They’ve made an old man, wood-carved, pulled by string,
Chicken-skinned, crane-white haired, like the genuine thing.
In a trice the show’s over, he’s solitary, slack,
Just as in this dream-borne life of a human being.
A certain Taoist, Yang Mystery-accessor, came from Shu, and knowing that Sublime August-emperor was longing for Most-prized-empress Yang, he volunteered the information: “I have the arts of Li Shao-chȕn.”
The emperor was most delighted, and commanded him to invoke her spirit. The necromancer used all his skills to try and find her, but she didn’t come to him. He was further able to wander in supernatural realms, and ride the ether, and crossed the frontiers into Heaven and went into the Palaces of Earth to try and find her, but still didn’t meet her. Then he went to the sides and looked for her up and down in the Four Voids, and in the Eastern Extremity went to the ends of the Great Ocean, overstriding Erigeron-chenopodium paradise-isle, where, suddenly he saw a lot of towers and villas on top of the highest mountain. When he reached them, at the foot of their western wing he saw that there was a cave-door, facing east, and the door was closed, with a horizontal inscription-board bearing the words: Courtyard of Jade Queen Grand-truth.
The necromancer drew out a hairpin, and knocked on the door with it, and a virgin-girl with paired hair-coils answered the door. Before the necromancer in his haste had time to say anything, she went back inside. Shortly, a jade-green-clothed female attendant arrived, and inquired where he’d come from. The necromancer then announced that he was an envoy of the Son of Heaven, and communicated his mission.
“Jade Queen is just now sleeping in bed,” said the jade-green-clothed attendant. “Please await her a wee while.”
After a more than two-hour wait, the jade-green-clothed attendant invited him in, and further declared in anticipation: “Jade Queen is emerging.”
As the latter did so, she was wearing a golden lotus as her crown, with a girdle of scarlet raw-silk fabric, and waist-ornaments of scarlet jade, and was shod in phoenix slippers. On her left and right, she had seven or eight female attendants. She bowed to the necromancer, asked if the emperor was well, and went on to ask what had happened since the Fourteenth Year of the Heaven Treasure reign-period. When he’d finished speaking, she became sad and sympathetic, and instructed the jade-green-clothed attendant to fetch a gold-strip-flower pattern inlaid casket of gold hairpins, and broke off half of one hairpin, and handed it to the envoy.
“Thank the Grand Sublime August-emperor for me,” she said, “and I respectfully present this object to him, in renewal of our old friendship.”
When the necromancer was about to depart, his facial expression showed that he was somewhat dissatisfied, so Jade Queen asked what he was thinking, and he then went up to her again, knelt down, and declared:
“I respectfully request that something that happened in those days, and of which other people weren’t informed, be put to the proof with Grand Sublime August-emperor. If such isn’t done, then I fear that the gold-hairpin gold-strip-flower-pattern casket will prove unconvincing, akin to the deceit of Hsin T’an-p’ing.”1282
Jade Queen hastily moved back and stood up, and, as if something had occurred to her, spoke slowly.
“Formerly, in the Fourteenth Year of the Heaven Treasure reign-period,” she said, “I was attendant in Your Majesty’s carriage when you left for a summer retreat in Mount Li Palace. In the autumn, in the Seventh Month, on the night when Oxherd and Weaving-damsel meet each other, Your Majesty leaned against my shoulder, and gazed out. Then, looking up into the sky, we were moved by the story of the Oxherd and Weaving Damsel, and secretly made vows of the heart, praying that for life after life we would be husband and wife. When we’d finished saying them, we held hands, and sobbed and moaned together. This is something that only you my monarch know of.”
Then, saying this, she sadly added:
“With that thought in mind, I cannot remain here, but must descend once more to the world below, to perfect my future destined love relationship with you. Either in Heaven or as humans, we shall definitely meet again, and be united in affection as of old.”
Then she said:
“You, Grand Sublime August-emperor, won’t be long in the mortal world, either. I shall feel blessedly grateful if you will just cherish yourself, and not put yourself to any suffering.”
The envoy went back, and reported all this to Grand Sublime August-emperor, whose heart was shaken and made mournful.
When it came to the time of his moving into the Sweet-dew Palace-hall of Great Inner, he lamented and mourned for Most-prized-empress Yang each day and every day. He consequently avoided grain in his diet, and subdued his breathing, and when Main Empress Chang brought him gifts of cherries and sugar-cane juice, he refused point-blank to partake of them.
Once he was diverting himself with a scarlet flute, and after he’d played a few notes on it, a pair of cranes alighted in the courtyard, hovered to and fro, then departed.
“I’ve received God Above’s appointment,” he told his female attendant, Palace-cherished, “that I’m to become Original-beginning Communing Ascending Transcendental. I look forward to that, just so that I can meet my Most-prized-empress Yang again. This flute isn’t something you’d treasure, so you can let Ta-shou keep it.” (Ta-shou was the childhood personal name of the future Emperor Substitute-progenitor.)
Then he at once ordered that a bath be prepared for him.
“If I go to my pillow,” he said, “be careful not to startle me from my sleep.”
Palace-cherished heard some noises from him during his sleep, and in alarm went and looked at him, by which time he’d already died.
On the day that Most-prized-empress Yang died, an old woman of Ma Wei found one of her brocade stockings, and legend has it that travellers passing that way would pay a hundred pence to fondle it once, and that over time she gained countless coins.
Alas, Emperor Dark-progenitor was on the throne for a long time, and grew weary of the Myriad Tricks duties of an emperor, being always intercepted, countered, and restrained by his important ministers, so finding it impossible to follow through his personal wishes. Once he obtained Li Lin-fu as his prime minister, he delegated everything to him to carry out. So, then he stopped heeding any contrary-sounding advice, and gave himself up unrestrainedly to feasting and making merry, making no distinctions between mattress and blanket, and thinking it no shame, this winning Lin Lin-fu’s approval.
Chariots and carriages were transferred and scattered, the imperial court was attacked and fell, all the mandarins were tied captive by the neck, the imperial wives and princes were slaughtered, warfare was everywhere in the world, viciousness flowed throughout the Earth’s Four Seas, it all being disasters invoked by Yang Kuo-chung.
The historian says: The rules of proper conduct stipulate the sequence of eminent and lowly in a state. If a ruler doesn’t behave as a ruler, by what means can he rule his state, and if a father doesn’t behave like a father, how can he set his family aright: if one has one of these qualities, one may perhaps avoid ruin. Shining August-emperor of the T’ang dynasty by his one mistake brought shame on the whole world. Three people were to blame for An Lu-shan’s rebellion. That now I’ve made this unofficial biography, has not only been to gather up old tales of Most-prized-empress Yang, but moreover just to warn against the ladder to calamity.
Appendix Four
(As referred to in the Introduction to the Play, Volume 1)
The Death of Most-prized-empress Yang
From Liu Hsü 劉昫 (887-946), Old T’ang dynasty history (Chiu T’ang-shu 舊唐書), (945), “Biographies of the Emperor’s wives”
(translated by William Dolby)
In the early part of the Opening-origin reign-period, the Imperial Concubine Wu Hui came to be especially favoured by the emperor, and the Empress Wang was consequently deposed. In the Twenty-Fourth Year of that period [i.e. 16th February AD 736 to 3rd
February AD 737], Empress Hui died, and the Emperor for a long time sorrowed over her departure, and none of the several thousand ladies in his harem was able to please him.
Someone memorialised the Emperor that the daughter of Hsȕan-ying was of outstanding beauty, and was worthy to be summoned for an audience with him.
At that time, the lady dressed in Taoist garments, and had the Taoist name, Grand-truth. When she was presented for audience, Emperor Dark-progenitor was delighted with her, and in less than a year she came to be treated by him with the same courtesies that had been accorded Empress Hui. Grand-truth’s appearance and nature were very attractive, she was an excellent dancer and singer, was versed in music, was of outstanding intelligence, always received him with charming glances, and stirred the Emperor’s desires. The people in the palace addressed her as “Queen”, and the courtesies accorded her were indeed as great as those accorded an empress.
She had three elder sisters, who were all talented and beautiful. Emperor Dark-progenitor bestowed the title of Queen upon them all: the eldest, known as Elder Sister-in-law, was given the title Queen of Han; Third Sister-in-law was given the title Queen of Kuo; and Eighth Sister-in-law was given the title Queen of Ch’in. They all enjoyed imperial favour, frequented the palace, and had enormous and crucially perilous influence in the empire.1283 These three queens, of Han, Kuo and Ch’in, were given seventy strings of cash each year for their cosmetics1284 expenses.
Whenever Emperor Dark-progenitor went on a tour, Empress Yang never failed to accompany him in attendance, and when she mounted her horse, Eunuch-chamberlain Kao1285 would hold her reins and hand her the whip. Altogether seven hundred tapestry and embroidery workers in the palace supplied the needs of Empress Yang’s apartments, and there were a further several hundred for her sculptures, carvings and mouldings.
During the Celestial Treasure reign-period, the Military Governor of Fan-yang, An Lu-shan, had great success on the borders, and was greatly favoured by the Emperor. When Lu-shan came to court, the Emperor commanded Empress Yang and her sisters to adopt Lu-shan as their brother. Thus, he came to serve Empress Yang, and every time the Emperor gave banquets, An was bestowed with numerous gifts.
When Lu-shan rebelled, and the insurgents arose in He-pei, Emperor Dark-progenitor made his Crown Prince Commander-in-chief of the Forces of the Empire and Regent. Empress Yang humbly1286 pleaded with the Emperor, dissuading him from carrying out his intended abdication. When T’ung Pass was lost to the enemy, she went with the Emperor to Ma Wei. The Great General of the Inner-palace Guards, Ch’en Hsȕan-li,1287 secretly reporting the matter to the Crown Prince,1288 executed Yang Kuo-chung and Yang’s sons. Following that, the Four Armies refused to disperse, and Emperor Dark-progenitor sent Eunuch-chamberlain Kao (Kao Li-shih) to question them on his behalf.
“The root of the rebellion still exists,” they replied, alluding to Empress Yang.
Eunuch-chamberlain Kao returned, and reported this to the Emperor, who had no choice but to send a mandate to Empress Yang, upon which she was strangled to death in the Buddhist Chapel. At the time, she was thirty-eight years old, and she was buried at the side of the highway, to the east of the postal station.
When the Emperor-father Dark-progenitor1289 returned from Shu,1290 he ordered an attendant to make sacrifices to her, and issued a decree for her to be re-buried.
“I fear, “said the Vice-president of the Board of Rites, Li K’ui, “that the officers and soldiers will become suspicious and alarmed. You must not carry out the burial ceremony.”
At that, Emperor-father Dark-progenitor abandoned the idea. He secretly ordered an attendant1291 to rebury her in another place. When she’d been buried the first time, she’d been wrapped in a scarlet sheet1292 and her skin and flesh had decayed, but her perfume-sachet was still preserved, and the palace official presented this to him. Seeing it, the Emperor-father was filled with sorrow, and ordered her portrait to be painted in a separate palace-hall, where he looked at it morning and evening.
Appendix Five
(As referred to in the Introduction to the Play, Volume 1)
Shining August-emperor of the T’ang dynasty on autumn night with rain on the parasol-tree
by Pai P’u 白樸 (AD 1226 -)
(translated by William Dolby)
Contents
Wedge ActPage 53
Act OnePage 62
Act TwoPage 70
Act ThreePage 79
Act FourPage 90
Wedge Act
(Enter Chang Shou-kui at the head of soldiers)
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI:
(Recites)
Sitting surrounded by “panthers and leopards”,
I guard the North,
Often going to the frontiers to receive the surrender of princes;
In these times of Great Peace, my headquarters outer-gate’s quiet,
So, I take my ornamented bow at a few wild-geese lines.
(Says)
My surname’s Chang, and my personal name is Shou-kui, and I’m the present incumbent of the Imperial Governorship of Yu-chou. As a child, I read the books of Confucianism, and at the same time became versed in the tactics and stratagems of war, and am a famous government servant of the frontier lands, recipient of weighty missions of trust, matters of “heart and spine” in their vitality. And what’s more, to my delight, in recent years the frontier beacons have rested their alarms, and my soldiers and knights have been at repose and leisure.
Yesterday, the Hsi Khitan Tribe had the effrontery to take it upon themselves to kill a princess, and I’ve sent the Capture-alive Commissioner An Lushan to lead forces to punish them, but haven’t yet seen him return to report back to me.
Attendants, watch at the outer gate, and, when he does come, announce it to me.
SOLDIERS:
Yessir!
(Enter An Lu-shan)
AN LU-SHAN:
(Recites)
My bodily frame is mighty, my courage cock-bold,
I’m conversant with all the written languages of the Six
Frontier-lands.
If a man fulfils his life’s greatest ambition,
Supporting himself on the Earth and propping up Heaven, he creates mighty deeds.
(Says)
Yes, I’m An Lu-shan, none other. For many generations, my ancestors were from the Miscellaneous Barbarians of Ying-chou. Our original surname was K’ang, and my mother was A-shih-te, a Turkic shamaness, who, upon praying to the war-god of Mount Ya-lo, gave birth to me. At the time of my birth, a light illumined our yurt, and wild animals all cried out, and I was thereupon named Mount Ya-lo.1293
Later, my mother remarried, to An Yen-yen, accordingly taking the surname An, and my name was changed to An Lu-shan. During the Open-origin reign-period, Yen-yen took me back to China, and I was the object of imperial favours, being assigned to serve under Chang Shou-kui. As I’m well acquainted with the languages of the Six Frontier-land Peoples, and am of outstanding physical strength, I now hold the position of Capture-alive Punish-attack Commissioner.
Yesterday, because the Hsi Khitan rebelled, I was sent to deal with them, and, confident in my courage I thrust deep into their territory. But what happened! ̶ Overwhelmed by sheer numbers, I suffered the destruction of my army.
Today I must return to see my commander-in-chief, and reassess plans. Ah, here I am at the gate of his headquarters. Attendants, announce that the Capture-alive Commissioner An Lu-shan has come for an audience.
(Soldiers announce him.)
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI: Tell him to come in.
(An Lu-shan comes in, and meets him.)
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI: How did the punitive expedition go, An Lu-shan? Did you win or lose?
AN LU-SHAN. The rebels were many, and we were few, so my soldiers were timorous, and consequently we were defeated.
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI: To lose one’s army and to miss an initiative is clearly set forth in mil
itary ordinances as unpardonable. Attendants, hustle him out, and chop off his head, then report to me that the duty’s been carried out.
(Soldiers push An Lu-shan out.)
AN LU-SHAN: (Shouting) Don’t you want to destroy the Hsi Khitan, Commander-in-chief? What good will it do you to kill a bold knight
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI: Release him, and let him come back in here.
(An Lu-shan returns.)
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-KUI: I do indeed value your bravery, too, but it’s stipulated by the law of the land, and I couldn’t think of discarding the law out of my personal favoritism: what would you say if I sent you to the capital to be judged by the Emperor’s holy wisdom?
AN LU-SHAN. I thank you, my commander-in-chief, for sparing my life.
(Exit under escort.)
FRONTIER-COMMANDER CHANG SHOU-GUI: Well, now An Lu-shan has gone.
(Recites)
Of course, there’s “flags and placards” stipulations for sparing life and dispensing death,
But I acted just because for my army,
I cherished an able officer;
Else I’d have chopped off the barbarian’s head,
No need to bother the Holy Emperor for his judgement order!
(Exit)
(Enter Emperor Dark-progenitor, and Most-prized-empress Yang, followed by Eunuch-chamberlain Kao, Yang Kuo-chung and palace ladies.)
EMPEROR DARK-PROGENITOR:
(Recites)
Our Grand Progenitor seized the historical juncture, rose at Chin-yang,
Grand-ancestor Divine Warrior secured our realm’s frontiers.
Appendices and Endnotes Page 6
