news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

someone once asked a question online:

if "things about the ming dynasty" was not written by dangnian mingyue but by a history professional, would it still be popular?

in response, the majority opinion was “no”.

the reason is simple:

thinking logic

that is, “who is this article for?”

for professionals, they are better at describing something from a professional perspective and remaining objective.

but "things about the ming dynasty" is not like that. it writes the author's emotions into the story of the 300 years of the ming dynasty from a subjective standpoint. for example, the understanding of "prosperous times". dangnian mingyue believes that prosperous times are normal times with enough food and clothing. if a country always advocates prosperous times, it means that this country has been in an abnormal era for too long.

he also believed that china's heyday was actually very simple, that is, the emperor did not interfere with the development of the people, so that there would be prosperity. such a simple operation, why couldn't the emperor do it?

this book contains many golden sentences, such as:

"the first rule of the ming dynasty is never to mess with wang shouren."

"the supreme landlord committee of the ming empire, the national landlord congress of the ming empire, the ming empire court, and the ming cult elders' council solemnly announced: the great peasant class revolutionary, the outstanding military strategist in the history of the han nationality, the wise politician in troubled times, the great practitioner of the thick black school, the firm machiavellian, the wise religious leader (ming cult), and the outstanding anti-corruption practitioner - ming taizu zhu yuanzhang died in 1398 ad at the age of 71."

"children of ordinary families study hard for decades, pass exams, enter the imperial court, and then are trampled on by the emperor. only then can they achieve success. the zodiac sign of the fox belongs to the fox, with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. they are good at changing their attitude according to the situation and making trouble out of nothing."

such "naughty" words would never appear in the works of orthodox historians.

this is also the reason why dangnian mingyue was so popular back then:

he treated readers as friends and talked about everything with words, "i am just a wild fox zen, not a great master, there is no distance between us." then, "those things in the ming dynasty" started to ferment from tianya community and quickly became popular all over the internet.

of course, when a person is famous, he or she is often criticized. when dangnian mingyue and ming dynasty stories were at their peak, they were criticized for being "not rigorous enough". today, some people still say that it is "too subjective", but ming dynasty stories is indeed popular. this is also the problem of "who do literary and artistic works want to please?"

tianya community, where "those things in the ming dynasty" was born, was closed. in the following era, many "masters" and "professionals" still could not beat the folk "wild fox zen". the reason is that they "can't let go" or "dare not let go too much". on the contrary, "amateur" bloggers often make a big splash. they have no ideological burden, let alone idol burden. their choice of words and sentences did not fall into the trap of self-proof. instead, they quickly resonated with their precise and direct views.

these bloggers, like dangnian mingyue, try to gain support by using the most personal opinions and the most popular expressions.

when the video era arrived, their copywriting was still based on the perspective of ordinary people and used the most understandable words to try to explain something, which also attracted the attention of people in the industry.

in fact, seemingly spoof or even vulgar copywriting is not uncommon in the popular culture of european and american countries. it spreads quickly and widely, and under the very unorthodox guise it strives to make everyone understand a point of view or a period of history to the greatest extent possible.

this is exactly why bilibili’s “historical stories” became a huge hit in 2018.

“1

"i am dongpo, a foodie."

this is the content of the first episode of the first season of "historical stories", which talks about su dongpo.

the year 2018 was a period of vigorous development of the mainland's internet culture, with the barrage culture at bilibili leading all other video platforms. this cultural carrier, which brought together a large number of young netizens, took a bold attempt to present many historical figures in the most down-to-earth form. simply put, it was a "historical documentary made for young people."

therefore, su dongpo's way of opening "historical stories" is different from others:

as the narrator talks nonsense in a serious manner, su dongpo appears on the stage.

the theme revolves around his wonderful life as a foodie, with various scenes recreated. the part where he travels to the modern era to taste "dongpo pork" imitates the japanese "the solitary gourmet". every time he tells the story, the narrator says "like, coin, collect"...

su dongpo became a "healing" expert, and his way of healing himself was "eating":

you eat whatever you are demoted to.

this talented man, who became famous for his talent at the age of 20, lived a life of wandering.

according to historical records, mr. dongpo was frustrated in the court and offended both the reformists and conservatives.

he was an imperfect man and a political failure.

but "historical stories" does not make stereotyped comments, it just tells the audience:

this foodie has always found joy in suffering throughout his life.

"when i ask you about your life's achievements, they are huangzhou, huizhou, danzhou."

in these places, su dongpo reached a state of eating——

if you don’t have money to buy mutton, eat lamb ribs.

no one likes pork, so we created dongpo pork.

hainan is very rugged and i love big oysters the most.

these now household-known delicacies are all "cultural and creative products" that su dongpo ate along the way. behind them is his tragic official career:

at the age of 45, he was demoted to huangzhou because of the "wutai poetry case"; at the age of 59, he was demoted to huizhou for not wanting to participate in party disputes; at the age of 60, he was demoted to danzhou for standing on the wrong side...

poverty, disease and separation almost crushed him.

su dongpo wrote a poem:

"the world is a dream, and life is like a chilly autumn."

but in the documentary, "su dongpo" steps out of history to interact with the audience. he can transform himself into a store blogger or a rapper, telling the vivid and lovely stories of the low points in life in a way that is familiar to young people.

the famous figures in chinese history, under the interesting and vivid description of "historical stories", have jumped out of the serious "confinement" of historians and established emotional resonance with the audience:

who cares about the success or failure of su dongpo's life? he was a down-and-out hipster, but also the sage of the "lying flat" world.

who says that historical figures must be simply and rigidly divided into two? why can't young audiences accept cooler interpretations of characters?

"historical stories" interprets historical figures in an unorthodox way.

“2

the first season of "historical stories" brought the audience, at least to me, a very clear feeling:

joy.

qianlong, emperor yang of sui, puyi, ding... make the characters and stories come alive.

in the episode about emperor yang of sui, the painting style changed to wong kar-wai's camera language. emperor yang of sui set a trap for crown prince yang yong to ascend to the throne. time passed, and in 2013, his tomb was excavated in yangzhou, and the discoverer was also named yang yong. it is strange enough, and it is enough to make people sigh that retribution is inevitable.

besides being funny, "historical stories" quotes famous sayings at the end of each episode, such as shakespeare's "time is the most experienced judge of all crimes", zhang ailing's "life is a gorgeous robe crawling with lice", nietzsche's "life has no purpose, only a process"... it is humorous and full of charm.

although the actors are not big names, their acting skills are amazing. zhong wenbin, hu yixiao, mu runcheng, yang shu... in the first season, several leading actors took turns to play the leading roles in each episode, and any of them could hold their own. the actor zhong wenbin, who played su dongpo and yang yong, also became a little famous for "historical stories". looking at his weibo, i found that his main business is drama. i once interacted with him on weibo as a fan.

in this way, the joy is even greater.

even if you watch the first season of "historical stories" today, you can still feel the compatibility of all the creators and leading actors with internet culture. the internet memes, comic memes, "tributes" to famous scenes, and the "nonsense" of the narration in each episode make people laugh and be impressed by this alternative documentary.

now that "historical stories" has reached its third season, it has a group of loyal fans.

breaking down dimensional walls, combining with current events, interpreting historical figures from the audience's perspective, and most importantly guiding the audience's emotions through situations so that they can resonate with the characters from thousands of years ago at some point.

"historical stories" has achieved all of this.

the "emotional" value is the main reason why such cultural works can quickly win the audience's praise.

it is not about lens analysis, industry benchmarks, character discussions, etc. these are all routines to please high-end netizens, but they are not the mainstream consumer group, just like many high-scoring films often fail to make it to the box office. the reason is obvious:

most people like to accept the views they are willing to accept from the most popular perspective. whoever grasps the g-spot of most people can break the circle. movies, tv dramas and novels all follow this principle.

therefore, looking back at "those things in the ming dynasty" and "those things in history", both of them substitute subjective emotions into historical figures and historical events through not very "rigorous" interpretations. on the surface, dongpo's life achievements seem to be the invention of countless delicacies, but in fact, people like to admire his tenacious and optimistic attitude towards life after laughing.

i remember that when dangnian mingyue was fighting over the ming dynasty, she also gave the most simple evaluations to many minor characters. for example, in the chapter "concubine wan's strict enforcement of family planning", she emphasized the reason why zhu youtang survived:

the kindness of a group of people.

“3

"zhang min, who still had a conscience, protected the young zhu youtang. then, many palace maids and eunuchs from the lower levels joined the group spontaneously to help take care of him, protect him, and help ji gong maid keep the secret, even though any of them had the opportunity to sell the secret at any time, even though they knew that selling the secret could bring them unimaginable wealth and glory. but no one did so. so, in the harem where even a burp or a whisper could reach concubine wan's ears, the secret was protected. for five whole years, concubine wan naively believed that the child had already been dealt with. this cannot but be called a miracle.

although zhu youtang was still young at that time, many people would have told him the story of this miracle over and over again since he could remember. zhu youtang must have learned the first lesson in his life: kindness is invincible. this belief influenced his life.

when concubine wan learned that there was an "evil offspring" in the harem, zhang min's fate was death. dangnian mingyue wrote:

"zhang min - this ordinary eunuch who guards the gate did something that countless famous ministers and prime ministers might not be able to do. faced with the threat of death, he chose conscience.

giving up one's life to stick to one's beliefs and fulfill one's promise is what we call sacrificing one's life for justice.

zhang min is a person who sacrifices his life for justice. "

he does not have the objectivity and calmness of a historian, nor the foresight based on a grand narrative, but only the most simple values ​​of a person.

i believe that most people will be immersed in the emotions that they spontaneously put themselves into when reading and watching. the only condition for achieving resonance is to "speak human language", and the essence of breaking the circle is also "speaking human language".

the success of the first season of "history stories" in 2018 is still fresh in our memory.

although some people still comment that it is "not rigorous enough", it has been widely circulated and appreciated by both the elite and the masses. who can say that it is not successful?

i hope there will be more cultural products of this kind, so that people can quickly immerse themselves in history while appreciating it, just like watching movies and tv series. a high score may not necessarily be popular, and a low score may not necessarily be a bad product.