Qian Qianyi was an influential figure on the stage at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Qian Qianyi was a famous scholar, essayist, poet, and leader of the literary circle at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Together with Wu Weiye and Gong Dingci, he is known as the third master of Jiang Zuo. Gu Yanwu, Zheng Chenggong, etc. were once his students.
Qian Qianyi became famous very early, and at the age of 15, he wrote "The Theory of Staying Hou", talking about magical spirits and strange things, and the momentum was amazing. He entered the army in the thirty-eighth year of the Wanli Calendar (1610) until the death of the Ming Dynasty in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), and served as an important official in the Ming Dynasty For a period of 35 years. He also participated in the activities of the Donglin Party against Wei Zhongxian's castration party, and was regarded as one of the Tulin leaders and highly respected. In the eyes of everyone, Qian Qian is humble and virtuous, and he is an all-rounder.
As a poet, he pioneered the poetic style of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, it was said that "after the seven sons, the poetry school is weakened, the Muzhai Sect rises and vibrates, and the poets are calm, and the world is calm from the wind, and one returns to the right." His knowledge is broad and his qi is strong enough to encompass all the families, all-encompassing, his poetry is clear and elegant, harmonious and strong, sighing but not narrow, talking about things widely and not slandering, elegant vowels, the crown of the poet also"!
As a historian, Qian Qianyi wrote five volumes of the "Dialectics of Taizu Shilu" in his early years, determined to complete the history of the country privately, and he tried to revise the history of the Ming Dynasty twice in the second year of Shunzhi (1645) and the third year of Shunzhi (1646), but did not get his wish. However, people believe that "Yu Shan (Qian Qianyi) is still there, and the history of the country is still not dead", which shows the extreme admiration for his historical talents.
As an essayist, Qian Qian is famous all over the world and is known as "contemporary article Bo". Huang Lizhou's "ZhongguoLu" called him the most prestigious person in the literary circle after Wang Yizhou.
However, it is such an all-rounder, but there is no integrity. Qian Qianyi is weak in nature, greedy and afraid of death, only concerned about personal safety, regardless of the survival of the country. The Qing army entered the pass, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and the Chongzhen Emperor was already unable to resist hanging himself. At this critical juncture, the Ming ministers had only three paths to follow: First, resolutely resist until death; The second is to sneak a life and flee for his life; The third is to surrender to the enemy and become a slave to the country.
Qian Qianyi's concubine Liu Ru was a woman with national integrity, and she had urged Qian Qianyi to martyr herself, but Qian Qianyi agreed and decided to lead her family to commit suicide by throwing herself into the water and martyring the country with her body. Qian Qianyi issued a declaration of martyrdom with great fanfare, and seemed to have decided to be determined. However, on this day, he had been grinding from the three poles of the sun to the setting sun, and he still had no movement to throw water. Qian Qianyi gazed at the scenery of the West Mountain affectionately, and his eyes revealed sadness and melancholy, and it really took too much courage to take the initiative to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water. Suddenly, he reached out and touched the lake, and said loudly, "This water is too cold, what should I do?"
Qian Qianyi did not throw himself into the lake after all, because he was afraid of the cold. His little concubine Liu Ru was very angry and jumped into the water, not sparing her life, but she was saved. What is even more ridiculous is that when people accused of making a big loss, Qian Qianyi actually pushed the responsibility to the concubine Liu Ru: "I wanted to martyr the country, but the concubine did not cooperate with Ke?" This rogue act has attracted many criticisms from later generations. Chen Yinke, a scholar, once denounced Qian Qianyi in "Liu Ru is a Biography". Qian Qianyi did not martyr the country, but surrendered to the Qing army. He refused to be martyred and took the initiative to go out of the city to surrender, but he also wrote a letter to persuade his friends to surrender and took the lead in shaving his hair to show the public.
However, what kind of people have what kind of retribution. After Qian Qianyi surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he did not gain the trust and reuse of the Qing court. He accepted the Qing court's recruitment to Shangjing as an official, and in the first month of the third year of Shunzhi (1646), he was awarded the right attendant of the Secretarial Academy and the Right Attendant of the Ceremonial Department, and revised the "History of Ming", in fact, this official position was an out-and-out idle post. Qian Qianyi's political ideals were once again shattered, and Qian Qianyi, who thought he had never met a man, worked for five months before resigning from illness and returning to his hometown.
Leaving the official field, he also lost his way. The Qing court soon threw him into prison twice, and even after his death, he was not only infamous in the hearts of the Ming Dynasty, but also despised in the Qing Dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor even wrote a poem specifically to ridicule him: "Talk about righteousness in your life, the two surnames of the king, there is no basis for advance and retreat, and the article has light." It is really a wine urn, and it is often seen that the sachet of incense is seen, and the end of the road escapes zen, which was originally Meng Balang." He also ordered the destruction of more than a hundred kinds of works written by Qian Qianyi, such as the "Beginner's Collection" and the "Youxue Collection", and even all the prefaces or books of listed and collated surveys that had money were prohibited