Chapter 2 Chapter 2 What is Classical Chinese?

2.1 The difference between classical Chinese and vernacular Generally speaking, common sense is easy to distinguish whether a book or a book, a paragraph or an article, or even as short as a sentence, is in classical Chinese or vernacular.For example: (1) Chu was used during the five dynasties' wars.The former emperor Taizu tried to use Zhou's division to break Li Jing's 150,000 soldiers at the foot of Qingliu Mountain, and captured his generals Huang Fuhui and Yao Feng outside the east gate of Chu, so he defeated Chu.Cultivate and test its mountains and rivers, according to its pictures, rise up to look at the pass of the clear stream, the place where you want to catch the brilliance and the phoenix, and there are no old people.It will be a long time to cover the peace of the world.Since the Tang Dynasty lost its power, the country has been divided, and heroes have fought side by side. How can there be countless people who belong to the enemy country?And in the Song Dynasty, under the mandate of heaven, the sages came out from all over the world, relying on dangers and obstacles, cutting and grinding away, for a hundred years, indifferently seeing the mountains high and the water clear, wanting to ask about it, but dying of old age. (Ouyang Xiu's "The Story of Fengle Pavilion")

(2) It is said that during the Shaoxing reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, there was a scholar in Dongqing County, Wenzhou Prefecture. His surname was Chen Mingming, and his character was Kechang. He was only twenty-four years old.Born with handsome features and smart eyes, he reads all books and understands all history.During the Shaoxing period, he failed to do three things, so he decided to live in Zhong'anqiao Mingpu in Lin'an Prefecture, counting his luck.Mr. Na said: "Fate has a canopy, but no official star, so I had to become a monk." Chen Xiucai heard from his mother since he was a child that when he was born, he dreamed of a golden Arhat reincarnated. After saying this, he took a deep breath, went back to the store to rest for the night, got up early to pay back the room and board money, hired someone to carry the luggage, and went to Lingyin Temple to join Elder Yin Tieniu as a monk and became a monk. ("Jingben Popular Novels Bodhisattva Man")

(3) However, it is like a storm. After the turmoil, there is no trace left. Relying on word of mouth alone is not enough to travel far or lag behind. (Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of Chinese Writing") (4) If the gods who are going on tour on the day of the God Welcome Tournament hold the power of life and death,—no, the word "power of life and death" is not quite right. All gods seem to have the right to kill at will in China. of. (Lu Xun's "Picking Up Flowers in the Morning and Impermanence") Examples (1) and (2) are both Song Dynasty works, and examples (3) and (4) are works of the same person in modern times, but anyone with a little experience in reading literature can know that (1) and (3) are classical Chinese, ( 2) (4) are vernacular, and no one will disagree.What is the basis for this conclusion?It is classical Chinese and vernacular, each has its own writing habits, or to be more specific, some vocabulary and syntax are exclusive and not commonly used.For example, in terms of vocabulary, "press" in "according to its picture mark" is not used in vernacular Chinese, and "return" in "repaying the house and lodging money" is not used in classical Chinese; more obvious is the function word, which expresses completion, and "le" is not used in classical Chinese, but not in vernacular "Yeah".This is also the case in terms of syntax. For example, the saying "how can be numerous" is not used in vernacular Chinese, and the saying "the surname is Chen Mingming" is not used in classical Chinese.This kind of uncommon saying is like the costumes of Peking opera characters, which have the function of expressing the identity of the master. People who often watch Peking opera can know at a glance who the master is.Therefore, we can say that, generally speaking, the boundary between classical Chinese and vernacular is always clear.But this is usually, not everywhere.Mr. Lv Shuxiang wrote a paper in 1944 with the same title (published in "National Chinese Magazine", Volume 3, Issue 1, and later included in "Lv Shuxiang Chinese Essays" published by the Commercial Press in 1983), at the beginning of the second part of the article, He cited twelve paragraphs of text in ancient books as an example to illustrate that sometimes the boundary between classical Chinese and vernacular is not clear.Some of his friends had different opinions on which of these twelve passages should be considered classical Chinese and which should be regarded as vernacular;Below are (5) and (6) in twelve paragraphs.

(5) The minister said that on the 7th of this month, the Crown Prince will be meeting. After the meeting, the car will go, and the minister will stop the door and wait for the gate.Who rides a horse in front of the minister's car, arrests and drives away.Anyone who scolds him will be arrested for consultation and trial.Every time there is official business, the ministers often have different concerns, do not ask for orders, but whoever scolds alone, the ministers are envoys.Who refused to dismount, and even shouted loudly.There are two dignitaries who come to attack the ministers and arrest them.Shangshu ordered Ni Zong to save trouble, and he used Weiyi to beat his servants with his hands.Zong Yun: "Why did Zhongcheng commit such crimes, and dare to record Mr. Ling?"

All the prestige and demeanor of Zhongcheng are bound and captured. ”The servants are not allowed to fight.The vicious momentum spreads, and it disperses in an instant. (Book of Songs: The Biography of Kong Lin, Played to impeach Xu Xianzhi) (6) Jing Zong said to his relatives, "I used to ride a fast horse like a dragon in the village, ride with dozens of younger generations, stretch the bowstring to make the sound of thunder, and the arrows scream like a hungry owl."Chasing the deer in Pingze, shooting it several ribs; thirsty to drink its blood, hungry to eat its flesh, sweet as nectar.Feel the wind behind the ears, and the nose is on fire.This music makes people forget about death, not knowing that old age is coming.Now I come to Yangzhou to be a nobleman, and I can't move.When traveling on the road and driving the hood, the villain can't say anything.

Closed in the car, like a bride for three days.Suffering from this city makes people feel lifeless. (Liang Shu · Biography of Cao Jingzong) When we read such a text, we will have the impression that it is half-literate and half-white, neither written nor written, that is, it is difficult to calculate both classical Chinese and vernacular.However, classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese are different languages ​​after all, and should be able to be divided into two groups.There must be standards, or in other words, the categories should be clearly defined.Regarding the definition, the vernacular is easy, when there is already classical Chinese, it is written according to or basically according to the spoken language at that time.Classical Chinese is not so easy, because it cannot simply rely on time-sensitive oral English to solve problems.

2.2 Classical Chinese is difficult to define There are many things that often seem to be clear, but problems arise when one thinks about them, and more problems arise when one thinks about them again.Classical Chinese belongs to this kind of thing. What it refers to and what its nature is seems to be clear, but it is not easy to explain it in one or two sentences, that is, to define it.It is not easy, because some roads seem to be passable, but when you think about it, they are full of thorns. 2.2.1 There are exceptions to the standard of breaking away from the spoken language at the time

The easiest way to think of is to "break away from spoken language".This coincides with the meaning of the name "Classical Chinese". Wen is Wenchang, and it is only seen in articles, which shows that it is different from spoken language.However, spoken language has a timeliness. To define it as being out of spoken language, we must first determine the timeliness of spoken language.One of the most plausible ideas refers to the colloquial language of the time.But this runs into two difficulties.First, see the text below: (1) The king said: "Ger, all the concubines, listen to my words. You are not a boy from Taiwan. If you dare to call chaos, you have committed many crimes in Xia, and you are ordered to kill them. Today, there are many people. You said, I will not sympathize with my people, but give me up." Harvesting things, and cutting off Zhengxia. I only heard your words that the Xia family was guilty, and I feared God and dared not be wrong. Now you say that Xia’s crimes are like a platform. There are people who are lazy and cooperating, saying, the time is mourning, and I and you are all dead. Xia Deruozi, I will go now. You still have to assist one person, and the punishment of heaven will be punished, and I will give you a big fortune. You will believe it, I will Don't break your promise. If you don't obey your oath, if you give up, your child will kill you, and there will be no forgiveness for you. ("Shangshu·Tang Oath")

(2) The Master said: "When I am ten, I am determined to learn. At thirty, I stand upright. At forty, I am not confused. At fifty, I know the destiny. At sixty, my ears are compliant. At seventy, I follow my heart's desire and do not exceed the rules."... The Master said. : "I talk to you all day long, and it's not like a fool if you don't violate it; it's enough to say it if you retreat and reflect on your own selfishness, and it's not foolish to reply." The speeches in the early Shang Dynasty are always the speeches in the early Zhou Dynasty; the latter paragraph, if not all the speeches in the late Spring and Autumn Period, are always the speeches in the early Warring States period.Judging by the tone of voice, they are all descriptions, not essays.In this way, we have reason to infer that this is always very close to the spoken language at that time, even if it is not necessarily the same.If we take "divorced from the spoken language at that time" as the definition of classical Chinese, obviously, we have to say that the writing in these two cases is vernacular.But this requires abandoning the old view that we have held on to for thousands of years-that this is classical Chinese.As everyone knows, it can't be done.As a result, we have to admit that some classical Chinese are not divorced from the spoken language at that time.Some people may say that this definition is generally correct even though there are a few exceptions.This is indeed the case, because in our literature inventory, before the Middle Ages, there are very few that do not deviate from the spoken language at that time.But here we are talking about definitions. If the content of a definition is universally applicable, it is only "generally" and exceptions are allowed, then it is not a definition.Second, assuming that in order to maintain the perfection of the definition, we even give up the old view that has been clinging to for thousands of years (that is, "Shangshu" and the like are classical Chinese), then there is still a difficulty, which is not easy to overcome , That is, to draw a time limit between ancient vernacular and classical Chinese.For example, what about Mencius, which is not in classical Chinese but also in recorded style?The most troublesome thing here is that we only know that the distance between the written word and the spoken language gradually decreases from Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but we cannot know exactly how far away it was in a certain period (such as when "Zuo Zhuan" was written) To what extent, and to what extent, can be counted as Wenbai Separation.It is not known for sure that this definition that deviates from the colloquial language at that time suffers from a ruler and sometimes (such as the Warring States period) the measurement is not accurate.

2.2.2 There are exceptions to the standard of being different from modern languages In recent years, we often regard classical Chinese and modern Chinese as two opposing languages; sometimes we use the somewhat academic name, modern Chinese—ancient Chinese, and the opposition is even more obvious.This combination of opposites means that modern Chinese is used by modern people, and ancient Chinese is used by ancient people, and the two are completely different. "Different" has different degrees of depth: it can be so deep that you can't understand it at all, such as Chinese and foreign languages;Obviously, the difference between classical Chinese and modern Chinese is only incomplete.If so, we cannot fail to think of some literature material, such as:

(1) Seeing the loving mother sitting alone in the empty hall, not knowing her son's arrival, she sighed and said: "Qiu Hu Ru should go on a study tour, three weeks in the Yuan Dynasty, why have you gone for nine years? To turn into a desolation for fate? To turn into a yellow spring for one's body. , Fate from weathering? Do you want to pursue happiness and not return?" Before the end of the sentence, he saw his son, dressed in a purple robe, standing in front of his mother.Fearing that his mother would not know him, he went into the hall and knelt down to his mother: "Do you know me? My son is Qiuhu. Now that I have achieved success, I will repay the kindness of my mother's breastfeeding." When her mother heard her son's words, she called Qiuhu: "I don't think about words when I think about my son. How can I talk about it face to face. My mother's happy son is golden and colorful. I don't love your official glory, ashamed of your bride, and sleep alone for nine years. You are expensive now, not because of your knowledge and hard work. It is my homework of filial piety to the bride." He sent people to the mulberry forest to call his bride.Before I got to the roadside, I was returning from picking mulberries. The villagers reported: "The husband-in-law has seen him, and he will be punished by his mother-in-law and ordered to call him." He returned with a smile, and met his family and husband. ("Dunhuang Bianwen Collection·Qiuhu Bianwen" edited by Wang Chongmin and others) (2) I don't know how to harass everyone today, so I have to explain to everyone, and make a mess in the cover.Suddenly meeting people with discerning eyes, it is called a joke, and now it cannot be avoided.And ask you all, what is the matter from the top, what is the lack, and if you tell you that there is nothing, it is also harassing you.You have to go to cover the field to get it.Yimo took advantage of the words and asked himself in his heart, in the dark, there will be a lot of troubles in the future of the Ming Dynasty.If you are late in your roots, and you build a gate to the ancients, look east and west to see what the reason is.Whether you want to get a meeting is because your own family has been immeasurable kalpas, and your delusions are strong. When people talk about it, you will become suspicious.Ask the Buddha and the ancestors, go up and down, seek solutions, turn around and negotiate.Imagining the mind is bad, what's the matter?Is it not imitation? What's more?treasure. (Volume 19 of Daoyuan's "Jingde Biography of Lantern Records", Quotations from Zen Master Wenyan in Yunmen Mountain) Generally speaking, if a person who is proficient in Chinese does not study the ancient Chinese, he will definitely feel unfamiliar. In some places, he cannot be sure what the meaning is, that is, he does not understand it all.But we all admit that this is vernacular, not classical Chinese.It can be seen that to define classical Chinese, it is not enough to just use the standard that is different from modern language. 2.2.3 It is not appropriate to use spoken language as a standard However, breaking away from spoken language is the most important feature of classical Chinese, as Mr. Lu Shuxiang said: "The vernacular can be understood by modern people by hearing,...classical Chinese must be understood by modern people by sight." ( ) important, difficult 41 In separating classical Chinese and vernacular, it seems that it is better to try to mediate and use a matter-of-fact approach, saying that classical Chinese is a written language that is separated from spoken language. Historical Records, Han Shu, etc.; or colloquial language out of modern times, such as Shangshu.This method is close to prescribing the right medicine, and it is quite good in terms of efficacy. It enables us to conclude that "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" are classical Chinese, and "Shangshu" is also classical Chinese.However, there are theoretical problems with eating east and lodging in the west.First, how do we know that "the spoken language of the time" can be used when dealing with "Historical Records" and "Hanshu", but not "the spoken language of the time" when dealing with "Shangshu" and the like?Obviously, it is because the "syndrome" is diagnosed first, so I know what medicine to use, that is, because it has long been recognized that the "Shangshu" and the like are classical Chinese, and the "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" are also classical Chinese, so I did not use them until later. It was decided to use "modern spoken language" to deal with the former (otherwise, "Shangshu" might become vernacular), and use "the spoken language at that time" to deal with the latter.This is the inversion of cause and effect, or cutting first and playing later.Second, as a definition, the proposed essential properties cannot be applied to all of the same kind of things, which is logically unreasonable. 2.2.4 Unclear in terms of time During the "May 4th" Literary Revolution, it was advocated to write in vernacular, saying that classical Chinese is a dead language used by ancient people, and vernacular is a living language used by modern people.This is to explain the difference between classical Chinese and vernacular in terms of time, and mistakes cannot be counted wrongly, but the meaning is not thorough enough, and it does not touch the main point.Because, first, what the ancients wrote was not exclusively classical Chinese; Zhang Taiyan, Wang Guowei, etc. could not be counted as ancients, but they still wrote classical Chinese.Second, a dead language, even if it is already dead, if it is regarded as the object of study, it must be explained what kind of language it is, so that people can have a clear understanding, it is only a matter of time that it has passed away. not enough. 2.3.1 Classical Chinese should be identified first according to common sense It is difficult to start from the relationship with spoken language; it is also difficult to start from the aspect of time.The only way left is to print advertisements in the store, not talking about the general principles, but just talking about what is sold in the store.This seems to be a bit of a reversal of cause and effect, because as far as classical Chinese is concerned, it is not about what it is, but first to identify which documents are written in classical Chinese.This is of course a last resort—in fact, it is also a matter of course.Because we have to accept common sense. According to common sense, most of our literature inventory is clear which is classical Chinese and which is not.It can go a step further and say that common sense in this area has a solid objective foundation (a large amount of literature), and there is a fairly consistent understanding rooted in the foundation (even if it does not appear as a clear definition), we can and should even be regarded as Not wrong.Therefore, if we want to know what classical Chinese is, it is best and only possible to gather these materials together to see what common properties they have; this common property is not possessed by non-classical Chinese works, so it becomes the Essential properties, or rather, can be defined in terms of these components. 2.3.2 Works of the Warring States Period and the Han Dynasty can serve as specimens Some small difficulties are that classical Chinese, as far as time is concerned, there are minor differences in the sameness (such as "Shangshu" and "Historical Records"); as far as a book or article is concerned, the nature is sometimes not very pure (such as the "Gongan School" essay).Therefore, when collecting materials and using them as specimens, we must choose the most important and discard the light, or choose the general and give up the special.What is important is the time aspect. From Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Bronze Inscriptions to Zhang Taiyan and Wang Guowei, which section should we take as a specimen?Fortunately, ancient writers since the Tang and Song Dynasties have already selected for us, and they are "Wen Bi Qin and Han".We can also make it clear that the period from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty can not only be regarded as a specimen, but was recognized as a specimen in the past.In the past, such as bronze inscriptions and "Shangshu", of course no one dared to say that it was not enough to teach, but when writing, they don't use those as cats, but they still draw tigers.Not only that, as Yuan Zongdao pointed out in "On Dissertations", when "Historical Records" quoted "Shangshu", "chou" was changed to "who", "bi" to "shi", and "ge" to "to". "Jue" is "Qi".This is because, in Sima Qian's eyes, some words in "Shangshu" are far from his writing.In terms of time, the specimens are fixed, and the latter small difficulty can be easily solved, because with the specimens, we can use classical Chinese to express ideas, no matter how impure a person's pen is, we can always tell which part is classical Chinese and which part suddenly ran wild. become vernacular. (For example, Zheng Xie's "Fourth Book of Jishedi Mo in the Fan County Administration" was written in classical Chinese, and it said at the end: "He does his own housework, and I do my own housework. If the world is prosperous, one virtue obeys the king, and customs steal Different is evil, and it is also the law of the Banqiao family. Brother word." "He does his own housework, I do my own housework" and "brother" run away from the wild horse and become vernacular.) 2.3.3 Classical Chinese has a fairly strict lexical and syntactic system From the period from the Warring States period to the Han Dynasty, there are not a few documents that have been handed down to the present. The time is sequential, the regions are north and south, and the content includes various aspects.Therefore, to summarize its nature, we have to take its great similarities.Fortunately, there is Datong in fact.This unity is manifested in terms of vocabulary and syntax.In terms of vocabulary, the number is too large for us to be specific.Just to give a few examples, for example, nouns can say both "dog" and "dog", but they can only say "pig" instead of "pig"; For "walking", you should say "OK"; as an adjective, if you don't have money, you can't say "poor", but you should say "poor".The modal particles are more prominent respectively, "的" and "了" "What" and "La" cannot be used, and "zhi", "hu", "ye" and "yi" should be used.In terms of syntax, although the difference is not as obvious as vocabulary, there are some gaps that must not be crossed. For example, you can only say "I only look at the head of the horse" instead of "I only look at the head of the horse"; Can't say "there is no such thing".All in all, to express a certain meaning, one must use a certain choice of words in that set to make sentences, and the pronunciation should be that old tune.Old habits, old tunes, bind.After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and until the end of the Qing Dynasty, some people clearly advertised to learn from the Qin and Han Dynasties, and more people learned from the Qin and Han Dynasties without flaunting.Naturally, due to the change of the times, it is inevitable that there will be some small deviations in the writing (for example, "is" gradually refers to a pronoun and becomes a copula), but as far as the system is concerned, no matter how it changes, it can only be changed within the system. Internal changes cannot break out of the system, so it is still classical Chinese based on Qin and Han Dynasties. 2.3.4 The descendants of Qiumei are still classical Chinese Classical Chinese is based on the works of the Qin and Han Dynasties, but after the Han Dynasty, some new forms that follow suit.Among them, the most prominent are parallel prose, metrical poems and words (qu is a work in which vernacular Chinese is mixed with classical Chinese elements).The details will be introduced in Chapter 7. I will only mention here that these descendants of beauty are mainly refined in terms of sound. When it comes to vocabulary and syntax, they are still within the old system, so they are also classical Chinese. 2.4.1 Differences between Classical Chinese and Ancient Chinese Ancient Chinese, if the name matches the reality, should refer to the "language of the ancient Han nationality".There are many problems involved in these words, because the lower limit of "ancient" is difficult to determine (the upper limit can only be far enough to have documents to test), and the content of "Han nationality" is too complicated (especially during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties).Only the question of "language" seems to be relatively simple, and it should refer to spoken language, but all we can get is text.The meaning is uncertain, and it’s hard to pinpoint it. We might as well draw up a list of the extensions of ancient Chinese, such as Tang Wu’s oath as a master in the early days, Minghuang and Concubine Yang’s secret words in the middle, and Gu Yanwu’s refusal to call up in the late, and the interim Countless exchanges of affection, "speaking" are all ancient Chinese.This is speaking of different times. As a class name, ancient Chinese can accommodate many individuals. Moreover, as long as the distance between the two is not very close, each must have its own characteristics.In terms of different regions, the situation is more complicated. "Mencius Teng Wengong Xia" said: "There is a doctor of Chu here. If he wants his son to speak the Qi language, he will teach the people of Qi? Make the people of Chu teach?" It can be seen that Chu language and Qi language are very different, but we find For no reason, one of them is not ancient Chinese.Ancient Chinese is so diverse, but classical Chinese is a fairly unified system, so there are only two possibilities for the relationship between the two: one is that all kinds of ancient Chinese are different from classical Chinese, and the other is that only one ancient Chinese is the same as or close to classical Chinese.Regardless of the possibility, we can conclude that classical Chinese is not equal to ancient Chinese. 2.4.2 Classical Chinese is available Naturally, we also have to admit that the recent call for classical Chinese as ancient Chinese is a comparison with "modern Chinese".The so-called modern Chinese should refer to the written language (the spoken language is very different), that is, what is written by modern people.What modern people write is modern Chinese, and what ancient people wrote is of course ancient Chinese.Naming, specifying what it refers to in the form of definition, of course there is nothing wrong with it.However, the name is the guest of reality, so if the name does not match the reality, it will cause trouble.First, it is said that it was written by ancient people, but ancient people also occasionally wrote in vernacular, how to deal with it?If you count ancient Chinese, you have to give up "classical Chinese", and if you don't count, you have to give up "written by ancient people". There is no way to get the best of both worlds.As a last resort, or have to add some restrictions to the signified in ancient Chinese, saying that it refers to something that is out of the spoken language.But in this way, all the real ancient Han people (spoken) will be expelled, which of course makes no sense.Second, there will be a related trouble. It is true that ancient Chinese must have a name. What is it called?It can be seen from this that instead of making a detour and replacing classical Chinese with ancient Chinese, it is better to save a little trouble and call it classical Chinese.It is called classical Chinese, which means that it is only seen in the text and only used in the text. It is appropriate that the name matches the reality.