Study On Zhuguozhen’s Yongchuangxiaopin

Zhu Guozhen (1558--1632), a historian of the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi in the Seventeenth year of Wanli.He spent more than ten years on writing and Yong Chuang Xiao Pin was his masterpiece. This book is veryrich in contents, concluding anecdotes in the three generation of Yao and Shun, Ming Dynasty. It involvespolitics, economy, people, customs, religion and other records, and it takes an important role in the notenovels of the late Ming Dynasty.Zhu Guozhen was born in the rural. Because his parents’ generation were trapped in the corvee andknew the hardship of the crops, he was concerned the people’s livelihood feelings. The later generations ofZhu Guozhen did not florish. Some sons died of disease, some were adopt by other people, some diedyoung, and some died by the punishment of Tingzhang. During the period of south of Qing dynasty, someof his grandchildren were arrested and unbending to die, so the family had fallen on hard times. ZhuGuozhen was an official, and made friends with the master of Daru, whose learning and behaviors havegreat influence on Zhu Guozhen.The development of Chinese cultural and historical notes has a long history, especially afterdevelopment vigorously by history researchers of the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. Notes history hadbecome the official fix complement and made contribution on history, historical and sociological research.In the late Ming Dynasty, notes writings of free form had expanded affluently based on successfulexperience of predecessors along with the gradual relaxation and engraving industry development. ZhuGuozhen paid attention to history, tried to create History of Emperor Ming. It has not been complete, buthe accumulated lots of materials for the complement of Yong Chuang Xiao Pin. Zhu Guozhen was focus onthe accuracy of historical materials, many records were written after his hands-on work. He made remarkswhen he extracted materials from other books, especially referenced to Memoir of Ming. Yong ChuangXiao Pin was carved in Two Year of the Ming Dynasty, spread widely in the Qing Dynasty, andreproduced by Min-guo Progressive Bookstore. Yong Chuang Xiao Pin was repressed by the ZhonghuaBook Company in1959After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, general version waspublished by ancient marker’s of Guangling in Jiangsu. The value of Yong Chuang Xiao Pin has always been known well. Its historical value is mainlyfocused on historical preservation and research in the fields of the institution, historical figures, economicand tax, agricultural and handicraft, military and the War of Resistance Against Japan, and so on. Manyrecords can offset the deficiency in the historical system, and have effects on the implementation thesystems, positioning historical figures, especially manufactures made by public people in lower layer andrecords of the Anti-Japanese struggle, preservation of historical materials. The literature value is mainlyfocus on the detection of forgeries and exegetical aspects. Zhu Guozhen brang up a suspicion boldly andproved it conscientiously and carefully in the process of studying history literature. This attitude ofundoubting the history materials blindly and study scrupulously affects later generations deeply. As for theexegetical study, Zhu Guozhen is able to apply ancient books and poems, methods of multiple evidence toexegetical practice. Its social value is mainly focused on the records of folklore and folk beliefs. Thecustoms of Ming dynasty conclude the traditional culture and the inheritance of dregs, meanwhile reflectthe effects of the development of the commodity economy on the customs. The folk belief is mainlyconcentrated on "God" phenomenon in folk, the custom of praying for rain and the worship, highlightedthe psychology of reverence for nature in the farming civilization and praying for peace.Although it is an inadequate record in Yong Chuang Xiao Pin, it did not reflect its overall value.