Appendices and Endnotes
Page 26
317When Emperor Perfection’s (Ch’eng-ti 成帝, reigned 32 BC - 7 BC) empress Bonny-queen Pan (Pan Chieh-yü 班婕妤) fell out of imperial favour, she withdrew to attend upon the empress dowager in Lasting-trust Palace (Ch’ang-hsin-kung 長信宮), serving her in such matters as sprinkling and sweeping the floors. Here, Wintry Flute-reed seems to be saying that she’s never allowed herself to sink so low.
318Chao-jung 昭容, Resplendent Looks:
i) the title of a Han dynasty kind of court-music. Pan Ku 班固 (32 - 92), History of the [Former] Han (Han-shu 漢書), “Li-yȕeh chih”, says: “In the Sixth Year of Emperor Kao-tsu’s reign [i.e. 201 BC], Resplendent Looks court-music (Chao-jung yȕeh 昭容樂) was also composed, Resplendent Looks being like the Resplendent Summer? China (Chao-hsia 昭夏) of ancient times, mainly deriving from Warrior-virtue dance (Wu-te wu 武德舞).
ii) a title for imperial wives, slightly lower than that of Most-prized empress (kui-fei 貴妃). Li Yen-shou 李延壽 (T’ang dynasty, 7th century AD) Southern history (Nan-shih 南史), “Hou-fei chuan hsü”, says: “In the year AD 456 of the Southern Dynasties Sung dynasty, Resplendent Grace (Chao-yi 昭儀), Resplendent Looks, and Resplendent Florescence (Chao-hua 昭華) were set up, to replace Tall-and-slender Florescence (Hsiu-hua 修華), Tall-and-slender Grace (Hsiu-yi 修儀) and Tall-and-slender Looks (Hsiu-jung 修容).”
319Yao-kung 瑤宮, Jasper Palace, a term for the palace of the moon.
320i.e. registered. Similar to the way in which mortals were bureaucratically registered for census and other administrative purposes.
321Ch’ang-e 嫦娥, Constant-charmeuse, i.e. the Moon Goddess, the Moon Fairy. Liu An 劉安 (?BC - 122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), as quoted in Hsü Chien 徐堅 (659 - 729), Records for early learning (Ch’u-hsueh chi 初學記), produced ca. AD 700, says: Archer Yi [Yi 羿, the archer-god] besought some Not-dying Medicine [Pu-ssu Chih-yao 不死之藥] from Royal Mother of the West (Hsi-wang-mu 西王母), and his wife, Constant-charmeuse [Heng-e 姮娥. During the Han dynasty, Emperor Civility (Wen-ti 文帝) had the personal name Heng 恒, meaning “constant”, so to avoid the taboo of using a closely similar name, people changed the name of this goddess to Ch’ang-e, also meaning Constant-charmeuse.], stole it and fled to the moon, seeking refuge on the moon, she becoming the Toad (Ch’an-ch’u 蟾蜍). [Tradition held that there was a toad on the moon, and indeed the moon was sometimes called the Toad.], and becoming the Moon Nymph [Yueh-ching 月精].
Weeping-willow-pavilion’s poetry talk (Liu-t’ing shih-hua 柳亭詩話) says: “Constant-charmeuse’s stealing the elixir and fleeing to the moon is also cited by Chang Heng 張衡 [78 - 139] in his Spirit worthies essay (Ling-hsien p’ien 靈憲篇). What was formerly referred to as ‘Ch’ang-yi divines/occupies the moon’ (Ch’ang-yi chan-yueh 嫦儀占月)’ was an error for this.”
322pi-lo 碧落, Jade-green/ Turquoise/ Azure Gathering-dwelling-place/Corner, a Buddhist Term for a realm of Heaven (t’ien-chieh 天界). Converting-people sutra (Tu-jen ching 度人經) says: “The Number-one Heaven of Eastern Heaven is covered everywhere with jade-green clouds, which is why it’s referred to as Jade-green Gathered-dwelling-place.”
Pai Chü-yi 白居易 (772 - 846), Lasting-woe song (Ch’ang-hen ke 長恨歌), has the lines: “Above, he searched the Jade-green Gathered-dwelling-place to its ends, and he went down to the Yellow Springs, both places rolled on and on, and nowhere did he see her.”
323Tou 斗, Dipper, i.e. the Dipper Constellation (Tou-hsiu 斗宿), one of the traditional Chinese Twenty-eight Constellations, the first of the seven Dark Warrior (Hsuan-wu 玄武) constellations, consisting of six stars, all in Sagittarius. It’s seen as shaped like a handled ladle, or a handle with a cup on the end of it. It’s also called the Northern Dipper (Pei-tou 北斗), and the Southern Dipper (Nan-tou 南斗). It’s called “Northern” because of its position relative to the Southern Winnowing-fan (Nan-chi 南箕) when they’re both in the south, the pairing being encapsulated in the term Nan-chi Pei-Tou 南箕北斗, “Southern Winnowing-fan and Northern Dipper”.
324Kuang-han-kung 廣寒宮, Vast-cold Palace, a poetic term for the moon. The term seems to derive from Heaven Treasure missed-out matters (T’ien-pao yi-shih 天寶遺事), which says: “When Shining August-emperor (Ming-huang 明皇) took a trip to the Moon-palace (Yȕeh-kung 月宮), he saw a notice-board on which was written ‘Vast-cold Pure-void Palace (Kuang-han Ch’ing-hsü chih-fu廣寒清虛之府)’.”
325Yȕeh-fu 月府, Moon Palace/Mansion, a poetic term for “the moon”.
367ch’ing-yu 清遊, trip to the Purity. i.e. to the sky or to the moon.
327She has, of course, in her previous time as an immortal.
328Perhaps Hung Sheng is here thinking of the varying resources of different theatre companies.
329yȕn-chien 雲肩, cloud-shoulders. Perhaps some kind of shawl, or cloud-patterned shoulder-parts of upper garment.
330 ch’en 塵, the Dust. The non-monastery lay world, in particular the urban political world, was often referred to as the Dust. A Taoist view was that the whole world was but one grain of dust. Sequel to “Biographies of immortals” (Hsü “Hsien-chuan” 續仙傳) says: “Ting Yȕeh 丁約 said to Wei Tzu-wei 韋子威: ‘You, sir, are still two specks of dust [worlds? lives?] away from finding cosmic truth.’ Tzu-wei asked him what he meant by that, and Ting replied: ‘The Confucians call it world/ generation/ era (shih 世), the Buddhists call it
This seems to relate to temporal rather than geographical extent, but it gives some notion of Taoistic disregard for life or the world? The term “dust world” (ch’en-shih 塵世) is found, for instance. Su Shih 蘇軾 (1036 - 1101) has the lines of poetry: “Why are the sun and moon [Time] so pressed and hurried! The Dusty World alas is so cramped and constrained.”
Buddhism uses the element “dust” (Sanskrit guna) in a number of terms, some of them disparaging. The closest to the Dust of this present poem, however, is the term Red Dust (hung-ch’en 紅塵). used to mean “a place of mundane bustle and excitement”, as used by Meng Hao-jan 孟浩然 (689 - 740) in a poem: “Well-wined, as daytime dusks, I race my horse into the Red Dust.” The term was later extended to mean the vain mundane mortal world, mortal society, ordinary lay or political society
331meng-mo 夢魔, “startling from dream”.
332wan-yen 琬琰, wan and yen jades:
i) meaning “wan Round-topped Writing-tablet” (wan-kui 琬圭) and “yen Pointed-topped Writing-tablet” (yen-kui 琰圭). K’ung Ch’iu 孔丘 (551 BC - 479 BC) (ed.), History classic (Shu-ching 書經), “Ku-ming”, says: “There were five [paired] categories of jade articles: Semi-precious Old-stones (ch’en-pao 陳寶) and Crimson Knives (ch’ih-tao 赤刀) [a kind of jade knife painted vermilion], Great Admonition-instructions (ta-hsȕn 大訓) [pieces of jade carved with the admonitions and instructions of the Former Kings] and Huge Jade-tesseras (hung-pi 弘璧) [large precious jade discs], and Round-topped Writing-tablets and Pointed-topped Writing-tablets, which were located in the West Side-room; and Great Jades (ta-yü 大玉) [jade balls/marbles from Mount Hua] and Yi-people Jades (Yi-yü 夷玉) [jades from the North-east], and Sky Jade-balls (t’ien-ch’iu 天球) [jade balls the colour of the sky, from Yung-chou 雍州] and River Pictures (He-t’u 河圖) [jade-stones with Natural patterns on them, from the Yellow River], located in the East Side-room.”
Commentary to that cites Cheng Hsȕan 鄭玄 (127 - 200) as saying: “Great Jade-tesserae and Round-topped Writing-tablets and Pointed-topped Writing-tablets all measured one foot two inches.” They were royal-clan articles (tsung-ch’i 宗器), so they were bigger than the tallies used by envoys (shih-chieh 使節). The preface to Anon. (late Chou or early Han dynasty) (ed.), Classic of being a loving compliant son (Hsiao-ching 孝經), says: “Writing it on wan Round-topped Writing-tablets and yen Pointed-topped Writing-tablets has many benefits for the future.” Commentary to that says: “Writin
g it on wan Round-topped Writing-tablets and yen Pointed-topped Writing-tablets ia like what is done with chien 簡 and ts’e 策 bamboo writing-boards. Some say they were carved stones (k’an-shih 刊石), and that talking of writing things on wan Round-topped Writing-tablets and yen Pointed-topped Writing-tablets was just a euphemism.”
ii) Li Yen-shou 李延壽 (T’ang dynasty, 7th century AD) Southern history (Nan-shih 南史)., “Liu Tsun chuan”, says: “Literary scribes should be rich, and have wan and yen for their hearts.” Here the terms seem to be an image for the virtue of true gentlemen (chȕn-tzu 君子) in ancient times, likening it to jade.
iii) meaning “jade liquid/liquor” (yü-yeh 玉液). Wang Chia 王嘉 (AD? - ca. AD 324), Picking up what’s been lost (Shih-yi chi 拾遺記), says: “When King Solemn [of the Chou dynasty] made an inspection-tour eastward to Great-cavalry Valley, [the goddess] Royal Mother of the West (Hsi Wang-mu 西王母) came for a meeting with him there, and presented him with pure limpid wan and yen oils for the making of wine.” Here the terms seem to mean some supernatural kinds of jade.
iv) Wan 琬 and Yen 琰 were the names of people. Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC-ca. 85 BC) Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju chuan”, says: “Hung a banner for Wan and Yen.” P’ei Yin 裴駰 (fl. ca. AD 438), Assembled explanations of “Historians’ records” (“Shih-chi” chi-chieh 史記集解), comments on that: “When King Chieh campaigned at Mount Min, he obtained two women, called Wan and Yen, and engraved their names on Trumpet-creeper- [Tecoma Grandiflora Loisel] bloom Jade (tzu-wei chih-yü 苕華 之玉).”
Wan by itself, acording to Hsü Shen 許慎 (30 - 124), Explaining writing and elucidating characters (Sho-wen chieh-tzu 說文解字), produced in AD 100, means “a writing-tablet (kui 圭) with a bowl (wan 琬)”. A note by Hsü K’ai 徐鍇 (920 - 974) says: “Wan means ‘curvedly hollow/sunken (wan-jan wa 宛然窊)’. Wan 琬 means wan 婉’, ‘harmoniously/gently compliant’, and ‘hollowly’ is an image for ‘supply and gently compliant (jou-wan 柔婉)’.” Tuan Yü-ts’ai 段玉裁 (1735 - 1815) notes: “It means ‘hollowing out the middle of it gently curvedly’” All a little unclear to me.
Yen by itself, according to Hsü Shen, means: “beautiful colours arising from a precious jade-tessera”. Hsu K’ai notes to that: “Yen means yen 炎, ‘flame’, ‘bright flames arising’.” Tuan Yu-ts’ai notes: “When Hsü Shen says ‘beautiful colours arising’, it should perhaps be ‘a writing-tablet which is whittled pointed (yen 剡) and on which are raised beautiful decorations.” Again, not all clear to me.
Anon. man of Ch’i 齊 (Eastern Chou dynasty), Examination of artisans (K’ao-kung chi 考功記), “Yü-jen”, says: “The Round-topped Writing-tablet” (wan-kui) was nine inches [long] and wound round with silk strands, and used to symbolise virtue (te 德).” A note to that says: “The wan is like huan 圜, ‘to wind round’, ‘to encircle’. It means the auspicious tally (jui-chieh 瑞節) of a royal envoy. When the ruler of a subordinate state had virtuous influence, the king would command that gifts be bestowed upon him, and an envoy would take the Round-topped Writing-tablet to convey the command to him.” Tuan Yü-ts’ai’s note to that says: “Hsien Cheng 先鄭 says: ‘The Round-topped Writing-tablet had no point.’” Hou Cheng 後鄭 says: ‘The wan was like huan.’ I consider that huan meant yen 剡, ‘to whittle’, That’s why it’s said that the top of the Round-topped Writing-tablet was wan-wan 宛宛, ‘curved”, in the same sense as when there’s a hill upon a hill and it’s called a wan-ch’iu 宛丘, ‘curved hill’, ‘round crest’.”
The yen 琰 is said to be a borrowing for yen 剡, “to whittle away”. Examination of artisans, “Yü-jen”, says: “The Pointed-topped Writing-tablet (yen-kui) was nine inches long, with a curving point (p’an-kui 判規), the lower half being four and a half inches, it being used to dispel evil (ch’u-t’e 除慝), so as to facilitate good conduct.” A note to that says: “In all writing-tablets, the yen is the upper inch and a half, and the half above half of the yen is further the carved pattern (chuan 瑑) decoration. If any ruler of a subordinate state behaved immorally (pu-yi 不義), a king’s envoy would travel to him, grasping a Pointed-topped Writing-tablet as an auspicious tally.”
In this drama, Hung Sheng seems to take wan and yen just as two kinds of precious (waist-ornament) jade ornaments.
333Hung Sheng gives the note that this line comes from a poem by Ts’ao T’ang 曹唐 [fl. ca. AD 867].
334Hung Sheng gives the note that this line comes from a poem by Ting Hsien-chih 丁仙芝.
335Hung Sheng gives the note that this line comes from a poem by Li Shang-yin 李商隱 [813-858].
336Hung Sheng gives the note that this line comes from a poem by Huang T’ao 黃滔[fl. ca. AD 900].
337Nien-nu 念奴 Remember-me, the name of a palace lady, (Dame) Remember-me, in the T’ang imperial palace, attendant upon Empress Yang. Younger than Dame Ever-new. Remember-me was originally the name of a T’ang dynasty female entertainer (ch’ang-nü 倡女), alluded to in the tz’u-lyric tune-title Remember-me’s dainty prettiness (Nien-nu chiao 念奴嬌). Yȕan Chen 元稹 (997-831), Continuous-flourishing Palace songs (Lien-ch’ang kung tz’u 連昌宮詞), has the lines: “Eunuch-chamberlain [Kao] transmitted the call seeking Remember-me, But Remember-me had slipped away to spend the night in the company of the various young court-gentlemen.”
His own note to this poem says: “Remember-me was a celebrated entertainer (ming-ch’ang 名倡) during the reign-period 743 - 756, who was skilled at singing. Every New Year, a feast was held at the foot of a tall building, and after several days, the vast multitude bawled in the alleys, and all the court-musicians because of it ceased their performing. Emperor Dark-progenitor (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗) sent Eunuch-chamberlain Kao (Kao li-shih 高力士) to yell from up in the tower, and declare, ‘We desire to send Remember-me to sing songs, and the Twenty-five Young Gentlemen of Pin (Pin Erh-shih-wu-lang 邠二十五郎) to play the little shawm (hsiao-kuan 小管). Onlookers will be driven away. Can you comply with that?’ They always meekly accepted the imperial command, such was the respect in which he was held in those times. However, Emperor Dark-progenitor didn’t want to snatch away the splendour of freedom of movement.”
The tz’u-lyric tune Remember-me’s dainty prettiness followed afterwards. In the Sung dynasty, Wang Cho 王灼 (fl. ca. AD 1162), Green-jade Cock’s free-ranging records (Pi-chi man-chih 碧雞漫志), of AD 1149, says: “The present-day Big-stone Mode (Ta-shih-tiao 大石調) Remember-me’s dainty prettiness is said by society to have been a melody composed during the reign-period 743 - 756.”
Su Shih 蘇軾 (1036 - 1101), Musing on antiquity at Crimson Cliff (Ch’ih-pi huai-ku tz’u 赤壁懷古詞), has the lines: “The great Yangtse departed east, and with one wine-jar I turned and libated the Yangtse moon.” That was why the tz’u-tune was called Great Yangtse goes east (Ta Chiang tung-ch’ü 大江東去) and also Libating the Yangtse moon (Lei Chiang-yȕeh 酹江月), and, because it also sings of Chou Yü 周瑜 (175-210) and Younger Ch’iao (Hsiao-ch’iao 小喬), it was further titled Crimson Cliff ballad (Ch’ih-pi yao 赤壁謠). Tseng Ti 曾覿 (1109 - 1180) composed a tz’u-lyric with the tune-title Heaven in Kettle (Hu-chung t’ien 壺中天).
Tai Fu-ku 戴復古 (fl. ca. AD 1198) composed a tz’u-lyric with the line, “The Great Yangtse ascends westwards”, so it was called Great Yangtse ascends west melody (Ta Chiang hsi-shang ch’ü 大江西山上曲). Chiang K’ui 姜 夔 (ca. 1155 - ca. 1221) composed a tz’u-lyric called River Hsiang moon (Hsiang-yȕeh 湘月), to which he wrote a note: “It’s the same as Remember-me’s dainty prettiness in the Across-finger Mode (Ke-chih-sheng 隔指聲).” Han Hu 韓 淲 (1160 - 1224) composed among his tz’u-lyrics one with the lines: “Year in year out ‘eyebrow’ longevity, Sitting facing the south branch.”, so it was called Longevity south branch (Shou nan-chih 壽南枝), it also being called Ancient “Plum-blossom melody” (Ku-mei ch’ü 古梅曲).
Chang Yi 張揖 (North
ern Wei dynasty) composed a tz’u-lyric with the line, “Willow-flowers in the River Huai pastures are cold in the spring”, and it was given the title Huai-pastures spring (Huai-tien ch’un 淮甸春). Chang Chu 張翥 (1287 - 1368) composed a tz’u-lyric titled Hundred-character ditty (Pai-tzu ling 百字令), which is also called Hundred-character ballad (Pai-tzu yao 百字謠).
Ch’iu Ch’ang-ch’un 丘長春 (dates?) barded about pear-blossoms, and Ling Yen-ch’ung 凌彥翀 (dates?) composed one about the moon, their title being Without mundane thoughts (Wu su-nien 無俗念). Yu Wen-chung 游文仲 (dates?) composed one called Thousand-autumns year (Ch’ien-ch’iu sui 千秋歲). Anon. (Yȕan or Ming dynasty), Complete book of “plume-and-ink” calligraphy (Han-mo ch’üan-shu 翰墨全書), contains one called Apricot-blossom heaven (Hsing-hua t’ien 杏花天). All the same tune. This tune had two forms, one using Level Rhymes, and the other using Oblique Rhymes.
Its title was also used for ch’ü-arias. A Southern ch’ü-aria (nan-ch’ü 南曲) was included in the High Big-stone Mode Prelude (Kao Ta-shih-tiao Yin 高大石調引). As a Northern ch’ü-aria, it was included High Big-stone Chȕeh-note Single-aria (Kao Ta-shih-chȕeh Chih-ch’ü 高大石角隻曲). Southern ch’ü-arias also include Remember-me’s dainty prettiness prelude (Nien-nu chiao hsü 念奴嬌序), included as a High Big-stone-mode Main-aria (Kao Ta-shih-tiao Cheng-ch’ü 高大石調正曲).