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Moments in Earthly Paradise: Urban Life of the Cultural Elite in Ming Suzhou

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Moments in Earthly Paradise: Urban Life of the Cultural Elite in Ming Suzhou Susan Su-chen Chang 張素貞 元培大學 應用英文系 Moments in Earthly Paradise: Urban Life of the Cultural Elite in Ming Suzhou Suzhou蘇州has been claimed to be a paradise on earth since the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127).1 It is located at the center of the Yangzi delta, close to the scenic Lake Tai太湖 (Fig. 1), in the southeast of present-day Jiangsu 江蘇province (Fig. 2). With its grain trade, its textile production, and the myriad of manufactured articles, and with its waterways that link the city to the Grand Canal and Yangzi River system, which means connection to the important cities of Northern and Southern China, it was the most prosperous city in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).2 After the harsh years of the early Ming,3 its economy and urban life gradually resurged during the periods of Zhengtong 正統 (1436-1449) and Tianshun天順 (1457-1464) and substantially rejuvenated during the Chenghua 成化era (1465-1487).4 Suzhou was prosperous not only economically but also culturally during the late fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century.5 It was home to a large number of famous scholars and artists. Among the cultural elite of the Ming dynasty, the most famous figures in painting were the so-called Four Great Masters of the Ming dynasty: Shen Zhou沉周 (1427-1509), Wen Zhengming文徵明 (1470-1559), Tang Yin 唐寅 (1479-1523), and Qiu Ying仇英 (c.1494-1552). They all resided around the Suzhou area and produced the most valued art, enjoyed the most luxurious life on earth and fashioned the taste of the empire at their time.6 The research works on Ming Suzhou by scholars of urban history, Yinong Xu, Michael Marme, Paolo Santangelo and F.W. Mote all provide important information 1 Michael Marme, “Heaven on Earth: The Rise of Suzhou, 1127-1550” in Cities of Jiangnan in Late Imperial China, Linda Cooke Johnson ed., Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993, 17. Marme further explains in footnote 1 that during the Northern Song the saying went, “Su Hang baishi fandu, dishang Tian gong (at Suzhou and Hangzhou the hundred things multiply many times; it is Heaven’s place on earth.” During the Southern Song, Fan Chengda 范成大 cited the saying in his Wujun zhi 吳郡志 as “Tianshang Tiangong, dishang Su Hang 天上天宮, 地上蘇杭 (In heaven above, there is the heavenly palace; on earth, there is Suzhou and Hangzhou).” Since the thirteenth century the phrase went: “Shang you tiantang, xia you Su Hang 上有天堂, 下有蘇杭 (Above there is Heaven; on earth, Suzhou and Hangzhou.)” 2 Michael Marme, “Heaven on Earth,” 19, 33-35; Paolo Santangelo, “Urban Society in Late Imperial Suzhou,” trans. Adam Victor, in Cities of Jiangnan, 82-83, ed. Cooke Johnson, 1993; Yinong Xu 許亦農, The Chinese City in Space and Time: The Development of Urban Form in Suzhou, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, 9 & 25-27. 3 Paolo Santangelo, 81. The city suffered first from the civil war during the late Yuan dynasty that brought the Ming into power, and later from heavy taxation by the first emperor Hongwu. 4 Yinong Xu, 25; Michael Marme, “Heaven on Earth,” 39. 5 Michael Marme, “Heaven on Earth,” 39. 6 Paolo Santangelo, 85; Marc F. Wilson and Kwan S. Wong, Friends of Wen Cheng-ming [Wen Zhengming]: A View from the Crawford Collection, N.Y.: China Institute in America, 1974, 8-9. 1 Susan Su-chen Chang 張素貞 元培大學 應用英文系 about the physical features of the city and, through account of contemporary visitors, officials and scholars, some views of urban life in Suzhou.7 However, the artist’s visions of the city were not included. While some art historians have placed these artists’ works in their historical context, they seldom physically identify places of these pictorial histories on a map of Suzhou8 and present them as a concrete image of city life.9 Through some of the Four Great Masters’ works of art, this paper will attempt to reconstruct some aspects of elite urban life, such as art patronage, art and antique forgery industry, garden culture, entertainment and social activities. This paper will also try to identify the locations of these incidents on the map of Ming Suzhou, that is, using these images as a guide to tour and map the historical city of Suzhou, during the lifetime of the Four Great Masters. Coming to town In September 16, 1493, Shen Zhou, a wealthy landlord and scholar-artist, the eldest of the Four Great Masters, sailed with his friend Xiao Hanwen蕭漢文10 to Suzhou from Shen’s hometown Xiang Cheng相城, fifty li里 (approximately 16 miles, 25.7 km) north to Suzhou (Fig. 1).11 Since Xiao Hanwen’s visit was the first meeting after a long 7 Citations from visitors and scholars in Ming dynasty were scattered through Yinong Xu’s meticulous study of Suzhou, The Chinese City in Space and Time; on page 22, 25 & 26 there are some examples from scholar Lu Rong 陸容(1436-1494) Shuyuan zaji 菽園雜記, juan 13, 156, literati Wang Qi 王錡(1433-1499)Yupu zaji 寓圃雜記, juan 5, 42, and a Korean official Ch’oe Pu 崔溥 (1454-1504). Wang Qi 王錡 and Ch’oe Pu 崔溥, “P’yohaenok” [Notes on a long voyage (1488-1490).] 2:21 were also cited by Paolo Santangelo, 82, 83. Zheng Ruoceng (fl. 1505-1580), in Minguo Wu xianzhi 民國吳縣志, 1933, reprinted Taipei, 1970, and Cao Zishou, “Wu xian cheng tu shuo,” in Gu Yanwu 顧炎武, Tianxia junguo libing shu 天下郡國利病書, ce 5:11b-12a, cited by Michael Marme, “Heaven on Earth,” 36-38, 40. 8 Most of them would just use descriptive words for the locations related to the works of art, for example, Craig Clunas, Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China, Durham: Duke University Press, Durham, 1996. In this meticulous study on the garden culture of Ming dynasty accompanying with paintings of gardens, he mentions the locations of some gardens without identifying them on a map. In National Palace Museum, Ninety Years of Wu School Painting, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1975, though locations of some artists’ residences and places related to a landscape painting by Shen Zhou are provided on a map, there is no further explanation about the feature of these districts. 9 They are more biographical and aesthetic orientations such as Anne de Coursey Clapp, The Painting of T’ang Yin, Chicago and London: The Univerisy of Chicago Press, 1991, and Stephen Little, “The Demon Queller and the Art of Qiu Ying (Ch'iu Ying),” Artibus Asiae, v. 46, no.1/2,1985, 5-80. When these works of art were discussed in a social context, they are positioned in a wider geographical and cultural scope, rather than just the life in Suzhou, such as in Marc F. Wilson and Kwan S. Wong, Friends of Wen Cheng-ming [Wen Zhengming], 1974. 10 Zhaoshen Jiang 江兆申, Wen Zhengming yu Suzhou hua tan 文徵明與蘇州畫壇, Ku kung ts'ung k'an chia chung ; 4 故宮叢刊甲種之四, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1977, 42. Xiao Hanwen was a Jinshih 進士 and had been appointed as a Secretary in the Ministry of Works (Gong bu zhushi 工部主事). 11 According to Chuanxin He 何傳馨, Shen Shou 沉周, Master of Chinese Painting 中國巨匠美 2 Susan Su-chen Chang 張素貞 元培大學 應用英文系 time of separation and, with his accompany in the boat, the once boring journey became so interesting—chatting, having wine with crabs and chestnuts, and playing flute—Shen wrote a poem dedicated to Xiao Hanwen to commemorate this gathering on a folding fan (Fig. 3). Folding fans had become the fashion of the day and were indebted to Japanese influence,12 but it was due to Shen Zhou that their use for painting and calligraphy was raised to the level of high art.13 The poem was written before the boat with the scholarly friends reached the city gate of Suzhou.14 The text reads: Usually when I go to the city, I’m bored by the long trip, Sitting all alone in my little boat. But now you are here to share wine with me and talk, And I feel happy enough to play the flute. White water chestnuts are blooming in random patterns; Maple leaves when red, then slowly fade. Shining, a look at the pagoda tells it is already upon us, And spurs the oarsman to row us in on the tide of the stream.15 術週刊, no. 16, Jinxiu chuban she 錦繡出版社, 1992, 1, Xiang Cheng 相城 is fify li 里 northeast of the Suzohou city, which is identical with the distance Shen zhou claimed in the colophon of a fan which will be discussed shortly. Marc F. Wilson and Kwan S. Wong, 63, when mentioning that Stone Lake was located at fifty li 里 south of Suzhou city, Wilson and Wong claim that fifty li is equal to 16 miles (25.7 km). 12 Mingxin Bao 包銘新, Shanzi Jianshang yu Shoucang 扇子鑑賞與收藏 [Appreciating and Collecting Fan], Shanghai shudian chuban she 上海書店出版社, 1996, 4-5. The folding fan had appeared in China during Northern Song (960-1126). It might be imported from Japan through Korea at that time, but it did not become popular until the late fifteenth and sixteenth century in China. 13 Anne De Coursey Clapp, The Painting of T'ang Yin, 45. 14 The date, story and poem about Shen Zhou’s this journey are cited from Marc F. Wilson and Kwan S. Wong, 42. 15 The translation of the poem and dedication are by Jonathan Chaves from Ecke, Chinese Calligraphy, Philadelphia, 1971, 41, cited by Wilson, Marc F. and Kwan S. Wong, 42.
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