The Afresh Evaluation Of Xujinpingmei

In the history of Chinese novel development, there was a phenomenon that should be pay attention to. That was each great works had come out, there were a lot of continuing books followed it closely. At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, this phenomenon was more distinct. To these sequels, most critics had lower evaluation, and think that's a wretched sequel to a fine work. That is imbalance.JinFingMei was the first popular novel that was written by scholar independently. XnJinPingMei was the most important sequel of JinPingMei. The author was Ding YaoKang. On the one hand, he was unsatisfied with the outcome of JinPingMei, so he wrote the sequel. On the other hand, he was grieved to the decaying of the morals, so he wanted to use the book to punish evil-doers and encourage people to do good.At the same time, the more important purpose of this book was to let out the sorrow of the corruption of Ming Dynasty, and expressed his indignation to the barbarism of the master of Qing Dynasty. Furthermore, the aggrieved career to escape the chaos caused by war also had an effect on his book.The popular novel in the history of Chinese literature, experienced a course from processing fork story to being written independently by scholars. SanGuoYanYi, ShuiHuZhnan all mix fork tale, historical data, drama and the author's subjective consciousness together. JinPingMei was the first works written by scholar independently. XuJingPingMei was more distinct to express the author's subjective spirit.First, XuJingPingMei express a strong race consciousness on the content. Ding YaoKang place his idea of life and spirit pursuit on some characters. JinPingMei paint a dark picture of the society, while the sequel was differ from it. There were a few positive characters in it, which was nearer to the actuality of society. This phenomenon was hardly can be seen in previous novels.At the same time, Ding YaoKang also described some unimportant characters who lived at the bottom of society. They hadn't distinct idea of right and wrong, but didn't lost their conscience completely.The subjective spirit of the sequel also was showed on its unique artistry. It hadn't followed the structural formula of previous popular novels such as ShuiHuZhuan and JinPingMei, while he used a scattering visual angle to express the topic of his works. Thisart form appeared in the history of Chinese novel development for the first time, so its influence can't be neglected. This structure form had an influence on the structure of RuLinWaiShi.On the arrangement of character's destiny of the novel, the author took the Buddhism and the Taoism as the character's permanent home. Living in the transition from the old dynasty to the new, the author was confused with the future of himself, so in his book, the idea was reflected. This result had an influence on the ending of HongLouMeng. The logical way of the sequel was resemble with HongLouMeng. For this reason, Sun Jing-an named the abridged edition of XuJinPingMei JinWuMeng.On the technique of characterization, the continue book also has it's distinguishing feature. The author of JinPingMei began to notice the psychological description of the typical character. In the sequel, this skill was more exquisite and lively.GeLianHuaYing and JinWuMeng were the abridged editions of XuJinPingMei. Through the compare of these three special continue books of JinPingMei, we can have a renew examination and location to the value of XuIinPingMei in the history of Chinese novel development.As far as can't be mentioned in the same breath with JinPingMei, but we have to admit that the sequel has it's distinctive qualities in idea and artistry. So XuJinPingMei, in company with XingShiYinYnanZhuan, shoud be looked as the bridge or transition from JinPingMei to RuLinWaiShi and HongLouMeng.