Palm Guo, early as palm guo, first referred to officials who mastered the old system (old rites), and later extended to anecdotes about historical figures, institutions, events, regions and the style of writing about these anecdotes, based on which a special "palm guo science" was also formed.
Books have always been the darling of the publishing world. There are many types of palm deaths, from the notes of Song, Yuan, Mingqing, to the "filling" of his neighbor Zheng Yimei, the words of Tang Tao and Huang Xiang, etc., to some extent, they can be called palm deaths.
"Xuelin Palm Record"
Xie Yong
Published by Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House
Historical research cannot be 100% exhaustive
History is like a huge puzzle, all kinds of cultural relics unearthed are part of this puzzle, the surviving historical sites, calligraphy, paintings, poetry and songs are part of it, the so-called "true history" compiled by historians is also part of it, and the palm is also an indispensable part of the historical puzzle. Compared with various excavated cultural relics, historical relics and so-called formal history, palm may only be the edge of the historical puzzle, but it has its unique value.
The history we know is actually spliced together from the above content piece by piece, but no matter how we put it together, the history we know is only a part of the real history, and it can even be said to be a very small part. For the historical puzzle, we need to be soberly aware that this picture can never be completely stitched, even if it happened yesterday, it cannot be completely reproduced today, let alone the distant past. Famous historical figures such as Lu Xun, Chen Yinke, Hu Shi, Qian Chongshu, Ding Ling, etc., can be said to be full of research monographs and papers, but even so, many books published in recent years still contain many contents that the academic community has not noticed or did not dig into.
We can never fully reproduce historical scenes, but we can constantly get closer to historical scenes. This is similar to Xie Yong's statement in the "Xuelin Palm Record" that "wild history notes are relatively serious and formal history, and it seems to be untrustworthy, but in the Chinese literary and historical tradition, the lack of formal history is often supplemented by wild history notes, and in Chen Yin's historical experience, wild history notes occupy a very high position. Some of the lost documents sometimes happen to be preserved in the notes of the wild history" (Xuelin Zhanglu, p. 169).
Since 2016, Chung Hwa Book Company has launched the "Palm Death" series, edited by Xu Jun and Yan Xiaoxing, and hired five gentlemen, Zhong Shuhe, Dong Qiao, Chen Zishan, Zhao Heng, and Bai Qianshen, as consultants, and invited well-known scholars, writers and collectors to write articles in each issue, focusing on the figures and facts of the literary circle, academia, politics and art academies in modern times and more than 100 years, or sending microscopic secrets, to examine the truth; Or reminiscing about the vicissitudes of the past, reminiscing about the years. Explore the mystery of history, according to the bosom of the characters, and open up a new realm for the public to read. The first episode was published three times in a row within half a year of its launch, and by August 2022, nine volumes of "Palm Death" had been published, which was well received by readers.
"Weird Tan"
Huang Yun
Published by Nanjing University Press
It is often the real and living people that are revealed
Palm stories can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the personal experience recorded by the author, such as Huang Huan's "Memories of the Flower Suiren Sheng'an", many of which are recorded in the book are what the author himself saw, heard, and felt; Another example is the interviews and memoirs of some celebrities, the interaction with senior scholars, or the past experiences of youth. The second category is written by later generations through combing and sinking the documents of predecessors, such as Xie Yong's "Xuelin Palm Record" (Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2020 edition) published in recent years, and Huang Yun's "Weird Tan on the Mingbian Side" (Nanjing University Press, 2022 edition), etc., all of which belong to the above categories. The third category is both, that is, there are both personal personal experiences, research, hooks, etc., such as the newly published book Xu Jun's "Cuiwei But Gu Collection" (China Book Company 2022 edition), which not only has the dusty old stories behind the publication of many classic works that the author has sorted out and excavated based on the original archives of China Book Company and returned letters, but also the author's recollection of the bits and pieces of his interactions with many scholars.
As far as the above three types of palm accounts are concerned, the relatively high accuracy should be the second type, and although the first and third types of palm stories are written (or dictated) by witnesses, due to the limitations of human memory and some subjective reasons of those who experienced them, there are errors or concealment. The objectivity and accuracy of the palm stories written by scholars are relatively high.
In addition to being able to reproduce some historical scenes, palm deaths, especially those written after rigorous research, have become more intimate, more attractive, and more readable because of their innate "gossip" attribute. The center of historical activity is man, and no matter what kind of affection, its core must also be man. Perhaps influenced by the traditional Spring and Autumn brushwork, when predecessors wrote history, the focus was often on revealing the moral significance of characters and events. But palm history is different, and what palm history reveals is often real and fresh, eating grains and grains, and having seven emotions and six desires.
For example, the writer Zhou Thin Juan, when mentioning Mr. Zhou, many people first think of his achievements in literature and gardening, but they don't know that Zhou Thin Juan is still an extremely delicious person in daily life, not only organizing the "Wolf and Tiger Association (taking the meaning of gobbling)" to look for food everywhere (all the members are people from the literary and artistic circles), but also to eat "wandering remains" (overeating), so that most of the people in the association eventually suffered from gastrointestinal diseases.
The "Princess Deling" in the field of the Qing Palace's palm history has long been pointed out that she is not a real princess, but the fog that shrouded her father's family was not fully cleared until Ai Junchuan's article in the latest episode of "Palm Death".
In addition, the "elegance" and "charm" shown in many palm stories are also admired by many modern people, which may be one of the reasons for the popularity of palm books.
"Cui Wei but Gu Collection"
By Xu Jun
Published by Chung Hwa Book Company
Masters of the past should be good at falsifying "gray literature"
Although the palm story is interesting, it is very difficult to write, especially the palm story that is not personally experienced, which requires the author to spend a lot of energy to carefully explore and rigorously research, and the words must be substantiated. Xie Yong, Chen Zishan, Huang Yun, etc. are all masters of writing in the current altar, and from their actions and works, we seem to be able to glimpse some paths of palm writing.
Most of those who are good at writing about the past have a wide range of reading interests, extensive knowledge, strong curiosity, intellectual curiosity and lofty imagination, of course, these are not so much the secrets of studying and writing "the study of the past", but the basic skills that all academic researchers need to have. Secondly, most of those who are good at writing about the deceased are good at using some "corner information" that is not noticed. As Chen Zishan once wrote: "I like to look through the auction catalogues of major auction companies in the mainland, because there are often unexpected surprises. "Xie Yong's systematic collection and excavation of unpublished mimeographed old poetry collections in the 50s of the last century has produced many valuable and durable palms; Huang Yun also had a soft spot for various Republican "tabloids" such as "Huaihai Monthly" and "Nanjing Xinbao", and dug deep and discovered Gu Tianxi's "Jianghu Diary", which also led to discussions on the value of "tabloids" and informal publications such as auction catalogues and mimeographed materials (also known as "gray literature"). The so-called "tabloids", because they are "small", have few readers, and have a small circulation, are rare and easy to be ignored by scholars. In addition, many researchers still have a slight prejudice against "tabloids", believing that the news published on it is mostly hearsay and nonsense. In fact, the content of many tabloids is not 100% nonsense, there is still a lot of real content, and Huang Yun's "Weird Tan" also has a defense of the so-called false reports of the "tabloids". Whether it is true or false, "tabloid" is definitely a test for the level of users, the high level is good at sending others unsent reply, save the truth and remove the fake, from the fake to the true, and the low level, naturally can only stare at the text.
Author: Xie Huan
Editor: Jiang Chuting