Fourth, the reasons for the formation of the artistic defects of "Jin Ping Mei"
A series of facts show that the artistic flaws of "Jin Ping Mei" are multifaceted, and quite prominent and quite serious. This is an objective existence that cannot be disguised or denied.
The question is what should we do about these phenomena? How exactly should we know? What is the reason for this?
Some scholars believe: "These facts fully show that the book of "Words and Words" is not a writer's personal creation at all, and no clumsy writer can write so many failures." 23
They argue with this: "Jin Ping Mei is a collective creation that accumulates generations." 24
He even asserted that "Jin Ping Mei Zhi Zhi" itself is "a complete folk rap 'base' that has not been written by literati." 25
The author believes that the various artistic defects of "Jin Pingmei" to deny Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's personal copyright of "Jin Pingmei" is very fragile, and the grounds are very insufficient. Because:
First, the earliest publication of the "Golden Bottle Mei Zhiyu" that we see today is Ming Wanli 45th year Ding Wei (1617) Eastern Wu Nongzhu guest preface, there is a preface signed Xinxinzi. At the beginning of the preface, it is written: "It is said that Lanling Xiaoxiao was born as "The Legend of Jin Ping Mei", which is based on the customs of the times and is covered with meaning." At the end, it is also said: "I know that I laughed and laughed as the one who passed on this, and there is a so-called also."
"Jin Ping Mei" was twice confirmed as "Xiaoxiao Shengzuo", and this Xinxinzi also called Xiaoxiaosheng "My Friend" in this preface, in order to know his person and his creative intentions. Until we find conclusive evidence sufficient to disprove this historical record, we have no reason not to believe that Xinxinzi is telling the truth.
This is very different from the earliest versions of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin", which stated that it was "compiled". As Lang Ying of the Ming Dynasty pointed out in the "Seven Revision Manuscripts": "The two books "Three Kingdoms" and "Song Jiang" were compiled by Luo Benguan of the Hangzhou people. If you give the old intention, you will have a book, so you will compile it."
It can be seen that the Ming Dynasty people clearly distinguished between "work" and "compilation" and should not be confused.
"The Book of Jin Ping Mei and Its Edition Research" by Liu Hui
Second, we say that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", etc. were processed and created by writers on the basis of rap scripts, which are not only testified by the historical "Three Kingdoms Zhiping Dialect", "The Great Song Xuanhe Remains", "The Three Collections of the Great Tang Dynasty and Poetry" and other scriptures.
Moreover, from the Tang Dynasty Li Shangyin's "Jiao'er Poem", Song Dynasty Su Shi's "Zhilin", Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Menghualu" and other works, you can find records of the popular story of the Three Kingdoms at that time, Song Ren Luo Ye's "Drunken Weng Talks" has records of water margin stories such as "Stone Sun Li", "Blue Faced Beast", "Flower Monk" and "Martial Walker", under the note "sending" rhyme "dream" in volume 13139 of the "Yongle Classic" of the Ming Dynasty, there is an ancient book "Journey to the West" with more than 1,200 words of "Dream Chopping River Dragon", as well as the Korean ancient Chinese textbook " the story of the book "Journey to the West" quoted in the annotated text of "Park Tongshi Proverbs"; These are indisputable hard proofs.
If "Jin Ping Mei" is also "a collective creation of generation accumulation" like them, how can this fragment not be handed down in the early stage of "accumulation", and there is no historical record of the rap Jin Ping Mei story before "Jin Ping Mei" was written in all books?
Since it is "accumulated from generation to generation", will it not leave the slightest trace in the historical record of "generation"?
We cannot speculate only on the existence of some phenomena in the works of "Jin Ping Mei", but rely on reliable historical materials as evidence. From the historical materials, it is difficult to establish and even more convincing to say that "Jin Pingmei" is a "generational accumulation collective creation" like its previous works.
Third, judging from the social content reflected in "Jin Pingmei", it belongs to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, when the urban capitalist economy sprouted, the consciousness of citizens flourished, the traditional feudal culture and ethical and moral concepts were rapidly declining, the rule of the feudal class was becoming increasingly decaying, and the newborn citizen class had not yet awakened, was still attached to the feudal ruling class, and had not yet formed an independent political force to compete with feudal rule.
That is, it is a suffocating reflection of the extremely suffocating dark ages in which the old rule has decayed and the new power has not yet matured. Its distinctive characteristics of the times show that it is not "generational accumulation", but created from the real life of the time.
It is very different from works such as "Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West" that are limited to traditional themes and passed down from generation to generation, showing the characteristics of "generational accumulation" in terms of ideological content, and lack specific characteristics of the era.
Four odd book sets
Fourth, from the artistic characteristics of "Jin Pingmei", it has changed from reflecting major socio-political and historical themes to describing daily family life and social conditions, from rough and large-scale sketching to meticulous depiction.
From creating the image of heroes standing tall in the sky, to portraying ordinary small people in daily life, from the artistic method of unifying ideal and reality, combining praise and exposure, to the frank realistic realism and the artistic method based on ruthless naked exposure,
From the plate splicing or short story serial structure with the development of the storyline as the clue, to the organic overall structure with the development of the character as the clue, the pulse is thousands of miles, and the front and back echoes, from the optimistic, bold, clear, and exposed art style to the pessimistic, world-weary, gray, and spicy art style, these obviously have the personality characteristics of literati writers, and the works of "generational cumulative collective creation" processed on the basis of the novel are obviously unique and extremely wonderful.
Fifth, from the perspective of the various artistic defects in "Jin Ping Mei", such as the attack on the old work by certain fragments of the subject content, interspersed with a large number of lyrics, "there are poems as evidence", "the official hears and heard" and other familiar phrases, the characters' names, ages, storylines, and chronological order overlap and error, etc., which are often pointed out by "generational accumulation collective creation" theorists as evidence, but in fact all these are not unique phenomena in "Jin Ping Mei".
"Dream of Red Mansions" is recognized by the academic community as Cao Xueqin's personal creation, and after the author "read it for ten years, added and deleted five times",26 the above defects and mistakes, aren't they still there? 27 is just not as prominent and serious as "Jin Ping Mei" in degree.
Countless facts in the history of literature in ancient and modern China and abroad have proved that it is inevitable that a long novel with a complicated head and a huge volume will have some omissions, not to mention that "Jin Pingmei" is still the first novel created by literati in the mainland, if there are no those artistic defects, it is really strange! As Leo Tolstoy said, even "good writers often encounter unforgivable oversights."
He cited a passage from Korolenko's book: "When the bell of the morning prayer rings, a bright moon shines like day. And there can be no full moon at Easter."
Tolstoy considered this oversight "nothing remarkable" and that the reader was "nothing but disappointment." 28
Similarly, we need not be surprised by some of the artistic flaws in Jin Ping Mei, and if we further speculate from this, there is a danger of falling into subjective idealism.
Therefore, before finding direct evidence from historical materials that is sufficient to prove that "Jin Pingmei" is a "generational cumulative collective creation", we regard the artistic defects of "Jin Pingmei" itself not so much as the characteristics of rap scripts, but as early writers' creations still unable to get rid of the influence of rap scripts, not mature enough in art, lacking sufficient independent creative talent, and inevitably showing ointments, which are more in line with the objective reality and historical trajectory of the development of Chinese novels.
In that case, how can we explain the repetition, contradictions, and other errors in the storyline that clearly exist in "Jin Ping Mei"? Some scholars believe that this is "due to the author's haste to facilitate the book". 29
Photocopy of "Jin Ping Mei Words"
In addition, we must also consider that as an early literati creation, such a long masterpiece as "Jin Pingmei", from the first draft to the circulation in the form of a manuscript, and then to the final engraving and circulation, seems to have been supplemented and repaired by others.
Judging from the historical records we see today, before the engraving and circulation of "Jin Ping Mei", people did not see all the books. As:
(1) Yuan Hongdao of the Ming Dynasty said in the "Book with Dong Sibai": "Where did "Jin Ping Mei" come from? Looking at the pillow, the clouds are full of paper, which is better than the "Seven Shots". Where is the back section? Where should I change the copy? Koichi's show." 30
(2) Yuan Zhongdao of the Ming Dynasty wrote in the "Wandering Records": "In the past, Dong Tai Shi Sibai said that he was the best of all novels. Si Bai said: "There is a novel recently, called "Jin Ping Mei", which is excellent." Give private knowledge. Later, from Zhonglang Zhenzhou, I saw half of this book, and it was about a model that the sons and daughters were ready, and they were performed by Pan Jinlian from "Water Margin"." 31
(3) Tu Benbi of the Ming Dynasty said in the "Mountain and Forest Economic Book": "According to the "Golden Bottle Mei", there are very few circulation in the sea, and the book is similar to the "Water Margin". According to legend, during the reign of Jiajing, someone falsely accused Governor Lu Dubing, and the imperial court came from his home. His people were wronged, and he entrusted it to "Jin Ping Mei". Mr. Wang Dasi Kou Fengzhou's family collection of the entire book is now lost. In previous years, he gave the golden altar, and Wang Taishi Yutai came out of here, and Yun bought the second manuscript with a heavy purchase. When read, the sentence looks like a pen. After returning to Wang Zhengwu's hundred grain house, I saw the second manuscript and couldn't wait to see it all." 32
(4) Xue Gang of the Ming Dynasty said in the "Tianjue Hall Pen Yu": "In the capital, my friend Guanxi Wenji Shi showed that the manuscript was incomplete "Jin Ping Mei", and Yu skimmed it several times, and said to Ji Shi: 'Although this is a work, how can there be such a filthy book between heaven and earth?'" When you rush to Qin Huo." In the next twenty years, my friend Bao Yanke sent an engraved book to him to read it all." 」33
(5) The "Golden Bottle Meiba" of Ming Dynasty says: "This book has been copied and circulated without openwork, and it has been dispersed. Only the Yizhou family collectors are the most intact. Yu Yu Yuan Zhonglang got thirteen, and Yu Qiu Zhucheng got fifteen, a little straightforward, but not prepared, for the rest of the day." 34
(6) Shen Defu's "Wanliye Compilation ‧Songsong‧Jin Pingmei" in the Ming Dynasty says:
"Yuan Zhonglang (觞政) uses "Jin Ping Mei" with "Water Margin" as an external classic, and he has not seen it. At noon, when he met Zhonglang Jingdi, he asked, "Has there ever been a full hand?"
"The first few volumes are amazingly fast. Today, only the Macheng Liu Saliva Bai Chengxi family has the entire book, and the cover is recorded from his wife's family Xu Wenzhen."
After another three years, Xiao Xiu got on the bus, and already had his books with him, because he had borrowed and copied it. Wu You Feng Menglong saw the surprise and encouraged the bookstore to buy engravings from a heavy price; Ma Zhongliang also advised Ying Ziren to cure hunger at the request of the Zi people.
Yu said: "These books will be practiced by someone, but in a moment they will be passed down from family to household, and the bad man's heart tricks, he will be investigated day by day, why is it right?" How can I plow with a knife and a cone of mud!'
Zhongliang thought so, and then solidified. Not long after, and Wu Zhong's country was over. However, the original manuscript is actually less than fifty-three to fifty-seven, and it is impossible to find it everywhere, and there are ugly Confucian supplements to engrave, no matter whether superficial and contemptible, when it is written in Wu language, that is, the blood before and after, it will never be connected, and you will know its work at first sight." 35
The above six records of the Ming Dynasty proves:
(1) "Jin Ping Mei" has been circulated in scattered copies for a long time, and no one has seen its entirety;
(2) Although some people heard that Wang Fengzhou and Liu Jiabai's family had the entire copy of "Jin Pingmei", it was only a rumor, and there were no direct witnesses who witnessed the whole book;
(3) The inscription of "Jin Ping Mei" is not the original complete, but a patchwork and addition, as Xie Zhaoxuan said: "Yu Yu Yuan Zhonglang got thirteen, and Yu Qiu Zhucheng got fifteen, which is slightly straightened, but not prepared." Shen Defu clearly pointed out that the 53rd to 57th times are "ugly Confucianism to make up for the engraving".
"Wanliye Edited"
Since the engraved copy of "Jin Pingmei" that has been handed down does not come from the original author's complete final manuscript, but is pieced together and supplemented from scattered manuscripts, there are repetitions, contradictions, mistakes, and omissions, which is very natural and not surprising.
What's more, it is still the first long novel created by literati, while creating, it is spread in scattered manuscripts, in the process of copying, the author is likely to pass out different manuscripts, and the copyist will inevitably copy wrong, scattered, and finally put together different manuscripts, complete, and engrave them, and its artistic flaws and roughness are naturally difficult to avoid.
We must proceed from the reality of the creation and circulation of these historically recordable "Jin Ping Mei", and make a realistic analysis of its artistic defects; If you base your conclusions on subjective assumptions and assumptions, it is as unreliable as building a magnificent edifice on the beach.
Although the disconnection or reappearance of Jin Ping Mei is quite prominent, there are also some examples cited by some scholars that are not problems with the work itself, but due to the critic's own misunderstanding.
For example, "Ximen Qing has been reborn as his own widow Xiao Ge'er, which is clearly described in the 100th time, but the same time it is said that Ximen Qing was born as the second son of Shen Tong, a wealthy family in Tokyo", to show that it is not the author's personal creation, but the "disconnection or reappearance" caused by "the original relative independence between the parts as a daily segmented lyric". 36
In fact, this has been clearly written in the work, Ximen Qingtuo was born as a filial brother, and Shen Tong, a rich family with Tuosheng, was the second son, which is not a rebirth, but a causal relationship.
As Master Pu Jing said, "When you passed away your husband, Simon Qing, you did evil and not good. This son turned around and entrusted your house, and he was going to scatter his wealth, overturn his inheritance, and be in a different place when he died. Now I got rid of him and became an apprentice. As the saying goes, one son becomes a monk, and the nine ancestors ascend to heaven. Your husband's grievances have been explained, and he has to be born beyond life." (100th)
The reason why Ximen Qing was able to "give birth to a rich family Shen Tong as the second son" was precisely because Xiao Ge'er became a monk, so that Ximen Qing "explained his grievances and had to give birth beyond his birth". Therefore, when Xiaoyu saw that Ximen Qing "was recommended by the master today, and now he went to Tokyo City, he gave birth to Shen Tong, a rich family, as the second son, Shen Yue Quye", and it was also when Wu Yuanniang dreamed of "hacking Xiao Ge'er to death", and after Xiao Ge'er became a monk, she "gave him a legal name, called 'enlightenment', and left as Yue Niang."
In other words, Ximen Qing's original Xiao Ge'er has died, and now he is again "entrusted with rich Shen Tong as the second son".
According to Zhang Zhupo, this is to show that "filial piety can pass through the gods", "Ximen Qingfu becomes filial brother, filial brother restores Ximen, always saying that this body is false, but the nature does not change, so it is the destiny of nature, filial piety." 37
This kind of filial persuasion to make evil people like Ximen Qing "also have a supernatural life" is precisely a reflection of the ideological limitations of the feudal literati's work; This kind of obscure and tortuous artistic technique is also a characteristic that is different from the literati creation sung by artists.
(End of full article)
"Collected Works of Zhou Zhongming" by Zhou Zhongming
Notes:
23 Liu Hui, A Study of the Book and Editions of Jinping Mei (Shenyang: Liaoning People's Publishing House, 1986).
24 Ibid., note 3.
25 Ibid., note 23.
26. Cao Xueqin: The first episode of "Dream of Red Mansions".
27. Predecessors have pointed out dozens of errors and omissions in "Dream of Red Mansions", see Yisu Ed., "Compilation of Classical Literature Research Materials: Dream of Red Mansions" (Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1963).
28. See Leo Tolstoy on Creation.
29. Huang Lin: "Tu Longkao, author of "Jin Pingmei", Fudan Journal, No. 2, 1984. 30. "The Complete Works of Yuan Zhonglang" volume one foot, "There is no for Zhai Series" book.
31. "Yuan Xiaoxiu's Diary", "Chinese Literary Rare Book Series".
32. Transcribed from Aying's "Miscellaneous Tales of Jin Pingmei," see Novel Chatter (Shanghai: Classical Literature Press, 1958).
33. According to Ma Tailai, "A Piece of Information on the Early Spread of "Jin Pingmei"," see Guangming Daily, August 14, 1984.
34. Xie Zhaoxuan: The Little Grass Window Anthology, volume 24, according to the transcription quoted in Ma Tailai's "Xie Zhaoxuan's "Golden Bottle Meiba" contained in the 4th series of the "Chinese History Series" in 1984. 35. Shen Defu: Wanliye Ed., vol. 25.
36. Ibid., note 3.
37. Zhang Zhupo: The 100th criticism of "Jin Ping Mei".
Author's affiliation: Anhui University
This article is authorized to be published, originally published in "Zhou Zhongming <金瓶梅>Research Collection", 2015, Taiwan Student Bookstore Co., Ltd., please specify for forwarding.