Victor's Pursuit of Serenity Chapter 27

The next question is, what exactly do Wu Jingzi and the ideal literati in his book uphold? Is it the tradition in culture? Or the tradition in morality? In the book, Chi Hengshan said: "Those who value learning only value learning, and do not need to ask about fame; those who value fame only value fame, and do not need to ask about learning." This is true, but what if neither learning nor fame is valued? In fact, except for one or two, the positive characters in the book who despise fame do not value learning, and their poems and essays are not necessarily good. So, where is the true nature of these scholars? If they are just the guardians of some moral values, then do they have to be good at reciting poems and writing articles to be qualified?

This question is equivalent to, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, after peeling off one or two layers of fur, what is the core of the classical literati. Adrian Lu once said: "The author of The Scholars is no less skillful than Luo Guanzhong, but since the number of overseas students has increased, this book seems to be neither permanent nor great." Adrian Lu seems to mean that he thought The Scholars was written for the old literati. It was the 1830s, and everyone was in high spirits. No wonder he made such a comment. If he were alive today, he might go further and say that people in prosperous times should not read this book, because they would not understand it even if they did.

There are frustrated people in every society and every class. The great "The Scholars" tells the story of a group of frustrated people. The persuasiveness of "The Scholars" is not enough to prove how great these people are, but the novel tells us how they survive and how they maintain their fantasies. The bleak confidence in it is what everyone needs to see, even in others, except for the readers of "Dream of Red Mansions". The last character in the novel is Jing Yuan, a tailor who likes to play the piano. At the end of the novel, he plays for an old friend (who is also a street person). After playing, "they said goodbye immediately." I believe that no contemporary person would want to fall into such a situation, but it is somewhat comforting to imagine where there are such people and that they did not starve to death.

Don’t read Kaogongji

Folk skills have their own way of spreading. Ancient books rarely record the craftsmanship, but generations of Chinese still know how to make wine, build cars, and farm. However, without the participation of knowledgeable people, the improvement of the craft will inevitably be slow, and science will not be produced. Of course, this is another topic.