How to cultivate humanistic foundation

Prose Overview

With the advent of writing during the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there were also prose records of history. In the Zhou Dynasty, the historians of various vassal states further recorded the historical facts of various countries in plain language and concise writing, such as "Spring and Autumn". Later, with the needs of the times, historical literature describing reality was produced, including "Zuo Zhuan", "Guoyu", "Warring States Policy" and other historical works.

"Zuo Zhuan" is the abbreviation of "Zuo Shi Zhuan" in the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu". According to legend, it was written by Zuo Qiuming, a historian of the Lu State in the late Spring and Autumn Period. It has a total of 180,000 words and records. It covers the political, military, diplomatic activities and speeches of various countries in the 240 years of the Spring and Autumn Period, as well as the affairs of heaven, ghosts and gods, disasters and auspiciousness, and divination. The narrative of this book is dramatic, the plot is compact, the description of the war is particularly excellent, and the language is concise and rich in images.

Guoyu is a history of different countries. It records the events of the Zhou Dynasty and the various states (1000 BC - 1000 BC). It records more words than events, and most of the records are of the more popular events at that time. The words of a visionary enlightened nobleman.

The author of "Warring States Policy" cannot be verified, and the current version was compiled by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty. Like "Guoyu", it also records the affairs of different countries, recording the events of the Western and Eastern Zhou Dynasties, Qin, Qi, Chu, Zhao and other countries. The recorded content is the various activities and speeches of advisers and strategists. The characteristics of the articles in "Warring States Policy" are that they are good at telling stories, good at using metaphors, and have extremely vivid character creation.

Pre-Qin historical prose laid the foundation for Chinese historical literature and had a profound influence on later historians and ancient writers.

The turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was an era of great social change. Various academic schools wrote books and debated endlessly, forming a situation where a hundred schools of thought contended. The works of thinkers representing different classes or strata promoted the development of reasoning prose. These thinkers include Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalism, etc. The books recording their remarks that have been handed down to the present include "The Analects", "Mencius", "Mozi", "Zhuangzi", "Han Feizi" and so on.

The Analects of Confucius and Mencius are Confucian works that interpret "benevolence". The Analects records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, most of which are short conversations and questions and answers. "Mencius" records Meng Ke's remarks. Meng Ke was good at debating, so the language in the book is bright and inspiring.

"Mozi" represents Mo Zhai's proposition of "universal love", with simple language, clear reasoning and strong logic. The chapters such as "Universal Love" and "Feigong" are very representative.

"Zhuangzi" represents the Taoist Zhuangzhou's proposition of "governing by doing nothing". Zhuangzi's prose is uniquely charming among other scholars. This is reflected in the fact that the author has fantastic imagination and keen observation, is good at using folk fables, and is good at metaphors, making the article full of literary interest.

"Han Feizi" represents the Legalist idea of ??"adapting measures to the times". Han Fei's prose has a rigorous structure, sharp edge and profound reasoning.

"Xunzi" represents Xun Kuang's teachings. There are currently 32 chapters, many of which are long. Characteristics of Xunzi's prose: clear arguments, clear levels, concise syntax, and rich vocabulary.

"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" is a collective creation of Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei's followers. It includes the Eight Readings, Six Treatises, and Twelve Chronicles, and includes Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, and Agriculture. The book retains a large number of documents and anecdotes from the pre-Qin era. It is a kind of systematic reasoning essay that collects many single articles, with in-depth layers and the most coherent one. Like the prose of Zhuzi, it often uses fables as metaphors, so the article is full of imagery.

The reasoning prose of pre-Qin scholars had an obvious influence on the development of prose in later generations, both in terms of ideology and artistic style.

In the early Han Dynasty, political prose developed. Jia Yi (200 BC - 168 BC) was an outstanding litterateur in the early Western Han Dynasty. His article "Crossing the Qin Dynasty" summarized the reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty, learned the lessons of the peasant uprising in the late Qin Dynasty, and developed the people-oriented thinking of the pre-Qin Dynasty. . His prose makes good use of metaphors and his language is rich in imagery.

In addition to Jia Yi, there were many essayists in the early Han Dynasty. Most of their articles discussed the gains and losses of Qin, or put forward their own opinions on the current shortcomings. Among them, Cuo Cuo and Zou Yang were more successful. The two essays "Guarding the Border and Encouraging Farmers" and "On Precious Millet", which advocate recruiting people to prepare for fortresses, are the most famous.

When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, the feudal dynasty urgently needed to summarize ancient culture and give a philosophical and historical explanation to the unified ruling situation. Sima Qian's "Historical Records" came into being. Its emergence has greatly advanced the development of pre-Qin historical prose.

Under the influence of "Historical Records", the Eastern Han Dynasty produced many historical prose works, among which Ban Gu's "Han Shu" is an outstanding representative.

A new literary style "Fu" appeared in the Han Dynasty. The name of Fu originated from the "Fu Pian" written by Xunqing, a native of Zhao during the Warring States Period, and a specific system was formed in later generations. Pay attention to literary talent and rhyme, and have the dual nature of poetry and prose. Those that are close to prose are called "Wen Fu", and those that are close to parallel prose are called "parallel Fu". Jia Yi's "Ode to Qu Yuan" and "Ode to Pengniao" in the early Han Dynasty, "Zixu" and "Shanglin" by Sima Xiangru (179 BC - 118 BC), and "Ode to Pengniao" by Yang Xiong (53 BC - 18 BC) in the late Western Han Dynasty. "Ganquan Fu", "Yu Lie Fu", "Changyang Fu", "Hedong Fu", Ban Gu's "Liangdu Fu", and Eastern Han Dynasty Zhang Heng's (78--139) "Er Capital Fu" are all the names of Han Fu. articles.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, parallel prose became popular while prose declined. However, in academic works such as Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" and Yang Hengzhi's "Luoyang Jialan Ji", there are still some beautiful words with simple narrative, lyrical and scene description.

In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu vigorously opposed the flashy parallel prose and advocated the writing of ancient prose. At that time, many people followed it, but later he received strong support from Liu Zongyuan. His achievements in ancient prose creation increased greatly and his influence became greater, becoming a major trend in the literary world. , known as the ancient prose movement in literary history. The victory of the ancient prose movement headed by Han Liu established a new style of writing that was free from clichés and clichés, and greatly improved the artistic functions of lyricism, narrative, discussion, and satire in prose.

After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the ancient prose movement declined for a time. In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu once again launched the ancient prose movement. Since then, Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Su Shi, Su Xun, Su Che and others were all influenced by the ancient prose innovation movement. They achieved their respective achievements, and later generations together with Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty were called the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties".

Sima Guang, a historical writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, compiled a great historical work "Zizhi Tongjian". In addition to its historical value, it also has great literary value.

Under the influence of the great masters of the Northern Song Dynasty, the essayists of the Southern Song Dynasty produced some political essays that expressed the author's clear political attitude. Hu Quan, Chen Liang, and Ye Shi were the representative writers in this regard. The success of the ancient prose movement made prose more relevant and practical, as evidenced by the large number of notes and essays that appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. Hong Mai's "Rong Zhai Essays" and Wang Mingqing's "Hui Chen Lu" are excellent works among the notes and essays. In addition, Zhu Xi (1130--1200)'s ancient prose is good at reasoning and his attainments are not shallow.

Song Lian (1310--1381) in the early Ming Dynasty was "the first of the founding civil servants". Some of his biographies are of great practical significance. The more famous works include "Qin Shi Lu", "Wang Mian Biography", "The Biography of Li Yi" and so on. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, in response to the constraints of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Eight-legged Essay, the First Seven Sons, headed by Li Mengyang and He Jingming, launched the "Restore Movement", advocating that literature should be compared to the Qin and Han Dynasties. While they played a certain positive role in eradicating the stereotyped writing style, they also embarked on the path of blindly imitating the ancients. Later, the "Later Seven Sons" retro movement represented by Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen also repeated their mistakes again.

Gui Youguang and other "Tang and Song Dynasty factions" first rose up against the anti-archaism faction, and then the Gong'an faction during the Wanli period also joined the team to fiercely attack anti-archaism.

The Gong'an faction was represented by Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao, and Yuan Zhongdao, who were called the "Three Yuans" at the time. Yuan Hongdao (1568--1610) was the most famous. They believe that different eras have different literature, so they oppose valuing the past and devaluing the present, and imitate the ancients. Yuan Hongdao even put forward the "Spiritual Theory" out of the writer's subjective requirements. The characteristics of Gong'an School's prose creation are: breaking through the stereotypes of traditional ancient prose, naturally revealing personality, and the language is not polished.

At the same time as the Gong'an faction, there was also the Jingling faction represented by Zhong Xing and Tan Yuanchun, who also advocated independent expression of one's nature and spirit.

The direct product of the innovation of the Gong'an School and the Jingling School is the large number of sketch prose that appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. This is a development of traditional prose. Zhang Dai (1597--?) is a relatively accomplished writer of sketch prose. One person. His sketches and prose have a wide range of themes, including landscapes, customs, opera skills and even antique toys, etc. can be included in his articles. His prose language is fresh and lively, the images are vivid, and he can read widely and briefly. "Half of July on the West Lake" and "Looking at the Snow in the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake" are his masterpieces.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Hou Fangyu (1618--1654), who was in danger of dying in the late Qing Dynasty, achieved high artistic achievements in his prose. His representative works include "The Biography of Li Ji", "The Biography of Ma Ling", "The Biography of Ren Yuan" "Sui Zhuan" and so on.

The Tongcheng School of ancient prose was the most famous school in the mid-Qing Dynasty. The main writers Fang Bao, Liu Dahuaidou, and Yao Nai were all from Tongcheng, Anhui Province, so the Tongcheng School got its name. Fang Bao (1668--1749) inherited the tradition of Gui Youguang and put forward the idea of ??"righteousness and law", which became the basic theory of Tongcheng School's ancient prose. The Tongcheng School's selection of ancient prose works only focuses on clarifying the idea rather than piling up materials. Therefore, the articles are generally concise and natural, but lack vitality. Representative works include Fang Bao's "Prison Miscellaneous Notes", "The Anecdotes of Zuo Zhongyi", Yao Nai's "Climbing Mount Tai" and so on.

Opposing the Tongcheng faction were the Fushe writers who advocated "parallel prose", among whom Wang Zhong (1744--1794) was the most accomplished.

In the early Qing Dynasty, there were many essayists with outstanding achievements, such as Wang Youding and Wei Xi. Wang Youding (1599--about 1661)'s legendary prose broke the traditional writing method of classical Chinese in the style of novel legend. His representative works include "The Biography of Li Yizu", "The Story of Tang Pipa", "The Story of the Yihu", etc. Wei Xi (1624--1680) was most prominent in biographies, and his representative work is "The Biography of Da Tiezhui".

Kang Youwei (1858--1927) and Liang Qichao (1873--1929) were representatives of the reform movement in the late Qing Dynasty and also representative writers of the academic reformists. Their prose ignores the formula of traditional ancient prose, expresses their opinions directly, and speaks freely, which is an effective tool in political struggle. Liang Qichao's new-style prose was a fierce attack on all traditional ancient prose, paving the way for the liberation of style in the late Qing Dynasty and the vernacular movement of the "May Fourth". His "Young China" is such a typical work.

With the criticism of feudal literature and classical Chinese, the earliest batch of modern new literary works were born, and argumentative prose is one of them, which is the source of modern prose.

In the early days of the birth of new literature, those who published argumentative essays in newspapers and magazines with the greatest influence were Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, etc. Their works take the form of casual notes as the main form, with a wide range of contents, focusing on ideological revolution and literary revolution. Lu Xun was the most accomplished writer in writing argumentative prose.

Argumentative prose in its birth period served as the vanguard of anti-feudalism. The objects it discussed were close to life, specific and subtle; its form was free and could be long or short; its language could be strong and tragic, It can also be used as a humorous metaphor. After argumentative prose, narrative prose and short essays also came out one after another, and modern prose entered a stage of vigorous development.

The prose styles in the development period were different, showing a prosperous scene. In terms of form, there are narratives, scene descriptions, expressions of feelings, expressions of ambition, and comments; in terms of style, the coldness of Lu Xun, the calmness of Zhou Zuoren, the freshness and elegance of Zhu Ziqing, Bing Xin, etc., the boldness and sway of Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, etc. Ye Shengtao and Xu Dishan's simplicity and straightness, Xu Zhimo's richness and splendor, etc.

Zhou Zuoren of Yusi Society is one of the pioneers of short essays. His representative works such as "Wild Vegetables in Hometown", "Wawn Boat", "Water Bottle", and "Summer Dream" mostly use small themes as description objects. , the writing style is calm and leisurely, and the love for life is subtly cultivated in the fun and knowledge. His argumentative prose also occupied an important position at the time. Similar to Zhou Zuoren in artistic style is Lin Yutang, who is also a member of the Yusi Society. His representative work "Jianfu Collection" focuses on satirizing current ills, criticizing the traditional philosophy of moderation, and emphasizing the struggle against the old world. Yu Pingbo's collections such as "Za Mixer" and "Yan Zhicao" also have a similar elegance to Zhou Zuoren, but at the same time they have a more obscure flavor.

Guo Moruo and Yu Dafu both belong to the unrestrained and unrestrained school. Guo Moruo's collection of prose poems "Six Chapters of Essays" is exquisitely written, with sculpted language and profound scenery; Yu Dafu's travel prose "Skin Marks Everywhere" and "Spring Day at Diaotai" are works that represent his style, especially the latter one , wrote about the beautiful scenery of Fuchun River, and expressed the resentment against reality while remembering the past.

He Qifang's lyrical prose was unique in the 1930s and was called "poet's prose". As a modernist poet, he incorporated some modernist methods into prose creation to achieve the purpose of expressing emotions, as represented by "Painting Dreams". The language of He Qifang's prose, like his poetry, is meticulously crafted and highly perceptible.

Among the narrative prose, Li Guangtian (1906--1968)'s chapters about people are very representative. There is no story plot in the character descriptions in his works. He only intercepts some snippets of life and adds a few lyrical strokes to achieve a conveying effect.

When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, especially after the Wannan Incident, militant essays made the strongest voice of the era. Guo Moruo's "Praise to the Nine New Muses" and "Rebuke Reactionary Literature and Art" have become important documents on the ideological and cultural fronts of the Kuomintang-controlled areas; Wen Yiduo's "The Last Speech" shows the bravery of a strong democratic fighter in the face of a pistol spirit; Feng Xuefeng's essays focused on the analysis of the human soul, showing strong theoretical power; Nie Gannu's (1900--1986) essays made many useful explorations in art, and he made good use of the interesting ancient The story deftly attacks reality. In addition, many writers such as Feng Zikai (1898--1975) and Lin Mohan (1909-- ) also wrote a large number of essays.

Prose that combines narrative and lyricism has achieved outstanding results in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. Mao Dun's "Praise to the White Poplar" and "Landscape Talk", Ba Jin's "Outside the Abandoned Garden", "Lamp" and "Dragon" are all famous works. Shen Congwen's "Xiangxi Essays" is a beautiful article describing the natural and human conditions.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, writers and amateur writers fighting on various fronts used prose to consciously sing hymns that reflected the new era, new people, new things, and new styles. Because of the large team of authors, the life aspect reflected has reached an unprecedented breadth. The styles presented in the works are also diverse, such as Ba Jin's warm and dignified, Bing Xin's delicate and gentle, Jin Yi's passionate, Liu Baiyu's passionate and high-pitched, Huashan's humorous style. Although the styles are different, they all have the same style. True and simple feelings paint the brilliant colors of new life.

A major feature of prose creation during this period is that the two contents of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea and socialist economic construction complement each other. The most influential works on the theme of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea are: "North Korea Advances in the Battle" by Liu Baiyu, "The Motherland Dates My Mother" by Jin Yi, "Peace Museum" by Han Zi, "Living among Heroes" by Ba Jin, etc. ; Famous articles about socialist economic construction include: "In Huangfu Village in 1955" by Liu Qing, "Wang Yonghuai" by Qin Zhaoyang, "Lu Jiaxiu" by Sha Ting, "Going to Foziling" by Jin Yi, "Fairy Tales" by Huashan The Era", "In the Qaidam Basin" by Li Ruobing, "Chairman Mao Smiling towards the Yellow River" by Zang Kejia, "Oil City" by Yang Shuo, etc.

Diverse forms are also one of the gains of prose creation in this period. Travel notes, sketches, essays and essays have all played their role in the new era to varying degrees, and many works have been welcomed by readers. The travel notes include "Returning to the Arms of Mother Zao in Yan'an" by He Jingzhi, "Songs and Flute Sounds" by Fang Ji, "Red Leaves in Fragrant Mountains" by Yang Shuo, "Notes on Tianshan Scenery" by Bi Ye, and "Wandering Three Lakes" by Ye Shengtao. , Mao Dun's "Stockholm Miscellaneous Notes", Jun Qing's "European Letters", etc.; essays include "Calf Yangzi" by Han Zi, "Two Sisters" by He Wei; essays include "Peel Off the Faces of the Masked Bandits" by Mao Dun , Ba Ren's "Kang Zhong's Writings", Ren Hui's "Doubts about the Theory of Abolishing Names" and Ma Tieding's "Miscellaneous Thoughts", etc.

Although prose creation during this period was fruitful, from the perspective of the entire literary field, prose received less attention than other literary genres, and essays in particular were even weaker. In addition, sometimes due to the influence of abnormal political life, there is a common phenomenon in the entire literary and art circles that dare not boldly expose the contradictions and conflicts in reality, and prose writing is no exception.

After 1957, prose creation has attracted attention from all walks of life. Both the quantity and quality of works have greatly exceeded the previous period, and famous works have emerged one after another. "Two Caves in Jinhua" published by the old writer Ye Shengtao is another interesting travel work after "A Trip to Three Lakes"; Bing Xin's "Ode to Cherry Blossoms" and Ba Jin's "Photos Brought Back from Kamakura" are Two hymns of internationalist friendship; Wu Boxiao's "Singing" and "Remembering a Spinning Wheel" are memories of the difficult years in Yan'an; Fang Ji's "Between Waves" records the critical juncture of history and the calm demeanor of the great man Mao Zedong; Tao Zhu's "The Style of Pine Trees" is full of poetry and emotion; Bi Ye's "Snowy Road and Clouds" and "Wudang Mountains" are full of affection and painting between green mountains, beautiful water, snowy roads and clouds; Chen Canyun's "Pearl River" "Shore" and "Shatian Water Show" depict the changes of the people on the banks of the Pearl River; Yu Min's "West Lake Scene" and Li Jianwu's "Climbing Mount Tai in the Rain" bring people into a hazy painting realm, full of poetry; Jian Bozan's "Visiting Ancient Times in Inner Mongolia" uses the rich cultural heritage of historians to write travel prose in a substantial and eloquent way; in Shen Congwen's "A Journey to New Hunan", the same landscapes as before give off a new atmosphere of new life; Han Shaohua's "Prelude" " and Xu Kailei's "The Legend of the Sculptor" are excellent chapters in character description prose.

In addition, Hanzi's "Huangshan Notes", Yan Zhen's "The Peony Garden", Feng Mu's "The Rapids Along the Lancang River", Zong Pu's "West Lake Essays", Jun Qing's "Autumn Colors", Li Ruobing's "Ode to Autumn Colors" "Qilian Snow" are excellent works of travel notes and lyrical prose.

The prose field of this period entered a mature harvest period, and old writers such as Bing Xin, Ba Jin, and Ye Shengtao reached the artistic level of proficiency with their tireless spirit of exploration. What is even more gratifying is that young and middle-aged essayists represented by Yang Shuo, Liu Baiyu and Qin Mu have gradually matured and formed their own artistic styles. Yang Shuo's prose is as fresh and graceful as the breeze caressing the willows, and Liu Baiyu's prose is as unbridled and blazing as the lava bursting out. Qin Mu's prose combines knowledge and interest, making it homely and eloquent. Tao Lai. Other essayists also have their own characteristics and distinct personalities, such as Bi Ye's bright and moving, Chen Canyun's light and beautiful, Deng Tuo's profound and sharp, Wu Boxiao's concise and sincere, Cao Jinghua's simplicity, Jun Qing's lofty and profound, Li Ruobing's The heroism and coldness of Tao Zhu, the gentleness and delicacy of Hanzi, the elegance and beauty of Zongpu... Everyone showed their true skills in writing prose.

During the cultural revolution, culture suffered a catastrophe. Without culture, there would be no prose.

After the Cultural Revolution, the sky opened up and people's emotions that had been suppressed for ten years burst out. In the field of prose creation, the first thing that came together was a mournful song. With its high-pitched melody, tragic colors and simple style, this song pioneered a generation of writing style.

The proses of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai are remembered in "Linjiang Tower", "I Love Shaoshan's Red Cuckoo" by Mao Anqing and Shao Hua, Liu Baiyu's "The Towering Taihang", Yuan Ying's "Flying", Zhang Chang's "Memories of the Water Splashing Festival", Han Zi's "Crossing the Yangtze River", Xue Ming's "Report to the Party and the People", Tao Siliang's "A Letter Finally Sent" "Letter", etc.; outstanding works that recall and commemorate the writers, artists, scientists and other national elites who were persecuted to death include: "The Soul of the Poetry of the Swallow" by Ding Ning in memory of Yang Shuo, "Star" by Huang Zongying in memory of Shangguan Yunzhu, "In Memory of Jinshan" The dramatist Sun Weishi's "Don't Pay Blood and Hatred to the Autumn Wind", Ding Yilan's "Remembering Deng Tuo", Huang Mei's "Remembering He Qifang", Ba Jin's "Remembering Xiao Shan" in memory of his beloved wife, Lou Shiyi's "Yong Mourning of Fu" "Snow" and "Entrepreneurial Poems Still To Be Continued, Eternal Regrets in the World" written in memory of Liu Qing.

The characters in these works are familiar and admired by people, but their deeds are rarely known. The emotions expressed in the works are not only touching, but also inspiring and inspiring.

The prose of the new era is like a swallow announcing spring, dexterously and quickly taking the breath of the times and flying into people's hearts. After the reform and opening up, the boiling life of the whole society was first reflected in prose. In addition, essays that reflect various aspects of life, such as reviewing personal experiences and feelings, and revealing the philosophy of life, also bring out the smiles and shine. Excellent works of this type include Ding Ling's "The Cowshed", which describes the cowshed life with her husband, Yan Zhen's "Darcissus", which recalls the noble character of the female professor, and Zhang Kangkang's "Underground Forest", which praises the infinite power contained in the masses. ", "Bamboo" and "Fairy Blossoms" by Guan Hua and Ding Ning to express their ambitions and express their integrity and yearning.

Travel prose is also becoming more and more prosperous. Most of them inherit the traditional method of expressing feelings in scenery in classical prose, and express their own feelings in mountains and rivers. Among them, the works with international themes are unique in style, such as "The America I See" by Ding Ling, "A Journey to the United States" by Xiao Qian, "Journey to Germany and the United States" by Wang Meng, "Under the Leaning Tower" by Mu Qing, and "Journey to the United States" by Xiao Qian. Bai Yu's "A Song to Clear the Seine" and Wei Junyi's "Love of the Motherland" are both masterpieces.

Reference: t.com.cn/literature/wenxue/sanwen/4.htm