Chapter 18 Preface to "The Officialdom"

sequence -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ The author of the book calls himself "Nanting Pavilion Chief". Everyone knows that he is Li Boyuan, but few people know his history.A few years ago, due to the introduction of Mr. Jiang Zhuzhuang (Wei Qiao), I received a long letter from Mr. Li Zujie, the author's nephew, and only then did I know the general life of him. His real name is Li Baojia, and his style name is Boyuan. He was born in Shangyuan, Jiangsu Province, and was born in the sixth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1867).

When he was a teenager, he worked hard on contemporary prose and poetry.When he was selected as a scholar, he took the first place in the examination.He had taken the provincial examination several times, but failed in the final examination.Later, the "Guide Newspaper" was launched in Shanghai, and it stopped soon; the "Game Newspaper" was also launched, which was the earliest "small newspaper" in Shanghai.He later sold "Game News" and started another "Flower News".I have never seen the "Game News" hosted by him.When I arrived in Shanghai (1904), I was still reading Fanhua Bao.At that time there were already several tabloid newspapers in Shanghai devoted to daily life of prostitutes, news of clients, roles in theaters and so on. Among those tabloids, "Flower News" is considered top-notch in writing and wit.

He is a man of many talents.His poems and sketches were scattered in various tabloids at that time; he could also engrave seals, and "Taro Xiang Yin Pu" was popular in the world.It seems that he wrote more novels after Guangxu Gengzi's "Fist Disaster" (1900).It is his longest work, starting from Guangxu Xinchou (1901) and ending in Guimao (1903) with the first three editions, each with twelve chapters.In the next two years (1904-1905), another series was formed.He died the following year (Guangxu Bingwu, 1906).The fifth part of this book may be continued to the sixtieth chapter by others and barely ended.When he died, a novel by him was published in "Flower News", which was about the life of a prostitute in Shanghai. I don't remember the title of the book; after his death, it was said that the book would be continued by a friend surnamed Ouyang. , and later disappeared.Only one of his novels, "A Brief History of Civilization", was completed. It was first printed in installments in "Xiuxiang Novels" in the Commercial Press, and then it was printed and distributed separately.

Li Baojia was only forty years old when he died, had no sons, and was very depressed after his death.At that time, Xusheng Sun Juxian, who was well-known in the southern theater circle, paid for his funeral because he felt a confidant for him. (The above records are roughly based on Lu Xun's, pages 327-328. Mr. Lu Xun's own notes, his records are based on Zhou Guisheng's "Xin'an Notes" III, and Li Zujie's letter to Hu Shi. I am now in the guest book, and Mr. Li's original book is not in mine I was close to me, so I didn’t have time to join the school. The first edition of "A Brief History of Fiction" records that Li died in March 33rd at the age of 40, and the Western calendar is "1867-1906". 1906 is the 32nd year of Guangxu Bingwu, I suspect that this series was wrongly listed as thirty-three years when it was printed. Since it is not as good as joining the school, let’s change it to Bingwu for the time being, and it will be revised with Mr. Li’s original book in the future)

It is a social history material.It is written about the most important system and force in the old Chinese society-officials.It is written about the most corrupt and degenerate period of this system-the period when donating officials was most popular.This book has a preface written by Guangxu Guimao (1903) Maoyuan Xiqiusheng, discussing the official system; this preface was probably written by Li Baojia himself.He said: ... the law of the election is prosperous, but the road to success is complicated.Scholars abolish their reading, farmers abolish their plowing, workers abolish their skills, and merchants abolish their careers, all of which pay attention to the official word.Those who serve as officials have the benefits of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce but not the labor of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.Those who love the deepest in the world will seek good things; those who admire them most will work hard if they seek them.As a result, there are those who are fat and funny, and those who are destined to compete, and the ranks of officials are extremely disordered.

The case of capital restriction began in the Han Dynasty. ... Opening up the way of donation and guiding the origin of donation.The so-called person who has enough food and clothing but knows honor and disgrace is just a lie! ... Even to practice the way of the game, it is a desperate bet;Its feelings can be imagined, and its reason can be deduced. Up to now, the situation has intensified, famine in bad years, drought and water overflow, all of them have been aided, and I invite you to reward them.And the so-called official is the sunrise and there is no limit, so that the universe will not be filled! ...Officials are not enough to assist the emperor, but more than enough to suppress the common people. ... Those who speak other words will be punished; those who criticize others will be arrested. ...So the official's aura grows stronger, and the official's flame intensifies.The skills of sheep, ruthless wolves, and greed are those that others cannot bear to show, but officials will show them; the behavior of flying dogs and dogs, that others disdain to do, and officials will do it.Next, sensuality, goods, and profit are addicted to life, and drinking like music is regarded as normal.If you look at the outside, you will see the rules and make mistakes;All kinds of absurdities, all kinds of surlyness, although they are out of paper and ink, they cannot be written.If gains and losses are weighed, jealousy will arise; if strife is severe, resentment will arise. ... There may be discord due to exchange, or discord due to commissioning. It is true that the so-called throwing bones to the ground, dogs will fight for each other.Those who are soft and harmful, and fight them with all their strength, set a deep heart to trap them, attack more than a brave man, and attack more than a strong enemy. ...

The country is weak but the government is strong, and the country is poor but the government is rich.The loyalty and trustworthiness of the filial brother is lost in the official body, and the propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame are lost in the hands of the official. ... The head of Nan Ting Ting has the banter of the East, and the humor of Chun Yu, and he is familiar with the dirty, despicable essentials and muddle-headed purposes of the husband. ... Because he sighed and said: "...I have neither affiliation nor relationship with officials. I can only preserve my loyalty with subtlety and explain its subtleties heartily, and I will be close to it." Sincerely and sincerely, a book is written, which is called.Three-dimensional imitation of various barnyard fields, there is no suspicion of hooks and thorns.Chronicles are written in dialect, so there is no pain of questioning and bending teeth.Once the book is opened, everything that the god Yu can't cast into a tripod, and what Wen Qiao can't candle into a rhinoceros, is all ready...

Although the author himself has the comment of "preserving his loyalty with subtlety", he really failed to achieve this level, and he only achieved the "hearty and hearty" step.This book is a book that curses officialdom from beginning to end.The whole book is an ugly history of officials, so there is no good official or good person.It was also a natural tendency of the time. The people have always dared to be angry with officials but did not dare to speak out; just at this time, the government's paper tiger was exposed, and a kind of freedom of speech was added - the guarantee of the concession - so the officials suffered disaster. People who dare to clearly attack all kinds of absurd, obscene, corrupt, and stupid deeds of officials. It is admitted that most of the materials in this article can represent the real situation in the officialdom of that day.

Those whose names and surnames can be tested, such as Ronglu in Huazhongtang and Li Lianying in Uncle Hei, are all historical figures, needless to say.The countless nameless officials, from Qian Dianshi to Huang Ermazi, from the thief Mr. Lu to the fake official who flattered his daughter to his boss, cannot be said to be completely fictional characters.Therefore, it can be regarded as a social historical material. The officials written are all-encompassing, from the lowest level of history to the highest military ministers, from bandits to filial and upright founders, literary and military, righteous, military meritorious, donated to the top, etc. Pretending to be—as long as one is an "official", he has his share.

The opening of a big book is a private training school, a factory for manufacturing officials.That silly boy Wang Laosan is the alternate Zhao Wen, and Zhao Wen is the alternate Wang Squire.Wang Laosan didn't live up to it, and would just hide in the kitchen of Zhao's house, "gnawing bones with his oily hands."Zhao Wen was a bit more confident, and was able to lie on Qian Dianshi's couch and study hard with a copy of "Xin Ke Wei Mo".In fact, what is the difference between the new imperial examiner humming stereotypes and the stupid boy who gnaws bones?The so-called "righteous background" in the imperial examinations is at best the result of smearing articles on the table with pulp, and thinking about it with your head down.With more skill and luck, when a blind cat meets a dead mouse, the third son who gnaws bones will also make a fortune and become an official in the Jinshi.

This is an official with a proper background. Qian Dianshi is a good representative of officials from the donated class.Although he only worked as a canonist for one term, he got a lot of money back to build a new house, which can also make Wang Xiangshen salivate with envy and praise him "doing so is not a waste of an official".His doctrine is only "to be an official for thousands of miles is only for money".His ideal is: "I don't think about other benefits, as long as you are selected early, and when you are in office, whatever your needs are, as long as you have the ability, you can always grow." These are the "wedges" of the whole book, and the following is the main text of "Grand State Activities". The first act of the text is in Jiangxi.The Fantai in Jiangxi is making great use of convenience there, selling out official vacancies.It was his brother Sanhebao who handled it for him.Please see the accounts of the Sanhebao newspaper: Wang Mengmei of Yushan is 12 thousand; Zhou Xiaozhui of Pingxiang is 8 thousand; Huzigen of Xinchang is 6 thousand; Mo Guiying of Shangrao is 5 thousand; Lu Ziling of Jishui is 5 thousand; Huang Zhanfu of Mausoleum, six thousand and four; Zhao Lingzhou of Xinshe, four thousand and five; Xinjian Wang Ermei, three thousand and five;There are also some one thousand and eight hundred, which I can't remember clearly at the moment, but there are at least twenty or thirty notes, and I have all the accounts. ... This account can very well represent the situation of selling officials that day.Whether it is Sanhebao from Jiangxi, or the twelfth concubine from Lianghu, or Huang Panggu from Beijing, or the uncle Hei from the palace, the region is different, the number of official vacancies varies, and the level of magic power varies. It's all just this way.These are all donations. The first donation is from "officials", and the additional donations are from "queakers"; the first time the money is obtained by the government in terms of status; the second time the money is paid by the boss himself.There is a quota for donating money to officials, and there is no quota for buying shortages, only the market price.The money donated to officials is historical data, and the money to buy shortages is even more historical data. "It's only for money to be an official for thousands of miles", not to mention that these officials have spent a lot of money to come here?After they take office, they first need to get back the cost of donating officials, secondly get back the cost of buying shortages, and thirdly get some more interest.There are also those "bellied" accountants, they didn't come to drink West Wind, so naturally they all wanted to get a few coins back.The wool always comes from the sheep, and the people and the country naturally cannot escape the encroachment of these hungry wolves and dogs.This is the disadvantage of publicly selling officials.Li Baojia's letters are all materials; there are inexhaustible inaccuracies in them, but after a small discount, they can be regarded as having the value of social historical materials. The writing about high-ranking officials is not always outstanding, because this kind of material is obtained indirectly, it all depends on the source; if the person telling the story is not based on personal observation, then the story will become a countryman's story after several narrations. Court affairs will never be cordial and interesting.For example, the book mentions foreign guests at the military parade in Fuyuan, Shandong Province (sixth and seventh chapters), which is annoying to read.Another example is the description of Beijing's officialdom in the book (chapters 24-29), which also makes people feel unnatural.Probably, the author's writing about Beijing society is entirely composed of some very common "talks".Among them, for example, Pu Siye recognized the word "Chong" (Chapter 24, page 12), opened an antique shop in Huazhong Hall (Chapter 25, 26), and Xu Dajun's witty remarks on meeting (Chapter 20) Six chapters), they were nothing more than "talks" that were rumored by the population that day.In this kind of place, the records in this book are of little literary interest. At most, they are just picking up stories and leaving some historical materials for the social situation of an era. Some people say that someone in Li Baojia's family was a minor official.We have no evidence for this, so we dare not believe it.But people who have read it always feel that the writing of high officials is unnatural, but the writing of miscellaneous and small officials is full of life.Most of the authors really wanted to describe a few small officials with all their strength at the beginning, but they couldn't resist the temptation of other "talks", and then changed their direction and turned them into a kind of book that picked up the officialdom.This is the author's great misfortune, and it is also the great misfortune in the history of literature.If the author had been determined to describe the society of miscellaneous bureaucrats with all his strength based on his own observations or the experience of his relatives, his literary achievements would have been considerable, and an immortal masterpiece might have been added to the history of modern Chinese novels.It's a pity that he finally felt a little embarrassed, and finally refused to abandon all the general records of "officialdom", and was finally unwilling to use his genius to do a small part of the specific description.So he wanted to describe the small official Zuoza several times, but he shrank back halfway. You can see that at the beginning of this book, there is a remarkable Qian Dianshi, who is really a master of officialdom.No matter where he is, he always holds on to the secret of "seeking truth from facts".He flattered Zhao Wen first, not only wanted to earn some money from him, but also wanted to borrow him to follow his mentor Wu Zanshan.Later, because Wu Zanshan was very indifferent to Zhao Wen, Qian Dianshi's enthusiasm also faded.On that day, the students invited the examiner and the same year group worship. ... Zhao Wen was wearing a coat and hat, and mixed in.Qian Dianshi followed and slipped in to watch the excitement. I saw Wu Zanshan sitting on it watching the play, Zhao Wen was sitting a mile away from him; until the end of the show, Wu Zanshan didn't pay attention to him. After everyone dispersed, Qian Dianshi couldn't say it clearly, and said behind his back: "There are ready-made teachers who won't flatter you. How about asking us who are rushing to worship teachers?" From then on, he ignored Zhao Wen.After thinking about it, the scholar is uncertain, and I am afraid that he will join the team to go up, so let's wait for him for another two days. (second round) Is this kind of meticulous thought expected by the masters who read "Xin Ke Wei Mo"? In the third chapter, Qian Dianshi made friends with Dai Sheng, took the route of the magistrate Huang, and got the income and expenditure errands of the support bureau. This paragraph is also very well written.But after the fourth chapter, Qian Dianshi disappeared; the author's vision was raised, and he asked a group of high-ranking officials to drive away these miscellaneous gentlemen.After the seventh round, Tao Ziyao, a candidate general judge, made a report on foreign affairs, and he was rich for a while. Until the forty-third chapter, the author probably ran out of words for high officials for a while, and then suddenly withdrew his pen to describe the lives of a large group of miscellaneous officials.The forty-third, forty-fourth, and forty-fifth chapters, these three chapters of "Zuo Za Appearance Notes" are really the most exciting parts of the book.There are several scenes in this "Zuoza Appearance", all of which are very delicate.The first act is at the entrance of the lobby of the capital (Wuchang Mansion), where the Zaza masters "stand shift" for the capital.That day, the capital summoned one of them, Qizhou official Mu Suifengzhan, and said a few words.Suifeng had this unusual honor, when she came out, twenty or thirty poor people from the same class gathered around to inquire about the news.This scene is very beautiful: it was the middle of winter.Some wear a single coat, while others are made of gauze, and all of them are patched with yellow thread, and some of the yellow thread has fallen down.Most of the boots under the feet have a pair of eyes on the pointed toe.There are two wearing "grab the ground tiger", which is not bad.As for the hats on the head, there are some woolen ones and some woolen ones, all of which are dilapidated; there may be one or two leather hats, which are also bare boards and have no hair.The lobby was open and wide, and a bunch of people stood there with red eyes and red noses.There were also bearded men with tears and snot hanging from their beards, wiping them with gray cloth towels.Now I heard that the capital is called Suifengzhan's recommender, so I decided that Suifengzhan must have some big background, and they all surrounded him. May I ask your surname Taifu. One of them was a little prettier. He went to the back of the warm pavilion in the lobby to have a look. He caught a glimpse of the umbrella stand of Manmin Umbrella, so he moved it out and placed it against the wall. He was invited to sit down and chat (Chapter 43) , page 17). Below are the discourses of several miscellaneous masters - Sui Fengzhan, Shen Shouyao, Qin Meishi, etc.Later, an old woman from Shen Shouyao's family came to fetch clothes for him, and inadvertently said that there was no rice for cooking in his house. Shen Shouyao got angry and slapped her. The old mother was not convinced, and fell to the ground and wailed.Her disturbance caused many people to gather around to watch.Shen Shouyao was ashamed and anxious, and couldn't drag her up.Later, the doorman of the mansion who lost money came out and cursed a few times, and wanted to send her to Shou County, so she stopped crying and stood up. At this time, Shen Shouyao was so grateful that he couldn't express it, and he wanted to go to the door administrator to say something perfunctory.Unexpectedly, when he walked up to him, before he could speak, the political uncle had already looked at him twice, turned around and went in.Shen Shouyao felt even more ashamed, so he thought about it again, and took advantage of the situation to yell at his mother, but she had already run away.Boots, hats, and bags were all thrown on the ground, and no one took them. ... (Chapter 44) Fortunately, that "old-hearted" Qin Meishi called his son Xiaogouzi to help. The little dog took out a small cloth bag from his arms, took out the shoes, and waited for his father to change them.The old man also took off his clothes, folded them, and wrapped them with his boots; he also gave Shen Shouyao's package, boots, and hat box to his son. ... Helpless, the little dog couldn't hold much with both hands. Fortunately, he was still smart, so he found a stick under the hall and held it at both ends; he put his father's big hat on his head, then picked out the bag, and shouted He shouted all the way out. The first act is over.The second scene is at Shen Shouyao's home.When Shen Shouyao and the Qin puppy returned home, they saw the beaten mother crying and cursing in the main room.Shen Shouyao wanted to drive her away, and she had to settle the wages before leaving, and she had to ask for the money for the gift.Shen Shouyao had no money, so she kept crying and cursing, saying, "Master is living on his wages, eating his foot money!" The wife was upstairs catching lice, so she didn't come down. Later, she couldn't hear it well, so she had to come down with her head disheveled. At that time, the little dog hadn't left yet... He held his hand and said, "Old man Shen, don't bother with that bastard. After he's gone, the old man wants to give you a present, and I'll deliver it for you. Just go to the yamen, I'm also here to get your coat and hat for you..." Shen Shouyao said: "Brother Shi! You are the young master of our brother Qin, why do I always bother you to give gifts and get your coat and hat?" The little dog said: "These things, I I'm used to it; besides, you, Uncle Shen, picked me to make money by giving gifts, so I only need four out of ten in the future." When the wife calmed down the old lady's temper, that uncle Qin's young master still refused to leave. Shen Shouyao didn't want to keep him for tea, and he didn't want to keep him for dinner... He just stood there and refused to leave.Shen Shouyao asked him what he had to say, and he said, "Ask old man Shen for eight copper coins to buy candied hawthorns." Poor Shen Shouyao... had no choice but to go in and discuss with his wife.The wife said: "I only had twenty-three big coins left from pawning the day before yesterday. It was not enough to buy half a liter of rice under the mattress. Today there is no rice for the pot, so I have to pawn again anyway. Just count eight and give it to me." He, keep the rest for me." In an instant, Shen Shouyao took out the money, and the little dog crawled on the ground and kowtowed to Old Shen before taking the copper coins, walking away and counting them out. Mr. Qin's secret of being an official: "Don't relax at all when you should fight with others" (Chapter 43, p. 20), all of which were completely learned by his elder master! The second act is over.The third act is in the living room of Zhitai Yamen (chapter 44, pages 11-16), the fourth act is in Qizhou (chapter 44, page 17; chapter 45, page 6), the fourth act is The fifth scene is on the boat of the stall class in the Qizhou River (Chapter 45, pages 6-22)——they are all excellent pictures of activities, and I don’t need to quote them any more. This long "Zuoza Appearance Notes" can be regarded as a very wonderful description, with subtlety in the depth, humor in the irony, and the closest to it.This part has the most literary interest and the value of social historical materials.If the whole book could have this flavor, it would be a first-rate novel. But the author finally wanted to be too greedy, so he put aside Suifengzhan, Qian Qiongguang and other Zuoza grandpas, and went to write about Tong Ziliang (Tie Liang), the imperial envoy.Since then, this book has returned to the status of a story-telling novel.The author died soon after. In "Fifty Years of Chinese Literature", I once said that it was a parodic satirical novel ("Hu Shi Wencun" two episodes, two volumes, page 173 below).Mr. Lu Xun also marked the title of "condemnation novel" in his (page 327 below), and put, ,,, and other books into this category.His distinction is very insightful.He said: After Guangxu Gengzi (1900), condemnation novels flourished.Since Gai Jiaqing, despite repeated civil strife, (White Lotus Sect, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Nian, Hui) have also been repeatedly defeated by foreign enemies, (England, France, Japan) The small people are ambiguous, and they still drink tea and listen to the martial arts of rebellion, but those with knowledge have turned their backs Thinking of reform, relying on the heart of the enemy, calling for reform and patriotism, especially for "wealth and strength".The reform of the Eighth Movement of 1898 failed, and the boxer changed in the second year of the Yue Dynasty. The people knew that the government was insufficient and tried to rule, and they suddenly had the intention of attacking.In novels, it exposes termas and reveals its evils, but in current politics, it is strictly corrected, or expanded, and customs are involved. There is no hidden edge in the pen, and even exaggerated words. If it suits the preferences of the people of the time, its measurement technology is far from the same, so don't call it a condemnation novel. Mr. Lu Xun admired it the most. He once said: Wu Jingzi came out because he upholds the public heart and criticizes the current disadvantages... His writing is both humorous and harmonious, tactful and ironic. ("A Brief History of Fiction", page 245) He also said: It is rare to write a book that satirizes the world with a public heart. (same book, page 253) Mr. Lu Xun respected it so much, so he didn't want to put modern condemnation novels side by side.I agree with this proposition.Wu Jingzi is a man of knowledge and noble personality. He never dreamed of making a living by writing novels, so his novels are works of concentration.He was a writer, and was influenced by the thoughts of Yan Xizhai, Li Gangzhu, and Cheng Mianzhuang, so his satire can become insightful social criticism.His personality is high, so he can satirize the world with a public heart; his insight is high, so he can be "sorrowful but not stunned, subtle and tactful".Most of the writers of condemnation novels in modern times are frustrated literati who, in poverty, make a living by swearing.What they condemned were often the crimes recognized at the time, and they didn't need any deep observation and superb insights; as long as there were vivid descriptions and excessive descriptions, they could win the welcome of ordinary people.Therefore, the artistic conception of modern denunciation novels is not high. Among them, Liu E's exposing the evil of officials is really unique and unique. Mr. Lu Xun's criticisms are also very fair. He said: All the stories described are catered to, exploited, confused, exploited, and swayed.The clues are complicated, and the roles and roles are reunited, so the record of events starts with one person, that is, it ends with the other person, whether it is interrupted or continued, it is similar to the same.However, there are a lot of assumptions, it is difficult to record them, and there is no so-called "implicative brewing" in the preface, so it is not enough to follow in the footsteps of the old man Wenmu.Kuang's collection is only "the handle of the story", which is combined to form a class book; officialdom tricks, which are slightly different but similar, are compiled into a long compilation, that is, they are all the same.Due to the requirements of the current situation, it is quick to get this, so it suddenly became famous; and using the title of "appearance" to describe other things, such as women in business and academic circles, followed one after another. (same book, page 329) This book is indeed made up of many "talks", and it has neither structure nor tailoring, which is the first shortcoming.The author himself has very little experience in officialdom, and the dirty history of high officials in his records are mostly "talks" that can be heard indirectly; sometimes the author is willing to add a little organizational embellishment, and sometimes even the minimum technology is omitted. , It became a notebook account.This is the second shortcoming.The purpose of such easy-to-use records is to lay out the "story", not to describe the characters. Therefore, almost none of the characters in the book have any individuality, and readers only see a group of hungry dogs shouting in and out.Tang Er was in chaos for a while, and then suddenly stopped; Liu Da, who was in chaos for a while, suddenly stopped.Jia Xiaozhi (fake dutiful son) pretended to be filial for a while, and then left the old lady aside; Zhen Shouqiu (true conservative) seemed to be a bit stubborn, but the following is gone.This is the third shortcoming.There is neither a good official nor a good person in this book.When the author describes this group of people, he only has a heart of condemnation, without any sense of pity; there is very little humor in the condemnation, so not only can it not arouse people's sympathy, sometimes it can't even make people laugh.This style, in literature, is very low.This is the fourth shortcoming. But after reading this book carefully and watching the author's skills in the forty-third to forty-five chapters, I finally feel that Li Baojia's grades should not be so bad, and I finally feel that he has not made full use of his talents.In the few times he opened the book, traces of imitation appeared everywhere.He seems to be trying to make a satirical novel by heart.If this book uses Zhao Wen and Qian Dianshi as the protagonists of the whole book, and uses the technique of describing the official careers of these two people in Hubei, and if the author is willing to do this, this book may become a novel. There are witty satires.However, the persecution of the author's personal livelihood and the requirements of the shallow society do not allow the author to do so.So Li Baojia had to sacrifice his art to accommodate the social psychology of the moment, so he had to degrade it into a novel of miscellaneous notes. It is a great misfortune in the history of literature that satire novels are reduced to denunciation novels.But after China's repeated defeats at that time, the long-standing shortcomings of the political system and society were exposed. People with a heart were gradually willing to abandon the attitude of grandiosity, and gradually came back to condemn China's own bad system, political corruption, and social filth.Therefore, although condemnation novels have various shortcomings such as superficiality, revelation, and evil, they can indeed express the attitude of introspection and self-blame in the society at that time.This attitude was the harbinger of social reform.A person must admit that he is sick before he is willing to delay the doctor and take the medicine.Therefore, condemning novels for exaggerating all kinds of darkness and corruption in a country is still a sign that the country will prosper and the society will reform.But the Chinese are a nation of megalomaniacs, and the introspection is soon driven away by megalomaniacs.Today, everyone only blames others but refuses to blame themselves, and piles all the crimes on the shoulders of foreign devils; while exaggerating China's spiritual civilization, courtesy, righteousness and teaching, while calling others capitalism, imperialism, Material civilization!In this era of "disgusting diseases and avoiding medicine", we look back at those condemning novelists who dare to denounce the evils of Chinese society, and we really have to take off our hats to pay them great respect. November 12, 1927 in Shanghai "Hu Shiwen Has Three Collections" Volume Six