Chapter 17 Preface to "Biography of Shanghai Flowers"

sequence -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ author of one The author of "Hua Ye Lian Nong" claims to be "Hua Ye Lian Nong", and we didn't know his history at first. Mr. Jiang Ruizao's "Fiction Research" Volume 8 quotes "Tan Yingshi's Notes" as saying: The author is Songjiang Han Junziyun.Han Wei is a romantic man, good at playing chess, and also has a drug addiction; he has lived in Shanghai for a long time, and once worked as an editor for a newspaper.All the pen and ink money I got was wasted on flowers.The experience is deep, and the tricks of foxy charm are fully revealed, and the brushwork is enough to express it. ...

"Fiction Research" was published in the ninth year of the Republic of China. Since then, we have no way of inquiring about Han Ziyun's history. In the 11th year of the Republic of China, Shanghai Tsinghua Book Company rearranged and published, with a preface by Mr. Xu Jinfu, which said: ... Or it may be written by Songjiang Han Taichi.Han Chuyemu used his sexuality as out of date, but after middle age, he hid himself at sea and entertained himself with poetry and wine.Now that he is sick and poor,...so there is something to do. This passage is too flimsy to be believed.So when I wanted to do "Shanghai Flower" Preface last year, I made up my mind to find other reliable materials.

I first asked Mr. Chen Taoyi and asked him to interview Han Ziyun's history among his fellow Songjiang fellows.Mr. Tao Yi soon became governor of Jiangsu; before he went to Nanjing to take office, he replied to me, saying that Han Ziyun’s facts could not be interviewed for a while, but he knew that Mr. Sun Yusheng (Shanghai Shushisheng) knew Han Jun, so maybe he could provide some information. I have a little material.I was about to visit Mr. Sun when his "Notes on Tui Xing Lu" was published.I saw the advertisement on the first day, so I went to buy it. Sure enough, in the second volume of "Notes" (page 12), I found a piece of "Biography of Shanghai Flowers": Yunjian Han Ziyun Mingjing, don't be too immortal, liberal and capable of writing, self-contained Words, disdain others door.Taste the master's "Declaration" pen politics, self-signed as Dayi Shanren, Taixian's two characters are also split characters.Xinmao (189) took an exam in Beiwei in autumn, and I knew him from the Songjiang Guild Hall in Dajiangjia Hutong, and it was like an old acquaintance at first sight.After the scene, I turned south, and took the China Merchants Haiding steamship together. The long distance was endless, and the manuscript of his novel was published but not yet completed. Yan said "Garden Spring and Autumn". .At that time, Yu was writing the first collection of "Dream of Prosperity on the Sea", which has completed 21 chapters; Nai Yi's manuscripts were read each other in Zhouzhong.However, Han said that the name of "Flower Country Spring and Autumn" was not very comfortable, so he planned to change it.But Yu said that the entire body of this book is written in Wu dialect, and I am afraid that readers will not understand it; moreover, there are many words in Wu dialect with sound but no characters, and it takes a lot of research and examination to write it, so it is better to change it to popular vernacular.Nai Han said: "Cao Xueqin's writings are all written in Beijing language, but I can see that I can't speak Wu language?" He also pointed out that the characters in the manuscript have sounds but have no characters, saying that although they were invented, the characters created by Cangjie on the same day were also made at the same time. I mean it.The literati play samadhi, let alone pass away, so as to be able to make a difference? "I know that it cannot be remonstrated, so don't repeat the words. When the two books were published one after another, the Korean book has been renamed, while the Wu language is still the same, making it difficult for people in Hakka province to read it, so the excellent pen and ink can't be read. It was popular at the time. And "Dream of Prosperity" must be reprinted every year, and it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Yu Yi expressed Han Jun's desire to write a book in Wu language, which is a unique school. It was a big mistake at that time. Wu language is limited to a corner, not Ruojing The language is popular everywhere and everyone understands it, so it cannot be compared with it.

After reading this passage, I wrote to Mr. Sun Yusheng, asking a few questions: (1) What is Han Ziyun's "examination name"? (2) The age of birth and death? (3) His other deeds? Mr. Sun replied that he could not answer these questions; but he allowed me to entrust my friends in Songjiang to investigate on my behalf. Until the beginning of February this year, Mr. Sun Yusheng came to see me in person and brought a piece of "Hour Daily" with a piece of "Lazy Nest Essays" by "Songjiang Diangong"; the title is "The Author of the Biographies of Shanghai Flowers".According to Mr. Sun, he didn't know who this "Songjiang Diangong" was; he entrusted Mr. Songjiang Jin Jianhua to visit, and the result was this long article.Mr. Sun also said that Mr. Lei Junyao (瑨) of Songjiang used to sign the newspaper texts with the word "Dian", so this Mr. Dian probably was him.

Dian Gong said: ...The author signed himself as "Hua Ye Lian Nong", because the fashion was not open at that time, and the novelist's social status was not as noble as it is today, so he didn't want to let the world know his real name. Sign an alias.This is true of all novelists. According to the author's real name, Han Bangqing, Ziyun, and his alias Taixian, he also signed himself as a Dayishanren, which is the split character of Taixian.The family belongs to Lou County, which belongs to the old Songjiang Prefecture.My biological father, Han Zongwen, styled Liuyi, was a member of Keshun Tianbang in Xianfeng Wuwu (1858) of Qing Dynasty.The author traveled with his father in the capital since he was a child. He is extremely intelligent and has a special sense of enlightenment in reading.Ji Chang, Nanxuan, should be tested by children, and entered Louku as a student.The older I was, I was just in my twenties, and I had to take the autumn test many times, but I couldn't sell it.Try Beiwei, but still fail.

Since then, he has been indifferent to fame.He is unrestrained and unrestrained, and although his family background is poor, he never pays attention to "Aduwu"; playing the piano and composing poems is exactly the same. He is especially good at chess; facing his close friend Chuping, he has a leisurely and elegant demeanor;Up to now, Song people have talked about those who are good at chess, and the author must be Nengpinyun. The author lived in Shanghai all the year round, and exchanged poems and singing with Qian Xinbo, He Guisheng, the main writers of "Shenbao", and various famous people in Shanghai;Gu Xing is unrestrained and impatient with restraint. Except for occasional dissertations, if he edits trivially and tediously, he will turn his head and disdain.She is closest to a certain school secretary, and usually hides in his make-up pavilion.Wherever I am excited, I pick up the scraps of paper and bald pens, and speak a thousand words.Gai Shishu belongs to the manuscript at this time.

At the beginning, it was a semi-monthly magazine, and it was published in Shuowang.Every time a book is published, the rest are short stories, lantern riddles, drinking orders, humorous poems, etc.The printer is Dianshizhai Publishing Co., the drawings are exquisite and the characters are neat and clear.According to its genre, it is almost the first of its kind in today's fiction magazines.It's a pity that the popularity of novels was not fully developed at that time, few buyers and readers, and because of repeated failures in publication, it was especially not liked by readers. The mediocre sales are due to this.Or it can be said that the book only uses Su Bai and Wu Nong's soft language, and other provinces can't fully understand it, so it is not welcomed by ordinary readers. This is not the crux of the insight. (Appropriate note: This refers to the theory of "Notes on Tui Xing Lu")

There are sixty-four chapters in the book, and the author went to Zhaoyulou not long after it was printed, and his life was only thirty-nine.After his death, his poems and essays were scattered and lost, and no one who heard of them spared them.His wife, Yan Shi, gave birth to a son who died at the age of three, so he had no heirs.A girl whose name is Tongfen, married to the surname Nie, is now also dead. But Yan's family is still alive now, at the age of seventy-five, and the author is five years old. ... According to Diangong's records, Han Ziyun's wife, Yan Shi, was seventy-five years old last year (Yichou in the old calendar); we can infer that she was born in Xianfeng Xinhai (1851).Han Ziyun was five years younger than her and was born in Bingchen (1856), Xianfeng.

He was only thirty-nine years old when he died, in Guangxu Jiawu (1894).It was first published in Renchen, Guangxu (1892); the sixty-four chapters of this edition have a preface titled "Mengchun in Jiawu, Guangxu".The author died in this year, which is exactly in line with what Dian Gong said, "Go to Zhaoyulou soon after the printing is complete". A few months later, "Times" (April 22) published another "Lazy Nest Essay", entitled "Taixian's Manuscript", which also contains many materials that can supplement the previous article.We put the first half of this article also

Reproduced here: The author of the novel, Han Ziyunjun, has already briefly outlined its outline.A gentleman and Han are friends in writing, and here is an anecdote about him: Your nickname is Sanqing, and Ying Tongjian took Qing as his name, and his heir changed his name to Qi.When he was young, he learned from Mr. Cai Aiyun in Tongyi, and he was extremely intelligent in poetry and prose.When entering pan, the title of the poem was "flowers are flying everywhere in the spring city".The test posts are subtle and clear, and are recited by Yilin.Over the years to take the examination, the title of the article is "You can't be a witch doctor", and the whole article is a game of pen and ink. Those who see it are amazed at the magic of his brushwork, but they are not in the routine.

The envoys of learning love their talents, and when crimes happen, they are ranked first, and they eat and drink.The monarch's nature is undeveloped, and the crown is not weak at the young age, and he has become addicted to haze.The family is poor and cannot hire servants. The only servant named Yalan is just given orders day and night.At that time, there was a father who held Xie, an official in Yu Province, and knew that the king's family was poor, so he sent a special letter to recruit him. In Yu several years, the guest of honor got along well.A certain year in Qiuwei, he resigned from residence and entered the capital from Henan to take the Shuntian rural examination.At that time, I had two volumes of short stories and miscellaneous works, which were signed "Taixian Mangao".The style of the novel is slightly similar to "Liao Zhai", but witty and bizarre, and similar to Zhuang Lie's fables.Everyone in the capital admired him and praised him as a genius.It was released on the list of the year, but it was not sold, but it returned home.You are lazy by nature, and all your writings are discarded at will. I don't know where these two volumes are now.At the end of the manuscript, there are miscellaneous works such as wine order lantern riddles, all of which are so wonderful that the county people can still tell them. Defend the author Regarding the history of Han Ziyun, we only have these reliable materials.Besides, it is a word of conjecture. These speculative words are indisputable; but there is a kind of rumor in it, which not only slanders the author's personality, but also damages the value of the author. We should not let it go lightly.This kind of rumor says: in the book, Zhao Puzhai achieved his ambitions as a rascal, and earned a fortune of tens of thousands.When Fang fell, he sent his sister to the brothel, and the author tasted the cloud of relief.At the time of its heyday, the author was living in poverty, and it was impossible to borrow a hundred gold from him, so he made this indignantly to ridicule it.However, looking at the compliments he stabbed, there are often those who are greater than Zhao.However, this book died in Zhao, and a huge sum of money was spent to buy it all and burn it.Later generations were afraid of things and did not dare to turn over the publication. …… (Foreword by Xu Jin’s father in Tsinghua’s edition) Mr. Lu Xun also cited a legend.He said: There are many real characters in the book, and their real names are hidden, but Zhao Puzhai does not taboo them.According to legend, the author of Zhao Ben's close friend, who used gold as a gift from time to time, hated it for a long time, so Han Sui wrote this book to slander him.When the printing was sold until the twenty-eighth chapter, Zhao was so anxious that he paid a heavy bribe that he stopped writing, and the book became popular.After Zhao died, he continued to work on trade benefits, and wrote about his sister as Changyun. (page 309) If we try to compare these two, we can conclude that this rumor is fabricated at will.The previous article said that Zhao Puzhai spent all his money to buy this book and burned it, because Zhao was not dead when the whole book was published.The latter one says that after Zhao's death, the author continued to write the whole book.This is a big contradiction.The previous article said that the author had rescued the Zhao family, and the latter article said that the Zhao family had rescued the author. These are two major contradictions.The previous article says that Zhao Puzhai's sister actually advocated it; the latter article says that the author "put pen to write about her sister as an advocate", because she never advocated and the author falsely accused her of being an advocate.These are the three major contradictions. ——These contradictions can teach us that this kind of legend is based on speculation.For example, the Han people say that you make up a theory, and he makes up a theory, and they all boast that they have a teacher's biography; but if we try to arrange the theories of the four schools of Qilu, Han and Mao, and see how ridiculously contradictory they are, we can understand that they are all fabricated. up. My verdict may not be convincing, and let me present evidence to defend Han Ziyun from a positive perspective.Han Ziyun went north to take the Shuntian Township Examination in the Xinmao Year of Guangxu (1891), and returned to the south with Mr. Sun Yusheng.He was not a rascal and a ruffian at that time, as Mr. Sun can attest.At that time, he already had twenty-four manuscripts.In February of the following year Renchen (1892), the first and second chapters were published.When we understand this fact, we know that Han Ziyun will never get revenge by writing a 250,000-word book just because he failed to borrow a hundred yuan. What's more, it was first published in February of Renchen, and the twenty-eighth chapter was published in October of Renchen, when the edition was stopped and a single lithograph was published.All sixty-four chapters of the single line were published in the first month of the Jiawu (1894) year of Guangxu, only fourteen months before the publication was discontinued.How much time does it take to write and print a 250,000-word book? In the middle, when did you stop writing because you got a "heavy bribe"?Knowing this level of fact, you can understand that the words "the seal was sold until the twenty-eighth chapter, Zhao Ji was heavily bribed, and he stopped writing;... Zhao died to continue to trade profit" are all baseless slanders. In fact, it is easy to see flaws in such slanderous words.Xu Jin's father also said in the preface: However, looking at the praises he stabbed, there are often those who are greater than Zhao. Lu Xun also said: However, the fall of the second treasure is exactly what the author has planned. (page 309) These are the evidences found in this book.What Xu Jun said is especially reasonable.Writing about Zhao Puzhai is just about being stubborn and insensitive, and there is nothing excessively derogatory about him.The most powerful part is that when Zhao Erbao decided to become a prostitute, Pu Zhai took the red paper himself, wrote "Zhao Erbao's apartment" in four large characters, and stuck it on the door. (Chapter thirty-fifth) Another example is that when Zhao Erbao settled down, his business was booming, and he was very happy to meet and eat wine one after another.Zhao Puzhai is also proud and content with his work. (same as last time) This is just a deliberate description of a chaotic person who has no feelings. He regards opening a hall as an ordinary business of eating, and he doesn't feel any shame.There are such foolish people in the world, and the author is just describing them according to the facts. The rumormongers are nervous, and they want to imagine that Zhao Puzhai is "the author's best friend" and "owns a huge fortune" - this is the fantasy of the rumormongers themselves, and has nothing to do with the author.The author writes the history of a boss who started a business: we need to recognize this point clearly, and then we can understand that the author's description of Zhao Puzhai is "plain and close to nature", which is just right.If you are fooled by rumormongers and mistake Zhao Puzhai as the author's close friend or enemy, it will be like Zhang Huiyan, Zhou Ji and a group of rotten scholars seeking "small words and great righteousness" in the erotic poems of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, and you will always fall into the magic way, forever Can not understand good literature. Smart reader!Please put aside rumors and prejudices, and come with me to reread this very interesting novel. This book is by no means a book of slander, and it is by no means a book of rip-offs.Han Ziyun is a person who is familiar with the situation of prostitutes in Shanghai; Dian Gong said that he "has the closest relationship with a certain school secretary, and usually lives in hiding in his make-up pavilion".He lives in the hall every day, so he can observe the situation in the hall on the spot, so he can describe it so deeply and vividly.He knew that the family of Zhao Erbao (no matter what her real name was) had the clearest and most detailed history of characters, so although this book was in a combined volume, it couldn't use "Zhao's family" to make a big picture.This book starts with Zhao Puzhai and ends with Zhao Erbao. Not only does it include the Hong siblings, but even Zhao Puzhai's wife, Aqiao, appears in the second chapter.If we try to read this large "Zhao Family Biography" carefully, we can see that the author only faithfully narrates the evolution history of the Zhao family, faithfully describes their differences in personality, and has no intention of slandering them.Instead of slandering them, the author pitied them everywhere, forgave them, and honestly described their family as being too honest and honest to be worthy of a family. The author seems to be saying: This bowl of Tangzi rice is only worthy of eating by Huang Cuifeng, the second sister of Huang Zhou Lan and the group, and Zhao Erbao's family is not worthy of doing this business.Hong Shi is a chaotic old country woman, definitely not worthy of being a bustard.Zhao Puzhai is too chaotic and incompetent, just as Wu Songqiao said, "I want to do business! Can I do business at the end of the day like Lu Li?" Ah Qiao is also an honest person, and when guests make noise with her, she will cry; the author In the twenty-third chapter, I tried my best to describe that Ah Qiao was too honest and rigid, not worthy of being a big sister, let alone being the proprietress of the hall.Among them, Zhao Erbao is the most capable; but she is also too honest and loyal, so she is fooled everywhere.She was fooled by Shi Ruisheng at first, and she became a prostitute.Later, when she met Mr. Shi San, she felt a real love and decided to marry him.When Mr. Shi San left, she didn't let him pay for the bills; she also borrowed thousands of yuan in debt, bought wedding dresses for four seasons, thanked guests behind closed doors, and waited to be the first wife with peace of mind.The third son of Shi never came back. After Zhao Puzhai rushed to Nanjing to inquire, he found out that he had betrayed his heart and married another wife.Zhao Erbao fell to the ground angrily and fell unconscious; however, she was sleeping on the bed, only thinking about "Mr. Shi San...how he fits in with each other,...how good-natured and tender-hearted." (Sixty-second Back) Later, she was forced by debts and had to restart her business—only her own uncle Hong Shanqing applauded and laughed! (End of Chapter 62) Erbao was ravaged by "Laitou turtle" when he started his business. She was in front of her mother's hospital bed, "Pu Zhaiyu sat holding a candle, Er Bao held a medicine bowl, and fed Hong Shi with a small teaspoon," Upstairs, the third son Lai got angry at the moment, and beat up "the whole room is full of thickness and softness, big and small, high and low." After Er Bao suffered such a catastrophe, he thought about it, there was no way to go to heaven, no way to go to earth, and wept secretly for a long time, feeling a dull pain in his chest, sore legs, he turned to the cigarette couch, and fell down to lie down. She fell asleep.She dreamed that Mr. Shi San became the magistrate of Yangzhou and sent someone to pick up his wife; she dreamed that her mother, Mrs. Hong, was wearing a phoenix crown and a Xiapei, smiling and calling "Second Treasure", and said, "I said that the third son is a man of Lu There will be a difference! Therefore, Xie is here to invite Ni Zai!" At this time, the thousand words in Er Bao's mind were squeezed into one sentence.She only said: "No concubine, Ni went to the house of the third son of the son, and started the matter first, then went to talk about it." These nineteen characters, every word is blood and tears, really has the style of "gentleness and honesty, resentment but not anger" as the ancients said!That's the end of this one. Smart readers, please take a look, is this big "Zhao Family Biography" a book that is ripped off?Mr. Han Ziyun, who wrote such a wonderful article of "gentleness and honesty, resentment but not anger", is he a person who writes a book to avenge his personal revenge? Three "Sea Books" At the end of October last year, I visited Nanjing with Mr. Gao Mengdan and Mr. Zheng Zhenduo.Zhenduo went to the old bookstalls every day and found many old editions of novels.One day he ran back to the hotel, very happy, and said: "I found a treasure!" When we looked at it, it turned out that he had bought a "Book of the Sea".This "Sea Strange Book" is a regular "embroidered image novel".The declaration office sells it.The first issue of "Sea Strange Book" has three kinds of combined catalogs: "Taixian's Manuscript" ○ "Tao Ni Yaomeng Ji" from the first picture to the eighth picture, this manuscript is not finished. ○The first time Zhao Puzhai visited my uncle on Xiangua Street; Hong Shanqing gathered in Xiutang as a matchmaker. The second time, the young man pretended to be smoked and smiled; "Wai You Ji" ○The Master of Ji Garden "Sea City" □ Lin Sihuan "The Strange Book of the Sea" has been published for fourteen issues, reaching its twenty-eighth chapter.First, one issue was published on the first day and the fifteenth day of each month; after the tenth issue, it was changed to one issue on the first day of each month, and the publication did not stop until after the first day of October in Renchen (1892). Among these three kinds of books, "Wai You Ji" only collects sketches written by the predecessors to record distant scenery, so we don't need to talk about it. "Taixian's Manuscript" is a short story written by the author in ancient Chinese. Many of the crazy insights in it can express one aspect of the author's literary genius, so we printed them heavily and attached them to the back of this book as an appendix.Twenty-eight chapters is the original version of this book, which is very precious.There are two pictures each time, the technology is not very good, but it can also test the clothing fashion at that time.There are also places in the text that can be corrected in the current editions, and Mr. Wang Yuanfang has already carefully proofread them.The most noticeable thing is the author's own thick circle; the author himself marks all the wonderful places in a chapter with thick circles.These symbols at least enable us to understand the author's own most proud or most vigorous words and sentences.We can thus appreciate the author's literary appreciation. But the most precious one is the "Examples of Biography of Shanghai Flowers" preserved in "Shanghai Strange Book".On the back panel of the cover of each issue, there is a statement printed.These examples.We have copied it and printed it at the front of this book.A lot of it can be noticed.Ruyun: The style of writing in the whole book is said to have come out of detachment, but the method of interspersing hidden flashes has never been said before.One wave is not flat, and another wave rises; or there are more than ten waves in succession, from east to west, from south to north; There are still many characters in the text, although they are not clearly stated, but they can be understood: this is also the method of interspersed. It came from the sky, making the reader at a loss as to why, eager to read the next article, and then the later article gave up and narrated other things; ; until the whole body is exposed, it is known that there is no half a word in the previous narration: this is the method of hiding and flashing. This is the author's own technique.The author himself said that the writing style of the whole book came from dehua. The word "dehua" is used well, because the structure of the book is far better than that of the original. It can be said to be dehua, not imitation.It is a record of paragraphs without a bird's-eye view layout, so the first half is about one group of people, and the second half is about another group of people—and we can say that each large paragraph can be cut into a short story, It forms a fragment by itself, and has no necessary relationship with the previous and subsequent texts.So there is nothing "interspersed" in And "hidden flash" brushwork.It is different.The author probably has a big picture in mind first, so he can arrange it calmly, fold several short stories together, pass through a section in the east, insert a section in the west, hide or reveal, and direct freely.So we can say that in terms of structure, it is far better than; it is just a series of short stories without any organization; it is also just a series of short stories but has a comprehensive organization. However, there are many irrelevant stories—A customer and B prostitute, C customer and D prostitute, Wu customer and his own prostitute... stories—after all there can be no real, natural organization.How to do it?The only way is to use the author's so-called "interspersed, hidden and flashed" method.This book is called, and the naming indicates that this book is a kind of "joint biography".This genre originated from "Historical Records"; but in "Historical Records", this combined biography has already been divided into good and bad.For example, at the end of each paragraph in "Funny Biographies", the phrase "in the next few years, a certain country owns a certain person" is used as the key to the combination, which is very unnatural.For example, "Biography of Marquis An of Wei Qiwu" relies entirely on the connection of the facts themselves, and when the time is divided and the time is combined, it will naturally become a combined biography.This kind of place should teach future generations a lesson: characters in one story can be biographyed together; characters in several different stories cannot be biographyed together.Dou Ying, Tian Fu, and Guan Fu can be biographyed together, but Chunyubi, Youmeng, and Youzhan can only be "compiled" together, not co-biography.It is just a "compilation of scholars' stories", and cannot be regarded as a joint biography with natural connections.It's a little bit better, because the main characters in it are all related to each other; however, a few people—such as Lu Junyi—are already very reluctant.The characters in the book have their own stories, which have nothing to do with each other. They cannot be told together, so the author has to take great pains to connect and fold many stories together, so that these stories can be carried out and developed at the same time.The story of the mastermind is the history of Zhao Puzhai brothers and sisters, from Zhao Puzhai's fall to Zhao Erbao's dream.Among them are the stories of Luo Zifu and Huang Cuifeng, stories of Wang Liansheng and Zhang Huizhen and Shen Xiaohong, stories of Tao Yufu and Li Shufang and Li Huanfang, stories of Zhu Shuren and Zhou Shuangyu, and countless other small stories.The author doesn't want to learn how to finish one story first, and then narrate the second story, so he uses the method of "interspersed, hidden and flashed", "one wave is not settled, and another wave rises again", the reader is "eager to read the next article, Then the article will give up and narrate other things.” Among them, Hong Shanqing is the first half and Qi Yunsou is the second half.This is an experiment in literary technique, trying to see if the characters in several unrelated stories can be passed together.The so-called "interspersed, hidden flash" The brushwork is just a way to carry out this experiment.The success of this method is for the reader to judge for himself.People who are used to Western novels with a single layout may think that this "folded" layout is a bit far-fetched and unnatural.Conversely, people who are used to reading novels with no structure like "The Nine-Tailed Turtle" may appreciate that it is a well-organized book.At the very least, we should pay tribute to the author's self-conscious experimentation in literary technology. Another verse in the Proverbs says: There are three difficulties in the body of joint biography.One said there is no similarity: one book contains a hundred people, their disposition, speech, appearance and behavior, if one is slightly similar to another, it is the same.One is no contradiction: one person sees the front and back several times, and if the front and the back are slightly inconsistent, it is a contradiction.One is without leaks: writing about a person without an ending is a leak; narrating a story without an ending is also a leak.Knowing is the three, and then you can talk to the speech department. Among these trilemmas, the third item is not important and can be ignored.The first and second items are what we now call "description of personality".There is no similarity between them and this, which is the difference of personality; there is no contradiction between the front and the back, which is the consistency of personal personality.The special strength of the book does not lie in his "interspersed, concealed" style of writing, but in his descriptive personality of "no similarity, no contradiction".The author himself also pays attention to this point, so the first In the eleventh issue, there is an article in the "Example" that says: The twenty-second chapter, such as Huang Cuifeng, Zhang Huizhen, and Wu Xuexiang, are all described for the second time, and the facts and words contained in them should be taken into consideration; as for the temperament, temperament, attitude, and behavior, is there a slight discrepancy?Readers have checked it repeatedly, fortunately. It is really admirable to consciously pay attention to one's own technology.When the predecessors wrote about prostitutes, they were rarely able to describe the differences in their personalities.In the middle of the nineteenth century (1848), Hanshangmeng's "Fengyuemeng" was published, and there were books describing the personality of prostitutes.Until the birth, a first-rate author uses all his strength to describe the life of the prostitutes in Shanghai, consciously describing each person's "temperament, temper, attitude, and behavior", and this technique is fully developed.Writing Huang Cuifeng's spiciness, Zhang Huizhen's mediocrity, Wu Xuexiang's simplicity, Zhou Shuangyu's arrogance, Lu Xiubao's profanity, Li Shufang's infatuation, Wei Xia's eloquence, and Zhao Erbao's honesty... all have different personalities, which can be regarded as a great success.Readers can probably understand these places, so we don't need to give detailed examples. Four is the first masterpiece of Wu language literature However, the greatest contribution of the author lies in his adoption of Suzhou dialect.We are used to reading books like "The Nine-Tailed Turtle" today, and perhaps we don't find this kind of Wu-language novels surprising. But we need to know that more than 30 years ago, it was unprecedented to write novels in Wu language.It is the first masterpiece of Suzhou dialect literature.Su Bai's literature began in the Ming Dynasty; however, whether it is said in legends or sung and bai in Tanci, they only occupy a subordinate position and do not become independent dialect literature.The official establishment of Suzhou native white literature starts from the beginning. I have said elsewhere ("Preface to "The Collection of Wu Songs"): To be honest, Mandarin is just the most superior dialect; today's Mandarin literature was nothing but dialect literature a few years ago.Precisely because people at that time were willing to use dialects for literature and dared to use dialects for literature, a lot of living literature was accumulated during more than a thousand years, and the most universal part of it was gradually recognized as the foundation of Chinese literature. Base.Naturally, we should not be satisfied with just holding on to this historically inherited basis.The literature of the national language has emerged from the literature of the dialect, and it is still necessary to find new materials, new blood, and new life from the literature of the dialect. This is conceived from the perspective of "national language literature".If we think about literature in a broad sense, we have to rely on dialects.Literature must be able to express the differences in individuality: begging women and advocating women, everyone says that Sima Qian and Ban Gu's ancient prose is ridiculous; while Zhang, Sanli and Li Si all speak the vernacular, which is also ridiculous.The ancients had already seen this level, so Lu Zhishen and Li Kui both spoke a lot of local dialect, and the important figures in the film were even better at native dialect.Pinghua novels such as Pinghua and Pinghua both deliberately use local dialect.In southern literature since the late Ming Dynasty, Suzhou dialect has been commonly used in Kunqu opera and novels, and there are wonderful descriptions in it. Let me take a passage as an example:... Shuangyu is near, sitting on the edge of the bed with Shuren.Shuangyu leaned slightly, put both hands on Shuren's left and right shoulders, and taught Shuren to hook Shuangyu's head with his right hand, and press his left hand to Shuangyu's heart, and asked face to face: "Ni Qiyue is here." Garden', just like the story of the story, I sit on the waves and gossip, remember?"... (63 chapters) If we change Shuangyu's words into official words: "We sat together in Yiliyuan in July and talked like this, do you remember?"—the meaning is certainly correct, but the air is much reduced . ... Among the dialects in various parts of China, there are three dialects that have produced a lot of literature.The first is Beijing dialect, the second is Suzhou dialect (Wu dialect), and the third is Guangzhou dialect (Cantonese).Peking dialect produced the most literature and spread the farthest.Beijing has been the capital city for five hundred years, the eunuchs and garrisons of the children of the Eight Banners, and the popularity of Beijing opera in recent years are all reasons for the spread of Beijing language and literature.Cantonese literature is centered on "Yue Acura"; Yue Acura originated among the people, and in the past hundred years, since Zhao Ziyong, there have been many imitations; in terms of rhymes, it can be regarded as very successful.But although there are many people who can speak Cantonese at home and abroad, Cantonese literature is too far away from Putonghua after all, and its influence is still very little.Between the Beijing language literature and the Cantonese literature, there is the Wu language literature.In terms of regions, Su, Song, Chang, Tai, Hang, Jia, and Hu can all be regarded as Wu dialect regions.In terms of history, it has been three hundred years.For three hundred years, anyone who has learned Kunqu opera has been trained by Wu Yin; in the past hundred years, Shanghai has become the center of national commerce, and Wu dialect has therefore played a special and important role.In addition, the beauty of Jiangnan daughters has long conquered the hearts of young people all over the country; Xiangri's so-called southern barbarian tongue has long become the softest language of Wuzhong's daughters.Therefore, besides the literature in the Beijing language, the literature in the Wu language is considered the most powerful and promising dialect literature. ... This is what I said last September.At that time, I hadn't seen Mr. Sun Yusheng's "Notes on Tuixinglu", and I didn't know the difficulty of Han Ziyun writing novels in Wu language thirty or forty years ago.Mr. Sun said: Yu said that the whole body of this book is written in Wu dialect, and I am afraid that readers will not understand it; moreover, there are many words in Wu dialect with sound but no characters, and it takes a lot of research and examination to write it down. It is better to change it to popular vernacular.Nai Han said: "Cao Xueqin's writings are all written in Beijing dialect. My book Ann sees that you can't speak Wu dialect?" He also pointed to the "■, ■" characters in the manuscript, saying, "Although it was fabricated, it was created by Cangjie that day. Words are also based on their meaning. The literati play Samadhi, why not let themselves be ancient, so that they can be different from each other?" This record has great historical value.Han Jun decided that using Beijing dialect would be a great success, so he decided to write novels in Suzhou dialect as well.This is a deliberate assertion, a planned literary revolution.In the example, he pointed out the necessity of coining characters, saying that if not, "it would not be in line with the gods at the time". This is really a sharp argument.The literature in dialects is so valuable precisely because dialects can best express people's spiritual principles.Although popular vernacular is far better than ancient Chinese, it is not as good as dialects that can express the speaker's expression and tone.The characters in ancient Chinese are dead people; the characters in popular official language are artificial and unnatural living people; Let us try to quote a passage from Wei Xiaxian to Grandma Yao in Chapter 23 of this book as an example: At the end of the family, the princess should go to Naifulang to find piss.Nai Chenguang explained to Ni, so it's time to take a break to find Nai's master?Ni Tangzi never came to Naifulang to invite guests, Nai went to Ni Tangzi first to find the master of Nai's family, it's a joke!Ni opened the house to do business, and he was always a guest when he walked in. A Guanli was the lord of the house! ...Let's talk to Nai honestly: the second young master came to Nai's house, so he is the master of Nai's family; if he should come, he is Ni's guest.If you have the ability, you can take the master to watch the boy; why do you want to come to the hall to make a fool of yourself?If you come here, you should set up a hall, and if you want to pull it out, go and ask, is there such a rule in Shanghai Yichanglang? So Xie said that the second young master never came, he just came, Nai dared to curse and hit him!Don't lie to your master, don't care about your business; if you want to deceive your guests, be careful! No matter which dialect is translated into this brisk and brisk articulation, it cannot but lose its original air. This is really the unique strength of dialect literature. But dialect literature has two great difficulties.The first is that there are many characters that have never been written down. They only have accents but no words.The second is that too few people understand it. Regarding the first level of difficulty, Suzhou dialect has hundreds of years of Kunqu opera and Wu dialect Tanci as pioneers, and most of the local dialects have finally been passed down in writing.Try the phrase "thinking about rice" A paragraph in the plain text: (Ugly) Ah, my son, I don't want to talk about it.Rory, go borrow some money to save your life, okay? (V) Tell me to go to Rory for a loan? (Ugly) Don't know how many friends you have. (Deputy) I, Mr. Zhang, introduced friends because it was really tricky, so I didn't push me through it. (Ugly) Ah, Jiehe, straight feet are going to kill me!Oh my God!God! (Voice) Come on, Eminem, Eph is going to cry.There are discussions.Go to Aunt Sanniang (■) outside the east gate to borrow some ■ to make a living. However, dialect is a living language and is constantly changing; as the language changes, the written script should also change accordingly.That is to say, the synonym of Kunqu Opera Shuobai two hundred years ago is different from the common synonym now. Therefore, when Han Ziyun wrote it more than 30 years ago, he had to boldly undertake a major undertaking of rewriting Suzhou dialect.Some sounds can be borrowed from existing characters.Sometimes, it is necessary for him to create new characters.In his example, he said: Most of the words contained in Suzhou Tubai Tanci are vulgar characters; but they have been in use for a long time and are well known by everyone, so they are still used.Gai Romance novels don't have to stick to textual research. This is the use of ready-made vulgar words.He also said: Only those who have sound but no words.For example, when the word "don't want" is said, Su people call it urgently, and it is the same sound.If the word "don't want" is still used, it is not in line with the gods at that time; there is no other word to replace it.Therefore, write the word "don't want" in one frame.Readers should be aware that the character "■" does not have this character in its original form, but it is pronounced as a combination of the two characters. ... Readers please note: Han Ziyun only created the character "■"; while Sun Yusheng's notes published last year said that he created the characters "朆" and "■".What is the reason for this?这一点可以证明两件事：（1） 方言是时时变迁的。二百年前的苏州人说：弗要说哉，那说弗曾？ 三十多年前的苏州人说： 故歇■说二少爷勿曾来。二十三回） 现在的人便要说： 故歇■说二少爷■来。 孙玉声看惯了近年新添的“■”字，遂以为这也是韩子云创造的了。（《海上花奇书》原本可证）（2）这一点还可以证明这三十多年中吴语文学的进步。 当韩子云造“■”字时，他还感觉有说明的必要。近人造“■”字时，便一直造了，连说明都用不着了。这虽是《九尾龟》一类的书的大功劳，然而韩子云的开山大魄力，是我们不可忘记的。（我疑心作者以“子云”为字，后又改名“奇”，也许是表示仰慕那喜欢研究方言奇字的杨子云罢？） 关于方言文学的第二层困难——读者太少，我们也可以引证孙先生的笔记： 逮至两书（与《繁华梦》）相继出版，韩书……吴语悉仍其旧，致客省人几难卒读，遂令绝好笔墨竟不获风行于时。而《繁华梦》则年必再版，所销已不知几十万册，于以慨韩君之欲以吴语著书，独树一帜，当日实为大误。盖吴语限于一隅，非若京语之到处流行，人人畅晓，故不可与并论也。 “松江颠公”似乎不赞成此说。他说《海上奇书》的销路不好，是因为“彼时小说风气未尽开，购阅者鲜，又以出版屡屡愆期，尤不为阅者所喜”。但我们想来，孙先生的解释似乎很近于事实。是一个开路先锋，出版在三十五年前，那时的人对于小说本不热心，对于方言土话的小说尤其不热心。那时道路交通很不方便，苏州话通行的区域很有限；上海还在轿子与马车的时代，还在煤油灯的时代，商业远不如今日的繁盛；苏州妓女的势力范围还只限于江南，北方绝少南妓。所以当时传播吴语文学的工具只有昆曲一项。在那个时候吴语的小说，确实没有风行一世的可能。所以出世之后，销路很不见好，翻印的本子绝少。我做小学生的时候，只见着一种小石印本，后来竟没有见别种本子，以后二十年中，连这种小石印本也找不着了。许多爱读小说的人竟不知有这部书。这种事实使我们不能不承认方言文学创始之难，也就使我们对于那决心以吴语著书的韩子云感觉格外的崇敬了。 然而用苏白却不是不风行的唯一原因。是一部文学作品，富有文学的风格与文学的艺术，不是一般读者所能赏识的。《海上繁华梦》与《九尾龟》所以能风行一时，正因为它们都只刚刚够得上“嫖界指南”的资格，而都没有文学的价值，都没有深沉的见解与深刻的描写。这些书都只是供一般读者消遣的书，读时无所用心，读过毫无余味，便不然了。的长处在于语言的传神，描写的细致，同每一故事的自然地发展；读时耐人仔细玩味，读过之后，令人感觉深刻的印象与悠然不尽的余韵。鲁迅先生称赞“平淡而近自然”。这是文学上很不易做到的境界。但这种“平淡而近自然”的风格，是普通看小说的人所不能赏识的。所以不能风行一世，这也是一个重要原因。 然而的文学价值究竟免不了一部分人的欣赏，即如孙玉声先生，他虽然不赞成此书的苏州方言，却也不能不承认它是“绝好笔墨”。又如我十五六岁时就听见我的哥哥绍之对人称赞的好处。大概虽然不曾受多数人的欢迎，却也得着了少数读者的欣赏赞叹。当日的不能畅销，是一切开山的作品应有的牺牲；少数人的欣赏赞叹，是一部第一流的文学作品应得的胜利。但的胜利，不单是作者私人的胜利，乃是吴语文学的运动的胜利。我从前曾说：有了国语的文学，方才可以有文学的国语。……有了文学的国语，方才有标准的国语。（《建设的文学革命论》） 岂但国语的文学是这样的？方言的文学也是这样的：必须先有方言的文学作品，然后可以有文学的方言。有了文学的方言，方言有了多少写定的标准，然后可以继续产生更丰富、更有价值的方言文学。三百年来，昆曲与弹词都是吴语文学的预备。但三百年中还没有一个第一流文人完全用苏白作小说的。韩子云在三十多年前受了曹雪芹的的暗示，不顾当时文人的谏阻，不顾造字的困难，不顾他的书的不销行，毅然下决心用苏州土语作了一部精心结构的小说。他的书的文学价值，终久引起了少数文人的赏鉴与模仿；他的写定苏白的工作大大地减少了后人作苏白文学的困难。近二十年中，遂有《九尾龟》一类的吴语小说相继出世，《九尾龟》一类的书的大流行，便可以证明韩子云在三十多年前提倡吴语文学的运动，此时已到了成熟时期了。 我们在这时候很郑重地把重新校印出版。我们希望这部吴语文学的开山作品的重新出世，能够引起一些说吴语的文人的注意，希望他们继续发展这个已经成熟的吴语文学的趋势。如果这一部方言文学的杰作，还能引起别处文人创作各地方言文学的兴趣，如果从今以后，有各地的方言文学继续起来供给中国新文学的新材料，新血液，新生命，——那么，韩子云与他的真可以说是给中国文学开一个新局面了。 一九二六年六月三十日在北京 Volume Six of "Three Collections of Hu Shi's Essays"