A calculation, a world; a tax book, a strange story.
At the end of 2014, when he saw a friend on Weibo briefly introducing a local tax case in the Ming Dynasty in one or two hundred words, Ma Boyong's first reaction was that there must be more stories behind it.
When talking about this matter with the other party, the process was full of ups and downs, the details were full of wit and wit, and the ending was thought-provoking, which immediately aroused great interest of Ma Boyong.
Not only was he still interested, he not only found the original material - "The Complete Book of Silk Silk" left over from the Huizhou government in the Ming Dynasty, but also sorted out the silk case by himself, and relayed it to the public in a less "academic" way, so With "The Silk Case of the Ming Dynasty under the Microscope".
In February 2023, Ma Boyong personally participated in the adaptation, and the drama version of "The Silk Case of Ming Dynasty under the Microscope" (hereinafter referred to as "The Silk Case") starring Zhang Ruoyun, Wang Yang, Qi Wei, Wu Gang, Gao Yalin and others met with the audience.
This long-standing case that he unearthed from the pile of old papers allows the audience to see the intrigue between the officialdom and the folk and the vicissitudes of life that took place during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
Under the microscope, the games of many interest groups such as common people, officials, and gentry are revealed one by one.
The show ended a few days ago, and more than 42,000 Douban netizens gave the show a score of 7.9.
The film and television version of "Silk Case" also surprised Ma Boyong himself, saying bluntly, "The completion effect is very good!" The leading actor Shuai Jiamo (played by Zhang Ruoyun) has a scar under his eyes. The wounds of the fire on the body can also reflect the inner shadow. A good actor will take the initiative to figure out and shape the role." Fan Yuan played by Wu Gang showed the details of the Ming Dynasty's "book cover" that also made Ma Boyong sigh: "This place is idle. The design is small, but it can deduce the key points, the whole character is roasted like an iron stove, it looks like embers, and the temperature inside is scorching."
A guest writer creates a new story
"Silk Case" tells the story of Shuai Mo, an arithmetic genius, who accidentally discovered a century-old taxation error in the tax account book of Renhua County, and opened the road to error correction and verification.
Although there are only 14 episodes, the drama involves field surveying and tax calculation, as well as various historical research and professional vocabulary.
This kind of "comment" presented in film and television dramas is actually done deliberately by Ma Boyong.
In an interview with the West China Metropolis Daily and the cover news reporter, he said bluntly: "The "Silk Case" is not looking for possibilities in the historical gap, but based on real historical stories. If the screenwriter wants to write this matter clearly, he needs to understand the Ming Dynasty. Do a comprehensive understanding of the current political situation, taxation and finance, economic form, customs and customs, and even official document writing.”
Ma Boyong emphasized that the original work is not a novel, but a non-fictional historical prose, a documentary literature.
"The stories in it are real people, every person, every sentence, and every experience is recorded in history. But it actually describes the evolution of a policy without a clear plot." In order to be able to To present it in the form of a film and television drama, the screenwriter not only needs to create a new story from scratch, but also preserves the essence of the whole incident of the Silk Silk Case. Yang) these people. Then around this matter, what is their own fate, what kind of motives do they have. Including these local county officials, what kind of mentality each county official has, we need to rethink , Sort out, grasp their typical characteristics and organize them into stories. This requires a lot of textual research and a lot of historical knowledge as support.”
In the process of screenwriting, Ma Boyong encountered many challenges, the biggest difficulty lies in "drama". It is very difficult to create a visual and audible thing. Not only me, but also the director, actors, music, lighting and other departments are working together to make this process as lively and interesting as possible.”
After the script was written, Ma Boyong's respect and awe for the screenwriter deepened.
"Because I found this matter very difficult, there is a long way to go from the story to the script. And a real screenwriter must consider not only the story itself, but also the state of the actors and the things during shooting. All things must be considered clearly, so that actors can have a good enough platform to perform. So I think the responsibility of the screenwriter is relatively heavy, and I am only an amateur guest star now."
Zooming in on social phenomena in the Ming Dynasty from the perspective of a microscope
"The big era is made up of little people and ordinary people. Thousands of them have the same appeal, and this appeal forms the wave of history. Heroes are people who are pushed to the top of the wave by the tide." "Silk Case" In ", the "little man" Shuai Jiamo is the "hero" who is pushed to the top by the trend. Although it is short, it is very dazzling.
In Ma Boyong's view, Shuai Jiamo is not a typical person who would appear in ancient China.
"His pursuit is very simple, very simple, it is 'true', or 'right', and has nothing to do with interests or feelings." There are people who pursue, but they may not be amiable, and at the same time, his inner motivation is not strong enough."
Therefore, Ma Boyong added some history to Shuai Jiamo.
"His memory of his father and his father's teachings brought him a deep understanding of numbers." From measuring the area of the field to discovering problems, to questioning the human silk tax, and then to the twists and turns. On the road, Shuai Jiamo, who is good at arithmetic, corrected the century-old taxation error with sincerity and persistence, and joined forces with Cheng Renqing and Feng Baoyu to defeat the gentry officials headed by Fan Yuan and Ma Wencai.
Although there are no high-ranking temple affairs, nor turbulent imperial power struggles, Ma Boyong uses a "microscope" perspective to magnify the social phenomena of the Ming Dynasty, allowing readers and audiences to see how an unfair tax policy can be used in many The game of interest groups has changed.
Ma Boyong summed up the finale of "The Silk Case" by saying "If you plant melons, you will reap melons, and if you sow beans, you will reap beans". This is what he most wants to present to readers and audiences—what kind of choices people should make when they are under pressure. "From ancient times to the present, everyone will encounter and see many such things. We will also think, if such a thing happens, what would I do if I am Shuai Jiamo? What would I do if I am Feng Baoyu ? Every character in this is making a choice of one kind or another according to his own position."
Next, the remaining five cases in the "Da Ming under the Microscope" series - "The Battle of the Dragon Vessel", "The Legal Situation of the Yang Qianyuan", "The Past and Present of the First Archives of the Ming Dynasty", "The Fraud Case of a Petty Official", "The Four Ghosts in the Zhengtong Years" , and film and television adaptations will be carried out one after another, and more "little people" will meet the audience through the screen.
dialogue
Love to write Ming Dynasty stories
because it's a very delicate timing
Reporter: Your works are particularly popular in the film and television industry. Many works such as "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", "The Middle Game of the Antique Bureau", "The Wind Rises from Longxi", "Da Ming under the Microscope", "Litchi in Chang'an", "The Wind Rises from Luoyang" and so on have all been successful. It was adapted into a film and television drama, and the popularity of word-of-mouth is very high.
Can have such a high appeal and recognition, what is the "secret"?
Ma Boyong:
For me, sharing is an instinct, and writing novels is the process of sharing what I think of and what I am interested in with everyone in an interesting way.
I am a novelist, and it is my duty to complete the novel. As for the others, it is my luck and my life.
Historical works have never been a mainstream in the market, because reading historical works requires a certain experience and a certain foundation in literature and history. This is a very tiring task for many people, especially in this era when there are so many attractive works. Things, fewer people are willing to read.
But it is impossible for me to attract everyone, and it is impossible for me to write whatever is popular in the market now, and I can't write it either.
I am good at writing about historical suspense or historical deconstruction, so I can only attract a group of like-minded people with my own unique expression methods, and do a good job in market segmentation.
Reporter: Will you deliberately create for the convenience of film and television adaptation?
Ma Boyong:
Many people will ask me if I wrote the novel with a particularly visual sense for the convenience of film and television adaptation in the future.
I want to say that these are two different things. The sense of picture belongs to the sense of picture. This is what I learned from film and television dramas, but it does not mean that it is the script.
No matter how vividly you write, you will still overthrow all this when it comes to the script stage.
Therefore, writers must not only be able to learn from film and television works, but also be able to withdraw, and not be completely bound by film and television.
Reporter: The historical background of many of your works is the Ming Dynasty, and you write stories about little people.
Why do you love this dynasty and this group of people so much?
Ma Boyong:
The folk of the Ming Dynasty was a very interesting stage in the history of Chinese folk.
We all know that market culture, or petty citizen culture, began in the Song Dynasty, and by the Ming Dynasty, this market culture had actually entered a very prosperous stage of development.
At that time, Western culture also came in, and it had some overseas and international awareness.
In other words, the Ming Dynasty was at a very delicate time point. On the one hand, it was the pinnacle of the ancient Chinese system, and at the same time it was the harbinger of modern China.
West China Metropolis Daily - Cover News Reporter Xun Chao
(West China Metropolis Daily, March 6, 2023, version A13)