First, understanding the author's living state is one of the important bases for interpreting the work
Mr. Lu Xun wrote in his "Two Collections of Miscellaneous Essays on the Jieting Pavilion • Title Undetermined Grass VII":
I always thought that if I wanted a paper, it was better to take into account the whole article, and to take into account the whole person of the author, and the social state in which he lived, which was more certain. Otherwise, it would be easy to get close to a dream. ［1］
This is the conclusion put forward by Mr. Lu Xun as a novelist and researcher of novel history. As an expert in comparative literature research, Mr. Li Chendong also pointed out:
The understanding of a work must at least start from the two aspects of the times and personality. The so-called era refers to the consciousness of the times arising from economic production relations. This sense of the times is the author's target for creation, and at the same time, it is also the reader's pleasure. The so-called individuality refers to the individual consciousness formed by the special environment, education, lineage, life, etc., and this personal consciousness is the cause of the characteristics of a combination of a work. Although the consciousness of the times is the same as each other, if the individual consciousness is different, the understanding of life and the method of creation will also be different. From this point of view, it can be seen that it is not enough to work only on the aspects of editions, retrospectives, stories, rules, and so on. ［2］
Mencius Ten Thousand Chapters Under the Clouds: "Praise his poems, read his books, do not know his people? It is also about its world. He clearly put forward the viewpoint of "knowing people and discussing the world".
In fact, the epistemologist is also needed, especially when studying classic works and the authors of classic works, the author's situation of the times and the awareness of the times become one of the foundations of all research.
Without this foundation, all research on classics can only be seen as the appreciation and analysis of classics by individuals in different eras, and the inevitable estrangement between the ideas and aesthetics of the works, that is, the author's thoughts, expression themes, techniques, etc., which is what Mr. Lu Xun calls "almost dreaming".
Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", lived in 18th-century China, limited to information, although we have a relatively clear understanding of his time, but for the author's personal life, living conditions, ideological evolution, academic literacy, creative rhythm and so on lack of attention and understanding.
It is for this reason that Hu Shi, one of the important researchers of "Dream of the Red Chamber", has a very low evaluation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and its author Cao Xueqin, writing in a letter to Su Xuelin on November 20, 1960:
I wrote tens of thousands of words to examine "Dream of the Red Chamber", and almost did not say a word praising the literary value of "Dream of the Red Chamber"... My calm view is that among the literati of The new and old kings and grandsons of Manchuria and the sons of the Han Army, Cao Xueqin is the most talented, but unfortunately, although he has genius, his family environment and social environment, as well as the entire Chinese literary background at that time, did not have the opportunity to develop and cultivate literature. In that shallow and self-styled background, the insights and literary techniques of "Dream of the Red Chamber" will certainly not be clever there... Unfortunately, his poverty and illness did not allow him to write calmly and calmly change and cut. His "Dream of the Red Chamber", according to our current reliable information, was copied with the copy to exchange money for grain to live. ［3］
This shows from one side how important it is to understand the life and social travel of classic writers. ［4］
The author's "Biography of Cao Xueqin" has elaborated on Cao Xueqin's identity, era policies, family property, and relatives[5], and published "Cao Xueqin's Friendship with Relatives" in the 10th issue of "Literature and History Knowledge" in 2015, but now it seems that it has little impact.
Although the academic circles have a very high evaluation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Hu Shi's so-called Cao Xueqin's poverty and destitution in her later years still dominates the red academic circles, affecting the interpretation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" under the domination of this consciousness - even if many people more or less know that Cao Xueqin's relatives are Li Wang, Ping Wang, a certain prince, a waiter, the general manager of Changchun Garden, and many other people in power, they still think that Cao Xueqin is poor and has no opportunity to contact the upper echelons.
Fortunately, with the emergence of relevant materials and the emphasis on Cao Xueqin's life and travel, it has gradually become more possible to understand Cao Xueqin's life and creative state, and this exploration has opened another possible gap for today's interpretation of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Second, two new materials and Gu Bin's investigation of the two materials
The so-called "new" materials refer to Zhang Dayong's "Ziyi Yue Zhai Calligraphy and Paintings" (Zhu Xinhua's "A Historical Material on Cao Qinxi", Shanghai Wen Wei Po, March 30, 2011) and the Guizhou Provincial Museum's "Album of Paintings of Cao Xia, Planters of Qinqin" (Zhao Zhu, "A Preliminary Identification of the Authenticity and Falsity of Cao Xia's Painting Album of Qinqin People", Guizhou Literature and History Series, No. 4, 1988) [6].
The first of the "albums" of the "Album Category" of the "Zi Yi Yue Zhai Calligraphy and Paintings" (Daoguang Fourteenth Year Jia Wu Edition) is the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Collection", and the eighth volume of the "Compilation" has Chen Haoshu Li Bai's "Qiu Deng Xuancheng Xie Shuo North Building" poem Hou Bao, Yun:
Cao Junqinxi brought Li Fengchang to imitate Yunlin to paint six paintings, and asked for a book. Autumn lights are drunk, and smoke clouds float between the scales, because there are several lines written along with it. He saw Gu Zhai from time to time, and he didn't know why. Raw incense old man pen again.
The sixth picture of the melon picture of the "Cao Xia Album of The Seed Celery Man" is "Cao Xia and Title".
In 2013, Gu Bin published the article "Guizhou Library Collection of < Kinds of Celery Cao Xia Album > Interpretation" in the seventh series of the "Dream of the Red Chamber Research Series" in 2013, merging the two paintings for examination.
Gu Bin inspected the inscription of Chen Benjing on the fifth map of the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Compilation Album" and the seventh picture chen Benjing inscription in the "Painting Album of The Seed Qin Man Cao Xia", and the father-son relationship between Chen Benjing and Chen Hao (Zi Lan), the author of the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Album", and pointed out:
Through the above combing and analysis, we found that the "Cao Xi of the Seed Celery Man" in the "Painting Album of the Seed Celery Man Cao Xia" and the "Cao Junqin Xi" in the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Album" were linked to Chen Hao and Chen Benjing's father and son in the same year, that is, the seed celery cao xi → Zhongsi Chen Benjing ══Chen Hao ← Cao Junqinxi. That is to say, Chen Benjing's inscription for the "Cao Xia Album of The Planter of Celery" is not a matter without roots, and Cao Xueqin's contacts with the Chen family may be relatively close.
Gu Bin also inspected the "Chen Benjing Book Poetry Manuscript" auctioned by the ancient book Ruler Famous Ink Collection of Shanghai Jinghua Art Auction Co., Ltd. in the autumn of 2001, and the "Su Body" division, the signature, and seal of Chen Benjing's calligraphy works at the 10th fine auction of ancient calligraphy and paintings of Beijing Poly International Auction Co., Ltd. in the spring of 2010, and pointed out:
The inscription of the seventh picture of Chen Benjing in the "Album of Cao Xia of the Seed Celery Man" is also in the Su style, and the inscription of the fifth picture has the meaning of yan body. However, the signatures of the two inscriptions are quite similar to the signatures of the two chen benjing works at auction. The drop print "Chen Ben Jingyin" and "Zhongsi", and the first print "Jade Kettle Ice" are exactly the same. In this inference, The inscription of Chen Benjing in the "Album of Cao Xia, a Seed Celery Man" will not be a false trust by posterity.
Through the investigation of Chen Benjing in the two albums and the consistency of Chen Benjing's calligraphy seal, Bin pointed out that the Guizhou Museum's collection of "Cao Xia's Album of The Seed Celery Man" is reliable.
It should be said that Gu Bin's evidence and logic are reasonable, which is also the most solid research on Cao Xueqin's two materials at present.
3. Interpretation of the evidence and logic of relevant challenges
After Gu Binwen was published, it aroused the attention of the academic community to the two materials, and also caused many doubts. To sum up, there are about the following questions in the academic community.
(1) On the gap between the artistic standard of "Cao Xia's Album of Planters" and Cao Xueqin
Mr. Ji Zhiyue believes that the paintings of the "Cao Xia Album of the Planters" are of low standard, and cao Xueqin, who is not able to write poetry and painting,[7] pointed out that this picture is "a vulgar pile of pen and ink, and in any case it cannot be associated with the Xueqin Caozi who 'strikes stones to sing langlang' and is good at painting stones".[8]
Historically, appraisers and researchers of Cao Xueqin's cultural relics often have such a line of thinking, but there are several "uncertain" premises in this attitude and way:
1, the height of art, the wisdom of the opinion, even such as Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian and other works, there are different opinions in the understanding of various critics, so the level of artistic standards of art works is difficult to evaluate, and it is difficult to be used as a "standard" for examining the authors of works of art - Mr. Zhao Zhu believes that the album has a clean brushwork and elegant style; in particular, the aesthetics of cultural scholars are different from those of specialized artists, so the above views cannot be used as "evidence" for the examination of the Guizhou Museum's "Cao Xia Album of The SeedEr".
2. There is no "exact" Cao Xueqin's paintings found now, and her personal artistic style has many manifestations (in the traditional era, literati painters have many figures, birds, landscapes, sketches, capitalization, and brushwork). Without reference, how can we deny the relationship between "other works" and Cao Xueqin according to the description of "specific works" in several current poems?
It can be seen that the commentator's way of thinking is more dominated by emotions than more emphasis on evidence and rationality, and to some extent, this kind of thinking is contrary to the basic methods of examination research.
(2) On the issue of "Xin Wei Autumn Day" in Chen Hao's inscription in the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Compilation Album"
1. The time of the painting may not necessarily be the same day
Mr. Liu Guangding pointed out that Chen Hao's inscription on the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Collection" has the inscription "Xin Wei Autumn Day", but qianlong twenty-six years (Xin Wei) Autumn Chen Hao is not in Beijing, Chen Hao's poems have "Xin Wei ZhengYue, Ke Bian Cheng, Genghua Xiao Ruan sent several daffodils ..." "Xin Mi October, from the city of Fencheng into the capital, the students sent far to Shiheyi." On that day, rain and snow carried the way, late to the new store, but sent" so in the autumn of the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong Chen Hao could not have painted an inscription for Li Shizhuo (Trumpet Gu Zhai) [9].
It should be said that Mr. Liu Guangding's evidence is extremely powerful negative "hard evidence". The question is, is the "time of payment" of the inscription of the painting "necessarily" the time of the inscription? Even if the inscription is "general", the time of the inscription "day" falls.
Actually, not necessarily. If the paintings and inscriptions are made for special events of special people and special time nodes, the "time of payment" of the inscription may not necessarily coincide with the "time of inscription".
2, Qianlong Xin Weiqiu is a noteworthy time node
Specific to why Chen Hao fell into the "Xin Wei Autumn Day" in the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Compilation Album", because there is no evidence, it is not easy to speculate, but the special event of "Xin Wei Autumn Day" seems to be worthy of attention.
In fact, the kings have already paid attention to this point in time. For example, Huang Yinong's "Examination of Cao Xueqin's Existing Poems and Paintings" and Dong Zhixin's "Selling Paintings to Pay for a Restaurant- A Side of Cao Xueqin's Calligraphy and Painting Activities in His Later Years" have all noted that November of the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong (Xin Wei, 1761) was the seventieth birthday of The Qianlong Emperor's mother, Empress Chongqing, and that Li Shikuo and Chen Hao, the two authors of "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Collection", participated in this meeting[10].
In short, if Cao Qinxi asks Chen Hao for a special event at a special time for someone or in place of someone, the time of Chen Hao's inscription is not necessarily "necessarily" the "day" of the inscription.
3. In the autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, Chen Hao was in the Beijing Division
In fact, in the autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, Chen Hao was in The Beijing Division, and at this time, there was time for Cao Qinxi to write an inscription.
Chen Hao's "Lamentations of Li Sheng's Qiu Pu" wrote: "Li Shengyu, the word Qiu Pu ... It didn't take months. Qianlong twenty-five years in August also ... Yu Shishi returned to the north with family affairs, and it was more than a month since he came and died. Chen Hao also had a poem "Gengchen June 18, from the city of Beicheng into the capital, after crossing the river, back to send the sons of the academy."
That is to say, in the summer and autumn season of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, Chen Hao returned to Beijing from Kaifeng due to family affairs, and returned to Kaifeng in the first month of the following year. That is, in the autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, Cao Qinxi asked Chen Hao to write an inscription for a special time event in the autumn of the twenty-sixth year of Qianlong (Xin Wei), at this time, Chen Hao's inscription fell "Xin Wei Autumn Day" is completely ok.
(3) On the issue of watermelons and pumpkins in the "Album of Cao Xia, a Planter of Parsleys"
There is also a view that the sixth painting in the "Album of Cao Xia of the Seed Celery Man" is clearly painted with pumpkins, and the inscription is cloudy:
Cold rain and cold smoke lie in the dust, and the Akita vine bottom is picked new.
Phi Tukong envied the taste of the East Gate, and died of thirst to death many annoying people.
For example, Wu Peilin, Yang Zhongyou, Hu Tieyan, Shao Lin, etc. may question whether the inscription (Yong Watermelon) is different from the picture (like a pumpkin), or question whether there is still a watermelon in Beijing in the early autumn.
For these doubts, we must first understand whether the watermelon in the painting of the Qing Dynasty literati in the lowercase intention must not be painted in such a shape. I have few opinions and dare not make such a conclusion, but at least this kind of doubt cannot be the evidence that the "Cao Xia Album of the SeedLer" is true.
Is there a reason why the picture is as obvious as a pumpkin, but the inscriptionist can't see it?! And this "apparent discord on the surface" can only show that in the "consciousness" of the painter and the inscriptionist (and the painter alone, so the figure falls "for the seed of the celery cao xia and the title"), this melon is painted into this shape is perfectly normal.
In addition, there is a possibility that the picture depicts neither a watermelon nor a pumpkin, but a melon.
The "Dongmen flavor" in "Phi Tu Kong Envy Dongmen Flavor" is a reference to "Tanglin melon". The "History of Xiao Xiangguo's Family" contains:
Summoner, former Marquis of Dongling of Qin. Qin Pu, clothed, poor, planted melons in the east of Chang'an City. Guamei, so the world calls it "Tanglin melon", from the name of Zhaoping.
The word "melon" generally refers to taste. Also, Nguyen's "Yong Huai Poem" Yun:
In the past, I heard that The Tanglin melon was close outside the Qingmen Gate.
Walk away from the stranger, the child and mother hook belt.
Five colors shine in the morning, and guests meet in all four faces.
The anointing fire is self-inflicted, and the wealth is a scourge.
Cloth can be a lifetime, and pampering is enough.
ZhaoPing was a native of the Western Han Dynasty, and Ruan was a Native of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, and at that time, there were no watermelons or pumpkins in the Central Plains. According to Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", watermelon entered China in the Liao Dynasty, pumpkin entered China in the Ming Dynasty, and Yunnan melon could not be eaten raw.
It can be seen that the melon planted by Zhao Ping is a local melon, and the melon of Ruan Yuan is also a melon. This can be proved in Ruan's "Yong Huai Poem" poem, whose cloud "five colors shine brightly in the sun", that is, it shows that the melon planted outside the East Gate of Chang'an is rich in grain and color, which is the characteristic of melon.
As for the question of the ripening time of Watermelon in Beijing, the Compendium of Materia Medica also records:
Rui Yue: "The Khitan broke back to the silk, and began to get this kind of thing, and planted it with cow dung." Strong as a bucket, round as a dagger, colored as green jade, seed as gold, or black as hemp. There are many in the north. ”
Shi Zhen said: "According to Hu Zhao's "Record of The Trapped Prisoners", he said: 'The name of the watermelon is watermelon.' 'Then watermelons began to enter China in the fifth dynasty, and now they are available in both the north and the south, and the southern ones are slightly less flavorful, and melons and the like are also. Planted in February, it grows, the flowers and leaves are like melons, and ripen in July and August. ”
Li Shizhen's so-called watermelon "ripe in July and August" refers to the fact that the watermelon can be ripe in july and August of the lunar calendar, which is the autumn time. Nowadays, the "Akita" and "Cold Rain and Cold Smoke" in the inscription poems of the paintings are not exactly the time when the watermelon ripens?
In short, when we examine historical things, we must strive to return to the era of the things we are examining to think about problems, rather than using today's knowledge to consider.
Fourth, about Cao Qinxi and Cao Xueqin
Mr. Liu Guangding has always expressed doubts about whether Cao Qinxi and Cao Xueqin are one person in the "Chunliutang Poetry Manuscript", and in his article "Li Gu Zhai Mo Shan Shui Chen Zilan Character Collection", in response to the record that "Cao Junqinxi brought Li Fengchang to imitate the six qualities of Yunlin paintings", he also expressed doubts about the relationship between Cao Qinxi and Cao Xueqin, Yun:
Except for the poem "Chun Liu Tang Poetry Manuscript and Cao Xueqin's Original Rhyme of the Western Suburbs Walking And Ruined Temple" cannot mean that Cao Xueqin and Qinxi residents are the same person, and the poems of Dun Min and Dun Cheng do not say that Cao Xueqin has the name of Qinxi... Dun Min's "Mao Zhai Poetry Banknote"... "Inscribed Qinpu Painting Stone" and in "Gifting Qinpu" refer to it as "selling painting money to pay the restaurant", indicating that Cao Xueqin painted with the name of Qinpu instead of Qinxi or other signatures.
In the author's opinion, the easiest mistake to make in doing research is to use one piece of evidence to negate another different piece of evidence, without considering the reasons for the disagreement. This unidirectional way of thinking greatly hinders the in-depth study of academic research.
Why does Cao Xueqin paint with the name of "Qin Garden" and not use Qinxi or other signatures? Didn't Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin use many names for his inscription poems, such as Neem Pavilion, Li Xuan, Xue Qiao, Que Yu Ting, Liu Shan Ju Shi, Cotton Dao Ren, Zi Xue Xuan, Zi Xue An Lord, Xi Tang Flower Sweeper, Xiao Weng, Liu Shan Shu Shu and so on? Why can his ancestors be like this, and his people cannot be like this?
In fact, the brothers Dun Min and Dun Cheng call Cao Xueqin differently, Dun Cheng called him "Xue Qin", such as "Sending Cao Xueqin", "Giving Cao Xueqin", "Sabre Wine Song", etc.; and Dun Min called him XueQin, or called him Qin Garden, such as "Qin Pu Cao Jun Xia Bei has been here for more than a year... Because of the old things of calling wine, I feel the long sentences", "The painting stone of the inscription qin garden", "The gift of the qin garden", "Visiting Cao Xueqin is not worth it", "The small poem daijian sent Cao Xueqin", "The river stem collection drinking wall, and hanging snow parsley" and so on.
Zhang Yiquan's "Chunliutang Poetry Manuscript" contains "Titled Qinxi Resident", "He Cao Xueqin 'Western Suburbs Walking And Abandoned Temple' Original Rhyme", "Wounded Qinxi Resident", "Huai Cao Qinxi", indicating that Zhang Yiquan knew people called "Cao Xueqin" and "Cao Qinxi"; and the first time in the Jia Shu Ben "Reappraisal of The Stone Record of Fat Yan Zhai" wrote: "Later, because Cao Xueqin read it for ten years in mourning Hongxuan, it was added and deleted five times, compiled into a catalog, and divided into chapters, then the title was "Jinling Twelve Chao". Mei Ping wrote:
If Yun Xueqin read the additions and deletions, then who wedge this wedge opened to this point? This shows the author's pen, cunning is even more so. There are many such cases later. This is exactly where the author uses the painter's smoke cloud to blur, and the viewer must not be hidden by the author, fang is a giant eye.
The thirteenth reply to the last comment is cloudy:
Qin Keqing mourned Tianxiang Lou, and the author used historical pen also. Old decay because of the soul of the Feng sister Jia family after the two things, is the rich and honorable sitting people can think of getting somewhere? Although the matter was not leaked, its words and meanings were sadly convincing, and it was forgiven, because the order of Qinxi was deleted.
Looking at the above information, it can be seen that Cao Xueqin and Cao Qinxi are one person, that is, the author of "Stone Record". From this, it can also be proved that Zhang Yiquan's Cao Xueqin and Cao Qinxi should also be one person.
In response to the thirteenth reply to the last criticism, Mr. Liu Guangding believes: "Although there is a Name for Qinxi, it is debatable whether it refers to the author (Cao Xueqin). ”
I don't know what the rationale for this view is.
Cao Qinxi is not Cao Xueqin, not the author of the "Book of Stones", so why did the critics ask him to delete The Incident of Qin Keqing's Obscene Funeral tianxiang Lou in the "Book of Stones"? What right does Cao Qinxi have to delete it? It can be said that the above two lipograms clearly tell the reader that Cao Xueqin and Cao Qinxi are one person and the author of the "Stone Record".
The reason why Mr. Liu Guangding could not face up to this logic and conclusion was related to his negative attitude towards the "Chunliutang Poetry Manuscript".
In fact, after Mr. Huang Yinong found several books in different libraries of the "Chunliutang Poetry Manuscript", this way of using the "Poetry Manuscript" to deny the "Chunliutang Poetry Manuscript" to Cao Xueqin's record has lost any possibility of being established -- now the doubt about the relevant poetic annotation form in the "Poetry Manuscript" can only exist as a doubt or a problem that needs to be explored, and cannot be used as evidence.
Fifth, an important node: the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong
(1) Qianlong Twenty-four Years, He's Book of "Reappraisal of Stones by Fat Yan Zhai", prince Of Yi Hongxiao family
There is a time information that is extremely important in the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Album", that is, the inscription of the sixth figure of the "Li Gu Zhai Ink Landscape Chen Zilan Character Compilation Album" is Qian Weicheng, and its time drop is "The second day of the summer noon and the second day".
己卯, that is, the noon moon of the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (己卯, 1759), that is, the fifth month of the lunar calendar.
The twenty-fourth year of Qianlong is a special node in the history of Cao Xueqin and "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the "Heji" in the "Book of The Reappraisal of the Stones" of "Fat Yan Zhai" has the words "己卯冬月定本"; moreover, this book avoids the "Xuan" character of the Kangxi Emperor Xuan Ye and the "禛" character of the Yongzheng Emperor Yin Chen, not only that, but also avoids the "Xiang" character of Prince Yunxiang of Yi and the "Xiao" character of Prince Hongxiao of Xiaoyi, indicating that this book is from the YiWangFu of the Qianlong Period, and during the Qianlong period, Cao Xueqin and the YiwangFu were extremely closely related.
Li Shizuo, who was partially plotting, was also extremely close to the YiWangfu, Yunxiang was the banner master of the Zhenglan Banner where Li Shizhao was located, and Yunxiang's son-in-law Fu Zengge and Zhang Binhe, the western seat of the Yiwang Mansion, were all close friends of Li Shizuo for more than ten years.
In summary, it is quite suspicious that in the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong, Li Shizuo made these six imitations of Ni Yunlin (倪瓒, a painter and poet of the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, known as Yunlinzi) landscapes, and Qian Weicheng wrote an inscription for it, and by the summer and autumn of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, it was a special time event for Xin Wei in the twenty-sixth year (quite suspicious of this matter or related to Hongxiao), and Cao Qinxi brought this map to Chen Hao, asked Chen Hao to write an inscription, and dropped the time of "Xin Wei Autumn Day".
(2) Chen Hao, Qian Weicheng, Fucha Changling, and Cao Yin
In fact, Chen Hao and Qian Weicheng are also related to Chang Ling, a relative of Cao Xueqin. Chang Ling , of the Fu cha clan , whose father Fu Nai served as Shangshu of the Punishment Department , and whose mother was the sister of Cao Yin. Changling has a large collection of books, and a large number of books come from the Cao family. Volume IV of Zhao's "Miscellaneous Records of the Shouting Pavilion" "Changling Collection" contains:
Fu cha Tai Shi Chang Ling, Fu Ge Feng Shang Shu Zi, Sex Delay Book History, Chu Qian Yi Tang, Dan Lead Ten Thousand Scrolls, Jin Axis Toothpick for a moment of prosperity. Although Tongzhitang has a large collection of books, its essence is as contemptuous as it is.
And Li Wenzao's "Liulichang Bookstore" is cloudy:
Yanqingtang Liu clan bought dozens of books from the inner city during the summer, each of which had the "Cao Neem Pavilion Seal" and the "Changbai Shi Cha Clan Io Zhai Changling Book", which was covered by the Cao clan and attributed to Changling. Chang Lingguan to bachelor, Neem Ting's nephew also.
The Xi Dynasty Ya song collection, vol. 39, three times: "Chang Ling, the character Jin, the word Jin, the word Jing Zhai, the Bingbu Shangshu Fu Naizi, the Manchurian." Yongzheng 癸卯進士, 改庶吉士, Sanguan, Grant Review, And Tieguan Hanlin Academy Attendant Lecturer. "Yongzheng 癸卯 is the first year of Yongzheng (1723).
Chen Hao, who wrote the inscription for the painting, was a Member of the Jiachen Branch in the second year of Yongzheng (1724), and Qian Weicheng was a qianlong ten-year champion, who had been an official to read a bachelor's degree and a bachelor's degree, and changling seemed to have intersected.
In addition, gan shituo, who was also a student of Gao Qipei's calligraphy and painting with Li Shizuo, and his uncle Gan Guoji was a cousin of Cao Yin.
In short, whether from the yi wangfu, or from the Changling and Gan families, Li Shizhuo, Chen Hao and others can be associated with Cao Xueqin.
Sixth, about planting melons and seed parsley
As Gu Bin pointed out in the article "Guizhou Library Collection of Cao Xia's Painting Album of The Seed OfCepters", whether it is planting vegetables or planting melons, it is a synonym for the ideal (or declared ideal) living conditions of Chinese traditional knowledge elements. Gu Bin also examined the relationship between "seed parsley" and celery mountain in the northeast of Beijing's Santun City (Liaojinshi Feng Tangqing knotted celery in front of the mountain).
The investigation of the word "seed parsley" helps us to understand the "parsley" of "snow parsley", "celery garden" and "celery creek".
On January 25, 1980, Zhou Cezhong wrote in the "Preface" of Cao Xueqin's Small Biography to Zhou Ruchang:
I might as well cite a small thing to testify to that. He explained the word "snow parsley" in the first edition of the "Dream of the Red Chamber New Certificate": "I am afraid that it was taken from Su Rui's "New Spring" poem 'Father Yuan first picked the snow bottom parsley'. Later, in the book "Cao Xueqin" published in 1964, he added the verse "or Fan Chengda's 'Jade Snow Celery Buds Pulling Out the Long'." When I read this, I felt that although such an annotation seemed reasonable, the real intention of Xueqin should still be Su Shi's "Eight Songs of Dongpo". I told some students that I wanted to write a skit to supplement it, but it was delayed by something else. Later, when I read the 1976 revised edition of Ru Chang's "New Certificate", I saw that he had indeed added a parenthesis to the absolute sentence of Fan Chengda's "Pastoral": "See su Shi's "Eight Songs of Dongpo" No. 3: 'The mud parsley has roots, and an inch is alone; when the snow buds move, the spring dove can be done. This little thing is a good example of his spirit of continuous diligence and recourse.
Of course, I might as well add a little bit of my personal insight here. Why do I say that this poem is the origin of "Snow Parsley"? To understand this, we must first explain the historical background and symbolism of Su Dongpo's use of this "snow" and "parsley". According to Su Shi's accusations in the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), he was arrested and interrogated and imprisoned by Yushitai for his poems "ridiculing current events", teaching people to destroy the "righteousness of honoring the king", and "insulting officials slowly". This is the famous "Wutai Poetry Case" in history. According to Dongpo himself afterwards, the officials went to his house to search for it, and the momentum was fierce, and his family was "scared to death" of the old and the young, and his family rushed to burn all his manuscripts. Relatives and deceased people are scattered. The situation is a bit like the horrific situation of raiding homes described in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Of course, we do not know whether this time it is Xueqin's original manuscript, but I think that when Xueqin wrote about the home raiders in the original manuscript, I am afraid that its situation will also have something in common with the horrific situation of the raiders described by Dongpo. When Ru Chang wrote about the situation of raiding homes in the Ming and Qing dynasties in this book, there are similar examples, and the "New Certificate" supplement cites the "Yongxian Record" also has an example of "the death of young children".
Because Mr. Zhou Ruchang's "Small Biography of Cao Xueqin" has been published many times under different titles, the influence is huge, and the interpretation of "Xueqin" by Mr. Zhou Ruchang and Zhou Cezhong is also quite influential.
However, it should be pointed out that since there is no relevant evidence, this interpretation is more of a "possible interpretation" of "possible allusions", accurate or not, and there is no proof.
However, the appearance of the "Album of Cao Xia, the Seed Of Parsley" and Gu Bin's examination of "Seed Celery" prove that the word "Qin" in Cao Xueqin's many numbers should be said to be "hidden return" (the yearning for the sentiments of the hidden return to Gaoshi), rather than the understanding of the two weeks.
As for Su Shi's "Eight Songs of Dongpo", "Mud parsley has roots, and an inch is alone." When the snow buds moved, how should the spring dove be understood, whether it reflected Su Shi's state of mind of panic after being intimidated by the Wutai poetry case, whether it reflected Cao Xueqin's mentality after raiding his home and his attitude towards the Qing government, the author thinks, when combined with the before and after textual examination of the poem. Su Shiyuan Shiyun:
Last night the south mountain was cloudy, and the rain was outside a plough. Looking for reasons and blasphemy, I know that I am absurd.
Clay parsley has a root, and an inch is alone. When the snow buds move, the spring dove can be done (Shu people guiqin buds, mixed dove meat made of it).
As far as the poem is concerned, it seems difficult to perceive what special meaning the words "mud parsley" and "snow bud" in the poem have. Combined with the poems that followed, one might see some clues, clouds:
Before planting rice, I can count the pleasures. The hair is empty and the spring is dark, and the needle water smells good (the Shu people use drizzle as rain hair. When the rice was first born, the farmer talked about the rice needle out of the wood).
Divide the seedlings and early summer, and gradually enjoy the wind and leaves. The moon looked at the dew, and one by one the beads hung down.
Autumn frost spikes are heavy, upside down. However, when the grasshoppers are heard, the grasshoppers are like wind and rain (when the rice is ripe in Shu, the grasshoppers fly in the field, like small locusts, but do not harm the rice).
The new scoop is then put into the basket, and the jade grain is illuminated by the basket. I have long eaten official warehouses, red rot and other dirt.
When the industry knows this taste, I have promised it. Good farmers cherish the soil, fortunately this decade of famine.
The mulberry is not yet completed, and a wheat can be expected. Less than a month after the planting, the overburden has become green.
The farmer told me not to make Miao Yechang. If a king wants to be rich in bread and bait, he must indulge in cattle and sheep.
Thank you again, and you will not dare to forget. The jujube stage can be peeled, and the seed pine stage can be cut.
The poems are written naturally, and there is no way to see any influence of the so-called Wutai poetry case.
In fact, Su Shiqi was not only a great lyricist and essayist, but also a philosopher with considerable academic attainment, and philosophy directly guided his attitude towards society at different times. As Liu Yanfei pointed out:
Su Shi's philosophy of life pays the most attention to the tragedy of individual life and the eternal sense of distress, and rises from self to the height of universal life. Whether from the perspective of the gap between ideals and reality, or from the perspective of the eternity of society's bondage to man, or from the perspective of the lack of emptiness shown in the contrast between the finite and the infinite, the conclusion that life is a tragedy is drawn. For the question of how to liberate from a tragic life and thus obtain happiness and happiness, Su Shi proposed that the solution was: transcendence and self-adaptation. Specifically, it includes: transcending the difference between birth and entry into the world, transcending any material bondage, transcending any spiritual bondage, transcending the bondage of any condition, and the result of transcendence is the perfection of self-nature, waiting for nothing, attaining self-adaptation, and then attaining eternal happiness and dignity. In real life, Su Shi also pays great attention to obtaining liberation in life by maintaining his own emotional and emotional pleasure. ［12］
It is precisely because of the "transcendent and self-adapting" attitude of life that Su Shi can adapt with an "extremely relaxed" attitude in the face of various social and natural pressures, otherwise, he would have died in the wild land of the frontier. "Eight Songs of dongpo" is an excellent example of this attitude.
In summary, Cao Xueqin's many numbers related to "Qin" reflect his "automatic cutting" (retreat) of life and society, and also reflect his "transcendent self-adaptation" to society and life.
This kind of "detachment and self-adaptation" dominates Cao Xueqin's life and creation, and the reason why the positive evaluation of the three religions in "Dream of the Red Chamber" from time to time is precisely the expression of his philosophy of life; his superficial "rebuke" of the three religions is more aimed at the "secular" "distortion" of the three religions (intentionally or unintentionally). In the nineteenth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Cao Xueqin expressed this view with the help of Jia Baoyu, who attacked people: "There are no books except 'Mingmingde', all of which are books that the predecessors themselves could not understand the books of the saints, so they came up with their own intentions and mixed them up." ”
It can be seen that the existence of the "Album of Cao Xia, a Planter of Celery" and Gu Bin's investigation of the word "Seed Celery" have important reference significance for the study of Cao Xueqin's living state, education, life attitude, etc.
VII. Conclusion
(1) Shilin's trip about Cao Xueqin
As mentioned earlier, before the academic circles paid attention to Cao Xueqin's travels, especially the Shilin's travels, the study of Cao Xueqin's living conditions and creative states was almost all wasted—although occasional citations involving the study of her life era led to excessive admiration or excessive depreciation of the study and appreciation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the former represented by Mr. Zhou Ruchang and the latter represented by Mr. Hu Shi.
Therefore, understanding Cao Xueqin's outings, like understanding his life era, family style, and family relationships, cannot be ignored or underestimated for the in-depth interpretation of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
In recent years, after the appearance of the "Cao Qinxi" data in Chen Hao's inscription, especially after Gu Bin inspected the "Cao Xia Album of The Plantation Of Qinqin People", the academic circles have conducted a relatively systematic investigation of the relevant personnel involved in the two cultural relics, such as Chen Hao, Chen Benjing, Qian Weicheng, Li Shizuo, etc., and even some scholars have put forward the view that "a friend's friend is my friend" - this research method has long existed in the research of Dun Min's "Mao Zhai Poetry Notes" and Dun Cheng's "Four Song Tang Collection".
Although the author strongly disagrees with the view that "a friend of a friend is my friend" - because this view violates the most basic interpersonal common sense and violates the most basic logic of examination; however, if we put our research horizon more broadly, that is to say, put this kind of research into the context of examining Cao Xueqin's shilin travel, this kind of research undoubtedly has extremely important value, and provides many possible clues for discussing Cao Xueqin's living environment and possible living environment.
In fact, this kind of research not only has reference significance for understanding Cao Xueqin's life circle, living state, creative state, and the dissemination and criticism of "Dream of the Red Chamber", but also has important reference value for the study of Cao Xueqin's "cultural relics".
At that time, the reason why Wang Gang's painting "Sitting Alone in a Shadow" was "denied" by Hu Shi and others was not because the commentators believed that after Cao Xueqin returned to Beijing, he was defeated and uninhabited, and there was no middle-class and upper-class interaction?
(2) About "selling paintings to pay for restaurants"
As for the problem of Cao Xueqin", "selling painting money to pay for the restaurant", the author believes that it is not possible to understand "magnification", thinking that Cao Xueqin makes a living by selling paintings.
We should note that the previous sentence of "selling paintings to pay for the restaurant" was "looking for a poet to stay in the monk's house", and Tun Min's two poems can be understood as a case study, and it seems that new evidence is needed for a general understanding.
After all, Cao Xueqin did not often "look for poets to stay in the monk's house", moreover, as a flag person, especially the flag bearer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in Cao Xueqin's era, unless he opposed the crime of "great rebellion", he could not get out of the flag.
That is to say, regardless of whether they are on bad luck or not, Cao Xueqin has a corresponding income, not to mention, their family has also transferred family property to those wide relatives?! Changling's large collection of books on the "Cao Neem Pavilion Seal" is evidence, which also shows that the Yongzheng Emperor heard that the Cao family's transfer of family property was not slanderous.
(3) The urgent task of studying the "Cao Xia Album of The Seed Celery Man"
At present, the most important work that needs to be done for the Guizhou Provincial Museum's collection of "Cao Xia's Album of The Seed Parsley Man" is to invite first-class cultural relics experts to identify whether the painting has traces of changes by later generations and when the painting was made.
If it can be determined that the painting was not altered by later generations and was made in the Qianlong era, then this painting was made by Cao Xueqin, and when there is no objection, the value of studying Cao Xueqin and "Dream of the Red Chamber" can also be imagined.
Moreover, on August 8, 2016, Mr. Jing Xudong, acting president of the Guizhou Provincial Red Society, told him that after communicating with the relevant comrades of the Guizhou Provincial Museum, he knew that the experts of the "Painting Album of Cao Xia, a Planter of Celery" identified as "definitely a Qing Dynasty" work; on August 11, the experts of the Guizhou Provincial Museum believed that the work was "during the Qianlong period", but "the people who watched it had different opinions, and those who denied it thought that the painting was poor and the poems were not good.".
In fact, the author's personal opinion on the literary circle only pays attention to the word "era", since the painting is a work of the Qianlong era, because the information such as "Cao Xia", "Xin Wei Qiuri", "Chen Benjing" and other information on the map is compared with the existing Cao Xueqin research information, it can be seen that the work is undoubtedly Cao Xueqin's work.
As for the problem of the work "poorly drawn and the poetry is not good", in the author's opinion, it is not a problem, because the examiner must respect the physical information, but because some people constantly question this, it is still necessary to explain the logic:
(1) On what level Cao Xueqin's paintings are, because there is no direct physical evidence, it is impossible to make a judgment on whether the "Cao Xia Album of The SeedEr" is not Cao Xueqin's work;
(2) Although Cao Xueqin's friend Zhang Yiquan claimed that Cao Xueqin was "good at painting in gongshi" and that "Dream of the Red Chamber" has a professional description of the painting theory, Zhang Yiquan's evaluation of "gongshi good painting" was to judge Cao Xueqin as a literati within the framework of "literati poetry and painting", and did not treat it as a first-class domestic and "professional" painter (famous for his paintings) - this evaluation can be compared with the evaluation of Cao Yin's "good books" by the people of the time;
(3) Characteristics of traditional literati painting
The Yuan Dynasty painter Ni Zhan (i.e., Ni Yunlin, the author of the imitation landscape painting by Li Shizuo), wrote two tendencies of human painting in the "Reply to Zhang Zaozhong", Yun:
Today out of the city, idle places have to read "The Deeds of The Source", the picture of the scenery, the twists and turns can do their best, cover me can not, if the grass is dyed, leaving its Li Huang Mu Mu in shape, it is not the meaning of the picture. The so-called painter of the servant, but the brush stroke is sloppy, does not seek to resemble, and chats to entertain himself. ［13］
"Sketchy brushes, not seeking similarity" is the main feature of traditional literati painting. In the summer of the twenty-first year of the Republic of China (1932), Chen Hengke (Zi Shi Zeng, The Number of Huai Tang, Decadent Daoist. Jiangxi Xiushuiren, a famous painter, Chen Yinke's brother, author of "History of Chinese Painting") as "Essay On Human Painting" Yun:
What is literati painting? That is, a kind of literati nature, containing the interest of the literati, not to study the artistic work in the painting, we must see many literati feelings outside the painting. The so-called literati paintings. ［14］
The Guizhou Provincial Museum's collection of "Cao Xia's Album of The Seed Celery Man" is exactly this type, so "reading" this painting should be based on the perspective of "literati painting".
(4) We should believe in the level of appreciation of the "literati paintings" by the collector Tao Tingjie - this picture is Tao Tingjie's descendants", holding a copy of the "Painting Album of The Seed Qinren Cao Jurisdiction" for Mr. Chen Heng'an of the Provincial Museum to identify, and then the museum will purchase it at a discretionary price from the tao's descendants. [15] According to Tao Tingjie (1785-1856), zi jun, Han zhi, number Liansheng, Qing Guizhou Duyun Province (now Duyun City) people. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing (1813), he was promoted to the rank of Inspector of Shaanxi, and in the following year he entered the Hanlin Academy and was awarded the title of Shu Jishi, successively serving as the editor of the Hanlin Academy, the chief examiner of Shanxi, the envoy of Guangdong School, and other positions, and the post of inspector of Shaanxi. The reason why he collected the "Cao Xia Album of The Seed Celery Man" was that the starting point of the album was the artistic conception and standard of the literati painting reflected in the album.
bibliography:
[1] Lu Xun: The Complete Works of Lu Xun, vol. 6, People's Literature Publishing House, 1982, p. 430.
[2] Li Chendong, "The Red Chamber: A Study of the Dream of the Red Chamber", China Archives Publishing House, 2006, p. 14.
[3] "Hu Shi zhi su xuelin", Hu Shi even said, "I have always felt that "The Dream of the Red Chamber" is not as good as the "History of Ru Lin", and in terms of literary technology, "The Dream of the Red Chamber" is not as good as "The Tale of the Flowers on the Sea", nor is it as good as "The Travels of the Old Remnant"", see Song Guangbo's "Complete Compilation of Hu Shihong's Research Materials", Beijing Library Publishing House, 2005 edition, p. 395. Li Chendong,"Mr. Hu's first words were: 'Dream of the Red Chamber' is worthless'", see Li Chendong's Study of the Book of Poetry, Taiwan Buffalo Publishing House, 1978 edition, p. 78.
[4] For the Shanghai Li Zuhan family collection "Sitting Alone in a Shadow", the reason why Hu Shi believes that the figure in the image is not Cao Xueqin is because "the person in the painting is Xueqin, but not Cao Xueqin." He was probably a Hanlin senior... Most of the people who inscribed the chant are celebrities from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and it is likely that this gong is also from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. All in all, this Hanlin Gong, who has a high degree of high science and enjoys qingfu, is by no means the author of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" who was 'dusty and dusty, achieved nothing', and lived the life of 'fluffy rafters and rope bed tile stoves' in his later years. ”
[5] Fan Zhibin: A Biography of Cao Xueqin, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2012.
[6] Zhao Zhu's article "Preliminary Identification of authenticity and falsity of the Painting Album of The Seed Celery Cao Xia" claims that the painting was in the Guizhou Provincial Library, and it has now been confirmed that the album is in the Guizhou Provincial Museum.
[7] Ji Zhiyue, "A Few Brief Views on the > of the < Qinren Cao Xia's Album", Dream of the Red Chamber Research Series, 2016, No. 12.
[8] Liu Mengxi, "The Integrative Work of Red Studies: Reading Professor Huang Yinong< Duo: A Dialogue between Red Studies and Qing History>", Tsinghua Journal, New 45, No. 1, 2015.
[9] Liu Guangding, "Evidence of Chen Hao, Zhou Yuli's Friendship with Cao Xueqin", Dream of the Red Chamber Research Series, No. 12, 2016.
[10] Dong Zhixin, "Selling Paintings to Pay for a Restaurant: An Aspect of Cao Xueqin's Calligraphy and Painting Activities in Her Later Years", Dream of the Red Chamber Research Series, No. 11, 2015.
[11] Huang Yinong, "Examination of Cao Xueqin's Existing Poems and Paintings", Dream of the Red Chamber Research Series, No. 11, 2015.
[12] Liu Yanfei, "Research on Su Shi's Philosophical Thought", 2011 doctoral dissertation in Chinese philosophy, Hebei University.
[13] The Complete Works of qingjuege, vol. 10, "Ruler Chapters".
[14] It was originally published in the second issue of the 1921 edition of the Journal of Philology, and was later selected to be included in the first edition of the 1932 "Discussion Collection of Chinese Paintings".
[15] Zhao Zhu, "A Preliminary Identification of authenticity and falsity > the album of cao zhuan of < species of celery", Guizhou Literature and History Series, No. 4, 1988.
This article was first published in Cao Xueqin Research, No. 4, 2016