Dream of Kaifeng in Ruins

Author: Huang Renyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book is the author's first historical novel published on the mainland, with the initial edition credited to Li Wei'ang. The novel depicts the story of a court painter involved in creating Along the River During the Qingming Festival during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Through this character, it weaves together the complex process of creating the masterpiece. Figures from the Huizong era, such as Cai Jing and Tong Guan, and historical events like the transport of the Flower Stone Fleet, factional struggles, and the Jingkang Crisis, all take their respective places in the narrative. The narrative invention of a historical novelist lies in arranging these historical events and their scattered temporal relationships. Within this, we can also glimpse the author's novelistic view of the "big history." Huang Renyu's treatment of characters in the novel adheres to his conceptualized "big history" perspective. Characters are merely supporting roles in history. From a "long time, distant distance, broad perspective," Xu Chengyin's journey into painting, creating famous works, depicting imperial princesses, and abandoning painting for military service are all deeply intertwined with the historical trends of the Northern Song Xuanhe era (the time when the story unfolds). Behind seemingly coincidental events lies Xu Chengyin's destiny, reflecting the author's "predestination" philosophy of history. Zhang Zeduan, Rofu Imperial Princess, and even Emperor Huizong—all are merely vehicles for Huang Renyu to showcase his historical constructs—to him, there is no good or bad, only the inevitability of destiny. Since the Xining Reforms, the Northern Song court had seen policies changing overnight, with new and old systems alternating in prominence. By the Xuanhe era, the country's strength had weakened to its extreme. Officials with differing political views, such as Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, had also been tossed about by these changes. Now, how could Xu Chengyin, a minor painter, escape the fate? What is remarkable is that the alternation of new and old systems was based on celestial changes. The emperors of the Great Song Dynasty ruled the people under the Mandate of Heaven, and celestial anomalies and disasters were signs of divine dissatisfaction with the government, thus compelling the court to adjust its policies to maintain the legitimacy of the Zhao family's rule. Whether progressive or conservative, the views of Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, and others represented idealized human aspirations, while "original sin" or "human desire" pushed in the opposite direction. The tug-of-war between these opposing forces shaped a spiraling history, which is Huang Renyu's "imagined formation of history."