| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 中國文學所 === 98 === The history of “Wu Yue hegemony contention” was happened in Chinese southeast area two thousand years ago. Besides adjoining territory and similar geographical features between the two countries, they were also very similar in culture and custom. According to “Zuo Zhuan,” there had been some small-scale conflict between Wu and Yue in Duke Xiang of Lu, 29 (544 BC); however, the military conflict were getting more and more severe in the period of He-Lu (monarch of Wu) and Yun-Chang (monarch of Yue) and then became the situation of “Wu Yue hegemony contention.”
“Zuo Zhuan,” “Guo Yu” and “Shi Ji” all recorded about the history of Wu Yue hegemony contention, yet the content was a little bit different. “Zuo Zhuan” described more details about the history of Wu than the history of Yue, only Gou Jian and Wen Zhong did be recorded in the history of Yue; on the contrary, “Guo Yu,” which described from the era of Gou Jian (monarch of Yue) requested a compromise with Wu when he were besieged in Kuai Ji after being defeated to the era of Fu Chai (monarch of Wu) suicided and Wu came to an end, recorded more characters and history of ‘Wu Yue hegemony contention’. Comparing with “Zuo Zhuan,” “Guo Yu” paid more attention to the hegemony contention history during the period of Fu Chai and Gou Jian. “Shi Ji” across longest period represented the history from remote ancestors of two countries to the end of Yue, including the circumstances between Wu Zi Xu and monarch of Chu, and it was the most outstanding and comprehensive of three. From the description and characters-molded of ‘Wu Yue hegemony contention’ in “Shi Ji,” we can discover the values that Tai Shi Gong (a.k.a Si Ma Qian) implied.
In Eastern Han (24 - 220 AD), there were two full-length literatures which described ‘Wu Yue hegemony contention’ done—“Yue Jue Shu” and “Wu Yue Chun Qiu,” and it was the transition from history to literature about “Wu Yue hegemony contention.” The main idea of these two works was the history of Wu and Yue. Except characterizing the characters and events more exhaustive and detailed, they also added many fictitious plots and characters—“Xi Shi went to the Wu’s palace” for example. Although they did not describe Xi Shi very much, they did have key influence on the later literature of “Wu Yue hegemony contention” for they combined Xi Shi tale and literature of “Wu Yue hegemony contention.”
After Wei Jin (220 – 420 AD), tales of ‘Wu Yue hegemony contention’ focused on Wu Zi Xu and Xi Shi. In folk belief, people believed Wu Zi Xu to be “the God of tide.” There were many activities and temples which worshiped Wu Zi Xu. In Tang Dynasty, there was “Wu Zi Xu Bian Wen,” whose characters were content-popularized, plot-complicated and detailed-description, characterized the strong revenge image of Wu Zi Xu. On the other hand, Xi Shi was a character with various images including the “mythic woman” in myth fiction of Wei Jin, the “femme fatale” with as much praised as blamed in Tang poetry and Yuan drama, and the “beauty” with both beauty and virtue in fiction storys of Ming Dynasty—“Wan Sha Ji.” “Wan Sha Ji” was the most mature work about Xi Shi tale, and it owned the highest art achievement, the most widespread influence and the most perfect image. The frame of “Wan Sha Ji” was similar to “Yue Jue Shu” and “Wu Yue Chun Qiu,” yet it exaggerated the love story of Xi Shi and Fan Li in particular, putting their love into the historical background to describe the feelings about the prosperity and adversity of country for expanding the patterns, and ending in that Fan Li lived in privacy with Xi Shi for adding aerial atmosphere. The tale of “Wu Yue hegemony contention” became well-known because of “Wan Sha Ji.” Although there were some similar literatures, they couldn’t surpass “Wan Sha Ji.” Furthermore, Xi Shi also became widely known as “patriotic beauty”, not the nobody in “Yue Jue Shu” and “Wu Yue Chun Qiu” anymore.
This study analysed the related history and literatures about “Wu Yue hegemony contention,” comparing the difference and variation by time and events to investigate the important events and characters’ image of “Wu Yue hegemony contention” in different history works and literature.
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