Jin Shengtan was a famous writer and literary critic in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Hu Shi called him "the great eccentric of the seventeenth century." Why is Jin Shengtan said to be eccentric? Because although he is extremely talented, his brain circuit is not on the same channel as others. Even if he is going to be beheaded in the end, he can still make a joke.
Jin Shengtan's greatest achievement is in the field of novel criticism. He can be said to be the leader of ancient literary critics. He has made outstanding contributions to the literary research of "Water Margin" and "The Romance of the West Chamber". His articles were also well written, and Emperor Shunzhi praised them greatly after reading them. He changed his name and took the imperial examination, and he got the first place casually. He is a once-in-a-century genius.
But Jin Shengtan was very strange. He claims that he can channel spirits and can cause ghosts to descend on him. He claims that he is the reincarnation of a disciple of Zhiyi, the founder of the Tiantai Sect of Buddhism, and has accepted more than thirty female ghosts as his disciples. In the late Ming Dynasty, he went to the homes of many scholar-bureaucrats to perform this "magic", also known as Fuji, which was said to be quite effective. He lives in very poverty, but he does not want to be an official. First, he wrote an extremely weird essay during the scientific examination, which was judged to be a "zero-score essay." Later, he changed his name and took the exam again, and he came first in the exam, but he refused to become an official. The family is poor but does not know how to be thrifty and spends money wantonly. ?
Later, the new magistrate of Wu County where he was located implemented tyranny, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the literati. Jin Shengtan and others went to the Confucian Temple to cry, scolded the county magistrate by mourning Emperor Shunzhi, and wrote to the governor to expose the county magistrate's actions. tyranny. This incident was twisted by the governor into a riot among the people, disobedient to discipline, and disrespectful to the late emperor. The Qing court happened to have objections to these old people from the former Ming Dynasty, so they ordered them to be arrested and beheaded, and their families were exiled. A total of 16 people were killed. It is said that there was no incident about Jin Shengtan, but because he was so famous, it was deemed disrespectful. Before Jin Shengtan died, his family members visited him. He showed no fear and joked: "The lotus seeds are bitter in the heart, and the pear seeds are sour in the abdomen."
Before the beheading, Jin Shengtan asked for wine and sighed:
“It’s painful to cut off the head; drinking is pleasant; cutting the head and drinking first is pleasant and enjoyable!”?
A generation of geeks died like this. Jin Shengtan's only regret before his death was that he had not finished his literary criticism and failed to live up to his own ambitions. Life and death seemed unimportant to him; life seemed to be an illusion to him. Weird! Weird! ?