( 1)
The uniqueness of Qin and Han literature lies in the uniqueness of these two dynasties. In a word, Qin and Han Dynasties were the beginning of "centralized system" in the history of China. The actual historical situation of this system is a centralized system with the emperor as the core and a huge bureaucratic system that directly rules the whole country. Many historians prefer to call this power structure "imperial power system". Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, regardless of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the system of enfeoffment was implemented, that is, the system of feudal princes. Shang society has a strong color of tribal alliance, so it mainly implements feudalism with different surnames; While retaining some feudalism with different surnames, the Zhou Dynasty also implemented the system of enfeoffment with the same surnames. At that time, the actual rulers of various places were vassals, and the rulers of those vassal States were hereditary monarchs. They have relatively independent administrative, tax and military powers. The King of Shang and the King of Zhou were nominally the "* * * masters" of the country's supreme ruler. The King of Zhou was even called "Zhou", but in fact his control over the princes was limited, so that some powerful princes dared to come to Luoyang and Zhouwangcheng to "conquer the big with small ones" (historical records). After Qin Shihuang destroyed the six countries and unified the world, he abolished feudalism and established counties, and began a long historical period in which imperial power directly ruled the whole country.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bangceng partially restored the feudal system, and made heroes Han Xin and Peng Yue princes with different surnames, occupying nearly half of the country and having a great influence. But in less than ten years, the Han court had a fierce conflict with them, and finally they almost all died. Since then, there have been governors with the same surname, such as Liu Bi, whose fiefs have also been "divided into two halves" (The Five Biographies of Hanshu Jingyan Wu). When they were in Jingdi, they started a rebellion with Wu Chu and ended in failure. From this point of view, the imperial power is increasing, while the feudal forces are declining.
In the imperial power system, the emperor enjoys absolute power and interests. He is the "son of heaven", half man and half god. Its legitimacy comes from "heaven", that is, the so-called "God-given number" (Xu Hu's Book of Changes, Volume I), or "contained in heaven", that is to say, it can basically be free from the checks and balances and constraints of human social factors. The emperor directly controls the imperial court and the whole bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy is only the executor of the imperial will and the defender of the royal interests. So the imperial power system is actually the emperor dictatorship system. "Three generations, the world is not private; The Qin Dynasty abolished feudalism and began to serve everyone in the world (A General Examination of Literature, Volume I, A Study of Tian Fu). Moreover, this system itself has a powerful function of mobilizing and exercising sovereignty, so almost all the rulers in ancient times were most interested in this system and did their best to implement and strengthen it. In essence, everyone wants to be Qin Shihuang. In modern times, Yuan Shikai became a "great president", but he also wanted to "restore the monarchy", that is, the power of the latter could be unrestricted, hereditary and passed down forever. Because of this, the imperial power system showed a kind of "super-stability" in China, which lasted for more than two thousand years. Later, many dynasties changed, although the situation was different, but in fact it was only the change of imperial power, which was a "change of surname" rather than the change of system. These all started from the Qin and Han Dynasties, and we can see the special features of these two dynasties in the history of China. Their historical importance is also reflected here.
The historical role of imperial power system is various. It is undoubtedly effective in stopping social division and war. For example, Qin Shihuang's unification of the whole country was a kind of social progress for the long-term wars and wars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. After political reunification, measures such as "one law, one monarch, one car on the same track, and the same characters in the book" (Historical Records) are also of great benefit to the development of culture and economy. In addition, the imperial power system often appears in the form of a unified empire. With its strong political and military strength, it is in a strong position in foreign relations. It can not only destroy foreign aggression, but also pretend to be the patriarch, so that the "Eight Commandments to Serve" (Historical Records, Biography of Shang Jun) has far-reaching national prestige, which is found in Han, Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, the "super-stability" of the imperial power system determines that it must adopt a conservative social policy and take a tough stance on any potential social change trend. However, the problem of corruption in the autocratic system is bound to become more and more serious, which will lead to the intensification of social contradictions. All these make it difficult for any dynasty to last forever and eventually perish. The inherent power character of the system determines that the dynasty can only be changed by force. As a result, the "law of the jungle" prevails, and some lose and some win. Therefore, we can see that decades or hundreds of years of regime change are accompanied by a big war, killing and destruction, and the people are the first to suffer.
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Since the imperial power system has a strong character, it must fully control, infiltrate and influence social life. It can be seen that great changes have taken place in the field of culture and literature during the Qin and Han Dynasties, which formed some special conditions for Qin and Han literature.
The first characteristic of Qin and Han literature is the perfection and development of the standardization of political articles. The basic feature of the political articles of the dynasty lies in its strong political application, so it naturally receives special attention from the imperial power system. The so-called "norm" is to embody hierarchical norms and institutional spirit by formatting articles. The standardization of political articles in China originated very early, starting from the Yin and Zhou Dynasties. There are many articles in Shangshu, all of which have a preliminary format specification. However, the real process of article standardization began in the Qin Dynasty, because the imperial power system attached great importance to the standardization of political articles as the primary support to reflect imperial power in the cultural field. During the Qin and Han dynasties, from the emperor to the court ministers, a lot of energy was devoted to planning and practicing this matter. In the year of Qin Shihuang's own unification of the world (the twenty-sixth year of Qin Wang), he couldn't wait to put forward the question of "name" and let his ministers discuss it:
I'm ashamed of myself. I'm raising troops to punish the riots. I am the spirit of Lai Zongmiao, the danger of six kings, and the world will be settled. There are not many names today, and it cannot be called success. It must be passed on to future generations. (Biography of Qin Shihuang)
Then Li Si and other ministers followed his instructions and put forward that "when I died, I was awarded the honorary title, the king was Tai Huang, and the emperor claimed to be me ..." Qin Shihuang himself was mainly concerned with his "title" to show his dignity; On the other hand, Li Si and other ministers directly linked the title issue with the relationship between the monarch and the minister, and thought that the "life" and "order" of the monarch must also be dealt with specially, which put the issue of articles on state affairs on the agenda and officially began the process of standardization of articles. After repeated discussions between the monarch and the minister, the Qin dynasty initially determined the new format of the articles on state affairs. From the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Han Dynasty, "Han inherited Qin system" constantly improved affairs.
The standardization of the article is mainly manifested in two aspects: on the one hand, around the imperial power, according to the identity of the author and the receiver and the function of the article, the genre is divided, and the special style name is determined to make it stereotyped. This can be called "the standardization of genre". Genre norms first divide articles into two categories, namely monarch (emperor) articles and liegeman articles. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cai Yong explained that the emperor of the Han Dynasty called himself "Emperor" and "I", and his subjects called himself "Your Majesty". His words were called "imperial edicts", and historians recorded it as "Shang". Everything about horses and chariots, clothes and equipment was called "Riding Yu", where he lived, the Forbidden City and later provinces.
There were four people who wrote letters to the emperor: Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang and Zhang. (Any Volume)
After genre classification, the standard format is further refined, that is, each genre is specifically determined in terms of writing norms. This can be called "standardization of writing". In this regard, Cai Yong also advocated, for example, about the four genres addressed to the monarch by liegeman, which are written as follows:
The need to "seal" is called "kowtowing". Write thanks, and you should also trust them.
People who "play" have to start, but their capital officials say "kowtow" and "kowtow and smell". If one of them asks, if a crime is committed, the government will send it to Yushitai and a captain will send it to the audience.
"Show" people don't need to nod, say "what did I say" and say "I'm afraid I'll nod and die." Attached to the left is "One Official and One Minister", with two lines and five elements. Those who are familiar with this book can also learn.
His words are secret. He is covered in silk. If there is any doubt, if there is something wrong with the cabinet at the official meeting, those who disagree alone will say "refute the discussion." (ditto) What Cai Yong said here is that the writing formats of different genres are related to the functional provisions, and it is also a direct embodiment of the hierarchical system of higher and lower levels. The boundaries are clear and should not be confused. Although the monarch does not write "chapters" and "tables", his aides must never write "letters" and "books".
What's more, standardized articles have become a part of imperial power system and ritual system. For the vast majority of scholars, as long as they have the pursuit of fame and professional enthusiasm, they must take learning, mastering and skillfully using standardized articles as necessary tools. This is the real "stepping stone" for the scribes to enter the imperial power system and open the door to official career. Since Li Si wrote to Qin Shihuang, he has started the practice of standardizing articles. After entering the Han Dynasty, writing standard articles became the basic way of communication between monarch and minister. For example, when Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty began to implement the system of "virtuous writing countermeasures", the articles on "countermeasures" were completely standardized. Emperor Wu personally explained the countermeasure system:
..... I was asked about the goodness and wisdom in Wang Shizhi's body in ancient and modern times, and I read it myself. (A Brief History of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty)
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty believed that those who were "virtuous" and "literate" should understand "the demeanor of ancient and modern kings". They accepted the emperor's "strategy" and responded with "countermeasures" articles. After Ban Gu recorded this passage of Emperor Wu, he immediately wrote: "So Dong Zhongshu, Gong and others all went out." Gong, Dong Zhongshu and others were the first Confucian officials who joined the body through countermeasures. This is a great incentive for the majority of scribes to devote themselves to standardizing the writing of articles. The imperial court's "countermeasure" is an institutional arrangement; Outside the system, there are many scribes who automatically write "letters" and the like to gain fame. Jia Shan in the pre-Han Dynasty repeatedly wrote a letter saying things, and Yi Fu in the post-Han Dynasty wrote ten poems "Ode to Zong" according to the Qing Palace, which floated in the court ... (The Book of the Later Han Dynasty) In addition, Du Du paid homage to avoid punishment, and Ban Biao participated in the supplement ("Wen Xin Diao Long Time Series"). Once the scribes succeeded in participating in politics, they became officials at all levels. No matter in the imperial court or local counties, from top to bottom, the main tools they used in ordinary political activities were various codes, such as chapters, tables, plays, discussions and orders. Standard articles have become the most important genre used by scholars and the mainstream of article writing. If you want to know the importance of standardizing articles in the writing of the scribes at that time, you only need to have a cursory look at the Catalogue of Selected Works of Xiao Tong. This is an anthology of books based on Liang's previous literature, including works of various styles, among which articles in various formats occupy the largest space. Due to the special close relationship between the standard product and the imperial power system, the standard product has been prosperous since Qin and Han dynasties, and it didn't come to an abrupt end until the end of the imperial power system in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and it shared the same fate with the imperial power system. To sum up, as the mainstream style of China's ancient articles, normative articles were formed in Qin and Han Dynasties. Its position is important and far-reaching, which cannot be ignored.
(3)
Another striking literary phenomenon in Han Dynasty is the prevalence of Fu. There are 78 works of ci and fu recorded in Hanshu Yiwenzhi alone, 1004. When summing up the development of Fu, Liu Xie also said:
The Qin dynasty can't read, which is quite complicated. Poets in the early Han Dynasty drifted with the tide. Liu Jia buckled his tail, and Jia Yi was in a mood; Ma Mei has the same wind, and young-fly-wang is better than it. Gao, Shuo himself, the goods are finished, accumulated in publicity, judged in the world, and given to the royal family. There are thousands of books. On its source, believe in Chu and Xing Han. ("Wen Xin Diao Long Quan Fu")
According to Liu Xie's account, from the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, almost all the important writers in the Han Dynasty made achievements in Ci and Fu and published many famous articles. Ban Gu also said that before he became an emperor, there were "thousands of poems" (Preface to Poems in Two Cities), while the number of poems in the same period, Liu Xie said, "Until he became an emperor, there were more than 300 poems" ("Carving Dragons in Literary Mind"). Considering that the length of poems is generally obviously larger than that of poems, this quantitative advantage should be magnified several times. As for the number of authors and works in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are even more. Fu's "limelight" in the Han Dynasty obviously overshadowed literati poetry. In the eyes of later generations, Han Fu, along with the parallel prose of the Six Dynasties, Tang poetry, Song ci and Yuan Qu, became the representative of the literature of the Han Dynasty in the "literature of generations" series. There is also the theory of "Northern Qin Han Fu" (Changdi's textual research on Shi Mao's ancient phonology).
It is a universally acknowledged fact that Fu in Han Dynasty is unprecedented, even unprecedented. What we need to think about here is: what is the driving force of this special phenomenon? In my opinion, this has something to do with Fu's spiritual outlook. First of all, Fu has the spiritual characteristics of "learning to be an excellent official, and its meaning still exists" (Wen Xin Diao Long Shi Fu). The meaning of these two sentences is that Fu embodies the grand scale and magnanimity of the great empire in the Han Dynasty in spirit, and its mission is to praise and celebrate the imperial power and prove its legitimacy and sacredness, that is, "polishing the red leaves" (Preface to Fu in Two Cities by Ban Gu). Emperor Han Jingdi wrote an imperial edict: "It is said that the ancestors of ancient times made meritorious deeds, lived by virtue, and had different rites and music. The singer is virtuous and the dancer is meritorious. " (The History of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty) Emperor Jing clearly pointed out that the purpose of ritual music production is to praise, which is the royal orientation. This spirit of rites and music is the most striking among the four major works of Ci-Fu, which are "Classic, Yuan Hunting, Narrative and Preface". These works are generally huge in space, magnificent in scenes and dazzling in content, which embodies a hobby of "grand narrative". No matter what theme they write and how complicated the connotation is, their basic purpose is to praise and "celebrate" the sacred imperial power, "be proud of the three kings and admire the five emperors" (Shang Fulin), and embody the spirit of rites and music by "praising the saints". Therefore, it is natural that Ci Fu was actively supported by the rulers, and it flourished and became one of the mainstream literature at that time.
Fu also has the style characteristics of spreading and spreading. "The giver, the paver", "the paver of prose", "the one who praises the poor prose" and "the one who finishes painting with good deeds" are all the usual methods of ci and fu. The deep meaning of this feature is to show off strength and wealth, and the purpose of communication is to highlight the strength and superiority of the subject and make the object (audience and readers) feel shocked, admired and awed. As one of the two great empires in the world at that time, the Han Empire, both the imperial court and the people, was filled with abundant self-confidence, and Ci Fu became the most suitable carrier to show social self-confidence. "Spreading the text" and "finishing the picture with goods" are also a kind of cultural show-off. The Han Dynasty is an important turning point in the development of China language. On the basis of the compulsory measures of "the same characters" initiated by the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty basically unified the languages in the vast areas of the country, and at the same time, linguistics and philology also developed greatly. The completion of Sima Xiangru's works, such as Fan Jiang Pian, You Shi Ji Zhang and Yang Xiong Dialect, especially Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi, is a sign of great progress in linguistics. The first chapter of "Urgent Chapter" wrote: "I am anxious to be strange and unusual, and list the names and surnames of all things so that they can live in different toilets. If you are sincerely happy for a few days, you will be happy if you work hard. " These superb efforts to show "listing things" and "living separately" are actually the techniques often used in ci and fu writing. "Taking words as fu" (Wang Yi's words) shows self-confidence.
As for the functional tendency of "persuasion and irony", it is also the need to adapt to the imperial power system. Yang Xiong first put forward the idea of "exhorting all to satirize one". He seems dissatisfied with the creation of Ci and Fu in the former Han Dynasty, saying that those "magnificent Fu" (Biography of Han Sima Xiangru) exhorted too much and satirized too little. But later, Ban Gu said: "Han Xing, Meicheng, Sima Xiangru, and the Yangtze River cloud are arguing for extravagance, and there is no intention of rumors." ("Han Shu Literature and Art") pointed out that Yang Xiong himself was also a satirist who advised a hundred schools of thought. So does Ban Gu himself attach great importance to the meaning of the "rumor"? Not exactly. Because in his masterpiece "The Fu of Two Cities", Ban Gu also showed a distinctive tone of "Persuasion and Irony". At the same time, some representative poets in the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Zhang Heng's Erdu Fu and Wang Yanshou's Luling Guangdian Fu, almost all started with extravagant words and ended with brief words (Huangfu Mi's Preface to Sandu Fu), and practiced the creative policy of "persuading" more and satirizing less. Therefore, we can't just listen to the occasional "dissatisfaction" remarks made by Yang Xiong, Ban Gu and others. Judging from the creation practice of mainstream poets in Han Dynasty (including Yang Xiong and Ban Gu), "persuading everyone to satirize one person" is their creative keynote. The reasons for this kind of actual performance can also be explained from the system. Of course, the ruler's nature is to love positive praise. As for a little irony as an ornament, it also meets the needs of "polishing the great cause" and helps to establish his image as a "wise king" Therefore, the Han Fu of "admonition" not only conforms to the spirit of the ritual and music system, but also satisfies the emperor's appetite. Sima Xiangru, Gao Mei, Ban Gu and others are favored and prized, which is proof. Most importantly, Ci Fu has gained systematic recognition and attention for its own stylistic features. Coupled with its innate blood relationship with Chu Ci, it won the special love and appreciation of Chu people by the royal family in Han Dynasty, which made Ci Fu gain a particularly favorable development environment in Han Dynasty and the prospect was naturally bright.
(4)
Another important feature of Qin and Han literature is that it attaches great importance to folk songs, and many excellent works have been preserved. Strictly speaking, this matter has nothing to do with the Qin dynasty; Because here mainly refers to the songs of Han Yuefu. As a matter of fact, folk literature (especially ballads) is very rich in past dynasties, but it is generally ignored and rarely recorded because of its "grassroots" nature, so it is difficult to spread. Therefore, the long-term spread of folk literature in history often depends on official channels. In ancient times and the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, rulers set up bands of different sizes to offer sacrifices to ancestral temples and court etiquette, as well as for their own entertainment. Many musical instruments unearthed in later generations can prove this. There is an important thing here. It is said that the Duke of Zhou was a regent in the ritual music system for seven years. In order to expand the function of "music", he adopted the method of "collecting poems" to "set music". "The Duke of Zhou made rites, taking the poems of the times as music songs, so he felt the wind" (Book of Rites of Zheng Xuan, Volume 4). What is empathy? That is, "the vocal music that governs the world, its politics; The voice of troubled times is angry, and its politics is good; The voice of national subjugation grieves, and its people are trapped. The way to sound is connected with politics "(Rites and Music). This means that the Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to understanding the political situation and folk customs through music, which is called "watching music". "Ji Zha's View of Music" recorded in Zuo Zhuan is a famous example. In short, since the Zhou Dynasty, the practice of collecting folk songs and incorporating them into official music has become a part of the ritual and music system. Many folk works in the Book of Songs that we see today should have been collected and incorporated in this context.
This ancient tradition of "collecting poems" was abandoned in the early Han Dynasty, but it only existed in the memory of some Confucian scholars under the impact of the collapse of rites in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and the burning of books to bury Confucianism in the Qin Dynasty. It was not until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that Confucianism was unique and established a perfect system of rites and music, including the content and program construction of music. With the establishment of the royal Yuefu organization and the standardization of its activities, the construction of Yuefu literature (songs) has gradually improved. The specific measures are to mobilize the scribes to write songs, collect folk songs all over the country, and do it on a large scale in a two-pronged manner. At that time, the most famous literati Sima Xiangru and others participated in the creation, and the songs they created were "Song of Sacrifice to the Suburb" in "Song of the Temple in the Suburb". The collection of folk songs is undertaken by Yuefu organs. Ban Gu records that:
Since the establishment of Yuefu in the Book of Filial Piety, ballads have been widely used, so there is a generation of Zhao Zhi's obituary and Qin Chu's wind, all of which are happy because of sadness, and they are also known for their vulgarity. (History and Literature of Han Art)
When Liang Wudi made the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the suburbs, Temple Taiyi was in Ganquan, which was a place for making sacrifices. After the sacrifice, the soil is in the shade, and the Chinese side is also in the hills; It is a Yuefu, a collection of poems, which is recited at night and has the trust of Zhao, Qin and Chu. (History of Rites and Music in Han Dynasty)
It seems that Yuefu organization has two major tasks: in addition to playing music in various ceremonial occasions, there are also songs. This is the revival of ancient poetry-picking tradition in the new dynasty. How to adopt the method? Yan Shigu wrote: "Learn from the ancients and Shu Ren's stories when picking poems, so as to know the gains and losses of politics and religion. Those who recite at night cannot reveal their words or secrets, so they sing at night. " The so-called "Qiu Ren" comes from Xia Shu Shi Gan in China's ancient book Shangshu: "Every year, Meng Chun and Qiu Ren take Mu Duo as the guide." It seems that there is a story that Zhen Muduo, the official of Xia Dynasty, deviated from the right path and adopted the folk obituary, which was confirmed in the view of Confucianism in Han Dynasty, so they followed suit and thought it was part of the ritual and music system. The purpose of adopting obituary ballads is, of course, "observing customs" and "knowing the gains and losses of politics and religion", which meets the requirements of the spirit of rites and music.
The literature of Han Yuefu was rapidly enriched by the writing of scholars and the collection of folk songs, and the songs of Han Yuefu became a new landscape in the history of literature. Folk songs, in particular, do not enter the core parts of Yuefu songs such as Symphony Songs and Sheyan Songs, but exist in non-core parts such as advocacy songs, crossing songs, harmony songs and miscellaneous songs. However, due to their existence, the overall literary history value of Yuefu songs has obviously improved to a higher level. Today, most of the outstanding folk works we see in the Han Dynasty are preserved in this way. For example, most of the lyrics in Eighteen Songs of Hanshu, as well as Sunrise in the Southeast Corner, Elegy (Zhao Zhao Yue), Longxi (what's in the sky), Towel Dance Song (Mo Gong Dance), Ge Yanxing (dancing in front of the hall) and so on. Judging from the history of Chinese national anthem poetry, apart from ancient and pre-Qin folk songs, only a large number of Yuefu folk songs in the Han Dynasty can occupy half of the poetic world, which is rare in other dynasties.
The above three kinds of literature, namely, political articles, ci fu and Yuefu songs, set up the basic framework of the literary world in Qin and Han Dynasties. There are similarities and differences in the functions of the three types of documents: standardizing articles is the direct means to maintain the operation of imperial power, and it is the most instrumental; The basic function of Ci Fu is to "moisten things quietly", which mainly reflects the cultural and spiritual needs and enjoyment of "praising the saints" under the imperial power system; Yuefu poetry is an integral part of rites and music, which plays a dual role in education and entertainment. Among them, folk songs are provided for rulers to "observe the customs". The three kinds of literature have their own characteristics, and the leading factor behind them is the cultural policy and appeal of the imperial power system. The above contents are all around the cultural-literary characteristics formed by the imperial power system. Besides, the literature of Qin and Han Dynasties has other important features that can't be ignored, such as knowledge. Most importantly, the literature of Qin and Han Dynasties is unique from basic features to stylistic features. It is very different from the descendants of the previous dynasty and has a great influence at the same time. Of course, this kind of literature has great attention and research value, so we need to explore its cause and effect and find out its inside information.