Chapter 5 three species

Speaking and reading classical Chinese, the main requirement is to be able to understand thoroughly and correctly.It is naturally not easy to understand, and to be thorough and correct.There are various reasons, one of which is quite important is that you are not familiar with the "famous objects" of the past.Words are a reflection of the objective situation, and the so-called comprehension refers to the proper awareness of the objective situation reflected in the words through the words.Therefore, if one is not familiar with the objective situation and only knows how to read, the result is sometimes like looking at flowers in a fog. What one wants to see are flowers, but what one sees is fog. At most, one only sees blurred flowers.In this sense, familiarity with the objective situation is not secondary to literacy.The living conditions reflected in classical Chinese are those of the past ages, and compared with the modern life conditions, there are quite a few parts of the past living conditions, which are either greatly different or slightly different; Thoroughly and correctly understood.Remember when you were young and read the following sentence:

(1) Sleeping without a corpse. ("The Analects of Confucius Xiangdang") (2) Relatives who are close relatives who have no expected merit outside, have no value of five feet inside. (Li Mi's "Chen Qing Biao") (3) After Huanxuan usurped the throne, the imperial bed was slightly sunken, and the officials lost their colors. ("Shi Shuo Xin Yu Speech") (4) Wang Hun and his wife Zhong Shi sat together. Seeing Wuzi (son of Wang Hun) passing by in the court, Hun happily said to the woman, "It is enough to comfort people to have a child like this." To be worthy to join the army (Wang Lun, Wang Hun's younger brother) is to have children." (Ibid.)

My heart is always vague, doubtful.Corpse, the old note is to lie down like a dead corpse, that is, face up and back down, it is quite comfortable to sleep like this, why not?The height is five feet, nearly 1.7 meters. How could ancient children be so tall?Why did the emperor lie on the bed when he received his ministers?Zhong already has a big child, why does she call herself a bride?It was only later that I realized that it was not possible to sleep with a dead body. It may be because in ancient times there was a method of burial with one’s body bent down, sleeping face down like a dead body, which is of course not good; At that time, after a woman got married, her elders called herself the bride.At the beginning, I couldn't understand it thoroughly and correctly because I was not familiar with ancient names and objects.

From the perspective of speaking and reading classical Chinese, the difficulties related to names and objects can be roughly divided into two aspects.On the one hand, strictly speaking, it is not a matter of names and objects, but the names are different from ancient to modern, but the essence is not much different.For example, the so-called "wazi" in the Song Dynasty is roughly equivalent to the current "market" or "shopping mall", and the so-called "straight skirt" in the Ming Dynasty is roughly equivalent to the robes worn by men in previous years, and so on.This is the difference between ancient and modern vocabulary, which need not be discussed here.The real difficulty with Mingwu comes from another side.This can be divided into two types in terms of nature.One is related to social organization and personnel activities.For example:

(5) Linjiang mourned Wang Yu, and was established in the first two years of Xiaojing.After three years, he had no children, and the country was divided into counties. ("Han Shu Jing Thirteen Kings Biography") (6) Dong Sheng · Ju · Jin · Scholars, · Lian · Bu · De · Zhi · Yu · You · Division. (Han Yu's Preface to Sending Dong Shaonan off) Example (5), "Guo" is the fiefdom occupied by the descendants of the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Because the enfeoffed king had no children after death, "Guo" was revoked, the fief was taken back, and it was changed to a county under the jurisdiction of the central government.Example (6), "Jinshi promotion" is to apply for a Jinshi examination, and "I can't even aspire to be a secretary" means that the examiner (usually the minister of the Ministry of Rites) did not appreciate his articles several times and failed the examination.

The other belongs to the means of subsistence created by labor.For example: (7) If the tortoise is enough to be treasured, it will be treasured. ("Mandarin · Chu Yuxia") (8) The first emperor mourned the long-term suffering of the border people, and the suffering was captured by the captives, so he repaired the barriers, orderly, beacon, and flint. ("Salt and Iron Theory · This Discussion") Example (7), "gui" is a tortoise shell that has been rectified for divination.Example (8), "Fengsui" is a beacon tower set up on a high place on the ancient border, which is called "Sui" during the day and "Feng" at night.

Names such as "National Elimination" and "Beacon Fire" are mentioned above, because they involve all aspects of human life, and the content is naturally very complicated.In the past, books about such famous things mainly included official history "annals", such as astronomical annals, geographical annals, electoral annals, food and goods annals, etc.In addition to historical records, there are so-called "political books", such as "Tong Dian" by Du You in the Tang Dynasty, "Tong Zhi" by Zheng Qiao in the Song Dynasty, and more detailed "Tong Kao" written by Ma Duanlin in the Yuan Dynasty. Household registration, service, enquiries, city purchases, local tribute, national use, elections, schools, officials, suburban communities, ancestral temples, royal rites, music, soldiers, punishment, land, four descendants, scriptures, imperial lineage, feudalism , Xiangwei, and Wuyi, a total of twenty-four gates.Although the content of political documents is so complicated, gaps are still inevitable.The reasons are: 1. All the books about this kind of famous things have always focused on major issues related to government affairs. As for some so-called small details related to ordinary people, they are naturally omitted.Second, the text is limited but the objective situation is infinite, so of course it is impossible to think about the details.In this way, reading classical Chinese can sometimes make it difficult to understand thoroughly and correctly.

For beginners, it is unrealistic to completely solve this difficulty in a short period of time; however, since we are going to teach and read classical Chinese, we must ask to understand the nature of the difficulty and the way to solve it.Once you understand the nature, know the way, read a lot, get familiar with it gradually, and it is not difficult to solve it step by step.The following briefly talks about the points that should be paid attention to in solving the difficulties of names and objects. There are too many types of famous objects and too many contents, so here we can only talk about them in general, and get a glimpse of the whole leopard from one spot.Still from the point of view of speaking and reading, there are various situations that need attention.One situation is that there are some famous objects whose names and contents are ancient but not present, for example:

(9) (Lu Zhaogong) married Wu with the same surname, and called him Wu Mencius. The king knows the etiquette, but no one knows the etiquette! ("The Analects of Confucius Shuer") (10) (Tengjiao) Tiaokou North Road, talented and sensitive, known where he is.Affected by his mother's worries, the governor Liu Yongzuo recommended him to beg for love and do things. Teng Jiao couldn't do it, so he resigned. ("Ming History Biography of He Tengjiao") (11) In the past, there was Kuafu, who never took a life in his life. He liked to take the title and was about to die.Or favoritism, under the pretense of "example" seal, "wait" gift, "repair" job, "ascend" official ranks, they all turned around and were unhappy.In the end, there are those who are good and harmonious, and they take the dignitaries of their hometowns, such as the great book · Xun · rank, · teacher · protection, · temple · pavilion, · department · courtyard, certain · country · certain seal... (Zhang Xuecheng's "Ten Malpractices of Ancient Essays" )

(12) There are those who regard literature as the most precious in etiquette, such as emperor, dragon, prince, prince, doctor, scholar, Xuan, clothing, clothes, clothes. ("Book of Rites Ritual Vessel") (13) When the husband, grass, and dog are not yet old, they are filled with boxes, scarves are embroidered, and corpses are fasted to hold them. ("Zhuangzi · Fortune") (14) (Su Wu) Zhanghan Shepherds sheep at festivals, sits up and manages, and all the Jingjing falls. ("Han Shu·Li Guangsu Jian Biography") Example (9), Lu State and Wu State are both descendants of King Wen, with the same surname. A woman in Wu State should be named "Ji". North Korea woman), figure fooled pass.For example (10), "mother worry" means Ding worry because of the loss of his mother, he must resign from office and go home to keep the system;Example (11), what is "regularly sealed" and what is "to be given", Xiuzhilang and Dengshilang are all minor official titles; XX official, XX rank official (both refer to high-ranking), teacher , Fu, Bao, Diange University Bachelor, Minister of the Ministry, Minister of the Ministry, Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Duke or Marquis of a certain country are all high-ranking officials.The above-mentioned tricks in social life are not available now.For example (12), (13) and (14), the dragon gun, 軼, 軻, Xuanyi 纁shang, grass dog, festival, such utensils are not available now.Because there is no such thing now, if you see the surface, if you don't understand the essence, you can't be regarded as a thorough and correct understanding of the text.

Another situation is that there are some famous things whose names have been used in ancient and modern times but whose contents vary greatly or slightly, for example: (15) The master Dongying worships in the northeast, the corpse is reset, and both the corpse and Yu are in the north. ("Yili · Yousche") (16) (Zong Yi) In the sixth year of Hongwu, he was hired to repair the Ming calendar and was awarded the Hanlin editor.Begging to reform the Taiping Mansion's teaching and teaching, and calling him as the son of the country, teaching assistant. ("Ming History Tao Zongyi Biography") (17) (Hong) rents a pound for others, and every time he returns, his wife is food, so he dare not look up before Hong, and raise his eyebrows. ("Book of the Later Han Dynasty Liang Hong Biography") (18) (repair) walk often, hang the head of the stick with a hundred dollars, and you will be alone at the hotel. ("Book of Jin Ruan Xiu Biography") Example (15), "corpse" now only refers to a dead body, so it cannot move;Example (16), "professor" is an official of the prefectural school, and "teaching assistant" is an official of the Imperial College, both of which are different from the current titles of junior college teachers.Example (17), "case" is a food table, rectangular, with edges on the four sides of the plane, and a tray with four short feet underneath, which is quite different from the current desks and desks.Example (18), "money" is a round copper coin with a square hole, not the current rectangular banknote, so it can be threaded with a rope and hung on the head of a stick.These, because the name is the same, but the reality is different, you should pay special attention when you meet them. In another case, the text talks about current events and quotes ancient names, so the names and objects have a double identity.For example, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was called Juren in the township examinations, and literati often liked to be more quaint and called it "Ju Xiaolian". This is to transfer the electoral system of the Han Dynasty to future generations.Another example is when reading articles in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, I sometimes see "a certain Zongbo", which refers to "Qian Qianyi", because he was the minister of the Ministry of Rites in the Southern Ming Dynasty. ", and because he was offended after he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, his works became banned books, and it was difficult for people to show his face, so he replaced it with "certain".There are quite a few such double-layered famous objects in classical Chinese, so you should pay attention when reading them. In addition, there is another situation where the words seem to have nothing to do with the famous objects, but the famous objects are hidden in the bones.For example, the histories written by Jin Yuyi and Sun Sheng are both named "Jin Yangqiu" instead of "Jin Chunqiu".Similarly, people in the Tang Dynasty wrote articles, where they should say "rectify chaos", they should change to "manage chaos", which is a taboo to avoid Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi.In addition to taboos, there are surnames and name changes, which also fall into this category.For example, when reading the history of the early Tang Dynasty, I sometimes met Li Ji and his grandson Xu Jingye, who had different surnames. What happened?It turned out that Li Ji's real name was Xu Shiji. He assisted Tang Gaozu Li Yuan to conquer the world and made contributions. He was given the surname Li and became Li Shiji.His grandson Jingye used his real surname, so he was named Xu Jingye. In addition to the above four situations, there will naturally be other types, which can be analogized and will not be listed one by one. How to solve it?The general principle is to get familiar with gradually, and the specific method is to proceed step by step in several aspects. First of all, you must be familiar with the knowledge of general history.This has two meanings.1. The general history is a shelf, and all famous things can and should be placed on it. If you are not familiar with this shelf, if you come across one by chance, and you don’t know where it came from and how to put it, the degree of difficulty will deepen.Second, the general history tells the past situation step by step, many of which are famous objects, so studying history is one of the good ways to get familiar with famous objects. Secondly, for those who are not very familiar with classical Chinese, especially self-study, it is best to read the annotations first.Some classical Chinese reading materials have old notes and new notes. Generally, the old notes are brief and the new notes are detailed. The old notes are difficult to understand but the new notes are easy to understand, so try to use the new notes.No matter how detailed the annotations are, because the people who read them are of different levels and have different requirements, there will always be deficiencies.Moreover, the scope of speaking and reading classical Chinese gradually expands, and it is inevitable to encounter those who do not have annotations.So you must learn to use dictionaries.These dictionaries are now commonly used as "Ciyuan" and "Cihai" (both old and new versions).In my personal experience, classical Chinese, as long as it is not particularly ancient in writing (such as "Shangshu" and "Yili"), and the content is particularly difficult (such as "Mozi" Sutras, Size and "Historical Records·Tianguanshu"), Being diligent and good at using dictionaries can solve more than half of the problems of names and objects. Some can not be resolved, or hope to understand more comprehensive and thorough, how to do?This is to refer to the original material.For information about the Ming Dynasty's selection system, you can check "History of Ming Dynasty Election Records" or "Continued Literature General Examination Election Examination".Another example is Wang Shizhen, a poet in the early Qing Dynasty, who promoted an official in Yangzhou. If you want to find out what kind of official this is, you can check "Qing History Draft · Official Records" or "Qing Literature General Examination · Official Official Examination".From "Historical Records" to "Drafts of Qing History", there are a total of 26 so-called "official histories", most of which have "zhi" ("Historical Records" is called "book").There are ten so-called "political books" such as Tongdian, Tongzhi, and Tongkao, referred to as "Ten Tong".Taken together, it is a huge pile of books, and it is certainly difficult to read through, and it is not necessary; but it is still beneficial to know how to use it. In addition to historical annals and political books, modern people also have some works that focus on certain types of famous things, such as Chen Dengyuan's "History of Land Fu in China" that systematically introduces the taxation of the past dynasties, and Chen Yuan's "Historical Fu History" that summarizes taboo situations. "Taboo Examples", specifically talking about the imperial examination system in the Qing Dynasty, there is Shang Yanliu's "Records of the Imperial Examinations in the Qing Dynasty", and so on.This kind of book has a variety of contents and different quality, which cannot be introduced in a short article.It is best to pay more attention to the bibliography, and then be diligent with your eyes (look through it when you encounter it to see if it is useful), and diligent with your hand (if you think it is useful, write down the title and summary of the book in a small notebook for exam preparation), so that Over time, when you encounter difficulties, knowing how to prescribe the right medicine will also be of great help to solve the problems of name and material.