Gan Bao (? ~336 years), the word is positive, and his ancestral home is Xincai, Henan. "Atlas of Haiyan County Records" will be published tomorrow: "Father Ying, official to Wu, as a captain, moved to Haiyan south, so Gan Bao is a Haiyan native". Another cloud said, "Gan Ying's tomb is in the castle peak room in Ganpu." Ming Donggu's Miscellaneous Notes on Bi Li said: "Ganbao ... Haiyan people are also. According to Wu Yuan Gu Zhiyun, his tomb is forty miles southwest of the county seat, now Lingquan Township, Haining. Sinnijoji is its homestead, recorded in the county annals, and Gaigu belongs to sea salt. " According to historical records, since the first year of Yongjia in the Western Jin Dynasty (307), Gambao has been an official in Yan Guan (a subordinate official of Zhongshuling). Later, due to the rebellion of Liu Cong and Schleswig-Holstein, the Western Jin Dynasty perished, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was established, and the North and South confronted each other. Gan Bao's family moved to Lingquan Township (now the junction of Wufeng Village in Huangwan, Haining and Liuzhong Village in Haiyan). In the fourth year of Yongjia (3 10), his father died and was buried in the sun of Puqingshan. Gan Bao was a filial father. In the 3rd century AD, it moved to Meiyuan (now Haiyan, Tong Yuan), and from then on, Haiyan became a breeding place for descendants of Shi Gan.
The origin of the name
The Book of Jin, The Biography of Gambao, said that he had some feelings about life and death. "So he wrote a collection of changes in ancient and modern miraculous characters, called Searching for the Gods."
This is a collection of novels that records magical and weird stories in ancient folklore. Most stories are superstitious, but they reflect the thoughts and feelings of the ancients to some extent.
content
"Looking for God" was already lost. This book was compiled and acquired by later generations. Twenty volumes. * * * There are 454 stories. Most of the records are strange things of immortals, and some of them belong to folklore. Among them, Li Ji and his wife, Han Ping, the daughter of the prince of Wu, and so on. Exposing the cruelty of the ruling class and praising the struggle of the rebels are often quoted by later generations.
Most stories are short in length, simple in plot, fantastic in imagination and full of romanticism. Later, Tao Qian's Epilogue of Searching for God and Binwen Zhang's Search for Mystery, both of which have a volume of 10, are imitations of Searching for God. Searching for the Gods has a far-reaching influence on later generations, such as The Story of the Tang Dynasty, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio by Pu Songling, Fairy Tales, and many later novels and operas, all of which are closely related to it.
Material source
Gan Bao, a native of Xincai, Shanxi, was a theist at first, and made great contributions to equalizing Du Fu's achievements and sealing off customs. In his preface, he said, "His works are enough to invent the truth of Shinto." I just want to prove that ghosts and gods really exist by collecting previous writings and legends. Therefore, "Searching for God" narrates many strange things about God, and there are also many folklore and fairy stories. The protagonists are ghosts, monsters, immortals, and mixed with Buddhism and Taoism. Most of them are short in length, simple in plot, fantastic in imagination and full of romanticism.
In fact, these fairy tales are not people's imagination. "Some are more real than nightmares."
Attachment: A New Preface to Sue Ji Shen
Sou Shen, as everyone knows, is a famous novel by China. But people mistakenly think that he is a "ghost novel" fabricated by literati. In fact, he is an ancient folklore, an ancient myth.
We will study China's ancient folklore and myths, and we will talk about him in addition to books such as Songs of the South and Huai Nan Zi. Many legends he collected are still circulating among the people today. For example, The Story of the Silkworm God (Volume 14), such as The Story of Pan Hu (Volume 14), The Story of Zhuan Xu's Second Son (Volume 16), such as The Story of the Waist (Volume 18), or the whole story has been passed down to this day, or it has undergone many changes and become a legend widely circulated today. As long as we pay attention, we can see it. Bottom line: He is the confluence of ancient folklore, and part of it is the root of later folklore.
The author of Search for Ji Shen is Gan Bao of Jin Dynasty. However, the 20-volume Su Ji Shen, which is now circulating, is not the original book of Gan Bao, but it has been supplemented and modified by later generations. This is a common occurrence in folklore. There are many of his original texts, not written by himself, but copied from others' works. This is also a common practice in folklore. For example, the summary of the catalogue of "Four" says: "Volumes six and seven are copied from the five elements of the Han Dynasty." Very dissatisfied with him. In fact, when he looks at folk customs, it is not a problem to copy them or not. Among his books, there are several similar stories, and he also accepts everything. This can be regarded as the true nature of folk stories in particular. For example, the story of Xie Fei, a Taoist priest in Danyang (Volume 19), the story of Zhang Fen in Weixian (Volume 18) and the story of an Anyang scholar (Volume 18) are derived from one. The story of the old man in the ancient nest (volume 20) is the same as the story of the old lady in boxing (volume 13). The Story of Wu Xingren's Father and Son in Jin Dynasty (Volume 18) and the Story of Tian Yan's Wife in Beiping (Volume 18) are two monsters: one pretending to be the father and the other pretending to be the husband, with the same structure. These stories can be used as materials for us to learn, not just for us to appreciate.
Of course, not all stories about seeking God are valuable folklore, but most of them are good. It's a pity that the old writers dismissed it as a supernatural novel, but it's a pity that the new writers disdained to read it as a supernatural novel invented by literati. This is really wrong.
After Sou Shen Ji, there is a Postscript of Sou Shen Ji, with ten volumes. The old title was written by Tao Yuanming. This is, of course, under the guise of future generations. Just say it's true. It's not as good as the previous search. Ignore it.
The author of Search Ji Shen is Gan Bao, which can be said to be true. However, this 20-volume "Search for God" is not the original text of Gan Bao, and it is not bad. But now we regard him as an ancient folklore, only appreciating the works, not asking the author; Then, the author's problem is not a problem.