As a feudal society in ancient times, China had feudal ideas and feudal views on love. There were really too few people like Qin Guan. Most people's wives are married to them at the behest of their parents, and generally they are not the ones they like. Because women in ancient China had the constraints of women's morality, they would not let society develop in a mess. Since one's own love is not determined by oneself, and one cannot live with the person he loves, then some people will resist this feudal ethics. However, the circle of feudal ethics tied the young men and women in ancient China so tightly that they could not break free. People often do the opposite. There is a story like "Peacock Flying Southeast" in the Han Dynasty. Although the author is unknown, this longest poem in ancient and modern China has left us too much.
(The original text is too long, so I will not type it here)
This poem is about Liu Lanzhi, the wife of Jiao Zhongqing, a minor official under the Lujiang Prefecture, who was killed by Jiao Zhongqing during the Jian'an period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Divorced by his mother, he vowed never to remarry, but was forced by his family to eventually commit suicide by diving into the water. Jiao Zhongqing also followed the story of hanging himself. The origin of this poem is written in the "Preface": "At that time, people hurt it, and it became a poem." It can be seen that it is a folk song, which belongs to the same type as most poems in the Book of Songs. Of course, this poem The story told is also one of the "Top Ten Love Stories in China".
Let’s take a look at the main characters first:
Jiao Zhongqing: A good man who sticks to love. He is in his early twenties and has a small family that he thinks is happy (later split ), the male protagonist.
Liu Lanzhi: Strong, prudent, self-respecting, neither humble nor arrogant, educated, hard-working and capable, versatile, soft on the outside but strong on the inside, has her own ideas, not succumbed to coercion, not moved by glory, and treats Zhongqing Be gentle and considerate, affectionate and dedicated, decisive and loyal, sacrifice for love, pursue the freedom of love and marriage, maintain your personal dignity, and have a certain spirit of resistance. The heroine is in her early twenties and has a tragic fate. She learned many skills when she was young and did not have the happy time of childhood.
Mother Jiao: She is a representative of the old feudal ethics. She is extremely arrogant and arbitrary. She is a feudal parent who destroys love and is the most villainous among villains
Brother Liu Lanzhi (Brother Liu): Domineering, accommodating, bitter, ruthless, and ugly. Together with Jiao's mother, he became the defender of feudal ethics and a representative figure of feudal patriarchy. He was also a typical philistine image and the second villain.
Probably so many people have dedicated this very educational story to us. On the surface, the deaths of Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi were the result of persecution by the fierce mother Jiao and the powerful brother Liu. In fact, these two villains are also victims of feudal ethics. It's just that feudal ethics used these two people to kill two people who opposed it. Because the deaths of Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi were unexpected by Jiao's mother and brother Liu, their remorse can be seen from "the two families asked for a joint burial".
This death was inevitable at the time. There are only two possibilities: surrender and death. It was difficult for them to have a third option because at the time, they couldn't think of it. These are all traps carefully created by the mastermind behind the feudal ethics. The theme of this poem is not difficult to understand.
In the words of the poem, both of their hearts have reached the point where "the king is like a rock, and the concubine is like pampas grass." Sometimes it really doesn’t matter the geographical proximity, but the tenacity of the heart. In the face of wealth, Liu Lanzhi can choose to abandon her loyal love and live in a wealthy love, which is what many women dream of. Here, Jiao Zhongqing still has to cook, wash clothes, weave cloth, and twist hemp rope. How hard it is. When you go to a wealthy family, you not only don’t have to do housework, but you also enjoy endless glory and wealth. Many people are losers in front of money. The victory over money is not how much money you have, but whether you can see through money. Liu Lanzhi sees through all this. She believes that what she wants is true love, not a hypocritical love that uses money to bring people closer. Love should be natural, and should fly away like a peacock, carefree.
In front of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, Mother Jiao and Brother Liu seemed too greedy and bad. They are not only slaves of feudal ethics, but also careerists (very small). They want to take advantage of Liu Lanzhi. As the saying goes, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven and so on. After analysis and thinking, I realized how indifferent the human heart is. Even if you take advantage of your family, what about others? I'm afraid there are only XXXX! Among the many filthy and dark marriages, the marriage between Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi is undoubtedly the purest and noblest. Those who destroy happy lives and destroy family harmony should think about the difference between you and Mother Jiao and Brother Liu, and whether you should do that.
In that era, those darkness and those unreasonable ethics can better show the persistence of love between these loyal lovers. They originally had a happy home, but they were torn apart by their own family members, so that one of them threw himself into the river and the other hung himself from a southeastern branch. Every reader will be moved by this.
The reason why this story penetrates into the reader's heart is because its story is touching and its teachings are profound, and because their story seems to be happening around us.
I will end with the last sentence of the poem here: "Thank you to future generations, and be careful not to forget!"