Author: Zhang Zhengxue (Professor, College of Literature, Tianjin Normal University)
As a famous drama throughout the ages, Wang Shifu's "Records of the West Chamber" has been widely disseminated, and there are no less than 20 kinds of Ming Dynasty batch point books alone, of which Xu Wei's batch point books are not only unique, but also enjoyed by researchers. According to Xu Wei's student and neighbor Wang Jide's "New Annotations on the Ancient Ben XiXiang Record" (hereinafter referred to as "Wang Ji Deben"), Xu Wei has commented on several kinds of "Xi Xiang Records", one of which is the "Jiyang Carved Ben". Wang's record says that the "Ji Ben" was a relatively rough and concise commentary on Xu Wei's early years, so "the solution was not accurate", and the inscription at the beginning of the volume was many mistakes, and it was even believed that Wang Shifu's "Records of the West Chamber" miscellaneous drama was Dong Xieyuan's work. At the beginning of the volume of the "Re-engraving and Revising Yuanben Batch Point Painting Intention North West Chamber" (hereinafter referred to as the "Painting Intention Book"), there is a "Shu Shu Inscription", which is consistent with Wang's description of the content of the "Ji Ben" inscription, so the academic circles usually believe that this "Pictorial Intention Book" is "Ji Ben". However, the crux of the matter is that the "Ji Ben" is Xu Wei's commentary, and the literature can be signed, and if the "Pictorial Intention Ben" is the "Ji Ben", then the so-called "Xu Batch" and "Xi Xiang Ji" that account for most of the country and mountains in the present legend are mostly true, and conversely, most of them are pseudo-trusts, so whether the "Pictorial Yi Ben" is "Ji Ben" is related to the determination of the authenticity of the "Xu Batch" and "Xi Xiang Ji", and it is very necessary to distinguish it.
The author believes that whether from the date of its writing and engraving, or from its text (main text and eyebrow criticism) or even its base, the "pictorial script" is not a "ji ben".
Let's first look at the age of its writing and publication. According to Wang Ji Deben, "Ji Ben" is Xu Wei's early commentary, although the date of its publication is not yet known, but from Wang Ji Deben mentioning it and also describing the characteristics of its evaluation and the content of the inscription at the beginning of the volume, it will not be later than Wang Ji Deben, but it is certain. As for the "Pictorial Script", whether it is written or engraved, it is later than Wang JiDeben, because it obviously copied Wang Jideben's text. For example, Wang Ji Deben's first set of folds [Earned] notes: "The books are made of 'translucent bone marrow acacia disease infection', and the word 'dye' belongs to the incorruptible fiber closed mouth rhyme, non ... There is no doubt that this song is a mistake of "sick entanglement" in the flat voice... Now straight more determined. The second fold of the first set ([six order]) [幺] notes: "The ancient and present texts are both 'half a million thieves', and the word 'bing' is more green and rhymed, and there is no doubt that the word 'jun' is corrected." The third set of the third fold (leaving the pavilion feast with a break to shoot the fire) notes: "The Du family who guessed the poetry puzzle, the "Quit Cultivation Record and Miscellaneous Drama Titles" has "Du Dabo Guessing the Poetry Riddle", that is, the ancient book is also falsely called 'shejia', and now it is corrected." The "pictorial scripts" of the "examination" are all "entangled", "jun" and "Du family" respectively. Since "entanglement", "jun" and "Du jia" are "more determined" or "corrected" by the Wang family, then the "Pictorial Script" is the same, and there is no other explanation than copying Wang JiDeben. From this, it can be seen that the writing and engraving of the "Pictorial Script" must have been after Wang Jideben. If Wang Jideben is taken as a reference, then the writing and engraving of the "Ji Ben" and the "Pictorial Intention Book" are naturally one before and after it. How can two kinds of "West Chamber Records", which are even written in different years and engraved, be the same version?
Let's look at the main text of the "Pictorial Book" of the "Tale of the West Chamber". Its main text inherits many of the texts from the version of the "Xi Xiang Ji" after the "Ji Ben", and the most inherited is Wang JiDeben, followed by Zhu Shijin Ben, and Wang Jide's so-called "Present Ben" or "Folk Ben".
In addition to the aforementioned "entanglement", "army" and "Du family", there are many similar examples. For example, its first fold and the second set of [XiaoliangZhou] annotations say: "The ancient book 'Six Elders', Dong Zi as 'Shu Lao', is now from Dong. The second set of [XiaoliangZhou] notes the second fold: "Yang Yongxiu's "Harvesting the Mountains of the Forest" Cloud: 'The horn belt is yellow. 'This work is 'Proud Yellow Dragon', non... Now from Yang. "The third set of first sets [when enjoying the flowers] notes: "'Extinguishing incense', this work is 'incense dissipation', which is not the same as the upper 'no heart', and is now positive." "The third fold of the fourth set of notes says: "'Eyebrow bending...', commonly known as 'eyebrow dai'... No, even ancient texts. Correction from Dong Ben. The "pictorial intention book" of the test is all in line with Wang JiDeben's note. According to the author's statistics, there are dozens of similar texts of Wang Jide's "Records of the West Chamber" that were revised by his examination and revised and copied by the "Pictorial Script". It is impossible for these words to appear in the "Ji Ben".
According to Wang Jideben's notes, the "courtyard" in the first set of "Pictorial Texts" [parasitic grass], the "sleepy" in the first set of "oil gourds" in the second fold, the "with smoke" in the second set [Drunken Spring Wind], the "Broken Restoration" in the third set [Folding Gui Ling], the "mistake" in the first set of the third fold [Parasitic Grass], the "Jade Oblique Horizontal" in the second set [Drunken Spring Wind], and the "Die" in the fourth set [Purple Flower Sequence], all belong to Zhu Ben's "West Chamber". Zhu Ben was engraved in the "Wanli Pengzi", when Xu Wei was alive, but even so, according to Wang Jideben, Xu Wei had never seen Zhu Ben in his lifetime, not to mention that "Ji Ben" was Xu Wei's early commentary, and Zhu Ben had not yet appeared when it was written. It can be seen that these words of the above-mentioned "Pictorial Script", whether they are directly from Zhu Ben, or through the intermediary of other "Xi Xiang Ji" such as Wang Ji Deben, can certainly be impossible to come from "Ji Ben".
In addition to the above-mentioned Wang Ben and Zhu Ben, the "Pictorial Ben" also inherits Wang Jide's so-called "present book" or "vulgar book" text. Wang Ji Deben's second set of folds [closing] notes: "The vulgar version has since been falsely increased [when enjoying flowers]. The third set of the first set ([Sheng Hulu]) [幺] note said: "'Selling laughter', this work is 'selling pretty'." The fourth fold of the third set [Man Tingfang] notes: "This tuning book is from the following work [陳篇] from '俺則厮宮安安宸 for a moment and a half', non-." The "pictorial script" of the "test" is consistent with Wang's so-called "present book" or "common book". According to the author's statistics, among the more than 220 different texts that Wang Jideben went to school, nearly 30 of them only have the "present book" or "vulgar book" that is the same as the "picture intention book". Of course, Wang Ji Deben once said that "each workshop is known as the book, or the present book, or the common book", but even so, it does not contain "ji ben" is undoubted. In other words, these words of the "Pictorial Script" cannot be found in the "Ji Ben".
In addition to the main text, the eyebrow criticism of the "Pictorial Script" also has this situation. For example, the first set of the third fold [Sheng Hulu] song "Bang Bow" article eyebrow batch is the same as Wang Ji Deben's note; and the second set of [Playing Children] song "'Small is Small' Sentence" has only one more "sentence" character than Wang Ji Deben's note; as for the fourth set of the second fold [Dou Quail], "He did' three sentences" eyebrow criticism, most of them are the same as Wang Ji Deben's notes. Obviously, these three eyebrow criticisms of the "Pictorial Intention Book" are all or partly from Wang Jide's original, and it is impossible to come from the "Ji Ben".
There are so many "pictorial scripts" from the text of the "West Chamber" of other books, how can it be "Ji Ben"?
Finally, there is the base. There is no direct literature on the basis of the "Ji Ben", but according to the relevant materials, it should be the Bijun Zhai Ben (hereinafter referred to as the Junben). The base of the "Pictorial Script", such as the two inscriptions of Shu and Aoto Daoren at the beginning of the volume, are also the Shu Ben, but this is not the case. Of course, more than ten years ago, some scholars stumbled upon the Bijunzhai Ancient BenBei Xi Xiang of Shandong Normal University's Tibetan qing Tongzhijian manuscript, but its authenticity is indisputable, especially at least about 40% of its length is copied from the "Golden Batch" and "West Chamber", so we cannot use it as a basis, fortunately, when Wang Jide "proofreads" the "West Chamber" and Mao Qiling mentions the original text of the "West Chamber" many times when he "discusses" the "West Chamber", which can be used as a reference for us to examine this issue. According to the author's statistics, Wang Jide's "Proofreading" of the "West Chamber" and Mao Qiling's "Thesis" of the "West Chamber" mention 127 and 10 of the original texts of the "West Chamber" respectively, but their coincidence with the "Pictorial Script" is only 58 and 4 respectively, which is less than half of the full number. This shows that the reimoto will not be the base of the "pictorial script". One or the other.
Second, judging from the criticism of the "pictorial script", the same is true. For example, the first two words of the fourth sentence of the first fold of the first set of "Painting Intention Book" [dotted lips] are "looking at the eyes", but his eyebrow criticism also says "one book is 'drunken eyes'", and the first three words of the fourth sentence of the second fold [stripping shirt] song are "Qi Zhu Feng", but his eyebrow criticism also says "one work 'Qi PengMen'", and from Wang Ji Deben's notes, it can be seen that the two places of The Book of Qi are "Drunken Eyes" and "Qi Peng Men" respectively. Since the "Pictorial Script" regards the Shogun as a "different book", it is impossible to use it as a base.
Third, judging from the relevant texts in Xu Wei's "Road History", the base of the "Pictorial Script" will not be a copy. According to Wang Jideben's note, it can be known that the first two words of the fourth sentence of the first fold of the first book of the "Records of the Western Chamber" (西厢記) are "drunken eyes", and for this "drunken eyes", the "History of the Road" greatly praised: "'Drunken eyes', many people today have not yet understood." For example, Wang Shifu Quyun's 'drunken eyes are in the sky', and he is changed to 'looking at the eyes and the sky', which is a big disappointment... The eyes are in the scenery, like the indulgence of people and forgetfulness, so it is called 'drunken eyes', which is a big funny word. However, the "painting intention book" is just "looking at the eyes". If the "Painting Intention Book" is really based on the "Painting Intention Book", then how could Xu Wei change the word "drunken eye" that he greatly admired in the "Painting Intention Book" to "Wangyan"?
The base of the "Ji Ben" is the Reed Ben, but the "Pictorial Ben" is not. Even the base book is different, how can the picture intention book be book?
In summary, it can be seen that the written and engraved dates of the "Pictorial Script" and the "Ji Ben" are different, the text (main text and eyebrow criticism) are also different, and the bases on which they are based are not the same, so the "Pictorial Ben" cannot be the "Ji Ben". Among them, the key material that caused scholars to misunderstand, the Shuren inscription at the beginning of the volume of the "Pictorial Book", judging from the content of the "Jiben" inscription described by Wang Jide, the author suspects that it was originally written by Xu Wei for the "Jiben", but later it was only because of Mao Xianshu's "Poetry Debate" that the so-called "Municipal Servant Pseudo-Trust" or some other reason put it at the beginning of the "Pictorial Book". In this way, the so-called "Pictorial Script" or "Ji Ben" in the academic circles is actually just a misunderstanding, and the so-called "Xu Ping" "Records of the West Chamber" is also largely just a false trust.
Guangming Daily (2020-02-17, 13th edition)