Xi Shi Huansha painting
Yuzhihui, a professor at the school of Humanities of Shaoxing University of Arts and Sciences in Zhejiang, recently wrote in Guangming Daily that what Gou Jian gave to Fu Chai was actually his own daughter. The article is excerpted as follows.
A disappointing answer
Once at a gathering of old classmates, I was the deputy head of Xiaoshan District and the propaganda minister of Zhuji City. They thought I had read more books during the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, so they asked me: is Xi Shi from Zhuji or Xiaoshan? I said that I would read my book and you would do your propaganda. Everyone would be busy. However, the more I refused to say, the more they wanted to ask. I said that my answer would disappoint everyone, but they had to urge me to answer. If I said that I wanted to tell the historical facts, it was not Xishi who was offered by Gou Jian to fuchai, king of Wu.
After the end of the Wu Yue struggle for hegemony, several materials have made it clear. These materials are respectively in Wu Yu, Yue Yu Shang and Yue Yu Xia in Guoyu. Who said that? It is called zhujiying. Who is zhujiying? The son of Goujian, the crown prince. At that time, when his father suffered a disastrous defeat, as an emissary, he was sent to fuchai, king of Wu, and said the following:
Sentence (the same as “Gou”) practice request Alliance: a direct female, holding Jitan, surnamed min (g à I, Bei) in the palace; A direct male, serving dishes and dishes (Y í, a tool for holding water and washing hands) to follow the emperor. (Mandarin – Wu dialect)
“Ju Jian asks for an alliance”, of course, is to conclude an alliance under the city. “Yi Jie Di’s daughter” is Gou Jian’s own daughter. “Zhijitan is in the palace with min’s surname”. To seek peace, of course, we should be humble, that is, we are not here to be your concubine, but to be your orderly. But this “Min’s surname” is to give birth to children for you and carry on the family line. Not only his own daughter, but also his son, “Yijie Di man”, that is, Zhu Jiying himself, is equivalent to being a life secretary. The time recorded in this document is very close to the end of the struggle for hegemony between Wu and Yue. The speaker is Gou Jian’s son, which should be accepted.
The paid girl is a legend after “rites collapse and music break down”
Also in Guoyu, there are Yue Yu Shang and Yue Yu Xia:
(Yue doctor’s literary style) said: “I have nothing to do with Ju Jian, so that his subordinates do not dare to hear about the heavenly king. Privately, the Deacon said:” my master and disciples are not enough to humiliate you. I am willing to bribe you with gold, jade and children. Please be a woman of the king, a woman of the doctor, a woman of the scholar, and a woman of the scholar. The treasures of the state of Yue have been followed. “(the records in national language, Yue language, and Yue language, are basically the same.)
The man who said this was no longer Gou Jian’s son, but a literary type and Gou Jian’s right-hand man. The words are almost the same, but it provides more information: “I have nothing to do with my sentence practice, so I can make my subordinates grow.” that is to say, there are few decent ministers under our king, so we have no choice but to call me Wenzhong. What do you want to do? To go to your heavenly king and call him heavenly king is to let other people’s King Wu Fu Chai listen and use it. I dare not speak directly to fuchai, king of Wu, but only to fuchai’s subordinates. “Oligarch” refers to Gou Jian. There are few people in Gou Jian’s army. We don’t need you to attack us. We are willing to contribute the following things to seek peace. The first is gold and jade, the second is children. This “child” refers specifically to, not ordinary handsome men and women. Because of the war ethics at that time, the country was destroyed, and the male citizens of the country were either killed or captured as slaves; The female citizens of other countries were assigned to the victorious state according to the corresponding grades. It was such a logic that King Zhou of Shang destroyed the state of Su and married Su Daji, and Duke Xian of Jin destroyed the state of Li and married Li Ji. “Goujian’s daughter is the king”, Goujian’s daughter. Here, it’s not about marriage. It’s about contribution. “A doctor’s woman is a doctor’s woman, and a scholar’s woman is a scholar’s Woman”, which involves a social class problem. If you are not a girl from a high-level family, no matter how beautiful you are, you can’t enter a higher-level family. This is different from the legend we came into contact with later. It is said that the paid girl of Zhuluo mountain is dedicated to Fu Chai. It is a legend after the collapse of rites and pleasures and the collapse of hierarchical society.
Later, she was changed to Huansha
At that time, there were neither Diao Chan nor Yang Yuhuan. In the northern society at that time, Xi Shi was synonymous with beauty. According to my reading experience, Xi Shi first appeared in the book Mozi. Who was Mozi? In the early Warring States period, the time was a little later than that of the Yue women, and they could also be next to each other. The following are Shenzi and Mencius, in the middle of the Warring States period; The following is Tang Qie in Xunzi and the Warring States policy · Chu policy, which is from the late Warring States period; Next is Hanfeizi, which is all from the north. Until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Gao Yinzhu wrote Huainanzi spiritual training, he still said: “Mao Qiang and Xi Shi are ancient beauties.” Please pay attention to the time. Fuchai, the king of Wu, committed suicide in 473 B.C. and it was around 200 A.D. in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During the long 670 year period, there was no record that Xi Shi was a Yue woman in northern China. It can be said that Xi Shi had no chance to marry the king of Wu.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shaoxing people wrote two books: Wu Yue Chun Qiu and Yue Jueshu. In these two books written by Shaoxing people, Xi Shi and Yue Nu have become one, and the Yue Nu Xi Shi dedicated to Wu Wang fuchai is a girl who sells firewood in Zhuluo mountain. Because the hierarchical society of the spring and Autumn period has long been history, even a girl selling firewood can marry a Gongqing aristocrat. I guess it is out of gratitude that this girl has made contributions to Shaoxing people. In the bottom of people’s hearts, she is beautiful, and people are used to thinking of Xi Shi. As for not mentioning the relationship between the girl and Gou Jian, I think it is also based on this kind of country complex to present the princess of her own leader to her sworn enemy. Let’s not mention such humiliating things.
However, after the appearance of Yue female Xishi as a firewood selling girl in Zhuluo mountain, it is not to say that she has remained unchanged. Later, someone took the initiative to change her job, no longer selling firewood, and called her Huansha. This is a little lighter, and it is also commensurate with the identity of a beautiful woman. It is very late in the literature. It is a Jin Yuan drama; Later, the Kunqu Opera “Huansha Ji” by Liang Chenyu of the Ming Dynasty was sung all over the world, and the story of the yuenu’s Xishi Huansha became known to all women and children.