Chapter 4 The role of the third section class books
In the previous section, we talked about the motivations for compiling similar books: to ease the internal contradictions of the ruling group; to facilitate quick inspection of materials at any time; to prepare materials for poetry and article writing.This was consistent in motive and effect at the time.Compilation books are for general inspection, such as "Yiwen Leiju" and "Taiping Yulan"; for poetry and prose, such as "Bai Shi Liu Tie" and "Pei Wen Yun Fu"; there are special books for imperial examinations , such as "Yuhai" and "Yongjia Bamianfeng"; for the enlightenment of young children, they are often compiled into four or six rhymes and written in pairs for easy memorization, such as "Mengqiu" and "Children's Story Qionglin"; There are also those for daily use at home, such as "Rabbit Garden Policy House", "Shilin Guangji", "Universal Authentic No Asking for Help" (similar to modern "daily handbooks" or "daily encyclopedias").These kinds of books really played a role at that time.But with the passage of time, those uses have become a thing of the past.However, class books also have the nature of "data collection", so they can still play a very important role in learning and academic research for later generations and even today.However, they do not function in their original purpose, but in a purpose unexpected by the compiler, that is, the special function discussed below.
The first special function: ancient books can be used to collate ancient books, correct historical books and compile lost ancient texts.The reason why it has such a special function is inseparable from its traditional features and advantages in compilation.When ancient books collected materials from various books that existed at that time, most of them quoted the raw materials and indicated the source; although there were sometimes deletions or individual changes, generally speaking, they were always faithful to the original text.With the change of times, many books of various dynasties are inevitably lost; although some of them still exist, there are mistakes and confusion caused by continuous copying, engraving and other intentional alterations.Therefore, the ancient books are used by scholars who collate, revise, and edit lost because of their special functions, and play a great role in collation of the authenticity and preservation of ancient books.Therefore, textual research scholars in the Qing Dynasty regarded ancient books as treasures and attached great importance to them.For example, Zhou Xingyi, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said: "Beginners Records", "Beitang Shuchao", "Yiwenleiju", and "Taiping Yulan" included in the four types of books, many of which come from places that are no longer available today. Ancient books, therefore, these four types of books are must-read books for scholars.When he transferred his collection of books to others in his twilight years, he only kept these four kinds of rare and ancient books, and he still persevered tirelessly.His precious ancient books can be seen here.It is the same for people today.Mr. Lu Xun used Chen Yumo's engraved version of "Beitang Shuchao", Hu Zongzong's engraved edition of "Yiwenleiju", Xishan Anguo's engraved edition of "Beginners", Bao Chongcheng's engraved edition of "Taiping Yulan" and other books to collate the similarities and differences, and collated "Jikang Ji". .
There are many ancient books in our country, but they have always been poorly preserved, and they are frequently lost due to frequent wars.There are many excerpts quoted from ancient books that have been lost in ancient books. Scholars of all dynasties have used this kind of books to compile lost books, and even restored many lost ancient books.This kind of work of compiling and recording lost books began to use leishi in the Southern Song Dynasty.By the Ming Dynasty, books compiled through compilations came out one after another.In the Qing Dynasty, the collection of lost works became a common practice, and even became a professional profession for scholars, making great achievements.In particular, when Qianlong Zhongguan compiled the "Siku Quanshu", he compiled the lost books of the past dynasties from the "Yongle Dadian", including 388 kinds of lost books from the Song and Yuan dynasties. If we add 127 kinds of "Siku Quanshu", then It is known that there are 515 kinds of lost books with titles before.This not only greatly enriched the ancient cultural heritage, but also gave a great stimulus to the compilation work.Since then, there has been a large-scale upsurge in collecting lost books from pre-Qin, Han, and Six Dynasties from ancient books and other ancient books with rich references, and more and more books have been compiled.For example: Ma Guohan in the Qing Dynasty compiled 626 kinds of ancient books before the Song Dynasty from various types of books, and the compilation was "Yuhan Shanfang Collection of Lost Books"; "Series of Books", which compiled more than 200 kinds of ancient books; Yan Kejun compiled 746 volumes of "The Complete Ancient Three Dynasties, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties", and most of them were based on "Yiwenleiju" and other books.Until Mr. Lu Xun compiled "Ancient Novels Gou Shen", a total of 36 kinds were compiled, and the main sources were "Beitang Shuchao", "Yiwen Leiju", "Beginners", "Taiping Guangji", "Taiping Yulan" and other books. In 1959, Zhonghua Book Company sorted out and published "Cao Cao Collection", which included three volumes of anthology, and compiled Cao Cao's writings in "Beitang Shuchao", "Yiwenleiju", "Beginners", and "Taiping Yulan". There are as many as 93 articles (sections).The work of compiling lost works with similar books shows its prosperity.
Not only the ancient books compiled by the Tang and Song Dynasties preserved the remains of the pre-Qin, Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, but the books compiled later also preserved the lost books after the Tang and Song Dynasties.For example, the "Picking Tea Record" written by Wen Tingyun, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, has long been lost, but a part of "Ancient and Modern Book Collection" has been preserved.
Ancient books quote ancient books, all using the books at that time or earlier, or even the original ones.If the version of the book itself is intact, errors, dropouts, or other confusions in the circulating editions can be corrected.With the rise of learning in the Qing Dynasty, scholars engaged in collation all used ancient books to correct the errors in the text of ancient books.But we must pay attention to the perfection of the version of this ancient book, otherwise there will be errors.Therefore, in the second half of the Qing Dynasty, activities of searching for rare books of ancient books and collation of ancient books were aroused.This is for the purpose of using ancient books as perfect as possible for textual research and compilation, which is the so-called "If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools".
The second special function: check historical facts and collect references.In the work of sorting out the cultural heritage of the motherland, ancient books can play an assistant role in the collection of materials.The subjects contained in ancient books are relatively complete, and using them to examine historical facts, especially to collect literature on a certain topic, can save a lot of time and energy.Of course, the information in the class book is second-hand, and the original information is needed for verification.However, they have already brought together certain types of materials and acted as an "index". Compared with our initial search for first-hand materials in the vast ocean of literature, the effect is of course quite different.Many ancient books and lost texts preserved in ancient books that are no longer handed down today are actually equivalent to first-hand information, which is even more precious.
Because class books concentrate information by class, it is extremely convenient to collect references.For example, the historical materials about Chinese and foreign transportation can be found in the "Bian Yi Dian" in "The Collection of Ancient and Modern Books". Text materials and drawings can be found in the book; the book's "Compilation of Neo Confucianism·Xue Xing Dian" gathers a wealth of documents and materials on the history of ancient Chinese thought.For another example, the first series of "Reference Materials of Chinese Sports History" edited and published by the Technical Committee of my country Sports Committee in 1957 contained "A Collection of Ancient Chinese Football Materials". [cu promotion] Ju Department" recorded.Li Yan, a well-known expert in the history of mathematics in my country, edited "Historical Materials of Ancient Chinese Mathematics" and "Chinese Folk Mathematics in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries". The sources of the materials are all compiled from various books in the Tang and Song Dynasties.In addition, the Institute of Chinese Music of the Central Conservatory of Music used "Beitang Shuchao", "Yiwenleiju", "Beginners", "Taiping Yulan", "Tianzhongji", "Yuanjian Leihan" and other Tang , Song, Ming, and Qing 26 kinds of music in ancient books were compiled into the first series of "A Collection of Ancient Chinese Music Historical Materials"; the preface of the book pointed out: These many precious music materials are important references for every music researcher value.Moreover, these music materials include many lost materials, that is, materials on this topic that cannot be found in any other books today.
In addition to the above-mentioned special functions, the function of Leishu in retrieving allusions of poems and articles cannot be ignored.
Allusions refer to the laws and regulations, anecdotes, etc. of the relevant countries, including historical facts and legends quoted in poems.Since the Six Dynasties in our country, literati of all dynasties have often used allusions in their works.Indeed, the use of allusions in poetry can make the work shine [yiyi]; quoting allusions in arguments can make the argument powerful.Using allusions can enrich the content of the work and enhance the moving artistic effect.However, due to the time gap, things that were not unfamiliar to the ancients were unfamiliar to later generations, so they had to use reference books to solve the difficulty of reading; if you don't understand this allusion, you will not be able to understand the poem, let alone appeal.In addition to general comprehensive dictionaries, checking allusions can often solve problems.Give a few examples to illustrate!
Read the poem "Beginning to Recall the Changgu Mountain Dwelling" by Li He (AD 790-816), a poet of the Tang Dynasty. There is a sentence "the dog book once went to Luo" in it. Where does it come from?Check "Yiwenleiju" Volume 94 "Beast Department · Dog Eyes", you can find a story in "Shu Yi Ji" that there is a fast dog with yellow ears traveling between Wu and Luo to send home letters for Lu Ji.The story says: "Lu Ji (A.D. 261-303), a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, was born in Huating, Wu County, Wu County (now Songjiang West, Shanghai). He went to Luoyang to be an official. He didn't know the news of his hometown for a long time, and he missed his family very much. A friend once sent him a The dog, named Huang Er, walked like flying. Lu Ji wrote home letters and put them in bamboo tubes, hanging them around Huang Er's neck, and asked Huang Er to deliver letters to his hometown. Huang Er seemed to understand human nature, and he ran away like flying after receiving the letter. After arriving at the house, it screamed a few times. The family saw it, took the bamboo tube around its neck and took out the letter from home. Huang Er barked a few more times, expressing that he would reply to the letter. The family wrote a reply letter and hung it around his neck in the same way. It's like flying back. In a few days, the family letter was passed back and forth. Lu Ji was very happy." Li He's poem borrowed this allusion.Readers can understand the meaning of the poem once they know the allusion.Another example is reading Chapter 78, when Qingwen died, Jia Baoyu wrote "Furong's Daughter" to mourn her.Among them is "Continent fans gather in caves, but where does the fragrance of death come from?"What kind of allusion is this?It can also be found in class books.The key word here is the fragrance of death, so, according to the category, you can check it in "Ancient and Modern Books Collection·Museum Compilation·Caomudian·Xiangbu".Sure enough, there are several records about Que Shi Xiang, with different names.The story recorded in "Ten Continents" quoted in "Xiangbu Waibian" said: There is a Juku Island, and there is a big mountain in the island, named Renniao Mountain. There is a soul-reversing tree on the mountain. The fragrance of flowers and leaves smells for hundreds of miles.Cut the root heart of the wood and boil it into a black shape, and make it into balls, that is, the fragrance will be reversed, and it is also known as the dead fragrance, Zhenling fragrance and other six names.The dead are buried in the ground and can be resurrected by smelling the incense.This is obviously nonsense.Jia Baoyu used this allusion to express his sadness at not being able to bring Qingwen back to life.
For another example, when Mr. Cai Yuanpei was about to resign from the post of president of Peking University, he used the metaphor of "killing a king and a horse by the side of the road" to politely decline others' attempts to persuade him to stay.What does this sentence mean?It can also be found in class books. Volume 93 of "Yiwen Lei Gathering" and Volume 897 of "Taiping Yulan" both have "Beast Ministry·Mamu".Both books quote from "Customs of the Customs" by Ying Shao [shao Shao] in the Han Dynasty. It is recorded in "Customs of the Customs": "The one who kills the emperor's horse is also by the side of the road." The general idea is: the horse eats well, is well-fed, very delicate, and rarely goes out. Occasionally, it is surprised by the children on the roadside. He also said: The onlookers praised the horse for running fast, and the rider beat the horse with a whip to make it run faster, so that the horsepower exhausted and died.These two sayings both contain a meaning, that is, "what is loved is suitable for harming it", but loving it is precisely harming it.Knowing the source and meaning of this sentence, one can understand Mr. Cai's mood when he used this metaphor.
In addition, all kinds of information found in class books can also serve for us to write various types of new vocabulary books: whether it is choosing words to establish a vocabulary, explaining the meaning of words, or citing book examples, etc., there is a lot to do.For example, the term "self-cultivation" is generally interpreted in similar terms by dictionaries as moral character, learning and training in knowledge as self-cultivation. There are two explanations in "Ci Hai": "One refers to a certain level that an individual has reached after long-term training and training in terms of politics, thought, morality, and knowledge and skills, such as: political accomplishment; literary accomplishment." "The second refers to the gradual Develop the correct attitude in dealing with people and dealing with things.” Others interpret it as referring to the Confucian method of cultivating personal morality through introspection.After checking "Taiping Yulan" Volume 673 "Daobu·Xianjing Xia" quoted "Taiwei Huangshujing", we know that "cultivation" is also a Taoist method called alchemy, taking medicine, keeping in good health and seeking immortality.This enriches the content of the vocabulary.Another example is the idiom "Wu Niu panting for the moon", which is generally cited in the Southern Dynasty Song Liu Yiqing's "Shishuoxinyu·Words" record: "Man Fen fears the wind, sits in the Jinwu Emperor, and the north window is a glazed screen. The density seems to be sparse. Fen has a look of embarrassment, and the emperor laughed at it. Fen replied: "The minister is like Wu Niu, who is panting when he sees the moon."Liu Xiao marked: "Today's buffaloes only live in the Jianghuai region, so they are called Wu cattle. The southern land is hot, but this cattle is afraid of heat, and when it sees the moon, it suspects it is the sun, so it pants when it sees the moon." I think this is the earliest documentary evidence.However, if you check "Taiping Yulan" Volume 4 "Tianbu Si Yue (Moon Eclipse Attached)", you quote "Customs" and say: "Wu Niu panted when he saw the moon, making him suffer from the sun, and he was afraid of panting when he saw the moon. carry on" record. "Customs" was written by Ying Shao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so the documentary evidence can be more than two hundred years in advance.All this shows that the information in the class book can also better enrich the content for the compilation of various types of vocabulary books.
The above briefly talked about the characteristics of Leishu and the role it played at that time. What is more important is that it can still play a considerable role today.This way we can use them when necessary.
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