The Water Margin is one of China's four classical novels, and it is a chapter-by-chapter novel with Sung River Uprising as the main story background in the late Northern Song Dynasty. It is said that when Shi Naian wrote this book, he named it "Biography of Jianghu Vendors". After the manuscript was completed, he was satisfied with the plot, but not with the name. Later, he adopted the suggestion of Luo Guanzhong, a student, and renamed the book Water Margin or Water Margin, which means the edge of water. Now there is also the meaning of' opposition', which is different from what the Book of Songs said: "The ancient duke Tan Fu came to lead the horse in the DPRK and led it to the water margin in the west. As for the gap." Allusions are consistent. This story is that the ancestor of Zhou tribe, the ancient duke Tanfu, rode his horse early in the morning and led his people along the banks of this river, from the west to the foot of Qishan. My grandfather, Gugong Tanfu, was the first leader of the Zhou clan. He led his clan to move to the foot of Qishan Mountain, where Zhou flourished and developed rapidly, and opened up a base for the development of Zhou clan, namely Xiqi. In the place where their fathers lived, the social status of the Zhou family changed greatly, from the oppressed in the past to the prominent slave owners and nobles. But at the same time, the contradiction between Zhou Dynasty and Shang Dynasty became more and more serious. After being killed, his son often succeeded to the throne, which is famous in history. Later, his son succeeded to the throne, namely Zhou Wuwang. King Wu led the princes to crusade against the Shang Dynasty and established the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the Water Margin, Song Jiang and others gathered in Liangshan, Shui Bo, to do justice for heaven, protect the country and the people, and create a harmonious paradise in all directions, which is also very similar to this allusion.
synopsis
The book tells the story of officials forcing the people to revolt and Liangshan heroes gathering to revolt at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. It shows the whole process of peasant uprising in feudal times from its occurrence, development, climax to failure, especially through the writing of different life experiences and resistance roads of many resistance heroes, which clearly shows the theme of "officials forcing the people to rebel" This book can be divided into eight parts according to the development of the story:
(1) The personal experiences of Lu, Lin Chong and other heroes before going to Liangshan.
(2) Song Jiang's adventures with heroes from all walks of life and his experience of going to Liangshan in the end.
(3) Song Jiang led several battles in Liangshan, and some heroes went to Liangshan.
(4) After the death of the former leader, Classical Song Jiang established Liangshan as the leader and got together.
(5) Fighting loyalists, and being acclaimed after the great gathering of righteousness.
(6) He was ordered to conquer Liao, which posed a threat to the Song Dynasty.
(7) Conquering tian hu and Wang Qing.
(8) Conquering Fang La in the south of the Yangtze River and killing more than two thirds of the enemy, the book ends in a tragic and thought-provoking atmosphere.
Theory and method
The Water Margin has made outstanding achievements in art, and it can be said that the characterization is very successful and has its own characteristics. The complex character of the characters, the environmental basis for the formation of the character, and the character are still developing with the change of the living environment. The most prominent example is the leopard head Lin Chong. The author attaches great importance to the personalization of characters' language. For example, jy's language is rude and naive, and Wu's language is wise and witty, which basically reaches the realm of saying whatever he says. The characters are full of ideal colors and deeply rooted in the soil of life.
However, the description of female images in Water Margin now seems to be very ignorant and backward. There are two kinds of female images in the author's works. One is a few heroines who are not bound by their husbands. Their rough and generous characters have actually lost their feminine qualities. The other is the image of an adulteress, which is considered as "evil and dangerous". Although these two kinds of female images are true, they lack aesthetic feeling. Throughout the full text of Water Margin, the female image is only a foil to the man world. Even if there are female images describing heroes in the book, the actual images or objective effects they give readers are ugly, and the endings are mostly tragic. For example, after the "Zhang" family was exterminated by Song Jiang and others, she was also betrothed to Wang Ying, a "short-legged tiger". Hu Sanniang reacted to this extremely mismatched marriage. This is obviously not in line with our moral values today. What these women did in their works and their life tragedies. This is extremely contrary to the truth of life and extremely unfair. As Mr. Lu Xun said, "In the history of national subjugation and defeat, it is often women who have been blamed and wiped out all the crimes. It has been more than 3,000 years."
case analysis
In The Water Margin, I admire the prodigal Yan Qing most, neither Song Wu, a walker, nor Lin Chong, a leopard head. Yan Qing may be the one with a relatively good ending. In the book, his appearance came late, and he didn't appear until sixty-one times, and his identity was only Lu Junyi's domestic slave. However, Shi Naian obviously likes this role very much. Qin made an opening speech, praising Yan Qing for his handsome, high martial arts and versatility. I love Yan Qing for three reasons: First, I am loyal to Lu Junyi, and I followed Lu Junyi to become an outlaw. Second, he has emotional intelligence and amazing diplomatic skills. Organized the wooing of Liangshan heroes; Li Shishi, a famous prostitute in Beijing, was worried about her bad brother, so she wisely proposed to marry Li Shishi. Third, he is rational. At the end of the book, almost all Liangshan heroes have sad endings. Yan Qing is the only person who wisely chose a happy ending. Lu died after listening to the letter from the tide, because he was an empty man and could not escape his fate. Song Wu stayed in Liuhe Temple because he was a cripple. He was originally a monk. Mr. Li took Tong Wei, a boy, to the sea by car, because they were thieves in Jiangyang, and finally they returned to their old jobs. Only Yan Qing was left, because that hole penetrated the inside story of life. Finally, he left Song Jiang a dictionary and four slogans: "Xu Yan's departure can be surprising, but he does not seek honor or disgrace, but only seeks to return to his official position." I have my own king. Forgive me, I have lived my whole life. "The" King Pardon "mentioned here refers to the amnesty document written by Hui Zong for himself during his diplomacy in Liangshan, which also shows Yan Qing's meticulous mind. In the seventy-fourth chapter of the Water Margin, there is an evaluation of Yan Qing: "Speaking of this Yan Qing, although he is at the end of thirty-six stars, he is clever and clever, better than the thirty-five stars. "Shi Naian wrote about Liangshan, but his ideal is only Yanqing.
abstract
"Water Margin" takes the heroic uprising as its theme, denouncing the gloom of political officialdom and highly appraising the greatness of working people. The book runs through the enlightenment thought that "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it", which beautifies the spirit of heroes such as Song Jiang and others 108, and promotes loyalty to another realm, thus warning the feudal rulers that treacherous officials are in power and even heroes rebel. Although due to the limitations of the times, there are still some inevitable ideological defects in this book, but this still does not prevent it from being passed down from generation to generation. As a legendary popular novel, Water Margin gives people the greatest strength and becomes an unbeaten literary masterpiece in the history of China.
References:
1: Notes on Zhou's Book of Songs.
2. Baidu Encyclopedia Keywords: Water Margin? Woman?
3. Sina blog