and the dizzyingly changing society of more than three hundred years ago is far more complex than rational reflection today.
Fu Shan's "Taiyuan Duan Ti" is selected, and Fu Shan is bitter about the socializing text, and criticizes the people who made themselves clever at that time and thought that they could distinguish the calligraphy of Fu Shan's father and son.
The twentieth-century scholar Nelson Wu described the socio-cultural landscape of the late Ming Dynasty this way:
The picture of China in the late Ming Dynasty is so intricate that even the word "intricate" loses its meaning outside of this particular time frame. Against the background of rich differences between regions, the pluralism of political movements and academic trends, as well as the various attitudes people held towards life and the imperial court, have produced a phenomenon composed of a variety of heterogeneities. Let's call it the "late Ming phenomenon."
The upper part of Xu Wei's "Guanyin Tu" transcribes the Heart Sutra, and the lower part depicts the protagonist white parrot in the story of the "Parrot Song Treasure Scroll". Xu Weishi's calligraphy and paintings are excellent, and he is also known as the ancestor of the Master of Shaoxing, who taught Li Rusong, a great general of the Anti-Wu Dynasty.
The mutual agitation, exhilaration and trembling of many heterogeneous qualities, even in a glorious era, is not entirely made up of great achievements and noble motives, but is often accompanied by widespread political corruption and moral degeneration. Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty collapsed due to domestic disturbances and the invasion of the Eight Banners, the era of vigorous "Wenzhi Xiangsheng" also came to an end.
Lan Ying's "Imitation of Mei Daoren Landscape" This painting imitates the landscape of Wuzhen, Lan Ying's painting style is diverse, and Chen Hongshou once learned painting from him.
Chen Hongshou Lotus double butterfly diagram
Collection of China Academy of Art
Reflections on the fall of the Ming Dynasty began from the moment of its demise. Contemporary scholars have also tried to give various answers. It is remarkable that in his recent research, Mr. Li Bozhong revisited the Ming Dynasty from the perspective of environmental history and global history. Climate change had a huge impact on the economy, with frequent natural disasters and plagues at the end of the Ming Dynasty, "in these severe and long-term catastrophes, the original social order collapsed... The demise of the Ming Dynasty can be largely attributed to climate change. In other words, 'heaven' is dead. ”
Mr. Li went on to point out the great turmoil brought by the climate of the Xiaoice River Period to the world from the challenges faced by the world in the seventeenth century, and pointed out that the Ming Dynasty was only one of the many crises in the world's "seventeenth century crisis". If it is true that "heaven" wants to die in the Ming Dynasty, then the people who lived in the ten thousand calendar years before the Ming Dynasty were indeed lucky to enjoy peace and prosperity.
Lan Ying's "Book with Yue Weng" previously told Lan Ying that Lan Ying shang asked his artist friend to engrave it on his behalf, and it happened that this friend lived in Lan Ying's home. After the engraving, Lan Ying attached the engraved seal to the letter, hoping that Yue Weng would be satisfied.
Although Mr. Li emphasized the important role of climate in the Ming Dynasty, his views are not fatalistic. In its complete discourse, another variable is also introduced: early economic globalization, especially the spread of advanced western weapons. Whether it was Li Zicheng's invasion of Beijing or the Qing army's division of the Central Plains, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was most directly presented as a regime change after the failure of the military struggle.
However, once this variable is introduced, the situation is much more complicated than the enumeration of climate change: whether a regime can effectively mobilize its human and financial resources to deal with external military threats, whether its institutions are efficient, whether mainstream ideologies can bring people together, and a series of issues beyond military protests.
Part of Fu Shan's "Xi Lu Miaohan", which reads: "The original word is really good and really lai, the really good person will not know the good, the real reliant will not know the lai, and the good name will be determined." ”
After the Qing army entered the Central Plains, the political situation changed. The prosperity of the late Ming Dynasty, its decay is also like the fallen leaves in the autumn wind, everything came so suddenly and tragically, Gu Yanwu and other readers with the ambition of the world have to think about the reasons for the ming's death. Interestingly, Gu Yanwu, the great Confucian who is prominently listed in the book "Wanli Driving To", is the reader who reflected the most on the political culture of the Wanli period in the early Qing Dynasty and criticized the most, and in his view, some of the seeds of the death of the Ming Dynasty were planted during the Wanli Period.
Gu Yanwu's letter to Yuan Gong (Guizhuang) believes that the poems of Guizhuang flowed slightly into the Song tunes and should "learn the ancient through the scriptures to save the way of time".
Whether Gu Yanwu's reflection and criticism are to the point may be a matter of opinion. However, the reflection and criticism of this reader who once lived during the Wanli Calendar and experienced the Ming and Qing Dynasties carries the most sincere feelings of the first generation of readers after the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Shizhen's "Song of Li Yufeng's Dismissal of Officials" was donated to another great scholar, Li Panlong. Without Wang Shizhen's preface recommendation, Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" may not have been published, which shows how influential his writing is.
I was instructed to write a preface to "Wanli Driving", and Wrote the above discussion, not to express a different point of view from Mr. He Guoqing. It is undeniable that the Wanli period was indeed a great period of cultural pluralism and prosperity. I just took this opportunity to record my thoughts on China today. Although there are all kinds of unsatisfactory things today, it is also undeniable that we are enjoying peace and prosperity that has been rare for more than a hundred years. But peace and prosperity can sometimes be so fleeting and fragile that we have to think: How can we achieve long-term peace and stability?
Article Source / Foreword to "Wanli Driving"
Original titled / Late Ming Dynasty: An Era of Pluralism
Author / Bai Qianshen, Professor, Institute of Cultural Heritage, Zhejiang University
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