China's novels in Qing Dynasty. Manuscript 100 times, with the author's own preface; Published 80 times without customization. This book was written before the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong (177 1). Author Li Baichuan was born in Qianlong period. Influenced by ghost novels, the author describes the world and fairyland at the same time. Leng Yubing, the main character in the book, gave up his official career and became a monk during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty because he disdained collusion with evil. When you meet a real dragon, you will gain extraordinary Taoist skills, and then you will receive disciples to pass on your skills, so as to get rid of demons and help the poor. From this, the novel tells a series of stories about monasticism and disciples, portraying the images of Lian, Jin Buhuan, Zhu, Wen Ruyu, etc., especially Wen Ruyu, which is more vivid and delicate, and truly reflects the interests and mentality of people in society at that time. The novel also exposes the corruption of feudal rule at that time through the double oppression of Japanese pirates and the government on the coastal people. The protagonist of the novel runs through the book, but the author's description of him is too exaggerated, as if saving the world is all his own, lacking realism. The novel is also mixed with some supernatural and obscene descriptions, showing feudal superstition and low taste.

The Wizard of Oz is an important satirical novel in the middle of Qing Dynasty, slightly later than The Scholars and A Dream of Red Mansions.

Li Baichuan, the author of The Wizard of Oz, is a down-and-out lower-class intellectual. He was born in the "golden age" of Kanggan, but he has been living in exile. The miserable and hard life of wandering in a foreign land made him look for unofficial history and taste the warmth of human feelings. "Nothing to worry about is the ear that spits out one's life [2]", which clearly tells us that he wrote the story of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty in the name of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, and conveyed his satirical advice to the world and his ideal to society through the story of the hero's cold pursuit of immortality and wandering around.

The preface of the novel can't be found in all the engravings of the Qing Dynasty, but only in its manuscripts. After the preface, Zhou Zhuxi of Jinling said, "A piece of disorder [③]". Indeed, before Li Baichuan, few people introduced their process of creating popular novels and their guiding ideology through the preface. This preface not only records the author's own wandering and poor life, but also reveals his long-term brewing process and writing experience. This kind of creation also influenced the novel style of later generations, such as the preface of Liu E's Travels of Lao Can in the late Qing Dynasty, which wrote the novel's creative motivation and profound connotation with a sad pen, which was helpful for readers to understand the value and significance of the novel. Similarly, the discovery of the preface of The Wizard of Oz also changed the previous evaluation of this book by engraving researchers. Taking this preface as the background of reading the novel, we will uncover a large number of descriptions of absurd ghosts and immortal Taoism in the novel, and present the palace officialdom, trivial matters and various social conditions described in the novel with a true attitude and full of real life. In addition, in addition to the preface, there are prefaces written by Li Baichuan's friends Tao Jiahe and Hou, which respectively evaluate the novel, which is more in line with the original appearance of the novel and also confirms the author's preface. The printed version in use now has three sequences, which were first seen in the collating of hundreds of manuscripts collected by Peking University Library. This book [④], which is not easy to be read, was first printed and published by Peking University Publishing House on June 1986+00. I was lucky enough to find this book in a second-hand bookstall and get a glimpse of its true colors. I believe there is more in The Wizard of Oz. On this basis, it seems too much to say that The Wizard of Oz is a broad and true ukiyo-e painting that exposes human feelings under the veil of prosperity.

In the novel, the author presents us with two levels. The first level is the so-called absurd monster and immortal Taoism. This romantic veil is the cover set by the author. The purpose is to make the original heartless and true criticism and accusation appear true and illusory, without losing the purpose of criticism, irony and ridicule, without causing disaster to the text, and at the same time enhancing the readability of the novel. Under the guise of the first level, the second level is the author's main purpose: to expose the darkness under the aura of "prosperous times" (the darkness of officialdom), criticize the true degeneration behind false morality (the vulgar and extravagant life of rich dude), stand on the opposite side of helpless reality, advocate wise politics and praise traditional virtues (the works have created many real positive figures and praised them greatly). The two levels in the novel correspond to the two levels in real life, that is, the true face under the appearance of "prosperous times". This concept of virtual reality and relative black and white just highlights its "true" side and "black" layer. As Tao Jiahe's preface said: "The will of the legislature and the wording of the text are all reasonable and can't compare with those surprises!" ..... The readers of the world say, move: panic! Panic! He said that people who panic are really scared, but he said that real people can read all the books. Zuo Qiuming is a thousand years old, and he is scared of his ancestors. But the world's interpretation of Zuo Qiuming's characters is as childlike as Xi's. Those who gnash their teeth at him are scared to return home! As for my husband's lies, even if you lie, you should read them. "The" panic "mentioned by Xu Tao is actually the cover of" truth ". If the truth in Zuo Zhuan is panic, then the panic in The Wizard of Oz is also true!

Uncover the "panic" on the first floor and look at the "truth" on the second floor.

The second layer of "reality" is a realistic ukiyo-e painting under the veil of monsters, which widely reflects all aspects of social life and has a strong realistic tendency. The novel describes the court officialdom, trivial matters, social forms and various figures. There are many kinds of people involved, including emperors, prime ministers, a surname, eunuchs, ministers, assistant ministers, satrap, magistrate of a county, company commanders, sons, scholars, wealthy businessmen, farmers, village women, devout women, prostitutes, intellectuals, hooligans and beggars.

The ukiyo-e paintings of these characters, especially the descriptions of the latter kind of characters, have a strong flavor of real life. Depicting the world, incisively and vividly, describing the public mentality, incisive. Among his satirical characters, including snobbish housekeepers, such as Yan Nian, the general manager of a surname, and Luo Longwen, Yan Song's lackey, are also typical snobs. There are vulgar village Confucianism, such as Mr. Zou Jisu, a village Confucian who wrote "Smelly Fart", who only knows ancient literature. There are pedantic scholars, such as Qi, who only close their eyes and recite scriptures to exorcise evil spirits, leaving countless laughingstock. Prostitutes with false feelings, such as Jin in the episode of "adjusting false feelings and leisure"; There are prostitutes who love money, idle diners, greedy monks, cunning profiteers and so on. , are vivid, lifelike.

For example, in Chapter 83, Ponzi learned that his daughter Huiniang was having an affair with Zhou Lian and instigated her daughter to ask for property and written evidence. After getting the property, the author described it like this:

Ponzi smiled, opened his wallet and looked at it carefully. One is an ingot of 3521 Jin, and the other is a white ingot of 56 yuan and 78 yuan, which has been fiddling for a long time. The boy woke up and asked him. He tidied up and said to Hui Niang, "My boy has lost his virginity and lost his value, unlike others who failed to live up to expectations and sold half a penny."

And then further instigated to:

After that, if you don't need his money, how much can you take from the daughter with the smallest family strength? You only ask him for gold. I tell you again: gold is yellow.

The novel depicts Ponzi's enthusiasm for money from her movements, eyes, language and smiling faces. Instead of feeling sorry for her daughter's chastity, she was ecstatic about getting a monetary reward and said "it was worth it". This description exposed Ponzi's ugly behavior as if it were right in front of her eyes and was extremely accurate.

The author also reflects the ugly faces of hooligans and idlers with bright and sharp satire, and records their bad habits such as have it both ways, flattery, falling when people are down, getting sick and so on. For example, Miao and Xiao Pockmarked have two diametrically opposite attitudes towards Wen Ruyu, which are in sharp contrast, and they have great ability to follow suit.

In addition, there are vivid exposures of political corruption and the darkness of officialdom, such as Yan Song, who specializes in killing people; For example, Chen Dajing, assistant minister of the Ministry, colluded with Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, and made a judgment to extort more than 200,000 dirty silver; For example, Zhao Wenhua, the minister of the Ministry of War, led his troops to win the enemy, fearing the enemy like a tiger, "sending 602 thousand silver to buy the enemy back to the island" and the people "want to eat its meat raw"; For example, Feng Jiaju, the magistrate of Pingliang, reigned for four years, plundering people's wealth of more than 100,000 yuan and so on. All these vividly show the situation of politics and officialdom, powerful accusations and ruthless exposures.

At the same time, the author also depicts many ordinary people with traditional virtues. For example, Zhu helped a martyr and avoided a family tragedy; There are also honest and helpful farmers who don't exchange money and take in the "thief" Lian with chivalry; He also enthusiastically and positively affirmed the chivalrous behavior of Lian, Han and others who robbed the prison to save their brothers. These descriptions are in sharp contrast with the selfish thoughts prevailing in the society at that time and generally reflected in the novels, which embodies the author's affirmation of these virtues. This is why, on the one hand, the author tries his best to help virtuous, filial and talented people like Zhu, on the other hand, he tries his best to help degenerate children like Wen Ruyu, or make them abandon evil and be good, and live a long life. Or let them give up their home visits and achieve positive results. Although these ideal tendencies are still fettered and naive by feudal morality, they still have practical value.

To sum up, the novel The Wizard of Oz truly shows the world from all angles of society. Although there are a lot of descriptions of fairy tales, whimsy, ghosts and gods, and many satirical jokes and spicy tricks created through exaggeration, its position as a "real life ukiyo-e painting" can be determined. The embodiment of its value also stems from the description and exposure of reality, the criticism and denial of bad social phenomena, and the call and ideal of good morality and bright government.