Xu Wenchang During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were many versatile literati. However, it is quite rare for someone like Xu Wenchang to be unique in poetry, drama, calligraphy and painting, and leave a profound impact on the current and future generations. His poetry was respected by Yuan Zhonglang as the best in the Ming Dynasty. His drama was highly praised by Tang Xianzu. As for painting, he is one of the most outstanding figures in the history of Chinese art. Zheng Banqiao admired Xu Wenchang very much. He once carved a seal and called himself "a lackey under the Qingteng family". Shiraishi, a master of modern art, also deeply admired him. However, Xu Wenchang's life was unfortunate. Although he had a strong ambition for fame and career and a desire to serve the country, he never even passed the imperial examination. In his middle age, he went crazy and killed his wife and was imprisoned for seven years. In his later years, he lived by selling calligraphy and paintings and even books and clothes, and finally died of poverty. The common people loved him very much, and many stories about Xu Wenchang are still circulated in Zhejiang. His former residence in Shaoxing, the Ivy Bookstore, has gone through more than 400 years of vicissitudes of life and is still preserved, maintaining the long-term memory of this literary artist with a civilian atmosphere.
^^ 1. His talent and reputation were established early and failed despite repeated attempts
Xu Wenchang, named Wei, Wenchang is his surname. Also known as Qingtengshanren, Tianchisheng, Tianshuiyue, etc. In the 16th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1521), he was born into a large family that was declining in Shanyin (now Shaoxing). His father, Xu Jue, was a magistrate of Kuizhou Prefecture in Sichuan. He was originally married to the Tong family and gave birth to two sons, Xu Huai and Xu Lu. He then married the Miao family and had no children. In his later years, he took a concubine and gave birth to Xu Wenchang. He was born a hundred years after Wenchang was born. He will die later. After that, Xu Wenchang was raised by his aunt, Mrs. Miao, until he was fourteen years old. After Miao's death, he lived with his eldest brother Xu Huai until he was twenty-one years old and joined Pan's family. Although he was born in a bureaucratic family, Xu Wenchang's early life was not pleasant. His biological mother was a maid, so she naturally had no status in the family. His aunt, Mrs. Miao, raised Xu Wenchang as her own flesh and blood and placed high hopes on him; but perhaps because of this, when Wenchang was ten years old, Mrs. Miao kicked his biological mother out of the house. Taking away his mother at a young age was a great stimulus to Xu Wenchang. Although he was able to take his mother back to his home at the age of twenty-nine, he still could not forget this incident until his old age. Since Xu Wenchang was born as a concubine, and his two legitimate brothers were twenty or thirty years older than him, Xu Wenchang did not have much status in the family. When he was young, he failed to pass the scholar examination. In his petition to the school inspector asking for a re-examination, he said: "My studies are ineffective, so I don't believe in my father and brother. What's more, my flesh and bones are fried, my beans are burning, and I look around day and night, only my body and my shadow!" He looked very sad and angry. When Xu Wen grew up, his family declined, and he moved into his wife's home. Of course, his life was not that comfortable. An alert and sensitive person who grows up in such a rough environment will naturally develop a stubborn and extreme personality.
Xu Wenchang was extremely intelligent. He was reading at the age of six, and could compose at the age of nine. When he was in his teens, he imitated Yang Xiong's "Jie Moo" and wrote "Shi Rui", which caused a sensation in the whole city. The local gentlemen called him a child prodigy, comparing him to Liu Yan and Yang Xiu. When he was in his twenties, he dated Chen Haiqiao, Shen Lian and other famous people in Yuezhong, and was listed as one of the "Ten Sons of Yuezhong". Shen Lian once praised him and said: "This is the only one who has closed the city gate." It is said that at a banquet, the host deliberately embarrassed Xu Wenchang and pointed to a small object on the table and asked him to write a poem, but secretly ordered the boy servant to hold up a piece of paper that was more than ten feet long. roll. Xu Wenchang stood up and wrote all the words in one breath, which shocked everyone in the house.
Xu Wenchang, who was famous in his hometown for his talents since childhood, has always been somewhat arrogant and full of yearning for fame and career. However, he suffered repeated setbacks on the road to the imperial examination. At the age of 20, he stuttered and passed the examination as a scholar. After that, he took the provincial examination again and again until he was 41 years old. He took the examination eight times and never passed the examination. At the age of twenty-six, he lost his wife and moved out of the Pan family to make a living by teaching. At the age of thirty-seven, at the invitation of Hu Zongxian, he joined the shogunate as a scribe. Xu Wenchang's repeated failures in the imperial examinations were not accidental. When he was young, he liked to read extensively and disliked stereotyped writing. In addition, with his revealing personality and emotional expression, he probably couldn't write a qualified, formal, gloomy and rigid stereotyped writing. However, although Xu Wenchang knew that the eight-part essay was useless and had always scorned some bureaucrats who came from the imperial examination and had no talent or knowledge, this was after all the only way out for the old literati in politics. After repeated attempts, it failed to sell, and the future was hopeless, which was a heavy blow to Xu Wenchang. In his later years, he wrote "Self-Made Spectrum", and he also specially recorded the poem "Morning Morning" by Du Fu that he read when he was six years old: "The cock crows on the purple road and the dawn is cold", which reveals his endless emotions about life.
^^2. From the Army to the Prison
Xu Wenchang usually gives people the impression of relying on his talent and arrogance, but he is also a person who cares about social politics and is full of patriotic enthusiasm. During the Jiajing period, the southeastern coast suffered frequent intrusions from Japanese pirates. Due to lax military preparedness and incompetent officials, heavy losses were caused to people's lives and property. On the one hand, Xu Wenchang used poetry to sharply criticize this, and on the other hand, he devoted himself enthusiastically to the Anti-Japanese War. Although he held no position, he put on short clothes several times, took the risk to go to the front line with the army, observed the situation, then recorded the course of the war, analyzed the reasons for success or failure, and proposed strategies to defeat the enemy to relevant officials. Most of these articles are written in a more practical way, which is different from ordinary scholarly discussions.
In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557), Xu Wenchang was recruited by Hu Zongxian, the governor of southeastern military affairs, and became the shogunate's scribe. This was the most proud period of Xu Wenchang's life. At the beginning of his career, he wrote "Into the White Deer Biao" for Hu Zongxian, which was appreciated by the emperor. From then on, Hu Zongxian relied more on him and was particularly tolerant of his laissez-faire character.
Tao Wangling's "Biography of Xu Wenchang" records: Xu Wenchang often drinks with friends in the market. When the Governor's Mansion has urgent matters and cannot find him, he leaves the door open late at night and waits. Someone reported to Hu Zongxian that Xu Xiucai was drunk and shouting loudly, but Hu Zongxian praised him instead. At that time, Hu Zongxian was so powerful that the civil and military officials did not dare to raise their heads when they came to see him. However, Xu Wenchang, wearing a shabby black turban and white cloth, walked straight into the door and talked about world affairs as if there was no one else around. In the Governor's Mansion, it is difficult to verify what exactly Xu Wenchang did for the anti-Japanese war. However, given Xu Wenchang's identity, his curious and eloquent personality, and his usual enthusiasm for the anti-Japanese war, it can be concluded that Xu Wenchang was involved in many important conspiracies. In his surviving articles such as "Book of the Governor's Mansion" and other articles, we can indeed see some pertinent opinions - although the military management techniques he proposed are somewhat harsh.
Of course, there were many unsatisfactory things in the shogunate. For various reasons, Hu Zongxian had a close relationship with the powerful minister Yan Song, and Xu Wenchang hated Yan Song. His closest friend Shen Lian was killed for participating in the engraving of Yan Song. But Xu Wenchang had to write some words praising Yan Song on behalf of Hu Zongxian. This is really a tragedy for literati.
In the 41st year of Jiajing (1562), Yan Song was dismissed from office and Xu Jie became the chief minister of the cabinet. Under Xu Jie's instigation, Hu Zongxian was impeached and arrested to Beijing the following year (later he was only dismissed from office for his meritorious service in pacifying the Japanese), and Xu Wenchang left the Governor's Mansion. In the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, Hu Zongxian was arrested and imprisoned again and died in prison. Several of his former staff were also implicated. Xu Wenchang was a bit extreme by nature. He failed in the exams for many years and was very unhappy mentally. At this time, he was deeply saddened by the frame-up and death of Hu Zongxian. He was even more worried that he would be persecuted, so he was completely disappointed with life and even went crazy. He wrote an angry "Epitaph for Himself", and then pulled out the iron nail from the pilaster and drove it into his ear. He bled profusely and took several months of treatment to recover. Later, he hit the kidney sac with vertebrae, but he did not die. Such attacks occurred repeatedly, and he committed suicide nine times. In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing's reign, Xu Wenchang had another episode of madness. Suspecting his step-wife Zhang to be unfaithful, he killed her and was imprisoned.
When I was first imprisoned, life was naturally painful. Xu Wen was shackled and covered with lice. In winter, snow accumulated on his bedside. He was shivering from the cold. Even the food sent by his friends was taken away. Later, many of his friends went around to rescue him, and his treatment improved. Among them, the most powerful aid came from Zhu Dashou, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and then Zhang Yuanxu, the editor of the Imperial Academy (he was the great-grandfather of Zhang Dai, a famous essayist in the late Ming Dynasty). They were all close friends of Xu Wenchang, and they were all well-respected scholars. With the rescue of these friends, Xu Wenchang spent seven years in prison and was finally released when Emperor Wanli came to the throne and granted amnesty. This was in 1573, and Xu Wenchang was fifty-three years old.
^^3. Down and out in his later years
After experiencing so many hardships, Xu Wenchang no longer had any political ambitions, but his concern for state affairs remained as old as ever. . After he was released from prison, he first traveled in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, mountain climbing and riverside, and made many friends in poetry and painting. In the summer of the fourth year of Wanli (1576), Xu Wenchang's friend in his youth, Wu Dui, who was already the governor of Xuanhua and responsible for the northern border defense, invited him to go north, and he happily went. Xu Wenchang stayed in the Xuanhua shogunate for less than a year, but he left behind many poems and essays describing the scenery, folk customs and military life of the North. In his prefaces to many officials, he liked to discuss political affairs, especially border defense strategies. At that time, Zhang Juzheng was in charge of state affairs and adopted a policy of conciliation towards Mongolia, which Xu Wenchang expressed appreciation for. He was respected by Wu Dui, but due to poor health, he had to return to his hometown via Beijing in the spring of the following year.
When he was sixty years old, Xu Wenchang went to Beijing at Zhang Yuan's invitation, but the relationship between the two soon deteriorated. According to Zhang Dai's account, Zhang Yuan'an was a person with a severe character and abided by etiquette, while Xu Wenchang was indulgent in nature and did not want to be bound by traditional etiquette. Zhang Yuanxi often used feudal ethics to restrict Xu Wenchang, which made Xu Wenchang angry. He once said to Zhang Yuanbo: I killed someone and deserved death, but it was just a knife in the neck, and now you want to chop me into minced meat! Due to the bad relationship with his old friends and the unequal treatment he received when interacting with bureaucrats, Xu Wenchang became depressed and angry, and his old illness relapsed, which made it easy for him to return to his hometown after living in Beijing for three years. After that, Xu Wenchang never left Shanyin again.
In his later years when he was living in the countryside, Xu Wenchang became increasingly disgusted with the wealthy and those with etiquette. Most of the people he made friends with were his former friends and disciples who followed him. It is said that someone came to visit, but Xu Wenchang didn't want to see him, so he pushed the firewood door and shouted: "Xu Wei is not here!" He did not manage his property in his life, and all his money was scattered. At this time, he had to rely on selling calligraphy and paintings to survive. But when I had a little more money, I refused to do it again. On the contrary, a group of disciples and junior friends often obtained his masterpieces by cheating or robbing them. Xu Wenchang seems to be particularly fond of crabs. Many of his painting poems record how his friends exchanged live crabs for his painted crabs. In the last few years, Xu Wenchang suffered from various diseases. He probably could not paint often, and his life became even more impoverished. The "Collected Works of Xu Wenchang" includes poems such as "Selling Minks", "Selling Chimes", "Selling Paintings" and "Selling Books", which show the desolate old age of this great writer and artist. In 1593, Xu Wenchang died at the age of seventy-three.
^^4. Multifaceted artistic achievements
Xu Wenchang’s literary and artistic creations cover a wide range of fields, but their most common characteristics can be pointed out, which are: artistically unique Do not rely on others, like to be original, have a strong personality, have a bold and unrestrained style, and often show their interest in folk literature.
In the poetry world of the Ming Dynasty, due to the advocacy of the Seven Scholars, there was a trend of imitating the ancient times. Although they have their own achievements that cannot be ignored, this imitation of ancient times obviously hinders the development of the art of poetry. Xu Wenchang was deeply dissatisfied with this and made sharp criticism. He said: If a bird imitates human speech, its nature is still that of a bird. If you write poetry and imitate your predecessors, no matter how imitative you are, it will just be a bird imitating human speech, and it will have no real value. His own poetry creation focuses on expressing personal practical emotions about social life. His style is slightly closer to that of Li He, who learned about the prosperous Tang Dynasty, mixed with the Southern Dynasties, and went in and out of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, without losing his own identity. This tendency was inherited by the Gong'an School who later advocated the expression of spirituality, and was of great significance in changing the style of poetry in the late Ming Dynasty. Yuan Zhonglang, the leader of the Gong'an faction, made a wonderful comment on Xu Wenchang's poems: "Wen Chang was not interested in being an official, so he indulged in the tillers and the mountains and rivers... What he saw were mountains rushing to the sea, clouds rising from the sand, and trees blown by the wind. Yan, most of the deep valleys, the characters, fish and birds, all the shocking and astonishing aspects are all expressed in poetry. There is an indelible feeling in the heart, the sorrow of the hero who has lost his way and has no way to support himself, so it is a poem. , Like anger, like laughter, like water singing in the gorge, like seeds being unearthed, like a widow weeping at night, and the coldness of people is rising. When they let go, they travel thousands of miles; sometimes they are quiet and ghostly, and they are angry in autumn." Xu Wenchang's prose. The most outstanding chapter is "Self-Made Epitaph". In addition, many rulers and tablets are also very distinctive, witty, humorous and interesting, and their writing style is far superior to that of Jin Shengtan, but in general, their achievements are not as good as poetry.
Xu Wenchang's dramatic creations include the miscellaneous drama "The Four-Voice Monkey", which includes four independent plays: "The History of Crazy Drums", "Dream of Green Country", "Female Mulan" and "The Female Champion". "History of Kuanggu" was written in response to Yan Song's murder of Shen Lian, showing his arrogant spirit of resistance. The latter two plays are about women disguising themselves as men and achieving great achievements. They reflect Xu Wenchang's views on women and have a certain anti-feudal significance. These works broke the fixed format of drama and opened up the door for the diversification of drama forms. In terms of drama theory, he advocated "true character", that is, the dramatic language should conform to the identity of the characters, and colloquial language and colloquialisms should be used to ensure the authenticity of the characters, while opposing elegant parallelism and excessive modification. These views are very Insightful. In addition, he also wrote "Nan Ci Narrative", which is my country's first theoretical monograph on Nan Opera and is of great significance in the history of drama.
Xu Wenchang once said: "My books are first, my poems are second, my essays are third, and my paintings are fourth." This is probably a common trick used by literati, which is to put their most valued art at the bottom. , to raise the others. In fact, he is the master of freehand painting in my country. He has influenced Bada Shanren, Shi Tao, the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Wu Lushuo and Qi Baishi, and has a high status in the history of art. He is best at flower painting, with indulgent brushwork and dripping ink. His style is strong and charming, and he has poetic lyricism and rhythm, which is highly valued by people. His calligraphy is better than cursive. Although Xu Wenchang ranks himself first, his achievements seem to be inferior to those of painting.
In addition, the drama "Song Dai Xiao" and the novel "Yun He Qizong" (ie "The Story of Heroes") are also said to be written by Xu Wenchang. These are two excellent works, but their copyright seems to be very problematic, so they will not be reviewed here.
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Xu Wei, originally named Wenqing, changed his name to Wenchang, and his names were Tianchi, Qingteng, etc., in the 16th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1521 AD) ) was born in a small bureaucratic family in Shanyin County, Zhejiang Province (now Shaoxing City). He was very smart since he was young, and when he was in his teens, he wrote an article "Explanation of Destruction" imitating Yang Xiong's "Explanation of Mocking". A little longer, he studied under Ji Ben, a fellow scholar in his hometown. Ji Ben was a student of Wang Yangming, the founder of Xinxue. Therefore, Yangming's philosophy of mind had a great influence on Xu Wei's life through Ji Ben's teaching. The main point of Yangming's theory of mind is that "the heart is reason, and there is no reason outside the heart." This is an acknowledgment of conscience and intuition. It is related to Buddhist thinking and detached thoughts, and is also related to "Zen". The emergence of Yangming's theory of mind was in itself a rebellion and challenge to the then dominant Neo-Confucianism. During this period, there was a tendency in philosophy, literature, and art circles to pursue individual liberation and express spirituality directly. Xu Wei naturally got involved in this trend.
Since Xu Wei became a scholar at the age of 20, although he failed in the provincial examinations many times, he made many mentors and friends. Among these teachers and friends are current officials, retired villagers, hermits in the mountains and forests, and young underachievers. They talked about each other's skills and strengthened each other. Later, together with Xiao Mian, Chen He, Yang Ke, Zhu Gongjie, Shen Lian, Qian Bian, Liu Lin, Zhu Dashou, Lu Guangsheng, etc., he was named "Ten Sons of Yuezhong". Chen He's operas and paintings, and Yang Ke's calligraphy all had a certain influence on the 7d title.
In addition, he also made friends with famous literati, calligraphers and painters in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Such as Chen Chun, Xie Shichen, Shen Shi, Liu Shiru, Shen Mingchen, etc. In Xu Wei's interactions with these literati, "Pao" became a genius who was good at poetry, literature, calligraphy, painting, drama and even military strategy.
The drama "Four-Voice Apes" written by Xu Wei when he was in his thirties was praised by Tang Xianzu, a contemporary drama master.
Xu Wei was rich in military talent, and his ability to carry out the 7d was appreciated by Hu Zongxian, the then Japanese governor. When he was thirty-seven, he was hired as a staff member of Hu Zongxian's government. He also designed for Hu Zongxian to capture the bandit leaders Wang Zhi and Qi 7d Hai. Once, Hu Zongxian captured a white deer and asked Xu Wei to write "Into the White Deer Biao" and presented it to the court. Ming Shizong and scholar Dong Fen greatly appreciated Wei's article, and Xu Wei was more highly regarded by Hu Zongxian.
Hu Zongxian was imprisoned for the second time because of Yan Hao's traitor party's loss of power, and finally died in prison.
Xu Wei was also afraid of being implicated by Hu, so he "incited a huge cone to make the ear pierce, several inches deep; he also smashed the vertebrae and kidney sacs, but he did not die." ("Ming Dynasty Wenyuan Biography") committed suicide as many as nine times. At this time, his inner anger and pain could only be vented through intense self-abuse, and he really went crazy. Later, he accidentally killed his wife and was imprisoned for it. While in prison, he regained some mental composure, but he was not cured. This crazy genius only escaped death after his fellow villager Zhang Yuanbian tried his best to save him. He was fifty-three years old when he was released from prison.
After being released from prison, Xu Wei once traveled to Jinling, Xuanliao, Beijing and other places. From the time he was released from prison until his death at the age of seventy-three, he spent the entire twenty years in poverty, desolation and loneliness, sometimes lucidly and sometimes abnormally. According to his own notes, he said: "There are many signs of abnormality, and the mental disorder lasts until old age." The fact that he can record this by himself shows that although he is often mentally disturbed, he is sometimes very clear-headed.
Xu Wei’s paintings not only have a certain degree of inheritance from teachers, but also break through previous rules to express his own personality. His figure paintings were influenced by the reduced strokes of Madman Liang in the Song Dynasty, which are summarized and refined, and their shapes are vivid; his landscape paintings were influenced by Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, etc.; his flower-and-bird paintings were a step forward based on the freehand paintings of Lin Liang, Chen Chun and others. In the history of painting, he and Chen Chun are called "Qingteng" and "Baiyang", and he is regarded as the founder of the freehand painting school.
Xu Wei pays special attention to the "rhythm" and "vividness" of his paintings. This is in line with the first method of Chinese painting - vivid charm. He once mentioned in a poem: "I don't seek the resemblance of the form, but I seek the rhyme of life. All my five fingers will do it." He also pointed out in "Shu Xie Shi Chen Yuan Ming Juan is Ge Gongdan": "The disease of painting lies in the lightness and weight of the ink." , lively or inactive. " He believes that if a painter wants to express a certain temperament, chest, and temperament, he must choose the corresponding subject matter to suit his temperament, chest, and temperament. When he inscribed an ink painting of peony, he mentioned: "Peony is a flower of wealth and brilliance. Therefore, in the past, people were mostly good at using dyeing and contrasting. Nowadays, they use splash ink to paint it. Although there is business, it is not the true appearance of this flower." "The nature is similar to that of plum blossoms and bamboos, and is as glorious as a horse or a cow." Judging from his views, he is indeed quite sober at times. It is his sobriety and high-minded opinions that make him show more superhuman courage in his crazy works.
Among Xu Wei's paintings, the ink flowers that best express his arrogance, disregard of the past and present and his willful display. Nanjing Museum and Beijing Rongbaozhai each have a volume of Xu Wei's "Ink Flower Pictures". It is said that there are three volumes in the United States. The most exquisite among them is the long scroll of "Miscellaneous Flowers" collected by Nanbo. The first painting in this volume includes thirteen types of paintings: peony, pomegranate, lotus, sycamore, chrysanthemum, pumpkin, lentil, crape myrtle, grape, plantain, plum blossom, narcissus and bamboo. The ink is dripping, free and vast, with dry and wet shades, and is natural. This volume has been published many times and printed in separate volumes. There are nine types of paintings in the "Flowers with Ink Brush" volume collected by Rong Baozhai. Among them, "Picture of Plum Blossoms" has a poem that is often quoted by people: "I have never seen a plum blossom spectrum, but I can pick it up from God." If you don’t believe it, just look at thousands of trees, and spring will come when the east wind blows.” It not only reveals his unwillingness to stick to the rules and boldly create, but also reveals his self-satisfaction mood of being able to write into spring.
Xu Wei often mentioned the word "spring" in his painting poems in his later years. For example, "The ink dye is light and even, and the painting is also about admiring youth." ("Ink Inscription on Peony") "I have been poor and humble for fifty-eight years, how could I miss the spring of Luoyang." ("Ink Inscription on Peony") "How much the spring breeze has disappeared. "I can take my children to the sky." There are also words such as "rouge", "red lips" and "fangzi". Is this related to the fact that Xu Wei's sexual subconsciousness, which was suppressed due to being a widower in his later years, was vented through artistic creation.
Xu Wei’s inner world of resentment, depression, loneliness, and desolation. The poem he wrote on the painting “Ink Grapes” reflects his inner feelings: “Having been down and out for half his life, he has become an old man and has an independent study room. Whispering in the evening wind. There is nowhere to sell the pearls in the pen, just throw them into the wild vines."
After Xu Wei's death, his works were increasingly appreciated by some knowledgeable people. Shi Tao, Shi Xi, Bada Shanren and even the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou were all deeply influenced by it and were outstanding in the painting circles at that time. Until modern times, Tao Dwei's works continue to radiate dazzling brilliance.
In the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Banqiao once exchanged five hundred gold for a pomegranate from Tianchi (Xu Wei), and was willing to be a "lackey under the Ivy Sect".
Contemporary painter Qi Baishi claims that he "wants to be born three hundred years ago" for Ivy "to polish ink and paper."