Chapter 9 Section 1 A Great Change in the History of Fiction

After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, ancient Chinese novels were divided into two branches: classical Chinese and vernacular novels.Among them, the development of vernacular novels is particularly noticeable.The popular novels of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, or storybooks are called Huaben. "Words" means stories, and "speaking" means telling stories.Huaben may refer to the original version of "speaking", or refer to popular readings of excerpts from historical books, retelling of historical books or classical Chinese novels. The term "speech" became popular only after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but in essence, its origin is very early.Many scholars believe that "Chengxiang Pian" in "Xunzi" is a genre of folk rap literature.Speaking as an art was clearly recorded in the Han and Wei dynasties. "Wu Zhi Biography" quoted by Pei Songzhi in "Three Kingdoms: Wang Can Biography" mentioned that the general Cao Zhen was obese, and the leader Zhu Shuo was thin, so Wu Zhi called artists to "talk about fat and thin".Pei Songzhi's note also quoted "Wei Lue", saying that Cao Zhi "recited thousands of words of comedian novels".This is the imitation of comedians by literati who take talking as entertainment.Hou Bai in the Sui Dynasty was a descendant of an aristocratic family. However, "Sui Shu" said that he was "good at comedians and miscellaneous stories, and many people love to play them. Wherever he is, the audience is like a market."By the Tang Dynasty, speaking was clearly regarded as a kind of entertainment.Guo Shi's "Gao Lishi Gaiden" said that after Tang Minghuang returned to the capital, he was put under house arrest by his son Suzong, feeling very depressed.Gao Lishi "speaks, discusses, transforms, and speaks" to relieve Tang Minghuang.Lectures and transformations were popular forms of rap and singing in the Tang Dynasty, and speaking was of course similar in nature.Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi once listened to "A Talk of a Flower" in Xinchang House, "From Yin to Si, they still haven't finished their poems". "Yizhihua" is the alias of Li Wa, a famous prostitute in Chang'an. "From Yin to Si" is eight hours, which shows that the artistic level of speaking is already quite high.And Bai Juyi's younger brother, Bai Xingjian, is the author of the legendary "Li Wa Biography" in the Tang Dynasty.In the past, people didn't know much about the rap literature of the Tang Dynasty. Only after the discovery of the treasures in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, people knew that the popular literature of the Tang Dynasty included Bianwen, Sufu, Huaben, Ciwen, etc. form.There is undoubtedly a close relationship between these forms and the art of speaking in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

The prosperity of the cities in the Song Dynasty, the prosperity of industry and commerce, and the growth of the citizen class were the basis for the development of art such as "talking".At that time, the wide range of "speaking" audiences, the large number of "speaking" artists, the high skills, and the detailed division of labor were all unimaginable by today's people.In the cities of the Song Dynasty, there was a special place for citizens to entertain—Washe (also known as Wazi, Washi, and Wasi).There are various service industries such as divination, medicine selling, groceries, and catering in the tile house.Washeri has Gou Lan (also known as Gou Si) for performing various tricks.Goulan is a performance venue surrounded by railings.There is a shed in the Goulan, and various tricks can be performed in the shed.One of the most popular entertainment items in Washe is "talking".According to Xu Mengxin's "Three Dynasties Beimenghuibian" Volume 77, there are 150 artists in Bianjing, such as Zaju, "talking", shadow play, novels, puri (piao floating) singing, puppet playing, somersaulting, zither playing, pipa and so on. many. In the fifth volume of "Tokyo Menghualu" (Meng Yuanlao), there are "innumerable" people who "speak" in Bianjing, and the audience is enthusiastic. "Old Stories of Wulin" (Zhou Mi) Volume Six Records There are more than 100 famous "talkers" in Lin'an City in the Southern Song Dynasty, including Sun Qi and Zhu Xiu.Song Gaozong often called the famous "talker" into the palace to rap and sing for him for entertainment.Even the Jin people in the north asked the Southern Song Dynasty for Zaju and "talking" artists.Teahouses, restaurants, temples, Buddhist houses, private mansions, country fairs, and palace palaces, you can find "speaking" people everywhere.Among the "speakers" and writers of story books in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there are folk artists and down-and-out literati.From the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, due to the development of rap and opera art, there was a literati guild organization that specially wrote scripts for "speaking" people and scripts for drama actors - Shuhui.People in the Shuhui are called Mr. Shuhui, and they can also be called talented people.Although the novel is despised by the upper class, it requires the author to have extensive knowledge.It is necessary to study the literary and historical classics of the past dynasties, and be familiar with the anecdotes of various dynasties and anecdotes of celebrities.It is necessary to familiarize yourself with books such as "Taiping Guangji" and "Yijian Zhi" that collect ghosts and legends.The story of the wind, flowers, snow and moon can be described by opening one's mouth, and the insight into the world and human conditions is clear.

There were a lot of dialects in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. According to the records of Luo Ye's "Drunkard Talking Record", Chao Zhen's "Baowentang Bibliography" of Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty's Qian Zeng's "Yieyuan Bibliography", there are about 140. The title of a short story, but most of the works are lost. "Speaking" is passed on from master to student, and the storybook is constantly being revised, supplemented, and polished.Therefore, the script is essentially a collective creation accumulated from generation to generation.The storybook was produced to meet the needs of the spiritual life of the citizens. Therefore, in the storybook, in addition to emperors, generals, gifted scholars and beautiful women, a large number of small businessmen, shop assistants, and small handicraftsmen appeared on the stage of the novel.The lower-class citizens appear in the novel as characters who are sympathized, understood, and praised.Storytelling novels meet the citizens directly and are judged and judged by them, so they can reflect their emotions and express their pursuit and ideals to a large extent.The storybooks must be understood by citizens with low education, so most of them are written in plain language that is easy to understand, absorbing a large number of people's spoken language and refining it, which greatly improves the novel's ability to express life and describe characters.Story books directly appeal to people's sense of hearing, "speaking" people use it as a means of making a living, and there is industry competition among "speaking" people, so story books generally have plots with twists and turns, and the rhythm of plot development is relatively fast.Lengthy, static descriptions of scenery are not permitted.The psychological description that has little to do with the development of the plot is also compressed as much as possible.The audience does not hold a volume in hand like the reader, who has room for repeated experience, taste, and aftertaste. The "speaker" must clearly explain the ins and outs of the story and the reasons for the characters' experiences.A story must have a beginning and an end, a tight structure, and context. In order to attract the audience, the "speaking" person must have full emotions and clear likes and dislikes, which has become a feature of the script. When the "speaker" tells a story, he often uses his own life experience, historical knowledge, and literary knowledge to give full play to his imagination and fictional ability, adding details at any time to arouse the interest of the audience.When it comes to boring places, he will pass by in a few words; when it comes to lively places, he will try his best to exaggerate and hover as much as possible.These artistic characteristics of story-telling novels have had a profound impact on the formation of the national characteristics of Chinese vernacular novels, the habit of appreciating novels and even the formation of traditions in our nation.

After the appearance of story books in Song and Yuan Dynasties, so-called popular novels appeared in China.It laid the foundation for the development of Ming and Qing novels.Before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, poetry and prose dominated the literary world.After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, novels and operas gradually developed, and finally became a great power from a vassal, taking the status of poetry and prose instead.As soon as the story book appeared, it showed the great potential of vernacular novel art.The three famous novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, He and Li, all went through the process of being further polished and processed by the script, and finally written by the writer.It uses half-literal and half-white language.

Most of the existing Song and Yuan scripts are scattered in "Qingping Shantang Huaben" (compiled and engraved by Hong Yu during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty), "Jingben Popular Novels", ,, (compiled by Ming Feng Menglong, collectively called "Three Words") Wait for the novel to concentrate.