Why Xu Fudong didn't promote the development of Chinese characters in Japan?

Lead: According to historical records, the Xu family of Qi wrote that there are three sacred mountains in the sea, named Penglai, Abbot and Yingzhou, where immortals live. Please fast, take the children and ask for it with men. So Xu sent thousands of boys and girls to the sea to seek immortality. This passage comes from Sima Qian's Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor, which means that when he was 40 years old, he sent Xu to the sea to find medicine. However, Xu Fu's departure is gone forever, leaving a mystery to history. In China, such as the birth of Emperor Gaozu, there are historical records: When the lightning is dim, the squire looks at it and sees the dragon on it. I have a body, so I have a great-grandfather. When Zhu Yuanzhang was born, there was also a legend that the room was full of red light and the number of nights was light. When the neighbors saw it, they were all shocked. However, it can be said that the legend of Xu Fu far exceeds that of any one in the history of China. Why Xu Fudong didn't promote the development of Chinese characters in Japan? What is different is that Xu Fu's legend has aroused discussions in orthodox academic circles, such as the origin of his life. Is it true that Xu Fu cheated Qin Shihuang? Whether Xu Fu has been to Japan ... and other legends. Some even listed Xu Fu as the first person to protect China culture. Ouyang Xiu, a famous minister in the Song Dynasty, wrote Brother Japanese Knife. In this book, Ouyang Xiu thinks that Xu Fudong has preserved many China classics in Japan. 1339, The Emperor's Orthodox Records written by Tian, Minister of the Southern Dynasties in Japan, also regarded Xu Fu as the first person to introduce or protect China classics: the complete works of Confucius only exist in Japan. From Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, inscriptions on bronze inscriptions in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, seal script in Spring and Autumn Period, to Qin Shihuang's unification of China, Qin Zhuan, that is, seal script, was used all over the country, and China's calligraphy also started from seal script. As a neighbor of China, Japan didn't finish its first history book until 7 12 AD, which was already the Tang Dynasty. In Miyamiya City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, there are not only tombstones of Xu Fu, but also 65,438+065,438+0.28 days of Xu Fu's sacrifice in Xufu Shrine every year. The Japanese believe that Xu Fu brought virgins, various skills, millet, farm tools, medicines and medical skills, so Xu Fu is the representative of Japan's "Saturnalia" and "Medicine God". However, China's writing is so developed that the famous doctor, alchemist and Taoist Xu Fu traveled around Japan with most of the ancient books, but it did not promote the development of Japanese writing. Why? I think there are six reasons: First, Xu Fu has never been to Japan. Although there are tombstones of Xu Fu in Japan, these tombstones were built in the later period. Moreover, the number of Xu Fu's tombs is very large. Some celebrities who have never been to Japan, such as Yang Guifei, also have dozens of tombs in Japan, such as Yang Guifei's tomb in Yamaguchi Prefecture. In Japan, Yang Guifei has become a tourist attraction. Second: Xu Fu avoided disaster and settled down. "A Brief History of Japan" once mentioned: In 72 years of Xiaoling, Fulai Xu, a native of Qin, led 3,000 boys and girls, and hired fairy medicine. Xu Fu refused to take medicine, so he stayed and never returned. Xu Fu brought technology to Japan. In order to prevent Qin Shihuang from changing his name to Qin, Dian, Haneda, Fukuyama and so on. These surnames are all related to mountains, and in the bronzes discovered in the first century BC in Japan, the font of Xiao Zhuan was engraved on them, but the Japanese at that time thought it was some kind of magical or sacred symbol. However, in the first century BC, it was 150 years since Xu Fu arrived in Japan and settled down. There may be no paper at that time, but it is necessary to find a bronze ware farther away to prove that Xu Fu has been to Japan. Third, Xu Fu is a descendant of Guo Xu. He lives in seclusion and is dissatisfied with the tyranny of Qin Huang. Xu Fu was originally from Shandong, and his ancestors were Xu of Shang Dynasty. After the death of the country, Xu was taken as his surname. Because of his superb medical skills, Qin Shihuang took a fancy to it and asked it to extract the elixir of life from herbs. Because during the Warring States period, the King of Yan of Qi sent a large number of alchemists to the sea to seek medicine, and Xu Fu tricked Qin Shihuang into seeking medicine like magicians such as Lu Sheng and Han Zhong, and then lived in seclusion in Korea or the island, so that Chinese characters were slowly introduced to Japan. Fourth: Xu Fu died at sea. Therefore, when the official script bronzes were introduced to Japan in the Han Dynasty, Xu Fu had never been to Japan, and later legends and Xu Fu's tomb evolved from legends. Fifth, Chinese characters can be popularized through technical exchanges. Japanese people have different views on the introduction of Chinese characters. For example, in the late Tokugawa era, a China scholar, Tuyin Hirata (1776- 1843), wrote a book "The Legend of Japanese Gods" from the standpoint of national quintessence. In his book, he claimed that Japan had written characters from the time of myths and legends, but it was later pointed out that it was only the Ma Abilu family, which was tampered with by Korean proverbs. Therefore, most Japanese scholars believe that Japanese characters did not exist until the Han people crossed Japan. Coupled with the fact that the earliest Japanese history books were written too late, the evidence is even more conclusive. In fact, Chinese characters did spread to the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago with metallurgical technology, textiles, agriculture and other civilizations. Because of the war in the Warring States Period, many South Koreans fled to the Korean Peninsula and naturally spread the corresponding technology. Sixth, the correct mode of communication is needed. Although there were Chinese characters in Japan in the Han Dynasty, they were always regarded as mysterious symbols until Emperor Shen Ying officially issued a letter: If there are any sages in Baekje (Korean Peninsula), they should be presented immediately. Recommended by Archimu, at the invitation of Emperor Shen, he went to Japan by boat and officially translated works such as A Thousand Words and The Analects of Confucius. Since Chinese characters were officially introduced into Japan, during the period of Emperor Shen Ying, many Koreans and Koreans immigrated to Japan in large numbers, which also brought more advanced technologies such as pottery and salt making to Japan, and Yayoi culture was formed. Japan has officially ended the method of taking notes with rope, and Japan after Shen Yinghuang has also begun to move towards a unified Japan. The influence of Chinese characters on Asian countries Although Chinese characters have made great contributions to Japan, according to the Zhu Qiao Yamato Dictionary, there are nearly 50,000 Chinese characters recorded in Japan, but there is almost no difference between Chinese characters in classical Japanese and traditional Chinese characters. However, after World War II, Japan simplified and merged Japanese characters, leaving only 2 136 Chinese characters commonly used in modern Japanese. Compared with the previous Chinese characters, it not only influenced Japan, but also gradually used its own language in Southeast Asia, especially South Korea and North Korea. Take South Korea as an example. 1945, South Korea was rescued from the colony, and the new South Korean government began to advocate the quintessence of the country, proposing to use all phonography. 1948 began to issue special laws for Yan Wen. Only a few Chinese characters are allowed. Although the government introduced Chinese characters exclusively in 1970, the use of Chinese characters is completely prohibited in society. However, under the opposition of the Korean people, the government began to fully resume the use of Chinese characters in 2005, and also proposed a bill to promote the dual use of Chinese characters. Although South Korea used patriotism to promote its own writing, it was finally restored because of the broad spirit and use of Chinese characters. After 1945, Vietnamese began to use Mandarin characters (that is, romanized characters), which mainly originated from the abolition of the imperial examination and the gradual abolition of Chinese characters after French colonization. The embarrassing situation that grandpa used Chinese and dad spoke French forced Vietnam to abolish Chinese characters, but Chinese characters still exist in Vietnamese literature and history. In contrast, Japan has more choices to integrate Chinese characters. One of the reasons is that there was a movement to abolish Chinese characters during the Meiji Restoration, but Japanese characters did not stop using. The second reason is that in the19th century, western classic works began to be introduced to Japan, and Japan created more new words according to the word-formation principle of Chinese characters. These words were also introduced into China in turn, such as telephone, philosophy, cell and socialism, and were called "and China-oriented". Naturally, many Chinese characters that are not commonly used have been deleted. The third reason is that Japanese is a multilingual system. According to the survey, the Japanese are about 36% Japanese, 47% China and 65,438+00% Westerners. Therefore, Chinese characters are not only still used in Japan, but also a symbol of high society. Chuifu, as a symbol of the spread of Chinese culture to Japan, despite this statement, many people came to South Korea and Japan earlier than Chuifu in the Warring States Period (or earlier Shang Dynasty), especially in wartime, groups of China people went to South Korea, Japan and even Southeast Asia to avoid disasters, and the Chinese civilization they took with them would spread back and develop more perfectly over time. Although it is impossible to prove whether Xu Fu has been to Japan, the spread of Chinese characters cannot be completed by one or two people, and Japan cannot be the descendant of Xu Fu. The reason is that humans appeared in Japan 200,000 years ago, and now human fossils have been unearthed for 30,000 years. Although the spread of Chinese characters in China helped Japan to enter the yayoi era, and Japan also entered the rope age more than 1 10,000 years ago, it has been stagnant. Chinese characters were once regarded as evil characters in the spread of Japan. At the end of World War II, the United States sent an expert group to point out that Chinese characters must be abolished. Even in 1948, the US Allied Command held a literacy contest to abolish Chinese characters, and even Nobel Prize in Literature winner Hideki Yukawa participated. Thus, the influence of Chinese characters in Southeast Asia is obviously not as good as that of China in the world! Summary: Although the popularization of Chinese characters has encountered some historical problems today, even Chairman Mao once said: "Chinese characters must be reformed and move towards the phonetic direction of world characters." "Chiang Kai-shek once proposed to simplify Chinese characters and met with serious opposition. However, if Chinese characters want to go further, we must simplify Chinese characters and actively absorb foreign languages. Today, there are not many obstacles for Chinese characters to communicate with the mainstream languages in the world. It depends on whether the people of China are willing to do this collectively, so as to make Chinese characters more beautiful and spread to the whole world.