Strong and rational resistance - also talk about the tragic origin of "The Peacock Flies Southeast"
Summary of content
A long narrative poem that represents the highest artistic achievement of Han Yuefu folk songs "The Peacock Flying Southeast" (originally titled "Ancient Poetry Written by Jiao Zhongqing's Wife") is a peak in the development of realist poetry in the history of Chinese literature. The family tragedy of Liu and Jiao who died in love is highly typical. They His death has always received sympathy and praise from people. The author attempts to further delve into the root causes of the marriage and love tragedy of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing through the discussion of the crucial plots of "repatriation", "proposal" and "joint burial" in the story, and reveal a common phenomenon in feudal society. Social issues: Under the feudal patriarchal system, the absolute tyranny of autocratic parents made it impossible for young men and women to have independent marriages. Young men and women fell into deep pain, especially women who suffered the most severe persecution, thus reproducing Liu Lanzhi’s image of justice with strong will and rational resistance. .
Keywords: Discussing the roots of tragedy, martyrdom of feudal ethics, emotional and rational struggle
Every time I read "The Peacock Flies Southeast", I read it often, and I often think: Liu Lanzhi is so knowledgeable. Li, smart, beautiful, hard-working and capable, gentle and virtuous, she is simply a pure, filial, and perfect "lady" image. Her husband is deeply in love with her, but why does her mother-in-law not like such a daughter-in-law? Why must she be divorced? ? Since Liu Lanzhi was not qualified to be the wife of a small government official, why did the county magistrate and the prefect send a matchmaker to propose to Liu Lanzhi on their son's behalf? At the same time, after Lanzhi Zhongqing and others vigorously resisted feudal ethics by committing suicide, will the two families seek to be buried together? This series of confusions made me think more deeply about the root causes of the tragedy of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing’s marriage.
Regarding these issues, some people believe that because Liu Lanzhi did not have children after marrying into the Jiao family, the Jiao family was in danger of extermination. Because in a feudal society with a strict patriarchal system, the most important thing is that "there are three types of unfilial piety, the worst is not having children." If a woman is infertile after marriage, she will naturally be disgusted and rejected by her husband's family, so it is inevitable that Liu Lanzhi will eventually be divorced. However, after thinking about it again and again, I always feel that this reason is difficult to convince the public. First, Liu Lanzhi married into the Jiao family at the age of seventeen ("Seventeen is a gentleman's wife"), and lived with Jiao Zhongqing for only two or three years ("Twenty-three years after the incident"). At that time, she was at least twenty years old. Next year, based on this, it is unreasonable to arbitrarily believe that she will not have any more children in the future, because it is common for people to have children many years after marriage. This should be common sense in life for both ancient and modern people. Moreover, new scientific and technological research proves that fertility is also closely related to men. Secondly, after Liu Lanzhi was abandoned, the county magistrate and the prefect's family successively sent people to propose marriage. If Liu Lanzhi was really judged to be sterile at that time, an ordinary petty official with an ordinary family like Jiao Zhongqing would still consider it. "There are three serious consequences of unfilial piety, the most serious one is not having an heir", so would the famous county magistrate and prefect's family solemnly marry someone without considering the serious consequences of "three unfilial piety, the most serious one is not having an heir"? This is obviously unreasonable.
Some commentators believe that the reason for Liu Lanzhi's abandonment was what Jiao's mother said in the poem, "This woman has no etiquette and acts freely." However, looking at Liu Lanzhi's performance in the Jiao family, not only can we find no evidence that Liu Lanzhi is "rude" and "free", on the contrary, there are many examples of Liu Lanzhi being "courteous" and "not free". All. For example, when Liu Lanzhi realized that "it's too late for the Lord" and knew that "there is nothing left to do", she obeyed her mother's wishes and took the initiative to ask Jiao Zhongqing to "send her back in time"; before leaving, "cock crow" and "get up". Yan Zhuang", "went to the church to worship my mother", "but said goodbye to my sister-in-law". Every word, every action, every move must be polite and courteous. In addition, Liu Lanzhi made a heartfelt confession when she and Jiao Zhongqing parted ways on the eve of her deportation: "In the past, in the early days of the twelfth lunar month, the Xie family came to your noble family. I served as an official, but dared to do my own thing? I worked hard day and night, and I worked hard." He said that he had committed no crime and was a great kindness to the soldiers; but he was still sent away, so how could he return?" From the description of Liu Lanzhi in the whole poem, we still can't see any "impoliteness" or "freedom" in Liu Lanzhi? deviant behavior. Through the confession between the lines of the poem, what we see is Liu Lanzhi's beautiful character of knowing the book, being courteous, gentle and wise, which makes people feel that every sentence of Liu Lanzhi's confession before leaving is true and there is no falsehood. It can be seen that Jiao's mother's "This woman has no etiquette and acts freely" is just an outrageous excuse for Jiao's mother to cover up her true intention of divorcing her daughter-in-law. It is not the real reason for Liu Lanzhi's divorce at all. The reason that Jiao's mother divorced her daughter-in-law because "this woman has no etiquette and acts freely" is untenable.
So, why was Liu Lanzhi abandoned? Marxist historical materialism tells us that we cannot look at any social issue without a certain historical background. The story of "The Peacock Flies Southeast" takes place in the late Eastern Han Dynasty ("Late Han Jian'an"), so we can only find the real reason why Liu Lanzhi was innocently divorced from the society of the Han Dynasty. At the suggestion of Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented the governance strategy of "deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone." Due to the actual needs of social reality and the strong promotion of the ruling class, Confucianism has been respected to an unprecedented position of dominance.
At that time, Confucianism became the only criterion and basis for regulating people's thoughts, behaviors and dealing with daily affairs. This naturally affected all aspects of family and marriage relationships. At that time, the most authoritative "law" on the matter of "divorce" The basis is none other than the law of "seven departures" in Confucianism. As long as a woman commits any of the "seven departures", she can be reasonably and legally abandoned by her husband's family. In the Han Dynasty, as a representative of feudal ethics and feudal parents, on what basis did Jiao's mother drive Liu Lanzhi back to her natal family? Now let's discuss the reasons why Liu Lanzhi was abandoned at that time. We can only find the basis from the "Seven Outs" that were regarded as the norm at that time.
The "seven outs" are also called "seven outs" and "seven abandonments" in Confucianism. These are the seven excuses for husbands to abandon their wives in that patriarchal society where women have no status or dignity. The seven shackles imposed on women in order to maintain the power of their husbands. Check "Etiquette·Mourning Clothes", which records the contents of "Seven Outcomes" as follows: 1. Childlessness, 2. Sexual immorality, 3. Indifference to aunt and uncle, 4. Talking, 5. Theft, 6. Jealousy, 7. Malignant diseases . Women in society at that time could be openly abandoned as long as they committed any of these crimes.
Comparing Liu Lanzhi’s performance in the Jiao family, which of the “seven outbursts” did Liu Lanzhi commit? As mentioned before, the first clause "no children" obviously cannot be established. From the lines described in the poem, such as "unwavering loyalty" and "no deviation in women's conduct," we can see that Liu Lanzhi's character is chaste, virtuous, obedient, and impeccable. The second article of "lewdness" and the fifth article of "theft" probably cannot be established either. Liu Lanzhi "was able to weave textiles at the age of thirteen, learn tailoring at the age of fourteen, play the konghou at the age of fifteen, and recite poetry and calligraphy at the age of sixteen." After marrying into the Jiao family at the age of seventeen, Liu Lanzhi "served the public affairs of my grandma, and dared to do things independently? Day and night" Work and rest diligently, stay lonely and suffer hardships." Even when he was humiliated and resented for losing love to his mother-in-law, and was sent away for no reason, before leaving, he repeatedly told his sister-in-law to "diligently support my father-in-law, so that I can support myself and my generals." This shows that she is a kind-hearted woman who is well-informed and courteous, hard-working and capable. The fourth item "tonguing" and the sixth item "jealousy" may not be true either. As for the seventh "bad disease", after reading the whole poem, I still can't find any clue that she suffers from any "bad disease", which is even more untenable. Among the "seven outings", "six outings" have been eliminated, so Liu Lanzhi may have committed the serious sin of "not caring about my uncle" (Article 3).
Some people may say, how could Liu Lanzhi, the most pure and filial person, be "not caring about her aunt"? We believe that when discussing any social issue, the issue must be analyzed within a certain historical scope. Different eras have different standards of right and wrong. In the patriarchal society where Liu Lanzhi lived, measuring whether a woman conformed to "women's ethics" was very different from our standards today. At that time, the standard of right and wrong for measuring "women's ethics" was based on Confucianism. The feudal ethics in the theory are based on Shengmo. "Book of Rites: Hunyi" says that women must "become obedient to their wives, and be obedient to their wives." In other words, as a woman, the degree of intimacy with her husband cannot exceed the degree of intimacy with her aunt (i.e., "parents-in-law"), otherwise she will be regarded as "unconcerned aunt". "Book of Rites Nei Principles" makes it even clearer: "If a son is too fond of his wife and his parents are displeased, he can leave her." In other words, if a son likes his wife too much and his parents are displeased, he can divorce her.
Throughout the whole poem, we can easily see that Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi are a very loving and happy couple. They had already said: "It's been twenty or three years since ***", but the two of them still felt that "it's not that long since it started." One said, "Since you are a government official, you will never waver in your integrity." One said, "We share the same pillow with our hair, and we are friends in the underworld." Even if they were persecuted for no reason by Jiao's mother, and when they were about to break up, they were still so sincere and vowed - "You are like a rock, and I am like a pampas grass. The pampas grass is as tough as silk, and the rock will not shift." It can be seen how deeply, how innocent, how obsessed, and how loyal they love! In the end, he even "went to the clear pond" and "hanged himself on a southeastern branch" for the sake of loyal love. Whether it is Liu Lanzhi, who is wealthy but not promiscuous, or Jiao Zhongqing, who is unwavering in his love for women, their emotional balance is very obviously tilted towards their beloved lover rather than their mother. None of them can give up their special love for their lover and empathize with their mother. As an overbearing, authoritarian and abusive mother-in-law in a feudal society, after her daughter-in-law Lanzhi came to the house, she wanted to make her a tamed tool at his will. Every move of the daughter-in-law must be controlled by the parents. Of course she felt unhappy when she saw that her only son, who was dependent on her, devoted more love to his wife after marriage. Of course, she would feel a sense of loss. Of course, she would attribute all this to her daughter-in-law's attentiveness and charming attraction to her son. , and may even think that his daughter-in-law has snatched his son away from him. So it is natural that he will resent his daughter-in-law, that he will feel "unkind", and that he will naturally feel "displeased". The feudal ethics clearly stipulate that the son who is "suitable for his wife" causes displeasure in the parents' hearts. Therefore, Jiao's mother, who "has always been angry with me", will naturally use this rule to send Lanzhi home. This is the real reason why the stubborn Liu Lanzhi fell out of favor with her mother-in-law and was abandoned. After careful consideration, Liu Lanzhi felt that the fate of being deported was inevitable. Even though she "served her grandma in an upright manner" and "worked diligently day and night", she could not escape the fate of being "deported". I can only "dispose of myself".
In the feudal era when etiquette was more important than "human feelings", Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing were not the only ones to suffer marital tragedies caused by parents being displeased because of excessive affection between young couples. Lu You, the great poet of the Song Dynasty, was also one of the victims. According to Zhou Mi's "Qidong Wild Words": "Lu Wuguan first married the Tang family, Hong's daughter, and his mother and wife were aunts and nephews. The husband and wife got each other, but they couldn't get it from their aunt. Once they came out, but did not bear to let go, it would be The other house is always gone. If you know it and hide it, you can't hide it, but it is also a change in human relations." The love tragedy of Lu You and his cousin Tang Wan and the love tragedy of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing. How similar? The son is "very suitable for his wife" and the couple "love each other" has become a big crime for young men and women who are immersed in love and happiness. As a result, they are persecuted, their work is divided, life and death are divided, their things are divided, and they even pay the price of their lives. How absurd and unbelievable this seems now, but how normal and proper it was at that time!
After Liu Lanzhi was sent back to her parents' home, suitors came one after another, which showed that Lanzhi's appearance was unusual. But as mentioned before, Liu Lanzhi was not qualified to be the wife of a small government official, so why did the county magistrate and the prefect send a matchmaker to propose to Liu Lanzhi on their son's behalf? In the era when Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing lived, the selection of a spouse had to pay great attention to family status, appearance, talent, age and marriage history. Sanlang of the county magistrate's family and Wulang of the prefect's family were in such good conditions, why didn't they propose to Qin Luofu, a virtuous girl from the "graceful city", but instead fell in love with the divorced Liu Lanzhi? If the county magistrate and the prefect admired Liu Lanzhi for being smart, beautiful, versatile and well-educated, then they shouldn't know anything about Liu Lanzhi marrying a government official and being sent away two or three years after the incident, right? ! If we explain the abnormal actions from the perspective of abnormal psychology, everything will appear to be very reasonable: the county magistrate and the prefect's proposal for his son is false, but taking a concubine for himself is true! In the feudal era, for a daughter of the Liu family who was divorced from marriage, what awaited her would be a road full of traps and blood and tears.
After Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing resisted the oppression of the feudal patriarchal system and died in love, will they "beg to be buried together"? The answer should be no. First, Jiao’s mother and brother are representatives of feudal parents and feudal ethics. In their view, Liu Lanzhi despised feudal ethics, rebelled against his brother's orders, and "went to the Qing Pond" on their wedding night, causing the prefect's family to spend countless money in vain and have nothing to do with it. This was a treason and an unforgivable crime; However, Jiao Zhongqing was well-read in poetry and served in the Taige. When he learned that Liu Lanzhi had committed suicide, he abandoned his official position and abandoned his mother, "hanging himself on a southeastern branch". This was indeed unfaithful and unfilial and should be punished without mercy. From the ideological standpoint of Jiao's mother and brother, it is impossible for the two families to seek a joint burial. Secondly, my brother is violent, selfish, and ruthless, while Jiao's mother is overbearing, stubborn, and arbitrary. At the beginning, the prefect sent a matchmaker to propose marriage. Liu Lanzhi did not forget that "the official met Ding Ning" and only hoped that the broken couple could be reunited. However, his brother did not have the slightest understanding or respect for his sister's affairs and rudely reprimanded Lanzhi for "marrying the right man." "Jun", "It is enough to honor you", "Why not measure it when making plans"! But Jiao's mother ruined her son's happiness single-handedly. Facing her son's death for love, she still had a heart of stone and refused to change her mind and take back her life. Judging from the character traits of Jiao's mother and brother, it is impossible for the two families to be buried together. Thirdly, Liu Lanzhi, who is rich but not promiscuous, not only ruined his brother's dream of climbing high, but also lost his face; Jiao Zhongqing, who was always in love with her, "hanged herself", not only made Jiao's mother unable to live in the future. Damn, it also cut off the incense of the Jiao family. The huge blow will undoubtedly arouse waves in the hearts of Jiao's mother and brother. However, besides despair, pain, anger and resentment, what else is there? There is no hatred without reason in the world, and there is no love without reason. Judging from the inner feelings between Jiao's mother and brother, it becomes even more impossible for the two families to be buried together. The author believes that the situation after the death of Liu Lanzhi and his wife was entirely out of the poet's imagination and fantasy. "Families seek to be buried together" and "Souls turn into two flying birds" are both uses of romantic techniques. The poet uses this to express people's sympathy for the misfortune of Liu Lanzhi and his wife, their yearning for a happy life, and their protest and ridicule of feudal ethics. Mechanically interpreting "two families seeking to be buried together" as a realistic approach to viewing "joint burial" is not only contrary to the two characters of Jiao's mother and brother, but will also greatly weaken the whole poem's "exposure of the feudal patriarchal system and the destruction of feudal ethics." The theme of "Happy Life for Young Men and Women".
Human beings are not wood and stone, and they can be ruthless with practice. Although Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing’s persistent and pure love is not tolerated by feudal ethics, they are appreciated by secular people. For thousands of years, people have sympathized with and praised the faithful love of these young lovers, and even more appreciated and admired their unyielding spirit of rational resistance in pursuit of love and freedom. Although it is a tragedy, it is full of justice. This love tragedy is a reflection and portrayal of the society at that time, and an indictment of the cannibalistic nature of feudal ethics. By learning to appreciate this poignant love poem, we realize the evils of ancient society and see the rational resistance spirit of Chinese women in fighting for freedom and happiness. Liu Jiao's suicide is both a failure and a victory. Although this kind of resistance is negative, it is a ray of light in the darkness and provides positive inspiration to future generations. We should also think about how to truly improve women's rights and status.
References:
1. Selected Notes by Yu Guanying 1953 "Selected Yuefu Poems" People's Literature Publishing House
2. Li Yindu, Chen Zuoming, etc. 1987.6 "The Two Han Dynasties" Literary History Reference Materials·The Peacock Flies Southeast"
3. Sun Ling 2001.7 Three Questions in "The Peacock Flies Southeast" Hebei "Friends of Chinese Teaching"
4. You Guoen et al. 1989.5 " "History of Chinese Literature" People's Education Press
5. Jin Weiyuan 1989.5 Never grow old together while dying - "Ancient Poems Written by Jiao Zhongqing's Wife" "Selected Analysis of Ancient Chinese Literary Works" East China Normal University Press