The simple and elegant green brick courtyard we see now is the former residence of Wu Chengen. The entire former residence covers an area of ??9876 square meters, with a construction area of ??1842 square meters. The layout of the former residence is divided into four courtyards, consisting of 26 houses such as concierges, guest rooms, pavilions, and studies, as well as courtyards and a back garden? Enlightenment Garden, supplemented by winding corridors, rockeries, pavilions, boat bridges, and bamboo and wood flowers. , is a group of elegant, beautiful and antique garden-style buildings that embody the style of the Ming Dynasty. Now we have arrived at the main entrance of Wu Chengen's former residence.
The large golden characters "Wu Cheng'en's Former Residence" on the plaque above the main entrance were written by Shu Tong, the late famous Chinese calligrapher and chairman of the Chinese Calligraphy Association.
When we walked into the gate, the first thing that caught our eyes was a green bamboo forest. There are clumps of bamboos and green leaves whirling and swaying, giving us a sense of humility, elegance and tranquility. This reminds us of a few poems by Zheng Banqiao of the Eight Eccentric Painting School of Yangzhou: "It would be better to eat without meat than live without bamboo; no meat makes people thin, and no bamboo makes people vulgar." Wu Cheng'en encountered difficulties many times in his life, but he never followed the crowd. Isn't this clump of bamboo a reflection of his arrogant character?
Facing the bamboo forest also reminds us of an ancient couplet: "There are thousands of poles of bamboo facing the door, and there are thousands of books in the house." Wu Cheng'en read a lot of poems and books, had a good memory, was rich in knowledge, and was versatile. So, did he really have thousands of poems and books in his home? Please come with me to see it! Here are the three main halls of Wu Chengen's former residence. This living room is the main hall of the Wu family. It is a place for holding weddings and funerals and receiving activities for relatives and guests.
Please look up at the above plaque with green characters on a brown background "Sheyang Zhen" (y, study). It was inscribed by Zhao Puchu, the late chairman of the Buddhist Association of China. Everyone will definitely ask, why is it called Sheyangzhen? And why is this plaque placed in the hall? When Huai'an was first established as a county in the Western Han Dynasty (117 BC), it was called "Sheyang County". Ancient celebrities often liked to use their place of residence or birthplace as their names, so Wu Cheng'en also took the name "Sheyang Jushi". His good friend and son-in-law Shen Kun once gave Wu Chengen a plaque with the words "Sheyang Zhen" written on it. Wu Cheng'en liked it very much, so he hung the plaque "Sheyang Zhen" in the study in the main hall. This plaque has now been lost.
The couplet on the pillars in front of the hall is: "Searching for hundreds of generations of writings, picking up the charm of the ages, the art garden has long recommended Beidou; Gu pretended to rely on gods and demons, dared to express his feelings, and performed a unique journey to the West." This couplet was written by Mr. Ma Jizong, the late Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Chuzhou District. It highly summarizes the origin of Wu Chengen's creation and his literary achievements throughout his life, as well as the historical value of his masterpiece "Journey to the West". Please look at the Wu family tree. The ancestral home of Wu Chengen's family is Andong, which is now Lianshui County in our city. They moved to Huai'an at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. It has been five generations since Wu Chengen. The great ancestor Wu Ding was a commoner, his great-grandfather Wu Ming served as a Confucian instructor in Yuyao County, Zhejiang, and his grandfather Wu Zhen was a student at the Imperial College and served as a Confucian instructor in Renhe County, Zhejiang (now Hangzhou City). They were all young men with extremely low moral character and idle positions. Officials, specializing in educating and training the county's talented people. When his father Wu Rui was four years old, his grandfather passed away. Finally, with the help of some colleagues, he was able to transport the coffin back to his hometown for burial. When Wu Rui came of age, he married Xu. The Xu family opened a colorful thread and ribbon shop, and Wu Rui also ran this kind of business, so he dropped out of school and went into business. He no longer had the time and energy to seek fame. As a result, Wu Chengen's family declined from a scholarly family to a small businessman's family. Xu gave birth to only one daughter named Wu Chengjia. Wu Rui married the side wife Zhang and gave birth to Wu Chengen. Wu Cheng'en has been smart and intelligent since he was a child, and is known as a child prodigy. Under the influence of his parents, he loved to listen to stories about gods and demons, and collected dramas, commentaries and other materials about Tang Monk's Buddhist scriptures. He often read away from his family.
When Wu Chengen was young, he married Ye, the great-granddaughter of Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, and had a son named Fengmao. Shen Kun, the champion, once promised his daughter to marry Fengmao, but Fengmao died in infancy without getting married. This is the epitaph written by Wu Chengen for Shen Kun's parents.
The era when Wu Chengen lived was the period when the Ming Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline and became increasingly corrupt. The eunuchs Liu Jin and Yan Song and his son took over power successively. Although Wu Cheng'en was full of knowledge and talents, he suffered from setbacks and neglect. Throughout his life, he had no way to serve the country. Due to the early death of his wife and children, his later life was miserable. In 1582, Wu Chengen died of poverty and illness at the age of 78.
In order to compile "Journey to the West", Wu Cheng'en traveled to famous mountains and rivers and accumulated a large amount of perceptual material. Wu Chengen once wrote the famous poem "Erlang Searching the Mountains".
When Wu Cheng'en was thirty-six years old, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty visited Chengtian Mansion in the south (today's Anlu County, Hubei Province). The civil and military ministers accompanying him took the opportunity to extort money and make a lot of money, making the people miserable. Wu Chengen couldn't restrain his anger and wrote this poem. In the poem, those civil and military ministers who brought disaster to the country and the people were compared to the "demon" in the myth and legend Erlang Soushan, and he denounced them as "five ghosts" and "four evils". He scolded them so hard that even Emperor Ming Shizong was punished. His rebuke. Wu Cheng'en is a great litterateur who wrote extremely rich works throughout his life. However, due to his "poor family and no children", most of them have been lost. The only existing works are the world-famous "Journey to the West" and a collection of poems and essays "Mr. Sheyang". In addition to "Cumulative Manuscripts", he also wrote a short story "Yu Ding Zhi" and edited a collection of poems "Hua Cao Xin Bian", all of which have been lost. Wu Chengen's lost manuscripts are ten or even a hundred times more than those currently preserved in Shizhuan.
Please take a look, some versions of "Journey to the West" are displayed in the window here. So far, "Journey to the West" has been translated into languages ??in more than 20 countries. Foreign translators have translated the titles of "Journey to the West" into various languages, some as "Monkeys and Pigs", and some as "Gods". Some are translated as "Chinese Wonderland", and some are directly translated as "Monkey". We have an English "Monkey" book here. They believe that the writing of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie in "Journey to the West" is vivid and interesting, and they have a special liking for these two characters, while the writing of Tang Monk and Sha Seng is pale and feeble, and they are dismissive of these two characters. "Journey to the West" is known as one of the "Four Wonderful Books" in the history of Chinese literature and has become a treasure in the world's literary world.
This is a photocopy of the "Journey to the West True Interpretation" collected by the Beijing Library, but it is signed by a real person from Changchun. It was confused with "Journey to the West" which records the Western expedition of Emperor Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty. "Journey to the West", with the theme of Tang Monk's journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, was written by a real person from Changchun. Mr. Lu Xun finally rectified the matter. He said that "Journey to the West", which evolved from the story of Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures, was written by Wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty.