The origin of Guan Yu

Let's take a look at the origin of Guan Yu first. History book written by Chen Shou in the Western Jin Dynasty "The History of the Three Kingdoms? "Guan Yu Biography" records: "Guan Yu has a long word and a fairy word, and Hedong solves people. "Desperate to run to Zhuo Jun." After a lapse of 1000 years, Guan Yu first appeared in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, a novelist of the Ming Dynasty, and it evolved into this statement: "My name is Guan, and my name is Yu, and the word is immortal. Later it was changed to Yunchang, and Hedong solved my lover. I killed you and fled the Jianghu for five or six years because we were strong and powerful. I heard that the army is recruiting thieves here, and I have come to recruit them. " Although both history and novels agree that Guan Yu fled to Zhuo Jun because of an accident in his hometown, there are still some puzzles in these two statements: in the history of the Three Kingdoms? Why did Guan Yu change his longevity to cloud length in Guan Yu Biography? What is the specific reason why Guan Yu left his hometown and fled Zhuo Jun? There is no explanation in the history books; Although Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a copy of the Three Kingdoms? In the biography of Guan Yu, there is a special sentence "I was killed by a powerful person here", but it is very vague. It clearly refers to something, but it is very vague. What exactly does it mean? Where did Luo Guanzhong's statement come from? How did this story evolve in the past 1000 years?

There is no clear answer to this episode in historical materials and literary works. In the face of such a Guan Yu who was beautified as an "eternal saint" by later generations, how could he leave such a huge gap? Although it is "the origin of the hero Mo Wen", as an "eternal saint", admirers of later generations cannot tolerate an unidentified murderer as their idol. As a result, some folk artists began to fill this gap according to their own imagination.

The Three Kingdoms Pinghua created by folk artists in Yuan Dynasty filled this gap:

Say a person, surnamed Guan Mingyu, the word cloud is long, Pingyang is also a good lover, with fine eyes, a face like purple jade, nine feet and two inches long, and likes to watch Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period. Seeing the story of traitors and thieves makes you angry and evil. Because the county magistrate was greedy for money and took bribes, they killed the county magistrate and fled to Zhuo Jun.

Although this story is relatively simple, it supplements the reasons for Guan Yu's escape and gives readers an understanding of Guan Yu's just image from the beginning. Later, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms also basically adopted the viewpoint of Three Kingdoms Pinghua.

However, perhaps because this story is too simple to satisfy the vast number of Guan Yu fans, folk artists have created many folklore to enrich it. One of them was included in the Notes of Returning to the Field by Liang Zhangju, a scholar in Qing Dynasty. The general idea of the story is this:

Guan Yu was very strong when he was young and often got into trouble. His parents shut him up in the back garden. One night, Guan Yu opened the window and heard an old man crying. After careful inquiry, I realized that my uncle in this county robbed the old man and his daughter of their engagement. Guan Yu was furious, drew his sword and rushed into the county government, killing the county magistrate and his uncle, and then fled to Zhuo Jun. When I washed my face by the river on the road, I found that my face turned bordeaux again. That's how the so-called double jujube face came from.

This story is widely circulated among the people, and so are other legends. Although several legends deify the origin and composition of Guan Yu, from most legends, folk artists obviously hope that Guan Yu comes from the working people like them. Guan Yu is basically said to be the son of farmers and small traders. His background is not noble, but he is full of sympathy and sense of justice, which is also in line with the characteristics of China's folk creation.

Although the level of artists who create these folklores is not high, sometimes a whim will confuse some playwrights and even make some jokes. This is the question of Guan Yu's surname. The legend in "Returning to the Field" mentioned earlier said that Guan Yu was not surnamed Guan, and only when he escaped to Tongguan was Guan called his surname. This is obviously a fabrication, but some playwrights come to join in the fun intentionally or unintentionally. I don't know how to research "Reading Spring and Autumn at Night" in Yin Qing Xiao Ji, an anthology of operas in Qing Dynasty. I actually said "Guan Yu's surname is Feng Mingxian, and his life is long". In addition, in the previous Peking Opera "Cut the Bear Tiger", it was said that Guan Yu was surnamed Hu (as for the reason why Guan Yu changed his name, it was similar to "returning to the field"). It is said that even Chairman Mao asked Zhou Gucheng what Guan Yu's surname was. From this, we can also see the great influence and wide spread of folk customs.

As the saying goes, "people are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong." Guan Yu was tortured by folk artists, and this time it was really "unrecognizable". However, this may be a strange incidental event that is bound to happen to some celebrities, even the "saints" are not immune.