Qian Zhongshu was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. His original name was Yangxian and his courtesy name was Zheliang. Later he changed his name to Zhongshu, his courtesy name was Mocun and his pseudonym was Huaiju. He once used the pen name Zhongshujun. He is a modern Chinese writer and literary researcher. Below is what I brought to you for your enjoyment.

: Lessons learned

Those who are too dirty show their love for cleanliness, so people who are addicted to cleanliness would rather not take a bath than borrow someone else's bathing utensils. The distinction between unclean and clean turns out to be the distinction between others and oneself. People who think they are clean always think others are dirty, and even think they are dirty. They feel better than others who are clean. They are often sweaty and smelly, and they refuse to borrow toothbrushes and hand towels that others have used. Of course, unless someone is willing to give up his lover, he will never reveal it to his friends with his handkerchief and toothbrush. From this point of view, we do not love cleanliness, but we love ourselves. The idiom "keep yourself clean" contains profound psychological observation. To be honest, the differences between right and wrong in the world, good and evil, right and wrong, etc., are sometimes just differences between people and me, just like physical uncleanness. Therefore, if you want to pretend to be a good person, you should first say that everyone in the world is bad; if you want to pretend to be a Taoist, you should first look serious and say how others are not Taoist or fake. Speaking of this, we can't help but think of the female ghost's reply to the vixen in "Liao Zhai": "You said I am not a human being, do you think I am a human being?"

I often wonder why there are so many people in the world. He volunteered to be a volunteer mentor for mankind, publishing articles every day to teach mankind a lesson. That animal called man cannot be completely wiped out, but there are some who can sacrifice themselves and forget themselves. I am even more surprised that there are so many people teaching mankind why mankind has not improved. This of course seems to mean that there are so many famous doctors in the world who are benevolent and kind, so why do humans still have diseases? However, although the doctor treats people, he also wants people to get sick: he prepares bitter medicine to get a hot price; saving people's lives is to save his own life, and he cannot eat unless the patient takes the medicine. Therefore, it is not surprising that human nature does not improve even though there are teachers; it is extremely intriguing that human nature cannot be improved but there are still people who take on the responsibility of teaching. Anyway, people cannot be taught to regret. Instructional articles are of no practical use to people in the world, but they are always needed. Just like when we are sick, we have to delay medical treatment and take medicine, even though the disease may not be cured. If human beings really learn well and no longer need to learn lessons, wouldn’t it be a waste to many people? So from the responsibility of life to the attitude of critics, I wrote articles in the style of open-air preaching. Anyway, although the articles are not valuable, the paper and ink are also worthless. It doesn't cost any money.

Middle age in life seems to be closely related to Taoist lessons. We can also see this interesting fact just by observing the writers. Many literati, when they reach forty or so, suddenly take on the burden of saving the world, they curse and correct everything in front of them. Arnold, Ruskin, William Morris, as well as the living T. S. Eliot, J. M. Murry, etc. are the modern British examples that everyone knows. Even the beautiful Oscar Wilde showed charity and talked about socialism before his death. If we are still looking for examples, we can see them among our friends. The purpose of this respectable transformation is of course extremely pure, to save the world and educate mankind, but the pure purpose may have complex motives. The righteous shouting is sometimes a cover-up for the decline of literary creativity, sometimes it is anger at the despair of life, sometimes it is a temptation to change careers, sometimes it is the jealousy of a middle-aged person when he sees that others are still teenagers. For example, a middle-aged woman whose beauty has declined and whose make-up is not good will naturally reduce her social interactions and would rather be a serious housewife. She also finds young women's costumes weird and unsightly. Jules Janin said that Balzac was Columbus who discovered the forty-year-old woman. Men around forty seem to be yet to be discovered. Sages such as Confucius did not know much about the characteristics of middle-aged people. Therefore, the "Analects of Confucius·Ji Shi Zhang" records the three precepts in life. It only says that youth is lustful, prime age is good at fighting, and old age is good at profit. It forgets to mention that middle age is good for lessons. Of course, there are also people who have loved preaching and preaching since childhood, but this only means that they are middle-aged when they are born, and when they live to be sixty, they should celebrate their ninety or one hundred years.

There is a kind of person whose financial management is nothing more than borrowing debt and not repaying it, so there is a kind of person whose moral philosophy is just to teach others, not to have any moral character himself. Ancient books say that "people who can bear all the words" are "good people", and their views are inevitably mediocre. A truly kind person gives to others but does not receive anything in return. He is only allowed to teach others and is never willing to be taught by others. This is the so-called "spirit of self-sacrifice".

The change from the artistic outlook on life to the Taoist outlook on life can be said to be the emergence of a new era of life. But the beginning of each period is also the decline of another. For example, in the eyes of working people, breakfast is the beginning of the day, and they can work when they are full; but in the eyes of the leisure class, who play cards and dance all night long, breakfast is just the end of last night, and they can go to bed after they are full. The birth of moral lessons may be the death of literary creation. I don't mean to praise or criticize at all here, because the value of lessons and creations all depends on the person. Some people's literary creations are simply masked preaching, so it would be better to just talk about Taoism; conversely, some people's Taoism can make something out of nothing and pass falseness as truth, which can be regarded as creation in the same way as poems, novels, rumors, and lies.

Simple-minded people may say that it is false morals to teach others that they have no morals. Our answer is: What’s wrong with false Taoism? False Taoism is more valuable than true Taoism.

If you have morals and teach others, what's so strange about it; if you don't have morals but can still teach others with morality, then you can show your ability. If you are knowledgeable, you can teach, but you are not knowledgeable; if you are not knowledgeable, but you can teach, it is like doing business without capital, that is art. When a true Taoist comes to promote morality, he or she is just like a shopkeeper who advertises his own inventory, and cannot help but flaunt himself; when a person with absolutely no morals comes to preach Taoism, he will be seen as selfless and willing to do good in others, which will prove the greatness of morality. Furthermore, if a truly moral person advocates morality, he will slowly lose his original morality. La Rochefoucauld's "Abridged Maxims" Article 5 of Maximes Supprimees says: "Moralists like Seneca Sánque do not teach lessons to reduce human sin; they only increase themselves by teaching others Pride. "You feel that others are bad and need your lessons. You can't help but put on airs. At first you say that others lack ideals, but gradually you feel that you are the ideal person and force others to imitate you. If you are proud of others with your talent and learning, you will not lose your talent and learning because of pride. If you are proud of others with poverty, you will not become rich with pride. However, morality and pride cannot go hand in hand. Most of the great evils and cruelties in the world - there is no greater evil than cruelty - are committed by people with true moral ideals. When an immoral person commits a crime, he understands that it is a sin; when a truly moral person harms others, he still feels that it is the price due to morality. God wants to punish mankind. Sometimes there will be a year of famine, sometimes there will be a plague or a war, and sometimes a moralist will be born, with ideals that are so noble that ordinary people cannot realize them. Become unconscious pride. Christian philosophy lists pride as one of the seven deadly sins. Volume 3 of Wang Yangming's "Zhuanxilu" also says: "The most serious illness in life is just the word pride, and I am proud, the chief of all evils." According to this, Zhen Taoism can be regarded as the early stage of evil. On the other hand, fake Taoism promotes morality, but often makes the fake become true, transforms habits into nature, and truly improves a little bit of character. Flirting can lead to love, imitation can lead to creation, arty fashion can develop an expert's appreciation, and many genuine goods in the world started as counterfeits. Therefore, false Taoism can be said to be the learning period of true Taoism. However, whether it is false or true, good deeds will be rewarded with good deeds. True Taoists may be able to ascend to heaven after death, while false Taoists can attend lectures in front of them. What a gratifying thing this is!

So it is best for those who are not worthy of teaching others to teach others; the more false Taoism is, the more we should attack false Taoism. The characteristic of false Taoism can be said to be shamelessness and preference for face. According to what Hamlet, the prince in Shakespeare's play, scolded his fiancée, a woman who puts on make-up is also a person who cares about face but is shameless. God has given you one face, but you make yourself another. False Taoism is also the art of beauty.

Writing this, I suddenly had a sudden impulse. Isn’t this article also a lesson? I am middle-aged myself, halfway through my life! You can’t take back the black words on the white paper, so let’s just end it with nonsense.

: Essayist

A literati is commendable because he is modest, knows how to make progress, does not care about his status, and does not rest on his responsibilities. Indeed, a literati sometimes views himself more lightly than others do to him; he only hates that he is a literati, and does not hesitate to waste words, effort, time, and paper to prove that he is unwilling to be a literati and is not satisfied with being a literati. In this day and age, is this still a man who is ignorant of the times?

The so-called literati should logically refer to all those who contribute, write books, and write articles. However, in fact, the application of the term literati is limited to authors of poems, essays, novels, operas, etc. The ancients called them "civilists", "useless literati", and "once they are literati, they are useless". As for experts in the social sciences and natural sciences who are proficient in practical knowledge and do not write empty articles, although they publish great articles eloquently, they definitely disdain to call themselves useless scholars - although they are not qualified as warriors. I don’t consider myself a scholar, perhaps out of self-knowledge; because writing black words on white paper may not be considered an article. When it comes to usefulness, it can be roughly divided into two types. The first is the utilization of waste. For example, cow dung can be used as firewood, and as Tao Kan said, all bamboo and sawdust can be used. The second type is necessary for daily use. For example, when it comes to toothbrushes, toilets, etc., we also have the thought of "you can't live without them for a day". There are so many uses for things in the world, but some literati still wear useless badges and feel inferior to bamboo, sawdust, toothbrushes, and toilets. Do you think it is pitiful or not? We might as well give useful people a name. , in order to distinguish it from the literati. For example, call them "employees." The word "employer" is the abbreviation of "useful person", which is more consistent than the word "literati". Such a concise and mixed term should not be reserved exclusively for old ladies, little girls, and chartered rickshaw drivers. Moreover, this term has two benefits. First, it is full of the spirit of democratic equality. Expert consultants and servants share the same title and stand on the same line.

Second, it does not violate China's principle of total Westernization: I heard that a president of the United States called himself a "servant of the people", that is, a servant who can be called upon by everyone; the Pope in Rome humbled himself as a "servant of servants" or "servant of servants" Servus serorum During the French Revolution, party members rushed to call their servants "Frères servants"; the president is equal to the king, and the Pope is equal to the father. In Europe and the United States, they are jointly called "Frères servants", and China certainly follows suit.

Employers have looked down on literati since ancient times, and it is not news in today’s newspapers. For example, the "Book of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty" records that the emperor was not good at literature, and "The Biography of Lu Jia" even uses Gaozu's own words to explain: "It is the stallion that conquers the world, and the peace of poetry and books?" He is worthy of being the founding emperor of the country. of the imperial edict. People who have opposed literature from ancient times to the present have said thousands of words, but in the final analysis they are just these two sentences. The two sentences "judging on the horse" felt even more cordial and interesting when I read them during the Anti-Japanese War. Plato's "Utopia" excludes poets and literati, how can there be such a decisive and majestic tone? Plato is rich in poetry, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty once flourished in poetry and recited "Song of the Great Wind". Both of them despised the lyrics, let alone those who were vulgar. Sound primates. Theophile Gautier once said in "Les Grotesques" that wealthy businessmen often suffer from a strange disease called Po sophobie. The cause of the disease is as follows: The rich man accidentally opened his son's desk drawer and saw a pile of white paper filled with words. It was neither a bookkeeper nor an account. The first word of each line was capitalized, and the last word was missing. After careful study, he realized that it was poetry. As a result, he was furious and burst into his chest. He deeply resented the misfortune of his family and had such an unfaithful son, and his nerves suddenly became abnormal. At that time, the disease not only had a strange origin, but was also highly contagious; every year, it was as prevalent as cholera in summer and colds in winter. As for the prescription, I heard there is one: burn all ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poetry collections, turn them into ashes and swallow them. It is said that as long as the method is followed, the anger in the chest will be relieved and the thorn in the side will be removed. From then on, the country will be strong and the people are peaceful, the politics will be improved, and the martial arts will be prosperous! As for contemporary celebrities' similar remarks, they have already been published in large and widely distributed publications. Everyone is familiar with it and there is no need to repeat it.

Literature must be destroyed, but literati may as well reward - reward them for not being literati. Pope exported Lisp in numbers, Bai Juyi had no knowledge of it. After all, there are only a few such incorrigible congenital literati. As for ordinary literati, to be honest, they are not interested in literature and are not good at it. They engage in literature, just like the good-natured women in old novels who become prostitutes. It is said that they are out of necessity and have no choice. As long as there is a chance for them to jump out of the pit of fire, these promising talents will all abandon their books and write, and change their careers. Literature is an unlucky career, with the least potential, close to hunger and cold, and accompanied by disease. We have only heard that there are literary beggars; there are never such names as beggars, beggars, legal beggars, and merchant beggars. The most stupid and stupid people will never be willing to write poetry and novels unless they have no other way out. Therefore, not only do others despise literature and writers, but the writers themselves are filled with self-pity and completely lack faith and respect for literature. For example, Yang Xiong, who was a full-fledged scholar, said in "Fayan": "A strong man cannot do seal carving." It can be seen that he would rather be a strong man than a scholar. Therefore, we see a special phenomenon: all scholars are majestic and lively, and have 100% confidence in the subjects they learn, playing and singing; only the literati have evil intentions, lose their smiles, and feel endless regrets, even if they occasionally Bragging, talking about "national disaster literature", "propaganda weapons", etc. are like water-soaked leather drums that cannot be beaten. Goethe did not write Chinese poetry and was reviled by others because he complained loudly in Gespraceche mit Eckermann, saying that he was not a sergeant and how could he sit in his study and shout out war hymns before he went to the front line. Kriegslieder schreiben und in Zimmer siteenl. Under the current situation where heroes are good at making heroes, a few literati can talk about strategies, make political commentaries, and make statements, or else they can consider themselves mentors and advise the people. Such a versatile person should not be buried in literature. As long as there is a chance for them to change, they can immediately abandon literature and art and stop making a living.

Shelley said in "A Defense of Poetry" that literati are "legislators of mankind", and Carlyle said in "On the Worship of Heroes" that literati can be regarded as "heroes". Those literati of special material only want to act as heroes, hoping to become legislators or other things. To claim to be a hero or a legislator is to be exaggerated; to want to be a legislator or a hero is to be ambitious. Those who are motivated and motivated should be rewarded. Aspiring to make progress indicates dissatisfaction and shame for the actual status. Knowing shame is close to courage. Courage should be encouraged, let alone in this period?

To put it simply: we should destroy literature and reward literati - reward them for not being literati and not engaging in literature.

: Joking

Since the promotion of humorous literature, joking has become a profession for literati. Humor is of course vented through laughter, but laughter does not necessarily mean humor. Liu Jizhuang's "Guangyang Miscellaneous Notes" says: "Donkeys bray like crying, and horses neigh like laughter." Horses are not famous for their humor, probably because their faces are too long. To be honest, the laughter of most people is just like a horse's roar and is not full of humor.

To distinguish humor, it seems that Aristotle was the first.

He said in "Zoology": "Man is the only animal that can laugh." The modern wonder W.S. Blunt wrote a sonnet in "Laughter and Death", which briefly stated that the natural world is like birds and animals. Anger, love, and fear all produced appropriate sounds, but lacked humorous laughter. However, if laughter is designed to express humor, laughter can only be regarded as waste or luxury goods, because not all humans need to laugh. The cries of animals are enough to express the emotions of ordinary people. When they are angry, they roar like a lion, when they are sad, they cry like an ape, when they fight, they make a noise. How many people really have humor and need to laugh to express it? However, the Creator has fairly distributed the ability to laugh to all human beings. They can make smiles on their faces and laugh out of their throats. If you have this ability, you don’t use it. , what a pity. Therefore, most people do not laugh because they have humor; they laugh and use laughter to cover up their lack of humor. The original meaning of laughter is gradually lost; what was originally an expression of rich humor slowly turns into a cover for poor humor. So you see the stupid smiles of fools, the blind people taking advantage of the laughter - and the popular humorous literature.

Laughter is the most fluid and quickest expression, spreading from the eyes to the corners of the mouth. Dongfang Shuo's "The Classic of Divine Miracles: Donghuang Jing" records that Duke Dongwang failed to hit the pot and "heaven laughed at him". Zhang Hua's note said that heaven's laughter was lightning, which is really a very clever imagination. According to Lady Holland's "Memories", Sidney Smith once said: "Electricity is the wit of the sky." Smile can indeed be said to be the lightning on a human face, and the eyes suddenly become brighter, Teeth gleamed between the lips. We cannot withhold lightning to replace the shining sun and moon, so we cannot turn laughter into a fixed, collective expression. The humor produced by promotion must be artificial humor. This mechanized smile is just like the teeth of a skeleton, not the agile posture of a living person. Bergson's "Le Rire" said that all laughter begins when flexible things become dull, and lively behaviors become mechanical. Therefore, the return of monotonous words and actions will always make people laugh, like stuttering, like oral idioms, like children deliberately imitating adults. Old men are often more ridiculous than young men, simply because old men are not as agile and active as young men, they are just a bunch of rigid habits. Humor cannot be promoted for this reason. Once promoted, what is expressed naturally becomes imitated, and what is varied and informal becomes rigid. This kind of humor itself is the material of humor, this kind of laughter itself is ridiculous. A person with a real sense of humor has a unique understanding, smiles happily and coldly, and breathes a sigh of relief into the dull life. Maybe it would be hundreds of years later, tens of thousands of miles away, before there would be another person with him, separated by the river bank of time and space, who would look at each other and smile, regardless of his heart. If a large number of people open their mouths, relax their voices, make an appointment, and laugh in groups, it can only be regarded as a funny gathering in a low-grade amusement park. The promotion of domestic products even adds to the counterfeiting, not to mention that humor cannot be mass-produced. Therefore, after the promotion of humor, there were no humorists, only countless little colorful faces who used pen and ink. After putting up a humorous sign, the little painted face's social status will naturally increase greatly, and he will leave the theater and sneak into the literary scene; conversely, after passing off the little painted face as a sign, the humorous quality will be reduced, and most of the literature and art can only be regarded as "entertainment". The little painted face also makes us laugh, yes! But he is completely different from a person with a real sense of humor. If there is a person with a real sense of humor who can laugh, we laugh with him; if the little painted face pretending to be humorous is ridiculous, we laugh at him. The little painted face makes us laugh, not because he has humor, but because we ourselves have humor.

Therefore, humor is at best a kind of temperament and can never be labeled as an idea, let alone a profession. Let us not forget that the original Latin meaning of humor is liquid; in other words, just like the women in Jia Baoyu's mind, humor is made of water. Treat humor as a habit or a life's food and clothing, that is, liquid becomes solid and living things become specimens. Even those who really have humor, if they want to make a living by selling laughter, their works are not very popular. For example, Mark Twain: Since the end of the 18th century, Germans have been good at telling humor, but the more they talk about it, the less relevant it becomes. Because Germany Humans are a sausage-making nation, and misunderstood humor is like minced meat, which can be neatly wrapped and used as ready-made spiritual food. Humor reduces the seriousness of life and never takes yourself too seriously. Real humor can laugh at itself. It is not only a humorous view of life, but also a humorous view of humor itself. Promoting humor as a slogan or a standard is an act that lacks humor; this is not humor, this is serious promotion of humor, a straight-faced attempt to persuade people to laugh. We think of Ma Ming Xiao Xiao again! The voice sounds like a smile, but the horse's face is not smiling at all, and it is still elongated, like a friend who died late at a memorial service, and like an advanced master on the lecture platform.

Whenever someone pretends to be something, there are always two motives. Or out of respect, such as vulgarity respecting art, collecting antiques and being arty. Or for use, for example, if a bad guy has an agenda, he will use religious ethics to pretend to be a gentleman. Humor is being borrowed, and I can’t think of two reasons why. However, fake goods cannot be passed off as genuine after all. Western idioms call those who laugh with clear and clear laughter "silver laughter". Fake humor is like counterfeit coins mixed with lead. It makes a heavy and dull sound and can only be regarded as lead laughter. However, "silver smile" may be a profit from selling smiles, and the smile has the meaning of silver, like saying "there is a house of gold in the book"; I will provide a reference for dictionary scholars.