Jiang Kui, a literati of the Southern Song Dynasty, was a true all-rounder, and his multiple identities included lyricist, poet, writer, essayist, and calligrapher. He has been familiar with Du Mu's poems about Yangzhou since he was a child, and he is full of yearning for this city.
On the winter solstice of the year when he was 22 years old, he finally set foot on the road to Yangzhou, but the reality was not as good as he imagined.
Outside the city of Yangzhou is a piece of grass and wheat, after entering the city, all around are depression and cold water, twilight gradually rises, and the horns are mournful.
Jiang Kui felt an indescribable pathos in his heart, and he wrote a few words as an elegy for this dream city. Over the past 100 years, this phrase has become his most recognizable masterpiece, and many people can recite the sentences in it.
I always thought that the author of this phrase was an old man muttering to himself about the decaying old city, but I later learned that he was writing it at the age of a university graduate.
Youth is invincible and full of vitality, but in Jiang Kui's place, it has become a withering family and country, and the years are empty. And this word is the lament of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is also Jiang Kui's personal prophecy.
Writing "Yangzhou Slow" is also patriotic, and history will never be gentle to passers-by of any era. If it weren't for the more than 80 words and more than 180 poems handed down, Jiang Kui would have lived a life of sadness or joy without anyone knowing, like countless men, women and children of different eras.
Leave no trace and disappear into the vast river of history. But we still know Jiang Kui today, and the atmosphere of the times in which he lives, not because he has any merits or what officials he has done.
On the contrary, he had nothing, no fame, no money, no legendary deeds, not even a fixed home. Jiang Kui left his hometown with his father in his childhood - Poyang, Raozhou.
When he was about 14 years old, his father died of an unfortunate illness while serving as an official in Hanyang, and he could only rely on his married sister's family to live. As an adult, he began to roam the Wuyue area, seeking a way out of life.
Yangzhou Slow" was written by him through Yangzhou during this period. He used Du Mu's poems about Yangzhou in at least four or five places in his lyrics, but those prosperous historical records were dismantled by him into sad foreshadowing.
The pen "Huaizuo Famous Capital, Zhuxi Good Place", using Du Mu's "Who knows Zhuxi Road, singing is Yangzhou", eight words wrote how prosperous Yangzhou was.
Then the pen turned, and it was another place to use Du Mu's famous sentence "Spring breeze ten miles of Yangzhou Road, it is better to roll up the bead curtain", and at this time, the Yangzhou in front of Jiang Kui is completely different: "After the spring breeze for ten miles, the wheat is green."
Since Huma peeped into the river, the waste pond arbors, still tired of talking soldiers. "History and reality are finally intertwined and alienated here. Even the ruthless things such as the grass and trees in the pond are still tired of talking about military affairs, let alone people?
According to history, the Jin soldiers invaded the south several times in the third year of Song Gaozong's Jianyan (1129) and the thirty-first year of Shaoxing (1161). In particular, the invasion of the Jin soldiers in 1161 had a particularly great impact.
At that time, the courtiers of the Southern Song Dynasty were terrified and rushed to flee with their families, and the Jianghuai region, which was the front line, was devastated. Yangzhou, Chuzhou (Huai'an), Zhenjiang, and Jiankang (Nanjing) were repeatedly looted, and the people suffered heavy casualties.
The history books say, "Yangzhou is empty". Jiang Kui is so sad because of the huge contrast between history and reality. And behind the rise and fall of a city, what we clearly hear is the sobbing of an era.
Qing Chen Tingzhuo said in "Baiyuzhai Words": "I am still tired of talking soldiers", including infinite hurt and gibberish, and others have thousands of words, but there is no such charm.
Yangzhou snow scene, when Jiang Kui came to Yangzhou after the snow, some people said that Jiang Kui was not patriotic, in the context of the Southern Song Dynasty, he was still writing cold words, which did not help in national affairs.
I can't help but ask, do the people who say this really understand the deep meaning of "Yangzhou Slow"? In fact, patriotism is not only a form of expression of boiling blood and heroic killing of the enemy.
Like Xin Qiji, when you are old and strong, you stand up to the front line and go into battle to kill the enemy, which is patriotic; Like Lu You, wielding a pen like a knife, reprimanding the surrendering faction and scolding the enemy, this is patriotic; Like Jiang Kui, it is also patriotic to record the decline and fall of a city with a pen and denounce the trampling on civilization and life of war.
Everyone's personality and circumstances are different, some people's hearts are like a raging fire, a pen is "eight hundred miles under the command, fifty strings turn over the outside sound, the battlefield autumn soldiers" (Xin Qi said); And some people are introverted by nature and have a cold body, but what they write is "gradually dusk, clear corners blowing cold, all in the empty city" (Jiang Kui).
Either way, however, behind their poems is a deep love for their homeland.
In fact, Xin Qiji and Jiang Kui are confidants who appreciate each other, and Xin Qiji did not identify the other party as his opponent because Jiang Kui's poems did not have the form of angry King Kong.
Why do people today use the patriotic form of Xin Qijian to measure other literati in the Southern Song Dynasty? Perhaps, tolerance is the premise of patriotism. The existence of different forms of patriotism cannot be tolerated, and in itself it is not worthy to talk about patriotic topics.
Jiang Kui did not live out of the times in his life, but the times first abandoned him, and then accommodated him.
In traditional China after the Sui and Tang dynasties, an ordinary scholar (even like Jiang Kui, whose father was a jinshi and a magistrate), basically had to take the road of the imperial examination to live a decent life.
The problem in the Song Dynasty was that the status of scholars and doctors was elevated very high, and the scholars were lured to break their heads and go to the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination.
As a result of too many monks and too little porridge, there will inevitably be a large number of unsuccessful scholars who are outside the normal social class: they are full of poetry and books, and they write chapters, but they have no fame and cannot enter the system; At the same time, they are no longer farmers, they will not and cannot go back to farming, and they are not merchants, and merchants are still in a discriminated class.
Their only way out is to make a living by selling their "knowledge". During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many outcasts of the imperial examination, wandering around the urban circle centered on the national capital Lin'an (Hangzhou).
They are neither official nor hidden, and have no income, so they take the form of writing poems and dedicating them to dignitaries to seek financial support. Historically, these people were known as quacks, or charlatans.
Jiang Kui is a wanderer. He is a talent who has been missed by the sieve of the imperial examination.
History has not left a record of his early years of taking the imperial examination, but judging from his behavior in his 40s and persistently relying on his ** talent to present great music and cymbal songs to the imperial court, he is eager to gain fame through the imperial examination, so as to get rid of the life of wandering food.
After Jiang Kui presented his Yale work for the second time, the Ministry of Rites gave him a chance to take the exam, but unfortunately he was not admitted. This is quite similar to Du Fu's experience in Chang'an.
At the age of 40, Du Fu offered three major gifts to Tang Xuanzong, and it is said that Tang Xuanzong was very satisfied after reading it, but he did not really reuse him, resulting in Du Fu living in Chang'an "Buckle the Rich Child's Gate, and follow the fat horse dust at dusk."
Broken cups and cold burns, everywhere lurks sorrow and hardship". Jiang Kui was slightly luckier than Du Fu. After all, the times are different, and those who were abandoned by the imperial examination in the Southern Song Dynasty appeared as a traveling class and were accepted by the times.
These people no longer regard poetry writing as a hobby and leisure, but as a profession and a job, somewhat similar to the professional opera artists and professional ** artists after the Yuan Dynasty.
If it is placed in modern and contemporary times, it is better understood, just like Lu Xun writing essays and Jin Yong writing martial arts, both of which are skills to make a living.
Although Jiang Kui failed the imperial examination, it was easy to find an "employer" who appreciated him with his talent. In 1187, at the age of 33, Jiang Kui met the famous poet Xiao Dezao.
Xiao Dezao was a jinshi of Jiang Kui's father in the same year, and was an official in Tanzhou (Changsha) in his early years, and later settled in Huzhou.
Xiao Dezao admired Jiang Kui very much, and lamented that he had been writing poetry for 40 years, and finally met someone who could talk about poetry together, so he brought him to Huzhou to live together, and married his niece to him.
Through Xiao Dezao's introduction, Jiang Kui met Yang Wanli. Through Yang Wanli's introduction, he met Fan Chengda again. His circle of friends is getting bigger and bigger, including Zhu Xi, Lu You, Xin Qiji and others, all of whom treat this posterior boy differently.
These people are all famous in the Southern Song Dynasty and literary circles, and they are generally twenty or thirty years older than Jiang Kui. After ten years of sojourn in Huzhou, Xiao Dezao left Huzhou with his son in old age, and Jiang Kui moved to Hangzhou in 1197, relying on his close friend Zhang Jian for a living.
And so it went for another ten years. After Zhang Jian's death, Jiang Kui was lonely, wandering around eating, and died of poverty and illness. In 1221, at the age of 67, Jiang Kui died in Hangzhou.
At the time of his death, his eldest son was only a teenager (three other children died young), but fortunately, his friend Wu Qian and others raised funds to take care of his funeral and bury him.
From a worldly point of view, a loser hastily spends his life. That's all.
Jiang Kui, the word Yaozhang, the name Baishi Dao, Han nationality, Raozhou Poyang (now Poyang County, Jiangxi Province), a famous writer in the Southern Song Dynasty, ** family. He had a rough life and a bleak life, but he had a noble personality and outstanding artistic achievements, and was known as "a giant in the world of words".
Jiang Kui's life is a portrayal of "wandering rivers and lakes". From the age of 10 to 50, he experienced major historical events such as the Song-Jin peace talks and the Longxing peace talks.
Although he was outside the system, he still implicitly criticized the absurdity of the government and the opposition in his poems, showing his noble personality. Jiang Kui's works are deeply loved by people, and his words are affectionate and bold, and he is known as "the bold lyricist".
In his words, there is a deep nostalgia for his homeland, a deep emotion for life, and a deep love for life. Jiang Kui's personality and works have been highly praised and recognized by people.
His words are known as "people are like their words", and his personality is known as "noble personality". Although he was poor all his life, he adhered to the bottom line of his personality and was not affected by wealth or gossip.
Jiang Kui's words and personality are impressive. His words are affectionate and bold, and his personality is noble and indifferent. His experience and ending are deeply admired and compassionate.
Jiang Kui, like Du Fu, is the purest person in different eras. Their personalities and works have left a deep mark on history. Although their lives are difficult, their artistic achievements and personality charm are deeply admired and missed.
Jiang Kui's calligraphy works, the choice and price of history. Behind any fame comes a price. Some people bear the accusation in exchange for the sigh of history; Some people have a bad career and win the praise of the people; Some people have the courage but not the courage to exchange for the incomplete territory; Some people are trapped all their lives, in exchange for the poetry of future generations.
Du Fu is well versed in the teasing of fate, as he said, "the article is hateful, and the charm is gratifying", "but looking at the fame of ancient times, it is entangled in the ups and downs all day long". After seeing through it, accept the task given by history.
Some people are born heroes and fight endlessly; Some people are born to be poets and never stop singing; Some are born martyrs and dedicate themselves unremittingly; Some people are born as inheritors and endure humiliation.
Du Fu recorded the tragedy of the times with his personal upheaval, and Xin Qiji wasted his heroic words and sentences with half his life, so what is Jiang Kui's task?
History requires him to leave the most real and touching love words and phrases that are different from the love words and phrases that scholars play with or covet the singer of the Qinglou, so he gave him a bitter love that did not come to fruition, and made him reminisce for most of his life: Yanyan is light, and Yingying is delicate.
It is clear to see Hua Xu again. The night is long and the love is thin, and the early spring is dyed by lovesickness. Say goodbye to the book, don't say goodbye to the needlework. Stay away from the soul and chase away from the dark. Huainan Haoyue is cold and thousands of mountains, and no one cares about it.
History needs his great grief to give birth to classic sentences such as "juvenile love is sad when old age" and "the world will not be sad for a long time", so it gave him a complete farewell to the Lantern Festival of pain and lovesickness.
History needs him to give those who have no hometown a proper emotion, so he prepared a pool of lotus leaves for him, waiting for him to write "the most knowledgeable taste of rivers and lakes in his life, and he can listen to the autumn sound and remember his hometown".
History needs him to summarize his life at the right time, so he arranged for him to hear a burst of drums in Shaoxing at the end of the year: the drums are stacked and the night is cold, the lights are shallow, and the current affairs are as promised.
Tired of traveling with little joy, looking up to the present and the ancient. Jiang Yan and hate. Remember the time、Send Jun Nanpu。 Thousands of miles away, a hundred years of life, only this is bitter. Yangzhou willow, weeping official road.
There is a light change of horses, upright peeps. The wine wakes up under the bright moon, and the dream goes to the sound of the tide. The article believes in the beauty of knowing what to do, comic winning, the end of the world. Teach and say, spring to find a flower partner.
The appearance of Jiang Kui, neither early nor late, happened to become a melting pot that gathered various styles of Song Ci. He not only inherited the true character of Liu Yongci, the elegance of Zhou Bangyan's words, but also learned the emptiness of Su Shi's words, the elegance of Xin Qi's words, and the achievements of his predecessors were cast into a new style of words by him.
Xia Chengtao, a generation of lyric masters, also said that Jiang Kui "established a clear and upright distinction between the graceful and bold factions, using the thin and hard pen of Jiangxi poetry to save the softness of Zhou Bangyan's faction, and saving the rough malpractices of the Su Xin faction with the Mianmiao Fengshen of the late Tang Dynasty."
Since Jiang Kui, the entire Southern Song Dynasty poetry circle is basically the "successor" of Jiang Kui's faction. Xue Liruo even made a conclusion in "General Theory of Song Words": Chinese lexicology from the middle and end of the Southern Song Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty can be said to be completely "Jiang Kui's period". February** Dynamic Incentive Program