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Foreword:
In the history of our country, there is a nursery rhyme along with myths and legends. It is sung by children, but many of them have nothing to do with children's life and understanding, and are almost the reflection and product of pure political struggle. In nature, it should be included in "children's books", but in fact, the content is abstruse and difficult to understand, surpassing almost all "adult literature". Perhaps because of this, there has been little research on it and little information; The only records are mixed with many strange legends and absurd postscript, which increases the difficulty of textual research. Nursery rhymes are a kind of cultural heritage that should be valued and studied, but they have not attracted enough attention for a long time. Until now, there seems to be no fundamental change. This abnormal situation should be over.
What is a nursery rhyme? The ancients said, "Boy, boy." Just singing and talking. "("Mandarin Today "Zhao Wei note)" Boys sing nursery rhymes, because nursery rhymes come from the chest, not taught by others. "Generally speaking, nursery rhymes refer to songs that children sing without music scores. It has many names. For example, Du Fu, a person from the dynasty, classified "nursery rhymes, female rhymes, nursery rhymes and baby rhymes" as "nursery rhymes" in "Common Proverbs". Besides, there are other ancient books called Songs of the Wise Son, Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Confucian Songs, Children's Tales and Girls' Ballads. Although the names are different, the contents are the same.
The history of nursery rhymes can really be said to be "long". The nursery rhymes of Kangqu recorded in Liezi are said to be the nursery rhymes of China's legendary saint Yao Shi. Textual research on ancient and modern events said: "Liezi said:' Yao Nai traveled in Kangqu under an unknown name and heard nursery rhymes …' Since there were rumors from the beginning, it was naturally because of Yao. "Some people think that Liezi is not necessarily reliable, but only admit that Zhou Xuanwang nursery rhymes recorded in Guoyu Zhengzheng are the earliest nursery rhymes. Even so, nursery rhymes have a history of nearly three thousand years. In the history of China literature, only some chapters in The Book of Songs can be compared with it.
Throughout the history of ancient nursery rhymes in China, we can find an obvious dividing line: before the Ming Dynasty, all nursery rhymes were almost political nursery rhymes, and they were tools of political struggle to varying degrees, which had nothing to do with children's lives; Since the Ming dynasty, while continuing to develop political nursery rhymes, there have been a number of nursery rhymes that truly reflect children's lives, or. Only then did someone consciously start to create and collect real nursery rhymes. I think there were non-political nursery rhymes before the Ming Dynasty, but they were lost because no one collected records. Even if it is written down, it is often attached to politics. The Ming Dynasty was a period when China produced a large number of capitalist factors. At that time, a group of people broke through the shackles of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and their thoughts were relatively liberated. Their vision expanded to many unprecedented fields, and with the prosperity of the printing industry at that time, the creation or collection of nursery rhymes also achieved good results. The earliest existing album of children's songs in China is Taneryu compiled by Lv Kun in Ming Dynasty on 1593. Since then, the number of albums in this field has gradually increased.
Judging from the existing materials, China's ancient nursery rhymes generally present a situation of "two more and two less": more troubled times and less prosperous times; There are many last generations, but few first generations. For example, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Yuan Dynasty, political darkness, frequent internal and external wars, ethnic division and untold sufferings, there are many nursery rhymes reflecting the political struggle in this period. Every dynasty is generally more late than early and middle, such as the period when nursery rhymes were widely circulated in the late Qin Dynasty, the late Han Dynasty, the late Yuan Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty. This happens because: in troubled times and last days, political struggles are sharp and complicated, and various political forces are trying to express themselves, including creating public opinion for themselves with nursery rhymes. So there is fertile ground for nursery rhymes. On the other hand, at this time, the restraint of the rulers is relatively weakened, so that all the nursery rhymes produced will not be stifled. Of course, the new rulers are willing to keep nursery rhymes that create public opinion for themselves. Even nursery rhymes that curse the overthrown rulers are often tolerant and even willing to record them as proof of "obeying God's will and public opinion". On the other hand, in the junior middle schools of various dynasties, the ruling class was relatively stable, and it was not easy to create and preserve real fighting nursery rhymes except for praising peace.
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About the author:
Lei qunming
1940 was born in leiyang city, Hunan. From 65438 to 0964, he graduated from East China Normal University and was admitted to Fudan University. He is a graduate student of Zhao Yuan, Ming Qing literature history. He has worked in the publishing system for a long time, and has served as deputy editor, president and editor-in-chief of Lin Xue Publishing House. Now he is the curator of Taofen Memorial Hall. After work, he engaged in writing, besides editing and publishing works, mainly including Liaozhai Art Talk, Liaozhai Art General Theory, Pu Songling and Strange Tales from Liaozhai, China Ancient Classical Chinese Novel Essence, Ming Dynasty Prose, etc.
king
Born in February, 1940, from Tai County, Jiangsu Province. Graduated from Chinese Department of Fudan University, from 1977, and served as deputy editor-in-chief of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. The editor has many books with double benefits, such as China Diet Classics.