Summary:There have always been different opinions on whether the peach blossom fan, a token of love given to Li Xiangjun by Hou Fangyu in Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan", was a round fan, a folding fan, or some other shape. Through an in-depth study of the text of "The Peach Blossom Fan", stage performances, the history of the fan, the origin of the story, and the performance system of the opera, this article reaches the definite conclusion that the shape of the Peach Blossom Fan should be a folding fan, and it contains the thoughts of the motherland. Previous research errors stemmed from not understanding the question "What kind of fan is the Peach Blossom Fan?" It should be implemented as different versions of "The Peach Blossom Fan" and "What kind of fan is the Peach Blossom Fan" in different stage performances, but the essence is to ask "What kind of fan is the Peach Blossom Fan?" At the same time, there was an error in understanding the relevant "signifiers" in the text.
Keywords: Peach Blossom Fan; Kong Shangren; Shape; Origin; Hidden Meaning Introduction: Folding Peach Blossom Fan
"The Peach Blossom Fan" and "The Palace of Eternal Life" are both known as the two masterpieces of opera in the Qing Dynasty and are also classics in the history of Chinese opera. Due to the wide spread of "Peach Blossom Fan", the "Peach Blossom Fan" in the play has gradually become "the best fan in the world", and has the potential to surpass Zhuge Kongming's feather fan. Unfortunately, the intellectual community is still discussing and hesitating about the shape of this "first fan in the world", whether it is a round fan, a folding fan or other styles, and there is no final conclusion.
Before the 21st century, people's understanding and acceptance of the Peach Blossom Fan had been different. Some people think of it as a round fan, and some people think of it as a folding fan. For example, in 1925, Jiang Yinxiang and Lu Yunbo rewrote "The Peach Blossom Fan" into "The Romance of the Peach Blossom Fan" (World Book Company). The text generally followed the original version, and the cover was decorated with a folding fan. In the 1940s, Gu Sifan's adaptation of "The New Peach Blossom Fan" interpreted the peach blossom fan as a round fan. Chapter 25, "The Troubles in Meixiang Tower", reads: "Xiangjun rummaged through the box for a while and found only a carved ivory and white damask palace fan with an amber fan pendant tied to the handle."[1]"The old lady saw a round white shadow on the floor at the door of the room. She picked it up and saw that it was a palace fan. There were a few blood stains on the white silk fan."[2]Mr. Wang Jisi's annotation of "Peach Blossom Fan" also tends to understand Peach Blossom Fan as a "round fan". He noted that "Ji Fan" came out of the word "instant noodles" in the song "Bi Yu Xiao" and said: "Instant noodles, that is, round fans, are called instant noodles because they are convenient for covering the face."[3]Although it is not a direct annotation of "Peach Blossom Fan", readers can still easily connect the two.
Around the 21st century, the issue of peach blossom fan shape entered the academic world, and the discussion became more heated and in-depth. First, Yan Zhong published "The Peach Blossom Fan in "Peach Blossom Fan"", pointing out that the peach blossom fan is a folding fan. Then, "The Biography of Li Xiangjun" written by Shi Huige and Wu Tenghuang based on three visits to Qixia and four visits to Shangqiu was published, describing the peach blossom fan as a folding fan. Subsequently, Bao Mingxin and Shen Yan published "Is the "Peach Blossom Fan" a Folding Fan or a Tuan Fan?" and pointed out that "the Peach Blossom Fan is not only a palace fan, but also a white gauze fan, and it is indeed a round fan." A few years later, Jiang Xingyu read Shi Huige and Wu Tenghuang's "The Biography of Li Xiangjun" published "The Biography of Li Xiangjun" and "The Peach Blossom Fan", thinking: ""Li Xiangjun" has shortcomings, and the author ignores the dramas of Ouyang Yuqian, Wang Jisi, Zhu Duanjun, and Gu Sifan Scholars and writers have unreservedly affirmed the fact that the peach blossom fan is a round fan, and based on the 1986 article "Zhang Boju Witnesses the Peach Blossom Fan", they determined that the fan was a folding fan, and then reluctantly interpreted the "Palace Fan" as the "Palace Fan" given to Hou Fangyu's father Hou Xun by Emperor Chongzhen. [5]Later, he added in his essay: "It should be noted that after the folding fan was introduced to China in the Song Dynasty, the names used were Japanese fan, Japanese fan, Jutou fan, folding fan, etc. "Peach Blossom Fan" does not use any of them. How can this fan be a folding fan?"[4]It is advocated that the peach blossom fan is a round fan. This article leads to Hua Fu's "Fans, Instant Noodles, Tuan Fans, Feather Fans, Palace Fans and Others". Hua Fu is the pen name of Zhang Shuzheng, a professor at the Institute of Ancient Books Collation of Shandong Normal University. The author probably discovered that there is the word "tuan fan" in the play "Peach Blossom Fan", and re-read the relevant records in Shen Defu's "Wanli Yehuobian": "The round fan is made to the extreme It is suitable for use in the boudoir. When I was young, I saw that prostitutes in Jinling would hold two round fans in front of them every time they came out. This is no longer used in the palace. There are also folding fans made of paper and silk, which are spread out like a full moon and have a short handle at the bottom. "So it was determined that "the love token given to Li Xiangjun by Hou Fangyu was exactly this kind of folding fan."[5]。
So, is the "Peach Blossom Fan" in "Peach Blossom Fan" a folding fan or a round fan? Or is it a "folding fan shaped like a round fan"? Correspondingly, should contemporary performances of the opera "The Peach Blossom Fan" use round fans, folding fans, or other styles of fans? To expand, does the "Peach Blossom Fan" have to be an irreplaceable single choice among several types of fans? Why does it have to be a certain kind of fan and not others?
1. Textual provisions of Peach Blossom Fan
When people ask "What kind of fan is the Peach Blossom Fan in "The Peach Blossom Fan"", they largely refer to the "Peach Blossom Fan" in the legend of Kong Shangren's "The Peach Blossom Fan". If you want to know what kind of fan Hou Fangyu gave to Li Xiangjun, you naturally have to look for the answer from the text of "Peach Blossom Fan". Although the above different understandings are all based on the text, re-examination of this issue still cannot bypass this original document.
Reading through the full text of "The Peach Blossom Fan", we can know that there are 8 direct descriptions and songs about the "Peach Blossom Fan" that expresses Hou Fangyu's love. They are the sixth "Sleeping Fragrance", the seventh "Que Lian", the twenty-second "Guarding the Tower", the twenty-third "Sending a Fan", the twenty-seventh "Feng Zhou", the twenty-eighth "Inscriptions on Paintings", the thirty-ninth "Qizhen" and the fortieth "Entering the Road". The specific text is as follows:
In the sixth part, "Sleeping Fragrance", Hou Fangyu and Li Xiangjun express their love, and everyone asks Hou to write a love poem:
(Sheng) There is no need for poems and notes. If you have a palace fan handle when you are young, just inscribe it as a gift to Mr. Xiang, and it will be a token of alliance forever. ...(Dan held an inkstone and gave birth to a book fan introduction), (Public reading introduction) "The road is sloping along the Zhulou Tower, and Wang Sunchu drove Fu Ping's chariot. The green stream is full of Xinyi trees, not as good as the peach and plum blossoms in the east wind." (Audience) Good poem, good poem! Xiangjun accepted it. "(Dan Shengfanxiu intermediary).
In the seventh play of "Que Lian", Hou Fangyu and Li Xiangjun rejoiced. The next day, Yang Longyou came to express his congratulations and asked to read the love poem:
(End) Where is the poem? (Dan) The poem is on the head of the fan. (Once he takes out the fan from his sleeve) (Finally, he looks at the fan) It is a white gauze palace fan. (Smell) The smell is interesting. (Introduction to poetry) Wonderful, wonderful! Only Xiangjun is worthy of this poem. (Fu Danjie) I've put it away. (Once the fan is closed) [Good Garden] (End) The fragrant peach and plum fragrance are all inscribed on the palace gauze fan; for fear of being blown by the strong wind, you must hide it tightly in your sleeves, you must hide it tightly in your sleeves.
In the twenty-second chapter "Guarding the Tower", in order to win over Caofu Tian Yang, the first assistant Ma Shiying sent someone with money to forcefully marry Xiangjun. Yang Longyou and the madam Li Lizhen both persuaded Xiangjun to obey:
(Dan Nujie) What did mom say? That day, Mr. Yang acted as a matchmaker, and his mother presided over the wedding, marrying the slave to Hou Lang. There was a room full of guests, but no one saw it. Now I'm collecting the things that made the alliance. (He rushes in to take out the fan) Mr. Yang has read this love poem, has he forgotten it? [Spreading Brocade Flowers on the Ground] The case is close to my eyebrows. He is my life-long support. How can I change my oath? The palace gauze fan has the title of poem, Thousands of Kindnesses, One Night for Husband and Wife. ...(Xiaodan) As of today, I can’t care about him anymore. (Called Jie) Master Yang put down his financial gifts and everyone helped him comb his hair and dress. (Xiao Dan is combing her hair, Mo is dressing her) (Dan is holding the fan and slapping her back and forth randomly) (Mo) So powerful, a poetry fan is like a sharp sword for self-defense. (Xiaodan) After finishing her makeup, she carried him downstairs. (Last hugging) (Deng crying) The slave family will not be able to die in this building. (Falls to the ground and feels dizzy) (Xiaodan is shocked) Haha! When my son woke up, his beautiful face was smashed to pieces. (The last one refers to the fan) Look at the blood spraying all over the ground, even the poetry fan was damaged. (Pick up the fan and pay the miscellaneous introduction)
In the twenty-third chapter of "Send a Fan", after Li Zhenli got married, Xiangjun stayed alone in the empty building, took the fan and sighed:
(Dan) Sitting alone was boring, so I couldn't help but take out Hou Lang's poetry fan and read it for a while. (Take fan-suke) Hey! They're all stained by blood, what's wrong with them? ...I felt sleepy for a while and took a nap on the dressing table. (Sleeping with a fan) (Last dressed as Yang Wencong in casual clothes) I recognized the sloping water surface of the Red Building, and a row of decaying willows with remnants of crows. (Jing pretends to be Su Kunsheng, enter)... (Go upstairs to introduce) (End refers to introduction) You see, Xiangjun is depressed and sick, sleeping on the dressing table, and there is no need to call him. (Jingkanjie) This fan is spread out in front of me. Why are there so many red dots? (End) This is a token of love from Brother Hou. He has always treasured it and refused to show it to others. He wanted to leave it here to dry because his face was stained with blood. (Pulls a fan to look at the introduction) There are a few blood stains, and the red color is very bright, so I can't help but add some branches and leaves to embellish it. ...(Introduction with a big laugh at the end) It is really a peach blossom fan. (Once woken up by surprise)... (Mo Xiaojie) The lower official has a painting fan handle as a gift to the dressing table. (Fudan looks at the fan) (Dan looks at the fan) This is the slave's old fan, stained with blood, let's see what happened to him. (Enter the sleeve) (Net) The head of the fan is beautifully dyed, how can I not appreciate it? (Dan) When was it painted? (End) Offend, offend! The order just broke. (Looking at the fan and sighing) Cough! The peach blossoms are dying, and the bottom of the fan is floating in the air. Thank you Mr. Yang for taking the portrait. ...[Su Kunsheng said that he wanted to find Hou Fangyu for Xiangjun] (Xiang Danjie) It is necessary to get a book from Xiangjun. (Dan Xiang Mo Jie) The Nu family has nothing to say, so please ask Mr. Yang to write it for you. (End) How can I write about your thoughts? (Danxun Sijie) Come on! The slave's many sorrows and sorrows are all in the head of the fan, so just send this fan. (Jōkisuke) This family letter is quite new. (Dan) Wait for the slave to seal him up. (Feng Shanjie) [Jasper Flute] He knows the old sentences when he scatters the silver hair; if the dots are dyed red, you keep the new paintings. The instant noodles are small, and the hearts are ten thousand. They are wrapped in handkerchiefs and tied with hair ropes, which are worth the number of brocade books. (He picks up Shansuke) When I have collected it, I will send it to you.
In the twenty-seventh chapter "Meeting the Boat", Su Kunsheng returns home to look for Hou Fangyu, and unexpectedly meets Li Zhenli and Hou Fangyu in the boat. After telling each other about their encounters, Su Kunsheng wants to give the peach blossom fan to Hou Fangyu:
(Jing) Xiangjun is in the courtyard, looking forward to you every day. You asked me to send you a letter. (urgent question) Where is the book? 【Nako Hana】(Jotori Baosuke) This letter is not a paper pattern, it is wrapped in the origami gauze. The poem inscribes the mood and evokes the rhyme. (Sheng meets Fansuke) This is the poetry fan given to him by Xiaosheng. (Net finger and fan introduction) Look at the blush on half of the peach blossoms, so sincere! There are thousands of languages.
In the twenty-eighth "Inscriptions on Paintings", Hou Fangyu came to Meixiang Tower and saw Lan Ying, a mountain man. He couldn't help but feel sad when he learned that Xiang Jun was elected to the palace:
(The student sits and hides his tears.) [Jade Hibiscus] The spring breeze is blowing in the sky. The peach petals are as light as needles. They are flying like snow and falling red into sleet. I can't help but take out the painting fan and admire the peach blossoms. (Take the fan to see the introduction) Splash blood spots to make a peach blossom fan, which is particularly fresh compared to the branches. This is all for Xiaosheng. Taking it to the makeup store to show off, I felt like I was in awe of the ruins, and had a life-and-death injustice for Peach Blossom. (Xiaosheng) Who painted the peach blossoms on this fan? (生) is the inspiration of Yang Longyou from Guidong. (Xiaosheng) Why are you crying over it? (Sheng) This fan is the object of an alliance between Xiaosheng and Xiangjun. 【Mountain Pink】That’s the fragrance! Holding a red silk inkstone in hand, I read poems under the candle. ...At that time, I forced Xiangjun to go downstairs. Xiangjun was anxious and looked at his beautiful face, like a cuckoo sprinkling blood and crying red resentment. This poetry fan happened to be in my hand, but it was damaged by blood spatter. (Xiaosheng) What a pity! (生) Later, Yang Longyou added stems and leaves, and it turned into several peach blossoms with broken branches. (Patting the fan) This peach blossom fan is here, and that person is blocking the spring smoke. ... [End] The warm-hearted person swallowed the ice and snow long ago, and the karma of living injustice is now displayed with a unicorn last. (Collecting the fan) Let me relax while holding the peach blossoms on the fan.
In the thirty-ninth chapter of "Qizhen", the world is in chaos and Hongguang flees. Xiangjun and others also take advantage of the chaos to escape from the palace and search around Hou Fangyu. They follow Su Kunsheng to Qixia Mountain and stay temporarily at Baozhen'an in Bian Jingyu. Hou Fangyu also took advantage of the chaos to be released from prison, and followed Ding Jizhi to Qixia Mountain to collect Zhen Guan and live there. On the way, he told his deputy, Ding Jizhi, about Xiang Jun:
(Vice Purity) Exactly. Let me ask if there is any news after Xiangjun enters the palace? (Sheng) Then there is news. (Take the fan and point to it) This peach blossom fan is still the object of our alliance. Xiaosheng will always have it in hand. [Good Sister] Fans him with peach blossoms, and reminds him of the old dream of a brothel; forever and ever, this love will never end. The separation is fierce, and thousands of mountains separate us from each other, and we have a happy marriage together for half a month.
The 40th chapter "Entering the Tao", on the 15th day of the seventh month of Yiyou, Hou and Li came to the Baiyun Temple of Taoist Zhang to have a ritual ceremony. The two met:
(Sheng Zhafan looks at Dan, surprised) The person standing over there is Mr. Anxiang. How did you get here? (He rushes forward to pull me in) (I am surprised to see him) You are Hou Lang, and you want to kill the slave. [Nan Baolaoji]... (Sheng refers to the fan) Look at the peach blossoms on this fan and tell me how I will repay you. Seeing a fan full of blood and red peaches blooming is like saying that the flowers are falling from the sky. ...(waiting angrily at the introduction) Ouch! What kind of children dare to flirt here? (He hurriedly got off the altar and threw the cracked fan in his hand to Sheng and Dan.) My dojo is pure and clean, but there is room for naughty boys and girls, joking and confusion. .........【Northern End】Look at his two-parted collar, not letting go of his eyes. Thanks to my peach blossom fan, I can tear it into pieces, and no more idiots will be allowed to spin out soft silk and be bound to suffer thousands of consequences.
Obviously, due to various reasons, the above text does not clearly indicate whether the peach blossom fan is a round fan, a refraction fan, or a folding fan shaped like a round fan according to today's language habits. This gives people a sense of ambiguity, contradiction and mystery, which is why there is still confusion today. However, looking at it calmly, the above texts can be divided into three types: one tends to support the round fan theory, one tends to support the folding fan theory, and the other is an ambiguous text.
Those who tend to support the theory of round fans: in the sixth play "Sleeping Fragrance", Hou Fangyu said: "The young man has a handle of the palace fan"; in the seventh play "Quie Ling", Yang Longyou took the fan and said: "It is a white gauze palace fan", and "The garden is good" "The fragrant peach and plum fragrance are all inscribed on the palace gauze fan"; in the 22nd play "Shou Lou" Li Xiangjun [spreading brocade ground flowers] "the palace gauze fan has a poem title". Here, the words "Palace Fan", "White Shape Palace Fan", or "Palace Shape Fan" tend to indicate that the fan is a round fan. Because in people's minds, the palace fan is the round round fan. "Cihai" also explains "Palace Fan": "It is a round fan. It is often used in the palace."
Those who tend to support the theory of folding fans include: the introduction of "Mianxiang" in the sixth chapter and "the folding of the fan sleeves" in the sixth chapter; the introduction of "taking out the fan sleeves from the sleeves" in the seventh chapter of "Que Lian", and Yang Longyou's "Good Garden" "Afraid of being blown by the strong wind, you must The libretto of "Hide tightly in the sleeves, must be hidden tightly in the sleeves"; in the 22nd scene of "Guarding the Tower", when holding the fan and beating back and forth, Yang Longyou praised: "What a benefit, a poetry fan is like a sharp sword for self-defense"; Bin Bai in the 20th chapter Three "Send a Fan", Li Xiangjun said "I was bored when I was sitting alone, so I couldn't help but take out Hou Lang's poetry fan and show it once", Su Kunsheng asked "Why are there so many red dots on this fan when it is spread out in front of me", and Li Xiangjun's "Jasper Flute" " The fan is spread out in front of you, wrapped in a handkerchief, and the hair rope is wrapped around it, and the folded palace gauze is caught in Madara." Su Kunsheng's [Nako Hana] in the twenty-seventh play "Fengzhou" sings "This letter is not a paper pattern, and the folded palace gauze is caught in Madara." Among them, "hidden in sleeves", "sharp sword", "handkerchief wrapped, hair tied with rope" all show its small shape, "Zhankan" shows that it can be retracted and retracted, and "folded palace gauze sandwiched in Ban Yun" even describes its specific structure of folding palace gauze with bamboo bones. Putting together the three aspects and five materials, a bamboo bone gauze folding fan is in front of you.
The text that can be understood in two ways mainly includes: the seventh chapter "Quie Ling", the introduction of "dan receives the fan"; the twenty-second chapter "guarding the building", the science introduction "dan holds the fan before and after the fan"; the twenty-third chapter "sending the fan", Li Xiangjun's guest poem "waiting for the slave to seal him up"; the twenty-eighth chapter In the "Inscriptions on Paintings", Hou Fangyu's "beating the fan" and "sealing the fan" introduction; in the fortieth chapter "Entering the Way", the introduction of Zhang Taoist "busyly getting down from the altar, cracking the fan in the hand of Sheng and Dan and throwing it to the ground" and the "Northern End": Thanks to my peach blossom fan, I tore it into pieces, and I will not allow the idiot to spin out the soft silk to bind him. Regardless of "closing the fan", "beating the fan randomly", "beating the fan", "sealing the fan", or "crack the fan" or "tear the fan into pieces", the two types of fans are generally consistent, at least barely consistent.
To sum up, the text of "Peach Blossom Fan" tends to support the theory of "round fan" with only one material: "gong fan" ("white gauze palace fan", "gong gauze fan", also known as "gong fan"), and the materials that tend to support the theory of "folding fan" include "hiding in sleeves", "sharp sword", "handkerchief wrapped around headband", "zhankan", "folded palace gauze sandwiched in banyun". There is not a single piece of material in the book that solely reflects the characteristics of the "folding fan shaped like a round fan". To prove that the Peach Blossom Fan is a "folding fan shaped like a round fan", we must find a hard material that only supports this theory and excludes other theories, such as a description of rotational folding. This is obviously a task that the text cannot complete. Moreover, although this kind of fan existed in history, it was mainly a fan for daily use. To prove that the peach blossom fan is a round fan, it is necessary to prove that the above-mentioned five aspects of the materials that favor the folding fan also support the round fan, which is also very difficult. If the three points of "hiding in the sleeves", "handkerchief wrapped around the head and tied with a rope" and "showing and looking" can be barely consistent with the "tuan fan", then the two points of "sharp sword" and "folding the palace yarn in the banyun" are completely contrary to the "tuan fan". Of course, in order to prove that the Peach Blossom Fan is a "folding fan", we must also solve the obstacle of "Palace Fan", that is, it should be proved that "Palace Fan" does not only refer to a round fan, it can also refer to a folding fan.
In many people's minds, "Gong Fan" is indeed easily associated with "Uan Fan". "Cihai" defines "Gong Fan" as "a round fan with a handle", that is, "Uan Fan". There is certainly some truth to this definition, but if you think about it carefully, this understanding is actually not accurate. Literally speaking, "palace fan" only stipulates the place and scope of use of fans, that is, it only refers to "fans used in the palace" and does not refer to the style of the fans. However, the fans used in the palaces of the past dynasties are not unchanged. From the perspective of linguistic rules, the noun symbol (signifier) is generally relatively inert and difficult to change once established, while the actual noun (referent) is relatively active and often changes with changes in the reality of life. For example, "fan" originally referred to "door leaf". "Shuowen Jiezi" said: "Fan, leaf. From the sound of wings in the door." Later, it more often referred to "fan". "Wu Ming Fan" originally referred to the large fan that blocked the sun during the Shun Dynasty, but later it was also used to refer to the small fan that attracts wind and coolness. Emperor Yuan of Liang wrote in a poem: "My concubine plays a stringed qin, and my wife shakes the Wu Ming Fan." Lu Sidao, a poet of the Sui Dynasty, said in a poem: "Whenever I shake the Wu Ming Fan, I chat in the Seven Fragrance Cart." This is all true. From this point of view, it is entirely possible that the name "Gong Fan" first referred to the "Tuan Fan" and later also referred to the "Folding Fan".
The palace fan culture and its development in the past dynasties are naturally quite complicated. However, generally speaking, it can be divided into two stages based on the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty, most of the fans used in the palace were round fans. After the Song Dynasty, especially during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were both round fans and folding fans. According to "Qijiu Continuing News" and others, there was a popular song "Ode to the Folding Fan" in the Northern Song Dynasty: "The palace gauze bee takes advantage of the plum blossoms, and the precious fan opens its wings. Several folds gather the breeze, one twist brings autumn mood, the mica is light and the curling twigs are thin. Don't untie the jade chain, for fear of flying flowers falling." The title is "Ode to the Folding Fan", and the word "gongsha" appears in the poem. Wang Anzhong also wrote a similar "Sheng Cha Zi" before and after this. The order of the two poems is unknown. The words are: "Spring bees chase the plum blossoms, palace fans spread their wings, gather the fragrant wind with a few twists, a twist brings the autumn mood, shakes the mica light, 䙚 qiongzhi Detailed. Don't untie the jade chain, for fear of flying flowers." The poem clearly mentions "palace fan" and "several folds", which makes it clearer that "palace fan" can refer to "folding fan", and "folding fan" can also be called "palace fan". What's more, a large part of the language of opera is poetic expression, which is not as precise as scientific language. Poetic language such as palace fan, tuan fan, and wan fan. This point will be discussed in more detail in the third and fifth sections of this article.
From this point of view, all the descriptions of the "Peach Blossom Fan" in "The Peach Blossom Fan" are consistent with the "folding fan". There is no doubt that the "Peach Blossom Fan" should be a "folding fan". Attached to the lower volume of "Peach Blossom Fan", the "Preface to Peach Blossom Fan" signed by Wu Mujing'an of Beiping says: "In the treasure box, the treasured photographic face is stored; under the double-hook curtain, the connoisseurs gather together. Although the fold is light, the gifted man gives it as a momentary gift; the chant title is heavy, and the beauty is destined to be a hundred years old." It has also been stated clearly that the "Peach Blossom Fan" is a gathering fan and a folding fan. It has become a "problem" mainly because the commentator lacks the necessary rational thinking, ignores the difference between poetic language and scientific language, and is often selectively blind in the selection of materials. He only picks up materials and explanations that are beneficial to him, while turning a blind eye to opposing materials, and the relevant explanations and discussions are full of assumptions. For example, the commentator said, "Folding fans used for writing poems and paintings are mostly made of paper and silk, but are not made of yarn. The yarn used in folding fans is only found in sandalwood fans and other handicrafts of later generations and Western-style fans exported to Europe and the United States. It is not an elegant item of traditional Chinese literati."[6], to argue that the gauze "peach blossom fan" can only be a round fan and not a folding fan, is not valid. The two poems quoted above are enough to prove it. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is a long-standing common problem in my country’s literary and historical circles, and contemporary scholars should be sufficiently vigilant about this.
2. The stage structure of the Peach Blossom Fan
The script is the unfinished performance, and the performance is the completed script. Fundamentally speaking, opera text is only a stage and unfinished form of the entire opera art, and its goal is to perform on the stage. The performance must be based on the text, but also have the right to process it. The description of the "Peach Blossom Fan" in the opera text, or the "Peach Blossom Fan" in the form of words, only provides a certain design and possibility for the stage "Peach Blossom Fan". The "Peach Blossom Fan" performed by different eras, types of operas, and theater troupes is the visible and tangible physical "Peach Blossom Fan". From this perspective, to truly understand the form of the "Peach Blossom Fan", we should shift our attention from the text of the "Peach Blossom Fan" to the performance stages of the "Peach Blossom Fan" before and after Kangxi.
According to "The Complete Works of the Peach Blossom Fan", "The Peach Blossom Fan" was created when the author was "not in office". At that time, "I only drew its outline, but did not actually decorate its flowers." After "more than ten years", under the urging of friends, it was revived and "it was completed after three revisions of manuscripts." For a time, "when princes recommended gentry, they all borrowed money, and paper was always known to be valuable." On New Year's Eve that year, "General Secretary Li Mu'an sent an envoy to present the New Year's money, and asked for "The Peach Blossom Fan" to serve with wine around the fire. In order to celebrate the New Year's Lantern Festival, he had already bought a performance. His class name was Jin Dou, who came from the residence of Mr. Li Xiangguo in northern Hunan, and became famous in the world." This should be the premiere of "The Peach Blossom Fan". Although the author immediately resigned for some reason, the performance of "The Peach Blossom Fan" was not greatly affected. "In the fourth month of Gengchen, I have been disbanded. Mr. Mu'an invited to watch "Peach Blossom Fan", and at that time, all the officials gathered at the Hanbu Taiyuan." After that, "those who performed "Peach Blossom Fan" in Chang'an spent all their time." Among them, , "A seat in the garden is the most prosperous. Famous princes, great ministers, poets and poets, and the parallel gatherings are not knee-deep in seats." Even Tian Shunnian, the master of the Tujia cave in Rongmei, Chu, "must order his concubine to play "Peach Blossom Fan" at every banquet." The author traveled to Hebei Province at the age of Bingxu (1706), and his colleagues once "stayed with him as a guest to watch the performance of "The Peach Blossom Fan" for two days, and they were very affectionate." Song Luo, a poet during the Kangxi period, wrote "Six Quatrains on the View of the Peach Blossom Fan", one of which said: "The young master of the Central Plains talked about Hou Sheng, and his writing style was so good that he restored the name of the society. Today, the Liyuan is writing down the legacy, so why not hinder the deep affection of the children." ("The Peach Blossom Fan") "Inscription") Wu Chenyan's poem "Inscription on the Peach Blossom Fan" said: "In the past, Prime Minister Zhongzhong of the Song Dynasty often performed this play at every banquet." According to Jin Wei's poem "The Legend of the Peach Blossom Fan at the Donglu Spring Festival, Composed by Mr. Gao An Tang", it can be seen that after the death of Kong Shangren in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi (1718), "The Peach Blossom Fan" was still performed in various places. From this point of view, the performance of "Peach Blossom Fan" was indeed at its peak during the Kangxi period. The saying that "two music houses flourished in Kangxi" and "Goulan competed to sing Kong Hong's lyrics" (Jin Wei's "Inscription on Peach Blossom Fan". See "Inscription" on the volume of "Peach Blossom Fan") is not a false reputation. Jin Lian said: "Today Goulan Department uses "Peach Blossom Fan" and "Eternal Life Palace" in parallel. It is rare to be unacquainted with the legends of Hong Kong and Kong for thirty years!" (Volume 2 of "Bu Xia Dai Bian") is not a cliche.
After Kangxi and Yongzheng, and before the Revolution of 1911, there are no detailed records of the performance of "The Peach Blossom Fan", but Xuehong's mud claws are still vaguely visible. Yuan Mei's poem "Present to the Scholars of Marquis Hong Jian of Yangzhou" says: "At the end of the third month of the month, the Peach Blossom Fan is the first person to paint Jintang." There is an annotation under the sentence: "In the autumn of Ji Mao, I ordered Mr. Wei Hu, the ancestor, to look at the Peach Blossom Fan."[7]Zhuquan layman's "Xu Banqiao Miscellaneous Memories" contains Xu Pu's "Zhuzhi Ci" saying: "The delicate throats sing the Peach Blossom Fan together, who is like Zheng Tuoniang back then." "Nashu Ying Music Score" compiled by Ye Tang and published in the 57th year of Qianlong's reign contains several scores from "Visiting Cui", "Sending a Fan" and "Inscription on Painting". Xu Ke's "Qing Ye Lei Chao" also records: "Four Happinesses also had a sound during the Jiaqing period. "Dumen Bamboo Branch Ci" said: "The Peach Blossom Fan" was newly arranged, and the Four Happiness Classes were spread everywhere."[8]
"On the dancing pavilion and singing stage, the wind and rain will always blow away the wind." From the perspective of ancient culture, opera and novels both belong to the "small lane" and are located on the edge of culture. In addition, opera performance is originally an "on-the-spot" art, and video equipment did not appear in time. It is already very difficult to restore the performance of "The Peach Blossom Fan". It is difficult to imagine the difficulty of traveling through the time tunnel to see the appearance of the fan in Li Xiangjun's hand on the stage a hundred or even hundreds of years ago. Fortunately, when the banknote version of "The Peach Blossom Fan" "has been lost over time and is almost unrecognizable", and when the performance has gone through several hot and cold periods, "the person from Tongzhuan Village, Jinmen, is also a poet... He traveled to Donglu, passed by Yu's house, and asked for manuscripts. After reading only a few lines, I was impressed by the details. I paid fifty gold in my pocket and handed it over to Zi Zi." ("Peach Blossom Fan") From then on, "Peach Blossom Fan" had its first engraving, and this engraving has been reprinted and supplemented many times and has been passed down to this day. The book not only contains the complete Peach Blossom Fan, the first volume also contains "Preface", "Inscription", "Small Introduction", "Fan Rules", and "Outline", and the second volume also contains "Ji Mo", "Textual Research", "Basic Moment", "Little Knowledge", "Postscript", and "Aftermath". "Preface" and so on. Among them, "Ji Mo" signed by Kong Shangren, a native of Yunting Mountain, detailedly lists the roles and mosaics, which provided a basis for the performance at that time and also provided important clues for investigating the peach blossom fan on the stage at that time.
As mentioned above, "Peach Blossom Fan" appears more concentratedly in the sixth chapter "Sleeping Fragrance", the seventh chapter "Que Lian", the 22nd chapter "Guarding the Tower", the 23rd chapter "Send the Fan", the 27th chapter "Feng Zhou", the 28th chapter "Inscriptions", the 39th chapter "Qi Zhen" and the 40th chapter "Entering the Dao". Among these occurrences, the relevant puzzle pieces listed by Kong Shangren are "Poetry Fan" ("Sleeping Incense"), "Poetry Fan" ("Sleeping Incense"), "Poetry Fan", "Xuediao Fan" ("Guardian Tower"), "Xuediao Fan" "Peach Blossom Fan" ("Sending a Fan"), "Peach Blossom Fan" ("Feng Zhou"), "Peach Blossom Fan" ("Painting"), "Peach Blossom Fan" ("Qizhen"), "Peach Blossom Fan" ("Entering the Way"). Obviously, throughout the opera and its performances, "Peach Blossom Fan" has gone through three stages: "Poetry Fan", "Blood Spot Fan" and "Peach Blossom Fan". Among them, "poetry fan" is its initial form, defining its basic shape, "blood-dot fan" is its intermediate form, and "peach blossom fan" is its completed form and its main form. Although "Poetry Fan", like "Blood Dot Fan" and "Peach Blossom Fan", do not directly reflect the folding shape of the fan literally, a brief examination of "Poetry Fan", especially the history of the association between poetry and fans, reveals that they refer to folding fans with poems inscribed on them.
According to current literature, the history of poetry on fans probably began in the Northern Song Dynasty. "Xuzhi Tongjian Changbian" records that in the second year of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1050), Zhao Gai, a Hanlin scholar, went to Khitan. "The Khitan chairman asked Gai to compose a poem "Oaths Are Like Mountains and Rivers". The poem was completed. The Khitan leader personally drank from a jade cup and encouraged Gai to drink. He taught his close friend Liu Liufu to write general poems with a plain folding fan and put it in his sleeve. "(Volume 168)" "Yu Hai" Volume 27 "Emperor's Learning" records that Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, gave a lecture on the imperial poetry fan to Wang Xuan on April 9 of the first year of Shaoxing. Volume 34 of "Jade Sea", "Holy Book", also contains records of poems from previous generations given to ministers of civil and military affairs on the fan on May 1st, June 1st, 1st month, 15th day of the 5th year, 15th day of the 5th year, and 15th day of the 6th year of Zhao Chunxi's first year. "Baozhenzhai Dharma Book Praise" also has a record of "an authentic volume of citrus poems written on the fan by Emperor Xiaozong". Because this situation only occurs occasionally, there are only descriptions of such events and situations in the literature, and there is no fixed concept and term of "poem fan". Unless there are specific explanations, there is no way to examine the form of the inscribed poem fan. However, there is an example of a Khitan official writing a poem on the fan, which at least shows that a connection has been established between poetry and the folding fan.
After Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, my country's fan culture developed to a new stage. Folding fans and inscribing poems on folding fans became a temporary fashion, and the word "poetry fan" was naturally formed from this. In turn, "poetry fan" became the specific name for folding fans with poems on them. There is a sentence in Guo Zhengyu's "Zhu Xianzheng in the Province": "When you hold the poetry fan, you can hold it in your sleeves."[9]There is a sentence in Wang Shizhen's "Xu Dianqing": "A fan of poetry is held, a frame is drawn, and I serve as a reward to Qing Yan."[10]There is a sentence in Hu Yinglin's "Report to Liu Jundong": "A newly carved volume, two poetry fans, and four square ink letters are presented."[11]These recurring quantifiers "一 Hold" have clearly reflected the relationship between poetry fans and folding fans. "Peach Blossom Fan" was written in the early Qing Dynasty, and it takes the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties as its object. The "Poetry Fan" in the list of "Ji Mo" should naturally be the "Folding Fan".
In fact, Kong Shangren not only marked the "peach blossom fan" as a "poetry fan" three times in "Ji Mo", but the word "poetry fan" also appeared no less than five times in the text. The end of the twenty-second chapter "Guarding the Tower" says: "It's so good, a poetry fan is like a sharp sword for self-defense." Then he pointed to the fan and said: "Look at the blood spurting all over the ground, even the poetry fan is broken." The twenty-third chapter of "Send the Fan" says: "Sitting alone is boring, I can't help but take out Hou Lang's poetry fan and show it." The twenty-seventh chapter "Feng Zhou" "The student received the fan and said, "This is the poetry fan given to him by Xiaosheng." The twenty-eighth "Inscriptions on Paintings" said: "This poetry fan happened to be in my hand, but it was damaged by blood spatter." The list at the end of the puzzle is consistent with the description in the text, which further confirms that the "peach blossom fan" in Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan" is indeed a "poetry fan", that is, a "folding fan."
It is worth noting that the engraving of "The Peach Blossom Fan" took place several years after the play was put on the stage and Kong Shangren watched many performances. The compilation of "Ji Mo" is likely to absorb the results of the performances at that time; because it was personally written by the author and attached to the text, it is both authoritative and easy to obtain, and it is very important. It will definitely have a widespread and profound impact on subsequent performances. From this, it should be concluded that Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan" is designated as a poetic fan and a folding fan in "Ji Mo", which not only reflects the actual performance during the Kangxi period, but also stipulates and reflects the stage performances after Kangxi. Mr. Jiang Xingyu said that modern performances of "The Peach Blossom Fan" mostly use round fans instead of folding fans. If it is not a memory error, it can only mean that the director and director do not have enough understanding of the text of "The Peach Blossom Fan" and the original form of the stage performance, and do not have enough understanding of the system of traditional Chinese opera. It is best to respect the original work in future adaptations and performances and get back on the right track. As for the connection between the folding fan and the traditional Chinese opera system, the fourth section of this article will have a more detailed examination and explanation.
3. The historical origin of the Peach Blossom Fan
In general terms, the "Peach Blossom Fan" is a small piece of puzzle, a pure structural symbol in the work. Whether it is a round fan or a folding fan, it is innocuous and will not have much impact on the plot, structure, thinking, and entertainment of the work. Readers and viewers may not notice or care about it, and the author may not have a clear awareness of the form at the beginning of creation. Correspondingly, we have to investigate the shape of the small props (props) in this drama, which are somewhat like glue pillars and drums.
Machine-translated from the Chinese original 桃花扇的形制、本原与隐义 (published 2023-09-11). WeChat original ↗