Meng Chengshun

Meng Chengshun

Meng Chengshun (about 1599-1684) was a drama writer and theorist in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and a native of Kuaiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang).

He is considered to be the most important writer of the "Linchuan school" after Tang Xianzu, and Ni Yuanlu called him "the first hand to fill in the Ci of our Dynasty". He compiled the ancient and modern drama anthology, which is recognized as an important Anthology of yuan and Ming zaju. It contains 56 kinds of yuan and Ming Zaju (including his own "Yan Er Mei", "three visits to Taoyuan", "a smile before flowers" and "remake of the can Tang Dynasty"). According to different styles of graceful and bold, it can be divided into Liuzhi Ji and Sajiang Ji, with detailed comments. There are 602 eyebrow comments and four side comments Seventeen, with profound content and exquisite insight, is one of the important classics of classical music theory.

There are ten kinds of dramas and legends written by Meng Chengshun, of which eight are extant. The most successful ones are three visits to Taoyuan (also known as peach blossom face), success or failure of heroes, escape from the dead, re creation of the remnant Tang Dynasty, and the legends of Jiaohong in yuanyangzhong, erxu and Zhenwen in Sanqing parrot tomb in zhangyuniang's boudoir. Jiao Hong Ji is one of the top ten classical tragedies in China.

brief introduction

At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Jiao Hong Ji, a love story drama, came out, which established Meng Chengshun's important position in the history of drama. Some people think that Meng Chengshun is a representative writer in the history of Chinese drama in Ming Dynasty after Guan Hanqing in Yuan Dynasty and before Hongsheng in Qing Dynasty.

Meng Chengshun was fond of poetry, CI and Qu Yuan's Lisao when he was young. When he was young, he was already a well-known scholar in the local area.

During the reign of Chongzhen, Meng Chengshun was successfully admitted to the local scholar, but his official career was bumpy after that.

In 1629, Meng Chengshun and his brother Meng Chengyao joined the restoration society organized by Zhang Pu and others.

In 1637 A.D., Meng Chengshun joined the "Feng society" which studied literature at that time and became an important member of Tang Xianzu's "yumingtang school" (or "Linchuan school").

Writing zhenwenji

Not long after Meng Chengshun served as a tutor in Songyang, he heard a touching story about the love between Zhang Yuniang, a talented woman, and Shen Quan, a talented man. Meng Chengshun praised Zhang Yuliang's character and talent, sympathized with the tragic fate of Zhang Yuliang and Shen Quan, and thought it necessary to publish their love story to the world and write a novel.

In the 13th year of Shunzhi (1656 AD), after several years of hard work, Meng Chengshun finally wrote the drama "zhenwenji of parrot tomb in Sanqing of Zhang Yuniang's boudoir", which was later renamed "zhenwenji". As soon as the work came out, it was a sensation at that time. Later generations called it the "Four Beauties" script together with the romance of the west chamber, the story of the soul and the story of Jiao Hong

Zhenwenji focuses on the love story between Zhang Yuniang and Shen Quan. The main plot is abbreviated as follows:

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an official named Zhang Mao in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province. His wife delivered a baby girl. Zhang Mao and his wife Liu were both born in the family of officials, and they were scholarly. Zhang's father named the baby girl Yuniang, whose name is Ruoqiong. During this period, Shen Yuan, a wealthy family in Songyang, also delivered a baby boy named Shen Quan on the same day of the same year. He is the seventh grandson of Shen Hui, the number one scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, and is a cousin of Zhang Yuliang. Zhang and Shen have a close friendship. Their parents have made a marriage contract for them. When she was a child, Zhang Yu Niang and Shen Quan were childhood friends. More than ten years later, when she was 18 years old, Zhang Yuniang was not only very beautiful, but also good at writing poems. Shen Quan is romantic and talented. They often play, write poems and paint together. Later, Shen's family declined, and Zhang's father repented of marriage, but Zhang Yuniang vowed to love Shen Quan all her life.

In the seventh year of Xianchun (1271 AD), Shen Quan went north with his father to take an examination in the capital. Fortunately, he got the top spot in the examination and became the only top spot in the history of Songyang. However, fate did not make the young man plain sailing. Soon, bad luck suddenly came. Shen Quan was too tired to get sick. Zhang Yuniang was very worried after hearing the news, and sent a poem "the height of the mountain" to comfort Shen Quan, including: "the height of the mountain, the moon is small. The moon is small, he Jiaojiao. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but my heart is quiet when I haven't seen you for a day. " A few days later, Shen Quan was seriously ill and died at the age of 22. When the bad news came, Yu Niang was full of grief and turned into a poem on the paper. Among them, there was a mourning poem "crying for Shen Sheng": "in the middle of the road, I have no reason to see and hear again. I'd like to turn today's idea into a balcony cloud. " The house leaks every night. At this time, Yu Niang's parents wanted to choose another spouse for her and found a powerful prince. Although Shen Quan died, Yu Niang couldn't forget the relationship, so she resolutely refused to accept the marriage. In order to repose her sorrow, Yu Niang devoted herself to poetry creation.

On the night of the Lantern Festival in 1277 A.D., Yu Niang dreamed that Shen Quan was driving to meet her. When she woke up, she was so sad that she sighed and said, "he's coming to pick me up!" On that day, Yu Niang fell ill and died half a month later. She was only 27 years old. After Yu Niang died, she was buried with Shen Quan. In her short life, Zhang Yuniang wrote 117 poems and 16 poems. His poems are beautiful and catchy, and his poems are excellent in every aspect. Later generations have collected them in the monograph Lan Xue Ji. Orchid is orchid, the best fragrance in the world. Snow is white, pure and flawless.

Lan Xue Ji was included in the collection of Siku Quanshu in Qing Dynasty. Scholars of all ages thought that Zhang Yuniang's poems were well written, and called her one of the "four female poets of Song Dynasty".

Meng Chengshun wrote a memorial to Zhang Yuniang, records of Zhenwen temple. He also wrote a poem called "the tomb of the parrot": "the beauty is carried away by the blue clouds at night, and the parrot falls to the green building. As soon as the parrot is gone, the spring is quiet, and the barren city is covered with clouds for thousands of years. The fragrant soul wants to ask about the pear blossom moon, and you think about Fangdu island. Snow orchid has words, don't sing, sunset smoke trees are too sad

Jiao Hong Ji

brief introduction

Jiao Hong Ji is a true story based on Xuanhe years of Northern Song Dynasty and adapted from Song Meidong's novel Jiao Hong Zhuan of Yuan Dynasty. It is written by Meng Chengshun in Ming Dynasty. It describes the tragedy of Wang jiaoniang and scholar Shen Chun who died for their love because they were not allowed. The theme of young men and women fighting for freedom of marriage expressed in Jiao Hong Ji has been repeatedly expressed in the operas of yuan and Ming Dynasties. However, Jiao Hong Ji does not stay at the height that its previous love works have reached. No matter in the shaping of characters or the depth of reflecting reality, it has its own characteristics, flashing with the brilliance of new ideas, and is listed as one of the "top ten Chinese classical tragedies".

Comments on celebrities

Chen Hongshou used to make illustrations for Meng Chengshun's legend "the story of Jiaohong in Yuanyang Tomb of Jieyi". He also commented on his plays "eyes are charming", "a smile before flowers", "three visits to Taoyuan" and "can Tang re creation". They also played together in Hangzhou and engaged in opera activities in Shaoxing.

All of Meng's plays are commented by Chen Hongshou. In addition to the story of Jiaohong in Jieyi yuanyangzhong, which is also commented by Chen, Chen Hongshou is the most diligent critic who comments on Meng's plays. Chen's comments include not only the macro analysis of artistic characteristics and value orientation, but also the micro analysis of casting words and sentences, ye Yun's entering into the law, emotional writing, plot setting and so on. For example, his comments on three visits to Taoyuan: "the old editions of Taoyuan dramas are popular in the world.

All the critics said that they should go hand in hand with (Wang) Shifu and (Guan) Hanqing.

This book is more accurate than the previous one. It is different from those who forced Wang Weijiu to change his painting style. "Comment on Jiao Hong Ji:" if you cast words and sentences, you will become a saint, while the rhyme of Ye Gong Shang contains gold and stone. Compared with Tang Ruoshi, who wants to break the voice of the people all over the world, he goes into another style. "The beauty of this song is full of emptiness and elegance, which makes readers empathize with each other." comments on Qifu Yaner Mei: "it is full of charm, but it is full of sadness, especially it is full of tears." and so on.

Yuanyang tomb in Jieyi

Jiao Hong Ji

》It is the most famous legend of Meng Chengshun“

Linchuan

Let's talk about it,

Wanling

Let's go,

Songling

The reputation of "let law"

.

Like other critics such as Qi biaojia and Ma Quanqi, Chen Hongshou highly praised Jiao Hong Ji. He not only made four exquisite illustrations for the title of Jiao Hong Ji, but also commented on it in detail. In the preface, Chen Hongshou expressed his deep understanding of Meng Chengshun, which can also be said to be the song writers at that time. Meng Chengshun was talented and self-supporting with Taoism. He was often regarded as a pedantic and corrupt scholar by "children in the countryside". In fact, he was deeply affectionate. His pursuit of the most affectionate nature was "to ask the men of the time but not, to ask the women of the time; to ask the women of the time but not." If you get it, you should ask about the past, the past and the present. Some "old gentleman" saw Meng's opera and denounced it as an "improper book". Chen Hongshou argued for him: "today, how can some people gather together to give lectures, make serious comments, forbid the people to do wrong? Everyone laughs and slanders. Actors like to offer haiku and wail, which makes people's temperament easy. Good people are advised, but not good people are angry. It's the training of a hundred Taoists, not the power of an actor. " This is the affirmation and recognition of the low status actors. Chen Hongshou was a drunken woman and a dissolute woman all his life. However, his poems were full of melancholy pain of his family and country. He was extremely affectionate and devoted. He was close to Meng Chengshun in temperament, so he knew each other best.

Chinese PinYin : Meng Cheng Shun