The Literary and Historical Connotation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Politicians read its power and strategy, militarists read its tactics, the scholar-peasants-industrialists are attracted by its legend, Taoists seize its benevolence, righteousness and morality and make a big fuss about it, and the grassroots society regards the righteousness of the Peach Garden as a model for the ancient times, which has been imitated to this day. Big people to history as a reference, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as a textbook; ordinary people after meals and tea, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a good pastime, chatting about the topic. Thus, the benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom. The king, look at the king's way; the hegemony, look at its hegemony. Turnips and greens, each to his own. Thousands of appreciation, evaluation. So this book came out for hundreds of years, prevalent, generation after generation of people read and play, love. Nowadays, it has even crossed the ocean and become the world's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which fully explains its evergreen and everlasting artistic charm. In this book, the weak see courage in it and get more or less revitalized, while the strong see their own strengths and weaknesses in the figures of heroes and heroines. Those who seek to do something know how to find their way to the top, and those who are proud of their achievements will naturally learn from this book the lessons of their mistakes. The rulers used it to fool the people, and the people used the successes and failures of the emperors and generals in the book to praise and criticize the rulers. The righteous man, who shocks the righteousness in it, as the wicked man, who prefers the wickedness in it, takes what he wants. Those who have evil intentions will find in it a confidant, and those who are honest will have no difficulty in finding a fellow traveler. Those who wish to kill, compared to the scale of the bloodshed in the book, may not have to feel uneasy. Those who are in danger of being killed, can they not cry for the same fate and the same destiny? Rise and fall, to protect the Taoist tradition of not falling, replacement, to create a new map of their own, can be found in this book, the basis of a strong argument. "Long division will be united", the unity of the contradiction; "united for a long time will be divided", and how is not dialectics? Hao Hao, swagger, read the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", such as into the famous mountain, who will not return empty-handed. Over the past two thousand years, the sky has changed, the earth has changed, the country has changed, the people have changed, there is no constant thing, however, constitutes the social interplay, this and that, the conversion of strength and weakness, progress and degradation of the relationship between the general principle, as if it did not change, at least not a big change, or the form of change, but the essence of the unchanged, or the language has changed the slogan change, but the content of the unchanged. From this point of view to read the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", this book can really be called the Chinese people an extraordinary book of revelation. Therefore, to be a Chinese, read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is definitely a very beneficial thing.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote the history of the rise and fall of three countries, from the Peach Orchard to the Three Kingdoms to Jin*** experienced five major periods, that is, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's chaos, group of male domination (Guandu battle, Red Cliff battle), the three worlds and the world to Jin.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion begins with the Peach Orchard Rebellion and tells the story of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was followed by the counterattacks of the Eastern Han government, which led to the emergence of heroes such as Liu Bei and Cao Cao, and the imminent demise of the Eastern Han regime.

Dong Zhuo's Rebellion is the story of the period before and after Dong Zhuo's entry into the capital, from He Jin's battle with the Ten Constant Soldiers to the Shao Di's escape from the capital, only to be rescued by Dong Zhuo. After entering the capital, Dong Zhuo bribed the fierce general Lu Bu, abrogated the young emperor and set up Emperor Xian, and then took over the power and tyranny, forcing the army to attack Dong Zhuo, although the alliance failed, but Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu in the end.

The "War of the Hordes" is the story of how, after the death of Dong Zhuo, the lords of the Central Plains were left without a leader, and fought each other in order to expand their territories, most notably in three war zones, namely, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in the north, Sun Ce's rise to power in the eastern region of the Yangtze River and the wars in the Central Plains between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Lv Bu, and Yuan Zhi.

And then later on the three points of the world and the world returned to the Jin I will not go into detail, the main thing I want to talk about my own understanding of the Three Kingdoms and some of the views.

In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I appreciate Cao Cao the most, although in order to emphasize Liu Bei's benevolence, he was written as a treacherous person, but his military ability is still not erased. He was the most talented of the three lords, and Wei was the strongest of the three kingdoms. He laid the foundations of Wei so that Jin could unify the world, so he was a true hero.

Cao Cao's thirst for talent is also something to be admired. In order to select more talent, Cao Cao broke with the feudal standard of appointing officials based on virtue and rank, and put forward the policy of "meritocracy" by issuing a "Wishing for Talent Order" in the spring of 210 AD. Cao Cao summarized the historical experience at the beginning of the order, that since ancient times, the founding emperors and rising kings, none of them did not get a good talent and he *** with to govern the world, and get a good talent, and often not out of the alley, this is not chance, but the people in power to seek, visit. In view of this, Cao Cao is based on reality, pointing out that the world is not yet stabilized, and it is the most urgent time to seek talents. He hoped that the people around him would help him discover and promote those who had been buried by their poor backgrounds, regardless of their origins, and that they would put them to good use as long as they had the talent to do so. Later, in 214 and 217 A.D., Cao Cao issued two more orders, "Seeking Talents", which repeatedly emphasized his policy of employing people based on "merit". He asked the personnel department and all levels of local officials in the selection of talent, and refrain from being too critical, even if there are such and such shortcomings are also subject to the relationship, as long as the real talent on the line. After a lot of efforts, Cao Wei concentrated a large number of talents, at that time, many people from all over the world to Cao Cao's door, forming a fierce generals such as clouds, strategic ministers like rain of the grand situation. Cao Cao was also able to ignore past grudges against talented people, such as Chen Lin, who was originally a subordinate of Yuan Shao and once drafted a diatribe on his behalf, cursing Cao Cao's ancestors for three generations. After Yuan Shao's defeat, Chen Lin surrendered to Cao Cao. When Cao Cao asked him: "You used to write a diatribe for Yuan Shao, but you could have cursed me alone, why did you have to curse my ancestors," Chen Lin quickly apologized. Cao Cao loved his literary talent and not only did he not penalize him, but also employed him as usual.

Cao Cao's success was not only due to his outstanding talent and ability to recruit talented people, but also to his open-mindedness and broad-mindedness. After his defeat at Red Cliff, Cao Cao was not at a loss for words, but smiled and said, "The north is still mine," and laughed three times, demonstrating his optimism in dealing with setbacks. Cao Cao was also a very literate man, enjoying writing poetry, even in the midst of a great war, and many of his poems are famous pieces of music.

From the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I have learned that Cao Cao was a man of great tactics, far-sightedness, and foresight. Before the war, he strategizes, during the war, he is not scared, and after the war, he combines prevention and treatment. Worthy of the Three Kingdoms period heroes of chaos! Zhuge Liang's wit and courage, bold and careful let me admire, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei 3 people heterosexual brothers work together let me marvel! We are a new generation of successors, I want to learn from the Three Kingdoms in the total number of heroes of the world, shoulder the burden of the motherland!

In summary, there are three revelations.

One of them is that the truth comes out of the truth. The so-called "plainness" refers to the calm state of mind and realistic attitude that should be held in the study. Shen Deqian's "Tang Poetry - The Examples" said: "Readers of poetry, calmness and calmness, the meaning of the impregnation, it is not appropriate to set up their own meanings, and reluctance to seek to fit." Poetry readers, the same is true for those who study ancient novels. Mr. Shen's analysis of sources and streams, identify and rectify errors confirms this truth. The text does not have sharp words, dazzling words and phrases, but always through the surface of the easy and smooth language, for the inner reasoning of the road to be convinced, meticulous thinking to be amazed. How can this be? The key is to face the research object with a calm state of mind, and then calmly play with the real problem naturally emerges. If you want to be new and different, a shocking, not inevitably make tall tales, do not cut to the heart of the matter. Only to the exciting words to cover up the emptiness of the content. This is due to the academic impatience caused by the disease of quick success, although conscious, young scholars tend to repeat the same mistake. So the style of the plain reflects Mr. Shen discard distractions and preconceived notions of the research mentality, the result is no intention to set up a new thesis, but logical, sometimes invented. To the Three Kingdoms Zhi Zong Bureaucratic examination and analysis" as an example. In this paper, the "Three Kingdoms Zhi Popular Performance" volume of the first "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zong Bureaucrat" and "Three Kingdoms" character list a little comparison, found that a habit of not observing the fallacy: "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zong Bureaucrat" is absolutely not "Three Kingdoms" character list. However, the conclusion that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" contains more than four hundred characters was drawn from "Sanguo Zhi Zonghong", which has long been a falsehood, and has become a falsehood. The revelation of this simple fact is of great significance as it corrects our account of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Mr. Shen's thinking does not stop here. Where did this list of characters in the Sanguozhi Zongliao come from? Then "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zonghong" and "Three Kingdoms" directory to compare and analyze, the question becomes clear, "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zonghong" is only "Three Kingdoms" directory is a slightly out of shape replica, is not at all the novel "Three Kingdoms" character list. Then, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" actually wrote how many characters? Count by count*** There are more than twelve hundred characters, of which about one thousand have surnames and names. Further question, "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zong Bureaucrat" is certainly not Luo Guanzhong original all, this "Three Kingdoms Zhi Zong Bureaucrat" from when added to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at the beginning of the volume? Obviously in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" after the book, in the form of a copy of the process of circulation. This provides strong evidence for the date of the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", indicating that "written in the middle of the Ming Dynasty" is difficult to establish. Smooth and smooth rhetoric, calm and gentle lines have an irrefutable force. Do not set up their own meaning, then the objective facts are naturally revealed. On Luo Guanzhong's place of origin "," Sui and Tang Zhi Zhuan is not Luo Guanzhong " and" the remnants of the Tang and five generations of the history of the biography is not Luo Guanzhong " article also embodies the characteristics of such a style of learning. For the customary old saying to correct, can not determine the further thinking. It is in the spirit of objectivity and calm attitude, not only not to the so-called *** knowledge for the stereotypes, and can not be authority for authority. In "a brief discussion of" for Cao Cao "article on Guo Moruo" for Cao Cao "slogan, from the point of view of historical truth and artistic truth put forward debatable views. Guo Moruo's statement has some historical validity, but it is too one-sided. Historical evaluation of Cao Cao is not a total negation, but praise and criticism. The crux of the problem also lies in Guo Moruo's substitution of historical truth for artistic truth. Art often uses fiction and exaggeration to reproduce the infinite richness of life. Even so, when we delve into the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is a historical novel, its literary character is based on historical truth. The arguments are fairly held and justified, restoring a true image of Cao Cao. This true understanding is not achieved without empathy and sympathy. As Zhao Qi said in his Commentary on Mencius, "Human feelings are not far away, and to oppose the poet's will with one's own will is to get the truth." It is the use of such methods, in the "loyalty and wisdom, the ancient world" article for Lu Xun's "like Zhuge's wisdom and close to the demon" of the famous assertion issued a question. Zhuge Liang's ideal color rendering comes from the artistic tradition of Chinese classical novels "still strange", in a sense, it should fit the national cultural psychological structure. Therefore, before Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the image of Zhuge Liang had already been deified. Luo Guanzhong, on the contrary, deleted some of the depictions of the gods, so that it returned to the "human" position. Although it is not humanly possible, it is in line with people's expectations of legendary heroes. Mr. Shen's exploration, for us to jump out of the previous stereotypes, re-interpretation of the Three Kingdoms characters, provides a new path.

A calm mind is easy to find problems, while solving them requires a realistic spirit. The New Exploration of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has always been characterized by a rigorous and steady academic style. This in the "Three Kingdoms" "technical" errors in the proofreading of the article has been fully embodied. Repeatedly read and literature and history of the reading, especially in the process of compiling the dictionary of the three kingdoms, Mr. Shen strongly felt that the three kingdoms there are quite a lot of "technical errors", *** there are more than seven hundred. Another amazing discovery that we tend to overlook. Errors must be corrected. However, this is a very laborious and arduous work, which must be based on solid documentary work. First of all, the people's literature version of the "three kingdoms" against the historical data at the time, word by word and sentence by sentence checking, one by one to find out the characters, geography, officialdom, calendars and other errors, and then analyze the reasons for it, to be corrected and categorized. Extremely cumbersome thing, Mr. Shen do is meticulous and methodical. Specific problems were solved, but another problem was derived. Romance of the Three Kingdoms in such a large number of "technical errors", how did it come about? With the familiarization with the version, we have come up with a systematic and in-depth understanding of the process of book formation, the author's own mistakes, copying and publication of the error. Both see the work of diving into the examination, but also not lose the overall grasp of the rational thought, complementary, complementary.

The chaos of flowers, the bustle will eventually dissipate into nothing, leaving only the real thing. Mr. Shen with its not trendy, not fickle spirit and style of governance in the Three Kingdoms research made tangible achievements, is the river of time can not be washed away, it affects our description of the history of the Three Kingdoms research. It is also these real achievements that make the lifeblood of scholarship to be inherited and continued.

The second, deep academic sentiment. Mr. Shen in the Jiajing book "Three Kingdoms Popular Performances" collation of the "Postscript", had this self-portrait: "Welcome to the enlightenment, the night with a lonely lamp, sitting alone in the cold night, how tired is it?" Said the academic road of loneliness and hardship. However, it can be twenty years as one day perseverance, with its unique persistence, engaged in the Three Kingdoms study. Without the love of academic research from the heart, it is difficult to support this boring and hard work. Of course, as a great work on the Chinese nation and national character has had a wide and far-reaching impact, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that the rich ideological connotation, strong artistic appeal, broad cultural value also makes Mr. Shen center of the road. And from it gave birth to a scholar's sense of mission, that is, inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional culture of the nation as its own responsibility. Thus the tedious and arduous academic research, there is a point of spiritual significance. Therefore, read the "Three Kingdoms Lunyi New Exploration", feel is not only the rigorous style of study and the spirit of meticulous, between the lines is also hidden in the deep academic feelings. The evidence is no longer for the evidence and the evidence, the proof is no longer for the proof and the proof, the analysis is no longer for the analysis and the analysis, they have the ultimate return, is how to better organize, excavate, and carry forward this cultural heritage. For example, in the article "Re-schooling of the Three Kingdoms", in the face of re-schooling of the Three Kingdoms, three kinds of questioning, a logical and reasonable rebuttal. According to the article, today's Three Kingdoms is not embraced by literature, and people read Romance of the Three Kingdoms not only for aesthetic pleasure, but also for knowledge growth and wisdom enlightenment. In this way, the "technical errors" that can be found everywhere in the book cannot but damage the cognitive and aesthetic value of the work to a certain extent. What's more, in the history of the Three Kingdoms version has appeared to organize, such as Mao Lun, Mao Zonggang father and son review of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", after a generation of readers of the approval, did not add the "delusion of change" of the posthumous. Therefore, re-schooling the Romance of the Three Kingdoms can only make it perfect. Whether from the perspective of caring for this heritage, or from the height of the promotion of national culture, are of great value and significance. But for such an attempt, a very complex project, still need to be objective and cautious, meticulous attitude, pending the Three Kingdoms researchers *** with wisdom and efforts.

Objective and calm is not equal to the suspension of emotions, especially the study of literature. No rich life emotion and experience is unable to approach the kernel of literary works. So, how to achieve a balance between the objective attitude and subjective emotion in the study? Chen Yin Ke has a very sincere saying about this: "The so-called true understanding. The so-called true understanding. Must swim meditation, and said the ancients, in the same realm, and for the reason why its holdings have to be so painstaking, the table an understanding of the sympathy, began to criticize its doctrine of right and wrong, and no compartmentalization of the skin contour of the argument." Mr. Shen in the study of the three kingdoms also has the understanding and experience of the heart, that is, "seeking truth from facts, in depth". How to have a true understanding of the author's intention to structure the plot and characterization? One must be in the same realm as the creator. According to Western hermeneutics, it is only possible to have a dialog when one obtains the same field of vision as the author. In the case of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is one of the classics that people from all walks of life have been reading with devotion and anticipation for generations. Therefore, it always attracts us to explore its deep ideological connotation and rich artistic charm. However, the barrier of time and space, especially the preconception of Western literary standards, often causes our understanding of classical literature to be biased or even misjudged. Even Lu Xun, who laid down the theoretical framework for the history of the ancient Chinese novel, was not immune to subjectivity. For example, the evaluations of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in A Brief History of Chinese Novels are biased in our view. How can we "seek truth from facts"? In Mr. Shen's words, it is to have an objective understanding of "the historical conditions of the era in which the work was produced". That is to say, we must understand the development and evolution of the story of the three kingdoms, works produced in the era, the version of the situation and the mastery of historical information. Lenin said it very well: "To really know an object, one must grasp and study all its aspects, all its connections and media." It is after all the conditions are in place, then we can be in the real historical situation of the Three Kingdoms, the competition between the heroes and the changing clouds, and feel the true meaning of the work with a heart full of life experience, or let the author's own emotional Milky Way flow to touch the researcher's sense of existence, and we can't tell what comes first and what comes last, because the two were originally a kind of dialogue process triggered by each other. This is how the true meaning of the work is obtained, by taking "seeking truth from facts" as the premise and going deeper into the underlying meaning of the work. Based on the principle of "seeking truth from facts and going deeper into the underlying meaning", Mr. Shen established a general understanding of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with the theme of "yearning for national unity and glorifying the loyal and righteous heroes", and the creative method reflecting the spirit of classical realism and romantic mood, The method of creation embodies the combination of classical realism and romantic sentiment, legend and color. From this, we will be able to find the tone of the character, discover the vein of character development, and understand why Luo Guanzhong wrote this way instead of that way. New Explorations on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (《三国演义新探》) specifically analyzes the characters of the Three Kingdoms. In the historical and literary toss and mirror each other, analyzed Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, Wei Yan, Chen Gong, Cao Cao, as well as Diao Zen and other characters. The advantage of this is that not only can we differentiate between historical characters and literary images, but also in this differentiation, we will find the author's creative intentions and ideological aspirations. Taking Zhao Yun as an example, the historical Zhao Yun is not only inferior to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but also inferior to Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan in terms of his achievements and status. Luo Guanzhong combines the spirit of profound realism with the spirit of rich romanticism to create a glorious Zhao Yun. Through the arrangement of pre-eminence, as well as the techniques of contrast and accentuation, the author emphasized his virtues of valor over the world and loyalty and modesty, making Zhao Yun the most perfect character in the series of military generals in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This is why Zhao Yun is second only to Zhuge Liang in the readers' minds. At the same time this characterization echoes Mr. Shen's generalization of the Three Kingdoms.

Thirdly, it goes deep inside and out. Wang Guowei said in "Words on Earth": "The poet's view of the universe and life must be inside, and must be outside. To be inside, one must be able to write; to be outside, one must be able to observe. To be in it, one must be alive, and to be out of it, one must have a high sense of humor." Yu Pingbo thought this passage is very suitable for the situation of researchers, to extend, and said: "for literary criticism, one in the ability to experience, one in the ability to transcend. Must be in the bureau, the bureau people know the sweetness and bitterness; and must be outside the bureau, outside the bureau people have a public opinion." As an expert on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mr. Shen strives to go beyond the Three Kingdoms in his in-depth study of the Three Kingdoms to make a holistic view of the course of the Three Kingdoms study. Since the founding of the three kingdoms research overview", "new progress, new breakthroughs" and "for the new century of the three kingdoms research" the three articles can be viewed as such. It is not only the summary of past experience, but also the prospect of future research. It is this transcendental vision that makes Mr. Shen's research extend to the exploration of the Three Kingdoms culture, interpreting its connotation, and putting forward feasible suggestions for the rational development of the Three Kingdoms culture, showing a broad vision.

"The axiom is always there to know oneself, not counting the gains and losses and whip", life goes on and on, and the steps are always new! Mr. Shen did not stop his exploration of the footsteps, still with its steady pace of writing another page of a new chapter!