Why does Pu Songling's serial only write about female ghosts?

Pu Songling's novel Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio has a wide range of contents, including talking about foxes, immortals, ghosts and demons, so as to summarize the social relations at that time and reflect the social outlook of China in the17th century. The fantasy story of the charm of the fox reflects the real life and entrusts the author's ideal. So why did the female ghost in the novel seduce the scholar in the moonlight?

Pu Songling (1640? 17 15): The word "immortal" is also called "sword minister" and "Liu Quan layman". He was born smart and had a literary name when he was a teenager. In the fifteenth year of Qing Shunzhi (1658), Pu Songling took part in the boy test and won the first place. But since then, he has never done such a good exam and has been failing the list. It was not until 7 1 year that it became a "year-old tribute student" according to the regulations. The talented Pu Songling likes to write stories. However, the "novel style" is incompatible with the decadent and rigid eight-part essay in the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty. Therefore, a scholar without official career and fame is doomed to be poor and poor. In order to support his family, Pu Songling had to find another job. But why does he write ghost fox stories for a living? Where did the prototype of the fox spirit come from? Legend has it that a female ghost once walked into Pu Songling's life. Did she change Pu Songling's life?

Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and gave a speech in Stockholm, claiming to be a descendant of Pu Songling: "More than 200 years ago, there was a man in my hometown who was very good at telling stories-Pu Songling. Many people in our village, including me, were descendants of him." On other occasions, Mo Yan also said: "If Pu Songling was the first and the moon was the second, there would be no Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. From a historical point of view, Pu Songling's dissatisfaction with the examination room all his life is actually a result of God's achievements. There are hundreds of people admitted to Jinshi in the history of Zibo, right? But they are not as good as Pu Songling. Today, Pu Songling is not only the pride of Zibo, but also the pride of Shandong, China and mankind. Hundreds of years ago, there was a man who wrote such brilliant works. He used his imagination to build a beautiful world outside the world for us. He used his novels to establish the connection between human beings and nature. "

Mo Yan wrote a poem, which contains two sentences: "A serial is passed down through the ages, and a hundred thousand books turn into dust".

The face of literati has remained unchanged since ancient times, and most of them are long-sleeved and talented. Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio is a panoramic view of the scholar's situation. Childe whose door is broken, and candidates who fail the exam repeatedly, all wear clothes and are surrounded by square towels. They look lonely, wandering in the deserted villages and wild mountains, and at dusk, they go to the deserted Pengmen Temple as a shelter. The moonlight is like water, and the blue light is dim, rendering a touch of sadness and beauty in a foreign land. Fate is bad, so I can only dream of love. Clouds set off groups of beautiful fox spirits as compensation and comfort for scarred hearts. In addition to the noise of the city, there is also a paradise for laggards. A castle in the air and a door left unlocked is a sad story. This is actually an aesthetic space that exists relative to the material world. The protagonist's identity is unknown and the background is mysterious. The only thing that can be touched is the endless joy of poverty, desolation and gentleness, leisure as green hills never grow old, and green water never flows. Loyalty, kindness and friendship? All the rare metals in the real world are not lacking in the low-key scenery of a serial studio. Like a vigorous opera advocating perfection, the lights are brightly lit, reflecting the barren silence of the audience.

This kind of love story is not like divine comedy. These perfect women who give up dust and walk slowly can be regarded as the people in the painting. However, after all, it is the ideal of unwilling literati. Imagined joys and sorrows may be more touching than real ones ―― because at least, it is closer to perfection. In the fragile literati (including Pu Songling), fantasy is a kind of battle, a manifestation of the vitality of suffering, especially the fantasy of good and evil. Taking Yi Deng as a bean, lonely and miserable literati can swim through the long night like bad luck, and can't help but smile with relief. It can be seen that passionate fantasy has the function of explaining itself and opens up a satisfying field in Neishan.

Pu Songling spent nearly a lifetime writing about female ghosts, not on a whim, but because of his childhood experience. Professor Ma Ruifang, an expert on Pu studies, once said that Pu Songling lived in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. In this era of regime change, the national disaster is grave ―― the Qing soldiers entered the customs and slaughtered the people in the Central Plains, and the people rose up against the Qing Dynasty. In A.D. 1644, Pu Songling, who had just turned five, witnessed a revolution that influenced the historical process of China ―― Li Zicheng captured Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, and then Wu Sangui led the Qing soldiers into the customs. In that turbulent era, successive rebels fought bravely, but were brutally suppressed again and again. In such an environment, there are naturally corpses everywhere, and people's hearts are full of grievances. As a result, ghosts appeared in people's lives. A mansion in Zichuan County, Pu Songling's hometown, is one of the legendary ghost caves. According to the local people, there is a very sad story behind this ghost hole.

No matter whether you have seen the novel Liaozhai or the TV series Liaozhai, people will find that female ghosts in Liaozhai stories often like to seduce young scholars on a moonlit night. The reason is that these anthropomorphic female ghosts written by Pu Songling, like normal women, have a normal romantic sex life.

It was the third year after the Qing soldiers entered Shanhaiguan, and an uprising under the banner of anti-Qing and regaining sight swept Shandong, which was the famous peasant uprising in Xie Qian. In order to suppress the uprising, the Qing dynasty mobilized heavy troops to launch street fighting in Zichuan County, Pu Songling's hometown. The street fighting began in the yard of a family named Wang. In the Wang family compound, the bloody battle lasted for five hours. Being outnumbered, the rebels were finally killed. At that time, more than 30 people died in the Wang family compound. Later, it was said that more than 30 murders became ghosts. Every time in the dead of night, in the yard, you will always see ghosts and foxes, and you will always hear creepy voices. A senior official of the Qing dynasty occupied this house, moved here for only one night and got an incurable disease, and soon died suddenly. Since then, the Wangs' house has become a ghost hole that everyone talks about.

Legend is a legend after all, but the message it conveys is that Pu Songling's writing about ghost foxes is not whimsical, but has a certain realistic basis. Anyone who loves China's classical literature knows that there is a kind of prototype story in the novels of the Six Dynasties, which describes the early ghost fox image. It is mentioned in the book that a fox can become a human at the age of 50, and a beauty at the age of 100. The older the fox, the deeper his career. However, in these stories of the Six Dynasties, the ghost fox is often a confusing and harmful creature. They often hurt people, confuse people's reason, and even make people lose their lives. But in Pu Songling's works, these fox spirits are not only beautiful and charming, but also often chivalrous and fearless. They often lend a helping hand when people are in desperate situations, and some of them are pure and lovely, even like the sunshine girl we like very much now.

Why is there such a huge change? This has to start with a beautiful story that happened to Pu Songling. Legend has it that it was a midsummer evening, and Pu Songling's younger brother Zhang Sheng invited him to talk about poetry and painting at home. Zhang Sheng also mentioned that his sister likes Pu Songling's poems very much and hopes that Pu Songling can write one for her. Pu Songling readily agreed. Although he didn't see the strange girl of the Zhang family, he heard the laughter of the girl next door. Then he received a poem written by a girl for him. Taking this poem home, the young Pu Songling read it repeatedly for two hours. This is the first time in his life that he saw a poem written for him by a girl. What is that girl really like? Pu Songling thought for a long time and couldn't sleep. After that, he often made excuses to go to Zhangjia, but he never saw the girl. However, the indirect communication between poetry and painting makes them interrelated. The girl said in the poem that she can meet each other when she goes up the mountain to worship her ancestors in Qingming next year.

After the fifteenth day of the first month, Pu Songling's father took him on a long trip and stayed with relatives for more than ten days. As soon as he returned to the village, he rushed to Zhang's home. However, to his surprise, a sallow face kept him out of the gate. He told Pu Songling that his sister was dying of lung disease. Just a stone's throw away, Pu Songling somehow stepped into Zhang's house. He lingered at the gate of the yard until dark. Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, the mountain was full of wild flowers, but there was no sign of the happy girl. On a newly built grave, a beautiful butterfly refused to leave for a long time. Pu Songling suddenly felt that this butterfly was the girl next door, and ghosts could be quiet, kind and gentle. This idea suddenly changed his view of the fairy fox world ―― maybe there are beautiful and kind beings in that world. From then on, Pu Songling began to focus on the story of female ghosts, which was out of control. The kind female ghost entered Pu Songling's world. In this world, Pu Songling can live a romantic and leisurely life without worrying about ethical requirements.

The world of female ghosts is beautiful and desirable, but real life makes Pu Songling feel headache. Such a hard life laid a realistic foundation for him to create a lovely ghost fox image. There is a house less than 20 square meters at the eastern end of Pujiazhuang Village, which was named "Liaozhai" by Pu Songling. It was given to Pu Songling by the Pu brothers when they separated. Because Pu Songling and his wife are generous and don't care about material gains and losses, their family is assigned to the coldest and smallest house on the edge of the village. They spent 15 years here and raised four children. During this period, there was no fixed source of income, and life became more and more difficult. At the age of 26, Pu Songling, who had no life, began to look for a job and worked as a teacher in many places in order to maintain the livelihood of a family of six. At that time, the profession of teachers was not respected as it is now, and it was extremely unstable and earned less. But in order to make a living, Pu Songling had to bend over for five buckets of rice. Once a friend introduced him to teach in a rich family in other places. When he arrived there after a day's driving, his family gave him the cold shoulder. It turned out that the hostess saw Pu Songling's ugly face and decided that he would not be a conscientious teacher. She threw him two coppers for the trip and ordered him to leave. This gave him a great blow. However, this is not the first time for Pu Songling. Without romantic talk and handsome appearance, how can he let people discover his talent?

At the age of 30, he went to a friend's house named Sun Hui as an assistant. This friend is a magistrate of a county in Jiangsu, and a fellow villager of Pu Songling. At first, Pu Songling was very satisfied with this stable job, but gradually he found that there was always a pair of eyes watching him, which came from Sun Hui's beloved concubine. That is a beautiful and talented woman. She appreciates Pu Songling's talent and personality very much, and often asks him for articles to read, and then returns them to him with her own poems. Pu Songling was surprised to find that this woman even understood his thoughts better than some familiar friends, and she often gave some financial support to Pu Songling. On one occasion, Pu Songling's child was ill and needed money badly. In the case of Pu Songling's anxiety, she even pawned her jewelry and secretly gave him the money. This really moved Pu Songling. But he knows his responsibility and burden, and he can't accept this belated love. The nicer a woman is to him, the more uneasy Pu Songling is. After much consideration, he finally chose to leave.

Pu Songling sticks to his moral standards, but he also longs for emotional comfort. He has lived outside for a long time, and although his wife can help him, she can't comfort him emotionally. Perhaps only in the world of ghosts and foxes can he feel at ease in love. Mr. Ma Ruifang, a scholar who studied Pu Songling, once pointed out that Pu Songling was a poor scholar, with a low status in the real society and lifelong frustration. As a private school teacher, I can barely support my family. Where can I get the favor of beautiful women? But in his works, poor scholars or poor teachers who make a living outside can meet beautiful women who suddenly appear in the middle of the night in the deep mountains and forests. Beautiful women are not only willing to help him, but also willing to combine with him unconditionally. In an era when men are superior to women and ethical codes are strict, such opportunities are simply unimaginable and are often regarded as wishful thinking of poor scholars. In this irrational fantasy, you can clearly see the figure of a modest gentleman who is obsessed with pure love, gentle and polite.

In reality, we can't love each other, so Pu Songling can only turn this surging emotion into creative passion and write a lot of female ghost stories. Therefore, experts who study Pu Songling say that many stories written by Pu Songling reflect their own ambivalence. The female ghost story in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio can best reflect Pu Songling's view of love at that time. One of them is that female ghosts all appear at the most difficult time of scholars and help them selflessly. The two hit it off, got married and lived a happy life. In Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, there is a story called Ying Ning, which tells the story of a fox named Ying Ning who happened to meet a scholar's prince costume at the Lantern Festival in Shanghai. Ying Ning's purity, beauty, kindness and enthusiasm made the prince fall in love at first sight. Ying Ning also likes this sincere young man. The prince was convinced, but in the end he was lovesick. Later, he went to Ying Ning when he was ill, knowing that Ying Ning was a fox, and he didn't change his mind. When the prince was in trouble, Ying Ning went all out to help him. After experiencing the test of big winds and waves, the two finally got married and had children, and lived a happy life that only envied Yuanyang but not immortals.

The other is that the ghost fox incarnates the woman and the protagonist to become friends of the opposite sex outside marriage. In the Story of the Female Ghost written by Pu Songling, there is such a story: once, a teacher named Kong Sheng fell ill in the host family where he taught, and he had a big sore on his body, and all kinds of treatments failed. At this time, a relative of the host family named Jiao Na came to visit, and she used her silver hairpin to dig three or two poisonous sores. Kong Sheng's wound left no scar, but the beauty of Jiao Na was always imprinted in his heart. Since then, although he married his wife, he has always maintained a friendship with Jiao Na. One day, Jiao Na suddenly came to Kong Sheng for help. It turns out that their family is a fox spirit, which is about to be eliminated. Kong Sheng went through fire and water for this confidante. From the works full of enthusiasm for life, we can see that the embarrassing life situation has not extinguished the spark of love in Pu Songling's heart. Throughout his life, he sought selfless love and sincere comfort in the world of ghosts and foxes. A poor scholar struggled for a living all his life, but he cherished an angelic female ghost fox fairy in his heart. Pu Songling wrote his love with delicate and rich feelings and romantic style. Endless Pu Songling left an endless love story for later generations?

Fox, this is a classic description of women in China traditional culture. It can be said that "fox spirit" is synonymous with women's frivolity and lewdness. But the fox itself is really smart and human. Why does this cute little animal bear such a heavy crime? What's the cultural background?

Before Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, foxes were demonized and demonized in people's literary descriptions. It was Pu Songling who personified the fox for the first time. The fox he wrote is like the lovely girl in our neighbor's house, young, beautiful and charming. It is in response to the wonderful fantasy that a fox becomes a woman at 50 and a beauty at 100. Beauty can be said to be the basic feature of foxes. Pu Songling's foxes are beautiful, but being sycophantic is the most attractive place. The word "be sycophantic" originated from a sentence by the Tang Dynasty poet Luo, which said that "be sycophantic can only confuse the Lord". Here, "be sycophantic" refers to Wu Zetian, the fox among people. We should not underestimate the power of flattery. The famous fox in the Romance of the Gods ruined the mountains and rivers of Yinhe with her own flatterer. When she was executed, Su Daji used her own flatterer, which made several executed soldiers reluctant to do it. Flattery is an important magic weapon for foxes to conquer men. By controlling men, foxes also control the world. Therefore, in the feudal society dominated by male power, flattery is a necessary means for women to survive, and women with independent consciousness can be said to be stars. In Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, the fox girl Shunhua written by Pu Songling became the spokesperson of independent women in feudal society for the first time.