Many people know that there are four famous works of classical Chinese literature, but they do not necessarily know that there is also the "Book of Ten Talents". This series of books is a collection of literary works of the three dynasties of China's Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, which was originally published in 1644 (the first year of Shunzhi), and was successively compiled from 1658 (the fifteenth year of Shunzhi), and published and distributed in a continuous arrangement. Among the ten books, some of them have been circulated for a long time and can be described as well-known, such as:"Pipa"; but there are also some lesser-known, such as:""""
The first book of talents is "", full name "", written at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and commented on by the literati Mao Lun and father and son in the early Qing Dynasty.
The second talent book is "", also known as "Chivalrous Wind and Dust", "Chivalrous Righteousness", which was compiled for the ming people (also known as) in the early Qing Dynasty, and was approved by foreign visitors.
The third talent book is "Double Beauty", also known as "Double Beauty Strange Edge", compiled for the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The fourth book of talents is "", written by the Early Qing Dynasty and compiled by the Ogigishi People.
The fifth book of talents is "Water Margin", also known as "The Complete Biography of Water Margin", written by Shi Nai'an in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and commented on by commentary; there is also a saying that the book is Shi Nai'an, co-authored.
The sixth book of talents is "", written by Yuan Ren.
The Seventh Book of Talents is the Book of Pipa, written by Yuan Ren Gao Ming.
The Eighth Book of Talents is the "Record of Flower Notes", written by the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The Ninth Caizi Book is "The Legend of Catching Ghosts", compiled in the early Qing Dynasty.
The Tenth Book of Talents is "", compiled in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="41" > the origin of the top ten talent books</h1>
The initiator of the Ten Talents Book was the first person in the history of Chinese literary criticism in the early years of the Qing Dynasty. At the beginning, he referred to the traditional classic works of "", "",""," "Du Fu's poems, "", """ as "one Zhuang, two sao, three history, four Du, five water margins, and six west chambers". This statement shook the literary circles at that time: some people expressed acceptance; others thought that he was out of line with "Water Margin" and "Water Margin", and "Later, unified the use of the Book of Talents to name and sort, which is simply nonsense.
His friend, Daxiao, said to him: "'Water Margin' is not similar to the history of the classics in the novel; 'West Chamber' is a songwriter, and it is not similar to the novel. "Accepted, they jointly elected Mao Lun and the father-son evaluation of "" as the first talent book, followed by "", "", "Water Margin", "". According to his initiative, Mr. Mao Lun approved the "Pipa Book" and named it "The Seventh Book of Talents"; Lingnan Caizi Zhong Dai Cang imitated Mao Lun and commented on the "Record of Flowers" and named it the Eighth Book of Talents. Since then, some people have approved "Ghost Hunting" and "Ghost Hunting". In this way, the Ten Talents Book was formed.
But unfortunately, the "Ten Great Books of Talents" have been obliterated by history for various reasons, and people today only know the four famous works, but they do not know that there is also a "Book of the Ten Talents" in Chinese history.
For classical Chinese literature, most people today only know the "four masterpieces", and when it comes to the "Ten Talents Book", I am afraid that not many people know. But two or three hundred years ago, the "Ten Talents Book" was not only known to everyone who read it, but even those who were rough and inked had to look for it. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, someone once said: "If a reader does not have the two books of "West Chamber" and "Flower Notes" on his desk, he is not a person who can read." It can be seen that the "West Chamber" and "Flower Notes" listed in the "Ten Great Talents Book" had no less influence at that time than today's "Four Famous Works".
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="17" > the order of "Top Ten Talent Books" is:</h1>
The first "", written at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and commented on the early Qing Dynasty.
The second "", also known as "Chivalry", was compiled in the early Qing Dynasty (aka), and was approved by foreign visitors.
The third "", also known as "Double Beauty Strange Origin", was compiled by the late Ming and early Qing dynasties of the Hagigi Sanren (also known as the Hagigan Shanren and the Hagigan Sanren), and commented on the commentary.
The fourth "", written by the Early Qing Dynasty, edited by the Hagigi-san people, commented on the commentary.
The fifth "", written by Shi Nai'an in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, commented on and annotated.
The Sixth "", written by the Yuan Dynasty, commentary.
The seventh "Pipa Record", written by Gao Ming in the Yuan Dynasty, commented on the comments of Mao Lun in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The eighth "Notes on Flowers", written in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, by the author, Zhong Daicang, the master of Jingjing Zhai, commented on the comments.
The ninth "Ghost Hunting Legend", compiled in the early Qing Dynasty.
The tenth "", also known as "Double Beauty Edge", compiled in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and commented on the comments of Shui Zhen Sanren.
The formation of the "Ten Talents Book" is a long process. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, six books were selected from the classics of history, poetry and songs, and opera novels, and they were considered to be unique songs throughout the ages. The six books are: Yizhuang (""), Ersao (""), "Three Histories") ("), "Si Du" (Du Fu's poems), "Wushui Hu", and "Liu Xi Xiang". They were called "Books of Talents", also known as "Books of Talents That Must Be Read under The World", and made detailed commentaries on the last three books, especially for "" and """ Wrote prefaces, and re-compiled, so that there were later widely circulated "Commentaries on the Fifth Talent Book" and "Commentary on the Sixth Talent Book". These two books were also officially published around the first year of Shunzhi (1644) and 1657 under the titles of the Fifth Book of Talents and the Book of sixth talents. Juxtaposing the history of barnyard officials, opera novels and Confucian classics is the first person. He said: "Lifting up the novel, juxtaposed with the Confucian classics such as the Confucian classics, is a great contribution!" What is more bold is to cut off the 120-time "Water Margin" that has been circulated for a long time, abandon the 50 times after surrendering to Zhao'an, and write a paragraph of "Liangshan Po Hero's Nightmare" as the ending. And his comment on "" is even more refreshing. He said, "Reading the commentary can make the people of the ages die." ”
In the fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1665), Mao Lun was influenced to approve a "Pipa Record" for more than two years. He considered the Pipa Book to be a wonderful text, even better than the "Pipa Book" that was reviewed. Since the "Sixth Book of Talents" was published, Mao Lun listed the "Pipa Book" that he commented on as the "Seventh Book of Talents".
On the basis of his father's "Notes on the Three Kingdoms", Mao Lun's son revised and compiled the "Water Margin" and "West Chamber" in accordance with the method of commenting on the "Water Margin" and "West Chamber", commented on it sentence by paragraph, and asked for a preface to it. When the Kangxi Dynasty was published in the eighteenth year (1679), the "Book of Sacred Sighs" and the "Book of the First Talent" were added to the front of the "Yanyi". As a result, the "First Talent Book" was widely circulated, and other versions of "" were eliminated.
The Book of the Fifth Talent and the Book of the Sixth Talent were originally arranged according to the order of "One Zhuang" and "Two Troubles". Although it can be arranged in this way from the perspective of commenting on the practice of articles and discussing the best articles in the world, after all, "" is different from the style and literary heart of novels and operas. Therefore, the annotated "Yanyi" was published under the name of "The Book of the First Talent", which was immediately recognized by the readers. At this point, the framework of the Caizi book series is mainly based on novels and operas.
At that time, there were only the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh talents on the list, and there were still missing items, so the literati and scholars compiled books that could be included in the caizi book series; the good people in the bookstore also published books under the name of "the first so-and-so talent book". The first to be pushed out is the Book of the Third Talent. The title of the book is derived from the names of the three protagonists in the book (Bai Hongyu, Wu Wujiao, and Lu Mengli), edited by The Di Di Sanren, commented on in the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), and later published and printed many times in jujintang, Yizhitang, Jingluntang, Baorentang and other bookstores under the name of "Pocket Third Talent Book". It ranks third because the book is written about three talented women.
The "Book of the Fourth Talent" is also compiled by The Dragon Di Sanren, describing the sadness and joy of two pairs of talented women, and the title of the book is also taken from each of the four names.
A little later than """ is the 18th purpose of "", although the book is also about the matter of talent and beauty, but the character personality is more prominent, and the writing is also much more superb. In "", he praised the book: "The text is better, the structure is relatively compact, the characteristics are comedic, and some of the negative characters are more vividly written." The book was so popular that it was quickly translated into German, French, and later into English and Russian, and it came in second place. Although these books were published very early, they were officially named the second, third, and fourth books of talent, after the circulation of the Yanyi in 1679.
After Mao Lun, Lingnan Zhong Dai Cang also followed the same technique to comment on a "Record of Flowers" that was popular in Guangzhou at that time, and published it in the fifty-second year of Kangxi (1713) under the name of "The Eighth Talent Book of The Book of Flowers", and once it was published, it immediately caused a sensation, and the "Eighth Book of Talents" was recognized.
Zhong Daicang later commented on the "Golden Lock Mandarin Duck Coral Fan", which was named the ninth and tenth book of talents. At this point, the "Ten Talents Book" is complete. "Flower Notes", "Golden Lock Mandarin Duck Coral Fan", are all hyped up by Lingnan people, and people in the Central Plains and Jiangnan are naturally not willing to be lonely, and have attached some slightly influential works to the sequence of Caizi Book after commenting and commenting.
For example, Harukawa's compilation of the story of Eight Talented Sons and Daughters was also listed as the "Eighth Talent Book" after commenting.
Along with the "Ninth Book of Talents", Shanxi Yangzhi wrote "The Legend of Catching Ghosts" (also known as "The Legend of Catching Ghosts", "The Legend of Ping Ghost", and "The Complete Biography of Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts") written by Shanxi Yangzhi in the fifty-eighth year (1720). After the publication of his book, there was a momentum to overwhelm "". Influenced by it, it was soon that a novel of the same nature compiled by Shanghainese and commented on by passers-by came out (also known as "Ghost Talk"). It is also listed as the "Ninth Book of Talents".
In the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782), he wrote a "Double Beauty" (also known as "Double Beauty"), which was published after being commented on by Shui Zhensan and published as the "Tenth Book of Talents". In addition, the "Three Swords" (also known as "The Legend of the Pearl of The Three Combinations"), which was compiled under the pseudonym of "", is also listed as the "Tenth Book of Talents" together with the "Golden Lock Mandarin Duck Coral Fan".
From this point of view, the "Book of Ten Talents" was first published in the first year of Shunzhi (1644) and passed 138 years around the middle of Qianlong (1782) before it was finally scheduled. It should be pointed out that although the eighth, ninth, and tenth books are on the same list, the style, style, and even the writing realm are different, and the slightly inferior ones gradually fade from the historical rankings.
The formation of the "Ten Talents Book" has a significance that cannot be ignored in the history of literary development.
Significance to domestic literature
First of all, the "Book of Ten Talents" elevates the folk culture such as novels, operas, and even barnyard history, folk songs and slang, such as bullet words and song books, to a status comparable to the scholar-doctor culture such as Tang poetry and Song poetry and even the subset of jingshi, and greatly expands the value of folk culture. There is no doubt that this is very beneficial to the development of Chinese literature, especially folk literature.
Secondly, the formation of the "Ten Talents Book" meant the formation of a literary genre, which was called the Caizi Jia ren school at that time, and later some people called it "romance novel", "erotic novel", "social novel", and Lu Xun called it "world love novel". This genre sprouted from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the climate was formed in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
Third, the "Ten Talents Book" has created the pattern of novellas in China. Previously, China's novels were basically yanyi novels, from "Chronicles of the States of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty", "Fengshen Yanyi", "Journey to the West", "Mirror Flower Edge", to "Opening Up Yanyi" and "Qing Palace Yanyi", all of which were long novels. The legendary novels of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the words and quasi-scripts that arose in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, such as "Awakening to the World", "Warning of the World", "Yu Shi Mingyan", "Stone Nodding", "The Twelfth Floor", etc., all belong to the category of short stories. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, due to the rise of new production methods and the emergence of economic relations related to them, people's rhythms of life and way of thinking also underwent certain changes, and novellas with concise narratives, undulating plots and moderate length became more and more popular.
Influence on foreign literature
Some of the works in the "Ten Talents Book" not only had an important impact on the development of Chinese literature, but also played a certain historical role in the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, "Yujiao Pear" and "Pingshan Lengyan" had French, German, and English translations. There are 15 translations of English, French, German, Russian and so on, which are popular in Eurasia, and even the great German philosopher Hegel called it a rare Chinese good novel. Written in Cantonese, the language is vivid and the plot is moving, and since 1825 it has been translated into more than a dozen languages such as English, Russian, Dutch, Danish, French, German, Vietnamese, and Japanese, and has become the best-selling book in China at that time. The great German poet Goethe wrote in his diary on February 3, 1827, that he had read Chinese books such as "The Orphan of Zhao", "Yujiao Pear", "Wonders of Ancient Times", and "Hundred Beauty New Songs". He said with emotion: "Chinese novels have efforts in etiquette, virtue and character. It is precisely because of such solemn adjustment that China has a long history of civilization of thousands of years. After reading the "Notes of Flowers", Goethe was deeply moved and wrote fourteen poems of "The Four Seasons of China and Germany and the Harmony of Morning and Dusk". Wei Lixian, a famous German scholar of Goethe, said when analyzing the creation process of this poem: "To sum up, Goethe was inspired by the "Flower Notes" when he wrote these dozen poems, and his mood was very unstable. He melted and combined the impulses he had received from that book in his mind. His attitude of accepting impulsiveness is alive, not dead. Because he can vividly understand these impulses and go deep behind its scenes, his thinking can directly and deeply match the true spirit of China. Some of the works of the "Ten Talents Book" are not long, which is convenient for translation and promotion at the beginning of cultural exchanges between China and the West. What moved Goethe and the European cultural scene of the time was mainly that for Westerners, these stories were novel. For example, novels such as "Good Biography" have a strange plot, a concise structure, a clean and elegant writing close to the vernacular, and the love stories written are poignant and lingering, which can attract Western readers.
The further prosperity and development of literature and art has improved people's aesthetic standards of literature and art, and the sequence formulated by the "Ten Talents Book" may have been reasonable at that time and can be recognized by people, but with the development of society, there will inevitably be better works in literature and art. In terms of novels, there are Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber", Wu Jingzi's "History of Ru Lin", Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhiyi"; in terms of opera, there are Hong Sheng's "Hall of Eternal Life" and Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan". At this time, when people look at some of the works in the "Ten Talents Book", they feel that it is not enough, and the "Ten Talents Book" is gradually flooded by the smoke and dust of history. Another reason is the ideological demand and transformation of people in the development of history and social change. After the 20th century, there have been many controversies about the social and class nature of literature, believing that literature should serve society and life as the mainstream; later, it has further emphasized the class nature of literature and emphasized that literature should serve the class struggle, and those romance novels, martial arts novels, and public case novels that praise the official lord have been excluded from the mainstream of literature, and the novels of talents and talents such as "Yujiaoli" are even more insignificant. Today, it is necessary for us to clear the stereotypes and rearrange the works of classical literature. As the great American poet Emerson put it: "In every work of genius we can discern the ideas we have abandoned, and they return to our hearts with some solemnity that we have not had before." ”