Some people like to say that "people can't help themselves in the rivers and lakes." Excuse me, where is the Jianghu?

Now it is a general term. Can be used in many places. If we insist on an answer, we have to go back to the past. After Jin Yong's martial arts novels entered the mainland in the 1980s, "Jianghu" became a hot topic and a common word. But what is "Jianghu"? What is its exact connotation? There are indeed many people who are not very clear.

"Jianghu" is a polysemous word. The original meaning refers to rivers, lakes and seas. Later, the "Jianghu" with cultural significance came into being. Because of its vastness, remoteness and vulgarity, "Jianghu" has become the antithesis of a prosperous stage and fame and fortune, and a secluded place for literati, which can be equated with seclusion. This paper focuses on the prodigal son in the cultural sense. The Water Margin described this Jianghu in detail for the first time.

The rivers and lakes described in Water Margin are places where vagrants who have broken away from the patriarchal clan system and cut off the road to survival seek food and clothing. There is no tolerance of Jianghu literati here. There are not only "struggles", but also no rules that mainstream society should abide by. In this space, the first need of vagrants is survival. The vagrants in the Jianghu can't abide by the norms of the mainstream society, and will inevitably be squeezed out and hit. Especially when the mainstream society is a totalitarian society, "Jianghu" is illegal and is the object of suppression. If the mainstream society is open and dominant, "Jianghu" is in an underground and hidden position. Generally speaking, "Jianghu" is not a tangible organization (of course, there are also tangible organizations, such as hills occupied by tramps and secret gangs). Its existence is more embodied as a "field", invisible, but people can feel its existence, because it restricts the life of vagrants or people related to vagrants, and it also has recognized standards of Jianghu people, thus forming an evaluation system.

There are secret words, or slang, in the Jianghu, which are related to each other. There are "pen cutting" and "tower pier" (falling down) in Water Margin. At this time, Jianghu secret language was still in the primary stage, and by the Qing Dynasty, Jianghu secret language was very developed.

Rivers and lakes also have their own public opinions and their own moral evaluation standards. In the story of outwitting the birth outline, Wu used Sanruan to catch the "thief" in Liangshan and offered a reward to the official. Ruan said it would "eat jokes of Jianghu heroes". It can be seen that the behavior of Jianghu people is restricted by Jianghu public opinion and completely opposed to the mainstream society.

Jianghu also has its own information channels, and some things will soon spread among Jianghu people. Some people have invested some money in Jianghu to help some vagrants. Not only did the beneficiaries appreciate it, but other Jianghu people soon learned about it. These people became famous in Jianghu. There is an ally in the Jianghu, and people in the Jianghu will look for him if they have anything. For example, the classics in Water Margin and Dan Xiong Xin in Tang Shuo.

The main body of Jianghu people is tramp. China ancient society was patriarchal society. Everyone lives in a certain patriarchal network. Once out of the patriarchal clan network, they have no protection from the patriarchal clan system, and have to face the society alone, without a stable income or even a fixed residence, wandering between urban and rural areas. The prodigal son wandered the Jianghu, survived and developed, and became a Jianghu person.

Jianghu artists are self-evident Jianghu people, and the first generation of Jianghu artists was formed in the Song Dynasty. Their social status, lifestyle and life experience are close to those of vagrants, and they are the spokesmen of vagrants.

There is another kind of people, who are often the leaders or backbone of the rivers and lakes. This is the marginalized people. Some of these people are marginalized in the mainstream society. For example, in a patriarchal society, intellectuals, farmers and businessmen are in the mainstream position, and the poor are on the edge of society. Some policies of the ruling class push a class or group to the edge of society. For example, in the Song Dynasty, "officials" were removed from the official ranks, which cut off the road to being officials and pushed them to the edge. These marginalized people can easily fall into the rivers and lakes, and some still make some "investments" in the rivers and lakes to find a way out for themselves.

So where are the rivers and lakes? I think that towns, villages, busy streets, secluded Shan Ye and vast lakes and seas may all be rivers and lakes. Where there are Jianghu people, there are Jianghu people. People say that rivers and lakes are sinister, sometimes it means that these local governments are out of control and illegal violence is rampant.

Flowing clouds and flowing water is an important feature of Jianghu people, just like a storyteller who walks in Jianghu said in an opening poem: "A piece of wood is a career, and a fan is a career. Rivers, lakes and seas are home, not afraid of storms. " They are homeless everywhere. But the market is small, and farmers who prefer sons to daughters do not flow. I won't listen to books, but follow the artist after watching the play. People flow in order to survive, which will inevitably produce different ideology and personality from patriarchal clan system.

Why can't the flow management of scholars and officials who are also mobile form a rebellious "Jianghu"?

Scholars and officials are part of the ruling class. The purpose of their study tour and official tour is to realize the reunification of China. How do they form rivers and lakes that are opposed to the mainstream society because of mobility? Judging from their academic qualifications and responsibilities, it is impossible.

Although tourists cannot be compared with tourists and officials, businessmen are one of the "four citizens", and their mobile business activities will not be strongly supported, but they will not be particularly suppressed. And their basic life is promising, and they don't have to make a living by illegal activities.

Of course, this is the whole. There are exceptions to everything, and it is inevitable that there will be "wandering" and "meeting" between literati (that is, they can't be officials), while those who are down and out in the rivers and lakes, such as Huang Chao in the Tang Dynasty and Bird in the Song Dynasty, are defeated in the imperial examination hall and embarked on the road of confrontation with the court. It is natural for tourists to lose their capital and become vagrants from businessmen. It is a personal matter for literati and businessmen to throw themselves into rivers and lakes.

The "Jianghu" mentioned above belongs to the historical category. Today's people should not follow the trend, but should look at this historical phenomenon from the perspective of today's rule of law.