First, the unique group of China ancient literature
As a literary group, China ancient imperial literature is a very unique and long-standing objective existence.
In the pre-Qin literature, the phenomenon of imperial literature has been very prominent. The first literary work with a famous surname in the history of China literature turned out to be imperial literature. At the beginning of Ancient Poetry, the first work is Shun Di's Song of the South Wind. There is also a saying that Fuxi "looked up at the astronomical phenomena and looked down at the geography" and "painted" China's earliest work of integrating philosophy and literature-Eight Diagrams. China's first collection of political essays, Shangshu, contains the most famous articles written by emperors before Confucius, a great educator and editor, such as Yao Dian, Da Mo Yu and Qin Shi. The Book of Songs is a literary textbook edited by Confucius, which contains many poems written by emperors.
In the centralized feudal society, emperors attached great importance to the "civil and military way", and most of them had certain literary creation ability. Poetry is the most important tool for China people to express their feelings, and this "everything is ready" emperor is no exception. Judging from the history of China literature, since Qin Shihuang, Liu Bang, Chu Jixiang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizong and He were all symbols of feudal autocratic society. 」? Quot is a bit coquettish and literary, but most of them still have poems handed down from generation to generation. Among the emperors, Huang Chao and Hong Xiuquan, the leaders of the peasant uprising, should also be included. Most of them are literati, and there are some domineering "expressing ambition" poems such as "Chanting Chrysanthemum" circulating in the world. In the heyday of feudal autocratic society, the Qing emperor received strict education from Confucius and Mencius, and attached importance to "literary ambition" and poetry creation. It is said that Emperor Qianlong wrote more than 40,000 poems, but the quality of his poems was not high. Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in China's long feudal society, can be said to be a secretary, and her poems are also considerable. As for the emperors who kept their jobs, they all took poetry classes when they were educated and wrote many literary works in their political careers.
From the above understanding, we can see that China imperial literature is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored but has not been paid due attention to. It is particularly worth mentioning that the excellent works in China's literature also appeared in imperial literature.
Although the quality of most emperors' literature in China is not high, a few literary masterpieces have reached the first-class literary level in all aspects. Especially prominent are the poems of Wei, Jin and San Cao. The poems of Wang Wei and Cao Cao are very prominent in imperial literature, and Cao Cao was later called "Wei Wudi" by his son. His works are broad-minded, desolate and tragic, and the level is high, even if he is a "full-time" writer who has been engaged in creation all his life, few people can achieve it. His eldest son, Cao Pi, usurped the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor. He was not only a poet, but also famous for his literary criticism articles. Cao Zhi, who was named king, has a particularly beautiful and superb poetry. What is even more rare is that, as the only phenomenon in the history of China literature-both father and son are emperors who started their own businesses, and both are writers with prominent literary titles, they even created literature of an era-Jian 'an Literature. Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, reached a peak in poetry. As an abdicated emperor, he can't erase the brand of the emperor, but there is no tradition of loyalty to the monarch and patriotism and narrow political ambition in his poems, which leads to the philosophical realm of life tragedy. As most emperors are outstanding figures, it is only natural that their poems are equally outstanding as long as they work hard.
However, due to various reasons, in the history of China ancient literature, the imperial literature inadvertently formed the phenomenon that people stayed away from it. People are unwilling and afraid to appreciate and comment on Emperor Wang Wenxue. The majestic spirit and domineering spirit of emperor literature, which is self-centered and above the group, make people in a weak position instinctively produce rejection psychology. Subjects bound by the feudal hierarchy are even more afraid to dictate and comment in public, knowing that the crime of "disrespect" will be punished by nine families. This is the outstanding reason why imperial literature has not been faced squarely.
However, China literature is not a perfect literary system, which blurs the organic components of imperial literature. Therefore, the reflection of China people's psychological world obviously lacks an important part. As far as creative thought and dominant thought are concerned, it is precisely the feudal thought under the guidance of Confucius and Mencius, which rarely exists in imperial literature. From this point of view, people often refer to "Dragon and Phoenix Literature", "Emperor Literature", "Political Literature" and "Sage Literature" with different names. In fact, they are all emperor literature, so we have to face it squarely and then analyze its essence seriously.
Second, the emergence of deformed male literature
In the history of China, the so-called emperor, hundreds of extremely important figures, ruled hundreds of millions of subjects from generation to generation. Taking their names as the code name of the imperial dynasty is itself an important topic of social factors in literary research. Their literary works have also become a unique landscape and need to be taken seriously. It can be said that if we don't understand China's imperial literature, we can't grasp China's literature, explore China's inner world, and construct a new China literature and China's spiritual world. The author thinks that China emperor literature is a kind of abnormal male literature, and its appearance is a unique phenomenon in China society.
Imperial literature reflects a unique spiritual phenomenon of human individual and group life. Psychologically, the imperial literature beyond the group shows the arrogant attitude of the emperor as an individual to the group, and also reflects the consciousness that China people's psychological instinct is extremely inflated and highly unified with feudal rationality. China's ancient political psychology was characterized by antinomy. On the one hand, it is conventional rationality, that is, Confucian enlightenment-for emperors, it is just a tool to rule others; On the other hand, it is the unlimited exertion of the power of the leaders of the political center and the extreme venting of instinct. On the other hand, the subject can only have a feminine attitude and can only produce spiritual satisfaction of "empathy" or "Ah Q" in self-abuse. Emperors gain unparalleled pleasure in life by looking down on all beings. Liu Bang's poem "The wind blows and clouds fly, and Jia Wei returns to the sea", Song Taizu's poem "Under the Sea of Qian Shan, Until the Midheaven", and Cao Cao's "Journey to the Sun and Moon, If Out", and so on, all vividly illustrate this point. Emperors all want to unify the whole country, that is, the so-called "one family in the world", and they all look forward to the "eternal series." As the saying goes, "Is it a king or a minister who wants to lead the land?" Everything they know on the earth will be ruled and slaughtered by the emperor. In human history, they can actually do this for hundreds of years. Shouldn't such a rare psychological phenomenon reflected in ancient literature be carefully analyzed? It should be noted that the group mentality influenced by this kind of psychology is determined by the unique historical conditions in China, and it is still deeply rooted in the consciousness of China people today.
China's imperial literature has a recognized theoretical basis, that is, Confucius and Mencius. If we look for something at the theoretical level of China's imperial literature, we can only say that Confucius and Mencius are its concentrated development form. Wang Zhidao, the most authentic legalist in the emperor's mind, is generally not understood in the emperor's oral and written opinions. Although the way of Confucius and Mencius is actually only a way to educate emperors and assist Wang Zhidao, it is indeed a condescending feudal concept system, such as "the sage inside is the king outside". Feudal emperors were happy to claim that they followed Confucian dogma. In fact, the real emperor Wang Zhidao is "Taoism, Confucianism and Legalism at the same time" and "the overlord of Taoism". In the theoretical depths of Taoism, Confucianism and Legalism, there is a monarchical mentality endowed by God. Dominating, restricting and teaching the people all belong to the ideology of the ruling class.
The specific economic, political, geographical and other conditions in China feudal society produced imperial literature. The mode of production in feudal society was self-sufficient small-scale peasant natural economy, but therefore a centralized autocratic emperor was needed to ensure reunification and eliminate war. Thus, emperors came into being, and their ambition was to unify the world and pass it on from generation to generation. Their literature mainly expresses this ambition. Under the emperor's rule, everyone was ruled and slaughtered, including writers. These writers can only express their obedience and loyalty in their works, or they can only express their voices under this psychological premise. Especially male writers. On the other hand, because there is no possibility of political development, individual female writers pay attention to the desire and affection of life, and write more on the theme of real affection in daily life.
In any case, it should be admitted that the ancient imperial literature in China has sufficient reasons to be valued as a unique literary group.
Third, the characteristics of imperial literature.
The ancient imperial literature in China is obviously different from other ancient literature in China. Of course, some features are similar to general literature, such as politics, but even politics is more prominent in imperial literature.