A New Discussion on Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion

Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting in Tang Dynasty was selected as a middle school textbook, which is a famous masterpiece in China. Many scholars have made a detailed study of his works, which is very enlightening for later research. However, there is no end to learning, and there are still many controversial views and problems around Wang Bo and Preface to Wang Teng-ting. This paper intends to discuss this.

First, the writing time of preface to Wang Teng-ting.

The writing time of this article, the old four said:

(A) "fourteen-year-old" theory

Records of the Five Dynasties Kings: At the age of fourteen, he wrote Preface to Wang Tengting. Governor Gong Yan didn't believe it. Although Bob is here, Gong Yan's will belongs to his son-in-law, Meng, and it has been completed. And let the guests patrol with paper and pen without hesitation. Public anger, brushing clothes, waiting for him to write. The first newspaper said,' Nanchang is an old county, and Hongdu is a new house.' Gong said,' Yes, it's also a cliche. It has also been reported that:' The stars spread their wings and meet Lu Heng. The public listened thoughtfully and said nothing. Another cloud says,' Sunset and loneliness in Qi Fei, autumn water and sky are the same color.' However, the public got up and said,' What a genius! It should be immortal! "I'm in a hurry to invite dinner, very happy. "[1] From this point of view, although Governor Yan praised his son-in-law for being selfish from the beginning, he is also a man with real talent, broad mind and special love for talents. His advocacy and recognition played a key role in the writing and circulation of Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting.

(B) the theory of "thirteen years old"

Taiping Guangji records that Wang Bo "his father came to Jiangxi in thirteen provinces" [2]. "Pre-Collection of Ancient and Modern Events and Documents" records: "Wang Tangbo Zi 'an can write at the age of six, and his words are unparalleled. 13 years, the servant father swam to the left of the river, took a boat, set foot on Yumu Mountain, a semi-ancient temple, crossed the dangerous fence and flew over the cliff of Gefei. When Bonai went ashore, he saw that the master of the gate was in power, saying, The palace of the Central Plains Water House is forbidden, and the guards are ugly. Boyi built a temple, worshiped, and returned to Lu Yu, an old man, tall and old, with beautiful bones, sitting on a rocky mountain. Bow to Bochang and say,' Isn't the son Wang Bo?' Bo was surprised. Shao Yue said, "On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the governor ordered people to write a preface to the pavilion. If the son has obvious talent, why not give it to him? Bo said,' It's more than 700 miles to Nanchang. Today is September 8th. "What can I say," Su said, "I'm sincere. I'll help Qingfeng." Bob bowed happily, thanked him and said goodbye, and asked, "Are you immortal or sacred?" He smiled and said,' I'm Mr. Zhongyuan Shuifu. It's nice to be back on the sailboat. "Bob immediately boarded the ship. The next day, I arrived in Nanchang. Yan, a handsome man of the Hui government, belongs to Tengwangge. When he was handsome, he had a husband, Wu. He is good at writing lyrics, and the public wants to praise him as a guest friend. He is the guest of Teng Wangge's preface. When the guests come together, they will do it on the spot. Since it will, the public fruit will be awarded to the guests. The guests said that the second time is Bo, and Bo needs to be collected. The public is not interested, the color is very unhappy, and he returns to the cabinet. Secretly tell a few officials to wait for Bob to finish writing. An official immediately reported:' Nanchang is an old county and Hongdu is a new house.' Gong said:' This is what Confucian scholars often say.' An official replied, "The stars are divided into wings and connected with Lu Heng." Gong said,' The story is also.' It was also reported:' The Golden Three Rivers bring five lakes, control barbarians and attract Ouyue. Openness means silence. Suddenly several officials got together to report to the public, but it was just embarrassing. To "sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn waters and sky are the same color", Gong suddenly said, "What a genius! It is a great pleasure to become a successful person in literature. When Zhang Zi heard about it, he retired in shame. Public and private yanbo. Fine, thank you for the $500. Zhou Bo went to his old place, but he was already sitting in the Rocky Mountain. Bob thanked him and said, "You should have a gift to thank God." He smiled and said,' But I have gone too far. I will burn 100,000 yuan, and I still have outstanding debts.' Waves pass through long reeds and burn them all (Yi Yan). [3] As can be seen from the end of the article, according to Wang's "Tang Yuyan", this article is perfunctory. Some people think that this article is from Luo Yin's legendary novel "Biography of the Central Plains" in the late Tang Dynasty, but "Biography of the Central Plains" has not been circulated and cannot be verified. Later, Feng Menglong's novel "Awakening the World" in the Ming Dynasty, "Madang Shenfeng sent Wang Tengting", became more and more popular. There are also zaju (such as Tengwangge by Zheng Yu in the Ming Dynasty) and legends (such as Tengwangge by Zhou Ai in the Qing Dynasty), all of which are touching legends of prodigies. However, the theory of "thirteen years old" or "fourteen years old" is probably the phrase "how can a lad know" in the preface to Wang Teng-ting, but the so-called "lad" of the ancients does not only refer to people who are thirteen or fourteen years old. For example, the "boy test" in the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty is also called "boy test", which is divided into three stages: county test, government test and academy test. Some scholars have to try many times to pass the most basic county and government tests to become boys, while others have failed many times in college tests after obtaining the status of boys. Many people are also called "boy trials" when they are white-haired. In the Qing Dynasty, there were centenarians in Guangdong. Therefore, the so-called "lad" in Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Teng-ting is only a modest name for other elders at the table. In addition, there is a phrase "the weak crown of the final army" in Wang Teng Gexu. The "weak crown" is obviously twenty years old, not fourteen. The more important evidence is that Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Teng-ting has the feeling of "unlucky and ill-fated", which is definitely not what a 13-or 14-year-old child should have, so it is not credible.

(C) the "22-year-old" theory

Note by Wu Chucai and others in the early Qing Dynasty, written in the second year of Xianheng (67 1), Wang was 22 years old. The note reads: "In the second year of Xianheng, Yan Boyu was rebuilt as a herdsman in Hongzhou. On September 9, a banquet was held in the pavilion. If you want to praise your son-in-law, Wu's talent will keep you in order. At that time, Wang Bo's father went to Nanchang, 700 miles away. In my dream, the water god told me to help the wind sail. When Da Dan went to Nanchang for dinner, Yan invited all the guests to order, but he didn't leave. Yan was embarrassed. He ordered the officials to report the verdict immediately. Facing the sunset, I sighed: this genius is also. I think he waved to the guests that day and embroidered words and sentences. He was a genius. " [4] Jiang Qingyi, a native of the Qing Dynasty, also advocated taking Liuhe County as the "provincial father" in Wang Zian Notes [5]. This statement has no basis in the early literature and belongs to speculation.

(D) "29-year-old" theory

The new Biography of Tang Caizi in Yuan Dynasty believed that Teng Xu was written by Wang Fuzhi (now Yuebei), and when he went out of the province to visit Nanchang, he wrote: "(Wang Bo) tried his best to conceal the death penalty, fearing that it would be leaked, so he killed it. If he thinks things should be punished, he will be pardoned and removed from the list. Father's blessing is an order to move to the left. Bo went on a pilgrimage to the province and passed by Nanchang. At that time, Yan Gong built Wang Tengting. On September 9th, the guests will write down his son-in-law to boast about this event. When you are in that position, you know your talent, so please do it. Bob teased the guests without hesitation, but in an instant, without adding any words, the house was full of surprises. A farewell after drinking, the beautiful man gave a hundred gifts, that is, sailed to Yanfang and drowned in the ocean at the age of 29. " [6] The "twenty-nine" mentioned here is a nominal age.

According to Yang Jiong's Preface to the Collection of Wang Bo, the year of Wang Bo's death was "autumn and August in the third year of Tang Shangyuan" [7], so the time for Wang Bo to visit relatives in Nanchang should be the year before last, that is, Chongyang in the second year of Tang Gaozong Shangyuan. Inferred from this, this article was identified as last September and the author was 26 years old. Looking for the significance of Preface to Tengwang Pavilion and investigating the road of poetry creation seems to be based on "twenty-six years old", so Fu Xuancong's Biography of Talents in Tang Dynasty [8] and Chen's Preface to Tengwang Pavilion [9] all advocate this point.

The Relationship between Preface to Tengwangge and Poems of Tengwangge

(A) Title analysis

Analyzing the title of the article helps to distinguish the nature of the article. This article has three titles: Preface to Tengwangge, Preface to Autumn Farewell and Preface to Tengwangge Poetry. According to the source, the first one is from Tang Yan, the second one is from Wenyuan Huaying and the third one is from Wang Zian Collection {1}. From the time point of view, the source of the first material is the earliest, five generations; The second is later, the Northern Song Dynasty; The third is the latest, Ming Dynasty. In nature, the first is a common abbreviation; The second part explains the time (autumn), place (Hongfu Wang Teng Pavilion) and reason (farewell) of the preface; The third category explains the nature of this article, which is not a single article, but a preface to Teng's poems. Although the third title is the latest, it is most appropriate to grasp the nature of this article according to this name. Because the Tengwangge party is similar to the Lanting party, the writing of this article-Preface to Lanting Collection by Rainbow Xizhi is not a single article, but a preface to Poet's Pen Club Collection, which is the preface. At the end of this article, it reads: "There are not many scenic spots, so it is difficult to have a feast; Lanting is gone, Qi Ze Xu Qiu. " Obviously, it has the significance of inheriting the Preface to Lanting Collection. Another cloud said: "Dare to exhaust your humble feelings, be respectful and short-quoted; All words are given, and all four rhymes are achieved. " The "brief quotation" here is the Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion; "A gift of ten thousand words" means that Governor Yan asked everyone present to give a poem; "All four rhymes are achieved", that is to say, this poem has been written, at least by Wang Bo himself. Obviously, Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Teng-ting was written after his Poem of Wang Teng-ting, instead of writing the preface first and then the poem. Structurally, Poem of Tengwangge is the main body, and Preface of Tengwangge is the preface of Poem of Tengwangge. Some people understand Poem of Tengwangge as a suffix of Preface to Tengwangge, which is deceived by Feng Menglong's novels. For example, the relationship between preface and poem in 300 Newly Selected Tang Poems is: "The former is a famous parallel prose, while the latter (poem) can be a summary and abbreviation of preface." [10] Some people think that "Wang Teng-ting's poem is the end of the preface to Wang Teng-ting, and its nature is like the praise or inscription of historical biography or inscription" [1 1], which is not correct. To read the preface, you should actually read the poem first.

(2) Analysis of Teng Wangge's poems.

Wang Teng Linjiang Pearl, Ming Luan continues to sing and dance.

The painted building faces Nanpu Cloud, and the bead curtain rolls up the rain in the western hills at dusk.

The shadow of the idle cloud pool is long, and things change for a few years.

Where is the emperor in the cabinet today? The Yangtze River flows out from the sill [12].

The first two sentences are generally understood as that the Wang Teng Pavilion was originally the place where Wang Teng crowed and crowed, while Wang Teng crowed and crowed after he left. This understanding is problematic. If the Wang Teng Pavilion was no longer used as a ballroom after Wang Teng left, why did the Governor of Yan choose this place to hold a grand banquet? The key is how to understand the word "strike". Strike will lead to fatigue. It means that the singing and dancing here are peaceful and the singers and dancers are tired.

Three or four sentences start from the space and describe the magnificent building of Wang Teng Pavilion. In the early morning, the white clouds in Nanpu floated across the magnificent pavilions; In the evening, the rain and wind in the western hills blew the bead curtain on the pavilion. Some people think that it is also a misunderstanding that these two sentences continue to describe that the Wang Teng Pavilion was ignored after Wang Teng left. Because when Yan Dou hosts a big banquet to entertain guests, it is very lively. Why do you feel cold?

Five or six sentences from time to time, write down the transformation of past lives in Wang Teng Pavilion. Wang Teng used to be the old owner of this pavilion. According to the Book Biography of the Old Tang Dynasty, he was "arrogant and out of power", but during his tenure as the secretariat of Hongzhou, he repeatedly violated the rules and was placed in Chuzhou by the court in the form of "closing his household and his marriage account" [13]. When Wang Bo wrote a poem as a preface, Wang Teng had disappeared. Linked to the preface, these two sentences do have the feeling of "things are different."

At the end of the two sentences, knot feelings with scenery. The castle is safe, the water is still flowing, and Di Zi, who is building a building, has disappeared. The last sentence in the annotation of Guanzi, an ancient literature in China, is "It is wrong to hurt things without hurting people" [14]. This is a very good poem, which really means mourning the past and hurting the present. Nature (sun, moon, stars and rivers) is always running, while personnel are fickle. Wang Bo wrote here, I'm afraid it is also related to his high spirits in Pei and his poverty now, so I'm afraid it is appropriate to be sentimental, and his own life experience is his real inner thoughts. If the word "sill" in the sentence is interpreted as a railing, it should be read as (sword); If interpreted as a threshold, it should be read as (Kan Kan). These two solutions are related, mainly depending on Wang Bo's position when writing poems. If he is upstairs, he can see the Yangtze River outside the railing. If you are in the lobby downstairs, you will certainly see the Yangtze River outside the threshold. From the syllable point of view, the pronunciation (sword) is louder.

Stylistically, although this poem is still an ancient poem, it is close to the orthodox poem in terms of the harmony between antithesis and couplet, so this poem has a great influence on the development of modern poetry in Tang Dynasty.

Three. Preface fragment of Wang Teng Pavilion

There are natural paragraphs and meaningful paragraphs in the article. How to divide the full text of Preface to Wang Tengting? Generally, the full text is divided into four paragraphs. In my opinion, according to the meaning of Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion and the main idea of each paragraph, it can actually be divided into eight paragraphs in more detail:

(1) Hongfu landform. From "the old county town of Zhang Yu" to "the beauty of the host and guest in the southeast", the generalization of Hongdu's magnificent terrain, exotic products and outstanding talents is closely related to the word "Hongfu".

(2) Introduce the guests. From "Governor Gong Yan's Elegant Hope" to "Bowing to Win", introduce the elegant hosts and distinguished guests present.

(3) autumn scenery is picturesque. From "Ten Flavors in September" to "Sound Breaking Hengyang Pu", it depicts a colorful Tengwangge Qiu Jingtu. Seen from a close distance, it is full of rich colors, and it describes the magnificent and beautiful scenery of Tengwang Pavilion.

(4) climb Yixing. From "carefree" to "extremely entertaining in leisure time", from describing scenery to expressing interest in boarding.

(5) Happiness comes with sadness. From "Heavenly Land" to "What Year of the Proclamation", this period is a turning point, and the emotion turns from joy to sadness.

Fourthly, the genre characteristics of Preface to Wang Tengting.

Parallel prose has three characteristics: neat antithesis, appropriate allusion and sonorous melody. Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Teng-ting embodies the characteristics of parallel prose, which is the representative work of parallel prose in China.

(A) a wonderful antithesis

Duel, also known as duality, not only has the relative parts of speech such as noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, function word to function word, but also has the relative structure of phrases. The famous contrast method in this paper is as follows:

The water is cold and the pool is clear, and the smoke is purple.

"Liaoshui" and "Yan Guang" are opposite phrases, "Jin" and "Ning" are opposite verbs, "Marmot" and "Sun Shan" are also opposite in structure, and "Qing" and "Zi" are opposite adjectives.

Sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn waters and sky are the same color.

These two sentences are not only opposite to each other in sentence structure, but also form their own duality in one sentence, forming the characteristics of "sunset versus loneliness" and "autumn water versus sky", which is a major feature of Wang Bo's parallel prose. Song Hongmaiyun: "In a single sentence, Tang poetry is self-contained, which is called a sentence pair. The words "Hui Lan borrows, Gui Xiang wine and pepper paste" and "Gui Yan Lan, ice and snow" in Chu Ci have been the same since Qi Liang and Yuzishan. For example, Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting's Banquet is all natural. That is to say, if "Jin Sanjiang takes five lakes, controls barbarians to attract Ou Yue", "Long Guang Niu Dou, Xu Fan", "Teng Jiao, Zi Dian Shuang", "He, Gui Dian Lan Gong", "Zhong Ming Jia, birds Huanglong Axis", "The sunset is lonely, the autumn water is long and the sky is high. [ 15]

When you are old and strong, you would rather be moved; Poverty is strong, not falling into the sky.

This is a pair of four-six-alternating sentences, which are used more and more frequently in parallel prose in the Tang Dynasty, so "parallel prose" is also called "four-six prose". This couplet is the most thoughtful warning in the whole text. Throughout the ages, many people with lofty ideals, in the face of difficult living environment, can always pursue their ideals persistently, even in gloomy adversity, and will not give up. Wang Bo suffered setbacks at this time, but he still has such persistent feelings, which is really commendable. It can warn those who have lost their way not to give up on themselves because of their fleeting time and difficulties.

(2) Appropriate allusions

In the preface to Wang Teng-ting, "the treasure of things is treasure, and the dragon light shoots the cow in the city;" The sentences such as "The Noble Xu Ru descended from the couch to Chen Fan" and "The armory of General Zi Dian Wang" are very distinctive.

The classics of Long Guang can be found in the Book of Jin? Zhang Huachuan and Zhang Hua dug two swords, Longquan and Tai 'a, underground because of the purple gas irradiation between the bucket and the cow. The dazzling light from the two swords was Long Guang [16]. Can the classic "Xuru" be found in the later Han Dynasty? "Biography of Xu" Chen Fan, a famous figure in the Eastern Han Dynasty, refused to be a guest when he was a satrap, but Xu, who refused to be an official because of his poor family, visited and set up a couch for the night [17]. Some people think that the code name of "Zidian Clearing Frost" can be found in Cui Bao's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times in Jin Dynasty: "Emperor Wu has three treasure knives and six swords: one is Bai Hong, the other is Zidian, the third is evil spirits, the fourth is meteor, the fifth is Qingming and the sixth is thyme. The knife says it is a hundred chains, the second is a young calf, and the third is a scene. " [18] See Liu Xinchuan's Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing in the Han Dynasty: "Gao Zu beheaded a white snake sword, and the sword was decorated with seven pearls and nine flowers, and the colorful glass in the toilet was used as the sword box, and the sword was in the room. The scenery outside is still shining, which is different from the sword. Twelve years of grinding and polishing, the blade is often frosty and snowy, and it is full of glory. " [19] However, Shen Youxin said: "The Tales of the Three Kingdoms" says: Xiao Ming's "Distinguishing Books with Wang Monks" says: Everyone joined the army with songs, and there are clouds before and after:' The gathering of frost and electricity is nothing more than the soldiers in the armory; Longjia rhinoceros canal is the battle of Yuntai. Tang's Preface to Wang Tengting: "Ziqing ointment is the armory of General Wang." Is to take advantage of this. With a boy of 14 years old in his chest, thousands of years later, Su Ru still can't know its origin. Isn't it a genius in the world? The withdrawal of Du Zimei and North Korea is very convincing and beneficial. Let Bob and Du Han live in the same world, fearing that the old horse on the ground can't catch up with the handsome stork in the clouds, the advice of future generations will spread, which is ridiculous! "[20]

In this way, the use of allusions has achieved the expression effect of "the words are close but the meaning is far away", which can be described as concise and meaningful.

(3) High temperament

Xu Douguang, a scholar of Qing Dynasty, was written by Fu Xue and Dan Xian. In The Secret of Law and Fu, Wang Teng-ting's Preface is quoted to discuss the problem of flat law and Fu in detail, and its text says:

Any leveling mentioned in the method can be arranged at the intermittent reading. If it is word for word, the preface to Wang Teng-ting has four or six styles, and its coordinator can do it at one stroke. If there are two words in a sentence, the upper word is flat and the lower word is flat; Or if you use the upper word and the lower word in a flat way, the same is true if "the stars are divided and the ground is connected to Lu Heng". Or the upper word is flat and the lower word is flat; The words above are flat, and the words below are flat. If there is no way to volunteer, so is it. However, the four words are still easy, and there is no need to detain them. As for what is impossible, we can only adjust it during the break, such as "mountains and clouds are heavy" and "flying pavilions and flowing Dan, there is no land under" There is no need to elaborate word for word, just ask the words "pavilion", "Dan" and "land", so there are two words in the sentence, such as "Changzhou, which is close to Di Zi and is an old fairy hall", and only the words "Zizhou" and "Guan Ren" are used, which are related to "Ping". "Feel sorry for yourself when touching Lingyun, and feel ashamed when playing with water.". I only say four words: "the clouds pity the water" and "plain". "The terrain is deep in the South Pole, high in Tianzhu and far from Beichen", and indeed only the words "extremely deep and high" and "flat and flat" are related. There are three stops in the clauses of the upper word and the lower word, such as "the sound breaks the poor bank and the sound breaks Hengyang Pu", and only the six words "poor bank, broken Yangpu" and "average" are in tune. And if the six real words "Lonely in the sunset, the autumn waters are long and the sky is one color" are erased, it is true that only the six words "Xia" and "Ping Ping" are harmonious. There are two words in the sentence, three words in the middle, two words at the bottom, and three stops, such as "Long Guang shoots the bull fighting the city, Xu Xia Chen Fan couch", and only the words "Light fighting the city, Ru Fan couch" and "occasionally flat" are in tune. He is still three sentences, only the last word; Five-character short sentences, including upper two, lower three and upper three; There are two long sentences, namely, upper three middle schools and lower two middle schools, upper two middle schools and lower three middle schools, which are not calculated by words, but more curved, and the method is extremely difficult to describe. Looking at the ten fu of "Changsheng Pill", we can reflect on [2 1].

The essence of this passage is to clarify that the tone of law and the tone of parallel prose are consistent in principle, and they still follow the routine of alternating one sentence with two sentences. The key to grasp is to understand the "intermittent reading" of complex sentences, which is the rhythm point of complex sentences, such as the second and fourth words of four sentences, the first two, the next three, the first three and the first two sentences of five sentences, and the second cut or the third stop sentence of six sentences. This is the key point to coordinate leveling.

The Influence of verb (abbreviation of verb) Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion

Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting was famous as early as the Tang Dynasty. Han Yu was the main commander of the ancient prose movement in Tang Dynasty, which was the opposite concept to parallel prose. The ancient prose movement is to restore Confucian orthodoxy in thought, overthrow parallel prose in style and form, and advocate ancient prose. However, Han Yu does not discriminate against well-written parallel prose. In the article "Newly Built Wang Teng Pavilion", he said: "The less I listen, the more beautiful it is. The Wang Teng Pavilion is the first, which is magnificent and unique. And get the order, fu, record and so on. What the three kings did was strong in their words, and they read it to forget their worries. " [22] Among the "Three Kings", Wang Zhongshu's Ji and Wang Xu's Fu have been lost today, while the Preface is still popular. Han Yu "argued irrationally" and thought that reading them could "forget the worries".

Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting has indeed played two major roles in the cultural history of China: First, it has made future generations realize the value of parallel prose, and that there is such a beautiful prose with neat antithesis and loud rhyme in the history of China. The second is to make people realize that "beauty is not self-beauty, but because of people" [23]. Natural landscape is famous all over the world because of the intervention of humanistic forces, and pavilions are spread by literature. It is precisely because of the fame of preface to Wang Teng-ting that Wang Teng-ting has been destroyed and built repeatedly and will last forever.

(6) nostalgia. From "rivers and lakes" to "crying at the end of the road", homesickness hurts the present and gives birth to the argument that "scholars don't meet"

(7) your own feelings. From "Bo, life is three feet" to "What's the shame of playing with water", combined with my own life, I give people a feeling of life that a scholar has never met.

(8) return to the poetry club. The ending paragraph returns to the topic of poetic order.

Preface to Wang Tengting is not only a beautiful landscape writing article, but also a profound homesickness writing article. The article describes the magnificent scenery of Wang Teng Pavilion, describes the grand banquet, expresses his feelings of traveling and expresses his feelings of being talented and unforeseeable. The full text takes the word "wealth comes with sorrow" as the "literary eye". Going to the pavilion for sightseeing, attending a grand banquet and winning the wedding and poetry friends are all wealth. Sad for the ancients, sad for Di Zi, sad for life experience, sad for people who have never met. The full text revolves around these four words: scenery writing, lyricism, discussion and narration, with orderly levels and clear context; From the ground to people, from people to scenery, from scenery to emotion, it can be said that clues are connected and topics are interpreted layer by layer.