Wu Chengen

Wu Chengen

Wu Chengen (about 1500-1582), named ruzhong, was born in Sheyang mountain. He was a writer of the Ming Dynasty. He was born in Hexia, Shanyang County, Huaian Prefecture, nanzhili. He was born in Tongcheng, Anhui Province. His ancestral home is Anton.

Wu Chengen has been a sensitive, well read boy, especially fond of fairy tales. Good at painting, calligraphy, versatile. After many setbacks in the imperial examination, Jiajing was a year old Gongsheng.

Life of the characters

Young talent

Wu Chengen's ancestral home is Anton (now Lianshui County, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province). His ancestors moved to the Huai'an river at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty.

Wu Chengen was diligent and eager to learn from childhood. He is good at painting, calligraphy, ci writing and go. He likes to read books such as ghosts and spirits, fox spirits and monkey spirits, such as "hundred monsters", "Youyang Zazu" and other novels or unofficial history. Zhu Yingdeng, a famous person at that time, was proud of his talent. After seeing Wu Chengen, he was very appreciative. He said that Wu Chengen could read all the books in the world and gave half of his private books to Wu Chengen.

No official

In the sixth year of Jiajing (1527), Wu Chengen married the great granddaughter of Ye Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of household affairs.

In the eighth year of Jiajing (1529), Wu Chengen went to Longxi academy founded by GE mu, the magistrate of Huai'an, and was appreciated by GE mu. At that time, Wu Chengen's anecdotes had been "stored in his chest", and he had a plan to create.

In 1531, Wu Chengen came to Jiangnan Gongyuan in Nanjing to take part in the rural examination, but unfortunately he failed.

In 1532, Wu Chengen accompanied his father to travel with frustration. Before long, Wu Chengen's father died. His father was a businessman. Before he died, he hoped that his son would get an official title. He named him Chengen after ruzhong. He hoped that he would study and become an official, inherit the emperor's favor, enrich the people, and be a loyal official who has remained in history. But he failed to do so.

In 1534, Wu Chengen came to Nanjing again for the examination, and he failed again.

In 1537, Wu Chengen came to Nanjing again and failed in the examination.

In 1542, Wu Chengen completed the first draft of journey to the West.

In 1549, Wu Chengen came to Nanjing Guozijian to study.

Official career

In the 29th year of Jiajing reign (1550), Wu Chengen was not elected until he was middle-aged.

In 1551, Wu Chengen took over as the magistrate of Xinye County, Henan Province. During his term of office, he built Xingtai Chayuan, respected Jingge, added Confucianism, praised chastity, and built water conservancy facilities.

In 1555, a small group of Japanese pirates went deep into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty and even attacked Nanjing. Wu Chengen wanted to join the army to fight against Japan, but he didn't make it.

In the 35th year of Jiajing (1556), due to the poverty of his mother's hometown, Wu Chengen served as the county magistrate of Changxing County, Zhejiang Province. He often drank heavily with his friend Zhu Yuefan and was interested in poetry and wine. He had contacts with Shen Kun, the number one scholar of Jiajing, and Xu Zhongxing, the poet.

In the 36th year of Jiajing (1557), Wu Chengen was appointed as the general judge of Lu'an prefecture (now Changzhi, Shanxi).

In the 37th year of Jiajing (1558), he returned to his hometown for seclusion because he was falsely accused.

In the second year of Longqing (1568), Wu Chengen was appointed as Jishan in jingwangfu of Qizhou.

Focus on writing

In the fourth year of Longqing (1570), Wu Chengen returned to his hometown from jingwangfu in Qizhou (now Qichun in Hubei Province) and began to write a journey to the West.

In the first year of Wanli (1573), journey to the West was completed.

In his later years, Wu Chengen indulged in poetry and wine and ended up poor and old.

Main impact

1. Novels

Wu Chengen's main achievement is to finish his journey to the West. Due to the frustration of officialdom and the hardship of life, Wu Chengen deepened his understanding of the feudal imperial examination system and the reality of the dark society, which prompted Wu Chengen to express his inner dissatisfaction and resentment in the form of Ghost Novels. Wu Chengen said to himself: "although my book is called Zhiguai, it can't cover ghosts specifically, and it can actually record the variation of human world, but it also has a little warning." Journey to the west is based on the historical event of "Tang Monk's learning scriptures" and reflects the social reality of Ming Dynasty through artistic processing. The book mainly describes that after the monkey king was born, he met Tang Seng, Zhu Bajie, Sha Seng and Bai Longma. He traveled to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures. Along the way, he went through hardships and dangers, subdued demons and subdued demons, and finally arrived in the west to see the Buddha. Finally, the five saints came true.

The artistic features of journey to the west can be summed up in two words, one is fantasy, the other is fun; not general fantasy, is fantasy, not general fun, is fun. Through bold and rich artistic imagination and fascinating plot, the novel creates a magical and gorgeous mythological world. The artistic imagination of journey to the west is peculiar, rich and bold, which is rare in ancient and modern novels. The world of Monkey King's activities is close to the fantasy of fairy tales. It's very interesting. In this world, there are all kinds of strange and interesting monsters, which are really colorful. Romantic fantasy, originated from real life, reflects the world and human feelings in the fantasy description. The characters, plots, scenes, and even the magic weapons and weapons used in journey to the West are all illusory, but they all come from the experience of real life, which can reveal the breath of life in the fantasy, reflect the world and human feelings, and make readers understand and accept.

Journey to the west is a classic work of Chinese magic novels. It is also known as the four classic works of China, together with romance of the Three Kingdoms, outlaws of the marsh and a dream of Red Mansions. As soon as the book came out, it was known as one of the "four wonderful books". It was widely spread among the people, and various versions emerged one after another. There were six editions in Ming Dynasty, seven editions and transcripts in Qing Dynasty, and 13 lost editions recorded in ancient books.

In addition to journey to the west, Wu Chengen also wrote a collection of short stories Yu Dingzhi. This is a short story with the meaning of warning, but it has been lost, only a preface can be seen.

2. Poetry

Wu Chengen has more than 240 poems, songs, barrier words and praises. Most of them are of great historical, literary and artistic value, except that some barrier words and praises belong to entertainment.

Wu Chengen's poems are sincere and full of passion, and many of them are handed down from generation to generation. The ci poetry is full of real interest, and it has the style of Qin Shaoyou. Xiaoling and sets are fresh, meaningful and meaningful. For example, "song of Erlang searching mountains" is the top grade carefully conceived by Wu Chengen. Although it is a painting poem, it reveals the dark reality of "Five ghosts" and "four evildoers" rampant at that time under the pretext of the myth of Erlang God searching mountains to catch demons. It is expected that "the evil knife will be worn in the chest" and "there will be a bow to save the moon. Is there no hero in the world?" "Who can do for me, Linfeng, long order ten thousand years to protect the Qingning Gong.". This is very similar to the heroism of journey to the west, which praises the monkey king's "havoc in heaven". "The gate of firewood is closed, the running water is flowing, the dog barks and the flower is last month" in sutian family can be regarded as a masterpiece of quatrains. Wu Chengen's personality can be best represented by "send me an introduction" and "give me a gift". Just as Zhang Mian also commented, "from the Han and Wei dynasties to the song and Yuan Dynasties, they are not in and out of each other. They are both masters and experts, but not stick to one pattern." "in terms of artistic style, they have the simplicity of the Han and Wei dynasties, the boldness of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the elegance of the late Tang Dynasty, and the plainness of the yuan and Bai Dynasties" (ramble on the journey to the West).

3. Articles

Wu Chengen's poetry, CI, Fu and Qu have distinctive artistic characteristics and outstanding achievements. In the literary world of the Ming Dynasty, it is no less than the "qianhou Qizi" and the great masters of the Tang and Song dynasties. Wu Chengen's ancient works, such as the preface of he Xuebo's winning the prize for pottery master in weizhai, reveal the social atmosphere of that time vividly and vividly: "don't you only observe the habits of modern times? Therefore, I prostrate and bow down, speak up, palpitation and severe appearance, instant worry, I see the minister to the supreme, and now Shi's officer; I bend and bend, bow and answer, I see the soldiers to the military commander, and now I go to the gentry; I smile and flatter, envy different party members, avoid flattery, love you, I see the maidservant and concubine to the girl's door, and now I hear her husband; hand talk Eye language, Zhang wanduan, fly camp rat peep, shoot interest, such as Chen, I see the killing in the marketplace, and now the cloth of the school "Preface to Zhang Jun's duty as a present to the Marquis of Wei" exposes the corruption in the officialdom: "how can we do it when the army is withering, the scientific service is increasing, the machinery is becoming more and more complicated, and the wind of treachery is rising?" This is very similar to zongchen's "Bao Liu Yizhang Shu" in exposing the filth of officialdom and the corruption of officials at that time. The author's observation of reality is very keen and meticulous. Wu Chengen's "Ode to a beautiful woman in the street" is comparable to Tao Qian's "Ode to leisure".

4. Literary theory

Wu Chengen has made great achievements in literary theory. He stresses "emotion" and "interest" in his poems. In the preface to Liu Weng's manuscript, Wu Chengen said, "it's recorded in the compilation, which leads to the entertainment of many countries and the chanting of mountains and streams. However, when we observe it, we can see that the husband's feeling is suitable, his interest is long, his voice is right, the crown of the temple, the color of the haze, and the sound of governing the world. Is it the same as the man who works hard and works hard? " It is a tradition of Chinese literary theory to discuss poetry and prose and to stress "emotion". It is obvious that Wu followed the law of literary creation. It was the fashion of the time to praise "interest". Yuan Hongdao of Gong'an School and Tang Xianzu, a great dramatist, all take "interest" as the standard of evaluating articles. In literary creation, the emphasis on "emotion" and "interest" is just aimed at the trend of retro in the literary world at that time, hoping to break through the cage of retro mimicry and restore the nature of literary creation - "expressing one's own feelings and not sticking to the style". Wu is just the pioneer of Tang Song school and Gong'an School, and its significance is not limited to this. Wu Chengen said in the preface to the new edition of flowers and plants: "we should attach importance to people and their words, but their art is not just their kind. Li is all received, Zheng Wei can class in Yasong; Hong and Cao play together, and Ying and Cao are all in Qi and Qin Dynasties. " emphasize

Chinese PinYin : Wu Cheng En