What is a thing? Generally speaking, it is to refer to the past to prove the present. However, the "ancient" in "citing the past to prove the present" here not only refers to the "ancient" and "ancient" in "ancient", but also includes all the facts, events, and words of the author's articles and so on.

In the last years of the Shang Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou performed the Book of Changes, aiming to analyze the value and significance of each of the 64 hexagrams. Among them, in response to the 93rd hexagram of the 63rd hexagram "Jiji", King Wen of Zhou cited the story of Gaozong Wuding of the Shang Dynasty who defeated the Ghost Fang Kingdom after three years to explain the truth of "doing things must be fruitful and using villains carefully"; In the 65th line of the 36th hexagram "Ming Yi", he borrowed the story of the uncle of the king of Shang, Jizi, who escaped the troubled times and returned to the hidden Jishan Mountain to illustrate the wise choice that the disadvantaged person in this position should take under the general situation of "profit and hardship". All of these are classic examples of using specific events to explain the philosophy of the world. In addition, in "Shangshu • Xia Shu • Yinzheng", when Yinhou was ordered to conquer Xihe, he directly quoted the words in the Xia Dynasty's decree "Political Code": "Those who come first will not be forgiven, and those who are not timely will be killed; In "Shangshu • Shangshu • Pan Geng Shang", because the Shang Dynasty frequently moved the capital, the people complained, Pan Geng quoted the legendary words of the ancient sage late "People only seek the old, not the old, but the new". These are all typical examples of the original text of the words and sentences of the past to illustrate the truth. Therefore, the use of ready-made classical stories or famous words to express and strengthen the author's fundamental intention, that is, the so-called "thing-type" writing method, was originally the common sense and law that all sages and sages have always followed in their writings throughout the ages. In fact, the word "elephant" in the 26th hexagram of the Book of Changes, "Big Animal", is "The sky is in the mountains, the big animal; A gentleman walks with a lot of knowledge and deeds, and acts with his virtue. It is to the effect that "the great animal hexagram of the Tianshan Mountains is to remind the gentleman to constantly learn the manners, words and deeds of his predecessors, and cultivate personal virtues according to this." Therefore, the moral concept emphasized here is also the reason why literary creation should use the value and meaning of "things".

Although the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu continued the righteous style of the Book of Songs, in the way of "things", they mostly chose historical stories or ancient legends, rather than quoting specific characters or the original texts of the exact books. In the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty began to quote the original words in "The Crane Guanzi", such as "Sorrow and joy gather in the same domain", "Yueqi will practice the hegemony of the world", etc.; And Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu" is a direct appropriation of Li Si's "Book of Exhortations" "The Banner of the Cuifeng and the Drum of the Tree Spirit". The application of this kind of "thing" is purely accidental in their article. However, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Yang Xiong wrote "Baiguan Zhen", a large number of quotations and words in the "Book of Songs" and "Shangshu" were collected; And Liu Xin's "Sui Chu Fu", many of which are relayed stories of Zhou and Jin historical materials. Since then, the author's "thing-like" creative technique of quoting a large number of ancient historical materials has become commonplace. Therefore, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Cui Chu, Ban Gu, Zhang Heng, Cai Yong, etc., they extensively collected the "subset of classics and history" in their respective works, so their articles were not only rich in rhetoric, but also full of righteousness, and became a generation of magnificent traditional culture.

In nature, even mahogany ginger and cinnamon, which are similar in appearance and produced in the same place, are significantly different in terms of their medicinal properties, which is determined by their own characteristics. In the same way, although the ability to write articles can be acquired through learning, the level of literary proficiency that different writers can achieve depends on their respective aptitudes, rather than the same. Normally, a writer's "talent" comes from "inner creation", while "knowledge" comes from "external effort". Some people are full of knowledge all their lives, but they are always mediocre, while some are talented and intelligent since childhood, but even after death, they are still poor in knowledge. In the field of single-word literary creation, those who are poor in knowledge will be struggling in the exploration of emotions and reasoning; Those who are mediocre in talent will inevitably be overstretched when they are absorbing the strengths of others in choosing words and sentences. This is the difference and difference between the so-called "internal talent and external learning" in artistic creation. In the whole process of "production", the author's "talent" is the "master", and the "knowledge" is only a "vassal", that is, it plays an auxiliary role. Therefore, "talent and knowledge", as long as it conforms to the elegance of the righteousness and can meet the needs of the times, it will definitely achieve extraordinary; On the contrary, if you are narrow-minded and biased, even if you are noisy for a while, you will eventually be ruined, and you are more likely to be stinking for 10,000 years. Like Yang Xiong in the Han Dynasty, he is young and talented, right? But in "Answer to Liu Xinshu", he also said very frankly that it was only because he entered Shiqu Pavilion to study hard and learn that he was able to write a series of masterpieces. It can be seen from this that literary creation must rely on the complementarity of "internal talent" and "external learning", which is a universal truth throughout the ages. For example, Cao Cao once said when commenting on Zhang's article: "Zhang Zizhi's writing is clumsy, but his knowledge is superficial, and he is not knowledgeable, so he specializes in Cui and Du Xiaowen." What you do is not difficult to understand, and what is difficult is not known. Similar to what this passage points out: those who are shallow in their own knowledge, but prefer to cling to the masterpieces of famous artists, and any books that cannot withstand scrutiny and interrogation are just typical cases of loneliness and ignorance.

Since ancient times, those who can be called scriptures and classics are not full of sentiment and righteousness, and contain a vast number of "things". Therefore, the world of literature is not only a display of all kinds of strange talents, but also a competition of a variety of profound knowledge. Since Yang Xiong and Ban Gu, in the literary world, talents from all walks of life have done their best to collect classic sentences and weave classic books with great fanfare, just like fishing and hunting. However, no matter how intelligent the talent, only erudition can lead to the top. For with the fur of a fox, it is impossible to gather armpits into fur; Chicken feet are delicious, but they need to be eaten in large quantities to be truly satisfied. However, even if you are knowledgeable, you still need to have the tempering and vigilance of excellence, especially when choosing the words and texts of the "thing", you must check and verify, only if you really do the same, you can complement each other, and then there will be the result of what you want. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, in Cao Wei's Liu Shao's "Zhao Dufu", there was "the guest of the son, the strength of Chu Ling; The treasury is subordinate to the ministers, and the Qin envoy is strong. It is used to prove that the official position is not high or low, as long as it is witty enough, it can also achieve the truth of national affairs. Such a dictionary is not only reasonable, but also appropriate. It can be seen that the key problem with the use of "things" in the article is that it must fit appropriately with the author's wishes and needs. This is like the latch on the wheel bearing, although it is short, it is the key to ensure the good operation of the car. So, even if it is a beautiful proverb, even if it is a deafening classic, if used in the middle of an irrelevant paragraph, it is like wrapping jewels around the ankle or rubbing carmine powder on the chest.

In the process of writing articles, how to use the creative technique of "things"? In fact, if you can do it properly, you have to quote someone else's original words exactly as if the author himself said it; If the idioms and allusions selected are not appropriate, even the proverbs that have been passed down for thousands of years will still be useless and even self-defeating. is like Cao Zhi, who is not only talented, but also a handsome man in the literary world; However, he said in the "Book of Newspaper Kong Zhang" (the original text has been lost) that "the music of Ge Tian's family is sung by thousands of people, and ten thousand people are harmonious, and the listeners are contemptuous of "Shao" and "Xia". (To the effect: Ge Tian's singing voice is sung by tens of millions of people, and everyone who hears it no longer appreciates the ancient music of "Shao" and "Xia".) This is clearly misquoted, even exaggerated. Because, in "Lü's Spring and Autumn Ancient Music", it is "the music of the Xige Tian's family, the three of them the oxtail, and they are enough to sing eight songs." (Something to the effect of: in the song and dance created by the ancient Ge Tian, three people hold oxtails and sing the lyrics eight times.) In addition, in Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu", there is indeed a "dance of Tao Tang, listen to the song of Ge Tian, thousands of people sing, ten thousand people harmonize." The story. However, the wording of Sima Xiangru's "thousands of people singing, ten thousand people harmonizing" is used to boast about the large number of people who cater to singing and dancing, although it is excessive, it is still excusable. However, if the "Joy of Ge Tian's Clan" enjoyed by the three of them is directly said to be praised by tens of millions of people, it is a misinterpretation of Sima Xiangru's diction. Moreover, in Lu Ji's poem "Garden Flower", there is "shelter with the same wisdom, physiology and heresy." It's not as easy as hearing the Tao, but it's hard to know your life. The allusion used in his poems may be taken from "Zuo Chuan: The Seventeenth Year of Chenggong", Confucius once said to Bao Lian of Qi who lost one foot after being tortured, "Bao Zhuangzi's knowledge is not as good as Kui, and Kwai can still defend his feet." ”； Or from the "Zuo Chuan • The Seven Years of Duke Wen", when Song Zhaogong wanted to drive out the Gong clan, his minister Le Yu persuaded "Ge Yu can still protect its roots, so the gentleman thinks it is comparable, and the monarch of the country is concerned!" According to this, if Lu Ji uses "guarding feet" or "sheltering roots" in the above verses, there are still classics, but the word "sheltering feet" is almost absurd. This is the shortcoming caused by the failure to adhere to excellence. Needless to say, like Cao Zhi is so shrewd and capable, and no matter how deep and meticulous Lu Ji is, it is inevitable that he will make mistakes. Therefore, no matter how talented and knowledgeable the author is, he needs to be cautious in the application of "things" in the article. Moreover, like Cao Hong's story in "The Book with Emperor Wen of Wei", mistaking "Hexi" for "Gaotang", what is worth laughing at? In the world, the trees in the mountains are originally uneven, and skilled craftsmen can use their experience and tools to create exquisite utensils that will amaze the world. And in the field of literature, the advantages and disadvantages of scriptures and classics are not the same! If all literati and artists can capture and create more perfect and comfortable masterpieces, they will be worthy of other professional experts.

All in all: the subset of history has a long history, and the jewels are full of brilliance; There is a diligent path in the book mountain, and there is no end to the hard work of learning the sea. There is no limit to the evidence of the past, and there are routines in the selection of things; The proverbs are expensive and appropriate, and excellence is not to be imagined. How many things have happened throughout the ages, and an article has been turned back and forth.