[Everyone]
Author: Li Shan, Guo Changbao (Professor of the School of Literature of Beijing Normal University)
Biography of scholars
Nie Shiqiao Provided by the author
Nie Shiqiao, born in 1927, died in 2018, from Penglai, Shandong. Literary historian. In 1949, he was admitted to the Chinese Department of Fu Ren University. In 1953, he stayed at the school to teach after graduating from Beijing Normal University. He has served as the consultant of the of the Chinese Book of Songs Society and the vice president of the of the Chinese Qu Yuan Society. He has written "Collected Works of Nie Shiqiao" (13 volumes).
Mr. Nie, in his later years, often talked about some past events at Normal University. I remember he once talked about the evaluation of the style of a Ministry of Education’s leader in the 1950s, saying that “the normal university is broad and strong, and innovates through accumulation.” In fact, Mr. Nie is such a scholar, or he embodies such a academic style.
Generations of scholars, the torch is endless
Mr. Gui Shiqiao was born in 1927, died in 2018, from Penglai, Shandong, and was admitted to the Department of Chinese Language and Culture of Fu Ren University in 1949. In 1952, the national department was adjusted, and Fu Ren University and Beijing Normal University merged into the new Beijing Normal University. Mr. Nie was a fourth-grade student at the time. He graduated from the following year and stayed at the school and served as a teacher in the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University Ancient Literature . Since then, he has served as a lecturer, associate professor and professor until his retirement in the 1990s.
Mr. Nie recalled that he followed the school team to attend the founding ceremony held in front of Tiananmen , and was extremely excited. The changes brought about by the merger of the two schools three years later left a deep impression on Mr. Nie. Fu Ren University was founded a little late, but the school was not large in scale, but there were many famous professors. The president is historian Mr. Chen Yuan , the dean of the School of Literature is Mr. Yu Jiaxi, and the director of the Chinese Department is Mr. Gu Sui . Under their auspices, the curriculum of the Chinese Department focuses on traditional knowledge. When I arrived at the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University, there were also many famous professors. In folk literature, there are Mr. Zhong Jingwen, Mr. Huang Yaomian in literary theory, Mr. Mutian and Mr. Peng Hui in foreign literature, and in ancient literature, there are Mr. Liu Pansui, Mr. , Mr. Li Changzhi, Mr. Wang Rubi and Mr. Qi Gong. Mr. Nie graduated in 1953 and stayed in the Ancient Literature Teaching and Research Department. The seniors in the teaching and research department have their own expertise and are willing to help young teachers. The relationship is very harmonious. Mr. Nie recalled that the most influence on him were Mr. Liu Pansui, Mr. Wang Rubi and Mr. Li Changzhi. Mr. Nie said: "Their cultivation of me determines my academic life."
Mr. Nie often recalls Mr. Liu Pansui. Mr. Liu graduated from Tsinghua National Studies Institute. His masters include Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, and Chen Yinke. At the same time, he studied " Wenxin Diaolong " from Huang Jigang. He is proficient in elementary school and good at governing various philosophers and literature books. He has great works such as "Tianwen's School Notes", "Lunheng's School Notes", and "Later Han Book Notes". He is a true "master"-level scholar. Mr. Nie remembers that in the 1950s, people discussed whether " Hu Zai 18 Beats " was Cai Yan's work. Some people said that it was true and some were false. A few hundred words of Mr. Liu published an article, and the debate immediately stopped: Mr. Liu's article said that "Hu Zai 18 Beats" used "Tang Yun". We still remember Mr. Nie's expression when he talked about this past event, his voice was boosted and his eyes were shining. Mr. Nie also said that Mr. Liu Pansui came from Xidan on foot to his diapers and talked about life and academic research with him. When talking about life, Mr. Liu reminded not to delay academic research due to life pressure; when talking about science, Mr. Liu emphasized that the first is classics, the second is historical books, and the third is primary schools. This is the root of the knowledge of literary and historical workers and the foundation. He also said that many great scholars in the Qing Dynasty studied classics and history. Mr. Liu also gave Mr. Nie the books he had collected, such as the twenty-four histories printed by the Book Integration Bureau, and the five or six precious classics, including "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Thirteen Classics Notes and Commentaries" collected by the Commercial Press, all of which were used by Mr. Liu, and his ink marks were still left on them. In the 1950s, the supplement of "Literary Heritage" of " Guangming Daily " was very influential. This supplement published articles co-written by Mr. Liu and Mr. Nie, and Mr. Nie also made his mark in the academic world.This is the teacher of Normal University. They are leading the future and doing their best to learn!
Mr. Nie has a sincere heart for Mr. Liu Pansui throughout his life. Since the late 1980s, while taking on heavy teaching and research tasks, Mr. Nie has collected and organized articles published by Mr. Liu Pansui in various publications with his own strength, and compiled and published the "Liu Pansui Collection of Essays". Speaking of Mr. Liu's tragic experience in his later years, Mr. Nie felt endless sadness.
Mr. Wang Rubi once studied under Mr. Zhu 5 Qian Xuantong , Gaobuying , Li Jinxi , and Li Jinxi . He mainly inherited Gaobuying's academic path and was good at explaining ancient books. Speaking of Mr. Gao Buying, Mr. Nie believes that his most important writing is "H Selected Li Annotation and Notes on ". We also heard from Mr. Nie that when Mr. Lu Xun called " Tongcheng misunderstandings", "choose learning monsters", the sentence "choose learning" refers to Mr. Gao Buying. In fact, Lu Xun's scolding was mainly targeted at their political stance, while the scolding of "selecting academics" actually "screamed" Mr. Gao Buying's academic expertise. Mr. Gao Buying's academic research "picking great wealth and judging in detail", and Mr. Wang Rubi inherited such strengths. Mr. Nie said that his poems about Li Shangyin were influenced by Mr. Wang Rubi, and indirectly influenced by Gao Buying. The poems of Li Shangyin annotated by Mr. Nie were titled "Yuxi Shengshen Poetry" when published. In addition to annotating some poems, Mr. Wang also helped him polish the manuscript and refined and processed the relevant words and allusions in the manuscript. When the book was first published, Mr. Wang had already passed away, and Mr. Nie solemnly signed Mr. Wang as the first author.
"I can't write without feeling emotionally." This is the words of Mr. Li Changzhi recalled by Mr. Nie. Mr. Nie said that Mr. Li Changzhi's "Sima Qian's Personality and Style" and his earliest literary history of New China, "A Brief Draft of Chinese Literature History", had a great influence on him.
The friendship between Mr. Nie and Mr. Qi Gong in his later years is also a good story. When talking about his relationship with Mr. Qi Gong, Mr. Nie often said: "Fifty years of teachers and students!" After Mr. Qi Gong's death, Mr. Wang Ning organized a discussion meeting on Qi Gong's academic research. Mr. Nie, who was old, handed over several pages of manuscripts written by Mr. Qi Gong that he had collected for many years to the meeting, and later printed them in the collection of papers. Mr. Nie introduced that he asked Mr. Qi Gong about the poetry and metrical questions, and Mr. Qi Gong wrote the answers to the questions on these pages. Looking at the beautiful handwriting on the manuscript paper and the yellow manuscript paper over the years, people may pay more attention to the content on the paper, but the friendship over the years. The normal university that has been studying for more than a hundred years has been a generation of scholars, and it is so popular.
Literary historian, a generation of scholars,
The author of "Yuxi Shengshen Poetry" written by Nie Shiqiao provides
Mr. Nie's works, and is collected and compiled into "Nie Shiqiao's Collection of Works", a total of 13 volumes, published by Zhonghua Book Company in 2015. Judging from this book, Mr. Nie's academic achievements include academic papers included in the "Ancient Novels and Opera Theory Collection" and "Ancient Poetry and Prose Collection" (both collaborated with Mr. Deng Kuiying), as well as special studies such as "Qu Yuan's Drafts" and "Sima Qian's Drafts", as well as annotations of classics such as "New Notes on Chu Ci", "Selected Works of Du Fu" (co-written with Mr. Deng Kuiying), "Yuxi Sheng Poetry" (co-written with Mr. Wang Rubi), and other literary history works, including "History of Literature of the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties", "History of Literature of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", "History of Literature of the Tang Dynasty", and "Brief History of Ancient Opera Novels". In addition to the 13 volumes of "Collected Works", there are also some works, such as the first volume of "History of Chinese Literature" edited by Yuan Xingpei , edited by Mr. Nie, and other works such as "New Notes on the Book of Songs", edited by Mr. Nie, etc.
In the study of classical literature, Mr. Nie is a general scholar, which is proved by the "Ancient Novels and Opera Theory" co-written by him and Mr. Deng Kuiying. Nowadays, ancient literature teachers in universities pay attention to segmented research and segmented teaching. This is not the case with Mr. Nie and his generation. As teachers of ancient literature, they must have more than two thousand years of "opening up" in the history of literature. Mr. Nie is such a scholar who "opening up".Mr. Nie's various works, from the pre-Qin and Han dynasties to the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, have all studied them in depth, including poetry, prose, novels, opera, and classical literature. In this regard, he is also a role model for later generations. In the first edition of "Ancient Novels and Operas", Mr. Qi Gong wrote a preface for it, which also specifically introduced that Mr. Nie and Mr. Deng were a pair of virtuous couples in the academic world.
Nie Shiqiao and his wife Deng Kuiying provide
Mr. Nie's interest in " Chuci " began when he was in college. Later, he taught and wrote notes every time he found it, and he accumulated more and formed his own view on "Chuci". Annotating classic works was one of the main forms of writing in ancient times, the so-called "I am annotating the Six Classics". The only way to study classic works is to have a deep touch and experience the words and sentences of the classics themselves. The study of ancient classics is like a mine that has been collected for many years. It takes a long lane to reach the palm face that can be collected. Mr. Nie's study of "Chu Ci" and his poetry research on Du Fu and Li Shangyin's poems have all been working hard to cross the alley to reach the palm. Reading "New Notes on Chu Ci", in addition to gaining new insights from the commentators, readers can also appreciate the twists and turns of "Chu Ci" studying the long "laneway". Only by having a deep understanding of the classic works themselves can we have the full discussion of "Qu Yuan's Draft". When these two books were published, I was still in college and saw a briefing at the "Academic Conference on Research of Chu Ci" at that time, saying that these two books were "new achievements in research of Chu Ci". After the publication of "Qu Yuan's Draft" in People's Literature Publishing House in in 1982, the famous scholar and editor Zhou Zhenfu wrote a letter to Mr. Nie, saying: "When " Lisao was first published in Hanbei, the argument was very correct. In this regard, I think you have surpassed the masters Lu Xun and Guo Moruo, and the expert of "Chu Ci" Mr. You Guoen. It is said that you have exceeded this point. For other discussions, you have also seen that you have read the works of "Chu Ci" researchers in the past dynasties, and have extensive views and insightful arguments." Later, the famous "Chu Ci" researcher Mr. Ma Maoyuan evaluated "Qu Yuan's Draft" in his edited " Chu Ci's Essays" "good at integrating literature, history, and philosophy, deeply examining relevant issues, and putting forward some new insights." In an article published in Guangming Daily, Mr. Tang Bingzheng also praised Qu Yuan's analysis of the changes in Confucianism and Law in "Drafts of Qu Yuan" on .
The author of "Qu Yuan's Draft" written by Nie Shiqiao provides
When Mr. Nie was young, he collaborated with Mr. Wang Rubi to explain Li Shangyin. Mr. Wang said that since the annotation was to "realize the Li Yishan poems alive", which is also Mr. Nie's pursuit of Du Fu's poems. "Selected Works of Du Fu" was collaborated with Mr. Deng Kuiying. The second brother was a "white junior college" in that special era, and they both "stand on the side". Teaching stopped. For a while, Mr. Nie also fought for a job of burning a boiler for himself. Later, Mr. Deng asked several of us students to see old photos at home. One of them was taken by Mr. Nie when he was burning the boiler, wearing a big cotton hat. It was during this period that Mr. Nie and Mr. Deng chose Du Fu together. When doing such a job, Mr. Nie later said that he did not expect to publish or publish, but just for a little spiritual sustenance. Writing in the form of emotional sustenance and spiritual tribute is a characteristic of Mr. Nie's discourse, so he also wrote "Sima Qian's discourse". Once when a teacher and student talked, Mr. Nie said that "Records of the Grand Historian" is full of blood and tears. Mr. Nie strives to accurately understand and evaluate this great writer and historian two thousand years ago. He once talked about the evaluation of Sima Qian in the academic circle of New China. Since the founding of New China , with the changes in the political situation, different views have been seen in different periods. Some issues are debated fiercely and there are large differences. Mr. Nie said that when Sima Qian wrote history, he should not be false and beautiful, nor should he hide evil." This is also the case for Sima Qian. It is necessary to explain what new ideas and new questions he raised under the historical conditions at that time, and to see his shortcomings; it is necessary to state his contributions to history and literature, and to point out his historical limitations. Mr. Nie said that he paid attention to evaluating from the perspective of the unity of history and literature.Focusing on writers and literature with the unified focus on history and literature is Mr. Nie's consistent academic style.
For decades, Mr. Nie often teaches literary history. People like us who studied under them in the 1990s should remember that the teacher often instructed: Don’t follow those new theories, pay attention to basic classics, and be familiar with the writer’s works. We were a little dissatisfied at that time, and the more we went on, the more we felt that this was not a cliché. The reason why Mr. Nie instructed his students in this way was due to his own lessons when he was young. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Nie reflected on his experience in teaching Chinese literary history, "and felt guilty and regretful." Therefore, in his later years, he emphasized "seeking truth". The so-called "truth" by Mr. Nie is to emphasize historical facts and evidence, use facts to explain problems, and respect the dialectical development process of literary history. He cannot start from subjective wishes and theoretical models, nor from certain realistic needs. Doing so is not "using the past for the present", and can only distort literary history. Mr. Nie should write the literary history of "seeking truth from facts" and the literary history of "rhetoric and sincere".
sorted out his lectures on various stages of his early ancient literary history and elevated it to a period of literary history. This is a work that Mr. Nie devoted himself to completing after retirement. From "History of Literature in the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties" to "A Brief History of Novels and Operas in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties", Mr. Nie basically wrote the history of ancient literature. Mr. Nie’s history, as mentioned above, aims to “seek truth”, while Mr. Nie’s “seek truth” in his mind is what the ancients said about “knowing people and discussing the world” and “using intention to defy will.” The former is manifested in the following two aspects: First, rebuild the social environment of the times on which literary works depend; second, construct the influence relationship between similar styles and different styles, so as to explain the reasons for the formation, development and decline of a certain literary genre, literary style, literary school and literati group in a period from the aspects of society, politics, thought, and culture, that is, to effectively explain the emergence of a certain literary phenomenon from a cultural perspective, which is inevitable for historical development. The latter is manifested as a deep study of the writer's works, thereby measuring his position in literary history.
Before writing his own literary history, Mr. Nie summarized several ways of writing about existing literary history. Some choose and arrange the works of writers according to the times, some choose the works of writers based on certain ideas or aesthetic concepts, and some arrange the works based on clues of the development of the literary style. Mr. Nie chose the latter type, thinking that this is the honest and best way to examine the origin of literature. Mr. Nie said that before 1966, he talked about literary history and adopted the former, and a literary history is like a writer's work. In this way, the concepts of ethics and politics become more important. Doing so is to follow the situation at that time, which is actually to belittle the "literary nature" of literary history. The advantage of adopting a style-based approach is that it can be as stated in Liu Xie "Wenxin Diaolong" as saying, "to shake the leaves to find the roots, and to see the lanterns and find the source", which can form the most natural, continuous and staged historical narrative. Mr. Nie believes that what has continuous and stage characteristics is not certain concepts, but the evolution and differentiation of the style itself, and only clues of the style can best penetrate thousands of years of literary history and form a development whole. When Mr. Nie wrote his own literary history, he was sure of various explorations in the academic world, but he expressed doubts about some statements, such as the use of "human development" to structure literary history, saying, "How can we determine that the concept of human nature in the Ming and Qing dynasties must be more advanced than that in the Tang and Song dynasties?" This is inevitably a bit forced.
Mr. Nie said that the literary history he wrote is to facilitate students' learning. The literary history written by critics and literary critics focuses on comprehensive discussions, and generally does not focus on specific fact analysis. Mr. Nie writes literary history more about students' acceptance. He attaches importance to the historical facts and phenomena of writers, works and literary history from a specific analysis, and then comprehensively discusses it to obtain appropriate evaluations. This can help students go from perceptual to rationality, so as not to form a conceptual tendency and affect students' comprehensive and solid mastery of knowledge. This is a habit formed by their long-term teaching work.
Mr. Nie’s overall framework for writing literary history is generally divided by dynasty, because each dynasty will change in society, politics, culture and education. The main body of ancient literature was a scholar-official for a long time and was greatly influenced by political, cultural and educational policies. However, the division of some eras still needs to be analyzed in detail. For example, Qin is consistent with Han in terms of system. They are both centralized countries, and are inherited from the past and the future, but literature is underdeveloped. There are only a few miscellaneous fu, "The Poems of the Immortal Real People" and the inscriptions of Li Si , etc., which are continuations of the Warring States style. Therefore, in "History of Literature in the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties", he attributed Qin literature to the end of Warring States literature. For example, general literary history often places the literature of the Six Dynasties in the system of Jian'an to Jin and often attributes the literature of the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. Mr. Nie thought this was inappropriate. From a historical perspective, the Six Dynasties started with Wu and Eastern Jin . In terms of literary history, the Liu Song Dynasty was the beginning of the literature of the Six Dynasties, so in "History of Literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", the literature of the Six Dynasties began with the Liu Song Dynasty. The Sui and Tang dynasties were inherited in the system, and on literature, the Sui Dynasty was the remnant of the literary style of the Six Dynasties, so Mr. Nie attached the literature of the Sui Dynasty to the end of the Six Dynasties.
The author of "History of Literature in the Tang Dynasty" written by Nie Shiqiao provides
Observe the changes in literary history based on the style. Mr. Nie's literary history has many important and interesting discoveries. For example, in "History of Literature in the Tang Dynasty", Mr. Nie said: "Poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty developed in opposition. Almost every period, two opposite schools appeared. One school focused on the inheritance of traditional genres and poetry styles, while the other school made new breakthroughs in the original fields. For example, Wang Wei , Meng Haoran , etc. were developed in the Tao Yuanming , and Xuanyan poetry system, while Cen Shen, Gaoshi , etc. The Yuefu form reflects social reality, and the two are opposite. For example, Li Bai inherits the tradition of ancient poetry and creates, while Du Fu focuses on the creation of the law style, and the two are also opposite. This opposite situation of opposition developed into the Tang in , and there were also oppositions between Han Yu and Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi. Tang Dynasty poetry developed in this opposition. "This is a very inspiring summary. For the same reason, some writers who had a low status in literary history discourse in the past have gained a new understanding and conclusion. For example, in the literary history of Mr. Nie, these writers were despised in the style and language of poetry. Therefore, under the title of "History of Literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", Mr. Nie discussed the contributions of these writers in poetry themes and metrical rhetorics of poetry, under the title of "History of Literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", he discussed the contributions of these writers in poetry themes and metrical rhetoric, and determined that they inherited the Yuefu of the Han Dynasty and opened up the historical status of the Tang and Song vocabulary poetry.
The development of literary history must be manifested as changes in the connotation and form of specific works, so literary history writing must be accompanied by the analysis and evidence collection of specific works. Mr. Nie mainly interprets his works by "experimenting poetry with history", puts specific works under specific historical conditions, and quotes a large amount of historical materials to explore and reveal the true connotation of the works, and never follows the crowd. For example, Cao Zhi "Famous Capital Pian" is praised by scholars and believe that there is some irony, but the specific object of the irony is not very clear. Mr. Nie quoted documents such as Cao Pi's "Answer to the Book of Fan Qin" and "Wu Zhi Shu", "Hide 5 Classics and Thesis " recorded in "Arts and Literature Collection" and "Hide 5 Classics and Dissertations" and believed that "Famous Capital" "is suspected to be a poem about "supreme color in the inner world and bird famine in the outer world". There are quite a few such examples in his literary history. Mr. Nie has a macro perspective when writing literary history because he has "opened up" the entire ancient literary process; his style is based on reflection on his years of teaching and comparison of similar works; his unusual interpretations of the exemplified works are because Mr. Nie has a "golden needle" of academic research passed down from previous scholars.
Normal University has a doctorate in classical literature, which was applied by Mr. Nie and approved by the national degree department. In the 1980s, Mr. Nie began to lead graduate students, and over the past 20 years, he trained a group of scholars with expertise.This is related to Mr. Nie’s academic style and democracy. From the selection of papers to writing, he fully respects students’ interests. Teachers will also constantly remind students to read serious books and to choose topics that should be sustainable and research-oriented. In addition, the teacher often says that in the future, you will mostly be college teachers, so don’t choose the topic of the paper too cold, as that will be unfavorable to teaching. I remember one time, a classmate started a project. The teacher gathered all the students who were studying together and expressed his opinions on the students' paper outline. This is very different from the fact that only teachers participate in the paper.
Mr. Nie's graduate teaching is very successful, but he is not good at teaching undergraduate students. Teaching undergraduates is not a problem, but the one in trouble is Mr. Nie’s Mandarin . When I was in my later years, I once went to the teacher’s house and Mr. Deng also told us the joke about Mr. Nie’s “What is the Chairman (food) eating”. The difficulty in changing the local accent is a manifestation of Mr. Nie's personality. The gentleman is cautious and humble, and is stubborn in some matters involving principles. His retirement was largely due to his straight-heartedness and offended others. At that time, we were still studying for a doctorate, and "History of Literature in the Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties" was published not long ago. However, Mr. Nie did not give up on the literary history writing that he had begun. I am also a teacher from Normal University after retirement, and I am just in time to study history when I have free time. From then on, until our 80s, every time we went to the teacher's house, we saw him writing at his desk. Mr. Nie once said that if a teacher is a teacher, whether to retire or not, he will read and write articles at home. It is a career and a responsibility to study history for classical literature.
Mr. Reading’s various academic works are always moved by the preface and afterwords in the works. For example, the following sentence of "Qu Yuan's Draft": "Looking back on the past, the scene of concentrating and contemplating and dyeing calligraphy is still vivid in my mind when the summer clouds and rain, winter moons and cold weather, and the bright midnight, and the green lamps are eager to see the stamens. However, what did you do in the course of most of your life? Zhuangzi said: "If you have a lifetime of service but don't see your success, you will not be sad and evil!" The righteous thoughts of my current state of mind are shared by other worlds and will be sad forever!" Mr. Nie never expresses such emotions in ordinary teachers and students' interactions, which also makes us students somewhat confused. In his later years, when he was interviewed by "Literary and Art Research", Mr. Nie explained this: "First of all, this should be a feeling of life. I was despicable when I was young, and I didn't know the world. When I was a young man, I went to the capital for a long time. My family was poor and I was not enough to support myself. Every holiday, I copied catalog cards for the school library to exempt tuition. The distress and misery were hard to describe. After graduation, my life was still extremely poor. It can be said that I had a poor salary and became an endless evil. I had a lot of hardships. I suffered many hardships and felt depressed in my heart. Fortunately, I could express my feelings for the ancients. Qu Yuan, Sima Qian, Du Fu, and Li Shangyin were all angry and moved by emotions. I was deeply infected. Therefore, it was also a reason for being influenced by the sad temperament of ancient literature." After reading such a deep confession, we students suddenly realized that the teacher had such an understanding of classicalism. The teacher’s research is academic and life-emotional. Mr. Nie is a typical scholar in study, quiet and peaceful, and has no conflict with the world. As the saying goes, the quiet water flows deep, and the deep diving research is accompanied by the resonance of life's mood.
"Guangming Daily" (11th edition, July 11, 2022)
Source: Guangming.com-Guangming Daily
