A history of Chinese literature and art is a history of mutual learning, integration, and innovation of literature and art. In fact, the same is true for the history of literature and art throughout the world. From a macro perspective, the development and prosperity of ancient Chinese literature and art did not take place in a closed environment. Literature and art from all over China, from east to west, from north to south, and even within and outside the region, have long been in a complex state of flow, collision, mutual learning, and integration. among. What is intriguing is that since the Qin and Han Dynasties, several great prosperity and changes in Chinese literature and art, including the birth of literary and artistic masterpieces, are closely related to the integration of literature and art along the Silk Road.
In the literary world, Lan Yuhua burst out laughing. She was happy and relieved, and there was also a light feeling of finally breaking free from the shackles of fate, which made her want to laugh out loud. Among them, the relationship between music and literature is extremely close and closely connected. The music of ancient and medieval China can be divided into Yale, Qingle and Yanle according to conventional wisdom. Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty said in “Mengxi Bi Tan”: “The music of the former kings is Ya Yue, the new music of the previous life is Qing Yue, and those who join the Hu tribe are Yan Yue.” Ya Yue and Qing Yue are basically localized, while Yan Yue is mainly It is the result of the fusion of traditional domestic folk music and foreign music from the Silk Road.
Since the key word is mutual learning and fusion, we might as well briefly outline a few nodes of mutual learning and fusion of ancient Chinese music and literature. Before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the long history, mutual learning and integration existed, but the documentation was insufficient. Let’s start from the Qin and Han Dynasties. The important drum music and horizontal wind music in the Qin and Han Dynasties are inseparable from the music of the Silk Road. This kind of music is often used in war. It is called “the sound of the flute is harmonized with the sound of the flute”. Horizontal wind music was adapted by Li Yannian of the Western Han Dynasty based on the music brought back by Zhang Qian from the Western Regions. The Jia is often used for blowing and the horn is commonly used for horizontal blowing. They are both popular musical instruments among ethnic minorities. This shows that the trend of mutual learning and integration of music has been very obvious since the Qin and Han Dynasties.
The famous Qin music “Eighteen Beats of Hujia” in the late Han Dynasty can be described as a typical example of the mutual learning and fusion of literature and art between the Central Plains and the Silk Road. Li Qi’s famous work of the Tang Dynasty, “Listening to Dong Da Playing the Hujia and Saying Message to the Housekeeper” says: “In the past, Lady Cai made the sound of the Hujia, and she had eight beats per play. The Hu people shed tears and touched the grass, and the Han envoys broke their hearts to the returning guests.” “From the perspective of musical instruments, this piece is a combination of the Hujia, a Xiongnu wind instrument, and the guqin, a Han string instrument. As a Yuefu song, “Eighteen Beats of Hujia” is a comprehensive expression of Cai Wenji’s longing for her motherland and her conflicting feelings. “The jiao plays for a while, and the qin beats.” The tune of the Hujia is sad and mournful, and the sound of the guqin is deep and far-reaching. The unusual connection between the two, coupled with the exquisite diction, “can make people sit upright and shake, and the sand and gravel fly by themselves” (Lu Shiyong) “A General Theory of Poetry Mirror”), so “Eighteen Beats of Hujia” can be regarded as an outstanding example of the integration of Silk Road music and literature.
The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were turbulent times in Chinese history, which lasted for four hundred years. Although it was a troubled time, it was also an era of great development and integration of literature and art. There is a long poem from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is known as one of the “Two Treasures of Yuefu” and must be discussed in the history of literature, namely “Mulan Poetry”. Although the work has been handed down to this day in Chinese form, it is not actually a Han poem. It contains many “Khan’s words”, so it is a narrative epic with a Xianbei background. More noteworthy, the prestigious”Mulan Poetry” is not a “mere poem” (meaning it can only be read aloud), but can be sung. It is actually a “Xianbei Song”, which is closely related to Silk Road music. There is also the famous “Lanling King Entering the Battle Song” in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It no longer exists in China, but it has spread as far as Japan and is still passed down to this day. This is another important example of the spread and integration of Chinese and foreign literature and art and then feeding back into China.
The mutual learning and fusion of literature and art along the Silk Road from the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties was extensive and ubiquitous. From a geographical point of view, although the area is extremely vast, if we examine it in depth, according to Yang Yinliu’s point of view, there is a so-called “center area” for the cultural integration of the Silk Road – in short, in the Chinese part of the Western Regions and the Chinese Xiliang area. At that time, the mutual learning and integration of music were most important in these two areas, and the depth and breadth of the integration were also particularly outstanding. From a time perspective, the more than 100 years of the Northern Dynasties are particularly worthy of attention. The Silk Road and Central Plains music have achieved a large number of long-term and in-depth integrations. Xuanzang’s “Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty” said that Qiuci’s “orchestral music is particularly good at all countries”, and Qiuci music can indeed be called the first of all Hu music groups, playing an important role as a kind of musical yeast. The Liangzhou area has always been the hub of the Silk Road, and the eclectic and mutual learning of literature and art is clear and outstanding. It is mainly influenced by Qiuci music, and later in Liangzhou, Xiliang music was formed. From the introduction of Qiuci music to the formation of Xiliang music, we can see the vivid and complex integration of literature and art in the Northern Dynasties, which can be regarded as a classic case.
With the full integration of literature and art in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, by the Sui and Tang Dynasties, a major peak of Chinese literature and art appeared naturally. Chen Yinke, a master of history, has a famous conclusion: “The reason why the Li and Tang clan rose to prominence was that they took the blood of the barbarians outside the Great Wall and injected it into the decadent culture of the Central Plains. The old stains were removed, the new opportunities were restarted, and they expanded and prospered, thus creating unprecedented achievements. The situation of the world.” (“Postscript of Li Tang Clan Speculation”) If the country and the nation are like this, why should literature and art not be the same? After great chaos comes great peace. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the country ushered in great unification, the nationalities showed great integration, and literature and art also reached a long-awaited peak. In other words, the beauty of the Southern Dynasties and the sophistication of the Northern Dynasties, coupled with the majestic simplicity outside the Great Wall of the Western Regions, merged together unexpectedly and were inclusive. Sweet fruit – Tang poetry can be said to be the most outstanding representative of it. As Cen Zhongmian said in “History of the Sui and Tang Dynasties”: “Therefore, Western music has great potential to influence the changes in Tang poetry.” The Western music here can be understood as “Hu’s new voice”, which is closely related to the innovation of Tang poetry.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were seven, nine, and ten types of music in court music. Taking the ten types of music in the early Tang Dynasty as an example, they included Yan Yue (mixed Chinese and foreign music), Qing Shang (Chinese Zhengsheng), Xiliang , Tianzhu, Korea, Qiuci, Anguo, Shule, Kangguo, Gaochang. Among them, there are as many as seven or eight clubs with foreign or foreign names, and they are basically from countries and ethnic groups along the Silk Road. It can be seen from this that the flow, collision, mutual learning, and integration of local literature and art in the Sui and Tang Dynasties with foreign and foreign literature and art are actually important features of the development of literature and art in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Of course, the levels of the above-mentioned Silk Road music are different, and their relationship with Central Plains music is also different. In summary, approximatelyFour levels:
Gaochang, Qiuci, Shule—northwestern ethnic minority music that is more peripheral than Xiliang;
Kangguo – the music of nomadic people flowing on the border of China;
Anguo, Tianzhu, and Korea—are foreign music.
All kinds of music, literature and art have long-term influence, reference, enrichment and integration on the Silk Road, and even in the Central Plains region, brewing subtle changes; when the unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties comes, music, literature and art will find the right time to take place. A major and wonderful “chemical reaction”, and the peak of literature and art appeared naturally.
Of course there are signs of the peak of literature and art, and there should be masterpieces one after another. At the peak of the Tang Dynasty, the masterpiece of French music among the great operas – “Nancy Dress and Feather Clothes Song”, which is a masterpiece of singing and dancing, is a benchmark masterpiece and is particularly dazzling. The “copyright” of this song is usually attributed to Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. However, according to “Tang Huiyao”, Yang Jingshu, the governor of Xiliang Prefecture, presented an Indian “Brahmin Song” to Xuanzong, and “The Song of Colorful Feathers” was adapted accordingly. “The Song of Colorful Feathers” obviously contains elements of Western music, and it is said that it also absorbed the sound of Qiuci. In short, benchmarking works combine the strengths of many schools, and are inseparable from mutual learning and integration.
A major symbol of the prosperity of literature and art in the Sui and Tang Dynasties is the rise of Yan music, and Yan music is a complex concept. “Yan” is the same as “banquet”, which in layman’s terms refers to the music used at banquets and banquets. The characteristics of Yanle are highlighted by cohesion, integration and integration. A decisive influence that Yan Le has brought to Chinese literature and art is that it helped form Ci, an outstanding literary and artistic genre that will last through the ages. Academic circles generally believe that the formation and development of poetry in the Tang and Song Dynasties benefited from Yan music, and the prosperity and development of poetry in the Tang and Song Dynasties was also the result of the musical stylization of Yan music to a certain extent.
Another example of how Silk Road literature and art helped China reach its peak of literature and art is opera. Although the culture and music of the Central Plains have influenced the development and prosperity of opera, the important role of frontier grassland culture and music cannot be ignored. The aesthetic reference to the “garlic cheese flavor” of Yuan opera is intriguing, while the various “garlic and cheese flavors” of Khitan, Jurchen and Mongolian operas cannot be ignored. “Fan Opera” provides a rich source of tunes for opera. A major achievement of the literature and art of the Qing Dynasty was the formation of Peking Opera, which is also inextricably linked to Manchu literature and art. The operas of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to Kun Opera, often used various “Huqin” as the main accompaniment instrument. In the history of music, Huqin is an extremely complex concept, and it is generally believed to originate from ethnic minorities in the northwest. Houhuqin is deeply integrated and innovative with Central Plains music, and can be divided into many categories. Jinghu, the main instrument of Peking Opera, is also a kind of huqin. The prosperity of opera represented by Peking Opera formed a peak of modern Chinese literature and art.
From a historical perspective, the literature and art of different ethnic groups and countries complement each other and complement each other, which is the inexhaustible driving force for the development of literature and art. From admiration for each other, to learning from multiple teachers, to mutual reproduction, and even innovation and sublimation, the mutual learning and integration of literature and art among all ethnic groups and countries will help to explore the potential of literature and art.Enriching literary and artistic techniques and techniques has a very significant role in promoting the creation of a unique new literary and artistic pattern. From a single literature and art, to an ethnic group, to a country, and to the world, literature and art achieve nirvana and rebirth through deep mutual learning and integration. Lan Yuhua, who is in various literary and artistic positions, does not want to sleep because she is afraid that when she opens her eyes again, she will wake up from her dream and never see her mother’s kind face and voice again. In a grand and complex system, they are interdependent, communicate with each other, and help each other. If the literature and art of each country and nation remains isolated and does not interact and communicate with the literature and art of other countries and foreign races, it will lose its vitality and vitality.
Chinese culture is magnificent, diverse and complex. It is both open and inclusive. It is a typical integration and transformation culture. Its distinctive characteristics of integration and transformation affect all aspects, including literature and art. In short, the mutual learning and fusion of literature and art along the Silk Road had an unexpected and important impact on ancient Chinese literature and art, especially helping to form several literary and artistic peaks. History is a mirror, looking at the past and knowing the future. The development and prosperity of contemporary literature and art still depend on the deeper collision, mutual learning, integration and innovation of literature and art from various countries and nations.
(Author: Gu Shuguang, professor at the School of Chinese Studies, Renmin University of China)