Image Study On Yuchi Jingde In Fictions Of The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Yuchi Jingde(585-658)was an influential man from the end of Sui Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty.He is also a well-liked greenwood hero in the novel of Sui and Tang Dynasties.As the meritorious statesman of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin,Yuchi Jingde was depicted as brave,battlewise and tactical in official history.During the early wars of unifying Tang Dynasty,he fought in battlefields and made unusual contributions repeatedly.During the reign of Emperor Wude,he was involved in Xuanwu Gate Incident and helped Li Shimin get hold of the throne.During the Zhenguan period,he led troops stationed in borderlands and contributed to the Zhenguan Flourishing Age.As a figure in literary works,stories on Yuchi Wude started in Tang Dynasty,rose in Song and Yuan Dynasties,flourished in the Ming Dynasty and declined in the Qing Dynasty.His images evolved from historical reality,development,folk inheritance and embellishment by scholars,demonstrating literary creations over the generations.Image changes of Yuchi Jingde show the impact of multiple factors on novel creation,including folk talking and singing,the tradition of history and thoughts of the era.Over a long period of time,most research and studies have been focused on key figures in the novel of Sui and Tang Dynasties,such as Qin Qiong,Shan Xiongxin and Cheng Yaojin.In comparison,studies on the image changes of Yuchi Jingde are still inadequate.As far as the results of existing studies are concerned,they primary focused on Yuan poetic drama rather than fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.For this reason,this paper attempts to conduct research on the image of Yuchi Jingde on the Sui and Tang novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties.Based on relevant historical records and previous literary works,it aims to analyze specific features and traces of image change of Yuchi Jingde,so as to discuss the ideological and cultural connotations and reconstruction of this image in Ming and Qing Dynasties,thereby facilitating other related studies on similar images and figures.The paper is divided into the following five sections:Introduction shows the research significance,academic research achievements,thoughts and methods of this topicChapter 1 discusses the image changes of Yuchi Jingde,in fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.According to historical materials and previous stories of Yuchi Jingde,it arranges the plots added,deleted,adjusted and revised by novelists of the Ming and Qing dynasties,summarizes image features in different types of literary forms.Besides,this chapter explains the reasons for image changes from three aspects:development of novel subjects,scholars' changing viewpoints of heroes in Ming and Qing Dynasties,as well as aesthetic needs of ordinary townsfolkChapter 2 analyzes the artistic skills of depicting Yuchi Jingde,in fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.Comparative studies are used to further discuss two different kinds of novels:historical romance and hero legends.Through depicting his images with different strategies,it discusses the roles of different artistic methods in image changes on Yuchi:copying,indiscriminate usage of plots and mundane transformation.On this basis,two classical stories of Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties,including "Yuchi Jingde surrendering to Tang" and "Yuchi Jingde punching Li Daozong",are compared and studied.The purpose is to analyzes the "similarities among differences" of changes,and identify the different focuses in image depiction about Yuchi.Chapter 3 discusses the utilizing and rewriting motif of heroes in fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.According to the perspective of motif research,this chapter demonstrates the categories of"hero motif' in the stories,so as to discuss the narrative standpoints and aesthetic ideas concerning "hero motif" in different types of novelsThe conclusion section summarizes the whole article.In addition to summarizing the main viewpoints,this section also sums up the motives for reconstructing images of Yuchi Jingde in fictions of the Ming and Qing dynasties,and discusses the main reasons for declining images of Yuchi Jingde in literary works.