No one can define your success or failure except yourself. 1523, the second year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. In autumn, a Suzhou man lived a hasty life and passed away at the age of only 54. He was a loser of that era, with no success in fame, family or career. Although there have been great joys and great sorrows, the sorrow is always greater than the joy. Before his death, he wrote a poem, which vividly expressed the magnanimity and fearlessness of a prodigal son: If you are born in the world and have an end, why not return to the underworld after death? The underworld and the human world are similar, just like wandering in a foreign land. The so-called life is clearly seen by this dying person. The worldly success theory can no longer restrain his deviant and self-willed life trajectory. When his contemporaries despised him, laughed at him, and called him a loser, he no longer had the anger of the past or the need to defend himself, and just smiled like an elder. Within half a century after his death, the late Ming Dynasty - an era of great liberation of human nature - came. Many intellectuals regarded him as a pioneer and teacher, held high his banner and carried forward his spirit. He was resurrected in the madman Li Zhi, in the spiritual master Yuan Hongdao, in Feng Menglong's novels... He was resurrected in Stephen Chow's movies, and in Christie's autumn auctions... Over the years, he has been "resurrected" again and again, Those who laughed at him and scolded him have long since returned to dust. A loser has become the most successful person in life, while those who define him as a failure have failed miserably. History has played tricks on everyone. Only he, Tang Bohu, laughed wildly in response. ▲Portrait of Tang Bohu 1 Five hundred years ago, Tang Bohu lived in Suzhou, "the most elegant and wealthy place in the world of mortals", spreading out the prosperous scenery with his brush and poetry. and fantasy life. The whole of Suzhou is in a feverish atmosphere every day, and people are very happy, spending money to buy happiness. The poor have fun, and the rich have fun. To use Tang Bohu's poem to describe it: Jiangnan people are all alike. Fairy, the flowers last all year. People get up early to go to the morning market, and go on boat trips to the mountains. When the poor are in season, they sell wine, and when they are rich, they don’t care about money. On the stone tablet in front of the official department, the word "Suzhou" refers to the period of adolescence. , was probably the happiest time in Tang Bohu's life. He was born in the sixth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1470), and his real name was Tang Yin. His great-grandfather's generation was in business in the Changmen area of ??Suzhou. When it was passed to Tang Bohu's father, they were already living a middle-class life. Although his father, Tang Guangde, was still a businessman, he did not intend for his son to follow the path of his father's ancestors. He hired a teacher for his son to start his life. Another possibility. Tang Bohu lived up to his father's expectations and quickly stood out. He was extremely intelligent and talented. He took the scholar examination at the age of 16 and ranked first in high school. He was well-known in Suzhou cultural circles. At this time, he made some of the most important friends in his life. Zhu Zhishan, a new generation leader in Suzhou literary circles who was 11 years older than him, took the initiative to make friends with him. Tang Bohu was so arrogant and invincible that he ignored Zhu at first. , Zhu didn't mind, and wrote letters to express his goodwill many times, and eventually became close friends who influenced his life. There were also Wen Zhengming and Zhang Ling, the most dazzling rising stars of that era. Through the guidance of similar spirits, they consciously joined together and walked together. At the age of 19, Tang Bohu married Xu. The couple had a harmonious relationship and soon gave birth to a son. At this time, Tang Bohu was like a new car, and his life was going smoothly, including imperial examinations, family, friendship, and talent. In his hands, he can win no matter what he fights. Tang Bohu, who is in his 20s, already has the status that Jack Ma in his 50s has: talented (financial) and willful, with unlimited glory, wild and wild, playing whatever he wants, and there is no limit in life. He is always happy when he is not successful. He crosses over into singing and acting, and he once pretends to be a beggar with Zhang Ling and Zhu Zhishan, and sings "Lotus Falls" in the rain. He uses this to buy wine when he is rewarded. For joy, he said, it is a pity that the poet Li Bai cannot experience this kind of happiness. ▲Portrait of Tang Bohu 2 Destiny seems to have its own law of conservation: if life is too smooth, it will go to heaven? Therefore, there will be setbacks and suffering. The color of Tang Bohu's life basically spilled out around the age of 24. Since then, although he could paint the most gorgeous landscapes and the most beautiful ladies, the background of his life has become lighter and lighter. Around the sixth year of Hongzhi (1493), Tang Bohu suffered the first serious blow in his life. He didn't even have time to react before God took away his family group. First, his father fell ill and died, then his mother, wife, and son died one after another. This is not the end. Tang Bohu, who was shouldering the burden of the family for the first time, had no money to buy his sister's dowry after attending family funerals one after another. In the spring of the following year, he was filled with guilt and hastily married off his sister. Unexpectedly, he soon heard the tragic news that his sister had committed suicide at her husband's house. In a short period of time, only the Tang Bohu brothers remained in a happy family of seven. Looking back on the days of wanton indulgence, it feels like a lifetime ago. At the age of 26, Tang Bohu had gray hair. It is difficult for fate to defeat a person who has gone through many vicissitudes of life; but it is too easy to defeat a person who is going smoothly. If it weren't for the persuasion of big brother Zhu Zhishan, Tang Bohu might have sunk to the end. The Tang Bohu we are familiar with will have a different appearance: maybe he is a loser, maybe he disappears from everyone. At this time, Tang Bohu's debauchery, a kind of helplessness to drink away his sorrows and make them worse, and a kind of determination to kill himself, even Zhu Zhishan, the leader in the romantic world, could not bear to look at him.
Zhu Zhishan advised him that your father's greatest wish during his lifetime was to see you obtain fame. One word awakens the dreamer. Tang Bohu cheered up and studied hard. He was ready to live one more time for his father. In his poem "Night Reading", he said: When night comes, I sit on my pillow and think carefully, lying alone with the broken lamp leaking out for a long time. I think that my hair on my temples will turn gray with time, and I don’t know when my belt will turn yellow. People say that you will jump three times after death, but I want to do one while alive. When the name is unknown, the heart is immortal, and I turn on the light to read the article. Such a Tang Bohu who diligently prepares for the exam late at night is the Tang Bohu we are unfamiliar with. But he is also the real Tang Bohu. ▲The image of Tang Bohu performed by Stephen Chow is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. 3 Fighting fate with talent, Tang Bohu wins the game. In the autumn of the eleventh year of Hongzhi (1498), he took part in the Yingtianfu Township Examination. After three tests, he came out on top and became the famous "Tang Jieyuan". Tang Bohu made a comeback and his reputation quickly reached its peak. The examiner who presided over the Yingtianfu Township Examination Prince Xi Ma Liang Chu admired his literary talents very much. After returning to Beijing, he praised him. A lot of famous and unknown people lined up to make friends with him, some of them had similar temperaments, and some wanted to follow his reputation. At this time, he married a woman. This woman also dreamed that he would win the first prize in the exam and live a prosperous life in the near future. When things went smoothly, Tang Bohu's wild nature came back to Beijing. On the way, a rich man named Xu Jing from Jiangyin became Tang Bohu's super fan. The rich man took care of food, drink and entertainment, and the two became inseparable friends. After arriving in Beijing, Xu Jing not only arranged for Tang Bohu. During the fan meeting, they also visited wealthy mansions with generous gifts. It is said that they visited Cheng Minzheng, the right minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, and Li Dongyang, the Grand Scholar of the Ministry of Rites. After the examination, the official impeached Cheng Minzheng before the results were released. The matter of secretly leaking test questions to Xu Jing and Tang Bohu eventually became groundless accusations due to lack of strong evidence, but the fate of several people involved had been rewritten: Cheng Minzheng, a complacent politician, suddenly ruined his political future and life. He died in anger. Xu Jing never got out of the shadow of the cheating case for the rest of his life. He died at the age of 35 and was on the way to redress the case. After a big change in his family, Tang Bohu encountered the second fate. The combination of attacks produced a strong sense of disillusionment in the unpredictable world and the sudden honor and disgrace. "" I saw myself smiling in the mirror, a puppet in the game for half my life. "He was so self-deprecating in the poem, laughing at himself for not being able to see through it. Life is like waves on the sea, sometimes rising and sometimes falling. This fateful turn directly closed Tang Bohu's door to worldly success. It's hard to imagine that a man with a high heart How did the arrogant Tang Bohu find the courage to return to Suzhou? His reputation was severely damaged. Those who had previously praised him and admired him began to criticize him and fawned over him. He bought a lottery ticket with an extremely high winning rate, but now that the lottery ticket has expired, it is a piece of paper. The first person to abandon him was his remarried wife, who took away all his belongings. He was giving it to his best friend Wen Zhengming. The letter said that even the dog at home would bite him and not let him in. When you are successful in life, the whole world will follow you; when you are frustrated in life, even the dog will be against you. Fate is so naked and so realistic. : Wang Shu Palace Prostitute Picture Scroll 4 Never crying late at night is not enough to describe life. To others, this sentence is like a bowl of chicken soup, but to Tang Bohu, it is like a glass of water. It is said that one stands up at thirty, but Tang Bohu almost collapsed at thirty. . He has already "dead" once, why not "die" again? After settling his brother, he decided to go on a journey of thousands of miles. When a person returns to the mountains and rivers, there is no life, no death, no thoughts. Desire. Of course, to put it bluntly, this is Tang Bohu's self-exile, escaping from his hometown, escaping cold eyes and ridicule. He first took a boat to Zhenjiang, climbed to Jinshan Temple, looked at Jinling looming in the sky, and thought of Tang Jieyuan. The spring breeze was too good to look back on. He crossed the river to Yangzhou and visited Slender West Lake. Then he went up the river, crossed Wuhu, visited the Red Cliff ruins, and then went south to visit Yueyang Tower, Dongting Lake, and then up to Hengshan Mountain. He went east to Fujian, visited Wuyi Mountain and Jiuli Lake, and returned from Zhejiang to visit Yandang Mountain, Putuo Mountain, and West Lake, then went up the Fuchun River to Anhui, and climbed Mount Huangshan and Jiuhua Mountain. A year later, he returned to his hometown. I have seen many beautiful scenery, seen many beauties, buried memories, and lost myself in every brief moment on the map. It seems that Tang Bohu has passed the lowest moment in his life. My favorite can be briefly reviewed here. Let’s take a look at the historical impact of the imperial examination cheating case. The meaning of suffering and calamity is different for everyone. After the imperial examination case, Tang Bohu completely returned to outside the system, and his life was greatly liberated: his path to fame in the imperial examination was cut off. He got rid of the expectations of his ancestors and the responsibilities of the family; he divorced, separated his property, and cut off the fetters of personnel. From then on, he "" stayed away from home and did not care about the family"; because he could not take the lead and gain the stage, he took the initiative to remove himself from the "" With the traditional responsibility of "writing to convey the truth", he can pursue personal artistic uniqueness; the imperial examination case, as a bad record marked on him, also eliminated his inner moral taboos. The reason why Tang Bohu is Tang Bohu is because he can A negative event, with his extraordinary insight, imagination and courage, he worked hard to create a new world. When everyone called him failure, he ushered in the greatest success hidden under his superficial decadence. The careful design of life, and this kind of life demonstration significance is destined to be a model for hundreds of years, and will be carried forward by Li Zhi, Yuan Hongdao and others.
People who read history always like to make selfish assumptions. In the case of Tang Bohu, Favorite Jun would also ""happily" assume that if there had not been the imperial examination case in 1499, the Tang family might have had a high-ranking official, and the world would have lost a Tang Bohu. ▲Tang Bohu's work "Feng Tian" "Traveling Calf" (detail), with Tang Bohu himself on the back of an ox. No matter how big the world is, it can't be bigger than Taohuawu. After returning from his trip, Tang Bohu retreated to his heart and lived a casual life - thanks to the Ming Dynasty. The emergence of capitalism in the middle period gave people who were not engaged in production or fame a way out. The cities were prosperous, capital was surging, and culture was splendid. They could make a living by writing novels, writing essays, and writing imperial examinations. Those who write guides, those who write wedding couplets, and those who paint, all make a living. Some people write and draw, and they have become popular celebrities. Tang Bohu has become famous, and the market for his paintings was active. , which in turn also shapes people's thoughts. Some scholars use the concept of "citizenship" to interpret Tang Bohu's thoughts. It is very interesting to say that Tang Bohu's focus on individuals is an emerging value system that focuses on Individuals, not collective countries. Living on the eve of the great liberation of human nature, Tang Bohu benefited from it and led the development of this trend. When the loser in the eyes of the world lives for himself, others can no longer control him. Life. You think it's a pity that he was originally a young man with a good reputation and has become a social abnormality and a superfluous person. But he doesn't think so. He doesn't care about what you think he has lost. He fell in love with Taohuawu in the north of Suzhou City, where he planted peach trees. He saved money from selling paintings and borrowed some money from friends. He built Taohua Temple, Mengmo Pavilion, Butterfly Studio and Xue there one after another. He also planted plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums around the thatched cottage. He called himself the Master of Taohua Temple, and often invited Zhu Zhishan, Wen Zhengming, Shen Zhou and other friends to drink and write poems in Taohua Temple. Laughing and shouting wildly - Peach Blossom Fairy in Peach Blossom Temple. The Peach Blossom Fairy grows peach trees and picks peach blossoms to sell for money. When he is sober, he only sits in front of the flowers. When he is drunk, he sleeps under the flowers. Day after day, flowers fall and bloom year after year. I hope that I will die in the midst of flowers and wine, and I don’t want to bow in front of the chariot and horse. The chariot and horse are full of joy, and the wine cup and branch are poor. God, if we compare poverty with chariots and horses, he will have no time to drive me. Others will laugh at me for being crazy, but I will laugh at others for not being able to see through it. There are no flowers, no wine, and the life of the Wei and Jin Dynasties is so unrestrained. It was only possible to take shape with the confidence of the gentry; and Tang Bohu, a down-and-out scholar, single-handedly wrote the first story of the Ming Dynasty. I am afraid that no one can match him in his life, but he did not have the fictional Qiuxiang in the novel and movie to accompany him. The third wife he married, Shen, was a virtuous and caring person who stayed with him throughout his life. His life once again followed the path he designed. ▲Tang Bohu's Works: Shi Ming Picture Volume 6 If fate no longer plays tricks on him. , it is a devastating blow to anyone. However, Tang Bohu survived, so Favorite Jun can calmly narrate: In the third year of Zhengde (1508), the eldest son adopted by his younger brother Tang Shen died unfortunately. Only 12 years old. Tang Bohu's hope of continuing the family line was completely wiped out. A year later, Shen Zhou, Tang Bohu's teacher and friend, passed away. Two years later, my friend Xu Zhenqing passed away at the age of 33. Sadness and pain are certain. But at this time, Tang Bohu was no longer steamed, boiled, beaten, or stir-fried. He was as loud as a copper pea. In the ninth year of Zhengde (1514), Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning in Jiangxi Province, called for literati from all over the world. Tang Bohu answered the call by accident. In Prince Ning's Mansion in Nanchang, he wrote poems and painted every day and was treated well. Within half a year, King Ning showed his tendency to rebel from time to time, and he realized that he had entered a den of thieves. He wanted to leave, but couldn't. So he pretended to be crazy, indulged in drinking every day, and did some illegal things. The official history record is called "pretending to be crazy and drinking, showing his ugliness." This sacrifice was quite big, and the lower body was exposed. But he started. There was no pressure for these crimes. Even King Ning couldn't bear it and finally sent him away. Five years later, King Ning rebelled and was quickly captured by Wang Yangming, the governor of Ting and Ganxi. Although he was implicated, he also had unspeakable pain in his heart. For the rest of his life, he devoted himself to poetry, wine, calligraphy and painting, expressing his depressed feelings in literature and art. The world said that Tang Bohu's romantic nature was actually influenced by him. The appearance was confusing. He indeed once claimed to be "the most talented man in the south of the Yangtze River". However, I am afraid that only he knew the bitterness and pain behind this title. He was slumped and said, "Posterity will know that I am not here." I hope that people in the future will understand me, but do we really understand him? It's quite sad to think about it. He was a bit outdated in his later years, and he could no longer sell his calligraphy and paintings. He lived in poverty, but he still persisted in creating and firmly believed that " "Wanli Jiangshan writes life". He is still well versed in the art of ridicule, and uses the richness of his heart to resist the poverty of the outside world. His poems become more and more spicy as he gets older. He does not learn from the ancients, but only speaks according to people in the world, and does not guess what others are thinking. He only speaks what he wants in his heart. He has entered the level of philosophical speculation, and is gradually getting rid of the flashy world. He once wrote: I asked you who you are, and I didn't recognize you. You, you want to recognize me. Oh! I don’t need you, but you don’t need me. After a hundred years of you and me, the only thing he pursues is sincerity and straightforwardness.
When he was 50 years old, he wrote a poem about himself: Laughing, dancing and singing wildly for fifty years, having fun among flowers and sleeping in the moon. The name spreads all over the country, but no one cares about the lack of wine money in the waist. I am ashamed to call myself the author of poems and poems, and many people call me a god. These must be done diligently, without losing an inch of the sky in your heart. He has never been a hip-hop comedic figure. Through his wild body, perhaps we can reach his complex soul that is bumpy, tortuous, depressed, and spontaneous. Fate played tricks on him again and again, but he used it as a tool for self-refinement. This social outlier, loser, and prodigal eventually became a cultural symbol of the Ming Dynasty and even Chinese history. In terms of poetry, he is known as the "Four Talents of Wuzhong" together with Wen Zhengming, Zhu Zhishan and Xu Zhenqing; in terms of painting, he is known as the "Four Talents of the Ming Dynasty" together with Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and Qiu Ying; in terms of personality pursuit and life choices , his influence transcends time and continues to this day.
Salute, Tang Bohu!