The Blackwater City Literature Of The "of Liu Zhiyuan Gongdiao" Research

Twice in December1907and July1909, the Russian geographer,Colonel Kozlov’s expedition explored Khara-khoto ruins in Edzina, Inner Mongolia,where they excavated plenty of cultural relics and literature in Tangut or Chinesescripts. The appearing of Khara-khoto monuments then became another significantdiscovery after the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty and Dunhuangmanuscripts. The Khara-khoto collection in Russia, with more than eight thousandnumbers and various contents concerning politics, law, economics, military, culture,society, language and scripts, is a precious data for researching the periods of theFive Dynasty, Liao, Song, Jin, Yuan, and especially Xixia.The Liuzhiyuan Zhugongdiao was published in the sixth volume of EcangHeishuicheng Wenxian. The preceding studies are focused on its dating, words,rhymes and allusions, whereas the present paper will clarify its creation era, author,religious culture and the personalities of the characters. The first part of the presentpaper discusses its creation era and author based on the achievements made byformer scholars. I believe Long Jianguo’s viewpoint is more persuasive that it wasproduced in Northern Song and then recomposed in Jin times. Moreover,investigating other authors of Zhugongdiao, I hold that the author of LiuzhiyuanZhugongdiao might be Kong Sanchuan, a native of Zezhou Prefecture, during theyear1068-1094. The second part of the present paper analyses the phenomena ofreligious culture. The Liuzhiyuan Zhugongdiao in Khara-khoto, produced inNorthern Song, recomposed in Jin and then spread into Xixia, going through threedynasties of Song, Jin and Xixia, reflects the status of religious belief and even thecharacteristics of folk faith at that time. The third part of the present paper analysesthe personalities of the characters. Various personalities in Liuzhiyuan Zhugongdiaoare represented not only by typical characters of leading roles as Liu Zhiyuan and LiSanniang, but also by living samples of costars as the couples of Li Hongyi and LiHongxin, Li Sanweng, Li Sanchuan, Niu Qiweng and Madam Yue in their historicalcircumstances. In conclusion, The Liuzhiyuan Zhugongdiao, revealing the plentiful and splendor culture from late Northern Song to Jin dynasty, proves to besignificant for the research of our multi-ethnic culture in12th-14th century,especially that in Xixia.