Qian Xuantong: Appendix II of the Discussion on Literary Improvement

Text | Qian Xuantong

Mr. Duxiu:

　　Mr. Hu Shizhi's "Discussion on literary improvement", its exquisite Chen Yi, has been publicly stated before. The brother has a number of private opinions and is willing to discuss it with the public. If you have to borrow the remaining pictures of the magazine to teach Mr. Hu, you are particularly fortunate.

　 (1) Mr. Hu's theory of "no canon" is the most refined, which is enough to eliminate the accumulated shortcomings of putrid literature over the past thousand years. The literature of Qi and Liang before the brothers, such as the Book of Poetry, the Chu Ci, and the Song of Han and Wei, never used the canon (ancient literature, white painting outside the body, only Bixing. The body of Bixing is the same as mr. Hu's so-called "generalized canon"; it is very different from the fact that later generations directly replace the facts with the words of appearances). As short as "Gong Wu Crossing the River" and as long as "Jiao Zhongqing's Wife Poem", they are all purely white drawings, without a canon, and the emotions of the poet and the situation of the people in the poems are all vivid on the paper. "Jiao Zhongqing's Wife Poem" is especially different from the body of the vernacular, it has been more than 1,700 years, and reading it is like the person who wrote the poem interviewing me. Such beautiful literature is beyond the dreams of future generations of canons! (Later generations such as Du Fu and Bai Juyi's realistic poems also have this beauty.) Since later generations, the literati have no material strength to forge new words, but have competed to use the canon to deceive the world; not scholars have been shocked, and have been praised for their profound knowledge; so That Xi Feicheng is, if the text is not used, it is a sign of frugal learning. This is one of the big reasons for the failure of this real literature. Mr. Hu resigned and sincerely knew the truth. However, in the "narrow sense of the code", although Mr. Hu advocates not using it, Gu also said that "the worker occasionally uses it, but it is not impossible", it seems to be contrary to the conventional theory. The younger brother thought that all those who used the codex, no matter how clumsy they were, were all ills of writing. That is to say, as Mr. Hu gave the five things, (1) (3) (5), although they are known as work, they are also meaningless; Mr. Hu's self-assessment that "in fact, this kind of poetry can not be done" is the most straightforward and painful argument. If (2) the Su poems cited, Mr. Hu has already said that they are "close to delicacy". The younger brother thought that Su Shi's words and phrases, when read by the "famous warriors of the fighting party" who did not know literature, would be praised as "words and wonderful products", but in fact, they were tasteless, only disgusting, and they were directly the ears of the clumsy people who used the canon. (4) In the recitation of Jiang Kanghu, Mr. Hu said that he "used Zhao Xuanzi to work very hard", and his brother did not know its best points. As for the phrase "not hanging too white", it is necessary to violate the fifth article of the clumsy person who used the code by Mr. Hu: Mr. Hu knows that "Baqiao", "Yangguan", "Weicheng", and "Perch" are "the facts of ancient events are meant to be used and cannot be transferred", then it is advisable to know that the defending army did not care about the "too white flag", and even if Yuan Shikai was killed at that time, when the old example of "hanging too white to show the public" could not be followed; if so, the three words "hanging too white" are not in line with the facts, and what about the clumsy ones who are not using the codex? The so-called workers of the canon by The elder brother Yi Hu are also not available.

(2) The literary dictionary of literature is already inferior. If the text is applied in ordinary terms, it is especially necessary to speak honestly, and the old woman can understand it; if there is a vain allusion, it is particularly bad to replace the facts with appearance language. Master Zhang Taiyan tasted that the words "water falling out of the stone" and "cutting flesh to make up for sores" in gongmu were indecent. The deceased friend Mr. Hu Yangzeng said that he had seen a text admonishing the soldiers somewhere, and it was said, "This coincidence is difficult to protect the horses of the harmless group." ...... With a limited number of blood ants, raise countless flying locusts", this is really not the case. During the Manchu Qing and Hongxian dynasties, the judiciary was not independent, and when state and county governors encountered marriage lawsuits, they often liked to use the abuse of the four six as a sentence, both to show off their self-indulgence and to use their frivolous tone; although this was the evil of the official's mental skill, it was also helpful to the abuse of the four six. My brother thought that the literature before the Western Han Dynasty was the most simple and sincere. Originally bad in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it has more floating words and less true meaning. The disadvantages are abundant in Qi and Liang, and they are gradually used more and more. Tang and Song 46, except for the use of canons, have nothing else to do, and they are actually the worst inferior in literature. As for the recent past, the books "The History of Yanshan", "Liaozhai Zhiyi", and "Song Yin Manga" can be said to be completely incomprehensible. Opera, novels, for the best of modern literature, novels because of the use of more vernacular, the use of canons is still few (rare in vernacular. Mr. Hu advocated the use of the vernacular, not especially the use of the present language, but the use of the vernacular as a matter of reason, that is, the use of canonical juice for expulsion, and the use of vernacular as appropriate. Mr. Brother Yu Hu adopts the vernacular theory, which is absolutely agreed with it; the legendary works, that is, the disadvantages of the use of the canon, are also disgusting. Brother for this reason, not Rong ancient and lowly, brother for the ancient and modern style of the change of sentences, brother, do not think that the ancient is better than the present, but also with Mr. Hu's so-called "there is the text of the Book of Shang, there is the text of the pre-Qin sons, there is the text of Sima Qian, Ban Gu, there is the text of Han, Liu, Ou, Su, there is the text of quotations, there is the text of Shi Nai'an, Cao Xueqin, the evolution of this text", but for the use of the canonical layer, it is believed that it is indeed inferior to the predecessors, the facts are obvious, and it cannot be hidden.

　 (3) If there is a matter other than the use of the code, the disadvantages of which are similar to those of the use of the code, and which are also abstained from the writing, the title of the person is also. Man has a name, but it is a sign. Before Xia and Yin, there was only one person, which was the same as the Western people of today. Since the Zhou Dynasty Shangwen, there have been "young names, crown characters, fifty Bo Zhong, death" and other kinds of complicated titles, which have been greatly disgusting. The six dynasties are heavy and compete for the county. After the Tang and Song dynasties, "peaks, springs, streams, bridges, buildings, pavilions, xuan, pavilions", other names are more and more complicated, so that the number of one person is even dozens, and everyone who is well known, a change of name, is dazed and does not know whose clan it is, and every time the brother turns to the "Catalogue of Song YuanXue Cases", he feels brain pain, that is, for this reason; and the literati, for such titles, especially like to avoid habits, change to seclusion, or even delete their original names, or do not create new names. It is popular in recent times, and it is even more frightening. For example, "Xiangxiang", "Hefei", "Nanhai", "Xinhui", "Xiangcheng", "Huang Han", etc., are exclusively place-named celebrities, and if they have come and gone from ancient times to the present, that is, this person can be the representative; those who do not know by non-envoys cannot imagine, that is, they can be reasonable, and they must be peaceful. Therefore, the brother intends to write in the future, and whoever calls people shall use his name, and shall no longer take the name of the county and the place name, etc. (Also, the official name and place name must be from the name of the time, and those who have been spoken by the literati of the previous generations, although the princes of the Tongcheng sect, also know this.) However, what people said in the past is that the body of Jinshi literature and historical biography is appropriate; the literature of contempt for literature should also observe this rule. The names of the things used in the text, the Tao of ancient current affairs, should be called from ancient times; if the Tao is modern, it must be called from the present. Therefore, as the ancient name "crown, shoe, haplate, cloth, 笾, bean, zun, ding", can only be used in Daogu; if the Tao is in this matter, it must be changed to "hats, shoes, collars, pants, bowls, pots, pots, pots", and it is not appropriate to imitate the pedantic view of "dare not write cakes". ）

　 (4) In the text, there are scattered and scattered, all by nature. Whoever writes an article and wants its sentences to be relative to those who want its sentences and sentences not to be opposed is also vain. Tongcheng sent people to despise the Six Dynasties Puppets, calling Han Yu's prose the authenticity of ancient chinese. The first article of the "Original Tao" begins with the two sentences of "benevolence" and "righteousness", as opposed to the two sentences of "Tao" and "Virtue", and the following cloud, "Benevolence and righteousness are the definite names, and the Tao and virtue are illusory"; and yun, "Therefore, the Tao has gentlemen and villains, and the virtue has fierceness and auspiciousness"; both are the sentences of the puppets. Ruan Yuan took Confucius's "Wen Yan" as the ancestor of The Text, because it is said that Wen Bi Li (my friend Mr. Liu Shen Shu believed in this saying, and the writing would take the Li Li. To taste the commentaries he wrote is like an epitaph. And Mr. Liu's text, specially changed to the commonly used zigzag, replaced by the secluded character of the same training, there is a great "night dream is ominous, open the door is auspicious" changed to "night sleep bandit, clean up the Hongyu" wind, this is the same as the use of secluded canon disease). Then when the 18,000-word verse of the Spring and Autumn Period is also written by Confucius, why not be a trickster? Isn't it exhausting that there is a short thank you? The younger brother thought that in future literature, the law poems could be abolished, and four of them must be dualized, and they must be leveled. If things are scattered, let it be natural; for example, Mr. Hu's so-called "near the nature of language without far-fetched carvings", such sentences are free to be used.

　 (5) Mr. Hu said that "it is necessary to teach grammar", which is not only not only not emphasized by many people today, but also many diseases in ancient books. For example, in the Book of King Hui of Yan, "the plant of the thistle hill is planted in Wen Huang", which means the basket on the Wen of Qi Guo, and is now planted in the Ji Qiu of Yan. Jiang Yan's "Hate Endowment", "The lonely man is in danger, and the evil son falls into his heart", and the real "dangerous heart falls into the nose" also. Du Shi, "Fragrant Rice Pecking Yu Parrot Grain, Biwuqi Old Phoenix Imperial Branch", "Fragrant Rice" and "Parrot", "Biwu" and "Fenghuang", are all inverted guests. This is a sentence that the ancients did not understand. There is a sentence in the "Records of History" Pei Xiao's "Collection of Interpretations and Prologues", "It is precisely the hope that the sages are better than 'full of food all day long, and have no intention', and more than the ears of people in the Analects who 'do not have a game'", and anyone who sees this sentence will not lose their laughter." However, such a vivid quotation of idioms is also very rare in literary texts; in Song 46, there are many more.

(6) The literary value of the novels and plays mentioned in the past should be judged by the two things "emotion" and "thought" cited by Mr. Hu. Those who have no "noble thoughts" and "sincere feelings" have no value to speak of. Nine-tenths of the old novels are not works of adultery and theft (works of adultery, never cited. Works of thieves, such as "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness", are. "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not obscene, but is actually written about arrogant families, pouring thin customs, corrupt bureaucrats, and dirty prince ears. "Water Margin" is especially not a work of thieves, and the main brain of its whole book is nothing more than the righteousness of "officials forcing the people to rebel", and Shi Nai'an really has the ideology of socialists), that is, gods and monsters are talked about without scripture (such as "Journey to the West" and "Biography of the Fengshen Gods"); otherwise, with pedantic views, the wild history of the previous generation (such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Say Yue" and the like); the lowest, the so-called "Lady's Back Garden Gift", "Fallen Prince Zhongzhuangyuan" and so on, are the same, and there are no more fingers. Therefore, the novel is sincerely literary authentic, and the works of the previous novels have very few valuable people (the former literati like to describe the love between men and women. However, they do not have the vision of realist literature, but only express their flesh and blood in a profane writing, so they have no value to speak of). My brother thought that the old novels were valuable, but Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin", Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber", Wu Jingzi's "History of Ru Linwai", Li Boyuan's "Record of the Appearance of Officialdom", Wu Zhaoren's "Strange Situation Witnessed in Twenty Years", and Zeng Mengpu's "Evil Sea Flower" six books. Master Manju was highly minded, and his novels were the foundation of the beginning of the new literature. In addition, the authors are all so-called public and inferior, and those who have no teeth are enough. Mr. Hu also quite recommended Liu Tieyun's "Travels of the Old Remnants"; I thought that in his book, it was better to write only one paragraph of Yuxian's remnants, and the other discussions were mostly the views of the old new party that were not very clear-headed, and Huang Longzi's discussion of the "Northern Fist Shang Revolution" was particularly humorous. As for drama, although the Nanbeiqu and Kunlu are rarely noble in thought, the words and sentences are still impressive; if there is no ideal in the current Beijing drama, the article is extremely bad, and it must not be said to have literary value because it is a drama (if the person who compiled the Beijing tune book at that time could use all the vernacular, it would not be abusive). And the old Chinese drama, the dedicated singer, the singing of the text, the listener does not seek to understand, and the bizarre face of the play, the childishness of the stage equipment, none of them are enough to move emotions. Playing in the husband drama, this issue is indeed a real person, that is, the view has always been "Youmeng Yiguan", it can be seen that the drama plays the ancients, when the actor is like Sun Shu'ao, it is not in line with the righteousness of the play; why does the drama of today never pay attention to this point! Drama is originally a higher literature, while the old Chinese drama, compiled from the ignorant son of the city, the literati bachelor disdainful of the question, is clumsy and vicious, and it is appropriate to hear.

　　Mr. Liang Rengong is one of the people who has recently created new literature. Although his political treatises and works, due to the changes of the times, could not win the approval of all the Chinese people, that is, his articles could not be completely stripped of their posts and paths, but they entered the syntax of the Japanese language, entered the text with new terms and colloquialisms, and regarded the opera novel as equal to the text of the "Treatise" and "Record" (Mr. Liang's works "New Folk Theory", "New Roman Legend", and "New China Future Record", all of which were done with all their strength, and did not taste the weight of the two), all of which were superior to others. Disdain for the innovation of modern literature must be counted on Mr. Leung.

As for the so-called Tongcheng giants who can write prose at that time, who can be selected scholars who can write prose, they must use clichés to fill in the poems, and the sentences created are nothing more than the words filled in by Hu Xianjun as cited by Mr. Hu, such literati, who pretend to be ancient and elegant, despise opera novels, think that those who are not elegant in the world, and who are self-servants, all written by this generation are "high eight shares" (this is still a polite word; according to the truth, zhidangyun "eight strands of deformation"), literature is cloudy! (Another example is lin shu and ren's translation of Western novels, dedicated to the writing of "Liaozhai Zhiyi", on the one hand, they want to attract Han and Liu to self-respect; this value is under the Tongcheng school, and Ran Shigu is "a great literary hero"!) ）

Qian Xuantongbai February 25, 1917