I mentioned in my previous article that the ancients attached great importance to women's "chastity". When a woman falls into the hands of others, if she would rather die than surrender, she will also be called a "sage among women", but when a woman falls into the hands of her son, In the hands of others, what did the ancients think of this phenomenon? Are women required to protect themselves? Or to preserve the heirs? In Li Yu's story collection "The Twelfth Floor", there is a short story called "Fengxian Tower", which explores this point.
Compared with other plot twists and reversal endings in the story, "Fengxian Tower" does not seem to be the most outstanding, but it explores a proposition:
When there is a conflict between heirs and female chastity, what should men do? Who will you choose? How will women choose?
1. The cold mother
"Fengxian Tower" tells the story of the late Ming Dynasty, when Shu Xiucai and Lady Shu, who were single generations for seven generations, had an only son. However, because of the rampant bandits, even if a family of three was lucky enough to live in peace, there would inevitably be some problems. No worries.
So Shu Xiucai first made his own choice:
If your mother and son fall into the hands of thieves, I don’t want you to commit suicide and risk both lives. I just ask you to choose the lighter one and protect me. An endless stream.
At the very beginning of the article, the conflict between the heir and the woman's chastity is revealed. As the male protagonist, Shu Xiucai undoubtedly chose "the more important and the less important", which means that he hopes that his wife will be able to ignore her chastity and preserve the heir. .
However, after hearing her husband's choice, Mrs. Shu made her first choice. She did not breathe a sigh of relief. On the contrary, she blamed her husband for not agreeing despite "righteousness and integrity".
A few days later, the thieves attacked. Lady Shu could not escape because of her small feet. Shu Xiucai asked Lady Shu to protect the child. Lady Shu was worried and decided to invite the Shu family members to Fengxian Tower.
This is the second choice of men in the article. The Shu family members were not surprised and also advised Mrs. Shu to keep the child.
However, Lady Shu was too deeply eroded by the feudal concept of "chastity" and made a second choice - she still refused to keep the child.
In the end, the Shu family asked Madam Shu to draw lots to decide their fate. When Madam Shu caught "Cun Gu", she agreed to put "Gang Chang" aside for the time being.
In the first chapter of "Fengxian Tower", "choice" is an important proposition of the story.
But what is surprising is that Lady Shu, who should be full of motherly love, resisted the choice of "saving the child" several times, while Shu Xiucai and other tribesmen advised Lady Shu not to take "chastity" too seriously.
In the face of choice, Mrs. Shu acted too coldly.
In fact, behind the choice is the deepest part of the feudal system that has eroded men and women.
For feudal women, the concept of "chastity" is a big mountain for them. This "big mountain" is firstly about education, and secondly, it is about intimidation through the consequences of "unchastity". No matter what, the concept of "chastity" has surpassed family ties and become the most important issue for women during the feudal system.
This is also reflected in Lady Shu later. In the second chapter of "Fengxian Tower", when Shu Xiucai reunited with Lady Shu who was married to another man, Lady Shu handed her son back to Shu Xiucai, and then she He chose to commit suicide to show his "chastity". Fortunately, he was discovered in time, and the ending was that Shu Xiucai's family of three was reunited.
In "Fengxian Tower", Lady Shu's attitude towards her son is somewhat "cold" several times, but behind this coldness is the alienation of women's hearts by the feudal concept of "chastity".
In the hearts of alienated women, family affection is far less important than chastity. It was also this kind of mentality that prompted Mrs. Shu to never choose a child despite many choices.
2. The concept of heirs
The choices of Shu Xiucai and the Shu family members seem to be more in line with the choices of modern people, but the basis of their choices is not the same as modern people.
Modern people make choices mostly out of respect for life. But the choice of Shu Xiucai and the Shu family members was more based on the retention of heirs.
Everyone tried to persuade her, telling her to stay alone for the sake of the ancestors and worshipers, and not to stick to trivial matters.
Just imagine, if Shu Xiucai gave birth to a daughter, the ending might not be like this.
The choice of Shu Xiucai and the Shu family for Lady Shu, as well as the final praise of Lady Shu by others, show that in the eyes of feudal men, heirs are not only more important than a woman's chastity, but even more important than her own life. important.
There was such an episode when Shu Xiucai was looking for his wife in "Fengxian Tower": Shu Xiucai's ancestor once met an eminent monk who said that if the family wants to continue to have children, they must not eat cattle and dogs from generation to generation (because the ancients believed that cattle dogs help humans do things) Living is an animal with meritorious service. If you don't eat cattle and dogs, it can be regarded as half-fasting.) However, Shu Xiucai was penniless on the way to find his wife, so he had to beg along the road. When he couldn't eat, he was about to starve to death. , an officer and soldier gave Shu Xiucai a piece of meat.
This piece of meat can be said to be Shu Xiucai's life-saving food, but when Shu Xiucai ate it, he found that it was beef. Shu Xiucai thought of the rules to preserve his heirs and desperately dug his throat, but he died as a result.
Fortunately, the gods in the story saw the ghost of Shu Xiucai, and told him not to eat cattle or dogs, so he was revived.
It can be clearly seen from this episode that ancient men valued their children more than their own lives.
In ancient stories, this view of ancient men is not only reflected in "Fengxian Tower", but can even be seen everywhere.
In Li Yu's "Silent Play", even men who like same-sex men must marry a wife because of children.
Another story in "Silent Play" is called "The Bodhisattva's Skill in Transforming a Daughter into a Son", which tells the story of a wealthy businessman who not only insisted on fasting on fasting days for twenty years, but also even went out of business in order to obtain a son and have heirs. The family fortune finally came true, and I got a son at the age of sixty.
"There are three types of unfilial piety, and having no offspring is the greatest" is the concept of the ancients. This concept has penetrated into the minds of ancient (and even modern) men. Although in the story of "Fengxian Tower", Shu Xiucai chose his son, but Essentially, he made a choice based on the concept of heirs.
Although the choices of Shu Xiucai and Shu Niangzi are different, they are essentially the same: They are both products of feudal alienation. When the question of choice is put in front of them, their choices are all held hostage by feudal concepts. .
3. The shining point beyond choice
In the choice between their son’s life and a woman’s chastity, Shu Xiucai and Shu Niangzi did not reflect the family affection for their son or the consideration of the child’s life itself in the story, as if the child was There is an object in front of the two of them, and whether the child's life can be saved in the end is decided by drawing lots. This seems a bit ridiculous.
I have previously talked about "Seven Appearances of Female Chen Ping's Family Planning" in "Silent Play". In this story, a woman was kidnapped by robbers and used her intelligence to save herself. She was called "Female Chen Ping".
In "Fengxian Tower", women devote themselves to others just to save their children.
In fact, although their choices are very different, but behind their choices is the feudal system's concept of "chastity" driving .
Of course, these two articles do not completely deny and criticize the actions of the two women, but they just want to deny the reasons behind their actions, including the reasons behind Shu Xiucai, a man who made this action.
From today's perspective, the choices of this group of people in ancient times were the product of feudal education. The motives they chose seemed too cold-blooded.
But apart from the choice, there are some shining points in Shu Xiucai.
Although in the choice, Shu Xiucai was burdened with too many concepts about children and neglected his wife and children as human beings.
But after Shu Xiucai and his wife separated and reunited, Mrs. Shu handed the child to Shu Xiucai. Shu Xiucai could have left with the child, but Shu Xiucai did not do so:
Seeing that although the son was obtained, his wife did not meet him. , I couldn’t help but feel hurt when I saw something, so I hugged the orphan and cried bitterly.
After Shu Xiucai saw his son, he didn't care too much about his wife's "chastity". He just held the child and thought of his wife, crying bitterly. This "crying" shows Shu Xiucai's love for Lady Shu.
This kind of love is not restricted by the rules. It is not just Shu Xiucai. In "Fengxian Tower", other people also have some shining points, such as the general who occupied Mrs. Shu. He is the villain at the beginning of the story. , but in the end, he facilitated the reunion of Mrs. Shu and Shu Xiucai:
Seeing Shu Xiucai arrive at this time, he recounted in detail his wife's words of enduring humiliation and staying alone, and that everything would end well.
Not only that, the general also thought carefully about Mrs. Shu and suggested that Shu Xiucai should marry another woman to prevent Mrs. Shu from being harmed by the people around her because of her lack of integrity.
"It is my good intention to go back from you today, not her original intention. When you go back now, you say that your ex-wife is dead and you have remarried a beautiful woman, so that you can build a chastity arch for her and leave her name for future generations!"
The general's words just show his righteousness and open-mindedness. Although on the one hand, he did take Mrs. Shu by force, which is his fault, but from him, we can also see the true kindness of human nature.
These are the shining points in "Fengxian Tower". Of course, the concept of the story itself is still relatively feudal.
Fortunately, most of these concepts have been eliminated. Today, parents no longer regard their children as one of the tasks of "filial piety" as they did in the past. The relationship between husband and wife is mostly connected by feelings. As for the feudal concept of "gangchang", it no longer exists, and everyone's own status is improving.
The emphasis on the status of "people" is another manifestation of social progress.
Afterword:
The situation of "the bandits came and robbed the women" is one of the most common situations in ancient novels. In this situation, there are many discussions on women's concept of chastity.
In ancient times, there was actually a kind of "virgin temperance", which was whether an ancient woman should remarry when she was a widow. This issue is more widespread than the topic of "bandits coming". In fact, Li Yu also had his own ideas about this situation. In the future, I will share it with everyone.
Related reading:
The strange book "The Twelfth Floor": A heavy-mouthed romance, followed by laughter and curses, followed by a romantic atmosphere (Overview of the Twelfth Floor book)
In ancient times, a beautiful woman was kidnapped by robbers. Not only did she not get hurt, she also Empty the Robber's Family ("Seven Appearances of Female Chen Ping's Family Planning")
I am Lu Yueyuan. I pay attention to the living conditions of women and minority groups in books and movies, and I am committed to sharing them with everyone.
