Cao Cao is a household name and has become a typical label image in Chinese culture. By combing and summarizing the evolution of Cao Cao's image in history, we will find that from ancient times to the present, Cao Cao is like a dough, which has been shaped into different shapes. In his evaluation, successive dynasties have had praise and depreciation, and have risen and fallen. Moreover, in the vast classics, there are also obvious differences between historical Cao Cao, literary Cao Cao, and opera Cao Cao. In different historical periods, officials and the public have also spoken differently about Cao Cao, a complex historical figure. And for Cao Cao's performance in different aspects and different fields, the ancients also debated endlessly. In a mess of clues, let's get to the bottom of it and analyze it.
<h1>First, the change of image under the change of dynasties</h1>
In different historical periods, in the traditional Chinese historical process of "long-term unity, long-term unity must be divided", different dynasties have sung and appeared on the stage. Because the rulers of each dynasty obtained power in different ways, from the perspective of obtaining the legitimacy of ruling power, the emperors and scholars of each era would evaluate Cao Cao from their perspective. For example, Cao Cao's sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, and the chancellor Xun Yu all praised Cao Cao because of his father-son relationship with Cao Cao and the reason that Cao Cao had laid the foundation for the establishment of the Wei state. Cao Zhi once passionately praised "The vast seas, I Wang Kangzhi." Wei Wei Han Si, I Wang Kuangzhi. The crowd fanned, and I served the king. Whack Li Shu, I Wang Yuzhi". In addition, he was also highly valued by people in dynasties where rulers seized power through coups d'état and other means. For example, the Western Jin Dynasty Lu Ji's "Hanging Wei Wudi Wen" and Tang Taizong's "Sacrifice wei Taizu Wen" and so on. In the dynasties where the rulers had gained power in other ways or cao Cao's political enemies, many of them despised his style of "blackmailing the son of heaven to order the princes", such as the Qianlong Emperor explicitly opposed the inclusion of articles praising Cao Cao in the Siku Quanshu, and Chen Lin drafted the famous "Yuzhou Wen for Yuan Shao" for Yuan Shao, which was extremely satirical and sarcastic to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao, played by Chen Jianbin in the TV series "Three Kingdoms"
The second is the limitation of the background of the times: the evaluation criteria for the characters will also be limited by the background of the times and different social atmospheres. The background of the times and the social atmosphere are a collective social and psychological state of the masses, which is affected by complex factors such as politics, economy, and culture. It will not only have an effect on the value orientation of a society, but also project this influence into the hearts of every people. For example, after the Jin Dynasty conquered the Central Plains, because of its geographical location, it gave a high evaluation to Cao Cao, who had once unified the north and pointed the sword at the south of the river, to express its political demands and military strategy. In a quiet corner, the Southern Song Dynasty court, which was trying to carry out the Northern Expedition, held a demeaning attitude. Proceeding from the Confucian view of history and morality, Zhu Xi, the master of science, hated the method of using the Wei State era number in the Zizhi Tongjian and changing the "Zizhi Tongjian Outline" to the Shu Han era, hoping to recover the Central Plains and return the rivers and mountains, Yue Fei, who also despised Cao Cao's personality.
The majestic "Guancang Sea"
The third is the influence of historical orthodoxy: in ancient China, the imperial court's demand for orthodoxy was very strong. As early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States, Zou Yan specially compiled the "Five Virtues Final Beginning Theory" to argue the legitimacy of the Zhou Dynasty to replace Yin Shang, and was attacked by the rulers of the Qin and Han Dynasties thereafter. Therefore, the debate over who was the orthodox regime between Shu Han and Cao Wei was also linked to Cao Cao's historical evaluation. Rulers praise Cao Cao when they regard Cao Wei as orthodox; when They worship Shu Han as orthodox, they will belittle Cao Cao. This concept even had a profound impact on historians writing history, such as Chen Shou was a historian of the Western Jin Dynasty, and Cao Wei was orthodox, so in Chen Shou's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Wei Zhi" was far longer the length of "Shu Zhi" and "Wu Zhi". Moreover, Chen Shou called Cao Cao "Emperor", and in this jiji, sun quan and Liu Bei were called "Lord Wu" and "Ancestor Lord", which shows that he respected the Cao Wei regime as an orthodox view of historiography. This orthodoxy not only affects the evaluation of the character by historians, but also biases them even when choosing historical materials. As far as the history books are concerned, Cao Cao's negative material in the Zizhi Tongjian is far more than in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Such an approach also leaves a problem for future generations to study history.
<h1>Second, the narrative description of different text types</h1>
The types of texts here broadly include historical texts. Because different text types have different requirements for articles, different audience groups, and different value orientations and cultural levels of writers, the image of Cao Cao in different texts is not the same. Historical records require accuracy and truthfulness, and historians require "straight writing", so Cao Cao's behavior in historical books is more in line with historical facts, and has a certain degree of subjectivity but more realism than the image of the real Cao Cao. Ancient poetry articles require the use of rhetorical techniques such as metaphor, comparison, and exaggeration to enhance their literary and lyrical nature. Moreover, compared with historians, literary scholars lose their truth-seeking because they have more romantic temperaments, so Cao Cao in poetry books is different. For example, Cao Cao in literary works such as "The New Language of the World", "The Plain Dialect of the Three Kingdoms", and "The Popular Interpretation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", under the genius-like conception of the literary artist and the depiction of the colorful voice, Cao Cao had wisdom and power. There is selfishness, there is hypocrisy. Literary Cao Cao has more or less departed from the real Cao Cao, and has become a weapon for literary artists to express their ideal pursuits by shaping this character, satirizing rulers, and alerting the world. For example, the Tang people's satire of Cao Cao's construction of Tongquetai may be the same as Du Mu's writing of "Afang Palace Endowment", which has the meaning of satirizing the emperor's diligence and thrift in the late Tang Dynasty and not practicing extravagant behavior. For example, Liu Shang said in "The Copper Sparrow Prostitute": "Lord Wei is a moth with eyebrows, and beauty is beautiful in jade." There is no day and night on the high platform, and the song and dance are not enough. ”
The towering and mighty Copper Bird Terrace
In the opera, Cao Cao's personality is more prominent and his image is more distinct. In the puppet plays of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Southern Operas of the Song Dynasty, the Yuan Miscellaneous Operas of the Yuan Dynasty, and the profound Peking Opera, there are many classic Three Kingdoms plays, and Cao Cao is an indispensable key figure in the Three Kingdoms Drama. Opera and storytelling are mostly aimed at ordinary people at the lower classes who have no spiritual activities. They are illiterate and unable to discern the difference between history and story. The profound and boring historian's examination has never been and cannot be accepted by the lower classes. Artists hope that their works, in addition to entertaining people's eyes and ears and bringing people spiritual enjoyment, also have a more or less layer of "high platform education" role. And in addition to yuan miscellaneous opera and Kunqu opera, there are few top readers who are proficient in literature and history, and more are also slang people. Therefore, the repertoire staged is not the real history of the Three Kingdoms, but the well-known story of the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao, who plays a clown and has a white face, is also spurned by the people who are deeply influenced by traditional morality because of some of his black spots in morality. To this day, many people's impression of Cao Cao is still at the level of "white-faced traitor", which shows the profound influence of opera on the people's memory.
Genuine Sadness at the Suffering of the People Corresponding to the one-sided criticism of the people, the official people of each dynasty evaluated Cao Cao differently. It can be seen that the image of Cao Cao, when literature moved down to the ordinary people, was different on two different roads, official and folk.
Irritability and loneliness under hesitation
<h1>Third, subjective evaluation in different fields</h1>
It is undeniable that Cao Cao was a famous "all-rounder". He was not only a politician and a military man, but also a poet, a calligrapher, a writer. Therefore, when evaluating Cao Cao, it is inevitable to evaluate him in many aspects, that is, in terms of morality and merit. In terms of morality, Cao Cao is essentially a character who combines multiple contradictions. He has an indiscriminate side and honest words that sympathize with the suffering of people's lives. He had a cruel side toward his enemies and a time of pardon for those who nearly killed him. Generous and selfish, sincere and hypocritical, cruel and compassionate, many opposing personalities come together. Let posterity sometimes fall into preconceived prejudices when it comes to moral judgments against him. Moral evaluation sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.
The evaluation of his work, different positions, and people in different fields have different statements. For example, Su Shi's account of his military exploits is that "Cao Cao succeeded in his treachery because of his decline"; while Chen Shou enthusiastically praised his defeat of Yuan Shu, the destruction of Tao Qian, the pingzhang of Zhang Miao, the killing of Lü Bu, the destruction of Yuan Shao, Ding Wuhuan, and the second son of Cao Wei, the unification of the north, the surrender of Liu Jian, Ke Machao, Zhan Sun Quan, and the collection of Zhang Lu, laying the foundation for Cao Wei's amazing feats. Evaluations of his articles, poems, and calligraphy are also different. Even Mr. Lu Xun humorously said that Cao Cao was "the ancestor of the transformation of articles", and his attitude towards Cao Cao's poetry was somewhat elusive.
A short song line, Emperor Wu asked for a sage can be seen
<h1>Wen Shijun said</h1>
Combining the above contents, we may find that different eras have different evaluations of Cao Cao's character. The reasons for this result are both objective historical reasons and social background, as well as subjective evaluation criteria, class positions, personal visions, and historical views. The conclusion of the coffin of the ancients is often an extremely difficult thing. When we look at an ancient man in today's age, we still have to look at it dialectically historically. We should see both sides of the ancients and return to the social environment of the time to look at his words and actions, so that history may no longer be black and white, but full of human warmth.
<h1>bibliography</h1>
Yan Ligang, "Popular Interpretation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms of the <> An Analysis of the Origin and Flow of Cao Cao's Image in China", Master's Thesis of Qufu Normal University, April 2013
Diao Meilin, "The Evolution of the Image of Cao Cao, a Historical Figure in the Eyes of the Ancients", Journal of Ningxia Normal University, No. 1, 2012
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Shandong Normal University Qilin Society)
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