WASHINGTON client Beijing December 19 electrical

problem: the ancient "bookworm", what kind?

  Author Ren Siyu

  How many books have you read recently?

  In ancient times, there was a special "book idiot". He spent his life in common clothes, but he was addicted to books. After reading a lot and writing diligently, he became a generation of academic masters, so that later scholars had to look at him differently.

Who is he?

Drawing: Ni Wenbing

Book addiction

  Hu Yinglin was born in the south of the Yangtze River in 1551. He had no other hobbies when he was a child, but only loved reading. To what extent?

He described the meaning of books to himself in this way: "Hunger for food, thirsty for drink...Sorrows can be relieved, wrath can be relieved, and sicknesses can arise."

  When he was 9 years old, Xiao Hu began to study Confucian classics with his teacher, but he didn’t like it in his heart, so he secretly searched for books from his father’s bookcase and looked at not only "The Book of Ancient Zhouyi", "Shangshu", "The Book of Songs·Guofeng", but also Zhuang Zhou, Qu Yuan, Sima Qian, Cao Zhi, Du Fu... his father was surprised by this, but he never stopped him.

  In fact, his habit of buying books and collecting books in the future also got the "true biography" of his father.

  Also when he was 9 years old, Hu Yinglin followed his father to Beijing for the first time. The father and son liked to buy books when they were fine. At the beginning, the life of the Hu family was very difficult, so whenever they came across very good and expensive books, the two of them could only Silently sighed for a long time.

A few years later, his father's salary increased a bit, and he finally had a lot of opportunities to store books.

  To outsiders, the appearance of this young man hoarding books seems a bit "crazy": whenever he has a book he wants to read, he will wander at home worrying and unable to sleep; once he gets the book, he reads hungrily, and people start to dance. .

However, in the eyes of the family, such a scene has long been a surprise.

  Limited by financial resources, Hu Yinglin’s book hoarding has never been smooth sailing. If he encounters a high-priced exquisite giant shaft, he has to buy the version printed on the worst paper; if it is a strange book that is hard to find on weekdays, he will go through the boxes to find the valuable ones. He exchanged things, even took off his clothes and changed jewelry...so that when he left Beijing later, his own luggage and family accessories were all sold out, and he alone shipped ten baskets of books out of Beijing.

  In the process of hoarding books, several interesting things happened.

  At that time, Zhejiang Yu Shouyu’s home contained tens of thousands of volumes of documents and most of them were rare and rare books. His library building was even more special-rising from a pond and passing only by a wooden bridge on weekdays, and a wooden bridge at night. They will all be withdrawn, and there are eight characters on the door of the building, "No guests will be extended in the building, and no books will be borrowed."

  It is a pity that after Yu Shouyu's death, the Yu family's family has fallen, and the descendants can't wait to sell the collection.

After Hu Yinglin heard that he would immediately pay a high price, but when the descendants of the Yu family, who were in desperate need of money, shipped a few ships of books, he reluctantly said, "Actually, I am really poor and can't afford so much money." A large number of valuable documents were purchased for less than one-tenth of the price.

  But not every time a book collection can have such "good luck".

Once in a remote alley in Hangzhou, Hu Yinglin came across a set of hundred-volume manuscripts collected by a famous master. He was very pleasantly surprised, but unfortunately he didn’t bring silver on his body, so he agreed with the other party to bring all the good clothes and fabrics he brought. It will be delivered the next morning.

  After returning, he stayed up all night with excitement. The next morning, he went straight to the bookstore without time to comb his hair. Who knows that the bookstore was burnt down by a fire, and he regretted it a lot. Months.

Drawing: Ni Wenbing

  Later, I saw that his stack of books became higher and higher, but the furnishings in his home became more and more "simple": "For those who enter the room, there is nothing to see the beams, pillars, and the walls. Set up a tent, a piano, a table, a boshan, and a futon." It's no wonder that Wang Shizhen said that Hu Yinglin used the remaining money for books to build a study.

  However, in such an extremely simple study room, he is always happy with good books.

After so many years, he eventually became one of the few book collectors in the Ming Dynasty.

Ever quarreled with Qi Jiguang?

  Hu Yinglin was good at recitaling poems since he was a child, and he was praised by the people around him as a "little prodigy", but his exam luck has never been so good. He was only promoted when he was twenty-six years old, and he failed repeatedly in the Jinshi exam for many years.

  Although he has never been an official in his life, his talent has not been overwhelmed.

When someone saw Hu Yinglin’s work for the first time, they “screamed at the festival, and he would be heard in the future”; some treated him as a first-class guest; even scholars who thought of themselves as talents had seen him, I would also happily give him many poems to make friends with Hu Yinglin.

  The most famous of them belonged to Wang Shizhen, the literary leader at that time.

Wang Shizhen was more than twenty years older than Hu Yinglin. He admired Hu Yinglin's talent very much. He not only highly praised him as "the poet must be a master, the literary must be a master", but later he even bluntly said that he would be his successor, "after me and the author" , It's here to be your husband!"

  As soon as this remark came out, many people at the time became "lemon essence".

In the Jiangnan literati circle, Hu Yinglin has neither a discipline nor a well-known masterpiece, and his age and qualifications are not deep. Although he has the strong push of the literary leader, it is still difficult to convince the public.

  On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year, more than a dozen celebrities such as Wang Daokun and Hu Yinglin gathered on the side of the West Lake. The famous Qi Jiguang was also there. When the arrogance was staggered, a man named Mo Shilong made trouble by drinking, making everyone unhappy. Scattered.

According to some people's recollection, it may be because Hu Yinglin was commenting on Shizao to the guests, and Mo Shilong was listed as inferior, so he held a grudge.

Drawing: Ni Wenbing

  Later, at another West Lake banquet, Wang Daokun’s younger brother Wang Daoguan also had a conflict with Hu Yinglin because of his drunkenness. Wang Shizhen who was present also wrote a letter to persuade Wang Daoguan: "Hey, my little brother is indeed a little short of temperament, so don’t be like him. !"

  Later, someone put these two stories together and rendered them together, made a drama to laugh at them, and even added fuel to the version of Hu Yinglin scolding Qi Jiguang for "crude people", the title of the play was "Hu Xuezhi drunk and troubled the Huxin Pavilion," General Qi defeated Wansongling."

Life is very rich

  These rallies have also become a turning point in Hu Yinglin's academic journey.

  When he first participated in the literary rallies, he encountered several provocations. In his letter to Wang Shizhen, Hu Yinglin said that he had to decide to close the door and dedicate himself to writing a work of "Wings "Song Yan", which was completed five or six years later. "Poetry Serb".

  "Shi Xuan" is a well-known poetry monograph. It establishes new standards for critical works in terms of style, structure, and methods. It has a great influence on the later poetry history and even the creation of literary history, and can be regarded as its true meaning. A work on the history of poetry.

  Looking back at history, there have been many bibliophiles. Some people are collecting books for viewing, and some are for appreciation. But Hu Yinglin believes that the only function of books is for people to read, not to put them on the shelf.

In this way, a collector who takes the pleasure of writing books, not seeking knowledge and moments, and who can turn what he has learned into his own research results is really commendable.

  Under the influence of many years of reading, Hu Yinglin has written abundantly throughout his life. He has created works such as "Shao Shi Shan Fang Bi Cong", "Jing Ji Hui Tong", "Four Parts Zheng Er", "History Book Zhan Bi" and other works. In addition to poetry criticism, he has been in history, literature and The achievements in distinguishing the editions of ancient books are more prominent. Lu Xun's "A Brief History of Chinese Novels" also quoted Hu Yinglin's research results on novels.

Drawing: Ni Wenbing

  Unfortunately, with the death of Hu Yinglin, the collection of books has also been scattered and lost.

But fortunately, the research results of his diligent work over the years still left many precious cultural heritages for future generations.

As he once said, it is inevitable for the collection of books to disappear, and only by reading them and absorbing the content into their own thinking and research is the most effective way to prevent their loss.

(Finish)