Literary History of the Forbidden City: A New Perspective of Activating the Cultural Heritage of the Ming and Qing Courts

【New perspective of the industry】

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As the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is about to be held, looking back on the past ten years, the brilliant achievements in the field of traditional culture are exciting and proud. Of course, there are still a lot of academic wasteland waiting to be developed and cultivated.

Starting from this issue, this journal has opened a column of "New Perspectives in the Industry" to select a group of articles with new perspectives and new ideas, in order to guide academic research to achieve qualitative breakthroughs, broaden research horizons, and discover new academic bonanzas.

Look at the world from a different angle, or you will discover a different kind of scenery.

The first author of this article, Zheng Xinmiao, is the former director of the Palace Museum and the pioneer of Palace Museum studies.

This article is a new proposition put forward by the two authors after careful sorting and research: from the perspective of Chinese literary history, a new interpretation of the Ming and Qing court historical archives and material remains should be carried out.

　　Court literature is a special literary form under the Chinese feudal dynasty system.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, because the emperor-centered literary activities after Ming Chengzu were basically centered on the Forbidden City in Beijing, the history of court literature in this period can be called the "Forbidden City Literature History".

The overall study of the literary history of the Forbidden City can not only enrich the understanding of the connotation of the cultural value of palace literature, and then lay a theoretical foundation for the correct evaluation and understanding of the meaning and value of the traditional imperial culture, but also help to further deepen and comprehensively understand the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The basic characteristics and basic structure of literary history.

Development context: running through the Ming and Qing dynasties, radiating inside and outside the court

　　The main object of the research on the literary history of the Forbidden City is the literary activities and works of the Forbidden City as the core space and the royal family as the core group.

Specifically, it includes four aspects: the literary activities and works of the royal family and other members of the Forbidden City, such as concubines and eunuchs, the archives, buildings and paintings in the Forbidden City that are closely related to literary activities, and the literary activities of ministers closely related to the emperor’s literary activities. Works, literary activities and works of special groups closely related to the Forbidden City, such as foreign envoys, court missionaries, etc.

　　In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Ming Chengzu Zhu Di implemented relatively strict cultural policies, which had a certain impact on the activity and innovation of literary creation at that time. A large number of works, including "Ming Taizu Works", "Ming Emperor Taizong Imperial Collection", "Da Ming Emperor Xuanzong Imperial Collection" and so on.

From these works, we can see their elegant literary concept.

The Taige style formed under their influence was the most important literary school in the early Ming Dynasty.

　　After Taizu and Chengzu, many emperors in the Ming Dynasty had extraordinary literary achievements. Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi, Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, Ming Shizong Zhu Houjun and Ming Shenzong Zhu Yijun all had their own collections of works. There are many works of harmony between them and ministers, such as "Chen Hanlu", "Chen Zhang Jilu", "Fu Chen Zanhe Poems" and so on which are still in existence during the Ming Dynasty.

The literature of the vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty is also quite distinctive, especially the writing of Zaju by Zhu Youshuang and Zhu Quan, which has a unique literary historical value in the writing context generally dominated by poetry.

　　After the Manchus entered the Forbidden City, the literary history of the Forbidden City entered the stage of the Qing Dynasty.

The primary issue in the early Qing Dynasty was the issue of the Manchus and Han and the remnants, which not only affected the formulation of cultural policies in the early Qing Dynasty, but also affected the structural evolution of court writing.

At the same time, as a Manchu emperor, writing in Chinese characters is very cultural and political in itself. Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong are the most representative of them.

The three periods of Kang, Yong and Gan were the peak periods of court literature in the Qing Dynasty.

During this period, the emperor not only wrote a large number of anthologies himself, but also compiled many anthologies of literary history, such as "Selected Poems of Yuding Peiwenzhai" and "Yu Xuan Poems of Tang and Song Dynasties".

Among them, the "Jin Ding Ci Pu", "Ji Ding Qu Pu" and "Peiwen Yunfu", which were compiled in the official name for the first time, are of classic significance, especially "Peiwen Yunfu", which is a famous book that is still in use today.

At that time, the emperor and ministers not only sang harmony, but sometimes the emperor also had a strong interest in reading the minister's literary works. For example, Wang Shizhen, who had close contacts with Kangxi, compiled more than 300 of his works into the "Yu Lan Ji" according to the emperor's instructions. "For the Emperor Kangxi.

During this period, the emperor's literary creation also gradually formed an overall aesthetic style with the emperor's other literary and artistic activities. For example, the emperor personally not only liked literature, but also paid attention to the production and display of handicrafts in the daily life of the court. This is particularly evident in the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties.

Yongzheng especially liked the black daily objects of the court.

These important historical materials kept in the archives of the Office also constitute an indispensable aesthetic angle for understanding the literary history of the Palace Museum in this period.

　　During the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, the Erxue Hongci Department was established twice, which also had an important impact on the literature and academics of the Qing Dynasty. It was through this path that Zhu Yizun and others entered the Forbidden City and became the emperor's close ministers.

These people represented by Zhu Yizun not only had the opportunity to have literary contacts with the emperor, but also influenced literary activities outside the Forbidden City.

In addition, Qianlong advocated the compilation and revision of the "Quanshu of the Siku", which also had a profound impact on the literary and cultural activities inside and outside the court.

The editorial ministers represented by Ji Yun showed their unique perspective on the history of literature in their overall views on Chinese literature in their abstract writing.

And Ji Yun's ci court literature has become a link to influence the literary style outside the court.

During this period, the Qing Dynasty Forbidden City literature and Ming Dynasty literature also formed a continuity.

This is reflected in the adaptation of the Ming Dynasty novels by court dramas, and in the selection and evaluation of the Ming Dynasty royal poetry by Zhu Yizun's "Comprehensive Poems of the Ming Dynasty".

Of course this not only represents the literary historical importance of Ming imperial literature, but also entangles the complexity of cultural identity in the early Qing.

The Qing Dynasty clan literature is also worthy of attention.

The "Huangqing Wenying", which began in Kangxi and was compiled by the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties, included 24 volumes of imperial poetry and prose, as well as 100 volumes of poetry and prose of clan kings and courtiers.

　　After Kang and Yong’s reign, the Qing emperors continued the literary traditions of their ancestors and had collections of works, such as Emperor Jiaqing’s Complete Works of Wei Yu Shushi, Emperor Daoguang’s Complete Works of Yangzheng Shuwu Poems, Emperor Xianfeng’s Poems Made by Emperor Wenzong of Qing Dynasty "Wen", Emperor Tongzhi's "The Imperial Poems of Emperor Muzong of the Qing Dynasty" and Emperor Guangxu's "Qing Dezong's Imperial Poems".

　　An obvious change has taken place in the literary history of the Forbidden City since modern times, that is, the literary activities have shifted from the emperor as the center to the famous minister as the center.

Famous officials such as Zeng Guofan and Zhang Zhidong or local governors and their shogunate groups had a great influence on the formation of literature and academic style in a period, representing a kind of evolution in the literary history of the Forbidden City.

In terms of court drama creation and performance, although there is continuity with the Ming Dynasty court drama, such as in the ceremonial function and the court entertainment function; however, the Qing palace drama also reflects many new features, mainly the elements of foreign culture have entered more deeply. The Forbidden City affects the aesthetic changes inside the palace, and also affects the changes in the palace drama activities in the content of the script and the decoration of the performance space.

In fact, as early as the 60th year of Qianlong (1795), the festive drama "The Four Seas Rising to Peace" was based on Macartney's mission to China in the 57th year of Qianlong (1792).

In the Guangxu period, court drama showed more interaction between the refined and the popular and the interaction inside and outside the court.

　　The 1911 Revolution broke out in 1911, Puyi abdicated in 1912, and the Palace Museum was established in 1925. At this time, the literary activities of the Palace Museum came to an end as a historical phenomenon, and the research on the history of literature in the Palace Museum had just begun.

Research Orientation: Towards the History of Chinese Literature

　　The connotation of Forbidden City literature includes not only poetry and fu, but also novels, dramas, entertainment literature, couplets on plaques and edicts.

Breaking the boundaries of style and art media is an important academic path for writing a new literary history of the Forbidden City.

The literary history of the Forbidden City should move from the orientation of the palace literature history to the orientation of the Chinese literature history, and then to the orientation of the world literature history.

First, the literary history of the Forbidden City from the perspective of political culture.

The place where the literary history of the Forbidden City takes place is in the hub of the highest political authority, which undoubtedly has a strong political ideological color, but it is by no means simply serving politics.

Therefore, from the perspective of political and cultural discourse, we can get rid of the single restrained power of court literature, emphasize the prejudice of political situation, and see the cultural significance behind it.

　　The literary history of the Forbidden City is a part of the ritual and cultural and educational systems of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The authors and readers of the Palace Museum literature, including emperors, eunuchs, pavilions, and ci ministers, etc., the literary interaction among them is essentially a unique political and cultural discourse of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

At the same time, identities such as remnants, Manchu and Han are political and cultural elements with distinct characteristics of the times, and they have also influenced the formation of the literary history of the Forbidden City more or less.

The literature forms of the Palace Museum are very rich, including imperial court publications such as imperial determination, imperial selection and imperial order.

These different forms of literature not only contain the emperor's literary view, but also have political and cultural significance.

In addition, the Literary Prison is a unique phenomenon in the literary history of the Forbidden City. Using the Qing Palace Literary Prison archives to conduct in-depth research on the literary practice of the Forbidden City should also be a part of the research on the literary history of the Forbidden City.

Second, the literary history of the Forbidden City from the perspective of art media.

Not only has a single form of written writing, but also a large number of forms of written writing and material culture intertwined, which is an important feature and way of existence of Forbidden City literature.

Therefore, it is necessary to examine and elucidate the aesthetic connotation of Forbidden City literature as a whole through the perspective of cross-art media.

The couplets on the plaques are one of the core contents of the visual culture of the Forbidden City. In a sense, they are aesthetic installations that combine art and politics.

Therefore, it is necessary to explain the connotation of its cross-media political aesthetics and cultural aesthetics from the aesthetic concept and theoretical perspective of decoration.

　　The architecture, painting and literature of the Forbidden City often reflect the characteristics of integration.

Court drama is an important part of the Palace Museum literature, but it is not just a script, but is closely related to the different architectural and stage aesthetic spaces of the palace performances. Therefore, the study of palace drama should further reflect the integrity of the inter-art media.

Third, the literary history of the Forbidden City in the perspective of the interaction between the court and the public.

In the general Ming and Qing literary history writing, the obstinate or flashy aspect of court literature is infinitely magnified, in order to reflect the literary and cultural vitality of local cultural spaces and civic cultural spaces outside the Forbidden City.

In this way, the narrative perspective of the literary history of the dual opposition between the government and the opposition ignores the rich interaction between the government and the opposition in the practice of the Palace Museum's literary history.

　　The interaction between the court and the opposition was mainly reflected in the advocacy of literature by the emperor and ministers, which affected the literary creation at that time, and the interaction between the minister and the emperor also affected the literary creation atmosphere of the court.

Literary associations, which are often led and participated by ministers, are an important hub for the interaction of literature between the government and the opposition. The attitudes towards literary associations in different imperial periods vary, which makes the literary history of the Forbidden City in different periods have different styles and characteristics.

Literary creations outside the court, especially novels and dramas, also contain many imaginative writings about court life, which is a unique aspect of the interaction between the court and the public.

Fourth, the literary history of the Forbidden City from the perspective of global history.

One of the characteristics that distinguishes the palace literature from other periods in Chinese history is that it is global to a certain extent, reflecting the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the development of Chinese history.

There are a large number of relevant texts in the records of the Korean, Vietnamese, Ryukyu and other embassies in China, as well as in the collections of Ming and Qing emperors.

When dealing with this part of the text, it is necessary to have the standard of literature, but also cannot simply adhere to the pure literature view of the past.

Only by having a big cultural and literary history view can we understand and demonstrate the world significance of the Forbidden City's literary history.

At the same time, this also requires an integrated study of texts in different media.

　　Around historical events of world-historical significance, there are often a large number of texts in different media inside the court.

For example, Zheng He's voyages to the West during the Ming Dynasty are the most typical. There are not only graphic texts such as maps and paintings, but also imperial edicts, as well as the inner court drama "Going to the West under the Mandate of Heaven".

Only by looking at these texts as a whole can we understand the inherent cosmology of the literary history of the Forbidden City.

　　In addition, the literary history of the Forbidden City should also include the study of the world view and the Huayi view in the collections of Ming and Qing emperors, and the Chinese writing of the palace missionaries.

Therefore, in a sense, it can be said that the literary history of the Forbidden City has both the common characteristics of traditional Chinese court literature and its unique personality.

This personality is clearly reflected in the cosmopolitanness of the Palace Museum literature, and the history of the Palace Museum literature is a part of the world literature history.

　　To sum up, the research on the history of literature in the Palace Museum should break the perspective of general literature history, transcend the general style classification or the linear research method in the order of dynasties, and carry out a new interpretation of the Ming and Qing court historical archives and material remains from the perspective of the history of Chinese literature. In the new era, in accordance with the requirements of establishing academic discourse innovation with Chinese characteristics, a literary history discourse system with Chinese cultural consciousness is formed.

(Author: Zheng Xinmiao, former director of the Palace Museum; Zhang Yaozong, associate professor of the School of Literature, Nanjing Xiaozhuang College)