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Chapter 47

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    ?

    After the Yuan Dynasty unified the Central Plains, it emphasized martial arts and despised literature.

    The traditional Confucianism advocated the model of "students who excel in education" were broken, and literati were no longer the pride of that era, and their status was ranked after prostitutes and before beggars, the "old nine".  Intellectuals who have lost their official career, either for their livelihood or to express their anger, a large number of literati flocked to the brothel to speak for the women in the brothel and appeal to their confidante.  Over time, more and more experienced literati and poets began to compare the pros and cons of various prostitutes, and started the Huajian Imperial Examination-the selection of oirans.

    ?Selecting the oiran refers to the fact that brothels and flower farms imitate the imperial examinations to select the top women, which is comparable to a beauty pageant in modern society.

    [1] "Yue Tune. Preface to Purple Flowers" by Wang Shifu.

    Don't learn from Liu Ling's lotus,

    Do not learn from Qu Zi to throw himself into the river,

    And be a fan liguihu.

    Go around a beach of Polygonum rutabaga, and pass the green cattails on both sides of the bank.

    Fisherman, take my little boat to the past.

    Startled the few lines of gulls and herons.

    Like this kind of joy to forget worries, Hu will return.

    Wang Shifu is a native of Dadu, and he is the famous "No. 1 Scholar of Yuan Opera", and his most representative play is "Romance of the West Chamber" [1].

    Wang Shifu was an official in his early years, and his official career was bumpy. He often went in and out of entertainment venues performing zaju and singing and dancing.  In his later years, he abandoned his official position and went back to seclusion, living a life of reciting the wind and enjoying the moon, and wandering in gardens.

    Suzhou literati Shen Xuewen came to the capital to study with Wang Shifu in the fourth year of Dade [1300].

    After living in the capital for a period of time, he felt that the Yuan Dynasty government did not intend to resume the imperial examination. In a rage, he changed his name to "Shen Xiuwen" and the word "Dianxiu".  In other words, he will no longer pursue an official career in the future, but will start a "draft".

    With Wang Shifu as the president and himself as the vice president, he organized a group of celebrities and talents in the capital to "evaluate the flower list" for the brothel women every year.  He also wrote many articles specifically for the "Comment on Flowers", among which the excellent work "Yandu Prostitutes" was widely circulated.

    "Yandu Prostitutes" divides the criteria for judging good prostitutes into four items, namely "taste, rhyme, talent, and color".  In addition to appearance, demeanor, and language, the selected items also include poetry, poetry, calligraphy and painting.  That is to say, it is not easy for even a prostitute to become a "Oiran" who is rich in money.

    But as long as you are rated as the oiran, you will have inexhaustible glory and wealth.  Because most of the champions selected every year are married off by dignitaries, heroes and wealthy businessmen at high prices.  Over the past few decades, Shen Xiuwen has gained super high experience points.

    [2] "Zhonglu. Mixed River Dragon" Wang Shifu. Song

    Falling red into formations,

    The wind is blowing and it is worrying people.

    The pond is dreaming at dawn, and the spring is farewell at the threshold.

    The butterfly powder is lightly stained with flying catkins and snow,

    The fragrance of Yanni makes flowers fall.

    The spring mood is short, the willow silk is long,

    Across the flowers and shade, people are far away and the end of the world is close.

    The fragrance dissipates the gold powder of the Six Dynasties,

    Cleared up the spirit of San Chu.

    In the second year of Huangqing [1313], in October of the lunar calendar, Renzong asked Zhongshu Province to discuss the imperial examination.  On November 18 of the lunar calendar, Yuan Renzong issued an edict to restore the imperial examination system.

    The resumption of the imperial examination made literati such as Wang Shifu and Shen Xiuwen extremely excited, thinking that it was the result of their annual "Huajian imperial examination" supervision.  Since then, he has also changed the annual "Flower Review" to once every three years.

    The imperial examination was held only seven times, and the court decided to cancel it.

    Shen Xiuwen was very dissatisfied with the court's practice of playing intellectuals as a joke.  Now that the imperial court has abolished the imperial examination system, we will retain and develop the Huajian imperial examination among the people.  They are going to make a big deal this year and make it into a national draft.  They spread "hero posts" to major cities across the country a few years ago, inviting beautiful women from all over the country to participate in the election in Beijing.

    ?As of the end of February, a total of nearly 300 beauties from all over the country have come, adding splendor to the capital in spring.  It can be said that the capital is full of talented men and beautiful women, and you will be moved even if you are not emotional.

    Shen Xiuwen divided the beauties from all over the country into six competition areas according to the provinces——

    Fuli District: a place directly under the Central Government.

    ?Northeast Region: Liaoyang Province, Lingbei Province and other provinces.

    ? Middle East: Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Henan Jiangbei Province.

    Jiangnan District: Jiangxi Province, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces.

    ?Southeast District: Huguang Province.

    ? Southwest Region: Yunnan Province, Sichuan Province.

    The event is going to be held in March. First, there will be a primary election—district competition. Each district will select "five golden flowers" to participate in the semi-finals on April 18.

    ?Every year, the oiran appraisal activities are held in "Changchunyuan", because Changchunyuan is the largest "nightclub" in Beijing, and it has a "Drunken Red House" dance hall that can accommodate thousands of people.

    This year, Shen Xiuwen even arranged all the activities in the "Changchun Courtyard".  The business-minded brothel owner Zhu Aifang had already sniffed out the business opportunities, so she approached the organizers of the event, Wang Shifu and Shen Xiuwen, to discuss how to make money through this primary election.

    The three of them negotiated and decided: change the primary election to a public vote, the top five will be the ones with the most votes, and the expert assessors will serve as referees during the primary election.  And it was stipulated that one tael of silver was one vote, and the silver taels they received would be divided into two, two, two and four quarters—Zhu Aifang took "four", Wang and Shen each got "two", and the remaining two were given to other judges.

    Immediately, they issued a notice to all the men in the city: Starting from the evening of March 6th, a "Golden Flower Appraisal" activity in the sub-competition area will be held in the "Changchun Courtyard" for a period of 30 days.  Anyone can make a recommendation, one tael of silver and one "recommendation letter", and the person with the most "recommendations" will be the "top five" in the district.

    "Recommendation" is the ticket for the flower list election. It was not called "ticket" at that time, but it was called "recommendation" very elegantly.

    As soon as this announcement came out, the tour leader or bustard in each city launched a campaign for votes.  This also made the young masters and buddies in the capital happy. Either the leader of the team brought the beauties to dinner, or the bustard brought the daughter to drink for a day.

    ————————————

    Notes

    [1] "Romance of the West Chamber"

    The full name is "The Story of Cui Yingying Waiting for the Moon and the Western Chamber", a total of 5 volumes with 21% off and 5 wedges.

    Historically, the beautiful wish "May all lovers in the world be married" has become the theme of many literary works, and "The Romance of the West Chamber" is the most successful drama depicting this theme.

    The scholar Zhang Sheng met Cui Yingying, the daughter of Cui Xiangguo in the temple, and the two fell in love. With the help of the maid and matchmaker, after going through ups and downs, they finally broke through the shackles of feudal ethics and became married.  Wang Shifu's Zaju "The Romance of the West Chamber" has a distinct and profound anti-feudal theme.  The love story between Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying no longer stays in the model of "gifted scholars and beautiful women", nor does it regard "husband, noble wife and prosperous" as the ideal of marriage.  They denied the traditional way of marriage in feudal society, and always pursued sincere feelings. Love has been placed above fame and fortune.

    At the end of "The Romance of the West Chamber", for the first time in the history of Chinese literature, it expresses positively the good wish of "may all lovers in the world get married", and expresses the progressive proposition against feudal ethics, feudal marriage system, and feudal hierarchy system, which inspires people.  Young men and women are fighting for freedom of love and autonomy in marriage.

    There are two clues to the dramatic conflict in "The Romance of the West Chamber".  One is the conflict between the "Old Lady", the representative of feudal forces, and Cui Yingying, Zhang Sheng, and Matchmaker.  This is a conflict between the feudal forces who maintain feudal ethics and the rebels who oppose feudal ethics and pursue marriage autonomy.

    In addition, "The Romance of the West Chamber" also has another thread of dramatic conflicts caused by various contradictions among Cui Yingying, Zhang Sheng, and Hongniang. Although these conflicts are secondary, they are numerous and intricate, and are often intertwined with the main contradiction.  , influence each other, and promote the development of the dramatic plot one by one, with a strong dramatic effect.  This is what makes "The Romance of the West Chamber" amazing.

    "The Romance of the West Chamber" does not have many characters, but there are many dramas with twists and turns.  The scale of "The Romance of the West Chamber" is unprecedented in the history of Chinese drama.  It breaks through the general practice of Yuan Zaju, and presents a complete love story with twists and turns and moving in a long and giant production.  Therefore, it avoids the simplification of the plot and the shortcomings of a certain degree of stereotyping caused by other Yuan Zaju dramas due to space limitations, and can develop the plot and portray the characters with ease.  This is a pioneering work of Wang Shifu.

    The most prominent artistic achievement of "The Romance of the West Chamber" is the successful creation of lifelike characters with different personalities.  Wang Shifu is very good at accurately grasping the character characteristics of characters according to their status, identity, upbringing and specific relationship with each other; and mobilizing various artistic means to express them vividly and vividly.  Cui Yingying, Zhang Sheng, Hongniang, and the old lady have all become immortal artistic models because of Wang Shifu's outstanding talent.

    After Wang Shifu's "The Romance of the West Chamber" came out, it had a wide and far-reaching influence in the history of Chinese literature.  There are a large number of editions, and there are about 100 Ming and Qing editions that have been handed down to the present.  Many scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties spoke highly of "The Romance of the West Chamber". Until modern times, various versions of "The Romance of the West Chamber" are still active on the stage and are highly appreciated by people.  (Remember the site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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