The four famous Chinese works are Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an's Water Margin. This is our most popular way of saying it, and as for whether the authors of these works are controversial in the academic circles, I do not want to discuss these issues too much. What I want to say is that two of these four works were written by the same person, and this person is Luo Guanzhong. What we all know is that Luo Guanzhong was Shi Nai'an's teacher, and when Shi Nai'an wrote "Water Margin", Luo Guanzhong gave Shi Nai'an guidance and help as a teacher, or perhaps "Water Margin" was not completed by Shi Nai'an independently.
Most of the Luo Guanzhong we know began to understand from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but you may not know that in addition to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" written by him, which not only created the history of China's first long-form novel, but also created another "first" in the history of Chinese literature.
<h1>Luo Guanzhong</h1>
Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330 – c. 1400), courtesy name Ben, Zi Guanzhong, Huhai Sanren, a native of Taiyuan, Shanxi, Was a Han Chinese, a famous novelist and opera composer in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, and the originator of the Chinese Zhanghui novel, the representative work "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Luo Guanzhong is known as the originator of the Chinese Zhanghui novel, and his Zhanghui novel is characterized by a chapter narrative, divided into sub-headings, each story is relatively independent, the paragraphs are neat, but they are hooked back and forth, beginning and end, and the whole book constitutes a unified whole. And it has been divided into volumes and sub-categories, and the table of contents text is also very exquisite. The earliest Jiajing Renwu (1522) engraving of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the earliest inscription of the Three Kingdoms, and the title of each time is a single sentence and seven characters. The title of each of his co-authored "Water Margin" with Shi Nai'an is already double sentences, roughly dual. In addition to the division of the heading, his Zhanghui novels also preserve the system of the Song and Yuan dialects that begin with the opening poem and end with the scattered poem. The main text often begins with the word "words", often at the critical juncture of the plot development, with a phrase of "want to know what happens later, and listen to the next decomposition", and in the middle, more poems and songs are quoted to describe the scene or praise the characters.
<h1>Start with "Heavenly Book"</h1>
"Tianshu Qitan" is an animated feature film based on some chapters of "The Legend of Ping Demon" and produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio in China in 1983. It tells that Yuan Gong, a deacon of the "Secretary Cabinet" of the Heavenly Palace, took the Heavenly Book privately on the occasion of the Jade Emperor's meeting in Yaochi, and carved the text of the Heavenly Book on the stone wall of the Baiyun Cave in Yunmeng Mountain. Yuan Gong violated the Heavenly Rules for leaking the Heavenly Chance, and the Jade Emperor punished him to guard the stone wall for life. Yuan Gong used a spell to transform the swan egg into a human form and named it Egg Sheng. In order to spread the Book of Heaven to the world, he instructed the egg to bring white paper and expand the Book of Heaven on the stone wall in the cave. Yuan Gong also instructed Egg Sheng to practice spells and use the Book of Heaven to benefit the people. The three foxes hated the egg to hinder them from doing evil, played a conspiracy to steal the Book of Heaven, colluded with the government, and harmed the people. Egg Sheng chased after the Heavenly Book and fought with the fox spirit many times. When Egg Sheng and the Fox Spirit competed for the Heavenly Book, Yuan Gong arrived, he withdrew the Heavenly Book, took out the white stone mirror from his arms, and crushed the Fox Essence to death under the Yunmeng Mountain. After that, thunder and lightning were exchanged, and the Jade Emperor's holy decree was issued, and Yuan Gong was captured and returned to the Heavenly Court for questioning. Egg Sheng carried the Heavenly Book before it was burned by Yuan Gong and continued to stay in the human world to benefit the people.
"Tianshu Qitan" is an animated film that I accidentally watched on TV when I was in elementary school, although it started from the middle of the way, but now that I am 24 years old, I still remember this work. When I was in college, I learned that the classical aesthetics contained in this work came from a classical novel, because the classical charm of this novel gave the basic tone of the classical beauty of this animated film.
<h1>Luo Guanzhong's first long-length demon book, The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons</h1>
The full name of "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demon" is "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demon of the Northern Song Dynasty", also known as the "New Ping Demon Biography", written by Luo Guanzhong of the Ming Dynasty, and is the first long divine and demonic novel in the history of Chinese novels. Luo Guanzhong's work created two firsts in the history of Chinese literature. The main event of this work is the wang ze uprising of the Song Dynasty, which Luo Guanzhong sorted out and compiled according to the folklore of historical facts and the words circulated in the city. Because the names of the three protagonists in the book, Ma Sui, Zhuge Suizhi, and Li Suishuai, all have Sui characters, they are called Sansui, which can be described as the precursor of the divine and demonic novel.
Although this work is called "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons", the work does not seem to have much to do with the above-mentioned "Ma Sui, Zhuge Suizhi, and Li Suishuai". It tells the story of Hu Yong'er, a fox girl born from humans, who meets her holy aunt, an old fox who has cultivated into a refined spirit, to teach her spells and then begin the adventure. The second half becomes the story of Hu Yong'er and The Holy Aunt helping Wang Ze to revolt. This work draws on and inherits the historical materials, folklore, novel stories, and mythical stories found in some note novels since the Song and Yuan dynasties to integrate, organize, and write.
<h1>The origin and adaptation of "Heavenly Book Qitan" and "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons"</h1>
Since "Heavenly Book" is an animated film aimed at children, it is natural that the original work cannot be copied and rewritten. How a novel with a target group as an adult can be adapted to be accepted by children is what I want to share with you. While comparing, we should also introduce this "Biography of the Three Sui Ping Demons" for everyone.
1. The protagonist in the book changes from a kind fox girl to a villain in the cartoon
In "Heavenly Book", we can see three typical negative characters: the first is the sinister and cunning fox mother-in-law, the second is the charming and beautiful fox, and the third is the one-legged fox. If you really look at it, the one-legged fox is actually very simple, as long as there is a bite to eat, you will feel at ease and satisfied. The real villain is actually the old fox and the fox who transforms into a beautiful woman. They deceived the little emperor in a vain attempt to enjoy the glory and wealth of the reality of the world. In the end, he was pressed under the mountain by Yuan Gong and got the punishment he deserved. However, the foxes in "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons" are indeed positive characters. First of all, the prototype of the beautiful fox is Hu Yong'er in the book, and the other is that the old fox is the holy mother-in-law in the book, and the one-legged fox is the one-legged Daoist. Of course, in the book they are monsters, but they are foxes with a very sense of justice:
When he went to the street to sell cooking cakes, Yong'er made a blessing to the seller of drinking cakes and said, "Brother, buy seven copper coins for cooking cakes." The little second brother took the copper coin and saw that the girl had a good blue wisp on her body. Yong'er had a piece of money left and tied it to his clothes belt. The little second brother wrapped a piece of lotus leaf in a cooking cake and handed it to Yong'er. Yong'er took it, took the old road back, it was already unlicensed, and walked along the eaves, only to see a mother-in-law coming down from the eaves, carrying a bamboo stick, with a basket hanging from her arm. The mother-in-law hunched over, her eyebrows divided into two streams of snow, and her bun tied a nest of silk. The eyes are like autumn water, and the hair is like the clouds of Chu Mountain. Shaped like a flower at the end of March, life resembles the chrysanthemum of the Nine Autumn Frosts. However, it turned out to be an indoctrinated mother-in-law, and looked at Yong'er and said a thousand blessings, and Yong'er returned the gift. The mother-in-law said, "What did you buy?" Yong'er said, "My mother at home bought cooking cakes from the slave family." The mother-in-law said, "My son! You know, I didn't have dinner yesterday, I didn't have breakfast today. Will you invite me to a cooker' cake? Yong'er's mouth was not the same, and he thought in his heart: "My mother did not have dinner yesterday, and there is no breakfast today." This mother-in-law is so old that she can't bear to see it! "Untie the lotus leaf bag and hand a cooker cake to my mother-in-law." The mother-in-law took it in her hand, looked at the cooking cake and said, "Good but good, how can this one eat me full, why not all with me?" Yong'er said, "Tell your mother-in-law, but the slave family does not dare to take it all with you." The three children in the family had no food to eat for two days, and the mother went out to tell the father, and the eight copper coins were left behind, and the slave family came out to buy cooking cakes, the big mother ate, and the small one was eaten by the slave. Because of seeing the mother-in-law, the slave had to let one eat with the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law said, "Your mother asked how to buy less cooking cakes, but what did you say?" Yong'er said, "At the same time, My mother only said that the slave was hungry, so she ate one on the way." The mother-in-law said, "It's rare that my son is kind!" I pluck you to play tricks, I am not hungry, I do not want to eat, return you. "
The above is quoted in the second time of the "Biography of ping demon" Hu Yong'er Daxue buys cooking cakes The holy aunt teaches the xuannu method. It is said that after Hu Yong'er's family has grown from prosperity to decline, the family can't eat enough to let Yong'er use the last copper plate to buy steamed buns. The kind Hu Yong'er gave up a steamed bun that could keep her alive in order to save the old woman begging on the side of the road. The old woman touched her filial piety and taught her spells. This time, it introduced Yong'er's kindness and the kindness of the Holy Mother-in-Law to help the Yong'er family get through the difficulties, because the Holy Mother-in-law's help Yong'er learned the spell to make a lot of rice noodles, thus making the family live.
2. Eliminate "inappropriate places for children"
Then, after hu Yong'er helped the family through the difficulties last time, Hu Yong'er slowly began to show his extraordinary spells or magic tricks. Hu Yong'er's father, Hu Yuanwai, began to change from surprise to fear and fear for the strange things that this daughter did. Hu Yuanwai also slowly began to kill in his heart, thinking that this daughter was like a monster and used all kinds of "magic tricks".
The words were divided into two ends, but it was said that Du Qisheng had recited the mantra and picked up the knife to chop off the child's head, and the more people watched. Du Qisheng put down his knife, covered the couch, lifted the charm to go to the child's body several times, and recited the incantation, Du Qisheng said, "Look at the official!" Hugh blamed me for occupying a unicorn case for a long time, and this boat used to think of no boat. Get away with this law, sell this Bo Dao charm! When he lifted the sheet with both hands to look at it, he saw that the child's head could not be connected. The crowd shouted, "Every time I lift the bed sheet, the child jumps up." I can't pick it up today, I'm going to scatter it! Du Qisheng hurriedly covered the sleeping list again, and used words to conceal the humanity: "It is easy to see the official, and it is easy to take this connection!" "When you tap your teeth again, chant mantras, and lift the bed sheet to look at it, you can't pick it up. Du Qisheng panicked and looked at the humane, "All the officials are on top!" Although the roads are different, raising a family is always average. Only because the family is forced by fire, the words are not available in the middle of the time, and I hope that the officials will forgive their sins! I took over and came down for a glass of wine. Within the four seas, we all know each other! Du Qisheng said, "I am not, this time I have picked up." "Just chanting the mantra in his mouth, when he lifted the bed sheet and looked at it, he couldn't pick it up."
The above paragraph is quoted in the eleventh of them, the marbles monk Qian Du Seven Holy Spells to chop the child. This chapter is not about the darkness of human nature as in the example given above, but the "inappropriate for children" here is about blood and terror. In addition to these dark and violent horror elements, there are many things such as war and uprising, breakfast, which cannot be understood by children. Therefore, the animation only retains the imagination of the characters and Xuanqi in "The Legend of Ping Demon".
3. The mainstream ideology shown in the cartoon
The content of "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons" is very contradictory. What I said earlier is that people like Hu Yong'er and Shengbao are full of sympathy and understanding. In the end, it was the beginning of the orthodoxy to defend the orthodoxy while the criticism of these "demons" was both against the people's uprising movement and praised the Suppression of the Uprising by the Song Dynasty. I think this is the biggest drawback of this work. This cannot be blamed on Luo Guanzhong, because the Ming Dynasty was the beginning of the unusual strengthening of feudal royal power, and as a person of that era, Luo Guanzhong also produced such works. "Tianshu Qitan" is a completely different feeling: Yuan Gong in the cartoon has a very high degree of dislike for the dull heavenly court and the rules of the heavenly rules, and he secretly leaks the heavenly opportunity in order to make the content of the heavenly book benefit the people. He rebelled against the Heavenly Court, rebelled against the rule, and with indomitable and tenacious resistance to the conventional dogma of the Heavenly Court. The marbles monk in "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons" became the "egg student" in the cartoon, and he became the embodiment of Yuan Gong in the human world. Jealous and hateful and full of a sense of justice, he also maintained the same resistance and contempt for the Heavenly Court as Yuan Gong. He inherited Yuan Gong's humanitarian spirit of benefiting mankind in order to benefit the human world. Yuan Gong was willing to sacrifice himself, and Egg Sheng was willing to stay in the human world forever and bear all the disasters in the human world. This kind of consciousness is to pass on a lot of worldview, outlook on life, and values to children.
These are the qualities that an animated film should have, and it cannot oppose the people's right to pursue happiness like "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping", and it cannot maintain this feudal imperial power and obey the enslaved spirit of obedience to the old dogma like the novel. The author believes that "Tianshu Qitan" is another form of "The Great Haunting of the Heavenly Palace", which is still the same as the spirit of resistance and the pursuit of freedom.
The author, it is after watching the recent re-screening of "Heavenly Book Qitan" that I remembered to write this article, this work carries too much of the author's childhood, because this work reminds Luo Guanzhong of this "Three Sui Ping Demon Biography". In any case, this work can also be regarded as another masterpiece of Luo Guanzhong, although it is not as good as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but it can also be regarded as an indelible monument in the history of literature.
This article is original and is hereby declared!