Author: Fang Yao (Associate Professor, College of Literature, Fujian Normal University)
With the proposal and implementation of the "Belt and Road" cooperation initiative, how to inherit and carry forward the cultural spirit of the ancient Maritime Silk Road has always been a hot topic of academic attention. The poetry creation of successive generations based on the Maritime Silk Road, full of diverse maritime civilizations, has also attracted great attention from researchers and enthusiasts of classical literature.
As we all know, since Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing, in order to consolidate his rule, starting from the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), he implemented a very strict policy of sea prohibition. Until the ban was lifted during the Longqing period, it took nearly two hundred years. In the late Ming Dynasty, after a short period of lifting the ban, the sea ban was reaffirmed again. The Ming Dynasty thus became the longest and most severe dynasty in China's history to implement the policy of sea prohibition. Affected by the policy of sea prohibition that began in the early Ming Dynasty, most of the scholars and doctors of the Ming Dynasty actually had little "experience in going to the sea". Only some of the sea-related poems written by Zheng He seven times in the Western Ocean in the early Ming Dynasty, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, in response to the harassment of the southeast coast by the Wokou, the occupation of Taiwan and its affiliated islands by Dutch colonists, etc., most of the island coastal defense and coast guard atmosphere poems, and the latter are mostly narrated as a land-dweller.
However, in order to show the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, while implementing the policy of sea prohibition, also sent a large number of emissaries out to demand tribute from surrounding countries, accept the edict, be honored as a vassal, and establish a tributary relationship between the clan and the clan. In the first month of the second year of Hongwu (1369), yang Zai, an envoy, was sent to the throne to edict Japan, Champa, Java, and the Western states. In the first month of the fifth year of Hongwu (1372), he also sent Yang Zai to send an envoy to summon the King of Zhongshan in the Ryukyu kingdom. Since then, the Ryukyu island countries located on the southeast ocean that do not have land access to China have been granted special preferential treatment and care for tributary trade in addition to being crowned king by the Ming court. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the famous "one of the ten talents in Minzhong", Wang Gong's "Wild Song of Grass Ze" Volume IV "Sending People to Ryukyu" poem said: "Fuso has no way but travels in a boat, and the talented son now holds the Han Festival tour." Since the Emperor Weijun rain and dew, so he will crown the Ryukyu. The storm is vast and the sky is dawning, and the island is empty of seas and autumn. Sooner or later, the stars will return to the kingdom, and the special party will see the Capital Tower. ”
The Ming Dynasty's maritime tribute route based on the waters of the East China Sea promoted the frequent exchanges of politics, economy, culture and science and technology between China and Liu, and also provided a rich theme and opportunity for the Ming Dynasty scholars to create marine poems, resulting in many excellent marine poems. For example, in the forty years (1561) of Ming Jiajing,400 years (1561), he sealed guo Rulin's "Collected Writings on Shiquan Mountain", and included 21 of his marine poems on the mission to Ryukyu, including "Navigation Song", "Song of Folding Rudder in the Ocean", "In the Middle of the Ocean", "Hanging Sail", "Fishing Island", "Chiyu Island", "Kaiyang", "Ryukyu Naba Port", and "Ryukyu Return". In the seventh year of the Wanli Dynasty (1579), Xiao Chongye and Xie Jie, who had been enthroned in Ryukyu, were accompanied by "Huanghua Singing and Poetry" in their "Records of Making Ryukyu", which included 18 poems such as "Plum Blossoms Opening the Ocean", "Crossing the Eastern Sand Mountain", "Three Dragon Yin", "Sea Moon Song", and "Water Pavilion Watching Dragon Boats" during their mission to Ryukyu. In the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), as Hu Jing, who was a guest of Ryukyu envoys Du Sance and Yang Lun, after returning to The Ryukyu Dynasty, he wrote "Ryukyu Chronicle" with "Zhongshan Poetry Collection", which included 22 poems in Ryukyu, of which 9 poems involving the sea, such as "Guangshi Yangfan (Two Songs)", "Linhai Temple Listening to Tao (Two Songs)", "Fuguo Temple Guanhai (Four Songs)", "Listening to Hailou and Du Zhi Zhi Zhongshan Huaiyan Two Laws", and so on. In addition to these envoys of the Ming Dynasty and the marine poems they created from personal voyages, there are also a larger number of gifts and exchanges between them and the scholars before and after their mission to Ryukyu, almost all of which deal with marine themes. According to the author's snare, I know that there are 102 kinds of Ming Dynasty poetry collections that contain nearly 200 gift-to-gift poems involving the sea route of Zhongliu, thus becoming a creative subject of Ming Dynasty marine poetry.
Imagery is an indispensable element of poetry creation. Based on a unified theme, it is presented through ingenious combinations of ideas, through the poet's inherent cultural heritage and emotions in specific situations. Therefore, the emergence and expression of imagery is the result of the poet's subjective mentality and the object of nature. The cultural image of ocean poetry is that the poet extracts the emotions that the poet wants to express from the objective marine environment, and expresses the subjective emotions through the objective imagery.
The ocean is vast, mysterious, all-encompassing, and magnificent. However, from the perspective of literary creation and appreciation, when poets capture the image of the ocean and feel nostalgic, they often first transform the "intention" in their hearts into "elephants", and the reader then understands the "intention" in the poet's heart through this "image".
The Ming Dynasty wading into the ocean poetry of Liu, through the poet's chanting, its marine culture imagery is very rich. In summary, the most prominent ones are seascape imagery, mood imagery, island imagery and so on. Readers can experience the implied marine charm and poet's feelings.
Figure 1
Between the middle and the Liu, there are vast vicissitudes, sometimes the water and sky are colorful, and the miles are pure; sometimes the hurricanes and rains, the waves are monstrous. Guo Rulin's "Sailing Song" first depicts "the sea air layer by layer, the terrace pavilion, the sea wave scales and the gold and silver glow." Qiankun is vast and mighty, and the sun and moon are bathed in light and the stars are microscopic", a colorful and magnificent scene of a mirage. It is what his "Song of folding rudders in the Ocean" exclaimed: "The two birds and concubines come from here, and the clouds suddenly darken the gold and silver platform." There is no discernible hurricane suddenly, and the ten thousand horses are still running thunder. The whale swallows the momentum, and the dragon roars and destroys the mountain. Glancing at The Spirit of the Rudder Dry Split, two (see Figure 1) broke the rope for a thousand feet. "In an instant, there may be a tragedy in the belly of a fish. However, when we get to the Diaoyu Islands, it is "a boat on the shore of the sky, and the long wind is thousands of miles." The yellow mole floats far away, and the fishing island is dipped in boming. The mirage mountain will be knotted, and the sound of the waves will be clear. When leaning on the tree, the scene of the roar, the strange view comforts the life", so he wrote this famous song "Diaoyu Island", which depicts a small boat under the vast sea, the Diaoyu Island with quiet waves, and the people who sing along with the tree, the tao flute and the sound. In addition, Xie Jie's "Three Dragons Yin" depicts whether it is a big ship or a lonely maple, compared to the vast and vicissitudes of natural forces, it is also "a suction energy empty Wanhu boat, and the lonely maple resists the three dragon forces". Without the experience of personal sailing experience, it is really impossible to express the image of this scene and a different kind of wonder of the seascape.
The Shang Shu Shun Dian says: "Poetry and Speech. "In the heart for the aspirations, in the speech for the poems." For a long time, most of China's poets have followed the principle of this kind of poetry creation, composing poems and lyrics.
The Zhongliu route is mysterious and unpredictable; the invasion of the Wokou is also a worry. For most of the envoys who have lived on land for a long time and have not set foot in the sea before, the fate of the sea is hanging by a thread, and its psychological pressure is self-evident. The spiritual pillar of Dr. Ryūshi should come from the belief of loyalty to the king and the country. For example, Xiao Chongye's "Song of Greeting Smoke" said: "The danger of the king is always forgotten, and the king's life is light." The word "loyalty and righteousness" is good and alone, and Taishan Hongmao I have! Xie Jie's poem with the same title also says: "Let the king hold the festival without being alarmed, and the king's life is heavy and light." Faithful in life knows no fault, and I am in danger of turmoil! It is also an expression of the bold words that "king's order" is heavier than life, and "loyalty" is heavier than Taishan.
Looking at the moon is a common feeling of ancient and modern times. Looking at the moon on land and looking at the moon on the sea seem to have different imagery. The sea and sky are colorful, and there is no other background scenery, which is more ethereal and lonely. Xiao Chongye's "Haiyue Yong" Yun: "Gui Lu is as bright as water, and the cold incense night is more floating." Herons fly frost to protect feathers, rabbits yixue invades. The poet's sea moon is full of words for "cold", "frost" and "snow". Hu Jing's "Listening to the Tao at Linhai Temple": "Xiao Xiaolan is hanging at the sea gate, and the ancient music is strange and long." When the rhythm of the waves, one day autumn water moon lonely round. One of the "Listening to Hailou and Du Zhi Zhongshan Huaiyan Two Laws": "Listening to the fish and dragons out of the water at night, a statue of the moon wine is frequently poured... Several songs haunt the lonely guest, and several dreams haunt the heart of the old garden. "The sea and the sky are colorful, the autumn moon is lonely and round; the moon is frequent, and the lone guests are thinking; the island country is wandering, and the dream is around the old garden." Combining the time and space of dreams with the real scene of the sea and the moon, and capturing the spatial imagery with literary brushstrokes, it adds a layer of poignant and floating scenes.
The Zhongliu Route usually passes through Dongsha Mountain, Jilong Island, Pengjia Mountain, Hua vase Island, Diaoyu Island, Chiyu Island and other islands, and only enters the Ryukyu territory until it reaches Gumi Mountain. Sailing on the sea, the island is not only a rare natural scenery, but also a coordinate for navigation. The voyager's sustenance for the island symbolizes the prayer for peace. Xiao Chongye and Xie Jie's poem "Seeing the Ballad of the Mountain" reveals the ardent sustenance and peace prayer for the island. Xiao Chongye said: "The water country has traveled tens of thousands of miles, and the end of the world is infinite. Where is the closure of the boat? More recall island Nakayama can refer to... Soul Fei Si Mountain, when looking at the mountain. Fine guard Fei Mu Shi, Ande Yu Gong moved! Boat people frequently point out day by day, saying that the cloud is a mountain and still doubtful. Look at the wave front duck head green, Miao Ran Taicang a grain of millet. Sue suddenly became ecstatic, for example, if he moved out of the empty valley. There are mountains and seas to cross, and mountain boats to see are feasible. Open the brew to make the king drink, and manipulate the king to chant. In addition to such turmoil, only the heavens can solve my heart! Xie Jie even shouted directly: "The water in the boat is better than the pulp, and the mountains in the ocean are like seeing the mother." "After all the storms, a thousand turns, the green sky, the sudden ecstasy, the island imagery, overflowing with words."
All in all, in the specific historical background of the Ming Dynasty's sea ban, the marine poems created based on this Zhongliu route in the east China Sea not only greatly enriched the content and characteristics of the Ming Dynasty poetry, but also played a pivotal role in the marine literature of Chinese dynasties.
Guangming Daily (2021-02-01 13 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily