Secret: Did the concubine in Farewell My Concubine commit suicide?

Xiang Yu in Gaixia Song

Pull up the mountain and share the anger with the world.

Bad times never die.

What can I do without dying?

I'm afraid I'm afraid I can't do anything!

I can't help crying every time I look at history!

The grain and grass are exhausted, and the defeat is set. As a result, he drank too much liquor, and Xiang Yu, the overlord, lamented generously. The splendid mountains and rivers, the hegemony between the king and the soil, have all vanished. At this time, the man can't let go of only the women around him.

According to historical records, Yu Ji is a woman with both talent and beauty. She is not only beautiful, but also can play the pipa. Her dancing is also lovely, and her sword is as light as water. When she saw Xiang Yu, she knew that this man was the prince charming in her heart. She also knows that this person will be a talented person and will help the world. She also knows that this man will become a pioneer hero in history. Therefore, she is willing to dedicate her body to this rebel. Perhaps, only the heart that the item has taken away, and only the whole life that the item has.

Farewell My Concubine is familiar to many people. Is there a concubine in history? Judging from the existing historical data, this person does exist, because in the early Han Dynasty, two important historical works, Lu Jia's Songs of Chu, Han Chunqiu and Sima Qian's Historical Records, all mentioned Yu Ji. Lu Jia and Sima Qian lived not far from the era when Chu and Han fought for hegemony, so their records should be reliable.

Historical Records Yuji is quoted from Chu and Han Chunqiu.

Sima Qian's description in Historical Records is actually very simple. She didn't even record her name, but said that she was a beautiful woman named Yu: beauty has a good name. The name Yuji didn't appear until the Tang Dynasty's "Extended Geography", but it didn't mean anything about the surname BenQ. Ji was synonymous with women in ancient times, and many people understood it as Yu Mingji, which is really a misunderstanding.

In Beijing opera, it is a pity that Yu Ji committed suicide. So, did Yu Ji really commit suicide in history? The answer is none. The story of Farewell My Concubine was first recorded by Lu Jia's Chu and Han Chunqiu, but it was lost after the Southern Song Dynasty. The earliest historical book about the story of Farewell My Concubine that can be seen now is Historical Records.

This is recorded in Historical Records:

With a note from Wang Junbi, the food was serenaded, and the Han army and the vassal soldiers were surrounded. In the evening, when I heard that the Han army was besieged on all sides, I was shocked and said, Did Han get Chu? He Chu has so many people! Wang Xiang gets up at night and drinks in his tent. If you have a beauty, you will always be lucky; Good horses are famous and often ride. Therefore, Wang Xiang is elegantly generous. He wrote a poem for himself, saying, "The power of pulling up mountains is great, which makes the world angry, but when it is unfavorable, it will not die." What can I do without dying? What can I do if I am worried? Songs count, beauty and it. Xiang Wang cried several times, but both sides cried, afraid to look up.

This passage was probably paraphrased by Sima Qian from Lu Jia's Chunqiu of Chu and Han Dynasty, because Ban Gu, the author of Hanshu, once said in the Biography of Sima Qian that Sima Qian described Chunqiu of Chu and Han Dynasty with the strategy of Zuo's family, national security and the Warring States Period, and then finished it in Tianhan. Mr. Wang, a master of Chinese studies, once said: Gai Sima Qian wrote Historical Records according to the Spring and Autumn Period of Chu and Han Dynasties, so his words about Qin and Han affairs were particularly detailed. In other words, when Sima Qian wrote Historical Records, he meant Chu State and Han Chunqiu.

Why didn't Sima Qian write about suicide in Kyrgyzstan?

It is worth noting that Sima Qian did not write about suicide in Kyrgyzstan in Historical Records. Why didn't Sima Qian write? There may be two reasons:

First, Lu Jia did not commit suicide in Chu Qiu.

Secondly, Yu Ji's suicide was recorded in The Songs of Chu Han Chun Qiu, but Sima Qian thought it was against the truth of history, so he didn't use it.

The former possibility is very great, that is to say, when Lu Jia wrote Chu Qiu, he didn't write about Yu Ji's suicide at all. Lu Jia was born about 240 BC and died about 170 BC. He lived closer to that period of history than Sima Qian. Therefore, if he didn't write this, there can only be one inference, that is, Yu Ji didn't commit suicide.

There is controversy about Ode to Gaixia.

In Historical Records, Sima Qian only recorded Xiang Yu's "Song of Touring": pulling mountains makes the world angry, and if it is unfavorable, it will not die. If it is not dead, it will be helpless. After Xiang Yu finished singing, Yu Ji also wrote a song. What is the content? Sima Qian doesn't remember, but there was a man named Zhang Shoujie in the Tang Dynasty. In his book Justice in Historical Records, he quoted the harmony song of Chu-Han Chunqiu: Han soldiers have been omitted, and Chu songs are everywhere; Your majesty's spirit is exhausted, and the concubine can't make a living. The authenticity of this song is also controversial. Some people think that Gaixia Song is a fake. First, it does not conform to the style of Qin and Han poetry. Second, if this song really existed in Chu and Han Dynasties, why didn't Sima Qian quote it when he wrote historical records?

The earth-shattering love between Yu Ji and Xiang Yu has become a brilliant legend. Although the story is earth-shattering, it is only the story of the storyteller and can't be true. In history, concubines were very thin, and later stories were constantly told by folk authors. According to word of mouth, this story formed a relatively formed version in Wei Zhen's novel The Popular Romance of the Western Han Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty. Farewell My Concubine, a Peking Opera, made this story more well known, but it was getting farther and farther away from the real history.