"Wandering in the Spring and Autumn Period, meeting these people and gods, it was like seeing stars sinking to the bottom of the sea, like watching rain crossing the source of a river. I saw myself, the lows and highs of life, the deep black mud and the brilliant starry sky." Thi

"Wandering in the Spring and Autumn Period, meeting these people and gods, it was like seeing stars sinking to the bottom of the sea, like watching rain crossing the source of a river. I saw myself, the low and high places of life, the deep black mud and the brilliant starry sky."

In August this year, the famous writer and critic Li Jingze brought the latest collection of historical essays "The People and Gods I Met in the Spring and Autumn Period". This book focuses on "Zuo Zhuan", "Historical Records", "The Book of Songs" and "The Analects of Confucius", and interprets and reconstructs the Spring and Autumn Allusions with humor and precision. In that era when civilization was highly active and pregnant with change and rebirth, sages and gentlemen were proud of the world, and heroes and strange people walked wildly. Li Jingze went deep into their inner worlds and explored their choices and destiny.

From left to right: Cao Yuanyong, Sun Ganlu, Li Jingze, Huang Dehai

A journey back to the time and space of the Spring and Autumn Period

In Li Jingze’s view, the Spring and Autumn Period is the farthest era from the current Chinese people. This not only refers to the distance in time, but also They are "very different" in spirit and atmosphere - people from the Spring and Autumn Period, very different from the people from the Ming and Qing Dynasties who we are "familiar" with in film and television works. "People in the Spring and Autumn Period are really young people of Chinese civilization. They are full of vigor and brilliance, whether they do good or evil. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it is not easy to find a wretched person, and it is not easy to find a greasy person. They always have a bright and youthful spirit. . In such youthful spirit, I often feel that they are like a group of 'giants'."

For Li Jingze, writing the stories of people in the Spring and Autumn Period is like a journey back to the Spring and Autumn Period: "Modern people, say. To be honest, there are too many minds and too complicated. Another way to say it is "greasy". It is actually difficult for such greasy people to understand the people of the Spring and Autumn Period. This kind of difficulty is difficult for us, as a time traveler like me. "It is particularly adventurous and exciting, and it is an extremely valuable experience. For me, the journey of Spring and Autumn is not over yet. I have to continue to roam in Spring and Autumn." Huang Dehai quoted when talking about the value of this book. Zigong's description of his teacher Confucius in "The Analects of Confucius": "The walls of the Confucius are many, and no one can enter through the door, and the beauty of the ancestral temple and the wealth of the officials cannot be seen." For the majority of ordinary readers, the Spring and Autumn Classics are just like the wall of the Confucius. They will open the door easily, but if they don't do it right, they won't be able to see the beauty of the palace and the wealth of the officials inside. These classics need to be translated into modern language and the height of the "wall" slightly lowered. This is the effort put into "The People and Gods I Met in the Spring and Autumn Period". The articles in it are like cracks, drawing out the light within the "wall", allowing readers to have a glimpse of the dazzling brilliance of the classics.

Writing that forms part of the tradition

Li Jingze prefers to describe his writing as "essays" - writing historical essays, underlying methodology, looking at ancient times, ancient people, and classics, which were inspired by Mr. Lu Xun's "New Storytelling" and his A profound influence on the study of classical literature and the writing of ancient history.

"I think Mr. Lu Xun is a vast ocean, and a scoop from it is enough for me to write a small book." In Li Jingze's view, Mr. Lu Xun's essays are both methodology and worldview, and are his contribution to the art of writing and literature. A fundamental way of grasping. Li Jingze regards Lu Xun's essays as his writing ideal, hoping that his writing can reach the state of Mr. Lu Xun's complex and unrestrained grasp of the world: "It is precisely because he is such a tall mountain, and the mountains are high, and as a young scholar, he can climb them." I think it is appropriate to go up this mountain. "

Li Jingze

In Sun Ganlu's view, the book "The People and Gods I Met in the Spring and Autumn Period" compares ancient people with modern people. People in the Spring and Autumn Period were interesting and tempered. , this book is also the work of a man with a temper. This is a "cursing" book in the sense of Mr. Lu Xun. It targets the situation, life, and mentality of Chinese people from ancient times to the present, and vividly describes people's "little thoughts."

The most valuable thing about this book is that it expresses the most important principles in the simplest words.Li Jingze's narration is never a pretense, but an "idle person's theory": the sage establishes an example for future generations through "doing", while the "idle person" recounts what the sage did and sets an example for future generations through "speaking" . In this process of telling, the words, deeds and classics left by the saints are passed down. This transmission is inherent in the structure of civilization and is the essential content of civilization. Li Jingze's "free time" writing itself forms part of the tradition.

"The People and Gods I Met in Spring and Autumn" is published by Ke Culture.

"No rules" and "upright spirit"

While reading "The People and Gods I Met in the Spring and Autumn Period", Huang Dehai couldn't help but think of a book title: "When the World was Young".

"The Spring and Autumn Period is like a time when our spiritual world was still young. At that time, everything was new, the wind, stones and chairs had not yet been named, and everything was done with excitement. This is also the spirit of this book. "

Huang Dehai uses "blood" as the key word in this book - the word "blood" means the sound of human blood flowing in ancient Greece; blood will undergo various deformations, creating unique character forms. . Flesh people do not construct their way of thinking based on the laws of desire and calculating logic. People who like the Spring and Autumn Period are precisely because they are full of blood. They have not yet been restrained by the "upright" Neo-Confucianism of the later Song and Ming Dynasties. Everyone has a vivid and distinctive personality, showing a kind of "no rules" colorfulness Colorful.

Looking back at modern society, everyone is shaped into a mold. "Because of this, the road of the Spring and Autumn Period has become criss-crossed, rich and beautiful." Huang Dehai said that we who live too restrained lives, sometimes we might as well be like the people of the Spring and Autumn Period, let our minds relax a little more, and let the inner world be more open. a little.

Discussing the spirit of people in the Spring and Autumn Period, Li Jingze talked about the most famous "Spring and Autumn" reader in Chinese history - Guan Yu. Guan Gong is a god who has been revered by Chinese people for thousands of years. Why does "reading "Spring and Autumn" at night" become the basic setting for his image in people's imagination? Why did he want to read "Spring and Autumn"?

In Li Jingze's opinion, this may be, as Mr. Lu Xun said, to squeeze out the "little" hidden under the leather robe. People in the Spring and Autumn Period may have all kinds of shortcomings, which may seem ridiculous and crazy today, but they rarely have "little" - small calculations, doing everything for small interests, small gains and losses. Extremely. Even those who are wily and scheming in the temple and cruel and ruthless on the battlefield, in other areas, they know that they cannot do anything but do it, and they will die in retribution for a trust from the king or brother. They are not one-minded and can be extremely smart and active, but even if they are at the end of their rope, they will absolutely stick to something. This is the man of Spring and Autumn.

"What Guan Yu wanted to learn from reading "Spring and Autumn", and what the ancients wanted to understand when imagining this situation, may be this spirit called 'uprightness'." Li Jingze said, "There must be many goals that a person wants to achieve in his life, but in the process of pursuing these goals, he must leave himself something that cannot be tarnished. As the poem in "Daya" says, 'White The uprightness and integrity of people in the Spring and Autumn Period are of great significance to current and future generations of Chinese people. Meaningful.”