Did Li Qingzhao's exquisite lyrics win her flowers and applause? During the Southern Song Dynasty when she lived, Li Qingzhao was besieged, accused and even reviled by male literati for challenging tradition and male chauvinism.
Let's take a look at how Wang Zhuo's "Bi Ji Man Zhi" is evaluated. Wang Zhuo was a contemporary poet with Li Qingzhao, and his poem Bi Ji Man Zhi was the first complete poem in Song Dynasty. The book says:
Uncle Wen's daughter and Zhao Mingcheng's wife are easily sentenced. There have been poems since childhood, and it is rare for scholars to make great efforts to support China and get close to their predecessors. If you are a woman, you should use the first word. Zhao died, remarried to a certain family, left the lawsuit, and wandered around at night. As a long and short sentence, he can be tortuous, brisk, sharp, full of gestures, lewd words in hutongs, and write at will. Since ancient times, women have never been so unscrupulous in the gentry family.
Wang Zhuo praised first and then belittled, praised first and then belittled. It is said that Li Qingzhao is brilliant, even compared with male literati, it is rare. Among the women in this dynasty, she is the first person in the field of ci. This evaluation seems to be not low. But then Wang Zhuo took Li Qingzhao's private life as an example. After Zhao Mingcheng's death, Li Qingzhao remarried Zhang Ruzhou briefly. Because Zhang Ruzhou had a serious "domestic violence" behavior, Li Qingzhao couldn't stand it and soon chose to leave reluctantly. To this end, Li Qingzhao paid the price of discredit. The process of Li Qingzhao's remarriage and the reasons for divorce are not particularly clear. There is a view that Li Qingzhao's family has precious cultural relics, and Zhang Ruzhou may covet these cultural relics and make friends with Li Qingzhao. After the successful marriage fraud, he found that there was no expected treasure. Disappointed, he used violence against Li Qingzhao and often bullied and abused her. Li Qingzhao couldn't stand the torture, so she exposed Zhang Ruzhou's "increasing official position". Later, it was verified that Zhang Ruzhou was imprisoned and exiled. According to the law of Song Dynasty, the son sued his father and the wife sued her husband. If convicted, both the son and the wife will go to jail. So Li Qingzhao was put in prison because someone saved her, and she was released nine days later. This is what Wang Zhuo said: "remarry a surname and stay after the lawsuit." People in Song Dynasty didn't think it was immoral for a woman to divorce, but it was an abnormal event for a wife to sue her husband, which was unacceptable at that time. Li Qingzhao's denunciation of her husband is tantamount to self-destruction. Li Qingzhao is willing to risk her reputation being destroyed. There must be an unknown story behind her. The domestic violence suffered by Li Qingzhao may be extraordinary. She said in "Investing in Hanlin Bachelor" that Zhang Ruzhou had "determined to kill it, so he invaded it and beat it up day by day". Poor and weak, Li Qingzhao can't stand the violent torture of Zhang Ruzhou, so she would rather have no reputation than be defeated. Wang Zhuo said that she "came home late", which has obvious derogatory meaning, suggesting that she didn't behave like a woman, didn't care about coming home late, wandered around and finally didn't have a home. For Li Qingzhao's ci, Wang Zhuo was even more dissatisfied, saying that her ci was "dissolute language in the lane, writing at will". Since ancient times, there has never been a literate woman in a scholar-bureaucrat family who is so brazen and vulgar! Judging from the existing works, Li Qingzhao's ci works are very elegant, with no explicit description and no "dissolute language". Liu Yong's words openly flirt with * * *, while Ouyang Xiu's words are more explicit about sexual intercourse between men and women. Wang Zhuo didn't call them "debauchery", but Li Qingzhao was scolded for missing her husband in her ci, which reflected male discourse hegemony and serious discrimination against women.
Hu Zai, a late contemporary of Wang Zhuo, said in his poem "Tiaoxi Fishing Hidden from Conghua":
Recently, women can write words, such as Li Yian, and there are many beautiful sentences. The small print says, "There was a shower last night, and I slept soundly without consuming wine. Ask the shutter man, Haitang is still there. Do you know it is green, fat, red and thin? " "Green, fat and thin" is a new word. Another "Nine-day Ci" says: "The curtain rolls west wind, and people are as thin as yellow flowers." This language is also difficult for women. Yi' an adapted Zhang Ruzhou, but after several objections, there was a notice from Uncle Yun and a thick cloud: "Sang Yu's night scene is outrageous and suitable for inferior materials." All the communicators laughed.
Hu Zai also admitted that Li Qingzhao "can write lyrics" and "the language is very new", with special emphasis on her female identity. The implication is that women are not good at it, so it is not easy to write such words, which has obvious male superiority. Comment text, taking Li Qingzhao's divorce as an example. Li Qingzhao said that "Sang Yu's night scene is an unsuitable person", which was originally a sad and regrettable sentence, was teased by Hu Zai, saying that "all communicators laughed at it". He has no sympathy, but a schadenfreude mentality.
Cotan in Zhu's works in the Southern Song Dynasty once said:
Li Yian was the leader of literati women in this dynasty. Yi An is the daughter of celebrity Li. Classical poems are worthy of ancient authors, and their words are particularly beautiful, often unexpected and almost incomparable. Twelve volumes of anthology and one volume of book language collection. However, he didn't end in the evening, and he lived to death. It's a pity that you are gifted and increase your chances!
Zhu Yu said that Li Qingzhao's dictionaries are elegant and rich, not inferior to the ancients. Her writing is particularly beautiful and "often unexpected". Few people can compete with her recently. This evaluation is still relatively high. But when the conversation turned, it was derogatory to say that she didn't finish at night. "Wandering to death" means that Zhao Qing wandered around in his later years, without a fixed address and a good home. "It's a pity that your talent has increased your chances!" ! It means that God has given her such a great talent, why can't she be stingy and not give her a good experience, so that her old age can be so miserable? What a pity! On the surface, "pity" is sympathy and regret, but deep down it means that a woman should not be so talented and have a bad life, which seems to imply sarcasm.
Chao, a famous bibliophile in the Southern Song Dynasty, said in his bibliography book County Zhai:
Li's daughter, who married Zhao Chengzhi first, is famous for her talent. His uncle is a husband, and he is facing Hui Zong. Shi Li tasted the poem and said, "Hands are warm and cold." But if there is no inspection exercise, it will be perfect for Zhang Ruzhou, and it will not end at night. Wandering around the rivers and lakes to die.
Women in the Song Dynasty did not have their own independent identity, and Li Qingzhao was already very famous. Chao still didn't mention her name positively, only that she was Li's daughter and married Zhao Mingcheng. "Her uncle" here refers to her father-in-law; Fu Zheng, Zhao Mingcheng's father Tingzhi Zhao, was the prime minister of Hui Zong dynasty. And Li Qingzhao's biological father Li belong to two factions, belonging to the new party, Li belongs to the old party, and persecuted the old party when he was prime minister, so Li Qingzhao wrote a poem to satirize him for "hot and cold." "However, I didn't check and exercise", which means that Li Qingzhao's moral character is not good, and later she remarried and didn't end her marriage. Do not evaluate her literary achievements, only negatively evaluate her taste. "Wandering around the Jianghu as a Chess Piece" said that she finally wandered around the Jianghu and died without regret. His attitude is contemptuous, and he doesn't worship and look up to Li Qingzhao like later generations.
Chen's "Jie Zhi Zhai Problem" is also a bibliography masterpiece, in which Shu Yu Ji is a volume written by Li Qingzhao, a layman in Yi 'an. Yuan Youming, the daughter of the famous scholar Gefei Wen Shu, married Dev in Zhao Mingcheng, Wu Dong. Old age is quite disrespectful. "Criticize Li Qingzhao's Shame more directly and say nothing about the quality of her words. It can be seen that in the late Southern Song Dynasty, people's evaluation of Li Qingzhao became worse and worse.
When I was reading the History of Ming Dynasty, I came across a material that there was a fierce girl in Ming Dynasty who was very talented when she was a child and wrote good poems. Her brother told him that her sisters were simply Li Qingzhao and Zhu. My brother wanted to praise her talent, but my sister flew into a rage and said, how do you compare me to Li Qingzhao in the Song Dynasty? Who is Li Qingzhao? She remarried later, and she was a disgraceful woman! Zhu is immoral and has an affair. Don't think that we worship and look up to Li Qingzhao now, just like the ancients did. Due to different times, people's moral concepts, values, women's concepts and marriage concepts are different, so the views and evaluations of the same person and the same event will be very different. Before the Ming Dynasty, Li Qingzhao was dragged down by divorce, and her personality was deeply despised and criticized, which also affected the evaluation and acceptance of her works. Her works were completely lost in the Ming Dynasty, which may be related to people's moral evaluation of her. A disgraced woman, a woman whose moral character is spurned, will also be rejected and ignored by people. Cai Jing, the great traitor, is a first-class calligrapher and a master of poetry. Because later generations hated him and despised his works, his poems were rarely circulated. The existence of ancient writers' works has both accidental and inevitable factors.
It was not until the middle and late Ming Dynasty that Li Qingzhao's position in the history of Ci was recognized. Yang Shen, a great genius in Ming Dynasty, commented on Li Qingzhao and said:
Song lyrics, Li Yian also called Guanjue. When you dress up, you should compete with Chyi Chin and Huang Jiu, not just in the boudoir. Its name "Shuyuji" was not found. The word "slow voice" is the most beautiful.
Yang Shen said that among the poets in the Song Dynasty, Li Yian was very outstanding. He was a leader, not only among female poets, but also among male poets, comparable to Qin Guan and Huang Tingjian. Wang Shizhen, a great scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, compared Li Qingzhao with Li Jing, Li Yu, Yan Shu, Yan, Liu Yong, Zhang Xian, Zhou Bangyan and Qin Guan and praised them as "authentic" words.
Poetry and words, non-words, words and poems, non-poems. Speaking of his career, Shi Li, Yan's father and son, Qi Qing, Zi Ye, Mei Cheng, Xiao You, Yi An, and finally, clear pronunciation and mellow voice.
After the Ming Dynasty, Li Qingzhao's position gradually improved, especially in the 20th century. With the improvement of women's social status, Li Qingzhao's position in the history of literature has been highly recognized. Today, it is generally believed that she is the most outstanding poetess in the history of Ci.
Speaking of this topic, there are two meanings and thoughts. The first is to explain that the study of ancient writers should return to the historical scene and try to understand the creative ecology of ancient writers, that is, "knowing people and discussing the world." Back in the days when Li Qingzhao lived, we realized that as a woman, writing is not easy and requires courage. Why did only a few female poets in Song Dynasty, such as Li Qingzhao and Zhu, receive the attention of later generations? At that time, there should be many women who could write poems and lyrics. Due to the influence of the concept of women under male chauvinism, it is considered shameful to write and disseminate works, so a large number of works have not been handed down, and the author has been lost in obscurity. Second, it shows that a writer's reputation and influence are immutable. Just because Li Qingzhao has a high position and high popularity in the literary history of our time does not mean that she is also looked up to and worshipped in history. The historical position of a writer and the influence of his works change with the times, so we should look at the history of literature with a changing eye.
(Author: College of Literature, Wuhan University)