Chapter 16 female hanger

Probably it was Wang Siren [2] who said in the late Ming Dynasty: "Kaiji is the hometown of revenge and shame, not a place to hide filth!" This is very honorable to us Shaoxing people, and I also like to hear, or quote these two sentence.But in fact, it is not true; this place can be used no matter what. However, ordinary Shaoxing people do not hate revenge as much as the "progressive writers" in Shanghai, but it is also true.As far as literature and art are concerned, they have created a vengeful ghost in drama, which is more beautiful and stronger than all other ghosts.This is the "female hanger".I think Shaoxing has two distinctive ghosts, one is the expression of helplessness towards death, and the casual "impermanence" [3]. This time it's the other's turn.

"Nvhang" may be a dialect, but translated into ordinary vernacular, we have to say it is "female hanged ghost".In fact, in normal times, when talking about "hanging ghost", it already has the meaning of "female". Women have always been the most common among those who died because of throwing hooligans.There is a kind of spider that hangs its body with a piece of silk and hangs in the air. It is called "clam, hanged girl" in "Er Ya" [4]. It can be seen that in the Zhou Dynasty or the Han Dynasty, most of the autonomic scriptures were female. So it wasn't called a male "hanger" or a neutral "hanger" back then.But when it comes to doing "big opera" or "Mulian opera", we can hear the title of "female hanging" from the mouths of spectators.Also known as "hanging god".I haven't found a second one who got the title of "God" because of the ghosts who died violently, so it is conceivable that he is loved by the people.But why call her "female hanger" at this time?

It's easy to explain: because on the stage, there must also be "male dicks" appearing. What I know is Shaoxing 40 years ago. At that time, there were no high-ranking officials and high officials, so I have never heard of any performances for people (tanghui?).When performing a play, there is always a bit of social drama, offering to the gods, and it is the main body of the play.However, the range of spectators invited by "Great Opera" or "Mulian Opera" can be wider. Naturally, gods are invited, and ghosts are invited, especially grieving ghosts who died unexpectedly.So the ceremony is more tense and more serious.Once the grieving ghost is invited, the ceremony will be extraordinarily tense and serious. I think this reason is very interesting.

Maybe I've written about it elsewhere. Although "Big Opera" and "Mulian"[5] are both dramas performed for gods, humans, and ghosts, they are very different.The differences are as follows: one is the actors, the former is a professional actor, and the latter is a temporary collection of amateurs[6]—farmers and workers; the other is in the script, the former has many kinds, but the latter always only plays one "" Mulian Rescue Mother".However, in the beginning of "Qi Shang", ghosts appear from time to time in the middle, and in the ending, good people ascend to heaven and evil people fall to hell, both are the same.

Even before the show begins, it can be seen that this is not an ordinary social drama, because both sides of the stage are already covered with paper hats, which are what Gao Changhong[7] called "paper false crowns", which are worn by gods and ghosts. .Therefore, any expert, after eating supper slowly, drinking tea, and walking away leisurely, can know which ghosts and gods have appeared just by looking at the hanging hat.Because the show started earlier, and "Qi Shang" was at the end of the sun, so I must have been doing it for a while after watching it after dinner, but it was not the exciting part. People in Shaoxing have probably misunderstood "Qi mourning" as "qi mourning", thinking that it means summoning ghosts, but in fact it is only limited to the sudden death. "Nine Songs" [8] in "National War" says: "When the body is dead, the gods are spirited, and the soul is resolute, and the ghost is a hero." Of course, the dead in battle are included.The Ming Society died, the Yue people revolted and many died. In the Qing Dynasty, they were called traitors. We entertained their spirits together like this.In the twilight, more than a dozen horses stood under the stage; the actor dressed up as a ghost king, with a blue face and scales, holding a steel fork, and more than a dozen ghost soldiers, even ordinary children can apply.When I was more than ten years old, I used to be such a valiant ghost. I climbed up to the stage and expressed my wish. They painted a few strokes of color on my face and handed me a steel fork.When there were more than a dozen people, they got on their horses and galloped to many solitary tombs in the wild, circled them three times, got off their horses and yelled, stabbed the steel forks repeatedly on the tombs, then pulled out the forks and galloped back. Going up to the front desk, they shouted together, threw the steel fork, and nailed it to the board.Our responsibilities, this is the end, wash your face and step down, and you can go home, but if your parents find out, you will often be punished by Zhu Xiao (this is the most common thing for beating children in Shaoxing), and they will be punished with ghosts. Second, congratulations that he didn't fall to his death, but luckily I was never noticed, maybe it was because of the protection of the evil spirits.

This kind of ceremony, that is to say, all kinds of lonely ghosts and ghosts have come to watch the theater with us with the ghost king and ghost soldiers, but people don't need to worry, they know the truth, and they will never do anything wrong this night.So the play continued to start, and proceeded slowly. Among the personnel affairs, there were ghosts: fire ghosts, drowning ghosts, examination hall ghosts (died in the examination room), tiger wounding ghosts... Children can also play freely, but Not many people are willing to pretend to be this kind of worthless ghost, and spectators don't take it seriously.When it comes to "jumping" -- "tiao" is a verb, the meaning is the same as "tiao" in "Tiaojiaguan" [9] -- the situation is quite different.A mournful trumpet was blown on the stage, and the original ball of cloth on the central beam was also put down at this time, about two-fifths of the height of the stage.The spectators were holding their breath, and a man with no clothes and pants, only a small nose[10] and a few brushstrokes of paint on his face burst out on the stage.Once on the stage, I ran straight to the hanging cloth, like a spider clinging to the spider's thread, and like a web, drilling and hanging on it.He hangs it everywhere with cloth: waist, side, crotch, elbow bend, leg bend, back nape... a total of seven to forty-nine places.The last one was the neck, but it wasn't really put in. Holding the cloth with both hands, stretched the neck, jumped off and walked away.This "Nan Diao" is the most difficult to dance. When performing Mulian Opera, this is the only role that requires a special actor.The old people at that time told me that this is also the most dangerous time, because real "male hangers" may be recruited.Therefore, in the backstage, one must pretend to be a Wang Lingguan[11], kneading formulas with one hand, holding a whip in the other, and staring intently at a mirror that reflects the front stage.If there are two in the mirror, then one is the real ghost, and he has to jump out immediately and knock the fake ghost off the stage with a whip.As soon as the false ghost falls off the stage, he should run to the river, wash off his makeup, watch the play in a crowd, and then go home slowly.If you play slowly, he will hang himself on the stage; if you play slowly, real ghosts will recognize him and follow him.Crowding in crowds to watch their own performances is just like asking people to go to the wild to chant Buddha's name, or to travel abroad, it is also an indispensable transitional ceremony.

After that, it is "jumping female hanging".Naturally, there was a sad trumpet first; after a while, the door curtain was lifted, and she appeared on the stage.With a big red shirt, a long black vest, long fluffy hair, two paper ingots hanging around the neck, with the head down and hands down, she walks around the whole stage in a zigzag way. People in the know say: This is the word "heart".Why take the word "heart"?I do not understand.I only know why she wears a red shirt.Looking at Wang Chong's "Lunheng" [12], I know that the color of ghosts in the Han Dynasty is red, but when I look at later texts and pictures, there is no definite color, and in the drama, only this "" Hanging God".The meaning is easy to understand; because when she threw herself into the trap, she was preparing to become a ghost to take revenge. Red has more yang energy and is easy to get close to strangers... Shaoxing women still occasionally wear powder and wear red. That's how he hanged himself.Naturally, suicide is a cowardly act, and ghost revenge is even more unscientific, but those are foolish women who don't even know how to read words, please don't be very angry with "advancing" writers and "fighting" warriors.I'm afraid you're going to be dumb.

She shook back the draped hair, and people could see the face clearly: a round face as white as lime, thick black eyebrows, black eye sockets, and scarlet lips.I heard that in the operas of several prefectures in eastern Zhejiang, Diao Shen drags a fake tongue several inches long, but there is no such thing in Shaoxing.It's not that I protect my hometown, I think it's still not good; then, compared with the current fashion of dyeing the eye sockets light gray, it can be said to be more thorough and cute.But the lower corner of the mouth should be slightly upward, making the mouth triangular: it's not ugly either.If after midnight, in the thin darkness, there is such a pink face and red lips in the distance, it is me now, maybe I will run over to have a look, but naturally, I may not be tempted to hang myself.She shrugged her shoulders slightly, looked around, listened, seemed shocked, happy, angry, and finally uttered a mournful voice, and slowly sang: "Nunu herself, daughter of the Yang family [13], oh, bitterness, my God! ..."

I don't know the following.Even this sentence, I just heard it from Keshi [14].But that roughly means that she later became a child bride-in-law, suffered a lot of abuse, and finally got a job offer.After singing, I heard crying in the distance. This is also a woman, weeping and preparing to commit suicide.She was very pleasantly surprised and wanted to "ask for a replacement", but unexpectedly jumped out of the "male hanger", arguing that he should ask for it.They went from arguing to fighting, and the woman was of course invincible. Fortunately, although Wang Lingguan was not pretty, he was a passionate supporter of women's rights. He appeared at a critical moment, beat the man to death with a whip, and let the woman go alone. active.The old man told me: In ancient times, both men and women were hanged. Since Wang Lingguan killed the male hanger god, few men hanged themselves; Yes, ever since Wang Lingguan killed the male hanger-on, the fatal spot was only on the neck.Ghosts in China are a bit strange. It seems that even after becoming a ghost, they still have to die. The name at that time was "ghost in ghost" in Shaoxing.But since the male hanger was beaten to death by Wang Lingguan long ago, why does "jumping" now lead to the truth?I don't understand this truth. Ask the elderly, and they don't understand it either.

Moreover, Chinese ghosts also have a bad temper, that is, "begging for replacements", which is completely self-interested; otherwise, you can get along with them quite calmly.The custom continues, and although the girl cannot help but beg for a replacement, she sometimes forgets to take revenge.When cooking in Shaoxing, iron pots are often used to burn firewood or grass. Once the bituminous coal is thick, the firepower will not work, so we often see scraped coal on the ground.But it must be scattered, and no country girl or woman would spare any effort to put the pot on the ground and scrape it in groups, so that the bituminous coal will fall into a black circle.This is because the seductive trap of hanging gods is made of coal rings.Scattering the bituminous coal is just a passive resistance, but it is to oppose "asking for replacement", not because she is afraid of her revenge.Even if the oppressed do not have the poisonous intention of revenge, they will never have the fear of being retaliated. Only the murderers who suck blood and eat meat or their helpers openly and secretly, can give people the words "Don't make mistakes" or "Don't remember old evils" [ 15]——this year, I have seen more and more the secrets of these human-faced things.

September 19th - 20th. CC [1] This article was originally published in the third issue of the first volume of the fortnightly "Zhongliu" on October 5, 1936. [2] Wang Siren (1574-1646), styled Ji Zhong, was born in Shanyin (now Shaoxing), Zhejiang Province, and was an official in Jiujiang in the late Ming Dynasty.In the first year of Hongguang (1645), the Qing army broke through Nanjing, and Ma Shiying, the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, fled to Zhejiang. Wang Siren said in a letter scolding him: "When the rebels arrive, they will be at a loss. Wuyue; Fuyue is a country of revenge and shame, not a place where filth is hidden." King Lu supervised the country in Shaoxing, and Si Ren was a minister of the Ministry of Rites. Soon, the city of Shaoxing was destroyed and he died of a hunger strike.Author of "Wenfan Xiaopin" and so on. [3] "impermanence" Buddhist language.It originally meant that everything in the world was in the process of mutation and destruction; later it was extended to mean death, and it was also used to refer to the "soul seducer" in superstitious legends. 〔4〕 "Er Ya" is the earliest monograph explaining the meaning of words in my country, which was probably composed of Zhou and Han works by Han beginners. "Clam, hanged girl", see "Erya Shichong". [5] "Daxi" and "Mulian" are both local operas in Shaoxing.Fan Yin of the Qing Dynasty said in the volume of "Yue Yan": "Teams: those who sing opera into  (bans), there are Wen troupes and martial arts troupes. Wenzhuan singing is called high-profile troupe; martial arts fighting is called Luantan troupe." Said: "Wan (click here to read 'wood') lotus troupe: this is a play dedicated to singing Wanlian, and the common people do it." High-profile troupe and Luantan troupe are big plays; Wanlian troupe is Mulian opera.The content of "Mulian Rescue Mother" performed by the Daxi Opera and Mulian Opera is different, but the opening and ending, as well as the appearance of ghosts, are the same.See Section 10 of "Crossing Flowers in the Evening · Impermanence" and "Qijieting Essays · Talking Outside the Door". 〔6〕Amateur English (derived from Latin): A person who is engaged in literature, art, science or sports as an amateur; it is used here to mean an amateur actor. [7] Gao Changhong attacked Lu Xun in the "1925 Beijing Publishing Situation in Hand" published in the fifth issue of "Hurricane Weekly" on November 7, 1925, saying: "The actual rebels (according to women) Normal University students) were forced out of school from crying... Lu Xun then put on his paper-made authoritative false crown and fell into a state of psychosomatic illness!" See "The Sequel to the Canopy Collection·The So-called "Pioneer in the Ideological World"" Lu Xun Announcement". 〔8〕 "Nine Songs" is the lyrics of the people of Chu State in ancient my country who worshiped the gods.There are eleven articles in total, which are said to have been written by Qu Yuan. "National Remembrance" is an ode to the fallen soldiers. 〔9〕In the old days, before the opening performance of the drama "Jiaojiaguan", the actor often wore a mask (that is, "jiaguan face"), dressed in a robe and held a wat, holding in his hand the words "Heavenly official blessing", "referring to the official". Banners with auspicious words such as "the day is rising" are danced in circles on the field, which is called jumping and adding officials. 〔10〕 Du Biqiu originally published "Historical Records Sima Xiangru Biography", according to the Southern Dynasty Song Pei Yi's "Ji Jie" quoted Wu Weizhao of the Three Kingdoms: "Today's three-foot cloth is shaped like a calf nose." This refers to the name in the Shaoxing area. A type of shorts known as cowboy trousers. [11] According to legend, Wang Lingguan was an alchemist in the late Northern Song Dynasty; he was granted the title of Long En Zhenjun during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty.According to "History of Ming Dynasty Li Zhi": "The true emperor of Long En... Yushu Huofu Heavenly General Wang Lingguan also." Later, Taoist temples were regarded as the god of the town gate. 〔12〕Wang Chong (27-about 97), courtesy name Zhongren, was born in Shangyu, Kuaiji (now Shangyu, Zhejiang), a thinker and essayist in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Lunheng" is a collection of his essays, eighty-four of which are preserved today. "Lunheng Dinggui Pian" says: "Ghosts have yang energy, and they can be seen when they are hidden. When the yang energy is red, people in the world will see ghosts all the time, and their color is pure vermilion." 〔13〕Yang's daughter should be a daughter of a good family.According to the story of Mulian Opera, her parents died when she was young, and her aunt took her to the Yang family as a child bride, and then she was sold into a brothel by her mother-in-law, and finally hanged herself to death.In Mulian Opera, her libretto is: "Nu Nu was originally a daughter of a good family, and she sold her slaves into the Gou Lan; she couldn't bear the anger of the queen, so she forced the slave to death in the Gou Lan. Ah, bitterness, my God! The slave is forced to die in the hook bar." [14] The pen name of Keshi Zhou Jianren.Zhou Jianren, courtesy name Qiao Feng, is the third younger brother of the author.Biologist, then editor of the Commercial Press. 〔15〕The phrase "offensive but not corrected" comes from "The Analects of Confucius·Tabo", the original work "offensive but not corrected".School, meaning to care about. "Don't think of old evils", the words come from "The Analects of Confucius Gongye Chang", the original work "Don't think of old evils".