Morality is a product of civilization, and there is no morality among savages.

Wei Xiaobao grew up in a brothel, which was the most immoral place; later he entered the palace, which was the least immoral place. By upbringing he was a savage in a civilized society. In order to survive and win, there is nothing he can't do, including stealing, kidnapping, bragging, and everything else. Doing these bad things makes you feel at ease. The barbarians in the cannibal tribe would never think there is anything wrong with eating human flesh.

Wei Xiaobao was illiterate, and he had never heard of the morals taught by Confucius and Mencius.

However, the thoughts of Confucius and Mencius have influenced the entire Chinese society. In other words, Confucius and Mencius summarized and refined the beautiful parts of Chinese people's thoughts and expressed them systematically. Wei Xiaobao lives in Chinese society. Even if he is a barbarian in the market and the palace, he still has to make friends, and he will naturally accept the morals recognized in Chinese society. In particular, after he joined the Tiandihui, he accepted the moral concepts of Chinese Jianghu figures. However, these moral codes are different from those believed by scholar-bureaucrats and scholars.

Scholar-officials knew a lot of morals but did very little. Jianghu characters believe in very few morals, but as long as they believe in them, they usually dare not violate them. The only morality valued by Jianghu is loyalty. Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, no one who works in society dares to ignore the word "loyalty".

Another thing that is generally valued in Chinese society is qing, the feeling of human beings.

Five

Paying attention to "human feelings" and "loyalty" are characteristics of traditional Chinese society, especially among the civil society and the lower class.

Rulers pay attention to "principles". "Loyalty" is the principle of obeying and loving the ruler; "filial piety" is the principle of determining the authority of parents. "Li" is the principle for maintaining social order; "law" is the principle for implementing the rules set by the ruler. For the ruling class, the principles of loyalty, filial piety, etiquette and law are sacred and inviolable. The emperor is the embodiment of the country, and "loyalty to the emperor" and "patriotism" can be equated.

"Filial piety" was originally a natural instinct to respect and love one's parents, but the rulers paid too much attention to promoting it, making it an authoritative symbol of fixed social order, and attached many rigid rules to the love of nature. The combination of "filial piety" and "etiquette"

turns into more reverence than admiration. In traditional Chinese literary works, there are many descriptions of maternal love and very few descriptions of father's love. He calls his father "Jia Yan" and his mother "Jia Ci". Even in the official title, he also confirms that father's strictness and mother's kindness are the proper character. It seems that until Zhu Ziqing wrote "Back", we didn't have an article describing father's love. moving works. After the two words "loyalty and filial piety" were combined, the virtue of "filial piety" was overemphasized by the rulers and deprived of some of its amiable elements. In the Han Dynasty, talents were selected based on the two virtues of "filial piety" and "honesty". Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, candidates were still called "filial piety and honesty".

In folk concepts, "lawlessness" can be tolerated. In fact, "lawlessness" means contempt for authority and rules, and often has some heroic connotations. But there is absolutely no such thing as "heartless and unjust", and they are excluded from society.

Even "shameless" people also have friends, as long as they are loyal.

"Law" refers to political laws, "Heaven" refers to natural laws, "lawlessness" means failure to abide by political laws and natural laws; "shameless" means failure to abide by social laws.

But in Chinese society, "friendship" is the most important social law, and people who are "ruthless and unjust" are the biggest bad guys.

Traditional Chinese people do not pay much attention to principles, but attach great importance to friendship.

Six

It is certainly a good thing to value friendship.

The reason why the Chinese nation has grown continuously over thousands of years, maintained its vitality in the competition for survival, and stood up again and again after being overwhelmed by foreigners, may have a lot to do with the importance we attach to friendship.

Among the philosophers at home and abroad in ancient and modern times, Confucius was the most opposed to dogma and the one who paid the most attention to reality. The so-called "saints of the time" are saints who are good at adapting to the environment and do not stick to dogma.

Confucius is a great figure who fully embodies the Chinese character. The fundamental idea of ??Confucian philosophy is "benevolence", which is to treat others well in real daily life, thereby seeking harmony and unity in all large and small groups (family, village, state), "human feelings" is " part of "benevolence". The fundamental idea of ??Mencius' philosophy is "righteousness". That is, all actions should be "reasonable" as the goal. Reasonable means being worthy of oneself and worthy of others. It is easy to be sorry to yourself, but the key is not to be sorry to others, especially not to be sorry to your friends.

As the saying goes, "Rely on your parents at home and rely on your friends when you go out." Parents and friends are the two pillars of life.

So "friends" are juxtaposed with the relationships of "lord and minister, father and son, brothers, and husband and wife" and are one of the "Five Ethics" and one of the five major interpersonal relationships. Western society, Persia, and Indian society did not elevate the relationship between friends to such a high status. They paid more attention to religion and the relationship between gods and humans.

A group of people is harmonious and united, loves each other, and can adopt reasonable methods to adapt to changes in the environment. Such a group of people, when fighting against other groups of people, is naturally invincible and always victorious.

In ancient times, countless brave, powerful, tightly organized, disciplined, and hard-working peoples disappeared from history one by one and have never been seen again. The main reason is that their societies lacked flexibility. ossified under social dogma or religious dogma. A society without elasticity becomes a zombie society. No matter how ferocious and fierce the zombie is, it will eventually fall.

Seven

Chinese classical novels are basically anti-dogma and anti-authority.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" opposes the imperial examination and marriage ordered by parents, and praises free love, which is a rebellion against the orthodox thinking of the time. The hero in "Water Margin" kills people, sets fire to them, and robs homes and houses. Although he is finally rescued, the whole story is about killing officials and rebelling against the court. The most exciting part of "Journey to the West" is when Sun Wukong causes trouble in the Heavenly Palace and rebels against the Jade Emperor. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a historical story, but the basic theme is "loyalty" rather than "orthodoxy".

As a novel, "Feng Shen Bang" is not important, but it has a great influence on folk thoughts and customs. It is written about King Wu's defeat of Zhou. "The world is not ruled by one person, only the virtuous live in it." The most wonderful thing Part of it is about Nezha's rebellion against his father's authority. "The Plum in the Golden Ping" describes the ugliness in human nature (Mr. Sun Shuyu's incisive analysis pointed out that it mainly depicts the three basic poisons of human nature: greed, anger, and ignorance), which is contrary to the orthodox thought that "human beings are inherently good in nature". The most exciting character in "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" is Bai Yutang during the imperial period, not the imperial cat Zhan Zhao who served the government.

Martial arts novels basically inherit the tradition of Chinese classical novels.

One of the reasons why martial arts novels are generally welcomed by Chinese readers is that the underlying morals in them are generally agreed upon by the Chinese public. Martial arts novels are also called chivalrous novels. "Xia" means fierce resistance to injustice, especially efforts to redress the injustice suffered by others. Westerners attach great importance to fighting for their own power, which is not what the Chinese mean by "xia". "Yi" means attaching importance to the feelings between people, which often means sacrificing oneself. "Wu" means using violence to resist unjust violence. Xiang Ping, a Chinese, likes characters in novels who value loyalty. In official history, Guan Yu's character and talent are far from those of Zhuge Liang. However, among the people, Guan Yu is the "righteous god" and "the great emperor" who is worshiped everywhere. Zhuge Liang is the symbol of wisdom. The Chinese believe that loyalty is more important than wisdom. Much more. In "Water Margin" Wu Song, Li Kui, Lu Zhishen and others are rough and cruel, breaking all norms, but that doesn't matter, they are loyal, so they are heroes. Many commentators often express their confusion about why Song Jiang was an uncivilized and insignificant official, so heroes respected him and respected him and recommended him as a leader.

In fact, the reason is very simple. Song Jiang is about loyalty.

"Loyalty" is very important in Chinese people's moral concepts. It is okay to be disloyal to the emperor's court and rebel, because the Chinese people are very rebellious. It’s okay to beat up monks and slander Buddha, to curse Taoists and nuns, because Chinese people don’t pay much attention to religion.

Chinese people generally do not hate crimes such as voyeurism, robbery, murder, adultery, cruelty, etc. as much as they do in foreign societies. But it is absolutely not allowed to be unfilial to your parents, and it is absolutely not allowed to betray your friends. From a sociological point of view, "filial piety" plays an important role in propagating the race and maintaining social order; "loyalty" plays a significant role in loyalty, unity, and competition for survival. "Favor" plays an important role in eliminating internal contradictions and easing internal conflicts.

They are also novels about gangs. In Western novels such as "The Godfather" and "Wrath of the Angels", etc., the leader of the mafia can kill his fellow gang members without any scruples. This is true in China. It will definitely not appear in the novel, because Chinese people value loyalty and it is absolutely unacceptable. The policeman in French novelist Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" who only values ??the law and ignores human feelings is absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese.

It is not that scholar-bureaucrats do not value loyalty. "Zuo Zhuan", "Warring States Policy", "Historical Records" and other historical books record many historical facts of loyalty between friends and praise them.

When Empress Lu was in power in the Western Han Dynasty, Zhu Lu wanted to usurp the power of the Liu family. Chen Ping and Zhou Bo tried to quell Zhu Lu's rebellion. At that time, Lu Lu had the military power, and his good friend Li Ji deceived him into traveling and relieved him of the military power, and finally killed all Lu Lu. Exterminating Zhu Lu was a matter of great joy to the people of the world, just like the eradication of the "Gang of Four" today, but at that time most people actually blamed Li Ji for betraying his friends ("Han Shu": "Heaven destroyed Li Ji for betraying his friends.") This kind of accusation It's obviously unfair, putting friendship before "political interests." However, the concept of "never betray a friend" is deeply ingrained in the hearts of the Chinese people and is unbreakable.

As for violating national laws for the sake of parents, it is traditionally considered to be a matter of course. There is a famous topic in Confucianism: If Shun's father committed a serious crime and Gao Tao, the great judge, acted in accordance with the law and wanted to impose the death penalty, what would Shun do when he was on the throne? The standard answer is: Shun should have abandoned the throne and fled with his father on his back.

The saying "righteousness destroys relatives" is just a nice thing to say. Chinese people, who have always attached great importance to family ties, rarely follow suit. On the contrary, it is more plausible to say that "the law is nothing more than human feelings" and "reasonableness and law should be taken into consideration". It is said that it is "both considerations", but in essence it means emphasizing feelings rather than law.

In the traditional Chinese concept, "emotion" is always more important than "law". Although Zhuge Liang was praised for beheading Ma Su with tears, the evaluation would be very different if he had not shed tears. The emphasis seems to be on "shedding tears" rather than "killing".

The real basis for the bottom-up prosperity of the Eighth One Nation lies in production. The long-lasting existence of the Chinese nation is based on the fact that the vast majority of the people are diligent and thrifty and can produce sufficient means of living on their own. It is impossible for a nation to survive for a long time by plundering other people's production results, let alone to become great. The fundamental reason why many predatory nations were short-lived in history was their low production capacity.

The survival and competition morality of a nation is to be able to support itself, and secondly to resist external aggression.

Production is long-term and has no dramatic meaning. Although it is bottom-up, it is not suitable as the subject of novels, especially martial arts novels.

It doesn’t matter if a few people are lawless, but if the entire society is lawless and all norms and laws are destroyed, this society will never survive for a long time. However, the situation where the weather is good and the country is peaceful and the people are safe is not suitable as the subject of a novel. Just like when a man marries a woman, the normal family life of raising children is not suitable as a subject for novels. (The first sentence of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" novel is: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." He was writing about unhappy families.) But If all the men in the world were like Romeo and all the women in the world were like Lin Daiyu, humankind would become extinct.

What is written in novels are usually peculiar and abnormal events and characters. This is especially true of martial arts novels.

The characters in martial arts novels are by no means deliberately contrary to traditional Chinese morals. When you see an uneven road, you draw your sword to help, out of a desire to hide; to eradicate violence, to eliminate evil and punish evil, out of a righteous heart; to be upright and refrain from doing something, out of a heart of shame; to go forward to retaliate against good deeds, out of a sense of shame. The heart of right and wrong.

The moral values ??in martial arts novels are usually anti-orthodox rather than anti-traditional.

Orthodoxy is a concept that only rulers value, and may not necessarily be consistent with the traditional concepts of the people. Han Fei's accusation that "Confucianism disrupts the law with literature, and chivalry with force to violate prohibitions" is from the standpoint of the ruler, accusing Confucianism of calling for benevolence and human kindness, disrupting the strict rule, and chivalry using violence as a means of violating the suppression of the authorities. means.

The tradition of classical novels, that is, the tradition accepted by martial arts novels, is mainly folk and often in an opposition position to the government.

Nine

The backgrounds of martial arts novels are ancient societies.

Fistes, feet, swords are useless before machine guns and pistols. This is certainly the main reason.

Another main reason is that the interests of modern society are to demand law and order, not to destroy law and order.

The various actions of heroes in martial arts novels - individuals use violence to enforce "legal justice", kill officials, organize illegal gangs, jailbreaks, kidnappings, robberies, etc., are anti-social in modern times. It is not in the interests of the people. This is tantamount to the activities of terrorists, and few people will sympathize with it, except those with abnormal minds. Because in a modern normal country, the people and the government are one, at least in theory, but in fact it is certainly not necessarily the case.

The actions of the thieves Robin Hood and Liangshanbo heroes in ancient society were beneficial to the people, but when applied to modern society, they are detrimental to the people. Unless it is to resist the occupation of foreign invaders, or to oppose an extremely tyrannical, inhumane autocratic ruler who is hostile to the majority of the people.

Fortunately, when people read martial arts novels, they only have a spiritual feeling of "maintaining justice". No naive reader has ever imitated the specific actions of the heroes in the novels.

It is said that children who read martial arts novels will go to the mountains to learn martial arts under their masters. Such integrity or deeds have not been heard for decades. Probably, modern children are smart enough to know that even if they have mastered martial arts, they are no match for a pistol, and there is no need to go to the mountains to become an apprentice.

Ten.

I did not attempt to describe all the characters of the Chinese people in "The Deer and the Cauldron". Not only do I not have such talent, but in fact it is absolutely impossible. It's just that in Wei Xiaobao's case, the two characteristics of him being good at adapting to the environment and being loyal are highlighted.

These two characteristics are generally not as obvious to foreigners.

As for adapting to the environment, it is an advantage in terms of survival, and it can be good or evil morally.

As far as Wei Xiaobao is concerned, most of his actions are by no means worthy of praise, but in a society like the early Qing Dynasty, such actions were very beneficial to him.

If we change to a different environment, say in modern countries such as Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, the laws are quite fair and strict, the social sanctions are very strong, and the results of opportunism are usually very bad. Being well-behaved is far more beneficial than doing evil. For people like Wei Xiaobao who immigrated there, I believe he would choose to live a well-behaved life in order to adapt to the environment. Although, it's hard to imagine that Wei Xiaobao would behave himself.

In a certain society, if the consequences of corruption, cheating, cheating, and breaking the law are more beneficial than staying clean and caring for yourself, then it is this society and system that should be reformed. If such a story is described in a novel, it is mainly society and the system that is condemned. Just like "The Appearance of Officialdom" and other novels.

Eleventh

Chinese people value human kindness and loyalty, which adds a lot of warmth to our lives. In a difficult and poor environment, if we continue to be hostile to each other at home, and if the relationships between people are full of coldness and hatred, it will be difficult to live such a life.

In a city with abundant material conditions, you can be impersonal and unfaithful. Of course, life is boring and boring, but you still have to survive. In a poor agricultural society, favors are necessary.

In the turbulent world, loyalty is the supreme moral requirement.

However, when human feelings and loyalty are ignored, many bad habits arise accordingly. Chinese politics has always been unable to get on track, which is directly related to the fact that the Chinese people place too much emphasis on human ties and loyalty.

Pulling connections, forming gangs, nepotism, not focusing on talents but valuing family and hometown, going through the back door, not being ethical, bending the law and cheating, concealing the faults of relatives and friends, reasonable human loyalty is of course necessary, but also unreasonable human loyalty that harms the public welfare. The result is a miasma, and the "Wei Xiaobao style" has enveloped the entire society.

Concerning China's situation, it would be better to have less "Wei Xiaobao style".

However, like in Western society, there is not much human relationship between parents and adult children. All business affairs are done in a formal manner and there is no accommodation. There is only law and no human relationship. Only principles and loyalty are ignored. Isn't it a little too cold? What fun would it be if Wei Xiaobao turned into the selfless Bao Longtu?

The task of the novel is not to provide answers to any questions, but to describe how you act, how you think, how you feel sad and happy in such a society with such characters.

The above are some mixed thoughts when I think about this little guy Wei Xiaobao.

To be honest, when I wrote "The Deer and the Cauldron", I didn't think of any of this at all. In the first few months of writing, even Wei Xiaobao's character was not finalized. He grew up slowly on his own.

In my experience, the main character of each novel is just a simple, vague shadow when it is first written. The story gradually develops and the characters gradually become clearer.

I had no idea in advance that I would focus on portraying Wei Xiaobao's two characteristics of adapting to the environment (by hook or by crook) and focusing on loyalty in "The Deer and the Cauldron". I don't know how these two main characters are reflected in this little gangster. It appeared on the body.

Friends like to talk about Wei Xiaobao. In a symposium in Taipei, the original intention was to discuss "Jin Yong's novels", but three-quarters of the time was spent debating Wei Xiaobao's character. Many readers asked me for my opinion, so I thought about it myself and tried to analyze it.

The analysis here is not "authoritative" at all, because it is an afterthought and has nothing to do with the plan and mood at the time of writing. When I write novels, apart from the layout, research and description of historical facts, they are mainly purely emotional and have little to do with rational analysis.

Because I never want to deliberately express a theme in any novel. If the reader feels there is a theme, it will develop naturally and unconsciously. I believe that the conclusions drawn by readers themselves are not the same as each other.

From "The Book of Swords and Enmities" to "The Deer and the Cauldron", in these dozen novels, I am only concerned about the characters and emotions. Wei Xiaobao is not a deeply emotional person. "The Deer and the Cauldron" is not an emotional book. The more special relationship written in it is the relationship between Kangxi and Wei Xiaobao, a monarch and his ministers, which contains both conflicts and complex feelings of friendship and friendship. This seems to have never been written in other novels.

Wei Xiaobao has many common advantages and disadvantages of Chinese people, but Wei Xiaobao is certainly not a typical Chinese. Nationality is a broad concept, but Wei Xiaobao is a unique and individual person. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Ah Q, Lin Daiyu, etc. all have certain characteristics of the Chinese, but they cannot be said to be typical of the Chinese.

The Chinese character is so complex that even ten thousand novels could not be written. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Monk are not human, but they also have certain characteristics of the Chinese, because the people who wrote these "goblins" are Chinese.

These opinions were originally simply written in the postscript of "The Deer and the Cauldron", but later I felt that the author should not talk more about his own work. This would only hinder the readers' enjoyment of making their own judgments, so they were deleted after writing. dropped. What's more, the author always has a preference for the characters he creates.

"The son with leprosy is good at home", it is impossible to have a more rational analysis. In fact, after I had written one-fifth of "The Deer and the Cauldron", I had already regarded this little guy Wei Xiaobao as a good friend. I indulged him a lot and protected him a lot. The Chinese people's bad habit of attaching importance to emotions but not to reason has emerged. Because the editor was looking for manuscripts and was reluctant to discard the written text, he added a few additions to it to help with discussion.