95 pai-pao 百寶, Hundred Treasures/Jewels, a term meaning “many jewelled”, etc.
96 ts’ui-hua 翠華, Kingfisher Flower/Bloom, usually means emperor’s banner (a banner adorned at the top with a cluster of kingfisher-feathers). Pan Ku 班固 (32 - 92), Han history (Han-shu 漢書), “Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju chuan”, quotes Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju 司馬相如 (179 BC - 117 BC) as saying: “Kingfisher Bloom flags were set up.” A note to that says: “It was a bunch/ bush made of kingfisher feathers.”
Liu Yȕn’s 柳惲 (465 - 517) poem Harmonising with Emperor Warrior’s poem “Ascending Ching-yang Tower” (He Wu-ti teng Ching-yang-lou shih 和武帝登景陽樓詩) has the lines: “Kingfisher Blooms received the Han [emperor] from afar, His carven hand-carriage roamed chasing the breeze.” Tu Fu杜甫 (712 - 770) has a poem with the lines: “Recalling when of yore the emperor blessed New-prosperity Palace [Hsin-feng-kung 新豐宮] with a visit, the Kingfisher Blooms brushing the sky turned eastwards.”
97 shuang-luan 雙鸞, Paired Phoenixes.
98 t’ung-hsin-chieh 同心結, Shared-heart Knot. In ancient times, people would coil up brocade ribbons into joined-rings palindromic patterns, always to embody some meaning of love, which is why they were called Shared-heart Knots. Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti 武帝, reigned 502 - 549) of the Southern Dynasties Liang dynasty composed a poem with the lines: “A pair of damask ribbons at my waist, I dreamed they were a Shared-hearts Knot.” Wei Cheng 魏徵 (580 - 643) and others, Sui history (Sui-shu 隋書, “Hsȕan-hua Fu-jen Ch’en-shih chuan”), says: “Emperor Yang-ti 煬帝 sent a messenger with the gift of a gold box, sticking a paper label on the edge of the box, and personally signing the sealing characters, to bestow it on his principal wife, and in the box there were several Shared-hearts Knots.”
There was tz’u-lyric tune-title Two shared hearts (Liang t’ung-hsin 兩同心), of which Explanations of terms in the composition of tzu-lyrics (T’ien-tz’u ming-chieh 填詞明解) says: “The ancient Music Treasury song Su Hsiao song (Su-hsiao ke 蘇小歌) has the line ‘Where shall we tie shared-hearts?”, and subsequently there was T’ang dynasty Instruction Ward musical-performance melody (chiao-fang Yȕeh-ch’ȕ 教坊樂曲) entitled Shared-hearts Knot/ Shared Hearts tied. There were however two tunes of this title, and the one chosen for composing tz’u lyrics was renamed Two shared-hearts.” This tz’u tune has three forms:
i) one using Oblique Rhymes, created by Liu Yung 柳永 (fl. ca. AD 1045),
ii) one using Level Rhymes, created by Yen Chi-tao 晏幾道 (fl. ca. AD 1073), and
iii) one harmonising all Three Tones for rhymes, created by Tu An-shih 杜安世 (fl. ca. AD 1040).
It was also a ch’ȕ -aria tune-title, the Northern ch’ȕ -aria entering it as a High Big-stone Chȕeh Single-aria (Kao-Ta-shih Chȕeh chih-ch’ȕ 高大石角隻曲), and for aria-sets putting it into the High Big-stone Chȕeh.
99 he-huan 合歡, “Joined Love’s-delight”, name of a plant, Albizzia julibrissin, the silk-tree, also called “Night-closing” (yeh-he 夜合), and Horse-tassel Flower (ma-ying-hua 馬纓祀), and he-hun 合昏. a deciduous shrub of the legume family, growing to a height of some ten feet. Its (pairs of) big compound leaves are shaped like wings, and made up of many small leaves, which close at nightfall. In summer, small flowers open at the ends of its twigs, with a lot of long stamens, and bearing red colour. Later, the flowers bear fruit, in big pods. Its wood can be used for making utensils. Its leaves close promptly at evening, this being usable as an image perhaps meaning “always join together faithfully on time”?
“Rejoicing together”, was a term used with connotations of love or sex between man and woman, and used as noun-in-apposition epithet for items with such associations: Joined-in-delight Fan (he-huan-shan 合歡扇), Joined-in-delight Mat (he-huan-hsi 合歡席), Joined-in-delight Chignon (he-huan-chi 合歡髻), Joined-in-delight Belt/ Sash (he-huan-tai 合歡帶), etc.
100 yü-lu 雨露, Rain and Dew, a poetic term for “imperial favours”. Pai Chü-yi 白居易 (772 - 846) in his poem Sent to the three academicians Chang, Li and Tu (Chi Chang Li Tu san hsȕeh-shih 寄張李杜三學士) has the lines: “The dew and rain favours are dispensed without variation of liberality or meanness, and fleabane and wormwood flourish or wither as is their lot.”
101Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Yȕan Chen 元稹 [779 - 831].
102 Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Pai Chü-yi 白居易 [772 - 846].
103 Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Yung T’ao 雍陶 [fl. ca. AD 844].
104 Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from Chao Yen-chao 趙彥昭 [AD? - AD 714 or not long after].
105An Lu-shan 安祿山 (AD? - AD 757), a part-Turkic man from Liu City (Liu-ch’eng 柳城) in Ying-chou 營州, south of present-day Ch’ao-yang in Liaoning province. His original surname was K’ang 康, and his personal-name Ya-lo-shan 軋犖山 (perhaps Alexander), also found as A-lo-shan 阿犖山. With his mother’s marriage, he assumed the surname An, and changed his personal name to Lu-shan. He was jealous and full of wiles, and thoroughly conversant with six non-Chinese frontier-apanage languages. The powerful minister Chang Shou-kui 張守珪 (AD? - AD739) elevated him to the position of Division Commander (p’ien-chiang 偏將),
Under Emperor Dark-progenitor (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗, reigned 712 - 756), he was promoted to Military Commissioner (chieh-tu-shih 節度使)., with combined jurisdiction over the three garrison regions (chen 鎮) of P’ing-lu 平盧, Fan-yang 范陽 and He-tung 河東, being accorded great affection and trust by the emperor. He became a close friend of Most-prized-empress Yang (Yang Kui-fei 楊貴妃, 719 - 756), and requested permission to become her adopted son. The emperor agreed to it, and from then on An’s rebellious plotting grew daily more ferocious.
Soon he had a rift with the powerful minister Yang Kuo-chung楊國忠 (AD? - AD 756), and mobilised forces in rebellion, taking the capital Ch’ang-an, and proclaimed himself Bold Warrior August-emperor (Hsiung-wu Huang-ti 雄武皇帝), taking the title of Yen 燕 for his dynasty. Emperor Dark-progenitor (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗) fled to the region of Shu 蜀, “blessing it with a tour”. Later, An Lu-shan was assassinated by his son An Ch’ing-hsü 安慶緒 (AD？- AD 759) and Li Pig-son (Li Chu-erh 李豬兒 (fl. ca. AD 750).
An Lu-shan’s rebellion occurred in AD 755, when An Lu-shan advanced from Fan-yang. and trespassed into the Eastern Capital, Lo-yang. Yen Chen-ch’ing 顏真卿 (709 - 784) and others brought out forces to ward him off, but were unable to do so. Usurping the T’ang dynasty, and giving himself the title Great Yen August-emperor (Ta Yen Huang-ti 大燕皇帝), An Lu-shan advanced and took the capital, Ch’ang-an. In AD 757, during the reign of Emperor Solemn (Su-tsung 肅宗, reigned 756 - 763), he was assassinated by his son An Ch’ing-Hsü, who in turn was assassinated by An Lu-shan’s friend, minister and general the Turkic Shih Ssu-ming 史思明 (AD? - AD 761). Shih Ssu-ming was then, in the spring of AD 761, killed and succeeded by his second son Shih Ch’ao-yi 史朝義. The whole rebellion lasted nine years, and is commonly referred to as the Rebellion of the Ans and Shihs (An Shih Chih-luan 安史之亂).
106chien-yi 箭衣, Arrow Robe, the name of a kind of male garment worn by archers in ancient times. It had long upper sleeves which could be used to cover the hands, and exceptionally short lower/under sleeves to facilitate shooting. The tight-fitting sleeves were called Arrow Sleeves (chien-hsiu 箭袖).
107nieh-lung 孽龍, malignant dragon.
108 huo-ch’ȕ 蠖屈, looper bending. The huo is ch’ih-huo 尺蠖, or ch’ih-huo-Ch’ung 尺蠖蟲, the caterpillar, the looper, inchworm or geometer. The moth from this caterpillar is called looper moth (ch’ih-huo-e 尺蠖蛾), Hemirophila atrilineata. The looper caterpillars called a “looper” because this geometrid caterpillar’s mode of walking is to make its body into a loop and plant its six hinder legs close behind its six “true” legs. Anon. (6th century BC or earlier), Changes classic (Yi-ching 易經), �
��Hsi-tz’u”, says: “When the looper (ch’ih-huo) bends, it’s in order to stretch.” Anon. (Chou and Han dynasties), Close exegeses [?] (Erh-ya 爾雅), “Shih-Ch’ung”, writes it as ch’ih-huo 蚇蠖. Hao Yi-hsing 郝懿行 (1757 - 1825), in his commentary on that says: “When it walks, it first bends then stretches, like the shape of the fingers spread out to measure a foot (ch’ih 尺), which is why it’s called ‘foot looper’ (ch’ih-huo)., the ch’ih being nowadays written 蚇, which is incorrect.” The “looper-bending” is a metaphor for “not having achieved one’s ambitions.” Fang Ch’iao 房喬 (T’ang dynasty), et alia, (eds.), Tsin history (Chin-shu 晉書, “Yü Ch’an chuan”, says: “When cosmic law is hidden, loopers bend, and when fate is moved, phoenixes look on.”
Because it perches in mulberry-tres, the moth is also called sang-ch’ih 桑尺, “mulberry-tree foot” and sang-huo 桑蠖, “mulberry-tree looper”.
109Liu-ch’eng 柳城, Liu City.
110 Ying-chou 營州, name of an administrative region:
i) tradition has it that during the reign of the mythical Shun (i.e. Yü-ti Shun 虞帝舜, traditionally reigned 2255 BC - 2206 BC, personal appellation Yu-yü, in general simply known as Shun 舜 or Yü-shun 虞舜) the territory north-east of Ch’ing-chou 青州 in Liao-tung 遼東 was divided off as Ying-chou, i.e. the territory of present-day Hopeh and Liaoning provinces and Korea.
ii) an administrative region set up by the Latter Wei dynsaty, with He-lung 和龍 as its jurisdictional capital, present-day Ch’ao-yang county in Jehol. The Sui dynasty retained it, and during the T’ang dynasty an Area Command (tu-tu-fu 都督府) was set up there, in charge or thirty or so Subordinate Prefectures (chi-mi fu-chou, 羇縻府州). It was shortly abolished.
111A-shih-te 阿史德, the name of An Lu-shan’s mother.
112 Ya-lo-shan 軋犖山, Ya-lo Mountains.
113 Traditionally, the birth of mighty figures was often held to be attended by supernatural signs.
114 An Yen-yen 安延偃, name of a Turk, a chief.
15 Chang Shou-kui 張守珪 (AD? - AD 739), the name of a T’ang dynasty general, a man of He-pei 河北 in Shan-chou 陝州, north-east of present-day P’ing-lu in Shansi province. In AD 727, he was appointed Prefect (刺史) of Kua-chou 瓜州, and built city defensive walls for the prefectural capital, and built and restored weirs and dams, for the benefit of irrigation. In AD 733, he was transferred to govern Yu-chou 幽州, in the area of present-day Peking, and was appointed Vice Grand Military Commissioner of North-of-the River (Hei-pei chieh-tu fu-ta-shih 河北節度副大使), and achieved several victories over the Khitan, rising in position to that of Bulwark Generalissimo of the State (fu-kuo ta chiang-chȕn 輔國大將軍) and Generalissimo of the Feather-forest Guard of the Right (yu Yü-lin ta chiang-chȕn 右羽林大將軍). Afterwards, he was exiled as Prefect of K’uo-chou (K’uo-chou tz’u-shih 括州刺史), before long suffering subcutaneous ulcers on his back, and dying of it.
16 t’ao-chi shih 討擊使, Punitive-attack Commissioner.
17 Hsi 奚, which can mean “big belly”, “female slave”, etc. was the name for a people, earlier part of the East Barbarians (Tung-hu 東胡) people. During the Yȕan Wei 元魏 （name of a dynasty, i.e. Pei Wei 北魏, T’o-pa 拓跋 dynasty, also known as Hou Wei 後魏, 386 - 534. T’o-pa was the surname of the dynasty’s rulers). Emperor Filial-and-cultured (Hsiao-wen-ti 孝文帝, reigned 471 - 479) changed their surname to Yȕan, so the Northern Wei came to be called Yȕan Wei, and they were called the K’u-chen Hsi (K’u-chen Hsi 庫真奚). They dwelled in the old territory of the Hsien-pei 鮮卑 people, and had the same social customs as the Turkic peoples. They were first called Hsi during the Sui dynasty. They occupied the terrritory of recent Luan-p’ing, P’ing-ch’ȕan, Ch’eng-te and Feng-ning counties in Jehol.
18 Ch’i-tan 契丹, Khitan, name of a people/nation. Originally from the Eastern Barbarian/ Eastern Turkic (Tung-hu 東胡) people. During the Ch’in and Han dynasties, they were defeated by the Hsiung-nu 匈奴 people, but retained the area of Mount Hsien-pei (Hsien-pei-shan 鮮卑山). During the reign-period 233 - 237, their chief K’e-pi-neng 軻比能 was killed by the Three Kingdoms Wei, and his people fled to the south of the Yellow River (Huang-he 潢河) and north of Huang-lung 黃龍. It was during the Northern Wei dynasty (386 - 534) that they first took the name of Khitan for themselves.
They had eight tribes, the head of a tribe being called the Big Man (ta-jen 大人), but they would often promote one Big Man to set up his flags and drums in command of the eight tribes. During the T’ang dynasty, Yeh-lü A-pao-chi was a Grand Man, came to command the eight tribes, and shortly killed all the various other Grand Men of the tribes, and annexed their territories. During the Latter Liang dynasty (907 - 923), the Latter Liang defeated the various tribes, Po-hai 渤海, Shih-wei 室韋 and Jurched (Jurchen, Ju-chen 女真), and re-took the old territory of the Turkic people (T’u-chȕeh 突厥), which included the regions of recent Liaotung, Kirin, Heilungkiang, Jehol, Chahar, and Sui-ning and the northern parts of Chi 冀 and Chin 晉, as well as Mongolia, his power being acclaimed as in full boom. During the Latter Tsin dynasty (936 - 946), they changed their title to Liao 遼, and during the Sung dynasty they were destroyed by the Kin 金.
19 Ch’ang-an 長安, the name of the T’ang dynasty capital city. The Han dynasty Emperor High-progenitor (Kao-tsu 高祖, reigned 206 BC - 195 BC) moved his capital there from Li-yang 櫟陽, and also set up a Ch’ang-an county. Under Emperor Kindness (Hui-ti 惠帝, reigned 194 BC - 188 BC) of the Han dynasty, defensive city-walls were built to it, and it was also given the name Tou-ch’eng 斗城. It later also served as the capital for the Eastern Han, Three Kingdoms Wei, Tsin, Former Chao, Former Ch’in and Latter Chao dynasties. The site of the old city is north-west of present-day Ch’ang-an county in Shensi province. Yȕeh Shih 樂史 (930 - 1007) in his Grand Peace records of the world (T’ai-ping huan-yü chi 太平寰宇記) says: “Ch’ang-an caps the collective fame of all the other ancient areas. It faces across the River Wei (Wei-shui 渭水) the Hsien-yang Palace (Hsien-yang-kung 咸陽宮) of the Ch’in dynasty, and the Han dynasty built its Unfinished Palace (Wei-yang-kung 未央宮) there, and set up a county there, calling it Ch’ang-an.”
In the Sui and T’ang dynasties, the seat of Ch’ang-an county was moved south-eastwards, to the present-day site, but the two dynasties kept it as their capital. Anon. (T’ang dynasty?), Yellow charts of the Three Guardians’ metropolitan areas (San-fu huang-t’u 三輔黃圖), says: “Ch’ang-an has nine markets, eight streets, nine central thoroughfares, and one hundred and sixty gated wards.”
20 Chang Ch’ien 張千, the here invented sworn brother of An Lu-shan. Chang Ch’ien was widely used in Chinese literature, often as that of minor official or factotum. The name was something like A. N. Other or John Doe.
21 Yang Kuo-chung 楊國忠 (AD? - AD 756), the prime minister mentioned in the final line. A man of Wen-hsiang 文鄉, west of present-day Shan county in Henan province. His personal name is also stated to have been Chao 釗. He was an elder paternal cousin (ts’ung-hsiung 從兄) of Emperor Dark-progenitor’s most-orized-empress Yang (Yang Kui-fei 楊貴妃), and became a censor (yü-shih 御史), but it wasn’t until the eighth year after her being appointed Most-prized-empress, in AD 752, that he was made Prime Minister of the Right (yu-hsiang 右相) and concurrently Minister of Personnel (wen-pu shang-shu 文部尚書). In AD 754, he was promoted to Minister of Digging/Minister of Works (ssu-k’ung 司空). Licentious and lawless, he became jealous of the part-Turkic frontier-general An Lu-shan’s 安祿山 (AD? - AD 757) favour with the emperor, frequently advising the emperor that An was about to rebel. Fearful of disaster, An Lu-shan mobilised forces, and did indeed rebel, taking the capital Ch’ang-an. As Emperor Dark-progenitor fled to Shu 蜀, the region of present-day Szechwan province, Yang Kuo-chung accompanied him, but en route, at Ma Wei’s Posting-station (Ma-wei-yi 馬嵬驛), the guard-commander Ch’en Hsȕan-li 陳玄禮 (fl. ca. AD 750 - 760) led soldiers to execut
e Yang Kuo-chung.
22 chin-t’ou mu-yeh 金投暮夜, “with gold seeking refuge in the late night”, an allusion to Wang Mi 王密 and Yang Chen yang 楊震 (54 - 124). During the Han dynasty, according to Fan Yeh 范曄 (398 - 445) and others, Latter Han history (Hou Han Shu 後漢書), “Yang Chen chuan”, Wang Mi, the magistrate of Ch’ang-yi 昌邑, tried to give the governor of Tung-lai 東萊 a gift of ten catties of gold, but Yang Chen wouldn’t accept it. “It’s of no event if you take it,” said Wang Mi. “There’s no one here this evening to know about it.” “Heaven,” said Yang Chen, “will know of it, and Earth will know of it, and you’ll know of it and I’ll know of it. How can it be that no one will know of it?”
The incident is often summarised as Dusk night gold (mu-yeh chin 暮夜金), a synonym for “bribery”. In this present drama, the reference is to An Lu-shan’s secret bribery of Yang Kuo-chung.
23 San-kung 三公, the Three Dukes, from the Chou dynasty onwards the three highest-ranking ministers and advisers of the principal ruler of China. Under the Chou dynasty they were the Grand Preceptor (T’ai-shih 太師), the Grand Mentor (T’ai-fu 太傅) and the grand Guardian/Protector (T’ai-pao 太保) Under the Western Han dynasty, they were the Grand Controller-of-horses/ Marshal/Commander-in-chief/Minister of War (Ta Ssu-ma 大司馬), the Grand Controller-of-followers/Minister of Education (Ta Ssu-t’u 大司徒), and the Grand Controller-of-digging/Minister of Works (Ta Ssu-k’ung 大司空). In the Eastern Han dynasty, this system was altered to the Great Marshal/Defender-in-chief (T’ai-wei 太尉), the Controller-of-followers/Minister of Education (Ssu-t’u 司徒) and the Controller-of-digging/Minister of Works (Ssu-K’ung 司空), also known collectively as the Three Controllers (San-ssu 三司). These were at most later periods imperial counsellors, but usually concurrently held other important posts which gave them actual important power, and they were in later times usually mandarins of grade 1a.
Appendices and Endnotes Page 17
