The Old-Style Fu of Han Yu

The Old-Style fu of Han Yu David R. Knechtges It1 is a commonplace of scholarship on Chinese literature that each dynasty has its own literature. The Han was the golden age of the fu, the Tang saw the flowering of the shi, the Song brought the blossoming of the ci, and the Yuan produced the qu. Eager to study the prime blossoms of Chinese literature, scholars have concentrated their studies on the “golden ages.” However, with so much attention devoted to the great literary periods, histories of genres often stop with the golden ages and say virtually nothing about subsequent develop- ments in the genre. A good example of a genre the later history of which scholars generally have neglected is the fu. The fu was the dominant literary form in the Han dynasty, and along with the shi was a common form of literary expression in the Six Dynasties and Tang periods. Modern scholarship has focused particularly on the fu of the Han period, and in the past few years a number of important books devoted to the study of the Han fu have been published.2 We also are beginning to see some good work being done on the fu of the Wei-Jin-Nanbeichao period.3 However, very little attention has been paid to the fu of the Tang. The prevailing view of the Tang fu is that most fu composition consisted of “regulated fu” (lü fu).4 Thus, the fu anthologist Zhu Yao 祝堯 (jinshi 1318), after examining thousands of fu in the collected works of Tang writers as well as Source: “The Old-Style fu of Han Yu,” T’ang Studies 13 (1995): 51–80. 1 An abridged Chinese version of this article has been published in Han Yu xueshu taolun hui zuzhi weiyuanhui 韓愈學術討論會組織委員會 (Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 1988), 174–89. For other studies of Han Yu’s fu see Yamasaki Jun’ichi 山崎純一, “Kan Yu no kofu ni tsuite” 韓愈の古賦について Tōyō bungaku kenkyū 19 (1971): 22–34; Part ii, Tōyō bungaku kenkyū 20 (1972): 1–13; Huang Ting 黃挺, “Lun Han Yu fu” 論韓愈賦, Hanshan shizhuan xuebao 13.3 (1984): 44–48; Gong Kechang 龔克昌, “Lüe lun Han Yu cifu” 略論韓愈辭賦, Wen shi zhe (1992: 3): 31–37. 2 For a survey of recent scholarship on the fu, see He Xinwen 何新文, Zhongguo fu lun shigao 中國賦諭史稿 (Beijing: Kaiming chubanshe, 1993). 3 See Cao Daoheng 曹道衡, Han Wei Liuchao cifu 漢魏六朝辭賦 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1989); Liao Guodong, Wei Jin yongwu fu yanjiu (Taipei: Wen shi zhe chubanshe, 1990). 4 For an account of the regulated fu, see Suzuki Torao 鈴木虎雄, Fushi taiyō 賦史大要 (Tokyo: Fusambō, 1936), 170–244. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��9 | doi:��.��63/9789004380�96_038 The Old-Style Fu of Han Yu 1205 the Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華, concluded that “regulated fu were many and ancient style fu were few” (lü duo er gu shao 律多而古少).5 The reason for the popularity of the regulated fu in the Tang is well known: it was required for the jinshi examination. The Qing dynasty fu authority Li Tiaoyuan 李調元 (1734–1803) aptly characterizes the extent to which the regulated fu became an important literary form by the middle of the Tang: At the beginning of the Tang, the jinshi were tested by the bureau for the examination of merit, and most important was the examination on ex- cerpts from the classics. They also could substitute admonitions, disqui- sitions, memorials, and encomia, but during the period when men were not tested in poetry and rhyme-prose, those who specialized in compos- ing regulated fu were still small in number. During the Dali (766–780) and Zhenyuan (785–805) periods, the writing of regulated fu gradually became the fashion. By the eighth year of Dahe (834), the composition exams entirely consisted of poetry and rhyme-prose, and famous spe- cialists in the fu multifariously vied with one another. Li Cheng 李程 (ca. 765–ca. 841) and Wang Qi 王起 (760–847) lay claim to the greatest fame in their time. Jiang Fang 蔣防 (fl. 820–824) and Xie Guan 謝觀 (n.d.) were as flank horses following the lead. As a whole they adhered to the standards of lucid freshness and classical elegance. Of those that gal- loped on their flank and dashed in separate directions, Yuan Zhen 元稹 (779–831) and Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846) were most venerable.6 Although the regulated fu was the preferred type of fu for most of the Tang, the gu fu 古賦, or “ancient style fu,” did not disappear. Such fu are in fact found in the collected works of some of the most distinguished Tang writers. Among the early Tang poets, Yang Jiong 楊炯 (650–ca. 695) has a long expo- sition of astral lore, the “Huntian fu” 渾天賦 (“Fu on the Enveloping Sky”),7 which is rivaled only by the “Tianwen daxiang fu” 天文大象賦 (“Fu on the Grand Simulacra of Astronomy”) by Li Bo 李播 of the Sui.8 Lu Zhaolin 盧照鄰 (ca. 634–ca. 684) is the author of a Taoist philosophical essay on a sick pear 5 See Gu fu bian ti 古賦辯體, in Siku quanshu zhenben (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1975), 7.1a. 6 See Fu hua 賦話 (Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1961), 1.3. 7 See Xu Mingxia 徐明霞, ed., Yang Joing ji 楊炯集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), 1.1–7. 8 This fu is sometimes wrongly credited to Zhang Heng 張衡 (ad 78–139) of the Later Han. For an edited text and commentary, see Sun Xingyan 孫星衍, ed., Xu Guwen yuan 續古文苑 (Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1973), 3.155–206..

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