Open Baidu and search for "Yu Dan", and there are dozens of titles that come into view, including administrative positions, academic part-time jobs, social part-time jobs, etc., Yu Dan is obviously not only a scholar, but also a literati with great social influence.
However, few young people remember her now, why did Yu Dan, who was once a sensation, disappear so quickly?
Image: Stills of the socially influential literati Yu Dan
1. "The Analects" made her popular
Chinese civilization has a long history, but it has to be said that at the beginning of the founding Xi of the People's Republic of China, our traditional culture was neglected, and after the reform and opening up, people were busy developing the economy and learning various foreign languages, and the traditional culture was once again refrigerated for a long time.
Until the mid-to-late 90s, after the rapid economic development of the mainland, people in the tired rush, experienced all kinds of ups and downs before suddenly woke up, our traditional culture is not only of far-reaching significance, more reading can also cleanse the soul, so that in the turbulent and impetuous era more calm and plain, so, "Hundred Lectures" came into being.
At that time, "Hundred Lectures" attracted the attention of the public as soon as it appeared, and people were tired of watching Hong Kong dramas and all kinds of translated films.
Picture: Yu Dan stills from "Hundred Lectures".
And Yu Dan, it is with the help of this platform that the audience discovered her, Yu Dan brought the "Analects" into people's field of vision, she started from a female perspective, more delicate analysis of Confucius's avenue, she can understand the "Analects" from her own growth process, and the summarized moral conception can be more understood and accepted by people.
For example, in her perception, she believes that a woman's growth and her father are the most important, because she herself has been guided by her father's deep and steady love since she was a child, and her father also loves to read the "Analects".
In "The Forum of Hundred Schools", Yu Dan depicts the image of Confucius to everyone in another way. "Heaven and earth are the prince's teacher, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith", Confucius was not a strict teacher, on the contrary, he was a gentle person.
Image: Yu Dan brought "Analects" into people's field of vision
He conveys to people a warm and peaceful attitude towards life, he will not use a tough attitude to express his thoughts, let alone force others to accept his own views, this is the real sage. He brought the truth he had learned from his rich life experience to future generations in a way like a spring breeze.
Therefore, every speech of Yu Dan attracts many people to listen, and many people are willing to accept her gentle explanation, and to understand the perception of Confucius thousands of years ago in a pleasant voice, which has a unique flavor.
In 2006, Yu Dan was the hottest year, she can be regarded as the first generation of Internet celebrities, Yu Dan at that time was like a superstar now, people would rush to take photos with her wherever she went, and she also continued to accept invitations from various units and held more than 1,000 lectures.
However, this heat did not last forever, on the contrary, Yu Dan was violently attacked, causing her to fall off the altar at once.
The picture comes from the Internet: Yu Dan's speech
Second, one wrong step and one wrong step
In fact, many things were foreshadowed at the beginning, because when Yu Dan started to speak, there were not many people who studied the Analects in depth, and everyone was too impetuous, and some people proposed to learn Xi traditional culture, so that many people who wanted to understand ancient culture could not find a shortcut for a while.
Wouldn't it save a lot of trouble if someone had explained these ancient texts in plain modern language at this time? This is also the reason why Yu Dan became popular, because she went to speak it, and it seemed that she spoke it very well at the time.
But everyone ignored one point at the time, Yu Dan told everyone at the beginning that this was some of her own feelings! Her own casual feelings, although they sound interesting and vivid, often deviate from the real meaning.
From Yu Dan's many speeches and books, people later discovered that Yu Dan did not really understand the Analects and the ancient texts.
The picture comes from the Internet: "Analects"
When we learn Xi ancient texts in junior high school textbooks, we will find that many words have many pronunciations and different interpretations in ancient times.
The first major mistake made by Yu Dan was because of the polyphony and polysemy of the ancient text. There is a sentence in "The Analects, Chapter 17, Yang Goods": "Only women and villains are difficult to raise, those who are close are not inferior, and those who are far away are resentful." This sentence is still on the lips of many men, and even praise Confucius Shengming, the truth that has been realized so early, women and children are indeed difficult to raise.
In daily life, this is the joy of life between husband and wife, and the helpless love of parents for their children. Yu Dan explained it this way, she thinks that women are sometimes entangled in some small things, and the truth does not work, just like children, so that many men feel helpless, so there will be "only women and villains are difficult to raise".
The picture comes from the Internet: "Only women and villains are difficult to raise"
As soon as this assertion came out, it was sprayed by many literati, because the whole sentence is read together, and people with a little background in ancient Chinese will know that Confucius is definitely not lamenting the love between men and women. If it is really about women and children, then why is it "close to not inferior, far away is resentful"?
In fact, the meaning of this sentence is as follows: in ancient texts, "female" is the same as "you", which means you, you; Zi is also a nickname; and "raising" is not the meaning of raising and supporting in our daily understanding, but the meaning of education and probation.
Combined with the context, in fact, this is just a sentence that Confucius said when he was angry: You stinky boys, like those naughty children, can't listen to what you say, and you don't listen to a word of what I say, you really me off.
From this point of view, Yu Dan's explanation has completely deviated from the true meaning of Confucius and distorted the original text, but it makes people feel that Confucius has a feeling of dislike for women and children.
Image: Yu Dan interpreting stills from the Analects
Because of the emergence of this huge loophole, many people began to doubt Yu Dan's true cultural level, and they moved their whole body, and finally I really didn't expect that Yu Dan, who was sought after by people, was actually full of academic loopholes, and many so-called explanations were far-fetched, did not respect the original text, and conveyed wrong information to the audience, such a conclusion caused public outrage, and finally made people start to bombard Yu Dan.
As Yu Dan gradually depressed, we also had to re-examine the issue of academics. Carrying forward traditional culture is worthy of recognition, and the original intention of carrying forward the Analects is also the goal that Yu Dan pursued at the beginning, and we can indeed feel her intentions and sincerity from her early writings.
It's just that the superficial pursuit can't resist scrutiny after all, and in the end, the "Internet celebrity" comes and disappears quickly, leaving only infinite sighs and endless redefinition of learning.