Ma Ji: Why can Zhaojun culture shine at home and abroad?
China News Agency Hohhot, October 22 Title: Why can Zhaojun culture shine at home and abroad?
——Interview with Ma Ji, president of the Zhaojun Cultural Research Branch of the Chinese Ethnological Society
China News Service reporter Li Aiping
Over the past two thousand years, Wang Zhaojun's story of going out of the country and his pro-family has been widely disseminated in China and around the world, forming a wealth of research results. After the founding of New China, zhaojun cultural research has a new look different from any previous era. Its biggest feature is the change of theme and perspective.
Ma Ji, president of the Zhaojun Cultural Research Branch of the Chinese Ethnological Society, pointed out in an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East and West Questions" recently that the current in-depth study of Zhaojun history and Zhaojun culture and the shaping of a new image of Zhaojun are of great practical significance to enhancing the unity of the Chinese nation.
Data map: Zhaojun Village, Xingshan County, Hubei Province, is brightly lit. Photo by Zhou Xingliang
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: Historically, what changes have taken place in Wang Zhaojun's image?
Ma Ji: In general, during the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Zhaojun was the goddess of peace, and after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, her image became more and more tragic. After the founding of New China, the historical truth was restored, and the image of Wang Zhaojun's friendly emissaries was restored.
The zhaojun out of the fortress in 33 BC was a major event that caused a sensation in the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. The Han Dynasty specially changed the yuan to "Jingning" for this purpose, and solemnly held a speech conference. After her marriage, Zhaojun conscientiously maintained the peaceful and friendly relations between the two ethnic groups, and her children, son-in-law, and nephews devoted several generations to The friendship between China and Hungary and maintained peace for sixty years.
The "Book of Han and the Biography of the Xiongnu" records Wang Zhaojun's journey out of sai and her life outside sai, praising Zhaojun for "the closure of the border city, the cattle and horses butye, the police without dog barking in the third dynasty, and the battle of Li Shu's death and gange". It can be seen that the study of Zhaojun in a broad sense begins with the image of Wang Zhaojun's drama.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, works such as "Song of Grievances and Thoughts" and "Wang Mingjun Ci" of the Western Jin Dynasty took "pity for his distant marriage" as the main tone, expressing zhaojun's homesickness and sorrow for his relatives. Influenced by the theme of homesickness, the tragic image of Zhaojun has gradually become mainstream. Until the Song Dynasty Wang Anshi's "Ming Concubine Song", he proposed that "the joy of life is in the heart of acquaintance", which to some extent diluted the tragic color of Zhaojun's image.
During the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, a large number of Zhaojun-themed dramas and popular novels were performed and circulated in the folk, and the image of Zhaojun sacrificing himself for the country was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and received widespread sympathy from people, taking the Yuan Dynasty Ma Zhiyuan's miscellaneous drama "Han Palace Autumn" as a typical example.
After the May Fourth Movement, special papers on Wang Zhaojun appeared, which mostly studied Zhaojun or Zhaojun's tomb from the perspective of folklore, examination of evidence, and literary rheology.
After the founding of New China, Zhou Enlai analyzed Wang Zhaojun and relevant literary works in history from a Marxist point of view, believing that she was a figure who contributed to the maintenance of the unity of the big family of the Chinese nation. He spoke many times, encouraging the zhibian intellectuals to be "contemporary Zhaojun", take root in the frontier, and build the frontier, and also suggested that Cao Yu "rewrite a zhaojun drama of national harmony." Dong Biwu, Chen Yi, Xie Jueya and other revolutionaries of the older generation have all written poems that sing and sing Zhaojun.
Historians and literary circles have also launched discussions and studies on the historical truth of Zhaojun's departure and the shaping of Zhaojun's artistic image. Since January 1959, People's Daily and Guangming Daily have successively published many articles such as "On the Shaping of Wang Zhaojun". In February 1961, the People's Daily published Zhai Bozan's "Inner Mongolia Visit to Ancient Times", which pushed the discussion on the truth about Zhaojun's departure from the Cyprus to a climax. "Zhaojun has his own thousand autumns, Hu Han and his relatives see Gao. The lyricists each express their chests, and the dance text is always futile. Dong Biwu's "Gurudwara's Tomb" written in October 1963 can be regarded as a summary of this four-year national debate.
In 2003, in my book "Zhaojun Cultural Studies", I defined "Zhaojun culture" as "all cultural phenomena related to Wang Zhaojun's departure and pro-family as the core, including material culture and spiritual culture, with spiritual culture as the core", and systematically expounded the theory of Zhaojun culture.
I believe that the traditional Chinese theory of "harmony" is the philosophical foundation of Zhaojun culture, national unity and friendship are the core content of Zhaojun culture, promoting complementarity and exchanges between different economic regions is an important connotation of Zhaojun culture, and a large number of literary and artistic works in previous dynasties are important carriers of Zhaojun culture. Zhaojun culture is a culture that pursues perfection, contains rich philosophy of life, and also has world significance.
Data chart: Yichang, Hohhot and Others remember Zhaojun in the form of song parties. Photo by Li Yun
China News Service: Since the founding of New China, what are the literary and artistic works of Wang Zhaojun, as a messenger of national friendship, who has shined brilliantly at home and abroad?
Ma Ji: Since the founding of New China, Wang Zhaojun's image has shown more charming charm, and a large number of literary and artistic masterpieces with the theme of Zhaojun have emerged in the literary and art circles.
In recent years, new works include the Chinese Opera and Dance Theatre's national song and dance drama "Zhaojun Out of the Plug" (2016) and Li Yugang's poetic song and dance drama "Zhaojun Out of the Plug" (2019), which caused a sensation in China and achieved complete success in foreign performances.
Zhaojun's films are more Hong Kong films, while TV series are more successful with mainland works. Among the many film and television programs, it is particularly worth mentioning the feature film "Wang Zhaojun" launched by the "Chinese Nation" column of CCTV in 2008. This film truly restores the background of the era and the process of the out-of-the-box period of Zhaojun and his relatives, and reviews the continuous influence of Zhaojun on the people of all nationalities for more than 2,000 years. The film was later translated into English and replayed many times at home and abroad, and the response was very good.
In fact, the story of Zhaojun has been spread in literature and art at home and abroad for more than a few decades. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the story of Zhaojun has had a wide impact abroad, including Japan and Vietnam.
In Japan, japanese songs have long been accompanied by verses quoting the story of Shōgun, paintings with the theme of Shōgun appeared in the 14th century, Noh performances based on shōgun's story appeared in the 15th century, and the emperor sang many times with his ministers on the theme of Shōgun. In recent years, Japanese works of art on the subject of Shōgun and Shōgun papers have also appeared continuously, and Kenji Kobayashi, Genji Uno, and Yasuzo Iwayama are representatives of typical scholars. In Vietnam, the Zhaojun novels "Zhaojun GonghuShu" and "Zhaojun New Biography" were widely circulated. Scholars such as Ren Xiaoyan and Liu Jimin have done research on the spread of Zhaojun culture in Vietnam.
In the West, the deeds of Zhaojun are mentioned in some works introducing ancient Chinese poetry in the early 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Macroming, Day Loew's "Beauty", Ampere H's "Famous Chinese Concubines - Ban Jieyu and Zhaojun" also highlighted Wang Zhaojun, and what is more striking is that in 1986, the French Institute of Sinology published Kwong Qinghuan's doctoral dissertation "Wang Zhaojun" (French version).
Data map: Zhaojun's hometown people worship Zhaojun in Hohhot. Photo by Shang Hongbo
China News Service: In your opinion, how will Zhaojun culture continue to exert influence at home and abroad?
Ma Ji: In the future, the literary and artistic creation and research work on the theme of Zhaojun should respect historical truth and pay attention to social effects.
I once proposed that from ancient times to the present, Zhaojun theme creators have a common feature of "borrowing Zhaojun wine glasses and pouring their own blocks." His works often contain the author's various associations and feelings about life, showing different interpretations and evaluations of Zhaojun.
I believe that the key to the continuous influence of Zhaojun culture lies in the fact that researchers and disseminators must adhere to the position of patriots, respect history, restore the truth, and put themselves in the shoes of Wang Zhaojun's choices and actions in the predicament. We cannot take the stand of Song Ming's theory, nor can we stand on the standpoint of great nationalism or narrow nationalism, and if we use the "Three Principles and Five Constants," "The Distinction of Huayi," or other criteria to evaluate Zhaojun, evaluation, and pro-qin, we will lag behind the times.
Zhaojun researchers and Zhaojun theme literary and artistic creators need to unify their motivations and effects, and should carefully consider whether the works are conducive to national unity and national reunification, and whether they are in line with China's foreign policy of peace and friendship.
In short, the phenomenon of Zhaojun culture spans two thousand years, and in the future, it will often be talked about and become a permanent topic, which fully demonstrates the strong vitality of Zhaojun culture. It is hoped that more literary and artistic works and high-quality research results will be published in the future, and the level of Zhaojun culture research will be continuously improved, and it is believed that the influence of Zhaojun culture at home and abroad will be more significant. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Ma Ji, male, born in 1945, born in Xinle County, Hebei Province, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Nankai University in 1968, and graduated from the Faculty (Graduate) Class of the Chinese Department of Inner Mongolia University in 1980, and has served as a lecturer, associate professor and professor.
He served as a member of the 7th, 8th and 9th CPPCC Inner Mongolia Committee and a counselor of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, and retired in 2015.
He is currently the president of the Zhaojun Cultural Research Branch of the Chinese Ethnological Society and the vice president of the Inner Mongolia Shulechuan Cultural Research Association. His major works include "Wang Zhaojun and Zhaojun Culture", "Wang Zhaojun, Envoy of National Friendship", "Zhaojun Cultural Research", "Commentary on Genghis Khan" and so on.
Source: China News Network