Zhao Pengcheng (lecturer), Hu Sheng (professor), College of Liberal Arts, Liaoning University
Research and debateshave neverstopped since theJourney to the Westcame out. Since the introduction of theJourney to the Westinto the modern academic system by Hu Shi, Lu Xun and other scholarsat the beginning of the last century, a systematic discipline dedicated to the "study of the Journey to the West" has been gradually established. And aresearch framework with the one-hundred-chapter versionas the central focushas alsobeenformed. Based aroundthis orientation, the modern framework of "the study of the Journey to the West" can be roughly divided into three levels from inside to outside: first, the aesthetic interpretation and cultural interpretation on the one-hundred-chapter version; second, verification of the author and the version; third, the research on the completion of the bookand its influence. The related studiesin the past hundred years have beenbasically carried out atthe above three levels. With the passage of time, the "bottleneck" in the study, especially atthe first two levels, has become increasingly noticeable. The core frameworkbased on the one-hundred-chapter novelhas attracted too much attention of researchers, while other art forms other than the novel text, especially folk rap, have received little attention. The vast and multifarious folk raps such as Baojuan (which evolved from the chants of temples in the Tang Dynasty) and drum rap, have not been systematically sorted out and explored. In addition to the individual achievements of a few researchers, there is little mention of this field which has almost become a "dead zone" in the study oftheJourney to the West. Besidessubjective neglect, the key to the reasons lies in alack of systematic collation ofrelated materials. So far there have not been any comprehensive collection and collation of rap materials in relation to the Journey to the West.
In view of this, we conduct a comprehensive search, collation and study on the existing rap documents abouttheJourney to the West.Inheriting the spirit of "in-depth collation" of the Collection of Operas and the Collection of Raps in relation to theJourney to the West,we have collected and collated thirty-five kinds of rap documentation, covering ten categories with nearly one million words.
The progress from the Collection of Operas to the Collection of Raps is not only a further "in-depth collation" of documentation, but also further reflection and reconstruction of the framework of "the study of theJourney to the West". The research frameworkputsemphasis on the significance of “study”, forming a trans-textual perspective and having a cultural dialogue with both cultured and popular tastes.
Operas, raps and images in relation to the Journey to the Westconstitute diachronic longitudinal cluesintheresearch framework. And the three can bring fortha "dialogue" in a certain era or on a certain issue from the horizontal point of view. Such a “dialogue” based on “in-depth collation” provides a new feasible way of thinking for the study of the “story of theJourney to the West”.
Published on October 6, 2022