1320chin-kua 金瓜, Gold Melon. Normally an item carried in an imperial cortege.
1321han-chin 汗巾, “perspiration cloth”, sometimes explained as “waist-sash”, but from below seems rather to mean “kerchief” or “scarf”.
1322sheng-hsia 升遐, “to ascend enduringly”, a speical term for “of emperors, to die”.
1323t’i-tu t’ai-chien 提都太監, Superintendent Eunuch.
1324Lit. tai-chao 待詔, Expectant Mandarin, the title of a court mandarin not yet holding a specific title. During the Sung and Ch’ing dynasties, it meant Editorial Assistant, a low-ranking court post.
1325Li-hen-t’ien 離恨天, Regrets-at-parting Heaven.
1326ts’ui-luan-ch’iao 翠鸞翹, a probably prosaically suitable variant on ts’ui-ch’iao 翠翹. Ts’ui-ch’iao means:
(i) kingfisher feather. Sung Yü 宋玉 (ca. 290 - ca. 223 BC),
(ii) Invoking souls (Chao-hun 招魂), mentions the term, and a later note to it says: “ts’ui means the bird, and ch’iao means ‘feather’.”
(iii) a woman’s hair adornment. P’eng Ta-yi 彭大翼 (Ming dynasty), Mountaiun Hermitage’s free investigations (Shan-t’ang ssu-k’ao 山唐肆考), says: “The long feather on the tail of a kingfisher is called ch’iao. The hair-adornment of beautiful ladies is like it, so is called ‘kinfisher’s long tail-feather’. Wei Ying-wu 韋應物 (737 - 792) has a poem with the lines: “Gorgeous ladies in their damask casements float and drift their love, Mandarin-duck hairpins in their hair and pairs of ts’ui-ch’iao.”
1327i.e. tilll the end of the night.
1328 The expression “Kao Feng lets the wheat float” (Kao Feng p’iao-mai 高鳳漂麥) refers to the man Kao Feng 高鳳 (fl. ca. AD 85) of the Latter Han dynasty. From She 葉, he had the courtesy-name of Wen-t’ung 文通. As a youth, he was fond of studying. His family pursued the farming vocation, and one day when his wife was going to go out into the fields, they were drying wheat-grain in their courtyard, and she told Kao Feng to keep an eye on their chickens. It chanced just then to rain, and Kao Feng, grasping a bamboo pole and reciting the classics, didn’t notice that the rainwater had floated the wheat-grain away. Only when his wife returned and challenged him did he realise it. He studied without rest “day and night”, and became a celebrated Confucian scholar. During the reign-period 84 - 87, he was appointed governmental Instructor/ Educator (chiao-shou 教授) in the Hsi-t’ang Mountains (Hsi-t’ang-shan 西唐山), but didn’t respond to the recruitment, turning recluse and spending his time angling, living out his days at home. Kuan Han-ch’ing 關漢卿 (ca. 1220 - Ca.1300) wrote a drama calle Kao Feng lets wheat float.
1329 i.e. by reminding of the oncoming cold season, it spurs womenfolk to prepare winter-clothing for their menfolk serving on the frontiers far away.
End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
One of the foremost experts on the Chinese language, culture and history, a highly respected and renowned lecturer in Mandarin and father of five, William (Bill) Dolby spent his life surpassing academic excellence. Throughout his active career and until the last, Bill freely shared his deep love of Chinese drama and Classical Chinese and in so doing created a truly inspirational and sound foundation in those who took the time to listen. As a true master the respect that he gained from his peers and from students, friends and colleagues is indisputably a priceless rarity.
Over his lifetime, he had various works published, all of which remain the foremost works in the area. These include ‘A History of Chinese Drama’ published by Elek Books in 1976 (ISBN 0 236 30903) and Lao She, Mr Ma and Son, published by Penguin in 2013 (ISBN NO: 978-0-14-320811-2) however, his greatest works are contained within his self-titled ‘The Chinese Culture Series’: 33 individual works; poetry, translation, insight and drama which only today are being made available for others to share.
The ‘Chinese Culture Series’
(1 to 33)
1
No1: Kuan Han-Ch'ing: China's first Playwright
2
No2: Bring on the Wine and other Poems by Li Pai
3
No3: Chinese Poetry Through the Ages: an Anthology
4
Chinese Short Stories
5
History of early Chinese Ch'ü-aria Poetry
6
Sayings of Confucius and his Students
7
Ma Chih-yüan's Complete San-ch'ü-aria Poems
8
Wang Shi-Fu, Author of China's Most Famous Play
9
West Wing Chantefable by Tung Chieh-yüan
10
Sir Old, the Chinese Classic of Taoism
11
Peking Opera
12
Yüan Dynasty Variety Plays
13
Mr Ma and son in London
14
Songs Classic: China’s earliest poetry anthology
15
Classical Chinese Textbook
16
Three Hundred T'ang Dynasty Poems
17
Yüan Dynasty Variety Play dramas: 100 stories
18
Chinese Folk-tales
By William Dolby
19
Chinese Humour: Anthology
20
Gold-producing Mansion
21
Chinese Riddles
22
Chinese Elliptical Idioms (hsieh-hou-yu)
23
West Wing, China's most famous drama
24
Washing Silk, a drama by Liang Ch'en-yi (1520-ca.1580)
25
Chinese Drama Poems
26
Chinese Prose: Biographies, Prefaces, Anecdotes
27
Chinese Myths
28
Chinese Allusions: a short dictionary
29
Lasting-life Palace-hall by Hung Sheng
(1654-1704)
30
Chinese non-drama aria-poems, an anthology (VOLUME ONE)
31
Chinese Poetry Through the Ages
32
Chinese idioms, proverbs and sayings: a short dictionary
33
Anthology of Chinese non-drama aria-poems (VOLUME TWO)
Detailed information on the work of William Dolby and his ‘Chinese Culture Series can be found at:
http://www.williamdolby.com
Appendices and Endnotes Page 60
