80-year-old professor published a book about the dissolute history of Zhengde Emperor in Ming Dynasty (Figure)

　　Wei Qingyuan, an expert in Ming history. Our reporter Ma Qiang photo

　　Southern Network reported on March 21, Wei Qingyuan was born in Shunde, Guangdong Province in 1928. His major works include Yellow Book System in Ming Dynasty, Royal Guards and East and West Factories in Ming Dynasty, History of Chinese Political System, Biography of Emperor Qin Long, Zhang Juzheng and the Political Situation in the Middle and Late Ming Dynasty, etc. He used to be the director and consultant of Chinese Political Science Society, Chinese Economic History Society, Chinese Archives Society and China Ming History Society. Visiting researcher at the East-West Asia Research Center in Fei Zhengqing, Harvard University, and visiting scholar at Harvard Yanjing Society; Visiting professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Oxford University, UK, and part-time academician of St. Anthony’s College. He is currently a visiting professor at the Institute of History, Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences.

　　Professor Wei Qingyuan, who is currently a visiting researcher at the Institute of History of Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, devoted his life to the study of Ming and Qing history and academic works. However, in seventy years of age, Wei Lao "changed careers" and wrote novels for ten years. Recently, on the occasion of Wei Lao’s 80th birthday, his first historical novel Zhengde Fengyun-A Biography of Zhu Houzhao, the Emperor of the Dangzi, was published.

　　Joking about history worries experts.

　　Since 2005, there has been a "Ming history fever" in the domestic publishing industry. However, Wei Lao did not launch this 800,000-word Ming Dynasty book to "follow the fashion".

　　"It is said that historical novelists annoy historians." Some ridiculously "wild" books and film and television works are popular in the book market and on the screen, which makes Wei Lao very worried. For example, in a TV series, sourdrang dowager ordered her grandson, Emperor Kangxi, to marry Aunt Su Mala, and named her a princess. The fact is: Aunt Sumala was a maid who came to Manchuria from Mongolia in the early years after Xiao Zhuang. She was at least 40 years older than Kangxi. How could she get married?

　　The wind of popular culture jokes is easy to cause misconceptions to the public. Out of respect for history and the sense of responsibility of a historical researcher, Wei Lao sprouted the idea of writing novels. He believes that research results with academic value are important, but after all, there are not many people reading; If historians have spare capacity, they can write some popular historical works that convey correct knowledge and spread them to the public.

　　Wei veteran’s "Zhengde Fengyun" is regarded as a bold exploration. In this novel, he follows the original development of history and the reasonable filling of literary flesh and blood, depicting all kinds of characters and varied story details centered on Emperor Zhengde.

　　Zhang Hui’s novels excavate the emperor’s abnormal love

　　There were more than 30 emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Why did Wei Lao choose Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Zhengde of Ming Wuzong, as the hero of his first novel?

　　The most famous joke about Emperor Zhengde in folklore is "prince and the showgirl". Zhengde ascended the throne at the age of 14, and during his 16 years in office, he ran amok, spoiled officials, harmed loyalty and robbed women, which led to the crisis of the national government and people’s livelihood at that time.

　　Wei Lao believes that it is not an exaggeration to denounce Zhu Houzhao as a "prodigal emperor", "devil incarnate" and "slut villain". However, for a long time, the description of Zhengde in history books is mostly faceless or bold, which fails to deeply reflect the specific facts of Zhengde and the period of Zhengde. There are still many confusing contradictions and suspense that are difficult to answer hastily. For example, Zhengde’s feelings and sexual orientation are incredible: on the one hand, he frantically searches for and mutilates countless women, including pregnant women, widows and virgins; But on the other hand, he was deeply attached to Liu Liangnv, a married woman who had been taken captive from Taiyuan, until his death. "For women from abuse to rare special pet, this strange abnormal love was set in a person’s body, especially an emperor. What is the psychological secret? "

　　In Zheng De Fengyun, written in the form of Zhang Hui’s novel, Wei Lao launched a macro narrative based on a large number of historical facts, and at the same time tapped the Oedipus complex and abnormal love of Emperor Zheng De with psychological analysis.

　　Chen Jiexian, a famous historian of Qing Dynasty and a visiting professor of history department of Nankai University, commented on the Emperor Zhengde written by Wei Lao, "It is not simply to reprimand him for his dissoluteness and madness, but to go deep into the inner world where the master is not easy to show people, and to write a true Zhengde vividly and completely."

　　However, Wei Lao personally said that his first attempt to write a historical novel may be a failed experiment. But in any case, history is a mirror, from which the subsequent world situation and personnel can be reflected.

Editor: Sun Jie