Bukhara, locat\u00aded in south\u00adern Uzbek\u00adistan, is said to be the home\u00adtown of Nass\u00ader al-Din Avan\u00adti.<\/i><\/p>\n
Afanasiy was my idol in my youth.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t heard that he has read many books, but he is extreme\u00adly intel\u00adli\u00adgent, even the most knowl\u00adedge\u00adable schol\u00adars in the court can\u00adnot com\u00adpare to him.<\/p>\n
He did\u00adn\u2019t seem to have any mar\u00adtial arts skills, but he dared to fight with the rich, local offi\u00adcials and kings, and used his wis\u00addom to make fun of them, help the poor, and pun\u00adish evil and pro\u00admote good.<\/p>\n
What I envied the most was that he would ride around on a don\u00adkey all day, singing lit\u00adtle songs, feel\u00ading free and at ease, wher\u00adev\u00ader he went\u2026<\/p>\n
Of course, Afan\u00adti\u2019s sto\u00adries are also humor\u00adous. Wit, humor, and right\u00adeous\u00adness are prob\u00ada\u00adbly Afan\u00adti\u2019s trade\u00admarks.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve only seen this in car\u00adtoons, movies, and sto\u00adry\u00adbooks. Inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, I nev\u00ader con\u00adsid\u00adered Avan\u00adti to be a real per\u00adson. He\u2019s more like a myth\u00adi\u00adcal or fairy\u00adtale fig\u00adure, like Sun Wukong, Nezha, or the Frog Prince. My pre\u00advi\u00adous impres\u00adsion was that even if Afan\u00adti exist\u00aded, he would be from Xin\u00adjiang, right? How\u00adev\u00ader, the book states that his birth\u00adplace was Bukhara (locat\u00aded in present-day south\u00adern Uzbek\u00adistan, the coun\u00adtry\u2019s third-largest city), and his grave is in Kani\u00adbadam. He trav\u00adeled from Xin\u00adjiang, Chi\u00adna in the east to Turkey in the west, explor\u00ading the Mus\u00adlim cul\u00adtur\u00adal regions of Cen\u00adtral and West Asia.<\/p>\n As for the time when this Afan\u00adti lived, accord\u00ading to the research of trans\u00adla\u00adtor Qiu Xiaol\u00adun, judg\u00ading from the back\u00adground of the events involved in the sto\u00adry, it was around the 19th or 18th cen\u00adtu\u00adry or ear\u00adli\u00ader, and judg\u00ading from the cul\u00adtur\u00adal back\u00adground shown in the sto\u00adry, it can be traced back to the 9th cen\u00adtu\u00adry AD or ear\u00adli\u00ader. Such a love\u00adly char\u00adac\u00adter, any nation would be hap\u00adpy to recruit him as a mem\u00adber, and would also col\u00adlect all the most intel\u00adli\u00adgent and humor\u00adous sto\u00adries (no mat\u00adter which dynasty) under his name.<\/p>\n How\u00adev\u00ader, there is one thing that we often over\u00adlook. No mat\u00adter where Afanti\u2019s home\u00adtown is, he is a Mus\u00adlim from head to toe, a hero of the Islam\u00adic world. Afanti\u2019s sto\u00adries are full of the cus\u00adtoms and prac\u00adtices of the Islam\u00adic world in Cen\u00adtral Asia and West Asia, and also reflect the val\u00adues and human\u00adis\u00adtic ideals of Mus\u00adlims. I think this is prob\u00ada\u00adbly because of read\u00adingThe Biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Nass\u00ader al-Din Avan\u00adti<\/a>The biggest gain for me.<\/p>\n We nev\u00ader noticed this when we were young, and even if we knew it, we might not under\u00adstand it. Among those sto\u00adries labeled \u201cAfan\u00adti sto\u00adries\u201d, many were actu\u00adal\u00adly made up by Han peo\u00adple \u2014 even the Han peo\u00adple were hap\u00adpy to recruit him into the group, and even attrib\u00aduted some non-Mus\u00adlim cul\u00adtur\u00adal aspects to him. On the oth\u00ader hand, it also shows that despite dif\u00adfer\u00adent reli\u00adgious beliefs, the human\u00adis\u00adtic foun\u00adda\u00adtion is actu\u00adal\u00adly very sim\u00adi\u00adlar.<\/p>\n This biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Afan\u00adti is very dif\u00adfer\u00adent from the var\u00adi\u00adous Afan\u00adti sto\u00adries I have read before. It strives to make read\u00aders believe that Afan\u00adti real\u00adly exist\u00aded.<\/p>\n Since Afan\u00adti is a real per\u00adson, he must be a mor\u00adtal. Mor\u00adtals have emo\u00adtions and desires, and their abil\u00adi\u00adties are lim\u00adit\u00aded; mor\u00adtals always make mis\u00adtakes and face set\u00adbacks\u2026 All of this is reflect\u00aded in this biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Afan\u00adti.<\/p>\n For exam\u00adple, at the begin\u00adning of the sto\u00adry, Afan\u00adti is a rather roman\u00adtic lone ranger, fre\u00adquent\u00adly sneak\u00ading into the harems of kings and local offi\u00adcials and engag\u00ading in affairs of plea\u00adsure. Return\u00ading to his home\u00adland of Bukhara, he met Guljian, the beau\u00adti\u00adful daugh\u00adter of Niyaz, a pot-mak\u00ader, and fell in love with her whole\u00adheart\u00aded\u00adly, even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly mar\u00adry\u00ading her. To avoid per\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adtion from the ruler, the Emir (equiv\u00ada\u00adlent to a king), he and his wife trav\u00adeled exten\u00adsive\u00adly, bear\u00ading two sons along the way before final\u00adly set\u00adtling in Khor\u00adgant under an assumed name. Even after mar\u00adriage, even this resource\u00adful Afan\u00adti was for\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly hen\u00adpecked. When\u00adev\u00ader he ven\u00adtured out on a mis\u00adsion, he had to resort to all pos\u00adsi\u00adble means to nego\u00adti\u00adate with his wife to achieve his goals\u2014for exam\u00adple, send\u00ading his wife and chil\u00addren out of the house and then com\u00adplet\u00ading ten days\u2019 worth of house\u00adhold chores in one day before their return. Imag\u00adine the chal\u00adlenges of being a knight-errant! The first part main\u00adly tells the sto\u00adry of Afan\u00adti\u2019s deal\u00adings with Emir of Bukhara. This part is very live\u00adly and a bit com\u00adpli\u00adcat\u00aded, but very inter\u00adest\u00ading and also quite thrilling. Afan\u00adti is impris\u00adoned and almost los\u00ades his life.<\/p>\n The sec\u00adond part main\u00adly tells the sto\u00adry of how Afan\u00adti clev\u00ader\u00adly and sin\u00adgle-hand\u00aded\u00adly took back the own\u00ader\u00adship of the reser\u00advoir from a local bul\u00adly and ben\u00ade\u00adfit\u00aded the local peo\u00adple.<\/p>\n The sec\u00adond part is longer, and the sto\u00adry unfolds at a leisure\u00adly pace, yet with a won\u00adder\u00adful\u00adly paced feel. While super\u00adfi\u00adcial\u00adly less intense than the first, the prob\u00adlems involved are more chal\u00adleng\u00ading and real\u00adis\u00adtic, cre\u00adat\u00ading a some\u00adwhat wit\u00adty mys\u00adtery. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, the sec\u00adond part incor\u00adpo\u00adrates a num\u00adber of reflec\u00adtions on reli\u00adgion and ethics, a some\u00adwhat meta\u00adphys\u00adi\u00adcal ele\u00adment that seam\u00adless\u00adly inte\u00adgrates the sto\u00adry, avoid\u00ading bore\u00addom and pro\u00advid\u00ading a wealth of insights. I pre\u00adferred the sec\u00adond part.<\/p>\n The most unique aspect of Part Two is the chap\u00adter that arrives at the end, Chap\u00adter 33 (of Part Two\u2019s 39 chap\u00adters total). The author, mid\u00adway through the main sto\u00adry, sud\u00adden\u00adly drops the sub\u00adject, whet\u00adting the read\u00ader\u2019s inter\u00adest while delv\u00ading into Afan\u00adti\u2019s life sto\u00adry and child\u00adhood. This sto\u00adry\u00adtelling tech\u00adnique is rem\u00adi\u00adnis\u00adcent of sto\u00adry\u00adtelling, though the ques\u00adtion is why the pro\u00adtag\u00ado\u00adnist\u2019s child\u00adhood sto\u00adry is rel\u00ade\u00adgat\u00aded so late in the sto\u00adry.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s main\u00adly because Afan\u00adti\u2019s child\u00adhood sto\u00adry isn\u2019t par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly rel\u00ade\u00advant to the two main sto\u00adries here, but it\u2019s also very fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading. The author had been want\u00adi\u00adng to tell it for a long time, but could\u00adn\u2019t find the right place. Final\u00adly, as the sto\u00adry was almost over, it felt too late to tell it, so he rushed to do it. Also, if read\u00aders don\u2019t know much about Afan\u00adti, telling his child\u00adhood sto\u00adry first might not give them a strong feel\u00ading, so the author held back.<\/p>\n In short, the inclu\u00adsion of this sto\u00adry about Afan\u00adti\u2019s life and child\u00adhood sur\u00adprised me at first, but grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly I became very fond of it and read it many times with\u00adout real\u00adiz\u00ading it. I even asked an edi\u00adtor friend at the pub\u00adlish\u00ading house for the text and am post\u00ading it here to share with every\u00adone.<\/p>\n That chap\u00adter is very long, about 20,000 words. If it were all post\u00aded togeth\u00ader, I guess few peo\u00adple would be able to fin\u00adish read\u00ading it.I split it into three parts<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u3016Part 1: Afan\u00adti\u2019s Life<\/a>\u3017 This part has a very strong fla\u00advor of folk tales, a lit\u00adtle bit of leg\u00adendary col\u00ador, and is also very touch\u00ading.<\/p>\n
\nSo, when I first read the book writ\u00adten by the for\u00admer Sovi\u00adet writer SolovievThe Biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Nass\u00ader al-Din Avan\u00adti<\/a>I was a lit\u00adtle shocked when I read it! Of course, I don\u2019t believe that this fic\u00adtion\u00adal biog\u00adra\u00adphy is true. But if you think about it, and think about the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of it, would\u00adn\u2019t you be sur\u00adprised?
\nAfan\u00adti may real\u00adly exist!<\/b><\/p>\n
\nSo, to put it sim\u00adply, Afan\u00adti must be an \u201cancient man\u201d.
\nhttp:\/\/www.hongniba.com.cn\/bbs\/resman.aspx?action=download&uri=@@__5\/2747\/object\/0<\/a>
\nBronze stat\u00adue of Avan\u00adti in Bukhara<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe Biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Nass\u00ader al-Din Avan\u00adti<\/a>It is a super long nov\u00adel. It took me more than a week to fin\u00adish it the first time. It is divid\u00aded into two parts:<\/p>\n