Text/Gu Fei
In the recently released film "Detective Dee: The Dragon King of the Dragon King", the mysterious bewitching technique is mentioned and becomes a key clue to solve the mystery of the story. Was the Gu magic of the Tang Dynasty really that weird? In recent years, fantasy and thriller-themed film and television dramas represented by "Painted Skin" and "Detective Dee: The Dragon King" have become very popular in the market. With the launch of the Hong Kong TVB drama "Youyang Zazu", the audience has become more interested in Tang Dynasty. The magical world described by the strange pen also aroused strong interest. Recently, the well-known best-selling book brand Reader released "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" written by historical writer Wei Fenghua, which can be said to be a masterpiece of this genre. The content of the book covers legends of strange monsters, anecdotes, and secret historical facts. Because the content contains elements of suspense, thriller, and magic, it attracted the attention of many readers and many film and television directors as soon as it was released.
"Records of Weird Things in the Tang Dynasty" uses "Youyang Zazu", the first ancient notebook of strange things, as a clue to trace the magical past events that happened in the Tang Dynasty. Someone may ask: Isn't the "boss" of Legend of Strange Tales from "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" or "Sou Shen Ji"? After reading "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" you will immediately change your opinion. Literary critic Li Jingze once said this: ""Youyang Zazu" is a secret book. It has a devilish nature. It knows everything. It collects all dark and remote knowledge." In "Youyang Zazu". In "Records of Strange Stories from the Tang Dynasty", Wei Fenghua followed the clues left by the Tang Dynasty and fell into the deep well of time little by little, and finally uncovered one after another shocking stories, interesting anecdotes, and jaw-dropping historical truths for readers. .
Poetry was king in the Tang Dynasty, but this was only the front of the empire. According to "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty", behind the darkness is a terrifying scene of hundreds of ghosts walking at night. Because from the perspective of the history of world ghost stories, the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries were the eras of mysterious discoveries and monster explosions. Wei Fenghua made a metaphor for "Records of Weird Stories of the Tang Dynasty": If the official history of the Tang Dynasty is compared to the khaki official road, then the book is the secluded paths and dense forests on both sides of the official road, and the content involves gods, demons, monsters, and fairy swords. Strange heroes, illusions and Taoism, anecdotes, exotic legends, rare birds and animals, as well as many remote and secret knowledge that were lost in later generations, combine fantasy, suspense and thriller. People's traditional impression of the bright and gorgeous Tang Dynasty was completely overturned, and that era became eerie and confusing.
The main content of "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" is magical stories: the shadow in the wilderness station, the most terrifying mural in history, the Tang Dynasty's Inception, the expeditionary force that turned into ice corpses overnight... In a manor on the outskirts of Chang'an, the heroine died mysteriously after encountering an alien; while traveling in the Central Plains, a strange man could use technical means to make people walk hundreds of miles a day like a Taibo; in the suburbs of Chengdu, a man was abducted by a supernatural criminal gang. Entering the Buddha statue in the temple and straying into the time tunnel; and in the Guanzhong area, the tomb robbers encountered the most bizarre murder mechanism in the ancient tomb. And what exactly are Fang Xiang and Birch in the Ghost Exorcism Ceremony? Does the scarf really have the effect of detecting theft? Will the tiger's eyes sink into the ground and turn into beautiful jade? How many types of poison are mentioned in "Detective Dee: The Dragon King of the City of Gods", and which one is the most dangerous? Can a person really break into other people's dreams? What was the earliest story prototype of "Painted Skin"? In which palace coup was the amnesiac wine used? There are also illusions and invisibility that have long been speculated by future generations... It is not appropriate to compare "Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" to "Liao Zhai of the Tang Dynasty", because there are too many sensational stories and warmth in "Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" More than a thriller, "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" shows an authentic and authentic Chinese classical style of strange stories.
In addition to the magical theme, there are also secret paths leading to the historical truth in the dense forest of "Tang Dynasty Strange Events". Due to the pressure of the imperial court at that time, it was a habit of the ancients to hide the historical truth in the notes of ghosts and monsters in a "qubi" way. From this perspective, the so-called official history is filled with too many lies that cannot withstand scrutiny, while the folk history notes are naive. In the writing of "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty", Wei Fenghua was obviously unwilling to walk on the road of official history, but was more willing to lead readers into hidden paths and dense forests. In the overlapping light and shadow of history and magic, readers experience a different kind of reading pleasure of climbing a dangerous peak. For example, did Li Shimin die as a result of the murder of a Tianzhu warlock? Why is the "Nanlu Rebellion" said to be the most thrilling palace coup in ancient times? What is the truth behind the assassination of Prime Minister Wu Yuanheng in Tianjie?
In addition to strange stories and secret histories, you can also find some very interesting anecdotes in "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty": super fans of Bai Juyi's poems tattooed on their bodies, the relationship between Pisces Li Bai and Aquarius Du Fu, Tang Dynasty The most precious golden peach of Samarkand at that time... "The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" is based on the clues of "Youyang Zazu", and the records of the latter are often "Zancong Xiaoyu". Wei Fenghua properly excavated and organically linked various key points in the original records, and through the development of poetry, he wrote stories with ups and downs that are endlessly memorable.
"The Strange Stories of the Tang Dynasty" is like an interesting version of the Tang Dynasty Evening News: magical, thrilling, bizarre and interesting. It is eye-catching in terms of subject matter, perspective and writing style. It is also The weird style of both truth and fantasy is what makes it stand out among many historical readings.
From this perspective, Wei Fenghua's writing is smart, because he opened up the time and space tunnel between ancient monsters and modern readers. The magic, suspense, thriller, horror, and even gossip elements that are popular in today's book market are in "Tang Dynasty" It can be found in "The Record of Weird Things", so its bestseller is inevitable.