Chapter 26 Section Four Theory and Creation of the Image of Honest Officials: "Fifteen Guans" and "Kuang Zhong's Pen"

"Fifteen Guans" 15 is adapted from the legendary "Dream of Two Bears", which deletes the coincidental plots and the idea that the god entrusts the dream to break the unjust prison, thus becoming a relatively pure "koan drama". The basic plot is: the rogue Lou Ah Shu killed the alcoholic You Hulu and stole his 15 pennies. You's stepdaughter Su Shujuan ran away to seek relatives because her father joked that she would sell her that night. Based on this, they arbitrarily judged that Su and Xiong had stolen money, killed their father, and committed adultery, and sentenced them to death.The upright official Kuang Zhong found out the grievance when he was executed, and overstepped his authority to intervene. After careful investigation, he found the clues of the murderer, so he disguised himself as Mr. Kaizi to make a private visit, and used the trick of Kaizi to induce the real murderer, Lou Ashu, to confess. people's injustice.

As a public case drama, "Fifteen Guan" reflects very typical folk tastes, and its plot also belongs to the mode of this kind of drama "coincidence of strange injustices--faint officials wrong the innocent--honest officials use strange tricks to solve the case".The reason why this kind of drama is popular among the people is of course related to the image of honest officials, but more importantly, it is the fun of strange cases and solving cases.In "Fifteen Strings", the fifteen strings became the center of a coincidence, Su and Xiong were wronged because of this, and the real murderer shouted "stop the thief" to make the case even more confusing. Such a story can attract the curiosity of ordinary people.Moreover, Kuang Zhong solved the case with a strange trick of dismantling characters, which is similar to the plot of Kou Zhun's fake Yin and Cao's trial of Pan Renmei in "Pan Yang Litigation": the key is not in its realistic possibility, but in the interestingness of this legendary plot. Sex can satisfy the psychology of ordinary people who like to hear anecdotes and strange things.Kuang Zhong associates the words and meanings of "rat", "stealing", "sleeping" and the meaning of "mouse stealing oil" (especially), making Lou Ashu tell the truth in fear. This psychological warfare is written in the script. very successful.If you stand on the standpoint of the elite, you will think that this play is absurd and useless, but its popularity among the people lies in the folk taste it embodies in the absurdity.

Of course, the upright officials in koan dramas, as ordinary people's "fantasy idols" when they can't control their own destiny, are also the reason for the popularity of such dramas.The image of Kuang Zhong created in the adaptation of "Fifteen Guans" has removed the mystery and increased the description of his inner conflict.He has the idea that "the king despises the people and is the most important", so he can find suspicious points when the prisoner goes to the execution ground, but interrogating the case is beyond the scope of his powers, and it has already been finalized in the third instance, whether it can be cleared is very problematic, so he He couldn't help hesitating, but seeing the prisoner's grievances, he felt that he should not be executed hastily, "This pen weighs a thousand catties, once it falls, two lives will be lost! Since you know that there is a grievance, you should make a clear judgment. How can you kill someone by mistake? Can it be regarded as a clean official?" Finally, at the risk of losing his official position, he made up his mind to overturn the case.The description of his psychological conflicts gives his character a more realistic connotation.The revised version also makes a wonderful caricature description of the dull officials too stubborn and the old bureaucrat Zhou Zhen as the foils.Too obsessed with the scene at the beginning of the trial, which typically shows his sloppy, stupid, and stubborn character: "Seeing that she is as beautiful as a peach, how can no one seduce her? How can she be as cold as ice when she is young? She is in love with her adulterer. Naturally, there was a sense of fly-to-wing, and the father stopped him, so he killed his father and stole his property. This is human nature. Even if you don't ask about this case, you already understand it. . . . "People's love and hatred, through These images are expressed.

The success of the revised version of "Fifteen Strings" typically reflects the different imaginations and sustenance of history among officials, intellectuals, and folk.On the whole, the revised version of "Fifteen Guan" is still an opera work with strong folk taste, folk sentiment and folk consciousness.However, officials and intellectuals have made an understanding of it as "used for me".Officials saw the "realistic educational function" in it, and interpreted its theme as opposing bureaucracy, subjectivism, and dogmatism, so that it could play a role in the actual rectification movement.Intellectuals like the Ba people saw humanitarianism, the seriousness of using a pen, and so on.Ba Ren's essay "Kuang Zhong's Pen" 16 associates Kuang Zhong's "three-rising and three-falling pen" with his humanitarian spirit of "good at seeing people under the pen", and expresses the real bureaucrat's use of pens. Irresponsibility and viciousness made a shocking description: They are "satisfied with their high-ranking officials and rich salaries, signing documents with their eyes closed, and hate their subordinates who have different opinions. In order to get rid of unsatisfactory cadres, Deliberately set a trap to ask you to jump." The conclusion of the article is that "a person who is responsible to others will definitely get the support of the people's power and will have great courage; and a person who has the support of the people's power will definitely be able to concentrate The wisdom of the masses will lead to great wisdom.”The solemnity and humanitarian spirit of using a pen (the pen symbolizes power here) associated with "Fifteen Strings", although there is also a basis in the script, it is not the gist of the play, but an extension of the intellectual Baren.On the one hand, this has the meaning of persuading, and on the other hand, it is also criticizing reality from the standpoint of intellectuals.In connection with the reality at the time, it can be found that this is a deeply touching statement.That is to say, as far as the critics are concerned, in the era when "labeling" and "sticking" criticism prevailed, the consequences of the misuse of the pen have reached a shocking degree. It has reached the point of "killing people with a pen".The Ba people's emphasis on the seriousness of using the pen and the humanitarian spirit of "there are people in the pen" have their own reasons in the development of their thoughts, and at the same time have their real references. "Kuang Zhong's pen" just gave him a reason to argue That's all. [[Note:]]1 Quoted from Wu Han's "On Historical Drama", "Literary Review" No. 3, 1961. 2 Refer to Li Xifan's "Rediscussion on the Issue of Historical Dramas—An Answer to Comrade Zhu Zhai", "Literary Review

On "1963 No. 1 issue. 3 Quoted from Mao Dun's "On History and Historical Plays", the original issue of "Literary Review", Issue 5, 1961. 4 Quoted from Shu Nan's "Discussion on the Issue of Historical Dramas", People's Daily, April 5, 1961 day. 5 Quoted from Huang Qiuyun's "Empty Valley Foot Sounds--After Reading of "Tao Yuanming's Elegy", see "Huang Qiu Yun's Selected Works", Huacheng Publishing House, 1986 edition, pages 736-737. 6 See Huang Qiuyun's "My Literary Path", which is the preface of "Huang Qiuyun's Selected Works". 7 See Huang Qiuyun's "Ten Years of Life and Death, Two Boundless Boundaries", ibid., page 164. 8 Refer to Yan Mo's "For whom to write an elegy--Comment on the historical novel "Guangling San" and "Written by Tao Yuanming"

"Elegy", "Literary News", Issue 2, 1965. 9 See Hong Zicheng's "1956: The Era of Hundred Flowers", Shandong Education Press, 1998 edition.No. 16--18 pages. 10 Quoted from the editorial "People's Daily", "From "A Play Revived a Genre of Drama"", May 18, 1956. 11 "Guan Hanqing" was first published in the May 1958 issue of "Script", and has been revised many times. According to the seventh volume of "Tian Han Anthology", China Drama Publishing House, 1983 edition.Guo Mo For Ruoyu, see the Chinese language of Guo Shixin in the appendix on page 357 of the same book. 12 Quoted from Wang Xingzhi's "Song of the Playwright--A Brief Discussion on the Drama "Guan Hanqing"", originally published in "The Drama

Drama Art Theory Series 1, 1979. 13 "Written by Tao Yuanming", originally published in "People's Literature", November 1961, According to "Chen Xianghe Collected Works", Sichuan People's Publishing House, 1980 edition comment. 14 Same as Note 5. 15 Kunqu opera script "Fifteen Strings", China Drama Publishing House, 1960 edition, for quotations, see No. 30 pages, 19--20 pages. 16 According to Baren's "Zunming Collection", Beijing Publishing House, 1957 edition, see page 40 of the book for quotations.