In ancient times, people in Quzhou were in the countryside when they left the city gate, which was only a dozen or twenty miles away from the mountains in the north and south. In addition, there are many wars, many famines and many changes, which make people often feel sad about vicissitudes and uncertain lives. Therefore, there are more festivals in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province to pay homage to the dead than in other places. Besides Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping, there are the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the winter solstice and the Spring Festival, and there are some different festivals in different villages. Gu Kuang, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote such an atmosphere in a poem written by Xu, an assistant minister in the Tang Dynasty and a gifted scholar in Quzhou. These may be the social life foundation of monster stories.
As for the communication details and writing background between Pu Songling and Quzhou, it is a mystery to be verified by experts.
Group. After the engraving of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, the story of the Three Monsters has a more standardized version, which has a wider spread and a longer time. The full text is not long, so I might as well extract it as follows:
In the dead of night in Quzhou, people dare not walk alone. There is a ghost on the bell tower, with a horn on its head. It looks ferocious and evil, and it will come down to earth when it hears people walking. People run away, ghosts go away. However, seeing it will make you sick, and many people will die. There is also a pond in the city. At night, a white cloth comes out like a horse. Those who pass by pick it up, that is, wading. Ducks and ghosts, dead of night, nothing by the pond. If you smell ducks, people will get sick.
The story of "Three Weird People in Quzhou" is well known to all women and children in Quzhou. Although the urban version and the rural version are different, they are almost the same, and they are often the talk of people after dinner. In the early 1960s, Mao Zedong, a great man, passed through Quzhou, and the special train stopped at a small station in Jinhua, where local leaders reported their work. During the conversation, Mao Zedong specifically asked about the "Three Monsters in Quzhou" and asked the comrades present if they knew. Unfortunately, the leaders present at that time looked at each other, and no one could answer. This true story is very meaningful. First, it shows that Mao Zedong is well-read, well-versed in history and knowledgeable, and even knows a short story in such a casual book like the back of his hand. Second, it shows that the founding leaders are familiar with and attach importance to local traditional culture. He smiled and said to the comrades present: "To work in a place, you must know the traditional customs and habits of a place, what mountains to go to and what songs to sing." Thirdly, it embodies Mao Zedong's elegant and humorous leadership style. His inspiration and teaching to the following cadres are often inspired by some meaningful stories in China traditional culture, and he is handy, witty and profound, which makes people unforgettable. This past event added a strange luster to this strange story.
Pu Songling's article "Three Monsters in Quzhou" said: On a clear night, the white monster in the county school pond will turn into a white training horse and cross the road. If passers-by bent down to pick it up, the white cloth would fly and drag people into the pond. Although this story is absurd and bizarre, it is also intriguing. One can't have crazy ideas about windfall. Unexpected wealth is often an unexpected disaster! We can't verify whether Pu Songling had such an idea when writing this story, but the warning in the book always shines with speculative light. Pu Songling's supernatural story adds a mystery and strangeness to the ancient city of Quzhou.
Today, the remains of the white cloth monster are still there. The old house adjacent to the county school pond has been demolished, and the county school pond has been restored and widened. There are pavilions, flowers and lawns around for citizens to come here for leisure and entertainment. For example, on a moonlit night, sitting by a pond with flashing lights, sparkling water waves and swaying trees, telling a story about the white cloth monster is even more confusing and imaginative.
According to legend, the Big Head Monster of the Three Monsters was built in the bell tower. Every night, the big-headed monster will make a quack, and anyone who hears this creepy cry will get sick. One year, an apprentice was so courageous that he was not afraid to hear screams. He held up a lamp to go to the toilet. Big head is afraid of light. When he saw that his apprentice didn't take the lamp away, he said, "Your Excellency is so bold!" The apprentice replied, "What a kid!" Say that finish, I put the toilet paper on the big head monster's mouth, picked up the lamp and left, and the big head monster disappeared from sight. Unfortunately, the serial owner may not have heard of this story, otherwise Mr. Pu would have written it more brilliantly.
The well-known bell tower is located at the southern end of Beimen Street in the city. According to the Records of Quzhou City, this bell tower was built by Zhang Yaowen, the prefect of the Ming Dynasty. The building is 70 feet high. In that year's Quzhou City, this towering and spectacular bell tower was proudly independent. It was not only a landscape, but also a fire alarm. The big clock upstairs weighs 1.5 tons, and its sound is loud and distant. The bell is slow and long, reporting dusk and the street is safe; If the bell is rushing, it must be a thrilling fire. This clock not only has a rich and beautiful sound, but also has scriptures, inscriptions and various exquisite patterns of flowers, plants, fish and insects cast on it. This is a rare work of art. Unfortunately, during his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, this big clock was stolen by the Japanese invaders Qucheng and shipped back to Japan. Since then, there have been no bells in the bell tower, and the bells have gone with the wind. At present, only the bell tower base is left. Due to years of disrepair, it is getting worse and worse. Finally, in the 1960s, the bell tower above was demolished. The base of the stone building is still stubbornly located in this bustling downtown area, with four spacious doors extending in all directions. Some people say that it symbolizes the thoroughfare of four provinces in Quzhou since ancient times, but I say that these four unobstructed doors are like four open mouths, silently telling the vicissitudes of the ancient city, the rise and fall of honor and disgrace. Busy people pass by here in a hurry every day, perhaps dismissing the bell tower that is no longer beautiful, or turning a blind eye to the bell tower that has already become a historical relic, but its loud and distant bell is deeply hidden in the history of the ancient city, and the passage of time cannot be erased. The call for repairing the bell tower is getting louder and louder. In 20 15, there was already a replica clock in the bell tower, and the bell rang frequently. The bell tower block is also managed and built in an antique way.
Quzhou is an ancient cultural city with a history of nearly 2000 years. It has been spreading local myths and legends in the form of oral literature, which has been passed down from generation to generation. There are a lot of stories circulating in oral literature, and Quzhou's "three eccentrics" are just one of the rich oral literature. The more famous legends are the legend of place names in Liang Shi, the legend of ancient Buddha in Dingguang, the legend of nine turtles in Fudi, the legend of double immortals, the legend of jiaozi in Wang Zhi, the legend of meeting immortals in Wang Zhi, the legend of flourishing immortals in Shimen Mountain, the story of eight pagodas in ancient city, the story of three pagodas in Quzhou, and the story of Mengting in Fushan Mountain.
Pu Songling, a writer in Qing Dynasty, recorded the "three eccentrics" in Quzhou in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. According to legend, during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, in March of the 13th year of Kangxi (AD 1674), Geng Zhongjing, king of Jingnan, Fujian, rose up to respond to the Wu Sangui rebellion. Li Zhifang, the governor of Zhejiang Province, moved to Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, and lived in Quzhou for more than three years. He learned from folk myths and legends that the story of "Three Monsters" was passed down from mouth to mouth in Quzhou, and the local customs believed in ghosts and gods, which was later passed on to Shandong native Zhang Zhanzhong, who returned to Shandong to tell the story of "Three Monsters" in Quzhou. After listening to this, Pu Songling compiled Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio one by one, which made the story of the "Three Monsters" in Quzhou spread more widely. After the Lushan meeting, Comrade Mao Zedong returned to Beijing from zhejiang-jiangxi railway by special train. When the train passed through Quzhou, he asked his entourage, "Do you know the' Three Monsters' in Quzhou?" Answer: "I have never heard of it." When the bus stopped in Jinhua, Comrade Mao Zedong summoned Jinhua's leading cadres and asked them to learn more about literature and history. He also mentioned the "three eccentrics" in Quzhou and pointed out that this was a story in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio. It can be seen that the impact is great. The story of "Three Monsters" in Quzhou is well known to all women and children in Quzhou, and everyone has heard of it. Although the versions are different, they are similar, which is often the talk of people after dinner. Below, I will revisit the story of "Three Monsters" in the amorous feelings area of Quzhou Old Town. Quzhou's "Three Monsters" first appeared in Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio in Qing Dynasty. The book said: Zhang Wozhong joined Rong Quzhou, saying: Quzhou is dead at night, and people dare not walk alone. There is a ghost on the bell tower, with a horn on its head. It looks ferocious and evil, and people will come down to earth as soon as they hear voices. When people rush, ghosts leave. A sudden illness, and more deaths. There is also a pond in the city. At night, a white cloth comes out, such as a horse crossing the ground, and passers-by pick it up, that is, wading. Ducks and ghosts, dead of night, nothing by the pond. If you smell ducks, people will get sick. Translated into vernacular, Quzhou has "Three Monsters", the Big Head Monster in the Bell Tower, the White Cloth Monster in a pond in the city and the Duck Monster in another pond. The "three monsters" are the big head monster, the white cloth monster and the duck monster. The "three monsters" originated from three disasters: drought, fire and water. Tang Bing is the county school pond of Shuiting Street and Jiaotang of Jiaochi Street. Tang Xue County is famous for recording the "three eccentrics" in Quzhou in Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio in Qing Dynasty. The white cloth monster in Tang Xue County is said to have been created by the belt left by Guanyin. It's like a piece of cloth on the ground. As soon as the pedestrian stepped on it, he was dragged into the hole and drowned alive. After the white cloth monster was surrendered by the city god, the county school pond returned to calm.
Tang Xue County, traced back to the source, was a pond under the majestic mountain during the Three Kingdoms period. General Zheng Ping built the General House in the north of the pond, and the pond became a garden pool before sitting in the General House facing south. General Zheng Ping faces green hills and lives near water. Feng Shui experts say that Wuxi River Qinglong, Qianligang White Tiger and Zhengping House have become a treasure trove of Feng Shui. According to records, Zheng Ping's descendants later became Quzhou, lived in various parts of the city, had a prosperous population, and were also the ancestors of Changshan Zheng in Quzhou. White cloth monster: There is a white cloth monster in Tangxue, Chuan County. At night, there is a piece of white cloth across the pond. If someone greedily picks it up, it will be caught in the water. Quzhou Bell Tower is an ancient city building in the early Ming Dynasty. It is located at the intersection at the southern end of Beimen Street. According to historical records, in the 27th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1599), the magistrate Zhang Yaowen presided over the construction. The building is 7 feet high and has four doors for access. The entrance door and stone steps are in the east corner of the building, and the block faces south. There is a big hole in the middle of the building, and the hole is covered with boards. The second and third floors are all wooden structures, dark and bright. There is a wooden ladder on the third floor, from south to north. There is a wooden clock shelf on the third floor. The original bronze bell weighing 3000 kilograms was plundered by the Japanese invaders.
Quzhou Bell Tower has left many legends, and the one-horned monster is one of them. The legendary one-horned monster is the handwriting of Kuixing Pavilion on the roof of Zhao Gong Temple. It's strange, because the handwriting has fallen off. Hiding in the bell tower during the day, coming out at night, being surrendered by the city god. The bell tower is quiet again.
One-horned monster: It is said that people can't walk alone at the bottom of the clock tower at night. Because there is a one-horned monster on the bell tower with a horn on its head, people come down from the bell tower when they hear the sound, and their faces are blue and their mouths are full. People will be startled when they see pedestrians at night, and they will chase after them. They were so popular, they died, and the one-horned monster disappeared. Everyone I met was scared sick, and most of them died. Therefore, people in the past did not walk at the bottom of the clock tower at night. Jiaotang, formerly known as Lingtang, once had a vast area including it, and it is a newly-built pond. The primitive cultivation of water chestnut is naturally a good place to raise ducks and geese. It is rumored that Duck Ghost is the old duck of Yaochi, the Queen Mother of the West. After the duck monster was surrendered by the city god, the jiaozi pond was calm again.
Old Duckbill: Duckbill lurks in Jiaotan. It is said that the duckbill monster in Jiaotang is an old duck essence handed down from the Queen Mother Yaochi. At that time, the dumplings were in the south of the city near the foot of the city wall. In the dead of night, platypus will croak. Whoever passes by the pond and hears this cry will have a dull pain in his stomach, so it is inevitable to go home. This legend makes the remote jiaozi pond area even more desolate, gloomy and horrible, which makes passers-by talk about it.