1. The wildness, rebelliousness and strangeness of Jianghu culture
From the sociological point of view, Jianghu is a relatively independent society, which was born out of the mainstream society and is different from it. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the collapse of slavery ceremony, the status of the gentry class was lost, and the folk discourse became active, forming the initial Jianghu culture. Therefore, the rivers and lakes are first of all wild. The so-called "in the country, the minister of the market, the minister of the wild" (Mencius). This kind of wildness runs through the Jianghu culture from beginning to end. With the rise, establishment and perfection of feudal autocracy, rivers and lakes and mainstream society also have a process from differentiation to opposition and finally complete independence. It can be said that it is a large shadow cast by the towering temple. It is as big as the temple, and even because of the angle of projection, it is far bigger than the temple. Secondly, it is rebellious. From the beginning of the division from the mainstream society, Jianghu culture has shown a class contradiction and the opposition between officials and the people. In the Han dynasty, refugees gathered together to be thieves, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the party Sect flourished, and the rivers and lakes staged live dramas from time to time. This rebelliousness eased and sharpened with the extension of feudal autocracy and totalitarianism, but it was not a departure from the whole cultural value system, but a rebellion against local social order and a repair of the whole cultural value system, such as "balancing the rich and the poor", "doing justice for heaven" and "opposing corrupt officials but not the emperor". Thirdly, it is weird. The opposition to the mainstream society has kept the rivers and lakes in a position of being suppressed and demonized, which reached its extreme after the rise of the social parties and sects in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Rivers and lakes have their own independent discourse system-incision, and non-insiders don't know the three flavors; It has its own value system-help rules, Jianghu morality, which is different from and infiltrated with mainstream social ideology; Coupled with the witch culture, divination theology fell from the temple to the folk, with three religions and nine streams, five lines and eight works, which added a strange color to the rivers and lakes. This is the objective and real Jianghu we are facing, but it is not the Jianghu world in the new martial arts novels, especially in Jin Yong's martial arts novels.
Second, from realism, legend to symbol
It is worth noting that strictly speaking, realistic works that objectively reflect the Jianghu society are rare, which is different from classical martial arts works. Among the classical martial arts works, there are quite a few realistic works. Historical Records such as Biography of the Ranger and Biography of the Assassin are not worth mentioning. Even in scripts, parodies, historical novels, and literati notes, such as The Water Margin, Tang Dynasty and other legendary works, the description of the wildness and rebellion of the rivers and lakes is quite realistic. Even legendary works such as Nie Yinniang, Red Line and Kunlunnu in the Tang Dynasty still have a solid realistic foundation, from which we can see the historical background of Panzhen's separatist regime, which is similar to that of other countries and assassins. The chivalrous case-solving novels in the late Qing Dynasty, such as Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses, Shi Gong An, Biography of Heroes of Children, are the products of folk discourse, mainstream discourse, or the combination of the two. In short, they are just looking for a compromise road under the opposition between the realistic rivers and lakes and the mainstream society, and their sense of reality is quite strong.
The new martial arts novels have arisen in overseas colonies and the Chinese world where capitalism is commercialized. In order to attract readers, the realistic class opposition of Jianghu is diluted, while the legendary and bizarre color of Jianghu is strengthened, so as to stimulate people's ever-changing fashion and taste in commercial society. From the text point of view, this legend is different from the historical legend of historical novels. It is far from the Classic of Mountains and Seas and strange novels, and it is connected with the supernatural novels The Journey to the West and the Romance of the Gods. It is close to the biography of the swordsman by Buxiaosheng of Pingjiang and the biography of the swordsman of Shushan by the landlord. From this, we have seen that the rivers and lakes have changed from villages, alleys and green forests to fairy mountains and islands, and it seems that they are not rivers and lakes but overseas western classics and wild southern classics. What's more, the rivers and lakes have expanded from the earth to space, and martial arts and science fiction reflect each other. Martial arts, the bottom-up skill that people in Jianghu rely on, is also a super illusion that realism is a cold weapon, fists and feet are changed into magic weapons, acupuncture in the air and fighting against the wind. This bizarre river and lake is actually an unconscious tortuous reflection of the commercial society. Unconsciously, the quality of such works is not high, and they can only be used as disposable consumer goods. However, the secrecy of the real Jianghu society undoubtedly provides writers with imaginative space, and its strangeness and legend naturally have the credibility of "let's talk about it" to a certain extent. Therefore, it can also be said that such works, for commercial purposes, have consciously magnified the secrecy of Jianghu society. Its wide audience, perhaps more only has the research significance of literary sociology.
However, we can't look at Jin Yong in this way. Yes, Jin Yong's novels also wrote many absurd legends. As a journalist, he must first consider the number of readers, and legends naturally become an indispensable seasoning. But as a cultural person, he is not satisfied with making a fuss only on the legendary level. He is deeply immersed in history and traditional culture, has a thorough understanding of human nature in commercial society, and has insight into modern people's spirit. His martial arts novels are covered with something, and his bizarre legends have risen to the symbolic level. Even we can't simply aim at martial arts novels.
Of course, from the beginning, Jin Yong didn't consciously write legends from the symbolic level, but inherited the historical novels and used history to write legends. Compared with painting, it is meticulous rather than freehand brushwork; Compared with calligraphy, it is regular script rather than running script, and it is not cursive. The influence of Water Margin can be clearly seen in the early Shu Jian En Yi Lu, and the names of more than a dozen heads of the Red Flower Club imitate Water Margin. The world of chivalrous men is real, martial arts are mortal, and the extension of the story is not big, so it is practical. Originally, there was much to be done about the contradiction between the Red Flower Club and Qianlong. Whether Qianlong became an emperor as a Han Chinese or as a Manchu emperor is such a big problem for the Red Flower Club. In fact, it shows the weakness and sadness of the justice of the Red Flower Club's "anti-Qing and regaining sight". If "The Book of Swords and Revenge" is just Jin Yong's concealed talent, which inadvertently touches such a theme with cultural symbolic significance, then the second "sword stained with royal blood" intentionally strengthens the author's interest. Yuan Chengzhi traveled across the country and saw the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng and Manchu competing for the title. The Ming Dynasty was full of "dangerous roads, bad Great Wall in troubled times", but what I didn't expect was that Li Zicheng "prospered the Lord, but also made people suffer". In contrast, the Manchu ruling group seemed so far-sighted and brilliant. Its historical thinking is quite profound. In the third part, Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain wrote about the different attitudes of the descendants of Hu, Miao, Tian and Fan towards power, treasure, friendship and hatred. How do the heroes and chivalrous men materialize and degenerate into "Jianghu people" because of the treasure? The fourth "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is based on the historical background of ethnic disputes. In the case of national crisis, the pure and inaction Quanzhen believers, the most humble beggars' gangs (beggars' gangs), and the unruly figures who have no jobs and no rights have actually shouldered the national justice. Such a story may not conform to the historical truth, but there is the truth of historical essence. It is not only a bitter mockery of the high-ranking corpse in the past dynasties, but also a warm praise of "the man who has a husband is more important than the country" (Zhang Pu's "The Monument to the Tomb of Five"). And "The Condor Heroes" is clearly an ode to human nature. Yuan Haowen's poem Yanqiu runs through the book and becomes a real theme that is free from ethnic disputes. "What is love in the world?" On the one hand, Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty is like the ancient tomb school, such as the Valley of Desperate Love, on the other hand, it is difficult to get rid of the poison of human nature like love flowers. Lust not only produced Li Mochou, Gongsun Zhi and Qiu Qianchi, but also interpreted Yang Guo, Little Dragon Girl and Guo Xiang. In The Condor Heroes, the symbolic meaning of Jin Yong's novels began to increase. Since then, I have become more and more conscious and handy. "White Horse Whistling in the West Wind" continues "Ask the world, what is love?" However, Yuanyang Dao is like a prequel or abbreviation of "Eternal Dragon Slayer", and the big secret hidden in the knife is just the word "the benevolent is invincible". "Liancheng Tactics" is about what is priceless: gold and silver jewelry, floating name power or chivalrous friendship. As for "Tian Long Ba Bu", it is clearly a revelation and resolution of the human desire of suffering; The legendary swordsman is an out-and-out political fable; The Duke Of Mount Deer's whole article is full of the spirit of cultural criticism. These works are romantic in form and legendary in content, but their essence is deeper realism (symbol).
Perhaps, we can draw the conclusion that Jin Yong is not interested in the Jianghu in the sociological sense, and has no intention to preach it. He is more interested in the development of human nature in history, culture and modern society. What he wants to write is actually the concern of pure literature, but he borrowed a legendary robe to get close to the public's reading psychology. In this regard, he is similar to Pu Songling's writing Liaozhai, which is more exciting than a record and more symbolic than a legend. So we read his "full of absurd words", but we feel that "there is something in it". Jianghu gangs are no longer affiliated with the party, but like political factions, economic groups and cultural units in the mainstream society, as well as bizarre, absurd and funny people in Jianghu and their behaviors (weird). In fact, they are not fairies and monsters, but are the reflection of all kinds of human nature, especially deformed and morbid personality, which has grown in modern commercial society and semi-colonial soil. A chivalrous man can be regarded as a scholar such as Qu Yuan, Jia Yi, Tao Qian, Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi, Xin Qiji, Xu Wei, Li Zhi and Gong Zizhen. As for the exaggerated description of martial arts and man, it is "the combination of man and sword", and the skill is like a man, which is also endowed with personalized characteristics. If you lose your martial arts, you will become a basket case, which is more like a symbolic prophecy. Guo Jing and Xiao Feng's simple and strong personality can be seen in a set of eighteen palms of dragon descending; A set of fascinating palms can only be made by Yang Guo who has been miserable all his life; Ren Woxing's star-sucking method can easily remind people of his slogan of "unifying the rivers and lakes"; And Tianshan Tongmu simply practiced "Eight Wastes and Six Rivers"; In the hands of black wind and evil spirits, Jiuyin Zhenjing can only be cultivated into a violent and vicious Jiuyin white bone claw; Yinzhi's perverse swordsmanship to ward off evil spirits is naturally an expert skill of Yue Buqun and others. In particular, a set of internal training is more like Confucian moral introspection, Taoist life-saving and true, and Buddhist experience. The depth of its level is a reflection of the strength of personality.
Therefore, it can be said that Jin Yong's works have changed the Jianghu in the sociological sense, also changed the Jianghu in the legendary level, and constructed a new meaning of Jianghu culture, thus finally changing the status of martial arts novels. To paraphrase the writer Alai, his novels are a game space, an emotional space and an ideological space.