iii) a metaphor for a man’s bold and generous-spirited literary ability or his heroic conduct, outstandingness. Hsü Ling 徐陵 (507 - 583), Reporting on Yin Yi’s “Historical documents of the past” (Pao Yin-yi “Shang-shu” 報尹義尚書), says: “His ability’s bolder than wind and cloud, his moral honour’s deeper than pool deeps and the ocean.” Yü Hsin 庾信 (513-581), Eulogy on Chȕn Yȕn’s “Broken balustrade” (Chu Yȕn “Che-chien “tsan 朱雲折檻贊), says: “He personally broke the balustrade, His honour and uprightness were wind and cloud.”
iv) a metaphor for “a mighty, unexpected change”. An essay by Shen Yȕeh 沈約 (441 - 513) says: “Wind and cloud/storm-cloud overflowed curtains and mattress.”, referring to such.
v) an image for lofty governmental position. An essay by P’an Yȕeh 潘岳 (247 - 300) says: “Straddling and rearing on wind and cloud.”
vi) later on, “wind and cloud” was used as a metaphor for “momentous success”, “mighty career or political achievement”.
vii) an image for mighty change. Note the idiom feng-yȕ pien-huan 風雲變幻, “to magically alter like the wind and rain”, (of a situation) to be very changeable. Now mostly means: to be rapidly changing, to be a complexly altering situation, constant changing of events.
Note also the idiom feng-yȕ T’u-pien: 風雲突衢, “the wind and cloud suddenly/abruptly change/alter”, i.e. the situation changes suddenly and greatly.
viii) The idiom feng-yȕn jen-wu 風雲人物, “a wind and cloud personality”, means a person of great contemporary power/influence, a man of the hour, someone able to have a crucial say in a key matter of importance Nowadays mostly used in a depreciative sense/sense of adverse criticism.
ix) The idiom ch’ih-cha feng-yȕn 叱吒風雲, “to angrily bellow commands at the wind and cloud”, means to have great power, to be all-powerful, to be powerfully awe-inspiring/imposing. Lo Pin-wang 駱賓王 (AD? - AD 684), Despatch for Hsü Ching-yeh on Empress Wu’s presiding over the court and moving him to the commanderies and counties (Wei Hsü Ching-yeh yi Wu-hou lin-ch’ao yi-chu chȕn-hsien hsi 為徐敬業以武后臨朝移諸郡縣檄), says: “He angrily growled, and mountains and peaks collapsed and crumbled, He angrily bellowed and the wind and clouds (/ stormy clouds) changed colour/turned pale.”
226A possible quote - uknown.
227e-mei 蛾眉, lit. “moth eyebrows”, a term found as early as in Songs classic (Shih-ching 詩經). It’s taken, not unreasonably, that it referred to eyebrows that were as gracefully arched as the antennae of a moth, which was certainly the generally accepted connotation in later times, but Yen Shih-ku 顏師古 (581 - 645) disputes this at length, and prefers to view the e as meaning the same as e 娥, “daintily pretty”, “sprightly and sightly”, “cute”, “cute lady”. Often used in poetry, this binom has the sense of: daintily pretty/beautiful girl/woman/lady.
228Ch’ang-men 長門, Tall Gate, i.e. Tall-gate Imperial-palace (Ch’ang-men-kung 長門宮) was the name of a Han dynasty imperial palace. Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju 司馬相如 (179 BC - 117 BC), in his preface to his Tall-gate rhapsody (Ch’ang-men fu 長門賦), says: “Emperor Warrior’s (Wu-ti 武帝, [reigned 140 BC - 87 BC]) Empress Ch’en (Ch’en huang-hou 陳皇后) was frequently favoured with his love, but was very shrewish, so was located apart, in Tall-gate Palace, where in her sorrow and boredom she yearned sadly. Hearing that Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju of Ch’eng-tu 成都 in the province of Shu 蜀 was the most skilled literary writer in the world, she respectfully presented him with a hundred catties of yellow gold, and fetched wine for Hsiang-ju and [his wife] Refined-lady (Wen-chȕn 文君), so he then produced a literary piece to dispel her sadness and sorrows for her. By writing the piece, Hsiang-ju alerted the monarch, and the empress was able to be favoured with his love again.”
In the Ch’u-tune Melody (Ch’u-tiao-ch’ü 楚調曲) category of the Music Treasury Song (yȕeh-fu 樂府) genre of Chinese poetry, there was a tune title Tall Gate repining (Ch’ang-men yȕan 長門怨), also called Pretty-one’s repining (A-chiao yȕan 阿嬌怨). Elucidating the titles of Music Treasury songs (Yȕeh-fu chieh-t’i 樂府解題) (Sung dynasty or earlier) says: “This Tall-gate repining was composed for Emperor Warrior of the Han dynasty’s Empress Ch’en. When the empress withdrew and dwelled in Tall-gate Palace, she was sad and dejected, sadly longing, and, hearing that Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju was skilled at literary composition, respectfully presented him with a hundred catties of yellow gold, and ordered him to compose a literary piece to dispel her sorrows. Hsiang-ju composed his Tall-gate rhapsody for her. On seeing it, the emperor was grieved by it, and the empress was once more able to receive the favours of his loving. Someone later followed the rhapsody, and made a Tall-gate repining.”
229Yung-hsiang 永巷, Enduring Lane:
i) a long lane in the Han dynasty imperial palace, used for confining palace ladies as a punishment for some offence, as seen in Anon., Yellow maps of the Three Guardians’ metropolitan area (San-fu huang-t’u 三輔黃圖).
ii) term referring to the Rear Palace (Hou-kung 後宮) women’s quarters of the imperial palace. Li Yen-shou 李延壽 (T’ang dynasty, 7th century AD), Southern history (Nan-shih 南史). “Hou-fei chuan tsung-lun”, says: “The Enduring Lane was poor and empty, somewhat like the Plain-white-silk Room (Su-shih 素室).” Anon. (Chou and Han dynasties), Close exegeses (Erh-ya 爾雅), “Shih-kung”, says: “The lanes (hang/nung/hsiang 衖) in the imperial palace were called k’un 壼.”
Commentary to that says: “Nowadays, the Rear Palace women’s quarters of the imperial palace are called Enduring Lane, a term for a path/road in the palace.”
230from Songs classic, “Hsiao-hsing”, i.e. wanted to monopolise the emperor in bed.
231Shang-lin 上林, Imperial Forest, Superior Forest, i.e. Shang-lin-yȕan 上林苑, Imperial Forest Hunting-park. Originally an old imperial park of the Ch’in dynasty, a park of this name was set up by Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti武帝, reigned 140 BC - 87 BC) in 138 BC, who added to it and increased its size. West of present-day Ch’ang-an county in Shensi. It was enormous, and his court-poet Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju 司馬相如 (ca. 179 BC - 117 BC) wrote a fu rhapsody describing its lavish scale and luxurious provisions.
Another park of the same name was set up during the Eastern Han dynasty. Emperor Shining (Ming-ti 明帝, reigned 58 - 75) once hunted there, and it was several times visited by Emperor Towering (Huan-ti 桓帝, (reigned 147 - 167). This was located east of present-day Lo-yang county, and west of the site of the old city of Lo-yang, in Henan province. In this drama, the name is used as an anachronism just meaning “a T’ang imperial park”.
232Hua-lo 花落, Blossoms falling, i.e. Plum-blossoms falling (Mei-hua lo 梅花落), a tune-title. of a Han dynasty Cross-blow Melody (Heng-ch’ui-ch’ü 橫吹曲). Kuo Mao-ch’ien 郭茂倩 (Sung dynasty), Collection of the lyrics of Music Treasury songs (Yȕeh-fu shih-chi 樂府詩集), says: “Plum-blossoms falling was originally a flute melody. I note that the T’ang dynasty Ta-chȕeh Melodies (Ta-chȕeh-ch’ü 大角曲) also included such melodies as Great Khan (Ta shan-yü 大單于), Little khan (Hsiao shan-yü 小單于), Big ‘Plum-blossom’ (Ta mei-hua 大梅花) and Little ‘Plum-blossom’（Hsiao mei-hua 小梅花), some of the music of which still survives nowadays.” A poem by Chiang Tsung 江總 (519 - 594) has the lines: “The young men of Ch’ang-an are mostly frivolous and superficial, and pair on pair always singing Plum-blossoms falling.” … Cf. the tune Lung Head (Lung-t’ou 隴頭).
233 a line from Li Shang-yin 李商隱 (813 - 858).
234a term from Songs classic, “Hsiao-hsing”.
235Chin-men 金門, Gold Gate, the name of a gate of a Han dynasty palace-office (possibly: eunuch-official office, huan-shu 宦署). There was a bronze horse at the side of the gate, and so it was also called “Gold- (or Bronze-) horse Gate, Chin-ma-men 金馬門). Pan Ku 班固, (32 - 92) Han history (Han-shu 漢書), “Tung-fang Sho chuan”, talks of: “Avoiding society in Gold-horse Gate.” Han history, “Yang Hsiung chuan”, says:
“Passing through Gold Gate, going up into Jade Hall (Yü-t’ang 玉堂).” A note to that says: “Gold Gate is the same as Gold-horse Gate.” We note that Gold Horse was also the name of a god. Here it’s used as a metonymic metaphor for “the imperial palace”, “the imperial capital”.
236Chiu-t’ien 九天, Ninth Heaven. See note on Ninth Layer above.
237i.e. love-making come to an end.
238i.e. the Queen of the State of Kuo.
239 feng-wei 鳳幃, Phoenix Bed-curtain.
240 tan-feng 丹鳳, cinnabar phoenix, i.e. a phoenix. Also called tan-niao 丹鳥, cinnabar bird. Tan-niao has various meanings:
i) golden pheasant (Phasianus pictus) (pi-chih 碧雉). See note to Tso Ch’iu-ming 左丘明 (6th-5th century BC?) (dub. attr.), Tso’s commentary (Tso-chuan左傳), “Chao 17 nien”, on “Tan-niao-shih”. Tan-niao-shih 丹鳥氏, Lord Cinnabar-bird/Lord Golden-pheasant, was the title of an official said to have existed during the reign of the mythological world-ruler Shao-hao 少昊/皞, traditionally ruled 2598 BC-2515 BC. Tso’s commentary says: “The Lord Cinnabar-bird was in charge of Closures (pi 閉).” The note says: “The cinnabar bird is a golden pheasant. It comes here on Autumn-start (Li-ch’iu 立秋) and departs on Winter-start (Li-tung 立冬).” An exegesis to that says: “Autumn-start and Winter-start are referred to as Closures. This bird comes here on Autumn-start, and departs on Winter-start, which is why the official/ ministry is called after it, it being put in charge of Autumn-start and Winter-start.”
ii) another term for “phoenix” (feng 鳳). A note to Ch’en Shou 陳壽 (233 - 297), Three Kingdoms records (San-kuo chih 三國志), “Wei-chih”, “Kuan Lu chuan”, says: “When King Civility (Wen-wang 文王) received the mandate [of Heaven], a cinnabar-bird held writings in its beak.”
iii) according to Ts’ui Pao 崔豹 (fl. ca. AD 300), Ancient and modern notes of China (Chung Hua ku-chin chu 中華古今注), another name for a firefly.
Tso Ch’iu-ming 左丘明 (6th-5th century BC?) (dub. attr.), Discussions of the states (Kuo-yü 國語), “Chou-yü”, says: “When the Chou dynasty arose, a yȕeh-cho 鸑鷟 sang on Mount Ch’i (Ch’i-shan 岐山).” The yȕeh-cho is defined as:
i) “a phoenix”. A note by Sun Yen 孫炎 (Three Kingdoms, Wei), Annotations to “Talk of the states” (Kuo-yü chu 國語注), to the above Discussions of the states quote, says: “Yȕeh-cho is another name for the phoenix (feng 鳳).”
ii) the name of a water bird/ aquatic fowl (shui-niao 水鳥). Hsü Shen 許慎 (30 - 124), in his Explaining writing and elucidating characters (Sho-wen chieh-tzu 說文解字), produced in AD 100, says: “Out on the Yangtse there are yȕeh-cho, which resemble wild-ducks (fu 鳧), but bigger and with crimson eyes.”
Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC - ca. 85 BC), Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju chuan”, mentions a shu-yü/ cho-yü 嵕鳿. Also in Han history found written as chu-yü 屬玉. Chang Shou-chieh 張守節 (T’ang dynasty), Establishing proper meanings in “Historians’ records” (Shih-chi cheng-yi 史記正義), cites a Kuo 郭 as saying: “It was like a duck (ya 鴨) but bigger, with a long neck and crimson eyes, and of scarlet and dark purple (tzu-kan 紫紺) colour.” Phoenixes are customarily viewed as benign or propitious birds in Chinese tradition. The usual term for them is feng 鳳, feng-huang 鳳皇, also written feng-huang 鳳凰, or termed luan 鸞. K’ung Ch’iu 孔丘 (551 BC - 479 BC) (ed.), History classic (Shu-ching 書經), “Yi Chi”, says: “In Panpipes Continuity’s (Hsiao Shao 簫韶) [title of one of the court musical performances for the mythological world-ruler Yü-ti Shun 虞帝舜, traditionally reigned 2255 BC-2208 BC] Ninth Completion (Chiu-ch’eng 九成) [i. e nine “changes”/ movements/ stanzas], a feng-huang 鳳皇 comes and dances with graceful postures (lai-yi 來儀).”
K’ung An-kuo 孔安國 (fl. ca. 156 BC - 74 BC), Commentaries on “Histories” (Shu-chuan 書傳) [apocryphal], says: “The male is called feng, and the female huang.” That remark was surely based on Anon. (Chou and Han dynasties), Close exegeses (Erh-ya 爾雅), “Shih-niao”, which says: “The female of the yen 鷃 [another synonym for “phoenix”] or feng is called the huang.” Hsü Shen 許慎 (30 - 124), Explaining writing and elucidating characters (Sho-wen chieh-tzu 說文解字) produced in AD 100, says: “The feng is a divine/supernatural bird (shen-niao 神鳥). Heaven’s Old Man (T’ien-lao 天老) [a minister of the mythical Yellow Emperor/ World-ruler (Huang-ti 黃帝, traditionally reigned 2698 BC - 2599 BC)] said that what the feng resembles is a swan-goose to the fore and a unicorn (lin 麟) to the rear. [Examination of the ancient edition of “Explaining writing” (Sho-wen ku-pen k’ao 說文古本考) gives “a unicorn to the fore and a deer (lu 鹿) to the rear”], a snake’s neck and a fish’s tail, a stork’s forehead and a mandarin-duck’s side-whiskers/ cheeks [Examination of the ancient edition of “Explaining writing” says that this “a stork’s etc.” is not given in the ancient edition], a dragon patterning and a turtle’s back, a swallow’s chin and a hen’s beak, and is of all the Five Colours, it coming from the Country of True Gentlemen in the eastern region of the world (Tung-fang Chȕn-tzu Chih-kuo 東方君子之國), and flaps its wings and glides beyond the world’s Four Seas, passing K’un-lun 崑崙, drinks at Fine-millstone Pillar (Ti-chu 砥柱), washes its feathers in Weak River (Jo-shui 弱水), and at dusk goes to spend the night in Wind Cave (Feng-hsȕeh 風穴) [Examination of the ancient edition of “Explaining writing” says that the ancient edition calls it Cinnabar Cave (Tan-hsȕeh 丹穴).] If it appears, then the whole world will know mighty peace and tranquility.”
Luan, provisionally translated as “roc” for the sake of differentiation, not a proper fit, English seeming relatively to lack a wide range of names for mythological birds, has two main meanings:
i) the name of a bird, said anciently to be of the phoenix family, and to be of all Five Colours with a predominance of green (ch’ing 青). Chang Yi 張揖 (Latter Wei dynasty), in his Expanded “Exegeses” (Kuang “Ya” 廣雅), “Shih-niao”, says: “The luan-niao 鸞鳥 is of the feng-huang 鳳凰 family.”
ii) Hsü Chien 徐堅 (659 - 729), Records for early learning (Ch’u-hsȕeh chi 初學記), produced ca. AD 700, cites a Classic of plants and insects in the Mao “Songs” (Mao Shih ts’ao-ch’ung ching 毛詩草蟲經) as saying: “The male’s called a feng, and the female a huang 凰, their fledglings (ch’u 雛) being called luan-cho [luan or cho] 鸞鷟.”
iii) the name of a small bell or hand-bell (ling 鈴): see luan-tao 鸞刀and luan-he 鸞和, also found as he-luan 和鸞.
The term luan-feng 鸞鳳, “rocs and phoenixes” has various meanings:
i) a metaphor for men of moral goodness. Fan Yeh 范曄 (398 - 445), Latter Han history (Hou Han-shu 後漢書), “Liu T’ao chuan”, says: “In elevating men, the lord ministers all form cliques of their own, it being a case of what’s called ‘letting loose the kites and owls and imprisoning the rocs and phoenixes.’”
ii) a metaphor for men of handsomeness and genius. Yȕan Chen 元稹 (779 - 831), in his poem Matching with Pai Chü-yi’s poem (Ch’ou Le-t’ien shih 詶樂天詩), has the lines: “You’re an officer in the region, Of such splendid roc and phoenix figure.”
iii) a poetic image for a married couple/husband and wife. Lu Ch’u 盧儲 (circa T’ang dynasty), in his poem Hurrying the prinking (Ts’ui-chuang 催妝), has the lines: “Today’s blessed with the good fortune of a Ch’in and Tsin marriage, Hurry tell the roc-phoenix to descend from her prinking-bower.”
The phrase “rocs glide and phoenixes flock/gather” (luan-hsiang feng-chi 鸞翔鳳集) is a poetic image for “noble-minded able men’s splendid gathering together”.
Fu Hsien 傅咸 (239 - 294), Expressing my feelings rhapsody (Shen-huai fu 申懷賦), has the lines. “Rocs glide and phoenixes flock, Feather Insignia (yü-yi 羽儀, [metaphor for “noble-minded able men elevated to high government employ”]) go to the capital.”
A similar-sounding phrase, luan-hsiang feng-chu 鸞翔鳳翥, “rocs glide and ph
oenixes fly soaring”, is used to describe the exquisiteness of the movement of writing-brush strokes. Han Yü’s 韓愈 (768 - 824) famous poem Stone-drums song (Shih-ku ke 石鼓歌) includes the lines:
Script-style akin to neither Clerk Script nor the
Tadpole Script.
So many years gone by,
unavoidable
some strokes gone missing!
Sharp swords clove
“live flood-dragon and crocodile” graphies,
In which rocs glide and phoenixes fly,
and all the immortals descend,
Corals and Green-jade Trees
intermingle their branches and trunks,
As stout as chained and knotted
with bronze cords and iron ropes,
Ancient tripods skip water,
shuttles whence aloft soar dragons.
241a term from Songs classic.
242Round-fan song (T’uan-shan ke團扇歌):
i) Bonny-lady Empress Pan (Pan chieh-yü 班婕妤, ca. 48 BC - not long after 6 BC) in her poem Repining poem lay (Yȕan-shih hsing 怨詩行) has the lines: “I’ve trimmed up a Joined-delights Fan (He-huan-shan 合歡扇), As round and united (t’uan-t’uan 團團) as the bright moon.”, so her poem was also called Round-fan song. Cf. Repining poem lay.
ii) the title of a Wu-music Song-melody Music Treasury tune (Yȕeh-fu Wu-sheng Ke-ch’ü 樂府吳聲歌曲), also found as Round-fan beau song (T’uan-shan lang ke 團扇郎歌).
Anon. (Sung dynasty or earlier), Record of ancient and modern court-musical performance (Ku-chin yȕeh-lu 古今樂錄), tells us that the Tsin dynasty Secretariat Director (chung-shu ling 中書令) Wang Min 王珉 (351 - 388) liked holding a white round fan. He had a most ardent love affair with his sister-in-law’s bond-maid, Hsieh Fragrant-figure (Hsieh Fang-tzu 謝芳姿). When the affair was discovered, the bond-naid accordingly composed this song.
Appendices and Endnotes Page 22
