Why is there only one story of Xie Lingyun in "The New Language of the World"?

The opening page of the ancient book "The New Language of the World".

Dong Shangde

Nowadays, the publication of the "New Language of the World" generally attributes the copyright to "Southern Dynasty Song Liu Yiqing". According to authoritative bibliographies such as the Sui Shu Jingshu Zhi, the Old Tang Shu Jing Shu Zhi, and the New Tang Shu Yiwen Zhi, when this book was written, there were the words "Liu Yiqing, the King of Song Linchuan"; even in the Qing Dynasty's "General Catalogue of the Four Libraries", there has been no second theory, and the catalogue books of official and private cultivation in previous dynasties have remained unchanged.

Liu Yiqing (403–444) was the nephew of Liu Yu, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. His biological father was Liu Daopi (Prince Jing of Changsha), the younger brother of Liu Yu. Liu Yiqing later passed on to the "childless" Liu Daogui (Linchuan Liewu King), the youngest brother of Liu Yu and originally Liu Yiqing's uncle. Liu Daogui died earlier, and Liu Yiqing, as his stepson, was transferred from "Duke of Nanjun" to inherit the title of "King of Linchuan", which was still the life of the "founding emperor" Emperor Liu Yu of Song.

What is a bit troublesome is that the "Song Shu Liu Yiqing Biography" does not mention Liu Yiqing's compilation of the "Shishu Xinyu" (obviously not a "national project"), and the current "Shishu Xinyu" does not have a preface or example of the author, so it is worth exploring the question of what kind of mentality he is engaged in writing.

How to explore Liu Yiqing's inner world?

The author feels that it is advisable to start from the relationship between Liu Yiqing and Liu Yu, the Emperor of SongWu, and Liu Yilong, emperor of Song Wen. In this way, you may be able to find a "secret path" into Liu Yiqing's inner world.

Liu Yiqing was appreciated and valued by his uncle Liu Yu from a young age, and Liu Yu commented on Liu Yiqing as "this my family's Fengcheng also". How to explain this? It is said that in the Western Jin Dynasty Yongping Year (Jin Hui Emperor Year Number, 291), in The Spring and Autumn Period of Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province, unearthed the male and female swords cast by the Chu State cadres and Mo Xie in the Spring and Autumn Period, "Fengcheng" thus became a synonym for "Treasure", so "My Family Fengcheng" Yunyun refers to Liu Yiqing's extraordinary potential and will become a great instrument, which is another saying that the ancients called "Hiding Instrument to Wait". In fact, Liu Yiqing is interested in learning from his uncle in terms of style of behavior, for example, he usually pays great attention to the simplicity of life, not ostentatious, "for sexual simplicity, widowhood ... Appointed to the limean, there is no transgression of adultery", "enough to be the table of the clan room" ("Song Shu Liu Yiqing Biography").

Look at Liu Yu's daily style: "Pure and simple, strict and law-abiding, not looking at the jewelry of the jade and the horse, the back garden has no sound of silk and bamboo." ...... Forbidden inside and out, do not be frugal. At that time, there was a minister named Yuan Yan who called Emperor Wu of Song "the virtue of frugality" (Book of Song and Emperor Wu Benji (Part II)). Don't ignore this, Liu Yu and Liu Yiqing's frugal, strict, and widowed personality cultivation can help us understand why there are many categories of negative evaluations in "The New Language of the World", such as "luxury", "Ren Birthday", "Confusion", etc., which Liu Yiqing wants to deny.

Liu Yiqing was the cousin of Emperor Wen of Song, Liu Yilong, and the difference between the two was 4 years. Looking at this pair of cousins, since they became "monarchs", it can be said that they are quite compatible. There is a point that needs to be analyzed a little, that is, the "Book of Song Liu Yiqing Biography" says that Liu Yiqing is "less good at riding, and long, with the world's road is difficult, and no longer crosses the horse." Commentators believe that the so-called "difficult road to the world" refers to various contradictions within the feudal ruling class, especially the suspicion of Liu Yilong, the Emperor Wen of song, which made the kings and ministers wary and afraid of self-preservation. Therefore, in order to be far away from the disaster of the whole body, Liu Yiqing gathered literary scholars, sent love to literature and history, and edited such a book of clean talk as "The New Language of the World" (Zhou Liang, "Essays on Academic Culture of Zhou Liang", China Youth Publishing House, 1998, pp. 27-31). I cannot fully agree with this view.

It is a fact that Liu Yilong is suspicious of sex and has killed countless people, but it is not in line with the truth to say that Liu Yiqing therefore does not ask about politics and just wants to hide in the local area to "send love and literature and history". It is based on the fact that in the twelfth year of Yuan Jia (435), when Liu Yiqing was the assassin of Jingzhou, Emperor Wen of Song "made officials inside and outside the court raise soldiers", that is, asked officials inside and outside the imperial court to recommend talents, Liu Yiqing recommended a number of people in the table, and called these people of high moral character, or "quiet and simple, chaste and pure", or "learned to be sensitive and sensitive, and practiced Qing xiu", or "faithfully fulfilled the contract, loved and respected Chun Shen", so timely and enthusiastic response, it cannot be said that he was outside the politics of the court. Some of the categories in "The New Language of the World" that express positive evaluations, such as "virtue", "Fangzheng", "Yaliang", etc., are all things that Liu Yiqing wants to affirm.

Moreover, Liu Yiqing "begged for foreign towns" and wanted to leave the capital division, although it cannot be said that there were no political considerations, but it was more related to his own superstitious psychology, yuan jia eight years (431), because "too white star violated right law enforcement", he only proposed to go to the local area ("Song Shu Liu Yiqing Biography"). The "New Language of the World" also records the superstitious psychology of He Yan and others in the Cao Wei period and Wang Dao in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, is there also a certain correlation between them?

Liu Yiqing agreed with the position of the supreme imperial power

Returning to the relationship between Liu Yiqing and Liu Yilong, it can be seen that they often exchanged letters, there has been no conflict, and maintained a normal "monarch-vassal" relationship, and even in the eighteenth year of Yuanjia, that is, 4 years before Liu Yiqing's death, Liu Yilong also specially gave Liu Yiqing the "Kaifu Yi tongsan division"; Liu Yiqing returned to Beijing for treatment after he became seriously ill, most likely out of Liu Yilong's "care". We cannot assume that Liu Yiqing's relationship with him is very tense because liu Yilong has serious character flaws, so that we can infer that Liu Yiqing wrote "The New Language of the World" to "avoid disasters" by saying new words.

Although the compilation of "Shishu Xinyu" is not a "national project", on the basis of combing the relationship between Liu Yiqing and Liu Yu and Liu Yilong, we can also see that the content of "Shishu Xinyu" is both positive and negative, that is, "praise" and "depreciation" are appropriately contrasted, don't look at the whole book, there are 36 categories, but in terms of righteousness, it is a binary structure of "positive and negative" (positive value judgment / negative value judgment). We may find some clues to this binary structure in the relevant historical materials of the Book of Song.

After all, Liu Yiqing was a member of the Liu Song royal family, and Liu Yu and Liu Yilong treated him well, and he would not turn a deaf ear to Liu Yu and Liu Yilong's political ideas and the "theory of the defeat and demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty", and his political stance would not be different from it. When Liu Yu was about to ascend the throne, emperor Gong of Jin issued an edict acknowledging that "the Jin Dynasty was late and there are still many deaths" (Book of Song and Emperor Wu (middle)," in other words, the Eastern Jin dynasty had many problems in governing the country and created a series of crises, which can be said to be the "logical starting point" for the Liu Song regime to replace it. Liu Yiqing will not think about it all the time in his political career.

After Liu Yu ascended the throne, on the one hand, "courtesy" meant that "the Jin Dynasty was sincere in its efforts, the Mandate of Heaven could not be flooded for a long time, and The Chenji could not be temporarily suspended", and he took over the political power himself; on the other hand, Liu Yu also said clearly when he ascended the throne: "The Jin Dynasty moved from the east, and the four dimensions were not vibrant", which led to the "annihilation of the Zong Dynasty" ("Book of Song and Emperor Wu Benji (Part II)"), and made reflections and judgments on the politics of the Eastern Jin regime, which is Liu Yu's "Theory of the Defeat and Fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty", which set the tone for the "Eastern Jin Dynasty Discourse" of the Liu Song regime. It can be seen that speculating on the reasons for the "four-dimensional sluggishness" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was an important topic at that time. Liu Yiqing will not be unmoved in his political career.

After Liu Yilong came to power, the defeated Eastern Jin Dynasty was still the object of the supreme ruler's attention to the people of the world, so he asked his subordinates to "give their own words and point out Chen's gains and losses" (Book of Song and Emperor Wen's Benji). It is worth noting that the rulers of the Liu Song Dynasty had mixed mentalities toward the Jin Dynasty, especially the eastern Jin dynasty figures, for example, for Xie Chao (Xie An's grandson), a descendant of the Xie family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu found that he was attached to dissident forces and quickly eradicated it, without mercy; for Xie Lingyun (Xie Xuan's grandson), who was also a descendant of the Xie family of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Liu Yilong, although he once expressed appreciation, he finally killed him in the name of "rebellion". On the other hand, in order to show the "succession" relationship between the Liu Song regime and the Eastern Jin dynasty (Liu Yu was once a courtier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty), and it was impossible to deny all the eastern Jin dynasty figures, there was a very special measure after Liu Yu came to power: "To feng jin dynasty former chancellor Wang Dao, Taifu Xie'an, the great general Wen Zhao, the grand sima Tao Kan, and the che riding general Xie Xuanzhiqi" (Song Shu Wu Benji (Part II)). In other words, the Liu Song regime held a basic negative attitude toward the politics of the previous dynasty, but did not dare to easily deny the figures of the previous dynasty. But in any case, there are "right and wrong" judgments. This is the deep reason for the existence of a binary structure of "yes and no" at the level of the doctrine of the New Language of the World. Liu Yiqing is basically consistent with Liu Yu and Liu Yilong on this point.

Liu Yiqing did not like Xie Lingyun

There is a small person who can help us understand what kind of mentality Liu Yiqing holds towards people with literary style and frivolity. This person's name is He Changyu, and he is a good friend of Xie Lingyun. The "Book of Song and the Biography of Liu Yiqing" records that when Liu Yiqing was assassinating the history of Jiangzhou, he had "He Changyu of the East China Sea" by his side. In other words, He Shi was once one of Liu Yiqing's "literary bladders". According to the "Biography of Xie Lingyun in the Book of Song", when He Changyu was Liu Yiqing's "staff member", he once ridiculed his colleague Lu Zhan and others in a frivolous tone, causing "Yiqing to be angry", reported it to the imperial court, and sent He Shi to Lingnan to become a "rogue person". By the time Liu Yiqing died, the He clan was still in Lingnan and had not returned to the north. This is equivalent to saying that Liu Yiqing did not want to see this person again until he died (with Liu Yiqing's power, it was not difficult to let He Shi return), and it can be seen that Liu Yiqing was determined to be so thorough. Compared with the personalities of He and Xie Lingyun, there are many similarities: the same literary talent (He Was once the brother of Xie Lingyun and the teacher of Xie Huilian, a famous literary scholar of the Southern Dynasty), is also mercurial, and the same is extreme and frivolous. After Xie Lingyun's death (Xie died in the tenth year of Yuan Jia, 433), probably in the sixteenth year of Yuan Jia (439), He became Liu Yiqing's assistant. It is said that there are many stories of Xie Lingyun (only the "Book of Song and The Biography of Xie Lingyun" records a lot), once upon a time, He Shi, who was familiar with Xie Lingyun, was around, and Liu Yiqing would not fail to understand Xie's many interesting past events. If Liu Yiqing liked Xie Lingyun, he could have compiled more of Xie Lingyun's stories into the book, but in the "New Language of the World", Xie Lingyun's story is only one, and it is negative ("Speech" Gate 108, which tells Xie Lingyun's behavior is very artificial). Liu Yiqing's evaluation of Xie Lingyun is self-evident.

In fact, if we talk about words and deeds, Xie Lingyun and Xie Xuan, Xie An, and even Wang Dao, Wang Yan, and so on, can be described as the wind gods are interconnected and inherited; and Wang Dao, Wang Yan, and so on are "spiritually connected" with the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest, the Famous Scholars of the Beginning, and are good at "clear talking", which has become their common "label". According to the "Book of Song and The Biography of Xie Lingyun", Xie Lingyun's personality is multi-faceted, such as his "sexual luxury, bright car clothes", which is similar to Xie Xuan's exquisite dress; he likes to "wander around", which is similar to Xie An's "Dongshan Joy"; he is rough and careless about official business, which is similar to the grinning Xie Wan (Xie An's brother). In fact, there are many similar stories of the Xie family in "The New Language of the World". Therefore, the Liu Song regime, especially the Song Emperor Liu Yilong, was extremely reserved on the use of Xie Lingyun, and the "Book of Song and the Biography of Xie Lingyun" clearly wrote: "Spiritual fortune is extreme, more contemptuous, and the imperial court only treats it with literary righteousness, not with the truth." In other words, Xie Lingyun's frivolous personality was not conducive to the development of his career, he was "controlled and used" by the imperial court, and things that really had "real power" would not be arranged for him to do. Among them, the four words of "multi-degree of etiquette" are its "key points", which refers to violations of the common sense of etiquette and behavior. On the other hand, in "The World Speaks a New Language", the story of "more contempt and courtesy" in it is mostly, can this not attract our special attention?

Liu Yiqing's negative attitude toward Xie Lingyun forced us to re-examine his writing mentality by "peeping in the panther". It can be said that Liu Yiqing is always reflecting on the "Wei and Jin Dynasty", although it cannot be said to be completely denied, but it is not blindly appreciated, let alone used as a "textbook cultivated by famous scholars". If one only thinks about why the whole book has an inherent "positive and negative binary structure", you will understand that this is a big book full of "reflection" meaning, containing the "Eastern Jin Dynasty Discourse" of the Liu Song Regime.

(The subtitle of the article is added by the editor.) Dong Shangde, Professor, Department of Chinese, Sun Yat-sen University)