The background of the author's time is closely related to the writing of Huansha Ji. This is an era from stability to turmoil, and it is a crucial moment for the Ming Dynasty to turn from prosperity to decline. It has been a social crisis since Jiajing. A comprehensive investigation of the author's social background will deepen our understanding of Huan Sha Ji. Literature and art are always the product of the times.
The Wanli period of Jiajing was a crucial period for the Ming Dynasty to turn from prosperity to decline. Social crisis and danger indicate that the history of this dynasty is coming to an end. In the coastal areas of the south, there is harassment by the enemy. In the thirty-second year of Jiajing, he traveled thousands of miles along the coast. At the same time, he guarded Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially burning and looting. This is what happened to the author. In the 29th year of Jiajing, northern Tatars invaded many times, forcing Beijing to the city gate, posing a serious threat to the dynasty. Internal eunuchs and cabinet ministers conflict with each other, and official management is extremely corrupt. The powerful country Xunqi carried out a large number of land mergers, and the taxes were extremely heavy, and the people were miserable. In the handicraft production in the south of the Yangtze River, the seeds of capitalism appeared. The early enlightenment thought represented by Li Zhi impacted feudal ethics and Neo-Confucianism, which certainly did not bode well for the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, in a dynasty on the verge of collapse, there will always be some wise men who will perceive the omen of extinction earlier and have a sense of crisis earlier. Zhang, who entered the cabinet in the first year of Qin Long and served as the records in the first year of Wanli, was a reformer with extraordinary courage and talent. He came to save this terminally ill dynasty like a dying patient. The tonic of the reform made it last for about ten years, and its chronic illness deteriorated to an unmanageable level. Even Zhang himself was plagiarized after his death.
Liang Bolong lived at this turning point in history. He heard the death knell of the times and sounded the alarm. He wrote "Huansha Ji", which is a lesson from the past. His mood is painful, not only because he can't serve his country, but also because he loves the times. "Trying to find the past, all the words are sad."
It is not a guess that the pulse of the times is beating in "Huansha Ji". He is fully aware that this is a work that hurts the world. In order to avoid the suspicion of politicians, he especially cleared his suspicion at the end of the whole play: "Do everything possible to make Liang Lang ignorant, but make up for it and break the Suzhou." Daming was unified today, and asked about Yue and Wu. "The more you admit that the work has nothing to do with reality, the more you refute the strong sense of reality in the work.
This story is based on the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu Yue written by Zhao Ye in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The original name of the play is "Wu Yue Chun Qiu": "Look at the new record of ancient huansha, the old name is" Wu Yue Chun Qiu "." Based on historical facts, refer to some legends.
Historical Records always pays attention to the evaluation and textual research of Wu Zixu's peace history. As for the historical lessons of wuyue War, they are rarely mentioned. For example, the king of Wu wanted to "avenge Chu" for Zixu, who said, "Father's righteousness does not repay me." (Shuo Yuan Bu) is intended to show that Zixu attacked Chu, not to avenge himself. For example, it is said that he threw himself into the river for "loyalty to the newspaper" (Lu). Because it is said that Zixu was hanged, which means that women are a disaster. This legend was first seen in Mozi: "The beauty of beauty lies in the beauty of beauty." Being drowned because of being beautiful is the earliest basis of women's theory of disaster. Around this story, there are various legends about Liyang women investing in gold and fishermen crossing the river. Fan Li's success is not restricted by seclusion and boat of stone, but based on Du Mu's poem "Xi Xia Zi Gu Su, Agger Yiyi Yiyi" (Fan Li's real name is Yan Yi Zi Li). Look at these records. Their similar emphasis is moral evaluation. The value of Huansha Ji lies in that the author covers this huge historical theme from the perspective of macro-politics, and reveals the regular historical lessons of the rise and fall of the country in feudal times by comparing the rise and fall of wuyue. Standing at the height of the long longitudinal history, the author overlooks the rise and fall of the country from the perspective of politicians and explores the reasons for its rise and fall, which is a particularly prominent feature of the whole play. It broke through the narrow love theme range and narrow theme scale of Ming dynasty legends and became a veritable rare political drama. In the history of China opera, which has been silent for nearly 200 years from the beginning of Ming Dynasty to the end of Jiajing, Huansha Ji is a unique and innovative work. We should put it in the historical development of China opera to evaluate and understand its value.
This work tells people that the key figure to determine the rise and fall of a country is the monarch who has all the power, and the rise and fall of a country depends on whether he is a bad monarch or a wise monarch. Today, in a feudal regime characterized by the rule of man, it seems to be an inevitable historical phenomenon that the rise and fall of the country are linked together. The deeper political and economic reasons are always reflected through the peak of this power. He can be fatuous and cruel, or he can be intelligent and enlightened. Their good and evil, light and darkness, not only appear as the cause of the rise and fall of the country, but also often become a good or bad sign of the fate of the dynasty. The author of Huansha Ji created two diametrically opposite monarchs-Fu Cha, King of Wu, and Gou Jian, King of Yue, to reflect the lessons of history in both positive and negative aspects.
According to the requirements of the feudal system, the measure of a wise monarch and a bad monarch mainly depends on whether he is diligent or idle, simple or extravagant, arrogant or humble, loyal or trusting, knowing the law or abusing punishment. The author shapes and evaluates Gou Jian and Fu Tea according to the above criteria. This is a historical mirror for people to see, mainly for the reigning monarch.
Because "people are as important as utensils, and homes are as big as utensils" (Tang Heyu), as long as one thing is not up to standard, it is enough to subjugate the country. What Fu Cha, the king of Wu, did was full of conditions for his downfall, but the standard of a wise king was not enough: he trusted the treacherous court official's uncle and killed the loyal minister and Gongsun Sheng who told the truth. He indulged in history and built a great project. Victory made him dizzy. "Singing and dancing, playing around the perimeter", he is arrogant and conceited. "Jiangnan is exclusive, devouring lakes and seas, and watching the prestige all over the world." Just after the war, it will be cut again. The Vietnamese army has breached the State of Wu, and he is still getting along with the State of Jin. There is no manners between him and Abel. They often make low-level jokes. In short, as a king of national subjugation, he has all the ingredients. Interestingly, although the author claims that his play has nothing to do with reality, Fuxi's image reminds people of the portrait of the fatuous emperor since the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Since Ming Yingzong, successive emperors have not been in court for many years, and they are all political commissar eunuchs. They are very decadent and superstitious, stubborn and greedy. There were many illiterate people in the late Ming Dynasty. "The cost of the Ming Dynasty was extravagant and extensive. One day's fee can be used this year. Palace powder money four hundred and two thousand, in exchange for one million silver dollars ". "To the sai-jo emperor Deng Ji, began to notice. In the Ming Dynasty, there were 9,000 ladies-in-waiting,10,000 prisoners, so they could not be around when eating. People used to starve to death every day, but now there are only four or five hundred people in the palace "(Li Shizhen and Chronicle, by Wang Zhu). This is the comparison made by Emperor Kangxi of the Manchu Dynasty between extravagance and frugality in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He once saw the eunuch of the Ming dynasty with his own eyes, and his words are reliable. It can be seen that such a dynasty has decayed to the extreme. Comparing Fu Yi's national subjugation with a mirror of history, it is not difficult to see how precarious the reality of the Ming Dynasty is, which is exactly where the author's heart lies. What kind of association will the audience present at that time have when they watch "Huansha Ji"? Don't ask.
In the play, the image of a wise king, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, is also portrayed, which is the opposite of Fu Cha, the king of Wu. He is typical of a wise king in the author's mind. He is prepared for danger in times of peace, bears the burden of humiliation, is open-minded, and has high moral character. He was detained by the State of Wu to raise horses in the stone room. Focha saw him sitting in the middle from Gusutai, and Fan Li and his wife stood upright. He couldn't help feeling: "Gou Jian is just the king of a small country, his wife is just the daughter of a maid, and Fan Li is just a careless person." It is extremely pitiful and respectable to lose the demeanor of the monarch and his wife at this time of drift from place to place, hardship and hardship. " (Fourteen "encirclement") In fact, "not losing the instrument of the monarch and the minister" just shows that Gou Jian has patriotic aspirations, and Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, can't see this as a dangerous signal because of his arrogance. The author's image of Gou Jian is intended to show that as long as he is angry and determined not to be angry, then the country can still recover after death. This is also a historical mirror of self-learning in the Ming Dynasty. Because this is a historical fact, because this fact is revealed through concrete artistic images, and because these two images reflect each other in sharp artistic contrast, the reasons for the rise and fall and the historical lessons revealed by the author are extremely clear and concrete. This has formed a strong artistic persuasion.
Another important idea of the author is revealed from the arrangement of characters in the works, that is, the key to the rise and fall of the country. In addition to the emperor's emphasis on "utensils", it is also necessary to look at the "harmony" of the prime minister. "Sage" must be supplemented by "sage". The rise of Yue and the death of Wu have a lot to do with. These are two opposite roles.
Ai Bo of Wu occupies a considerable space in the play. He is simply a portrait of Yan Song in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. The author's arrangement is quite meaningful: Yan Song murdered Xia Yan and obtained the first record of falsely killing Yang Jisheng, the minister of punishments. Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty took orders from him, took bribes and embezzled extensively. At that time, foreign invasion was serious, with Japanese invaders in the southeast and Anda in the north. Yan Song's son Yan Shifan had an affair with the enemy. As long as Aibo's image is considered in the historical environment at that time, it can be seen that Yan Song's treacherous behavior is reflected in Aibo's image. He framed Wu Yuan, engaged in the affairs of deputy tea, ran across the country and took bribes. Bobo in this history is actually a dramatic Yan song. When the audience saw this image, it was impossible not to evoke subtle associations with reality.
Fan Li is an image in sharp contrast with Ai Bo in the play. He is the author's ideal saint, and the author's ambition for the country and the nation is mainly reflected through this figure. He is resourceful, loyal, ambitious and flexible. Whenever there is a crisis, he comes out to design a response to save the day. When Yue was on the verge of extinction, it was he who put forward the idea of enduring humiliation to survive and rejuvenating the country at an early date. Since then, everything has been carried out according to his strategy, and even all kinds of tricks to destroy Wu, such as bribing uncle, persuading the King of Yue to taste dung, provoking the relationship between Fu Cha and Wu, confusing Fu Cha with stone, offering sacrifices to Shenmu, and inducing Fu Cha to spend money on large-scale construction, all came from his strategy. He is very alert. On his way home, Gou Jian was pardoned. He also reminded him to "hurry forward before he changes." Wu walked towards destruction step by step in the trap he designed. What is rare is that Gou Jian, the King of Yue, can know people and employ people, and fully trusts Fan Li, which shows that he is a saint. Fan Li is not only a wise man, but also a loyal minister. The stone chamber is a slave, and the ceremony of the monarch and the minister is still not abolished, so the sages and sages complement each other. This is the author's highest political ideal. This ideal state is not only in sharp contrast with Fu Cha and Berger in the play, but also reflects the ugly face of the treacherous monarch in the Ming Dynasty.
China beauty is another figure that the author pays attention to. The author transcends the traditional concept that "women are disasters" and endows her with patriotic qualities. After the death of Wu, she was taken back to Vietnam with courtesy and was "thanked" by Gou Jian, Mrs. Yue and He. I'm afraid you're the only beauty in history who has been received so grandly. Zhao Yanfei in Han Dynasty, Zhang Lihua in Chen Dynasty and Yuhuan in Tang Dynasty all ended in extinction. Stone, on the other hand, is different. Although there are various legends, the author chose Du Mu's statement in the Tang Dynasty. Both of them went boating in Taihu Lake together, and they didn't know what they had done. It gave her a spotless poetic home, reflecting that the author broke through the prejudice of literati that "beauty is a disaster" to some extent.
Fan Li's failure is certainly the noblest personality realm and the most ideal heroic behavior pursued by the author, but it also implicitly reveals the author's fear and contempt for political disputes and his illusory feeling of changing honor and disgrace. This is the author's psychological reaction to the political turmoil in the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the play, Panhu is the most vivid portrayal of mentality. He believes that Gou Jian is "with * * *, not with happiness", "high birds are tired, and good bows hide; A wily rabbit dies and a running dog cooks. "He saw through that feudal emperors always had something to do and nothing to do. This is his foresight: "Stay less, how do you know that today's model is not for the past?" In order to harm the whole body far away, there is only seclusion: "If you leave the dust early, you will look back at the terrible danger." He floated away with a sense of ups and downs everywhere: "Ah! It's sad to see the ups and downs everywhere. Who is laughing at Wu? " Everything is so illusory: "life is like this, not to mention prosperity and waste, wealth and wealth are like clouds, and the world is like a child's play." I only hope that the husband and wife in the world are you and me. " What is written is Fan Li, which is actually a portrayal of the author's mentality. The fierce and turbulent political situation makes the world rise and fall, often unpredictable at an unexpected speed, and everything seems so unstable and unpredictable. The cowardice of intellectuals can't bear this covetous reality. They often want to get out of the whirlpool of honor and disgrace and dream of a happy hiding place. So a boat with an ideal couple, Wuli Lake, disappeared and became a charming rose bed. This is the connotation entity of a concept of Pan-Lake. It is a tortuous reaction of the political reality that has been in fear since the middle of Ming Dynasty in the author's mind.
Huansha Ji has beautiful language and high literary value. This artistic feature, which was contrary to the "naturalism", was very representative at that time. "Since Liang Bolong came out, it was the beginning of Gong Li. Born in Jialong, Geqi was a meeting of seven sons. The words "Shang Hua's extinction" and "Yucun's decadence" have some truth. The trend of thought of "Seven Scholars" in retro literature had a great influence at that time. Huansha paid attention to the carving of characters and lacked vividness, which may be caused by the influence of "Seven Scholars". However, it should be noted that Huansha has its vivid side, which is different from the piled allusions in Yujun and Yu He-it was called "astringent style" at that time? Xu's music theory in ming dynasty. It is not difficult to understand the flowery wording of Huansha. Gorgeous, as an artistic style of a language, is suitable for specific life and drama content and should not be excluded. " Huansha is a classic opera with beautiful language and vivid image. Such as spring outing, farewell, big trip, lotus picking, Wu Xu, Panhu and so on. There are quite a few paragraphs, which are quite wonderful in expressing feelings, rendering the environment and depicting the psychological activities of characters. When You Chun came out, it was written that Fan Li was enjoying the scenery on the tree-lined road:
The farming in each village is urgent, the streams are inclined everywhere, the clouds are lingering, and the scenery is impressive and picturesque. I fight for spring wine, indulge in mountain residence, and sing a song of water safflower.
The scene is vivid and picturesque. The lettering is natural and smooth, without axe marks. Spring is beautiful, the mountains and rivers are quiet, and it seems to be in the environment. Another example is "Picking Lotus", where Xi Shi sang for the prince of Wu. The lyrics of picking lotus were borrowed, and there was a faint sadness of remembering:
There are many lotus seeds on the shore of Qiu Jiang, and the daughter who picks them sings boat songs. The lotus flowers in the greenhouse are really neat and tidy. Singing green waves before the game, I wish I couldn't take the lotus root and break my hand. When they find a partner, they can't turn back.
Literally, it is about picking lotus, but there is a deep pain of lovesickness in it, and the scene is harmonious and very intimate. "I wish I couldn't grow a lotus root", and "lotus root" is associated with "accidentally", which means I can't form a good marriage with Fan Li. The next sentence "more broken silk hurts my hand" means that the broken silk of the lotus stems is constantly symbolizing endless feelings. Sticking your hand means a painful parting. The last two sentences said that she and Fan Li were far apart and could not go back to their hometown together, which aroused infinite emotion. Very beautiful. This is a gesture. Similar descriptions can be seen in many places in the play. Therefore, it is not accurate to think that the language of Huansha Ji is a mess of allusions and is regarded as "Yu Jun".
The characters and scenes in several plays are vivid and unique. Send a child, fly a newspaper, alliance and Wu Xu have their own characteristics. "Send the Son" tells a touching story about the tragic parting of Wu Yuan and his son. Nowadays, the Kunqu Opera stage is often staged. The expression of Wu Xu is very novel. It wrote that Focha was cornered by Vietnamese soldiers and he was in a state of shock. Calling out the name of Gongsun Sheng who was killed by him in Yangshan, the scene echoed with emotion. Writing Fu Cha's complicated psychological activities before his death is delicate and realistic. Generally speaking, The Story of Huansha is not up to the first-class level in art, but it is not a rigid work, and the evaluation of Ming people is unfair.
Loose structure is its main disadvantage. Intermittent Flow and Qu Zao. "Liang Bolong? No matter whether its eyes are scattered or not, the "Huansha Ji" written by Chen Yu has no bones and tendons, and there is no collection ... "Xu Fuzhuo's comments on Qu Lun hit the nail on the head. There is almost no climax in the whole play, but it is described according to the development of the plot, giving people a long and chaotic feeling. It shows that the author lacks the power to cut the structure in front of this huge theme.
Huansha Ji is an important play in the history of China opera. Its significance is not only to put the Kunqu opera sung by literati on the stage; As far as the drama itself is concerned, it is also an excellent drama with achievements. It broke through the narrow love theme of Ming dynasty legends, introduced the historical stories of political reality into drama, and expanded the performance field of legends. In terms of content, this huge and complicated historical event provides useful reference for people. As an independent art school, Kunshan School has its distinctive characteristics and representativeness. To understand China opera, we can't ignore the story of Huansha.