Wang's death: behind the scenes. Observer. abstract

The Death of the King: The Fate of the Little People Behind the Great History is a real case full of emotion, flesh and blood, cold and straightforward. Through local chronicles, notes of officials and gentry, legendary stories and other contents, it vividly describes the poor living conditions in rural areas of China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. ② The book is divided into three parts, the first part is in front, and the second part is in chapter 1-4, which expounds the sufferings of the people, the hard work of farmers and the payment of land rent, as well as the contradictory struggle between local tyrants and the government. The third part includes the fifth chapter and the conclusion, that is, the death of Wang. The first part, Frontier, mainly states the materials used in writing this book. The first kind of information is Tancheng County Records compiled by Feng Keshen 1673. Feng once worked as a magistrate of a county, but after only two years, he was dismissed because of his poor handling of horses and financial resources in the royal post station in the county. "He stayed in Tancheng in poverty and lived on the alms of the local gentry and the money earned by writing." (page 22). Perhaps because of his depressed experience in Tancheng, he wrote very frankly about the unfortunate experiences in this area, the poverty of the residents and the incompetence of local gentry in solving difficulties. The second kind of information is the personal memory and official advice about the career of county officials compiled by Huang Zai 1690 "Fu Hui Quan Shu". "Huang is an extremely keen observer, who pays attention to details and has doubts about accuracy: when he writes official suggestions, he usually writes down the correct time or date of a specific event (lunar calendar) ... exactly right" (P 17). The third material is Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio written by Pu Songling, who is a leader in the field of fiction. The first two materials are completely different in interest. Feng and Huang mainly pay attention to the areas of people's anger and misfortune, but rarely pay attention to other spiritual areas, such as loneliness, sex and dreams, and Liaozhai is very fascinated by these areas, thus making up for Feng He's mistakes. In addition, the author also puts forward the research method of montage ③ at the forefront. The second part * * * has four chapters. Chapter one: the observer. In other words, Feng Keshen, Huang and Pu Songling, with complex and heavy feelings, have insight into all sentient beings and record what they have seen and heard with them. First of all, it is pointed out that in the17th century, Tancheng was unlucky, and natural and man-made disasters followed. For example, Manchurian soldiers slaughtered and plundered, and bandits killed and ravaged. Swallowing of locusts, persistent drought, earthquake outbreak, and so on. Tancheng people are on the verge of extinction, starving everywhere, and even the phenomenon of "eating husbands, eating brothers and eating wives, and prolonging life" appears. Due to a series of unfortunate blows, the people's obedience to Confucianism has been shaken and their spirit is extremely decadent. Domestic violence and suicide cases can be seen everywhere. Huang pointed out that "family and father suddenly become enemies, and neighbors and relatives can flourish." Hanging from the beam, I don't smell it every day, and I throw my neck into the river from time to time "(P30).

Chapter II Land. This paper introduces the hard work of farmers in Tancheng, the situation of paying taxes after finishing grain, and the government's clever name for the people. And the landlord tried every means to hide the truth and avoid taxes. Some landlords even use the "all-round system" to accept the tax liability of others, so as to gain prestige and loyal followers. As a result, the peasants' toil, eating and drinking in the desert are endless and empty.

Chapter III Widows. This chapter mainly introduces the confusion and heavy pressure of widow's life. According to the Qing Law, "the remarriage of husband (female), the property of husband and the original dowry, and the house of ex-husband" (p88). The original intention of the government is to make widows never forget their dead husbands, but in fact it puts widows in a dilemma. If you remarry, it will violate the concept of chastity advocated by the government, and many people will give remarried widows a dirty look. If they should not get married, they are often threatened by their husbands' close relatives and forced to remarry in order to covet the widow's property. In this chapter, the author gives an incisive description of a heinous and terrible case. Peng Liyuan's husband, Chen Taiframe, died young and lived alone with her young son, Chen Lian. Chen Lian is studying in a private school. Her husband's cousins, Chen Guolian and Chen have long coveted Peng's property. So he forced Peng to remarry by any means. Take Peng's cattle, for example, or even break into Peng's home in an attempt to drive him away. However, the stubborn Peng family vowed not to remarry, but the devil Chen San brothers still refused to give up and came up with a poisonous plan: killing Chen Lian. Because there is a provision in the Qing law; "If a woman's husband dies childless and keeps her ambition, she will divide her husband and choose Zhao Mu's heir according to the patriarch." People like Chen take it for granted that after Chen Lian's death, the Chen brothers can legitimately inherit Peng's property. How to kill Chen Lian and get the minimum punishment? It suddenly dawned on Chen that he had another idea. Chen's father was killed by Manchu, and his body has never been found. So he fabricated a myth and framed Chen Lian's father for killing him. He wanted to avenge his father and killed Chen Lian. Because there is a provision in the "Qing Law" that "if grandparents and grandmothers are killed by people, future generations will be good at killing the perpetrators, and the staff will be sixty; Its direct killer, no matter. " Chen believes that the government should be lenient when the son revenges his father. His plan looks flawless, but in fact it is full of loopholes. First of all, he has no evidence to prove that Chen Lian's father killed his father; Secondly, your 27-year revenge has completely passed the statutory prosecution period; Third, the law stipulates that you can retaliate against your enemy, but you can't retaliate against your son. Finally, a magistrate was sentenced to hang for "killing a relative of Hong Xiao". Perhaps such tragedies are common in society, but there is always a question lingering in my heart; What makes him so cruel and tyrannical, devoid of conscience and without sympathy for his family? Perhaps it is the greedy nature of human beings; Perhaps it is the violent and pathological nature of authoritarian system. The tyranny of the system often leads to the tyranny of the people, and the morbidity of the system often leads to the morbidity of the people. "If you are good in the world, you will be embarrassed." "The social environment compresses the individual's intellectual freedom to a very small extent, and people's honesty and integrity can only grow into a bush, not a jungle." Perhaps it is the misfortune and poverty of too many people. Too much misfortune and poverty often create people with mental deformities, and often breed rash, reckless and sudden, irrational and intractable violence. The hierarchical system advocated by Confucianism seems to be inspiring in China, but the benevolence, righteousness and honesty advocated by Confucianism failed to take root and grow into a towering tree in China.

Chapter Four: Struggle. This chapter is about the conflict between unruly heroes and the government. The book describes Wang San's deep pockets and his private life in Tancheng, and he is a typical "thief". On weekdays, Wang San and his son are domineering, and people regard them with special respect. Li Dongzhen, a unruly farmer, just clashed with him because of the land issue and called him a bandit. Wang San became angry from embarrassment and sent someone to assassinate Li Dongzhen and his three sons. In the end, after many twists and turns, Huang Zhi County finally brought the Wangs to justice.

The third part: including the fifth chapter: eloping women and conclusion: trial. First of all, the author lists some chaste and heroic women according to historical materials. However, society is a kaleidoscope, colorful. Not every woman wants to be a virtuous woman. Wang is one of them. Unable to bear the hardships of life, Wang eloped with a man and was finally strangled alive by her husband.

Next, I'd like to explain my superficial views on this book from a macro perspective.

First of all, the author is ingenious. Like a talented photographer, he will use montage and novel imagination to make some insignificant materials into a sad and real picture, so that the whole ancient county can be vivid and lifelike. As the lens goes on, the vision becomes clear and concrete: from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, to the living conditions of Tancheng people, and then to the death of Wang, it is like a series of levels. So as to experience the author's superb mastery of language and article structure.

Secondly, this book combines literariness with history, bringing out the best in each other, melting literature and history into a furnace and making it in a proper "golden section". If it is a novel, there are a lot of historical materials to rely on, and it is eloquent; It is an academic monograph, but it is so fascinating and gripping. To some extent, he inherited Sima Qian's style of writing history.