The Mystery of Cui Yingying's Characters

Yuan Zhen's Biography of Yingying is a legend, but it is generally considered as an autobiography. Zhang Sheng was Yuan Zhen, and Yingying was Yuan Zhen's former lover. In order to cling to power, Yuan Zhen finally married a famous woman and abandoned her former lover. The identity of the heroine Cui Yingying can be roughly divided into two types: one is from a poor family, and the other is a prostitute. First of all, judging from Yingying's family situation, a widow in Cui Shi will go back to Chang 'an. Cui's family is rich in property and many slaves. (Cui Mu) His son's name is Huan Lang, but he is in his teens. So we know that Yingying's mother Zheng is a widow with a son and a daughter. The man's name is Huan Lang, in his teens, and the woman's name is Yingying, who was "seventeen" at that time. And the family's economic situation is rich, and there are many slaves at her disposal. From this perspective, Cui Jia should not be a so-called "cold door"

The Biography of Yingying has buried some hidden clues, indicating that Yingying's life experience is not simple, which we can't ignore.

Why did the author Yuan Zhen do the puzzle?

There are three reasons:

1. At that time, several famous works, such as Biography of Li Wa and Biography of Huo Xiaoyu, were all works to elevate the status of women, and the heroine was a prostitute. Huo Xiaoyu once said to himself, "My concubine advocates family. The author's creation always keeps up with the fashion of the times, so many scholars at that time devoted themselves to writing prostitutes' works, and Yingying Biography was one of them.

2. The Biography of Yingying is a portrayal of Yuan Zhen's own love life. Although he shows off his affairs from time to time, it can be seen that he has a guilty heart for the heroine Yingying. Otherwise, he wouldn't blame me for saying "I'm haggard but ashamed of Lang" by Yingying's mouth, and he was not without regret.

3. Although he wrote about an affair, Yuan Zhen certainly had a good impression on the heroine, so he didn't want to write clearly about her status as a prostitute, but beautified her identity on the pretext that Yingying obeyed the etiquette and was a good family. In fact, the answer is hidden in the text.

He deliberately concealed Yingying's true identity, in fact, how much he loved and regretted his former lover! This may be the secret of Yuan Zhen, and others are not humane enough! There is a Yingying tablet in the courtyard of Xunxian No.1 Experimental Primary School, which comes from Yingying's tomb in Cuizhuang. The inscription reads "Epitaph of Cui Shi, the wife of Zheng Fujun in Xingyang in Tang Dynasty". The monument is 0.8m high and 1m wide, with incomplete left and right corners. The inscription is written in regular script, which has been circulated in Cang Sang for a long time, and many places have been blurred. If you identify it carefully, you can still read the main idea. Yingying is not mentioned in the article, but according to local people, Cui Shi is Yingying. Zhang Sheng in The Biography of Yingying is the author of Yuan Zhen, so the biography has certain authenticity. Compared with the epitaph, Yingying in the biography is quite consistent with Cui Shi in the monument: both of them are surnamed Cui, both of whom are from Boling, both of whom are from Lingmen and Qing Dynasty, and both of whom are from Zhixuanzong. The inscription says that Cui Shi "died in the ninth year of Dazhong (855) at the age of 76". In Biography of Yingying, Yingying's mother introduced Yingying's age to Zhang Sheng, saying, "Today, in July, Zi Jiaman 17 years old, and finally Zhenyuan Chen Geng was born." Yingying was born in July of today's Jiazi year, and was seventeen years old during the reign of Zhenyuan Chen Geng. According to textual research, "Jia Zi is old today", that is, the first year of Dezong Xingyuan (784). According to this, Yingying should be 72 years old, which is quite similar to the inscription that Cui Shi died at the age of 76. Yingying Biography describes Yingying being abandoned by Zhang Sheng at the beginning of chaos. A year later, Cui and Zhang got married separately: "After four years old, Cui has committed herself to others, and Zhang has married." This "commitment" is marriage. Marry who? The biography is unclear. There is some doubt about Yingying's marriage with Xingyang official Zheng Heng in the inscription. With so many similarities, it is hard to say that Cui Shi in the inscription is not Cui Yingying in Yingying Biography. As for why Zheng Heng of Xingyang and Cui Yingying of Boling were buried in Cui Zhuang, there is no introduction in the tablet, which needs further research. However, this monument comes from Nanfen, Cui Zhuang. From the above comparative analysis, Yingying's tomb and legend are not groundless.