The Eight Flowers Of The Qinhuai River And Literature

As a definite female group reference,the "Eight Flowers of the Qinhuai River" was first seen in the book "Chanting the Eight Flowers of the Qinhuai River" written by Ye Yanlan of Panyu in the 18 th year of Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty.It refers to eight famous prostitutes who were active in the Jiangnan area,mainly Jinling from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty: Liu Rushi,Gu Mei(one is Gu Mei),Bian Sai(one is Bian Saisai,Bian Yujing),Dong Xiaowan(Dong Bai),Kou Baimen(Kou Mei),Li Xiangjun,Ma Xianglan(Ma Shouzhen)Chen Yuanyuan(Chen Yuan).They are either famous for their looks and talents,legendary life experiences,or noble patriotic sentiments,and are the enduring singing objects of the literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The life experience of Qin Huai Ba Yan,especially their contacts with famous people in the late Ming Dynasty,such as Qian Qianyi,Gong Dingji,Chen Zilong,deeply involved some key issues in the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The writing of their inscriptions and the shaping of their literary images reflect the style of scholars and the trend of thought in different times.At the same time,Liu Rushi and Ma Xianglan were excellent poets and played an important role in the history of female literature at that time.At present,there are still some aspects to be improved about the research results of Qinhuai Bayan,such as Kou Baimen,Chen Yuanyuan,etc;The surviving works of Ma Xianglan and Gu Mei need to be further identified;The origin and development of Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan’s historical image need to be further combed.This paper is mainly divided into four parts.The first chapter introduces the background of Qinhuai Bayan’s life.The development of prostitution in Jiangnan at the end of the Ming Dynasty was the result of the serious annexation of private land,the massive flow of wealth to cities and the abnormal prosperity of urban economy.The old courtyard,Zhushi and other areas along the Qinhuai River in Nanjing are densely populated with Qinlou Chuguan,which is only a river away from the Jiangnan Tribute Hall.Influenced by the strong cultural and educational atmosphere,the fashion of selecting prostitutes has been formed,which emphasizes literary and artistic talent and temperament.Thus,a group of brothel talents who are versed in poetry,calligraphy and painting and cater to the tastes and hobbies of young scholars have been born.Nanjing was also a major center of the party society movement at the end of the Ming Dynasty.The Qingliu Scholars’ Society had held several powerful political rallies here.On the one hand,prostitutes are oppressed by high-level rulers,on the other hand,they obtain economic benefits and personality respect from young scholars,so they naturally accept their political views and become their political partners.The underclass service workers,such as Jinling prostitutes and advocates for excellence,had the same reputation with the community restoration workers,volunteered to be their propagandists,and denounced and boycotted their political opponents,which was a part of the history of Jiangnan citizens’ participation in political struggle in the late Ming Dynasty.The second chapter combs the life experience of Qin Huai Ba Yan.From the perspective of life and social patterns,Ma Xianglan and Liu Rushi in their early years are independent and living in exile.They are less bound by life,have a wider horizon of friends,and are more free in talent development.Therefore,they have relatively high literary achievements,and have more opportunities to develop higher personal interests and family and country feelings.Dong Xiaowan,Gu Mei and others are those who live in Beili and see them off.They need to learn various skills from an early age in order to please guests.It is difficult for them to form a certain specialty,especially in literature.Their achievements are relatively inferior to the former.And the way out is also narrow in the future.We must work hard to manage the emotional relationship with individual men in order to obtain economic and personal security for the rest of our lives.The life pattern is relatively narrow.From the perspective of outcome,Liu Rushi,Gu Mei,Dong Xiaowan and others entered the traditional marriage and family steadily,and gained certain social identity;Ma Xianglan,Bian Yujing,Kou Baimen and others died alone.In their later years,they were highly dependent on the social relations and network resources accumulated in the early years,and it was more difficult to survive in troubled times.The third chapter collects the existing literary works of Qin Huai Ba Yan,distinguishes some poems of Ma Xianglan,Gu Mei and Bian Yujing,and makes a special study on the creation of Ma Xianglan and Liu Rushi.Liu Rushi is the author of Wu Yin Cao,Hu Shang Cao,Liu Rushi’s Calligraphy,and some of his works are scattered in Dongshan Reward Collection,Guochao Ci Zong,Zhongxiang Ci,Qian Qianyi Youxue Collection and other works.In her early poetry style,influenced by the Yunjian School,she worshiped the ancient and imitated the ancient,pursued magnificence and seclusion,and sometimes fell into danger and strangeness;Later,in the communication with Cheng Jiasui,Qian Qianyi and other poets,he gradually turned to learn from the Tang and Song Dynasties,which was elegant,harmonious and reasonable.In addition to the traditional boudoir grievances and feelings,singing and replying,and climbing to the scene,Liu Rushi’s reflection on history and concern about the rise and fall of the country are the themes throughout his poetry.In terms of theme and style,Liu Rushi is closer to the literati and officials than the ordinary ladies and brothel talents at that time.Ma Xianglan wrote A Subset of Xianglan,which is not handed down today.His existing poems and ci works can be found in the Pingkang Ma Xianglan Poems and Zhongxiang Ci,which were compiled by Lu Jing of the Ming and Zhou Dynasties,and eight pieces of calligraphy.Ma Xianglan’s creative career and works are typical products of the brothel literature education.The main purpose is to socialize and relieve loneliness.The subject matter is limited to giving farewell and replying and chanting things and expressing feelings.The use of image allusions is more familiar and popular,and the rhetoric is weak,but it is better than the sincere nature and sometimes has beautiful sentences.On the whole,prostitutes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties engaged in literary creation had certain disadvantages compared with good ladies in terms of enlightenment education,creation purpose and work retention,but some outstanding people achieved quite high achievements with a broader vision and more unrestrained emotional expression opportunities.The fourth chapter,taking Ma Xianglan,Liu Rushi,Gu Mei and Chen Yuanyuan as examples,summarizes the changing process of the eight gorgeous literary images in Qinhuai,and sums up the typical female images in the works of scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,such as gorgeous women,chastity women,witches,believers and chivalrous women.At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty,the adherents of the former Ming Dynasty were still alive,and the writing of famous prostitutes in Qinhuai focused on family integrity.Liu Rushi,who died in the water,and Gu Mei,who lived in obscurity,were often compared as positive and negative examples,while Chen Yuanyuan and Liu Rushi were also criticized by some scholars as female disasters.The ultimate goal of these narrative models was to stab the male scholars associated with them.In the middle of the Qing Dynasty,the ruling order was stable,and the ideology and speech were more restrained.At this time,the political color of the images of Qin Huai and Ba Yan in literary works was relatively weakened.The description of their color arts,the worship of private women’s festivals,and the praise of their wisdom became more popular themes.Even if there were national and family considerations,they were mostly expressed metaphorically.At the end of the Qing Dynasty,the country was beset with internal and external difficulties,national and social contradictions were unprecedented acute,and the government’s speech control power was also gradually declining.Therefore,the concern for moral integrity and national integrity became the main theme of the creation of Qin Huai Eight Yan literary images.The evolution of the literary images of Qin Huai Ba Yan reflects the literati ethos and social ideological trends in different historical periods.In this process,the original information and subjectivity of the written objects will inevitably be lost and replaced by symbolic and landscape image reconstruction.