"The peacock flies southeast and wanders five miles away." I believe students who have studied ancient poetry know that this is one of the pinnacles of Yuefu poetry and the first full-length narrative in the history of Chinese literature. poetry. It stood out among many literary works and was selected into Chinese textbooks for junior high schools and high schools.
The pinnacle work in the history of literature
This long narrative essay "The Peacock Flies Southeast" can be said to be an excellent work in the Yuefu Poetry Collection, and has been made into movies many times. , the TV series "Mulan Poetry" are equally famous, and the two articles are collectively known as "Yuefu Double Wall". They influence generations of Chinese people and are the crystallization of Chinese traditional culture.
The story of "The Peacock Flies Southeast" took place during the reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The love between the protagonists Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi finally ended in the tragedy of both of them dying for love. It can be said to be a classic. A tragic love story bound by feudal ethics. However, it has been removed from the newly compiled Chinese language textbooks for middle schools. What is the reason for this?
When talking about the Eastern Han Dynasty, we have to talk about the cultural and educational policies adopted by Emperor Wu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In order to restore the development of the country and make the country stronger, Emperor Wu of the Eastern Han Dynasty recruited wise men from society and sought strategies for governing the country. However, because the culture at that time was influenced by Huang-Lao's studies in the early Han Dynasty, it emphasized inaction-based governance. Let nature take its course, which is obviously inconsistent with the active political system of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
However, when Taoism was flourishing in society, the positive political system of Confucianism was deeply loved by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so the suggestions for governing the country put forward in Dong Zhongshu's "Strategies for the Virtuous" were adopted by the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu adopted them one by one, which laid the foundation for Confucianism to dominate the ideological circles of our country for thousands of years.
Feudal ethics killed people
Among them, Dong Zhongshu's idea of ??"deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was even implemented by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. As we all know, my country's Confucianism places great emphasis on the "Three Cardinal Guidelines and Five Constant Virtues". The so-called "Three Cardinal Guidelines" refer to: the king is the guideline for the ministers, the father is the guideline for the son, and the husband is the guideline for the wife.
The idea of ??order between superiority and inferiority and no arrogance began to take root in people's hearts, and everything must be done based on the Confucian ethical principles. In terms of the marriage system for children, it also stipulates such requirements as "parents order the matchmaker" and "all parents in the world are good".
The so-called "parents order the matchmaker's words" requires that if you want to get married, the children's marriage must be decided by the parents. The parents will assign marriages for their children. After the two families reach mutual understanding, The man's family must find a matchmaker and pay a betrothal gift. Only in this way can they become husband and wife. As for the newlyweds, they do not have to meet before the marriage. They cannot refute or make their own decisions. They have no autonomy in their marriage at all.
In addition, "all parents in the world" means that nothing parents do is wrong. Even if the result is not good, it can only be because the child did something wrong. Everyone in the world needs to follow this rule. Do not dare to resist at all when your parents order you to do things. If you resist even a little bit, you will become an unfaithful and unfilial person.
The tragic love story of Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi is in this social background. At that time, Liu Lanzhi was also a beautiful lady who was married by Jiao Zhongqing’s family. It can be seen that Liu Lanzhi received a good family education. However, after marrying into Jiao Zhongqing's family, she had no children for "two or three years" and was deeply affected by it. At that time, under the influence of "There are three types of unfilial piety, the most serious one is not having an offspring", even after Liu Lanzhi married into his family, she was criticized by her mother-in-law in every possible way, so she made the following decision: "The wife of the Jun family is in trouble, the concubine cannot be driven, and there is nothing left for her." Shi” decision.
But after returning home, she was influenced by the idea of ??"water thrown out by a married daughter". Liu Lanzhi was not treated favorably after returning home. Her natal brother was unreasonable, which directly led to Tragedy for two people.
At the end of the text, it is written that both families regretted it very much, so the two families became good friends. Classic works like this, which embody people's yearning for freedom and resistance to feudal secularism, should be praised by people. So why was such a classic "The Peacock Flies Southeast" ruthlessly deleted from Chinese textbooks?
The real reason for deletion
Some people speculate that it is because "The Peacock Flies Southeast" describes a tragic story of love, which will have an adverse impact on students, but this theory is This is not true, as Su Shi wrote in memory of his deceased wife, "Ten years of life and death are blurred, without thinking about it, and I will never forget it." "Yes, now the pavilion is like a canopy" is also a description of a love tragedy, but it is still preserved. Therefore, the theory that it was deleted because it described a tragic love story is not true.
In fact, the main reason why "The Peacock Flies Southeast" was deleted was because the feudal atmosphere in the poem was too strong, such as "the words of the parents and the matchmaker" and a series of feudal thoughts , will have an important impact on the thinking of today's middle school students.
And some people think that what Jiao Zhongqing did today is not actually responsible, but more like a "mama's boy". When faced with his mother's dislike of his wife in every possible way, he could only let his wife go home first. Go, in fact, when he knew what his wife would face when she returned home this time, he still had no choice but to obey his mother's decision. When he tried to persuade his mother to no avail, and learned that Liu Lanzhi was about to remarry, all he could think of was The method of both going to death can be said to be very lackadaisical. You don't want to deal with problems, but just want to escape.
In addition, junior high school students are in the rebellious stage of adolescence. They originally have many conflicts with their parents, but in fact, they can actively find ways to solve them. However, in the article "Peacock Flies Southeast" , there will be a wrong view that when parents do not understand and encounter irreconcilable conflicts, they will seek short-sightedness if they cannot resist.
According to the suicide cases of teenagers in recent years, we have found that many teenagers today will choose to commit suicide without hesitation when they encounter a little problem. It seems that they have not realized the preciousness of life. , and the problem that you only live once, show that life education in our country is still very lacking.
Although "The Peacock Flies Southeast" is a successful work that praises young people who are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to resist feudal ethics, but when his audience is underage middle school students whose minds have not yet fully matured, Sometimes, it is easy for teenagers to have the wrong understanding, thinking that listening to their parents is wrong and only resisting is right. This undoubtedly adds fuel to the flames for those teenagers who are in the rebellious period of youth.
A classic work that has been around for thousands of years, "The Peacock Flies Southeast", was forced to be deleted because of the alleged "confrontation between feudal ethics". It is a pity, but as long as more guidance is given, this article can still have a lot of potential. Readable.