A few days ago, "Menghualu" ended with a score of 8.5 on Douban.
Although the story took place in the Northern Song Dynasty thousands of years ago, the women in the play have "modern souls" and shine through their personal efforts and mutual help.
The hit of the episode simultaneously aroused the audience's interest in the background of historical dynasties: did the "Zhao Pan'er" who did business live well in the Song Dynasty?
How difficult is it for "Song Yinzhang" to "get out" under the music membership system?
Is the Imperial City Division a spy agency?
Why are Song people so particular about drinking tea?
"The Bianjing in Bianjing's memory is dazzling, and Luo Qi is fragrant. The women in the play have no ambitions, they want freedom, love, style, and ideals." Zhao Dongmei, a professor of history at Peking University, has long been committed to the Song Dynasty system, political culture and The research, writing and dissemination of biographies of historical figures. Recently, "Zhao Dongmei Talks about Song History: Understanding Tokyo Festivals and People through "Meng Hualu" was updated on Tencent Video Knowledge Channel. In the form of online "Shadow Knowledge Linkage", Accompany the audience to "chasing the drama" while popularizing the history of the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Dongmei is a director of the China Song History Research Association. She was a visiting professor at the Department of Sinology of the University of Würzburg in Germany, a Paris Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences in France, and a guest speaker of CCTV's "Hundred Schools Forum".
His books include "Between Civil and Military: A Study on the Selection of Military Officials in the Northern Song Dynasty", "The Changes in the Great Song Dynasty: 1063-1086", "Fireworks in the World: Daily Life and Life Buried in History", "Legislatives and People's Hearts - The Interaction between Humans and Institutions in the Imperial Period" Wait.
A few days ago, Zhao Dongmei accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, interpreting the deep-seated reasons why the creation of film and television dramas set off the "Song Dynasty fever", the fireworks of the Song people and the career of the imperial examination, and how the female group pursues an ideal life, etc.
China Youth Daily China Youth Daily: In recent years, the Song Dynasty has become a preferred background for film and television dramas. What do you think of the "Song Dynasty fever"?
Zhao Dongmei: In the past four or five years, the Song Dynasty has appeared in more film and television dramas in a more reliable form.
In our traditional popular culture carrier, the Song Dynasty has always been there, and the three representative symbols are Yue Fei, Bao Qingtian, and Yang Jiajiang.
The Song Dynasty in these stories is mainly derived from the Song Dynasty imagined by people in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a "Song Dynasty in popular culture".
In recent years, the Song Dynasty in the film and television dramas I have watched, such as "Do You Know If It Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin", "Qing Ping Le", "Meng Hua Lu" and other dramas, is different from the Song Dynasty represented by the popular culture carrier before—— The content of creation does not come from popular culture, but from books, from serious historical knowledge.
I think that the main creators of film and television dramas are a group of people who have received a good modern academic education, so they can find these contents.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Where did the appeal of Song Dynasty culture to audiences come from?
Zhao Dongmei: I think it's because the times have changed, and everyone's perspective and stance on appreciating ancient culture have also changed, and the Song Dynasty will "stand out" from the previous dynasties.
The ancient culture is there, but if you don't have light on it, it doesn't exist, what is that light?
Light is our interest today, our observation.
China's economic development in recent years has given Chinese people a sense of pride and a sense of relaxation.
When we look at our history calmly and rationally, the Song Dynasty, a dynasty with a very developed culture, naturally comes into people's eyes.
Today's material is extremely rich, and people will pursue more spiritual things.
We saw the Song Dynasty and saw a very elegant and beautiful state of existence.
Of course, this sense of elegance and beauty may also have a projection of subjective feelings.
In short, today our ability, state of mind, and rationality allow us to see the Song Dynasty.
China Youth Daily China Youth Daily: What are the reasons why the Song Dynasty is suitable for being adapted into film and television?
Zhao Dongmei: And relatively speaking, we have more information about the Song Dynasty than the previous generation.
The Song Dynasty was the era when woodblock printing began, so from the Song Dynasty onwards, the materials were greatly enriched.
Individual lives can also be seen more.
For example, ordering tea in "Menghualu" represents individual pursuit, but you also have such needs in your heart, so you don't feel cumbersome when you read it, but you feel kind.
The Song Dynasty was a relatively free dynasty. The people of the Song Dynasty recorded a large number of the literati-bureaucratic class, that is, people who read and became officials. Their lives were extremely active and they were actively recording their lives, so we will see their articles and calligraphy works today. , and see all aspects of life from it - this is very convenient for modern creators to find information from it, and then find a point of resonance with film and television audiences.
I have always emphasized a principle: film and television dramas are not history books, and we must not regard them as history.
However, if the creators of film and television dramas have made efforts to "honestly express the ancient appearance", it is worthy of praise.
As long as the film and television drama can lead us to the Song Dynasty, to some people and things that have not been revealed in Chinese history but actually existed, this film and television drama has already done a lot.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily: Recently, film and television dramas showing the Song Dynasty will focus on depicting group portraits of women.
According to your research, what was the overall social status and situation of women in the Song Dynasty?
Zhao Dongmei: The audience may see the good side of the Song Dynasty in the play.
But no matter how beautiful it is, it is also beautiful in traditional times. What does this mean?
This means that if we talk about gender relations, there must be differences between men and women. In a broad sense, women have no status in the public sphere, they cannot be officials, and they cannot be heads of households under normal circumstances.
Women in the public sphere are mainly women Taoist monks and nuns, women who are monks, women who perform music, and women who appear in the public sphere for a living.
At that time, the mainstream values were that women still belonged to the family, and the realization of values depended on men. Only by becoming a wife and mother was a successful life. Women had no value to exist alone.
I also wrote in the book "Fireworks in the World: Daily Life and Life Buried in History" that in the Song Dynasty, a maid named Zhang Xingpo lived a wonderful life, and Cheng Hao's daughter never got married in her life, and Her uncle Cheng Yi said the reason why her niece was unmarried was because no one was worthy of her.
Of course these are rare.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily: In the knowledge course "Zhao Dongmei Talks about the History of the Song Dynasty", you talked about the life and ideals of music musicians, and they would hope to leave their family and marry a scholar.
Zhao Dongmei: It may be difficult for the audience to understand. At that time, a music girl with both sex and art could make money, but no matter how much money she made, she was still a low-ranking member and was inferior to others in society, so she would take the good as her goal.
Modern society is built on the basis of equality for all, while people in ancient society are divided into three, six and nine.
Relevant film and television dramas can help the audience understand: why are the two men in love, but there will be problems with the combination?
Because this is a good and bad grade.
The barriers in the Song Dynasty were less formidable, but still there.
After the lowly women become good, the first choice is to marry a scholar-officer, because the scholar-officer is elegant and literate, and the key is high social status.
But it is difficult for them to marry a scholar-bureaucrat, and most likely they are concubines.
Another option is to marry a businessman, which is said in "Pipa Xing", "the twilight goes to the dynasty and the color comes", "the boss is married to be a businessman's wife".
So it is not easy for Le Ji to marry Ruyi Langjun.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily: In addition to the family, the court and imperial examinations are also the content of the dramas about the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Dongmei: In terms of being an official, the difference between the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty is very big.
Before the Song Dynasty, it can be said that the family decides the fate of the individual; because of the imperial examination system, a person can "be a farmer in the morning and ascend to the Hall of the Son of Heaven in the evening".
It was a time when individuals determined family status.
In the Song Dynasty, if a family did not succeed in the imperial examinations for two or three generations, the family's status would decline.
I think the reason why Xiao Qinyan and his son Gu Qianfan reconciled in "Menghualu" may also be because other sons are not so good.
The social mobility brought about by the imperial examination was an important feature of the Song Dynasty.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Nowadays, there are common science classes and tips about "shadow-knowledge linkage" in costume dramas. As a historian, what do you think is the necessity of such popular science?
Zhao Dongmei: The drama is not history. When the drama draws the audience's attention and interest to history, it is necessary for historians to come out to support and provide knowledge to the audience, and historians have this responsibility.
In addition to knowledge, I think it is also very important to explain the logic and context of the background, because the underlying logic of ancient traditional society is different from that of modern society. For example, there are strict barriers between "good and bad".
The "popular science class" of the drama should be a form that the audience likes to see.
I think that the kind of drama that the creators have worked hard to produce, the plot is rigorous, and the actors' acting skills are online, in fact, it has given historical researchers and academia an opportunity to reach the public through this bridge.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Shen Jiequn Source: China Youth Daily