Gu Yanwu said that stereotyped writing is more harmful than entrapping Confucianism

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination system has completely gone in the opposite direction, becoming a major "evil system" that hinders social progress. This is mainly because of the existence of eight-legged essay.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, whether one can win the election mainly depends on the quality of the eight-legged essay of the candidate. Not only is its form strictly defined, but in terms of ideological content, it is only within the scope of the Four Books and the Five Classics. It must also be based on the interpretation of the classics by Zhu Xi and others, requiring "to speak on behalf of the sages." Never allow your own performance. This naturally severely constrains people's thinking, making Confucianism a stepping stone for seeking wealth. As for how to further develop Confucianism, no one cares at all. Moreover, the core of the doctrine of Zhu Xi and others was "loyalty to the emperor", and the imperial examination became a tool to maintain feudal autocratic rule. This not only rigidified the minds of scholars, but also led the imperial examination system itself to a dead end.

An obvious example is the selection of poems and poems in the Tang Dynasty. Although there were not many excellent poems, there were some good lines like "Count the green peaks on the river" that have been passed down. However, the stereotypes of the Ming and Qing dynasties If we collected them all, we would probably be able to say that there are a lot of them, but who can think of them? Even people who have entered official careers based on eight-part essays are embarrassed to show those things to others. The main means of selecting talents is just a stepping stone, which is really a great irony of the imperial examination system. No wonder Gu Yanwu, a famous scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, said indignantly: "The Eight-legged Eight-legged Doctrine is prosperous while the Six Classics is in decline; the Eighteen-Story Chapter is flourishing while the Twenty-One Histories are abolished." He also said: "Idiots think that the harm of stereotyped writing is worse than burning books."

In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong published "Immediately Suspension of the Imperial Examinations to Broaden Schools and Proper Measures" The book was folded, and the eight-part essay with a history of seven hundred years came to an end. From then on, it was regarded as a piece of shit and dung by the world, and was looked down upon with disdain. In fact, the eight-part essay once had a glorious page in history, and many works have been handed down that still retain their charm. Some critics even believe: “In the 270th year of the Ming Dynasty, dozens of eight-gu poems, such as those of Hu Siquan, Jin Zhengxi, and Zhang Dali, were engraved on their bones, and Xun could succeed Chu Sao, Han and Tang poetry, and Yuan opera to establish a new genre. "(Jiao Xun's "Book of Changes") It is true that the poetry and prose of the Ming Dynasty are not enough to compete with other generations, and only the eight-legged essay is the leading one.

The eight-part essay in the Ming Dynasty flourished for a while, which was not only the call of the times, but also the accumulation of culture. Li Jinxi's "Outline of the History of the Mandarin Movement" said: "The eight-part essay became increasingly popular in the early Ming Dynasty, but it made a splash in the literary world. It was originally an ancient prose for reasoning, but it could be merged with parallel poetry, and it could be integrated into the beautiful language of poetry. The expression of the opera is actually the most rare literary style. "During the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, famous writers of eight-part essay appeared in large numbers, such as Wang Hao, Qian Fu, Tang Shunzhi, Gui Youguang, Jin Sheng, Zhang Shichun, Luo Wanzao, Chen Jitai, and so on. The best of them all. Yu Changcheng's "Manuscripts of One Hundred and Twenty Famous Writers" said: "Wang Shouxi (銊) is responsible for making righteousness, Longmen (Sima Qian) is responsible for Jewish history, Shaoling (Du Fu) is responsible for poetry, Youjun (Wang Xizhi) is responsible for calligraphy, and for hundreds of generations But don't merge." Wang Hao's works had a great influence on later generations. Scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties all regarded them as their standards, and almost every family had his books. Chapter 11 of Wu Jingzi's "The Scholars" writes about Qu Gongsun's daughter, who "began lecturing and reading articles at the age of eleven or twelve. She first read a manuscript by Wang Shouxi and became familiar with it." Girls are like this, let alone scholars.

What does the eight-legged essay look like? Gu Yanwu's "Rizhilu·Experimental Essay Format" said: "Before Tianshun, the essays on the classics were just perfunctory annotations, either correct or scattered, and initially had no fixed form. There are also very few single-sentence questions. In the 23rd year of Chenghua's examination, the article "The Loving Heaven Protects the World" begins with three sentences, namely, "Lots of Heaven" and "Four Branches"; in the middle, there are four sentences, and the second sentence talks about "Borrowing the World" and "Four Branches"; Collect four sentences, and then make a conclusion. In the ninth year of Hongzhi, the essay "I blame you on the king and call me respectful" was written in the beginning. Gong, four sentences; collect two sentences and make a conclusion. Among each four sentences, one is negative, one is positive, one is false, one is true, one is shallow and one is deep. (Original note: 'There are also two linked sentences, and the four sentences are parallel. There are ten pairs of articles, not just eight sections. ') There are two columns in the grid, (original note: 'the two pairs of articles in the title book are also two pairs.') Each fan has four columns, followed by the grammar. It's the same again. Therefore, people today call it Bagu. If it is a long question, it will not be limited to this. After Jiajing, the style of writing has changed day by day, and all the Confucian scholars do not know what Bagu is!" He also said: "The first two sentences, or three. Four sentences are called breaking the title. Most of them are couplets. This is the style passed down by Song Dynasty people. They make four or five sentences and call it the title. . ') Why do you say this? It is called the origin. In Wanli period, there are two sentences and three sentences, without the origin. The word "eight-legged essay" finally became the general representative of all dead writing.

It cannot be denied that the eight-part essay has been guilty of many crimes in history.

First of all, it destroys the seeds of reading. In order to gain fame, scholars read the classics and speculated on the words and deeds of sages and the contemporary writings. Later, he no longer even read the scriptures, but only "recorded the passages that could be written as topics, and the essays with dozens of topics" (Gu Yanwu's "Rizhiling·Preparation of Titles"). In the Qing Dynasty, Xu Dachun wrote "Tao Qing" which ridiculed the scholars: "The scholars are the worst. When the time is bad, the literature is as bad as mud."

The country was originally trying to survive, but who knew it turned into a trick of bullying. Three sentences carry the title, two sentences break the title, and he wiggles his tail and shakes his head, saying that he is a senior disciple of the Holy Sect. Do you know what kind of articles "Three Communications" and "Four Histories" are? Which dynasty were the Emperors of Song and Han? They put sermons on their desks and bought new sharp instruments in the store. After reading it, my shoulders and back are high and low, and my mouth and mouth are sighing. What does sugarcane bagasse feel like after chewing it over and over again? It’s a waste of time and a coma for a lifetime. Just teach him to deceive high-ranking officials, which is also bad luck for the people and the court. "(According to the quotation from Volume 12 of Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Shihua") What can such scholars do in the world? Gu Yanwu's "Rizhilu·Proposal" angrily pointed out: "Idiots think that the harm of eight-legged writing is equivalent to burning books and destroying talents. What's more, there were more than 460 people trapped in the suburbs of Xianyang. Some people even believe that the fall of the Ming Dynasty was due to the use of eight-part essays to test scholars. "At the end of Chongzhen, someone drew up a ceremony and said: 'I would like to have a great Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen and his wife, to express their respect." The eight-part essay written in late life paused. ’ Posted in the court, it is also a piece of loyal advice that is cynical about the world. "(See the notes in Lu Liuliang's "Dongzhuang Poetry Collection·Zhen Jinshi Songs") During the Jiashen Incident, Chongzhen hanged himself. This ritual really became a prophecy of the fall of the Ming Society.

Secondly, it lacks practicality The value of the eight-legged essay is to speak for the sages, and it is far away from reality. It can only be used as a "stepping stone" to gain fame in the imperial examination. Like Gui Youguang, he is both a master of contemporary literature and a giant of ancient literature. , but people only remember his lyrical chronicles such as "The Story of the Concubine", "Hanhua Burial Chronicles", "Xiangjixuan Chronicles" and other lyrical chronicles that he "wrote directly from his heart", which are his "universely wonderful" "Words" (Wang Shenzhong's "Reply to the Book of the Magistrate of Maolumen"). Because the eight-part essay lacked practical value, it lost its place once it was kicked off the stage of history. Unlike poetry, it will no longer be used for examinations As a tool, it still has strong vitality, so much so that it has not been exhausted even today. It is true that there have been practical examples of eight-legged essays, such as some chapters in the late Ming Dynasty that touched on the shortcomings of current politics, such as "How" written by You Tong in the Qing Dynasty. "The Turn of His Eyes When He Was Failing" expresses the sentiments of romance, and the contemporary Yang Du's "Chapter of "Yan Yuan Ji Road Waiter"" describes the ideals of communism, but they are just the occasional strokes of individual scholars or individual talents. It became a temporary phenomenon and eventually became the last thing in history.

Thirdly, the eight-legged essay has many rules and regulations, such as how to break the title, inherit the title, fall down..., how to start and continue. There are strict regulations on writing, turning, and combining, and even the number of words is limited to 500 or 700 words. The cumbersome Chengwen format forces people to follow suit and not dare to take more than half a step. "Cheng Wen" pointed out: "The article has no fixed pattern; if you establish a pattern and then turn it into a text, the text will not be enough to describe it. Later, someone mocked this poor tone of Cheng's writing by imitating the ink scroll: "Heaven and earth are the universe, and I truly hold them in my heart. Thousands of years have not passed in a day. Looking back on the past, In order to pursue Wei, we should not examine the records but recite the classics of poems and books; the Queen of the Yuan Dynasty is the emperor of the emperor, and the common people are the Li Yuan of the common people. There is no one among the billions of people. Think about the time and use the world, and you can't look forward to it. Sitting in black and climbing into the court court of the corridor temple?" It only pursues form without content. It builds beds and stacks houses. This is the worst of contemporary literature!

Fourthly, it has no new ideas in propositions. "Four Books" "The Five Classics" only has so many words and so many sentences, so how many questions can be given? For hundreds of years, every chapter, every section, and every sentence has been given a title and has been studied by countless scholars. People are bad at it, so there are so-called cutting up, cutting down, cutting up, cutting down, cutting up and down, and even long or short, sentimental or ruthless, and other innumerable proposition methods. The beginning and the end are removed, the sentences are unclear, the words are arrogant, and the words are confused. Therefore, Gu Yanwu lamented in "Rizhilu·Preparing the Questions": "The problem in today's examination room is nothing more than the preparation of the questions." "During the Xianfeng period, Yu Yue was studying politics in Henan. He separated the words "foreigners are also called Mrs. Jun" and "Yang Huo desires to see Confucius" in the Analects of Confucius. Insult. It also splits "The King hastily issued an order, and rebelled against him" in "Mencius", and added the following chapter to "The King hastily issued an order to rebel", saying that if he had not reported the rebellion on his own, it would have happened in the Xianfeng period. The literary network is no longer so tight, I'm afraid everyone's head will fall to the ground.

Does this mean that the Eight-legged essay is useless?

First of all, scholars started studying the Eight-part essay. Influenced by Confucian ethics, they were immersed in the "Four Books" and "Five Classics", and believed in the Confucian theory of "cultivating oneself to govern the country and bring peace to the world", and used this as the guideline for their words and deeds. The Ming Dynasty was the golden age of eight-legged essays. , also wrote the most glorious and tragic page in the history of intellectuals. The Ming Dynasty was famous for its harsh treatment of its subjects, but there were countless people who did not change their original intentions until death, not to mention Fang Xiaoru, Yu Qian, and Hai. Rui, whose high integrity earned him a reputation both during and after his death; even in the late Ming Dynasty, Wen Zhenmeng, Huang Daozhou, Jin Sheng, Yang Tingshu, Chen Zilong and others were appointed in times of crisis and showed great righteousness. After the Manchus took over the Central Plains, they were not only famous for their eight-legged prose. Although Gu Yanwu did everything he could to be gentle and gentle, he returned to his village and served as a wild man for the rest of his life. Huang Zhouxing changed his name and lived in seclusion, and Fang became a monk with wisdom. There are also countless intellectuals with national integrity who have emerged. It is undeniable that they all have the influence and influence of Confucian classics.

Secondly, the writing theory and techniques of eight-legged essay can be used for reference by future generations.

Fang Bao's "Four Books" generally states: "If you want to understand the theory, you must trace it back to the Six Classics and study the Confucian sayings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. If you want to make words, you must fit the meaning of the title and take them from the books of the Three Dynasties and the Two Han Dynasties. If you want to Qi His prosperity must be enlightened by principles and principles, and he must dwell on the ancient prose of the Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, and Song dynasties. "The masters of literature during the Ming and Qing Dynasties all went through high and low explorations before their works reached the level of principles and Ci. A state where the three elements of Qi and Qi are sufficient. This theory and practice have enlightening significance for all literary creation. Tang Xianzu, Xu Hongzu, Wu Chengen, and Cao Xueqin all participated in the imperial examination. It cannot be said that when they wrote "The Peony Pavilion", "Xu Xiake's Travels", "Journey to the West" and "Dream of Red Mansions", they did not benefit at all from the eight-part essay that they had been immersed in for a long time. Chapter 11 of Wu Jingzi's "The Scholars" wrote: "If the eight-part essay is well done, you can do whatever you want, poetry if you want, poetry if you want, poetry if you want, just a mark from a whip, and blood from a slap. "Indeed, if the author did not come from the old camp, how could he write such penetrating works. Zhu Guangqian also had this experience. He saw the author's "ingenuity" in the eight-part essay (see "Starting with How I Learn Chinese").

Thirdly, the eight-part essay provides future generations with a model of sophisticated writing. Liu Zhiji's "Shi Tong" talks about the purity of the article: "One sentence is all about reason, and no words are repeated." The eight-part essay can be said to have reached the limit in this aspect. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the number of words in eight-part essays was strictly limited, which forced people to elaborate on the meaning of the article heartily and carefully within the limited number of words. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once read a memorial written by Ru Taisu. After reading it for a long time, he could not get to the point. He was so angry that he wanted to use a imperial staff on him. Mao Zedong also proposed in "Eight-legged Opposition Party Writing" that "we should study how to write shorter articles." The experience of eight-legged essays is indeed a panacea for long and empty articles. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, long articles were extremely rare; even lyrical narratives were exquisite and clear. It can be said that the prosperity of "sketches" in the Ming Dynasty was not accidental.

Furthermore, the eight-part essay contributed to the maturity and development of certain literary styles in later generations, such as couplets. According to legend, the Spring Festival couplets written by Meng Chang of the Five Dynasties are only one couplet extracted from five-character modern poetry. The maturity of couplets came after the emergence of eight-part essay. Its parallel couple form of different lengths and different sentence patterns created the system of couplets. Therefore, stereotyped writing became popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and couplets also made great progress. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, it was flourishing and magnificent, producing many famous artists and masterpieces. People like Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang and others, although they did not focus on political and military affairs, were still considered to be experts in wheel-pulling. Furthermore, the so-called "Poetry Bell" in the Qing Dynasty originated from its breaking of topics, so I won't go into details here.

The main reason why the eight-part essay has been criticized for such a long time and widely is that it promoted the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius and the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu and Cheng, as well as the malpractices and resentments arising from the long history of imperial examinations. The former has the color of the times and should be ignored; as for the latter, looking back at history, which examination method does not end up with a lot of problems later? Gu Yanwu's "Rizhilu·Chengwen" said: "In the Tang Dynasty, The Song Dynasty recruited scholars to discuss policies, and the disadvantages were similar to those of the Ming Dynasty, which were more unwritten than those in the previous generation. "Just like today's college admissions examinations, haven't they been cast in the shadow of history? It can be seen that the problem of eight-part essay in the imperial examination is a common chronic disease in the examination, and it does not originate from the mother's womb. problems caused.