Chapter 8 Three obscene women and chaste women

The above three types of women, one is only maternal, the other is almost asexual, and the other is quite masculine.So, in traditional Chinese society, are there any people who truly have feminine characteristics and really look like women in front of men? Have.Unfortunately, they are often referred to as "whores". There are several such "harlots" in the village, such as the famous Pan Jinlian.By the way, except for Hu Sanniang, who is a special exception who is both artistic and beautiful, as well as loyal and loyal, the rest who can show some feminine charm are almost all "harlots".For example, Yan Poxi, Song Jiang's concubine, Pan Qiaoyun, Yang Xiong's wife, and Jia Shi, Lu Junyi's wife.As for Li Shishi who was originally a prostitute, Bai Xiuying who was originally a fan, and Yulan who was originally a singer, it is naturally not a problem.

These women have the following characteristics in common: One is "beauty".Most of these women are young, beautiful and graceful.For example, Pan Jinlian has "brows like willow leaves in early spring, often full of rain, hatred and cloud sorrow; face like peach blossoms in March, hiding the romantic moonlight. Slender waist and graceful, restrained swallows and warblers are lazy; sandalwood mouth is light and seductive. The bees are mad and the butterflies are chaotic".The others are roughly the same, not only beautiful, but also coquettish and alluring.Therefore, when Ximenqing saw Pan Jinlian, he "crippled half of himself first"; when the monks who came to Yang Xiong's house to practice affairs, when they saw Pan Qiaoyun, "all turned upside down"; Even Song Jiang, who is "not very important in women's sex", met Li Shishi, and wrote "rumours" such as "borrowing Yanshui Village in Shandong to buy the spring scenery of Fengcheng" , we can see its great charm.

The second is "prostitution".Pan Jinlian was "the leader who loves to steal", and later she really hooked up with Ximen Qing.At the beginning, Ximen Qing was just poking around, afraid of hitting a snag.Who knew that Pan Jinlian was more proactive than him, and she laughed and said, "Don't ask me, officials! Are you really hooking me up?" Of course, it immediately turned into a firewood.In addition, Yan Poxi's adultery with Zhang Wenyuan, Pan Qiaoyun's adultery with Pei Ruhai, and Jia's adultery with Li Gu are almost all "as if their souls have been captured" without restraint.As for Bai Xiuying, Li Shishi, etc., they were originally fan-headed prostitutes, so naturally "everyone can be a husband".

The third is "poison".Pan Jinlian poisoned Wu Dalang to death with her own hands, Pan Qiaoyun framed Shi Xiu, Yan Po regretted not being able to put Song Jiang to death, Bai Xiuying teased Lei Heng, and insulted, abused and beat Lei's mother in public.The Jia family went to the government to testify, testify, and falsely accuse Lu Junyi, causing Lu Junyi to almost go to the execution ground. These are the proofs of their "viciousness".There is also the wife of Liu Zhizhai in Qingfeng Village, who was kidnapped by Wang Xiaohu and almost lost his life. Thanks to Song Jiang's intercession, he escaped from danger.

Beauty, obscenity, and poison can be said to be the common characteristics of the above-mentioned "harlots".This seems to be intentionally or unintentionally proving a "truth": "Those who are beautiful must have lustful intentions, and those who have lustful intentions must have malicious intentions." In other words, "all obscenities and poisons come from one set."This is not only the opinion of the author, but also the opinion of ordinary people in traditional Chinese society, so these images have been widely recognized by readers.This is actually the logical conclusion and image embodiment of the two traditional concepts in China.These two traditional concepts are: "all evils are headed by adultery" and "the most poisonous woman's heart".

We will talk about "the head of all evil and adultery" later, here we only say "the most poisonous woman's heart". It should be admitted that the prejudice and hostility towards women in traditional Chinese society is surprising.As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius had a saying that "only women and villains are difficult to raise".He said that women are as difficult to deal with as villains.You alienate them, and they resent; approach them, and they cock their tails.That's obviously shitty talk.So later, Mr. Lu Xun sarcastically said, I wonder if the women mentioned by Confucius include his mother?

But now it seems that Confucius is still polite, because there are more harsh words: "the most poisonous woman's heart". "Women" seem to be used to prove that this statement is not false. Pan Jinlian poison.When Wu Dalang came to catch the adulterer, Ximen Qing was so frightened that he got under the bed and hid.But Pan Jinlian said: "When I'm free, I have to show off my boxing stick. When I'm in a hurry, it's useless. When I see a paper tiger, I'm scared." This is really poisonous.The first is to provoke generals, using "it's useless" to provoke Ximen Qing; the second is to embolden Ximen Qing, telling Ximen Qing that the other party is just a "paper tiger"; Come to Wuhan University.Sure enough, Ximen Qing rushed out and kicked Wu Dalang over.

Wang Po is poisonous.When Ximenqing was at a loss because of being caught for rape, Wang Po sneered and said, "You are the helmsman, and I am on the boat. I don't panic, but you panic." So she personally made a poisonous plan: "Pull this dwarf to death. It’s gone, and it’s completely burnt with a fire.” He taught Pan Jinlian how to poison and how to wipe out traces, and Wu Dalang was killed.It was so poisonous that even Ximen Qing felt ashamed, saying, "I was a man in vain." Jiashi poison.When she and Li Gu falsely accused Lu Junyi in the courtroom, they said, "Husband, it's hard to enter the public court with false facts, and it's hard to refute the real facts." The tone made the government disbelieve.Overtly he was thinking of Lu Junyi, but secretly he was sending him to death, much more vicious than that Li Gu.

In the above cases, women are clearly more toxic than men.Their hearts are more ruthless, their hands are hotter, their courage is greater, and they do things more absolutely. Isn't it just "the most poisonous woman's heart"? Not only little girls like Pan Jinlian are said to be "poisonous women", but even those leading figures among women are also called "poisonous". Empress Lu is poisonous.Han Xin, the founding father of the Han Dynasty, was trapped and killed by Empress Lu.Although the actual mastermind was Liu Bang and the accomplice was Xiao He, in the end the blame was still on Empress Lu because she was a woman.However, after Liu Bang's death, she cut off Madam Qi's hands and feet and threw them in the toilet. This approach was indeed too vicious.

Empress Wu poisoned.As the saying goes, the poison of a tiger does not eat its sons, but Wu Zetian did not even spare her own son.Zhang Huai's prince Li Xian was killed by her, and the eldest son Li Hong is said to have also been killed by her.King Luo Bin drafted a letter for Xu Jingye, listing a series of crimes committed by the Wu family, including empress Jian Yuan, trapping Wujun, killing sisters and brothers, killing the king and mother, etc., all to prove that she has a vicious heart. Cixi poison.From the killing of Sushun to the imprisonment of Guangxu, they are all proofs of her poison.There is even a folk saying that the Empress Dowager Ci'an was also poisoned to death by her.With Ci'an's cowardice and kindness, he still refuses to let it go, which shows that he is poisonous.

More importantly, these few people are both beautiful and lewd.Among them, Wu Zetian's beauty and prostitution are the most prominent.King Luo Bin's proclamation said that she "sees jealousy at the beginning, and the eyebrows refuse to let people; the colorful sleeves are slanderous, and the charm can confuse the master", which is to admit her beauty; to say that she is "filthy and chaotic, close to adultery and secluded" is to accuse her of fornication. .According to the fact that Wu was originally Taizong's woman, and later married Gaozong, one woman and two husbands, isn't it prostitution?What's more, when he was in his seventies and eighties, he raised two more noodles—brothers Zhang Zongchang and Zhang Yizhi, aren't they prostitutes?There is also Empress Lu, who is said to have passed privately with others.Cixi didn't seem to have a secret relationship with anyone, but someone made up the statement that An Dehai or Li Lianying were fake eunuchs. Therefore, from the court to the folk, from historical facts to novels, all kinds of facts and rumors seem to prove the saying that "all obscenity and poison come from one set".When a society is chanting certain words repeatedly, it will form a mindset in people's psychology, and even form a conditioned reflex, so that when they see "eyebrows like willow leaves in early spring", they will firmly believe She "always harbors sorrow and hatred for the rain"; as soon as she sees "the face is like a peach blossom in March", she concludes that she is "hidden with amorous feelings".Next, it is to tease, seduce, molested, or assert that he has the "most poisonous heart" and is a "disaster" that cannot be provoked. It is undeniable that there are villains among women, just as there are villains among men.The problem is that there are so many bad guys among men, and no one makes a fuss. Why do women have to make a fuss about three or five bad guys?What's even more strange is, why does it have to involve the relationship between men and women when it comes to women's badness or poison?And must it come down to the fact that these women are beautiful and feminine? This is of course a question that needs to be analyzed separately.But one thing is for sure, since all beautiful and feminine women are "vicious women", then who would dare to be more beautiful and feminine? Of course, there is a kind of beautiful woman who is not afraid of being criticized, and that is "virtuous women". Just as the aforementioned "weak woman" and "strong woman" are opposite poles, "virtuous woman" and "poisonous woman" are also exactly the opposite pair.How many chaste women were there in ancient China?Seems like a lot.There are as many as 10,000 people named in "Ming History" alone, and more than 300 of them are the most famous ones, and as many as 36,000 martyrs of the Ming Dynasty included in "Ancient and Modern Book Collection". There are so many martyrs, they can't all be ugly, right?In fact, there are quite a few beauties among them.For example, the third sister of Lie Nu Shan and the chaste woman Sun Chai in the Ming Dynasty were all young and beautiful women.It is precisely because of their youth and beauty that bandits and evil young men come to try to rape them, and they resist the violence and die, becoming martyrs.So although they are beautiful, they will not be blamed.But it also proves that it is not a good thing for a woman to be too beautiful.For example, if these two are so ugly, wouldn't there be no one to come up with ideas? Obviously, being too beautiful, too sexy, too attractive, or too feminine is a problem for those "virgin women" or those who are going to be "virgin women".Therefore, those widows who are determined to be chaste have only two options: either commit suicide as soon as possible, and get rid of it once and for all; or try to make themselves mediocre and ugly, and it is best to forget that they are women.Because for a widow, especially a young widow, the most difficult temptation to resist is the temptation of sex, and the most severe test is also the test of sex, and sex is always related to beauty, appearance, posture, appearance, etc.When a man meets a beautiful woman, it is rare for him not to be tempted.If you know that the other party is a widow, you will be even more imaginative, and even cause trouble.A widow is not protected by a man and is easy to bully; a widow has sexual experience and is easy to seduce.Therefore, "there are many gossips in front of the widow's door", and there are more gossips in front of the young and beautiful widows.Widows have no way to make themselves not widows, the only countermeasure is of course to make themselves look neither young nor beautiful. Of course, this approach may only be necessary for young and beautiful women who have not been widowed for a long time.For those "senior widows" who have been widowed for a long time, are older, and have already lost their hearts, there is actually no such problem.The burden of life, the depression of mood, the depression of nature, and the loneliness of emotion will all advance and accelerate their aging. Maybe when they are thirty or forty years old, they will already have wrinkles, white hair, and even dull eyes, dull speech, and no charm. There is nothing to say. Widows are the majority of "virgin women".From this, we can speculate that the so-called "virtuous women" are basically "asexual", similar to the aforementioned "weak women".However, the asexuality of weak women is mainly due to others not treating them as human beings; at least half of the asexuality of chaste women is that they do not regard themselves as human beings.What's more, although the chaste women have a "strong" side, they are still just "weak women" in essence. A beautiful, sexy and attractive woman is a "poisonous woman", and a "virtuous woman" who is strong, upright and guarded like a jade has no or dare not be feminine. Is there no such thing as young, beautiful, charming, strong, brave, smart and capable in ancient China? A kind-hearted woman?Yes, but very few. Zhao Pan'er in Guan Hanqing's Zaju "Save the Wind and Dust" is one.Zhao Paner is a prostitute. As a young and beautiful woman who loves life, she once hoped to marry an ideal man and live a free and happy life.However, many years of prostitution made her know that this is probably her own wishful thinking, which may not be fulfilled: "If you want to marry an honest person, you are afraid that you will never be a good pair; if you want to marry a handsome person, you are afraid Abandoned halfway." Therefore, she always kept a clear head on the matter of "marrying a good man", and tried her best to dissuade her younger sister Song Yinzhang (another prostitute) from marrying a playboy Zhou She.Sure enough, as soon as Song Yinzhang entered Zhou She's house, he was given fifty killing sticks first, and then suffered various abuses.In order to save Song Yinzhang, Zhao Pan'er took advantage of Zhou She's love of women and liking the new and loathing the old, and pretended to marry Zhou She, asking Zhou She to write a revision letter to Song Yinzhang, and then announced his "goodbye" to Zhou She.When Zhou She asked her that she "had made a vow" to marry herself, Zhao Paner replied, don't you always go to brothels?Those of us prostitutes, who are not playing tricks every time, pointing at the bright incense and precious candles, pointing at the queen of heaven and earth, betting on ghosts to kill gods! "If you believe in this mantra, you will die early." Finally, he used his own deception to retaliate against Zhou She's deception to Song Yinzhang. her wit and bravery. Tan Jier in another drama "Wangjiangting" by Guan Hanqing is also one.Tan Ji'er was a widow who later remarried to Bai Shizhong, a young official, and lived a loving and happy life as husband and wife.However, in order to occupy her, the powerful Yang Yanei falsely accused Bai Shizhong to the emperor that he had obtained the gold medal of Shijian and wanted to commit crimes.In order to defend her husband and her hard-won happy life, Tan Jier stepped forward. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, she disguised herself as a fisherwoman and came to Wangjiang Pavilion. For the sake of fame, he talked cleverly, cooked fish and persuaded him to drink, earned the gold medal of Shijian, thwarted Yang's plot and tricks, and let the traitor "return with a full boat and empty load". Zhao Pan'er and Tan Ji'er are the best of these women.One of them is a courtesan, and the other is a remarried widow. Their social status is not high, but their personality is not humbled by this, nor is their knowledge short.Their audacity, intelligence, poise, and unflappability put even men to shame.After learning of Yang Yanei's conspiracy, Bai Shizhong just frowned and sighed, but Tan Ji'er changed from her previous shyness and gentleness, and said boldly: "You said he was Huahua Taisui, and he wanted to force me to follow every step of the way. I ah If you are afraid that the world will be turned upside down, just follow him. Just open your eyes and watch this matter, and see how it will make him playful." What a courage, what a boldness! Among the images of women in ancient China, what I admire most is this kind of characters who are both heroic and son-in-law, both masculine and feminine, although they are not many in number and their social status is often very humble.Most of them are prostitutes, or maidservants, or remarried widows, or captive lovers, some lose their virginity, some lose their chastity, and some lose their freedom, but I think that only they are the real "virtuous women". What is "Zhen"?Chastity means righteousness, including loyalty, integrity, compassion and a sense of justice, "being poor without losing righteousness, reaching without breaking away from the Tao", and so on.This is precisely the rare quality of this type of woman.What they have in common is that they can keep the pure land in their hearts when they are "involuntary".When they had to sell their appearance in order to survive, they tried their best to "sell their art but not their body" (such as Xin Yaoqin in "The Oil Seller Monopolizes the Oiran").If you can't get what you want, you should "sell your body but not your heart" (such as Du Shiniang in "Du Shiniang Sinks the Treasure Box in Anger"), and the true love is only given to the true lover.So when Du Shiniang learned of Li Jia's change of heart, she felt deeply deceived and defiled.As a "prostitute", she cannot keep her body; as a "virgin", she must defend her heart.Therefore, she did not hesitate to die and sank in anger.Because in their view, the freedom of the mind is more precious than the freedom of the body, and the purity of the mind is more important than the cleanliness of the body. "There is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart." Now that the heart is dead, what pity does this body have? Obviously, this is not only "Zhen" but also "Lie".Those who are fierce also die for righteousness.The righteousness that Du Shiniang dedicated her life to was not the hypocritical "propriety and righteousness" preached by the ruling class such as "a virgin is not a second husband" and "starving to death is a minor matter, but injustice is a major matter", but the sincerity and sincerity in her own heart. The "friendship" is so moving.After Du Shiniang threw himself into the river, the onlookers gritted their teeth and were filled with righteous indignation. They wanted to beat Li Jia and Sun Fu. In addition, such as Zhao Paner's "Draw Your Swords to Help", Tan Jier's "Stand Up Against the Enemy", and Luo Meiying's "Strengthen My Wife's Guide", can all be described as "fierce".The story of Luo Meiying was first seen in Liu Xiang's "Biography of Martyr Girls", and later became a widely circulated folk tale, and was adapted by Shi Junbao into the drama "Autumn Hu Xie Wife".Luo Meiying is a beautiful and kind woman.For the love of husband and wife after marriage, she would not choose a rich man, but would rather marry a poor Qiuhu.Three days after the marriage, Qiuhu was arrested as a young man.Luo Meiying rejected the request of her parents and mother-in-law to remarry, she was virtuous and guarded herself, prepared for hardships.Ten years later, Qiuhu got an official and returned home. The husband and wife met in Sangyuan, but they did not know each other, and Qiuhu even molested her as someone else's wife.When Luo Meiying learned that this gangster was the husband she had been looking forward to for many years, she was extremely angry and insisted on a divorce.Obviously, what Luo Meiying wants to defend is not feudal etiquette, but the love between husband and wife and personal dignity that she values ​​very much. It should be said that this kind of image is the most worthy of recognition of ancient Chinese women.