The image of chivalry changed drastically in the Ming and Qing dynasties
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Since the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism has gradually evolved into the image of "chivalry", which is deeply rooted in people's hearts. "The righteous of chivalry", symbolizing that as a chivalrous man, we must always adhere to the principle of righteousness first.
In the late Tang Dynasty, wars were frequent, and the people had nowhere to vent, so the rangers were born, and people pinned their hopes on them, they punished the evil and promoted the good, and maintained justice. There was no gender discrimination in the Tang Dynasty, so the female chivalrous characters written by literati and ink writers also emerged in an endless stream, and the Red Whisk Girl was one of the representative figures.
The Tang Dynasty usually intertwined the lingering love stories and the stories of happiness and hatred, and was hailed as a masterpiece through the ages, but most of the versions that have been handed down to this day are the remnants of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The stories of the Tang Dynasty provided rich creative materials for the literati of the Ming and Qing dynasties, including the love stories of talented and beautiful women and the chivalrous stories of anti-violence and peace.
Let's start with Du Guangting's "The Legend of the Bearded Guest" at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and what are the similarities and differences between it and the more widely circulated Ming and Qing versions of "Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust". In the hearts of the people of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin enjoyed a supreme position.
The Legend of the Bearded Guest contains a romantic love story, a heroic and uninhibited bearing, and a manly spirit of chivalry, discerning heroes, and heroes cherishing heroes.
Even after the adaptation of various literary and artistic forms, the core idea of "The Legend of the Bearded Guest" - chivalrous courage will not change with the passage of time. In the depths of everyone's heart, there is a bearded guest, Li Jing and the red whisk girl, and these three protagonists have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Next, let's follow the author to briefly review the main content of this story and explore the ideas that the author wants to convey. The story describes Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty who came to Jiangdu, and Yang Su, as a commonplace, held great power, and lived an arrogant and lascivious life, making the people of Jiangdu miserable.
However, a scholar in cloth named Li Jing came to offer advice to Yang Su, but Yang Su did not accept it, and the conversation between the two broke up unhappily. The courtesan Zhang in Yang Su's mansion passed by with a red whisk in his hand and saw Li Jing's talent.
So, she found the post station where Li Jing stayed and changed her clothes at night to come to Li Jing to seek refuge. Li Jing and Zhang's hit it off at first sight, so they got married and ran to Taiyuan together.
The Red Whisk Girl was named because she held a red whisk when she first met Li Jing. One day, she and Li Jing stayed at the inn overnight, and the next morning, the red whisk girl was dressing up in front of the bronze mirror, and suddenly a person broke in, this person was extraordinary in appearance and extraordinary bearing.
The red-whisked girl saw that this person would do something in the future, so she signaled to Li Jing, who was secretly observing, and the two met. The three had a good conversation, became brother and sister, and agreed to meet again in Taiyuan.
At the reunion in Taiyuan, Li Jing introduced the bearded guest to Li Shimin. After seeing Li Shimin, the bearded guest asked Li Jing about his situation, and felt that he could not be compared with Li Shimin, so he gave up the idea of unifying the world and gave all his property to Li Jing and the Red Whisk Girl.
The bearded guest told him that they must fully support Li Shimin, because he will become the future monarch. He and his wife went to Fuyu and established their own dynasty.
Li Shimin really lived up to expectations and became a generation of Ming Jun, and Li Jing and the Red Whisk Girl also fulfilled their promise to the bearded guest, in addition to donating money, they also wholeheartedly assisted Li Shimin.
Li Shimin is not only a fierce general, but also an expert in governing the world, he is good at accepting different talents and making good use of their talents. Under his rule, the Tang Dynasty reached unprecedented heights in economic and political terms, and the common people lived in a prosperous era under the rule of Zhenguan, living a peaceful and peaceful life.
Li Shimin's prestige is extremely high, not only the descendants of the Li family admire him, but the people of the Tang Dynasty also respect him, and even Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in history, is full of admiration for him.
1. Li Shimin's bravery and wisdom deeply shocked Wu Zetian, so that after he became emperor, many policies were deeply influenced by him. Second, the Red Whisk Girl with her unique insight, bravely pursue her own happiness, in "The Legend of the Bearded Guest", she is independent and autonomous, not afraid of power, and has become a typical representative of women in the Tang Dynasty.
She is extremely intelligent, and despite her humble background, she has extraordinary learning and analytical skills. When she first saw Li Jing, she saw that he was an extraordinary person, and her observation and analytical skills were amazing.
However, observation is not enough, and the Red Whisk Girl has achieved this beautiful love story with courage and wisdom and courageously pursuing her own happiness.
With her excellent reconnaissance ability, the Red Whisk Girl mastered Li Jing's whereabouts, and her actions were full of legends. Dressing up for a night walk and eloping with Li Jing all show the excellent ability of the Red Whisk Girl in terms of observation, reconnaissance, analysis and execution, without any of which she cannot succeed.
Such an image of a smart heroine was extremely rare in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and it was only in the Tang Dynasty that women could participate in social activities like men, with unfettered thoughts and complete independence, so that the Red Whisk Woman could exist.
The Red Whisk Girl, a woman with both wisdom and beauty, not only found a wishful husband for herself, but also found a good big brother and a wise man for herself and her husband with her keen observation and outstanding eloquence.
Her success is a vivid portrayal of the independent thinking of women in the Tang Dynasty and their reluctance to become men's appendages. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the status of women plummeted and became an accessory to men.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Legend of the Bearded Guest was mainly circulated in the form of opera, including three versions: Zhang Fengyi's "The Red Whisk", Ling Mengchu's "The Bearded Weng" and Zhang Taihe's "The Red Whisk".
At this time, the bearded guest and the red whisk girl became fictional characters, telling the story of Li Jing's advice to Yang Su, the courtesan Zhang on Yang Su's mansion admired Li Jing's talent, eloped with him, met the bearded guest on the way, and finally Li Jing introduced the bearded guest to Li Shimin.
From the legendary life of the Red Whisk Girl to the subordinate status of women in the Ming and Qing dynasties, we can see the changes in the status of women and the evolution of history.
The Red Whisk Girl and Li Jing reunited with the bearded man in Chang'an, and they learned that he also had ambitions to conquer the world. However, after talking with Li Shimin, the bearded guest deeply felt the gap between himself and Li Shimin, and he believed that Li Shimin was the real Son of Heaven, so he gave all his property to Li Jing and Hongfu, and gave the house to Li Jing.
After that, Li Jing found dozens of volumes of the art of war in the house, and he studied it day and night, and Wen Taowu's strategy grew day by day. When meeting Li Shimin, Li Shimin praised his talent.
In the end, Li Jing made great contributions in the process of Li Yuan and Li Shimin's father and son raising troops against the Sui, and the Red Whisk Girl became Mrs. Yipin.
The original intention of the Ming writers was not to praise the Red Whisk Girl, but to emphasize through this story that Li Shimin was the real ruler of the Tang Dynasty, and no one could match him. The re-creation of the writers of the Ming Dynasty portrayed the simple story vividly and vividly, and the image of the Three Heroes of Wind and Dust was vivid and vivid, which is undoubtedly a masterpiece.
However, the writers of the Ming Dynasty symbolized and fictionalized the image of the Red Whisk Girl, revealing the fact that women's minds were imprisoned at that time. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, the shackles of women had become deeply entrenched, and the mainstream literary genre at that time was the rigid form of Baguwen, which was too numerous and difficult for literati to exert their freedom.
In addition, the rise of rulers for political reasons *** led to the fact that there were very few such literary works in the Qing Dynasty.
In the last period of the Qing Dynasty, after many wars such as the Opium War and the Sino-Japanese War, the whole country had lost its complete independence and sovereignty and fell into the predicament of internal and external troubles.
In this turbulent period, the literati and writers of the Qing Dynasty had no time to praise the wisdom of the Red Whisk Girl, nor did they have time to yearn for the chivalrous righteousness of the heroes, their hearts were full of worries about the corrupt court, backward ** and numb people, as well as the mountains and rivers full of desolation.
Chinese people have a martial arts dream in their hearts, looking forward to being able to act chivalrous like a ranger and gallop in the imaginative martial arts world. We yearn to be as heroic and uninhibited as a bearded guest, as righteous and brave as Li Jing, and as discerning as a red-haired girl.
This is a unique romance of the Chinese and our unique culture. We love to read such ** and yearn for that martial arts world. But that's not to say that we're going to live in a fictional world, and that this kind of behavior is undesirable.
However, the happiness and enmity in the martial arts world, the fierce loyalty of the knights, and the chivalrous tenderness are what we modern people lack. We should be more enthusiastic, have the courage to help others, say no to illegal acts, and deal with danger calmly to protect ourselves and others.
The above content refers to "The Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty", "The Romance of the Su Family" and "The Legend of the Red Whisk".