The most beautiful woman during the Three Kingdoms period was naturally Diao Chan. In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", she was written vividly. He actively cooperated with his adoptive father Wang Yun, cleverly executed a series of tricks, and used his beauty and wisdom to successfully drive a wedge between the Grand Master Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, and also stimulated the relationship between them. Lu Bu assassinated Dong Zhuo. Li Zhuowu later praised her in his discussion of the characters of the Three Kingdoms, praising her as "a woman of many generations in the Han Dynasty, not as good as Diao Chan".
This evaluation is high enough, which means that all of the many heroic families in the Han Dynasty are not as good as the little beauty Diao Chan. So is this beautiful woman Diao Chan, who has made such a great contribution, a real person in history? Or is it a fictional character made up by a novelist? Let’s discuss it today.
The "Book of the Later Han Dynasty. The Biography of Dong Zhuo" and "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms. The Biography of Lu Bu" contain records of the greed and lust of Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu. It also records that Dong and Lu worked together in a conspiracy at the end of the Han Dynasty and brought trouble to the court. And the process of eventually turning against each other.
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Biography of Lu Bu": "Zhuo took Bu as the captain of the cavalry, and swore that he would be his father and son. He loved him very much. Feeling a little frustrated, Zhuo drew his halberd and threw it, and Bu's fist was saved. So. It was because Zhuo was secretly in charge of guarding the middle pavilion, but he was secretly in love with the maidservants, which made him uneasy. "
We can see from the above records that Lu Bu is indeed in love with Dong Zhuo. The maid has a "love connection", but there is no official history record that this maid is Diao Chan. Moreover, after looking through the history books related to the historical period at that time, such as "Book of the Later Han", "Three Kingdoms", "Views of the Eastern Han Dynasty", "Heroes", etc., we can't see Diao Chan's name. It can be seen that the character Diao Chan is not recorded in Official history, but a fictional artistic image. So the question is, who invented Diao Chan? Is it Luo Guanzhong, the author of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", or is it someone else? When did the artistic image of Diao Chan first appear? Let’s analyze it again.
The earliest text mentioning Diao Chan is a poem by Shao Yong of the Northern Song Dynasty: "It is Lu Bu who can kill the rebellious ministers with strength, and it is Diao Chan who can kill the rebels with his tongue." This is quoted by Li Zhuowu from his book "Criticism of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms" a verse from.
We can infer from this that the story of Diao Chan had been circulated as early as the early Northern Song Dynasty. As we all know, the Song and Yuan Dynasties were an important period for the development of the history of the Three Kingdoms. The rise of novels and operas, and the participation of folk artists and lower-class literati made the history and characters of the Three Kingdoms quickly and massively enter the field of legends and literature. The story of Diao Chan should be relatively early. One of the Three Kingdoms stories produced.
The dramas "The Assassination of Dong Zhuo" and "Diao Chan Girl" with Diao Chan as the protagonist have also appeared in Yuan dramas. The "Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Chronicles" written during the Yuan Dynasty is basically the final version of the folklore story of the Three Kingdoms. In it, "Wang Yun presented Dong Zhuo with Diao Chan" and "Water flooded the Pi to capture Lu Bu". This story describes Diao Chan's life in detail. story.
In Pinghua, Diao Chan and Lv Bu were originally husband and wife, but they were separated in a hurry during the war. Diao Chan took up residence in Wang Yun's mansion, feeling sad and burning incense all night long, praying for their early reunion. After this secret was discovered by Wang Yun, he "treated Diao Chan like his own daughter" and pretended to reunite Lu Bu and Diao Chan. At the same time, Wang Yun sacrificed Diaochan to Dong Zhuo, which eventually angered Lü Bu and assassinated Dong Zhuo.
Everyone has seen that the story of Diao Chan in the original Pinghua is very different from the story of Diao Chan in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Diao Chan in Pinghua is very passive, with Wang Yun operating everything behind her back. This obviously does not conform to the rules set by the protagonist, so it must be changed.
Then it was different in the Yuan Dynasty Anonymous drama "Jinyuntang Secretly Determines the Lianlian Plan", and Diao Chan's image became more plump and mature. For the first time in the play, Diao Chan's life experience is fully described.
Her surname is from Muer Village in Xinzhou. She is the daughter of Ren Ang and her nickname is Hongchang. Because Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty elected him to be an official, he held the crown of Diao Chan, so he was named Diao Chan. Emperor Ling gave it to Ding Jianyang. On that day, Lü Bu and Jianyang were adopted sons. Jianyang married Diao Chan to Lü Bu, but due to the Yellow Turban rebellion, they were separated in the battle. Fortunately, she fell into the residence of the master (Wang Yun) and treated her like his own daughter. "
When Wang Yun first revealed that he was "plotting against Dong Zhuo and reorganizing the court" and that he wanted to make beauties count time in succession, Diao Chan readily agreed for the sake of her family and country. At this time, Diao Chan's image should have been officially established. .
Diao Chan’s glorious image was still acceptable in the Yuan Dynasty, but it would seem out of place in the Ming Dynasty when Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties was at its peak. Putting women's honor and integrity above all else, Diao Chan's fate was bound to be the same as that of another famous beauty Xi Shi who had a similar experience to her, unable to escape the fate of being executed.
So the Ming Dynasty appeared! There was a drama compiled by an unknown person, called "King Guan Beheads Diao Chan under the Moon". It was a complete reversal of the reunion ending in the Yuan Dynasty drama "Lian Lian Ji", and created the situation where Lu Bu was defeated and died, and Diao Chan fell into the hands of Guan Yu and was beheaded. The plot of the story. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Diao Chan was also regarded as a "devil Chan Juan" and a "guilty" person in the popular Bangzi opera "Beheading Diao Chan".
Why did the author choose Guan Yu to kill Diaochan? That is mainly because Guan Yu is the embodiment of the defender of feudal morality who understands the "righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period". However, Diaochan is actually a great hero in upholding the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period and maintaining the feudal order. Guan Yu has no chance. He beheaded her without any reason. It seemed that Mr. Zhao Si did not allow Ah Q to make a revolution.
To be fair, Peking Opera is still kind. The plot of the Peking Opera's "New Diao Chan under the Moon" has been modified to make Cao Cao use Diao Chan to confuse Guan Yu, and Guan Yu kills Diao Chan under the moon in order to preserve Diao Chan's reputation. Of. The playwright believes that Diao Chan "sacrificed her life to help the country, causing Dong Zhuo and his son to harm each other, and contributed to the Han Dynasty", but "at this time of chaos, only one death can preserve his name."
It can be seen from this that after all, there is no escape from the word "fame"! Diao Chan must die in order to preserve her reputation. Diao Chan, who is guilty and innocent, finally faces Master Guan's cold and ruthless Qinglong Yanyue Sword. It doesn't matter if he changes to another person, because Guan Yu represents feudal ethics and morals. Under this banner, not to mention Diao Chan, even if four beauties click together, it is nothing.
The way "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" dealt with Diao Chan was very good. It deliberately ignored Diao Chan's fate in the story of the Three Kingdoms after Lu Bu's defeat. In the end, Diao Chan was dealt with as missing. After Lu Bu's death, Without the description of Diao Chan, everything is possible, and everything is impossible. All possibilities lie in the reader's mind. As the saying goes, the benevolent sees benevolence and the wise see wisdom.