Zhang Chao's "Shadow of Dreams"

"Shadow of Dreams" is a Qingyan sketch, "Qingyan Sketch", also known as "Qingyan", is a literary genre of the special name, generally using concise aphorisms, aphorisms, quotations in the form of expression of philosophical thinking or life interest, in the scriptures, historical records, poetry outside of the stand-in, is a kind of aphorism, essay-style literature. For more than a hundred years from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, this style was quite popular. A large number of excellent works such as Tu Long's "Brahmin Qingyan", Chen Jiru's "Small Window Youji", Lü Kun's "Moaning Language", Hong Yingming's "Cai Gen Tan" and so on have been produced. Zhang Chao's "Shadow of Dreams" is one of the most representative works of this type.

Zhang Chao (1650—?) ), the character Shan Lai, the number of the heart of the zhai, do not sign the heart of the resident, the ancestral home of Anhui SheXian County. His father's name was Xi Kong, a jinshi in the sixth year of Qing Shunzhi (1649), and Zhang Chao was born the following year (seven years of Shunzhi). Zhang Xikong official Lang Zhong, in the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), was appointed as the envoy of Shandong Tixue, and a few months after his arrival, Zhang Chao's grandmother died, and Zhang Xikong Ding's mother returned to Li, "from then on, he saw the way of the world and was determined to advance", and lived in Yangzhou and ran a family business. Although Zhang Chao lived in a favorable environment where "feng shui in the farmhouse, slave utensils, books and cultural relics" were readily available, his tutoring was very strict, and he did not have the slightest habit of being tainted. Since childhood, he has been "brilliant, good at reading, Broad-versed in the History of Hundred Family Words, weak crown to supplement all lives, with a literary name of the great river north and south". Unfortunately, he did not try twice, and only fished out the qualifications of a young gongsheng and obtained hanlin Kongmu, a petty official from jiupin. The unsuccessful career is only one aspect of his difficult career, and on the road of life, Zhang Chao's bumps, setbacks and tribulations are also numerous. In the ten years from the age of fifteen to the age of twenty-six, he encountered many misfortunes that made him "ambitious and exhausted", and wrote a book in Yangzhou.

"Shadow of Dreams" takes its meaning of "the dream of the ghost, like a phantom", which fully expresses the experience and feeling of life and nature, and contains the intention of breaking people's dreams and inspiring people, and is a book of aphorisms for life reminiscence and treatment. Its writing is clear and bright, its arguments are incisive and original, and its ideas are rich and profound. The author with an open-minded mind and elegant vision to find the goodness and beauty of the world, his unique life insights, with the brushwork of sketches to express out, fresh writing contains a wealth of philosophy, "what people can not say, the Tao people have not said", evocative and endless; the criticism of evil and ugliness, the form of expression is gentle and intriguing, although there are some sneers, but without losing demeanor, "Shadow of Dreams" is indeed like a cool detoxification.

The special beauty of this book is also the specialness of the form. The author first says a paragraph, and then some friends "talk". These remarks are wonderful, some are factual commentaries; some are supplementary explanations. In today's parlance, it is a Qing Dynasty scholar Zhang Chao's real name "Weibo". There are blog posts, there are replies, bloggers are interesting, bo friends are knowledgeable, piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, world, leisure and elegance, everything. This collection of notes and essays contains 219 of the author's maxims, proverbs, philosophies, rhymes, and aphorisms. It can be said that the words are pearls and the articles are wonderful.

Speaking of reading a few examples, Zhang Chao said: "Reading the scriptures yidong, its gods are also specialized; reading Shi Yixia, its time is also long; reading the sons is yiqiu, its farewell is also; reading the collections of Yichun, its opportunity is also smooth." The friend added: "Cao Qiuyue: You can imagine seeing the hundred cities to the south." Pang Pen Nu yue: "Shadow of Dreams" is inappropriate in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Zhang Chao said: "Teenagers read like peeping at the moon in the gap; middle-aged people read like looking at the moon in the court; the elderly read like playing the moon on the stage; all of them are based on the shallow depth of experience and the shallow and deep ears of the gains." Then came the friend's reply: "Huang Jiaosan: Those who can really know the pain of reading are also tickled." Zhang Zhupo: My uncle's theory is directly in the Guanghan Palace, and the world is clear like water. Bi Youwan: I think that there is a difference between the depth and the depth of learning. "It is not difficult to collect books, it is difficult to read them; it is not difficult to read books, it is difficult to read them; it is not difficult to read books, it is difficult to use them; it is not difficult to use them, and it is difficult to remember them." The friend then said, "Hong: The world inherently can but cannot use." Wang Ruiren said: Can remember and use, Fang is a true book collector. Zhang Zhupo: It is difficult to remember the past, and it is especially difficult to use it. "The distribution of these people who talk about reading books in this book is not grouped together, and it can be imagined that it is the author's arbitrary discussion that tells the true meaning of reading. Huang Zhouxing, Mao Peijiang, Wu Qi, Kong Shangren, Wu Jiaji, Zhang Zhupo, Du Jun and other celebrities at that time all had discussions, and they were all friends.

"Shadow of Dreams" embodies that Zhang Chao is based on a subset of the history of the classics and soaks in the traditional Chinese literati's outlook on life. It shows the intellectual taste of the middle class and the attitude of chinese literati. Through Zhang Chao's eyes, let us discover that trivial life is so extraordinary, the moon, stone or a tree, clouds, butterflies or flowers and birds, these ordinary things, after the author's contemplation, introspection, after personal understanding, has become enough to pass on the study of life. Shi Pang, an opera writer known as a rare prodigy during the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, said in the "Shadow of Dreams and Shadows" that the book "takes the wind and currents as a Taoist and educates the humorous". Modern writer Lin Yutang compared "Shadow of Dreams" to the Chinese version of the Bible, "tirelessly promoted the book of "Shadow of Dreams" for decades", translated this book, and let the Western world see Chinese culture. The modern writer and translator Zhang Yiping said that "Shadow of Dreams" is the book of talents and the book of great thinkers. The thoughts of the heart are "so old, and so new."

Zhang Chao's works include "Xinzhai Chat Collection", "Flower Shadow Words", "Pen Song", "Dream Shadow", etc., and the editor evaluated "Zhao Dynasty Series", "TanJi Series", and "Yu Chu Xinzhi". "Shadow of Dreams" was written at about the age of thirty, and it took fifteen years before it was completed.