When Mistakes are Made in Music Playing, Someone Glanced”: The Evolution of Allusion Zhoulang

by Yeweitao

B.S. in Mathematics, May 2015, The Pennsylvania State University B.S. in Economics, May 2015, The Pennsylvania State University

A Thesis submitted to

The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

August 31, 2018

Thesis directed by

Jonathan Chaves Professor of Chinese

© Copyright 2018 by Wu Yeweitao All rights reserved

ii Table of Contents

PROLOGUE ...... iv

CHAPTER 1.INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1.1. WHO IS ZHOULANG? ...... 1 1.2. ALLUSION ...... 2 CHAPTER 2. POEMS WITH ZHOULANG GU IN A DIFFERENT PERIOD ...... 6

2.1. NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN DYNASTIES：THE POEMS IN HARMONY IN FRONT OF THE PRINCES AND MARQUISES’ HALLS ...... 6 A. BANQUET POETRY ...... 7 B. WHO IS THE PIONEER？ ...... 10 2.2. EARLY TANG: TO SALUTE THE PAST SIX DYNASTIES ...... 16 2.3. MID-TANG TO LATE-TANG: LOVER OR CONFIDANT?...... 21 2.4. DYNASTY: WHO IS THE MAN TAKING A GLANCE? ...... 32 CHAPTER 3. PERFORMERS 妓, THE DISAPPEARED MAIN CHARACTER ...... 39

3.1. PALACE STYLE ...... 39 3.2 POETS AND PERFORMERS ...... 41 CHAPTER 4. ZHOULANG GU IN WORKS OF MONKS ...... 45

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ...... 49

REFERENCE ...... 50

iii Prologue

At a grand banquet, a music player, sitting in the corner, is wheeling his fingers over the strings nervously. This is his first-time show after finished the training. It is lucky that he didn’t make any mistakes. The sets, the moon rises, it was sudden that the banquet has been half over. Wine vessels click each other on and on and wine chips are spread everywhere. It is probably because of the perfect performing before this time point, or it is just due to the relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, the new player gradually eases his tight nerves, yet gives a discord tune. “Just a single one, the host and guests are all drunk, there should be nobody found out this.” The player consoles himself while looking around, just then catches sight of a pair of one’s smiling eyes. A handsome young gentleman at the table, holding a wine vessel in his hand, is looking towards him. There’s no blames and dissatisfactions in his eyes, they stop a while on the player’s face and musical instrument, then move to somewhere else. Even after many years, the player is still marveling at that moment. How skillful will the young gentleman be in music, which can make him be able to recognize a tiny mistake? In the alleys close to the player, a song singing by kids comes to his ears, “The music goes wrong, the Young will glance.”

The story above is based on historical records but with imagined details. From the few words in Records of the , we have no clue to know how the glance happened and the specific scene. In order to be closer to the story so that we can have a better understanding of “glance the music”, I create this half true half imagined story and try to place us in that historical scene, or even to substitute into the music player to experience the feeling of getting a glance from the Young Zhou. This story might make it easier for us to understand the later usage and transformation of Zhoulang Gu. Before

iv getting into this, let us focus on the main character Young Zhou (Zhoulang 周郎) first.

v Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. Who is Zhoulang?

Zhou is a common and “lang” is an address for male, especially young man. The young man who glances at the player in the previous story is the famous general

Zhou 周瑜(175-210) of the end of the Eastern Dynasty(25-220). was born in an elite family, and he made friends with 孙策(175-200), one of the founders of the Wu Kingdom (Wuguo 吴国) in the Three Kingdoms period, in a young age. He chose to follow Sun Ce and they two capture part of Southeastern together, building up the groundwork of later the Wu Kingdom. In the year Zhou Yu arrived in the

Wu area, he was just twenty-four, young and handsome, the soldiers and people in the Wu area all call him by Zhoulang which means the Young Zhou. Later on, he commanded the

Battle of Red Cliff (Chibi zhi zhan 赤壁之战), defeated Cao’s 曹操(155-220) army and won a great victory. His reputation has become even higher, and “the whole China has been amazed. 华夏是震”1. In Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo zhi 三国志), “The

Biography of Zhou Yu, Lü and ” says:

“When Yu was young, he concentrated on music. So even after drinking several vessels of wine, if there’s mistake (in music playing), Yu would definitely know it. After he recognizes it, he would certainly glance (at the music player who made mistakes). So people at that time created a song, “The music goes wrong, the Young Zhou will glance.”( Youwu, Zhoulang Gu 曲有误，周郎顾)

瑜少精意於音乐，虽三爵之后，其有阙误，瑜必知之，知之必顾，故时人 谣曰：“曲有误，周郎顾。2

1 See , Shou 陈寿(233-297), Pei, Songzhi 裴松之(372-451). Sanguo Zhi 三国志[Records of the Three Kingdoms]. Zhonghua shuju, 1982, p. 1266. 2 See Sanguo Zhi, p. 1265.

1 Chinese literati have a tradition of admiring the great people in ancient time. Zhou Yu, who has an elite family, reaches a high position at a young age, good at music, famous for magnanimity, with great political outlook and military prowess, undoubtedly will become the one they admire. He also becomes excellent literature materials. Poetry and prose which eulogize him have emerged endlessly, such as Su ’s (苏轼 1037-1101) poetry

“Niannu Jiao: to Meditate on the Past at the Red Cliff ” 念奴娇 赤壁怀古 and ’s

(郑燮 1693-1765) ci poetry Niannu Jiao: At Zhou Yu’s house 念奴娇 周瑜宅. Besides this, allusions related to him have frequently been used in poetry, such as zongjiao zhi

总角之好(“being good friends since young”), ruyin chunlao 如饮醇醪 (“like drinking great wine when associates with”). And Zhoulang Gu 周郎顾 (“the glance of the Young

Zhou” ), due to the glory of Zhou Yu and legendary elements of the story, was not only a short record in history, but transformed into an allusion, glowing various radiance in literary works by literati from different time periods, became vivid gradually. And this thesis will trace the change and development of Zhoulang Gu, trying to analyze the reason of those changes from the literary and social preference of the time which the poems with

Zhoulang Gu were created at.

1.2. Allusion

Using allusion is a rhetorical device that has been widely used in classical . Using allusion, in Chinese yongdian 用典 (“use allusion”), or sometimes is called yongshi 用事, literally means “using event.” But actually using allusion does not only contain using historical event. Luo Jiyong has defined yongdian as a rhetorical device that to use ancient story or quotation directly or indirectly in one’s saying or writing with

2 a particular rhetorical purpose.3 Some scholars separate using allusion and quotation, but some use the English word using allusion to mean yongdian in Chinese. In this thesis, in order to make the term more clearly, using allusion equals to using ancient/historical story/event. However, in practical use, at many times there’s no distinct line between using ancient story and quotation. This phenomenon can be found in later discussion.

1.3. About this paper

In North America scholars’ studies, not many of them touch upon allusions. Even if they are on allusion, the majority is focused on the use of allusion with an aspect of literary device study. And those studies mostly discuss how a specific literatus uses allusion in his writings, as part of his personal writing style. In this paper, I want to bring out a view that using allusion is not just “personal," it is “social." Confucius says:

Book of Songs (Shijing 诗经) can be used to motivate one’s emotion, can be used to view how different the countries are, can be used to make friends, can be used to satirize.

《诗》可以兴，可以观，可以群，可以怨。4

Keyi 可以 means can use (it) to. Qun 群, literary means group or to gather. Lunyu Shuzhu

论语疏注 explains “keyiqun”可以群 as “can be used to gather with gentlemen and exchange ideas with them.” Although Confucius was just talking about the Book of Songs, in the later time, the range is widely expanded, and his words have been used for all poetry.

In this paper, I will use the term keyiqun for the broader range.

People can use poetry to make friends, conversely, gathering together can produce poetry.

3 See Luo, Jiyong 罗积勇. Yong Dian Yanjiu 用典研究[Studies on Using Allusions]. : Wuhan University Press, 2005. Print, p2 4 Lunyu Yizhu 论语译注[The Analects with Translation and Annotation]. Translated and annotated by , Bojun 杨伯峻. Zhonghua shuju, 1980, p.185.

3 Social intercourses between literati promote their poetry creation, and the gathering also affected the way the literati use allusions in their poetry. Based on this, I believe that allusions in poetry have the characteristic of qun 群 (“gathering”) as well. This “gathering”

(qun) can happen between people live in the same time, it also can be across time, life and death. You can always find the shadow of the predecessor one poet admires in how he uses allusion. This kind of imitation can be seen as a far time distance conversation between the two. The “gathering” across time has been called shangyou 尚友 (“making friends with people in the past”) by Mencius, he says:

A superior of a town will make friends with superiors of a town; a superior of a country will make friends with superiors of a country; a superior of the world will make friends with superiors of the world. If one feels not sufficient to make friends with superiors of the whole world, he will then discuss the people from ancient time. If he only recites their poems, reads their books, but not knows about these people, is that alright? That’s why he continuous to discuss their times. This is “making friends with people in the past.”

一乡之善士，斯友一乡之善士；一国之善士，斯友一国之善士；天下 之善士，斯友天下之善士。以友天下之善士为未足，又尚论古之人。 颂其诗，读其书，不知其人，可乎？是以论其世也。是尚友也。5

This behavior is the Chinese literati in ancient time were pursuing and using allusions that related to ancient superior people is a manifestation of “shangyou." They discuss these outstanding people in the past, reading their writings, and they write these people into their own works to glorify them, even comparing their good friends or respected masters to these people.

At the same time, how one poet uses a specific allusion will be influenced by his social

5 See Meng, Ke 孟轲. Meng Zi 孟子 [Mencius]. Translated by , Lihua 万丽华, and Lan 蓝旭.1st ed., Zhonghua shuju, 2006, p. 236.

4 circle. In my study, I found poets that with a close relationship at many times would be highly similar in the way they use the same allusion.

This paper will study on a specific allusion Zhoulang Gu. By analyzing the use of

Zhoulang Gu and its development in poetry, I’ll do a further explanation of how the use of allusion is affected by “gathering”. The usage of this allusion was started in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589). I choose to make the music player a “he” in my story in the beginning because the gender of the player was not mentioned, and I want to keep this gender-neutral characteristic from the original text. And in the first poetry uses

Zhoulang Gu which was created in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the gender has been clarified as female by the poet. Due to the change of gender, it becomes more possible for the story to turn into a romance. Later on, the main characters (Zhoulang who is the audience and the music player in the very beginning) and the meaning of “guqu” has changed several times in (618-907) and gradually stabilized in

(960-1279), turning into a settled literary imagery. After Song Dynasty, the use of

Zhoulang Gu had no further development. Once it had been used, it is always continuing how literati in the past use it. Hence, this thesis will only discuss the development of

Zhoulang Gu from Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) to Song Dynasty. And the literary materials we use to study on Zhoulang Gu will be mainly poems. Even though some ci poetry will also be mentioned, those are just for additional explanation and will not be a focus of this paper.

5 Chapter 2. Poems with Zhoulang Gu in a different period

2.1. Northern and Southern Dynasties：The poems in harmony in front of the princes and marquises’ halls

By searching all materials we can find today, the lines in Records of the Three

Kingdoms, the “Biography of Zhou Yu” (Zhouyu zhuan 周瑜传) is the earliest written records we can find about the Zhoulang Gu story. This book was compiled by

陈寿 (233-297) in 280 A.D. After more than two hundred years, Zhoulang Gu was firstly used in poetry in Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589). In one of Yu Xin’s (庾信

513-581) poem about watching a performance, he wrote:

和赵王看伎诗 Write in Harmony with Prince ’s “Performer Watching” Poem

绿珠歌扇薄 The Green Pearls’ singing fan is diaphanous 飞燕舞衫长 Flying Swallow’s dancing robe hangs 琴曲随流水 The melody of follows with running streams 箫声逐凤凰 The sound of chaises phoenix 细缕缠钟格 Slender threads enwind the plaids on chime 圆花钉鼓床 Round flowers are nailed into drum’s bed 悬知曲不误 (The performers) definitely know that if the song shows no errors 无事畏周郎 There’s no reason to be afraid of the Young Zhou At the same period, Jiang Zong’s (江总 519-594) poem on the same topic, watching a performance, also used the allusion Zhoulang Gu.

和衡阳殿下高楼看妓诗

6 Write in Harmony with Prince Hengyang’s “Watching Performers on High Building” Poem 起楼侵碧汉 Rising building invades in the blue sky 初日照红妆 The earliest sun shines on the face with red makeup 弦心艳卓女 Affection shows on strings, the Lady Zhuo admires 曲误动周郎 Song occurs error, the Young Zhou is drawn attention 并歌时转黛 Singing together, the eyebrows turn frequently 息舞暂分香 Dancing stops, perfumes are shared at this moment 挂缨银烛下 When the hat ribbon is hitched, under the silver candle 莫笑玉钗长 Don’t laugh at the long hairpin

These two poems are highly similar in different aspects. First, the two writers of these poems live in the same time. The time length between the production of these two poems will be no longer than twenty-eight years which is very close. (See part 2.1.b for the production time analysis) And both poems are having a strong style of Southern Dynasty poetry. Then, as I stated, the topic of these poems is the same, both are describing scenes of banquets and performance of dancers, singers and music players. a. Banquet poetry

If we take a close look at the titles, we’ll find out that both poems are responding to some princes’. Normally, these responding are usually requested by those princes. Then, the theme of both poems is on watching a performance, which is always a part of the nobility’s banquet. This type of poem can be traced back to the banquet poetry at the end of Eastern Han and the Three Kingdoms period. The word “banquet poetry”(gongyan 公

7 宴), firstly appeared in the poetry titles of the Seven Literati of Jian’an Period(196-220), and Selections of Refined Literature (Wenxuan 文选) uses it as a category name for a type of poetry. When Xian 张铣6(?-?) explains Cans’s (王粲 177-217) poem title “Banquet Poetry”(Gongyan 公宴), he says “this is for serving in ’s banquet, at that time Cao has not been the yet, so it is called ‘the Lord’s banquet'." Here,

Zhang defines as the lord. In Lü Yanji’s (吕延济7 ？-？) notes for ’s (曹植

192-232) “Banquet Poetry," he explains gongyan as the official (gongjiade 公家的) banquet the subjects serve in. Gong 公 has been explained in 说文解字 as

“the antonym of personal” (beisi 背私). Hua 李华 believes that gong is related to the government, and gongyan are the banquets which the rulers and their subjects attend. To read the poetry under the category “gongyan," we will find that the poetry created in a non-personal banquet (or the banquet hosted by the nobility and royal family) can all be categorized in Banquet Poetry. Many titles of this kind of poems in Northern and

Southern Dynasties are named with the purpose of the banquets.8

Moreover, from the titles we may find the purpose of creating these poems, many are written due to the order from some high-position people. In contrast with ’s

(梅尧臣 1002-1060) primary purpose of writing poems, which is to express his emotions

6 Zhang Xian, a scholar in Kaiyuan 开元 period. Zhang is one of the official annotators of Selections of Refined Literature. 7 Lü Yanji, an officer of Ya 衢 state in Kaiyuan 开元 period. Lü is also one of the official annotators of Selections of Refined Literature. 8 See Li, Hua 李华. Hanwei Liuchao Yanyin Wenxue Yanjiu 汉魏六朝宴饮文学研究 [Studies on Banquet literature in Han, Wei and Six Dynasties].Dissertation. : Shan Dong University, 2011, p.67.

8 and share them with friends 9, these poems have a strong social purpose, or we can say that these poems only have social purposes. Sometimes the writer writes these poems not because they want to but have to.

In Southern and Northern Dynasties when Yu Xin and Jiang Zong live in, the banquet is an important part of the life of nobility. And the rulers’ interest and pursuit in literature in this period promote literati’s creation on banquet poetry. Such as the literary group of

Liangwudi 梁武帝 (Emperor Wu of )(464-549) Yu Xin was in his earlier time, group of Prince of Zhao and Prince of Teng from he was in later and the group of

Chenyangdi 陈炀帝 (Emperor Yang of Chen)(553-604) which Jiang Zong was in, produced huge amount of banquet poetry. These groups gathered by the rulers not only promote the production of poetry but also lead the rising and popularity of some writing styles. The two poems with Zhoulang Gu by Yu Xin and Jiang Zong are in one of the most popular styles in late Northern and Southern Dynasties, and this style is called palace style

(gongti 宫体). In Southern Dynasties, a fairly large amount of banquet poetry is in palace style. In contrast with earlier poetry and prose, the use of allusion is relatively not that important. To use allusion from the beginning to the end or to use obscure allusions rarely happens. In palace style poetry, poets usually use easy or familiar allusions, and the way they prefer is “to use allusion and quotation without people noticing it 用事不使人觉.10”

Although the allusion Zhoulang Gu, being recorded into written text for more than two

9 See Hawes, Collin S.C. “Poetry as Political and Social Criticism”, Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song: Emotional Energy and Literati Self-Cultivation.State University of New York Press, 2005. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gwu/detail.action?docID=3407760, p.14-15. 10 See Gui, Qing 归青. Nanchao Gongtishi Yanjiu 南朝宫体诗研究 [Studies on Southern Dynasties’ Palace Style Poetry]. Guji Press, 2006, pp. 222-224

9 hundred years, has just been used in poems, this story is not an unfamiliar allusion for literati in Northern and Southern Dynasties. b. Who is the pioneer？

I tried to find out the order that the two poems were created, however, by using the resources I can find so far, the specific dates could not be verified. From the title, this poem is writing in response to Prince Zhao Yuwen Zhao 宇文招（？-580）of Northern Zhou.

Yuwen Zhao has been granted the title “Prince Zhou” since 561 A.D. and left the capital to his fief in 579 A.D. So this poem should be created between 561 A.D. and 579 A.D.11Wang

Nana 王娜娜 and Cuihong have analyzed which year Jiang Zong’s poem was created. Both of them believes that Prince Hengyang Chen Boxin 陈伯信(？-589) cannot be addressed as “your highness” after his father Emperor ’s death. Wang Nana cited

Shiwu Jiyuan 事物纪原[Origin of events and objects] that “Since , the crown prince and all princes has been called ‘your highness,' and until nowadays this has been continued to use 汉以来，皇太子、诸王称殿下，至今循用之” to support her argument.

Wang and Zhong conclude that the created year of Jiang Zong’s poem is between 560

A.D.12, the year Chen Boxin was given the title Prince Hengyang, and the year Chen’s father died which is 566. Actually, they have misunderstood the phrase “all the princes

(zhuwang 诸王)” in the lines which they quoted from Shiwu Jiyuan. It is true that the crown

11 Yu Xin has never left the capital from 579 to 580, so the poem was written before Yuwen Zhao left the capital. 12 See Wang, Nana 王娜娜. “Jiang Zong Shine Jiaozhu” 江总诗歌校注 [Jiang Zong’s Poetry with Collation and Annotation]. Xibei University, M.A. Dissertation,2012, p.26-27. and Zhong, Cuihong 钟翠红. “Jiang Zong Nianpu Ji Zuopin Jinian” 江总年谱及作品纪年. Vol. 25, no. 4, Journal of Normal University, 2009, p.2.

10 prince is often the emperor’s son through Chinese history, and the emperor’s other sons are always given the title of nobility as princes. However, princes do not have to be sons of an emperor; they can be anyone who is granted this title. So according to Shiwu Jiyuan, “your highness” is how one addresses the crown prince and all people with the title of nobility

“prince." Rui 高睿 (534-569), the uncle of the emperor when this poem was written, has still be called “your highness” at that time because of his title Prince Zhao.13 Hence, I believe that the creation year of Jiang Zong's poem is between 560 A.D. and 589 A.D., the year Prince Hengyang died. And we have analyzed earlier that Yu Xin’s poem was written between 561 A.D. and 579A.D., so we still cannot determine which poem came out first.

But we can make two hypothesis. The first one is that the two poems have no relationship at all and the use of the same allusion is just a coincidence. The later one used Zhoulang

Gu in his poetry without knowing the work of the former one.

Yu Xin and Jiang Zong had been officers at the same court before Jing’s Rebellion14 , however, although they were colleagues, no records are showing their interactions in existing historical documents. Then after Yu Xin was trapped in Northern Zhou, they two never have any intersections in the rest of their lives. In Yu Xin’s existing literary collections, there are no literary interactions between him and Jiang Zong at all. And it is the same condition in Jiang Zong’s works.15 Therefore, at least from what the existing

13 See Li, Baiyao 李百药.Beiqi Su 北齐书 [Book of ]. Vol. 13, pp.47-48. Guoxue dashi: http://www.guoxuedashi.com/guji/219677p/. 14 侯景（503-552)’s Rebellion started in 548 and it directly caused the destruction of Xiao-Liang 萧梁 regime. 15 In Jiang Zong’s poetry collections, there’s a poem “Together with Yu Xin to Respond to Master 同庾信答林法师” and it is the only poem related to Yu Xin under Jiang’s name. However, there are some controversies about the real title and author of this poem. The first line of the poem is “drifting away for seventy years 客行七十岁," this is the line

11 materials show, they two has no direct literary interaction. In conclusion, Yu Xin and Jiang

Zong use an allusion which never appeared in poetry before in a close period is just a coincidence.

The second speculation is that one of them was affected by the other’s use of Zhoulang

Gu and continued his use. Because the theme and creating background of these two poems are extremely similar, it is very possible that the later one gets inspiration from the former one, then he uses this “unpopular” allusion at that time. Then who is the first person used this allusion?

Yu Xin is believed to be the most important poet in Southern Dynasties by many scholars.

He wrote lots of palace style poetry in his early year, and after Hou Jing’s Rebellion, he was forced to depart from his country. Because of this experience, less palace style poems were created by him in his later years, and more sentimental poems about recalling the past and homesickness were written. “He Zhaowang Kanjishi” was created at the time when Yu

Xin was trapped in Northern Zhou, although this is a work of his later period, it is in his early style，a palace style poem with less erotic elements. Yu Xin became the instructor of the crown prince when he was fifteen, and then in eighteen, he became a compiling scholar, working together with Xu Chi’s (徐摛 474-551) son Xu Ling 徐陵(507-583). His and Xu Ling’s work are flowery and gorgeous, so their works have been called “Xu-Yu style” by people. Less advanced scholars at that time competed to imitate their style, and

poet use to describe himself. Let us assume the author is Jiang Zong, as he says he has wandered for about seventy years, so he should be at least close to seventy. However, when Jiang Song reached seventy, Yu Xin has already passed away for eight years. So the title “Together with Yu Xin to Respond to Master Lin” is obviously an incorrect one and then this poem cannot be used as evidence showing the interaction between Jiang Zong and Yu Xin.

12 once they created a literary piece, it will be spread and recited by every single person in the capital.16

The fifteen-year-old Yu Xin is standing at the center of Liang’s literature circle, interacting with different literature masters such as the crown prince Zhaoming17. At the same year, Jiang Zong, at the age of nine, just lost his father and staying with his uncle in

Liang. From my point of view, through the time Jiang Song grow up, he should be more or less affected by Yu Xin’s style, the most popular literary style in Liang kingdom in that period.

Later on, Jiang Zong started his official career at eighteen, and at twenty-one, he entered the central court as Shangshu Dianzhonglang 尚书殿中郎(“Gentlemen of the Office of

Writing18, gradually became a member of ’s imperial scholars. He and Xu Ling have lots of interactions, but there’s no single word in existing works and historical records showing he and Xu Xin’s connection. With the background that they have been officers in the same court together for ten years, this seems unreasonable. Hence

I deduce that Yu and Jiang at least know each other when they were colleagues, and Jiang

Zong’s style was affected by Yu Xin’s style. He might continue to learn from Yu Xin after they got parted due to How Jing’s Rebellion.

After the discussion of background, let us take a look at the similar parts in allusion use in Yu Xin’s “He Zhaowang Kanjishi” and Jiang Zong’s “He Hengyang Dianxia Gaolou

16 See , 令孤德棻. Zhou Shu 周书 [].Vol. 3, Zhonghua shuju,1971, p. 733. 17 萧统 (501-531)，the crown prince Xiaoming of Liang, he compiled Selections of Refined Literature 18 Shangshu Diangzhonglang 尚书殿中郎, an official title, also be called as shangshulang 尚书郎 or dianzhonglang 殿中郎. The position is working as the emperor's secretary in Northern and Southern Dynasties.

13 Kanjishi."

In lines “Affection shows on strings, the Lady Zhuo admires; song occurs error, the

Young Zhou is drawn attention” 弦心艳卓女，曲误动周郎, Jiang Zong uses two allusions in succession. The first line is about Zhuo Wenjun 卓文君(175 B.C. -121 B.C.) and Sima Xiangru’s (司马相如 ?179 B.C.-118 B.C.) story19 in Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-

220 A.D.), the following line is using the allusion Zhoulang Gu. It is common to use allusions in parallel lines of a poem for antithesis purpose, but what causes my attention is in Yu Xin’s “Write in Harmony with Prince Zhao’s ‘Performer Watching’ Poem," two exactly same allusions have been used. In Yu Xin’s poetry collection, I found that there are two poems under the title “Write in Harmony with Prince Zhao’s ‘Performer Watching’

Poem." One is what we mentioned before with lines “(The performers) definitely know that if the song shows no errors, there’s no reason to be afraid of the Young Zhou,” and the full-text of another is:

长思浣沙石 Always yearning for the gauge-washing-stone 空忆捣衣砧 Thinking about clothes-beating-anvil in vain 临邛若有便 If it’s convenient for (the lady from) Lin Qiong 为说解琴心 Please explain to me how you understand the affection passed through the sound of qin

Linqiong 临邛 is Zhuo Wenjun’s hometown, and “qinxin” 琴心 is from the phrase “pass affection through the sound of qin to attract her” 琴心挑之.20 So this poem has used Zhuo

19 See Sima, 司马迁. Shi Ji 史记 [The Records of History]. Vol. 9, Zhouhua shuju, 1959, p. 3000. 20 See Shi Ji 史记, vol. 9, p. 3000.

14 Wenjun’s related allusion as well. Good at allusion use is one of Yu Xin’s characteristics of writing, and both poems of Yu Xin are in his skilled style. Hence, I think the possibility

Yu Xin imitates others here is relatively small. To compare, it is more reasonable that Jiang

Zong was inspired after reading Yu Xin’s poems, and he took both allusions from these two poems into one poem of his own.

In sum, according to their experience of being officers in the Liang Kingdom in their early years, the high praise of “Yu Xin’s style” at that time as well as the use of Zhuo Wenjun and Zhou Yu’s related allusion, I think the second speculation has the higher possibility.

And Yu Xin is the first person who used allusion Zhoulang Gu in a poem. Jiang Zong was influenced by Yu’s poem, and when he created a poem under the same theme and style, he naturally imitated Yu Xin’s use of this allusion.

Despite whoever used this allusion first, how the two poets use it are different. When Yu

Xin uses Zhoulang Gu, he uses its original meaning from the historical records, from the aspect of pure music. This poem of Yu Xin though is describing dancers and singers, it seems quite decent. Different from the majority of palace style poetry, this poem has no erotic element at all. Furthermore, it does not even touch the feeling between man and woman. (Although allusions of Green Pearls and Flying Swallow have been used, they are commonly used in poems on performers in this period. Hence, I believe that Yu Xin is just following the tradition when using the two allusions and has nothing to do with the erotic stories behind.)

“If the performer does not make mistakes in playing, she does not need to be afraid of the

Young Zhou at the banquet 悬知曲不误，无事畏周郎.” The Young Zhou here is referring to the people at the banquet who knows music well, and he plays a role of the judge. In this

15 poem, the emotion the performer has for the Young Zhou is like the emotion a student from music school for a famous musician or a music critic. It is uneasy and with reverence. But in Jiang Zong’s poem, the feeling the performer has for the Young Zhou has changed. From the aspect of allusion using, Jiang Zong mentioned “the melody touches the Young Zhou” together with “the song makes the Lady Zhuo admire," a famous love story, which adds

Zhoulang Gu some romantic elements. Then if we read closely the word he uses, we’ll find out that the word “touch 动” is responding to “crush on 艳," this definitely pushes the emotion between the performer and the Young Zhou a step towards the love between men and women. Or at least it is the first step, to get the Young Zhou’s attention.

2.2. Early Tang: to salute the past Six Dynasties

Yu Xin died in 581 A.D., at the same year, the gold powers of the Six Dynasties has also disappeared in the stream of history. However, literati’s imitation of Yu Xin and Six

Dynasties style did not stop with the end of his period. In a banquet in early Tang Dynasty, monk Faxuan received an order from the prince of Zhao prefecture Li Xiaogong(591-640), the cousin of Emperor Li Shimin, to respond his poem on watching a performance.

和赵郡王观妓应教诗 To Write in Harmony with Prince Zhao’s “Performers Watching” Poem

桂山留上客 On osmanthus mountain, the distinguished guest stays 兰室命妖饶 In the orchard room, the enchanting girls are ordered 城中画广黛 With the city’s popular style, slender eyebrows are painted 宫里束纤腰 In a palace favored way, wasp waist is tied 舞袖风前举 Dancing sleeves rise in front of the wind 歌声扇后娇

16 Singing sounds become more charming behind fans 周郎不须顾 The Young Zhou does not need to glance 今日管弦调 (Because) Today the instruments have been tuned By comparing the topics and the texts, we will find lots of similarities between this poem and the two poems from Northern and Southern Dynasties. First, this poem is also a banquet poem in palace style, and it has the same writing background as the previous two poems. The word “yingjiao” 应教 in the title, Wu Zhengzi 吴正子 (?-?) has annotated :

From Wei- period(220-420) on, the replying in literary works by the subjects, to write back to the emperor is called yingzhao, to write back to the crown prince is called yingling, to write back to all the kings is called yingjiao.

魏晋以来，人臣于文字间有属和，于天子曰应诏，于太子曰应令，于诸王 曰应教。21 It literary means “to obey the order." Then, dancing robe, singing fan, bluish-black eyebrows, the glance from the Young Zhou, all these images had appeared in the previous two poems. Singing and Dancing are some common imageries when writing about performers. Fuzhai Manlu 复斋漫录 says that “Poets in nowadays and the past who’s writing about females, are most famous for (describing their) singing and dancing.22

However, in Faxuan’s era, Zhoulang Gu was not a popular allusion that poets would use.

Before him, the only literati use this allusion together with performance, or use this allusion ever in poetry, are Yu Xin and Jiang Zong. Due to this, I believe that when the poet creates this poem, he remembered Yu and Jiang’s poems in the same genre and style, and then borrowed some elements from their poems, including the allusion Zhoulang Gu. This is an

21 See Wu, Zhengzi 吴正子, et al. Jianzhu Pingdian Li Change Geshi 笺注评点李长吉歌 诗. Vol. 1, pp.22. Guoxuedashi: http://www.guoxuedashi.com/guji/209967a/. 22 See , Zi 胡仔. Shaoxi Yuyin Conghua Houji 苕溪渔隐丛话后集. Shangwu Yinshu Press, vol. 4, pp. 742. Guoxuedashi: http://www.guoxuedashi.com/guji/246649y/.

17 expression of cross-time “qun." Although Faxuan had no chance to meet Yu Xin and Jiang

Zong, he talks to these two outstanding poets through a poem he creates. This is a spiritual gathering, and the imitation Faxuan has in his poem is what he learns from Yu and Jiang in their gathering. And in this poem, Faxuan continues Yu Xin’s “serious” use of Zhoulang

Gu. There are no emotions, either the performer’s or the Young Zhou’s, has been described.

What we can find out from the last two lines, which are words from the performer, is the self-confidence of her tuning and playing skill. In contrast, in a poem of the same period poet Wang Ji (589-644), the use of Zhoulang Gu occurs an interesting variation. Wang writes:

咏妓 On Performers 妖姬饰靓妆 An enchanting girl dresses up gorgeously 窈窕出兰房 Comes out of her orchard room gracefully 日照当轩影 The sun shines the shadow in front of the window 风吹满路香 The wind blows the fragrance all the way 早时歌扇薄 In early time, her singing fan was diaphanous 今日舞衫长 On this day, the dancing robe spread long 不应令曲误 She should not make mistakes in her song, 持此试周郎 (But just) Using this to test the Young Zhou. The title of Wang Ji’s poem is brief, and we have no ways to find out the creation background. But from the word “for performers," we can tell that the production of this

18 poem, same as those we discussed before, is due to a banquet. Reading this poem closely, it is not hard to notice the high degree of similarity between the last four lines of this poem and the first two and last two lines of Yu Xin’s poem. Geshan 歌扇（“singing fan”） and wushan 舞衫 (“dancing robe”) have frequently been used in poetry related to females. In my research, I found two hundred plus poetry (including both poem and ci) contain the word “geshan”, fifty plus contain the word “wushan”. However, among them, only Yu

Xin’s “Hezhaowang Kanjishi” and Wang Ji’s “Yongji” have phrases geshan bao 歌扇薄

(“singing fan was diaphanous”) and wushan 舞衫长(“dancing robe spread long”).

Because of the subjectively deleting and selecting when compiling Wang Ji’s poetry collection in the past dynasties, people read these collections and believe he writes in the manner of Wei Jin period. Moreover, because of his experience of living in seclusion, he has always been mentioned together with Qian 陶潜 (?365-427). For example,

苏轼(1037-1101) has written “To follow Yuanming into the Inclining Mountain, to make friends with Wang Ji at the Eastern Upland 斜川追渊明，东皋友王绩.” Christopher B.M

Nugent has mentioned in Literary Collections in Tang Dynasty China that when the Tang people compile a literary collection, they don’t care about the completeness, but to select poems with certain aesthetic purpose, so that they can characterize the writer of this collection with a stereotype.23 Some editors of Wang Ji’s collection tend to make Wang Ji another with a mark of the pastoralist. However, Wang Ji’s poetry has a strong

Six Dynasties’ writing style, and Yu Xin is the most important model he studies from and

23 See Nugent, Christopher M. B. “Literary Collections in Tang Dynasty China.” T'oung Pao, vol. 93, no. 1/3, 2007, pp. 1–52. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40376303.

19 imitates.24

Hence, we can conclude that the poem On Performers is an intended imitation on Yu Xin’s poetry, especially the use of allusion Zhoulang Gu. But Wang didn’t just copy the way Yu

Xin use Zhoulang Gu. On the basis of the original text of Zhoulang Gu and Yu Xin’s poem, he also borrowed some elements of Jiang Zong’s use. Then He made some modification and created a new female figure which is different from the performer in the three previous poems. In those three poems, whether being afraid of the glance from the Young Zhou or moving Zhoulang by the errors made inadvertently in playing, the performers are always passive. But in Wang Ji’s poem, the performer gets the initiative, she makes mistakes in her playing on purpose and hopes this will get the Young Zhou’s attention. If the young gentlemen do look at her, this means he really knows music and passes her little test. The roles in this poem have switched, this time the performer makes her own choice, instead of letting others judge her. The word “test” gives this performer self-consciousness, differs her from the traditional female images in palace style poem which was mostly described by the appearance than by thought. This role switch and image transformation inject some new energy into the development of the allusion Zhoulang Gu.

In Early Tang, the poems with the use of Zhoulang Gu, no matter the genre or the object writing on, are almost the same as those from the earlier time. This imitation is a salute the poets of this period give to the past Six Dynasties, is communication the follower Wang Ji makes with his literary idol Yu Xin. From their nature, there are not many distinctions between the two poems in Early Tang with the two in the previous period. The only

24 See , Xiaofei. “Misplaced: Three Qing Manuscripts of a Medieval Poet.” Asia Major, vol.20, no.2, 2007, pp. 3. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41649933.

20 difference shows up in Wang Ji’s innovative description of the performer’s attitude toward

“the glance," and this change, especially the word “test” 试, starts a new era of Zhoulang

Gu.

2.3. Mid-Tang to Late-Tang: Lover or confidant?

No matter how many times I read this poem of Wang Ji, I can’t stop trying to figure out when the beautiful performer tends to make mistakes in playing, what kind of mood she has? Is it just a music ability exam for fun or is it a test caused by love? Wang Ji’s poem is just realistic banquet poetry, but the “Beauty” image in classical Chinese literature never only contains the literary meaning. From Chuci 楚辞 [The Songs of ] on, the image

“beauty” or “fair lady” has been consistently used in poetry, and it becomes a self-identity of the literati. As time goes on, ancient Chinese literati who are skilled in using imagery endow the allusion Zhoulang Gu some new meanings. The beautiful performers are turned into the embodiment of the writers themselves who are seeking recognition. Then, the way of using Zhoulang Gu started to diverge into two kinds. In one kind, Zhoulang Gu is used for its original meaning. It appears in banquet poetry on performers, and “the glance” is always related to love (or at least interest) between men and women. The other kind shows up in literati’s poems for their friends, makes Zhoulang a metaphor for their friends and superior.

After Wang Ji, the most well-known poem with the use of Zhoulang Gu is “Ting Zheng(a

Chinese musical instrument with strings) 听筝 “Listening to zheng” written by Mid-Tang poet Li Duang 李端 (?737-784).

鸣筝金粟柱 The singing zheng, with gold millet-like bridges

21 素手玉房前 The White hands, in front of the jade-like room, 欲得周郎顾 Want to get a glance from the Zhoulang 时时误拂弦 Constantly, she plucks the strings incorrectly Although the performer in Wang Ji’s poem is proactive, she is still reserved. She finds a reasonable excuse that to make mistakes in playing is just a way to test the Young Zhou. In contrast, the girl in Li ’s poem is more daring. She never covers her feeling and emotion that she makes mistakes frequently because she hopes to gain a glance from the

Young Zhou.

The background of this poems has not been described by the writer Li Duan, but I found a paragraph from Chai Xiaozhi 钗小志[Minor Recording of Hairpins] says:

At a banquet hosted by Ai, there’s a maid called Mirror who is good at playing zheng, and she is a peerless beauty. Li Duan at the table was looking at her frequently and secretly, falling in love with her deeply. Ai noticed that, and said, “If scholar Li can create a poem with the theme playing zheng to enliven the guests, I will not hesitate (to give) this girl (to you).” Li says loudly on the spot, “The singing zheng, with gold millets stand, the White hands, in front of the jade- like room. Want to get a glance from the Zhoulang, constantly, she plucks the strings incorrectly.” Ai praised this a lot, gave all gold and jade wine vessels, together with Mirror to Li.

郭暧宴客，有婢镜儿善弹筝，姿色绝代，李端在坐,时窃寓目，属意甚 深。暧觉之，曰：李生能以弹筝为题赋诗娱客，吾当不惜此女。李即席口 号曰：鸣筝金粟柱，素手玉房前。欲得周郎顾，时时误拂弦。暧大称善， 彻席上金玉酒器，并以镜儿赠李。

In this story, the girl playing zheng in the poem is Mirror, and the Young Zhou is Li Duan himself. Li Duan tactfully uses Zhoulang Gu to show that Mirror also has a feeling for him and he is the one who knows her music. If this story from Chai Xiaozhi 钗小志 is true, then the mistakes and the glance are the mediums to transmit men and women’s feeling for each other. However, Chai Xiaozhi has been considered as a book of tales and it is more a

22 fiction than truth. So, we need to doubt the facticity of this story. If we get rid of the story, then, are the performer and Zhoulang in the poem possibly to be metaphors for some other specific people? In one of Li Duan’s poems, two lines in it are:

今朝都尉如相顾 If today you, the Duwei takes a look at me, 原脱长裾学少年 I will be glad to take off my long robe and act like your boy servant.

The Duwei25 in this poem is Guo Ai(752-800) who also appeared in the previous story.

Guo Ai is the sixth son of (697-781) and the husband of Princess Shengping who is the daughter of the emperor Daizong 代宗.26 He plays an essential role in Li Duan’s success in the examination. Guo Ai is sagacious and talented in literature, and he also loves to make friends with talented scholars. Li Duan’s reputation for poetry has been wide-spread after he arrived in Chang’an. Guo Ai hears about him and associates with him frequently, making him a “guest” of his house which is similar to the retainer in the pre-Qin period. In 756, when Guo Ai marries Prince Shengping, at the banquet, the prince orders Li Duan to write a poem. Li impromptu writes two poems under the title “ For Guo

Fuma” 赠郭驸马, and the two lines we mentioned before are from one of these poems. All the people at the banquet were amazed by Li’s quick-wittedness. Li is awarded a lot of treasures and honored by the prince and Guo Ai for all his life. Five years after this event,

25 Duwei, a shortcut of Fuma duwei 驸马都尉. Name of an official position, in charge of chariots which follows the emperor’s chariot. In the Wei-Jin period (220-420), this position was assigned to several people who happens to be the son-in-law of the emperor. In later dynasties, the emperor’s son-in-law will always be given this honored title without its actual power. So fume 驸 马 or duwei 都尉 became alternative names of the emperor’s son-in-law. 26 See 欧阳修, et. al. Xin Tang Shu 新唐书. Vol. 15, Zhonghua shuju, 1975, p.4611.

23 Li Duan passes the 进士 exam 27 , and then is assigned an officer position immediately.

In Tang dynasty, the rule of civil service exam is different from Ming and Qing dynasty.

At this period, examinees’ names on the test paper will not be covered. Qianfan has said that when the officer in charge of the exam decides to let one pass nor not, his decision will not just be affected by how good the test paper is done.28 The literary works done by the examinee in his daily life and the evaluation he received from others are essential factors. The candidates compile their works into scrolls, give them to the nobility and officers, and ask these people to recommend them to the officer in charge of the exam. If a candidate can be recommended by a prominent personage, the possibility he gets a pass will be much higher than before. It is quite necessary because the passing rate of Jinshi exam is only about 2%. For Li Duan who had ever failed the exam, Guo Ai’s appreciation is significant. So, he lowers himself in the poem and expresses that if he can get Guo Ai’s appreciation, he will treat Guo in the way the servant treats the master. The word “long robe” 长裾 is referring to an allusion29 which has the meaning of being a retainer in a prince’s house. Here, Li Duan is saying that he’d rather be the servant than the retainer only if Guo recognizes him. Although I used words such as appreciation and recognition, in the original text, the word Li Duan used is “gu," literally means glance, and it is the same character as the “gu” in Zhoulang Gu. In this poem, Li Duan hopes to get a glance from

27 Jinshi exam 进士试, a subject of civil service exam, is the most difficult but also the one with the highest recognition among all civil service exam subjects. 28 See Cheng, Qianfan 程千帆. “Tangdai Jinshi Xingjuan Yu Wenxue, Gushi Kaosuo” 唐代进士 行卷与文学、古诗考索, Cheng Qianfan Quanji 程千帆全集 [The Completed Collection of Cheng Qianfan]. Vol. 8, Education Press, 2001, pp. 5-8. 29 See Ban, Gu 班固, and , Shigu 颜师古. Han Shu 汉书[]. Vol. 8, Zhonghua shuju,1962, p. 2340.

24 Guo Ai, and it is very similar to the performer’s hope, to get a glance from the Young Zhou.

With this background information, if we put “Listen to the zheng” and “For Guo Fuma” together, I can find some profound meanings behind “Listen to the zheng." The glance can be a metaphor for the officer and the nobility’s appreciation. I think the girl playing zheng is a portrayal of Li Duan himself. The beautiful girl who’s good in music is just like Li

Duan, who is talented but cannot get others’ appreciation. So he uses the girl and the allusion Zhoulang Gu in his poem to tell his willings, hopes the man of rank will glance at him. Since we don’t know the real writing background of “Listen to the zheng," this is just a speculation based on Li Duan’s work and situation. However, in another poem of Li

Duan, the allusion Zhoulang Gu has been used again, and at this time Zhoulang is referring to a specific person.

宿荐福寺东池有怀故园因寄元校书 Lodging in the Eastern Pool of Praying for Luck Temple, to write to Editor30 because of missing hometown

暮雨风吹尽 The rain at sunset is blown away by the wind 东池一夜凉 The Eastern Pool turns cool overnight …… 抚枕愁华鬓 Touching my pillow, I was worried about my white sideburns 凭栏想故乡 Leaning on the railing, I’m yearning towards my hometown. …… 系舟偏忆戴 When Ties the boat, I just think about 炊黍愿期张 While cooking millet, I’m glad to appoint to meet with the Zhang 末路还思借 At the dead end, I’m still thinking about what you lend to me 前恩讵敢忘

30 Jiaoshu 校书 (“Editor”), an official position title, responsible for compile and editing books.

25 The previous grace I do not dare to forget 从来叔夜懒 Because all along I’m as lazy as Shuye 非是接舆狂 Not because I have the arrogance of Jieyu 众病婴公干 All diseases twine around me because of official business 群忧集孝璋 A crowd of worries gathers on account of my manifest filial piety 惭将多误曲 Shamefully with this numerous error song 今日献周郎 Today to dedicate this to the Young Zhou

The Young Zhou in the poem is referring the person he is writing to, Editor Yuan 元校

书, the son of the prime minister 元载(?-777). From the word “official business," we can know that the time Li Duan creates this poem is when he passed the Jinshi exam and being an officer. The poet describes the clear and cold scene after raining first, then he writes about his homesickness, at last, he expresses his feeling for his good friend, who this poem is writing to. Two allusions are used to show their friendship. One is about Wang

Huizhi 王徽之(338-386) taking a boat at night to visit his friend Dai Kui 戴逵(340-396).

Another is about Fan Shi 范式 (?-?) and Zhang 张劭 (?-?). They are good friends, and when they will be apart from each other, Fan promised to go hundreds of miles away to visit Zhang and his family after two years. They appointed the specific date, and after two years on that day, after Zhang prepared food and drink, Fan really came to visit. By using these two allusions, Li thanks his friend for the help and kindness that were given to him in the past. Then Li tells Yuan that he is willing to resign. Illness and the wish to fulfill filial piety, both are reasons for him to resign and go back to hometown. Li Duan wants to leave but is loath to part with his friend Yuan, who knows him and helps him. Therefore he writes this poem, humbly compares it to a song with frequent mistakes. He hopes that his

26 friend will not blame his resignation and leave, and he’ll never forget Yuan’s kindness of

“glancing at him," the kindness of recognizing his talent. Although Li Duan goes far away from the court and lives in seclusion in Mount Heng 衡山 afterward, the way he uses allusion Zhoulang Gu remains in the court, circulating under scholars’ brushes.

Later on, in Yang Juyuan 杨巨源(755-?) and Zhan Ben’s (湛贲 ?-?) poems, both of them continues Li Duan’s use, and moreover, they equal the Young Zhou with the word “zhiyin

知音."

Yang Juyuan 顾盼何曾因误曲， Looking around is never due to the error existed in the song 殷勤终是感知音 Being hospitable is after all because of the gratitude for the bosom friends

Zhan Ben 识曲遇周郎 Knowing the music, is the Young Zhou I meet 知音荷宗伯 Understand the melody, I’m deeply indebted to the assistant minister of the Department of Rituals31

Zhi 知 means to understand, and yin 音 implies voice or music. Zhiyin 知音 literally means knowing the music. Shuowen Jiezi 说文解字 explains that

Yin is the sound. Being produced from one’s mind and shows out with rhythm, this is called “yin."

音，声也。生于心，有节于外, 谓之音.

From this, we can see the connection between yin and the mind, then why ancient people

31 Zongbo is the minister in charge of rituals in Zhou Dynasty. This position disappeared in Tang Dynasty. and instead, the minister of the Department of Rituals took its place. And zongbo became another name of the minister of Department of Rituals. Here, zongbo is referring to the minister of the Department of Rituals Lü Wei 吕渭.

27 use the word zhiyin to refer to the person who knows themselves is easy to understand.

Besides, the word “zhiyin” is from the story of Yu Boya 俞伯牙 and Zhong Ziqi 钟子期.32

It is because Zhong Ziqi can tell Yu Boya’s mind from Yu’s music playing, “zhiyin” gets a meaning of soulmate. Then since Zhou Yu knows music well, and Li Duan has used

Zhoulang to refer to his soulmate, Yang Juyuan and Zhan Ben make Zhoulang another name of zhiyin. The title of Yang’s poem is “Winter Night, Together with Censor Qiu to

Listen to Editor ’s Qin Playing” 夜陪丘侍御先辈听崔校书弹琴, so we know that the production of this poem is due to music. In the poem, Zhoulang Gu is used reversely. The poet says that the glance is not because of the errors, but because of the skillful playing.

Zhan Ben’s poem per se is not related to music, but one of the objective people he is writing to is related to music. Zongbo in the second line, as mentioned in footnote earlier, is referring to the minister of Department of Rituals Lü Wei. Lü Wei had written a score called “Guangling Zhixi Pu”广陵止息谱33, so we can tell he’s good at music. That is why

Zhan Ben mentions Lü Wei together with the Young Zhou, using Zhoulang’s allusion to praise Lü’s musical ability. Besides, the compliment is not only on his musical ability. Lü

Wei and Qiu Dan 邱丹 have written poems to meditate on the past after they passed by

Zhan Ben’s ancestor’s old house. And this poem of Zhan Ben is an impression after he read

Lü and Qiu’s work. Lü Wei and Qiu Dan express their admiration for Zhan Ben’s ancestor so the gratitude for this, Zhan Ben compares Lü Wei to Zhoulang, the one knows melody

32 See Fan, 范晔. Hou Han Shu 后汉书. Annotated by 李贤. Vol. 5, Zhonghua shuju, 1965, p.1230-1231. 33 See Wang, Yaochen 王尧臣. Chongwen Zongmu 崇文总目. Vol. 1, pp.53, Guoxuedashi: http://www.guoxuedashi.com/guji/208712p/.

28 from peoples heart, the one understands his ancestor. In contrast to the continuity of the way Li Duan used Zhoulang Gu in Yang Juyuan and Zhan Ben’s poems, Li Duan’s master monk Jiaoran 皎然 (730-799) takes an entirely adverse way. In a poem on listening to zhazheng 轧筝34 playing, Jiaoran writes:

君家双美姬 The two beauties in your house 善歌工筝人莫知 Good at singing and zheng playing but nobody had heard about …… 美人矜名曲不误 The beauty cherishes her reputation, so no mistake is made in music 蹙响时时如迸泉 It rings rapidly and is always like splashing spring …… From Wang Ji on, the “mistake makers” are all willing to get Young Zhou’s glance.

However, in this poem, although the Young Zhou is by the side, the performers did not intend to make mistakes. From the words “cherishes her reputation (jinming 矜名)” Jiaoran uses, it is clear that Jiaoran appreciates this action. This makes us think if Jiaoran disagrees with the mistake-making action of Li Duan and thinks this action is obsequious.

Use the glance of Young Zhou to refer to the superior’s recognition or the confidant’s understanding became the mainstream in Mid-Tang. Besides the poems I mentioned before, there are more poems follow this trend such as line “my ashamed response should be glanced by the Young Zhou 惭和周郎应见顾” by Geng 刘耕 (?-?) and line “the

Young Zhou’s heart is in favor of a great confidant 周郎怀抱好知音” by Guan Xiu 贯休

(832-912). Other than this new development, the use of Zhoulang Gu with its original

34 A string musical instrument. See , Duanlin 马端临. Wenxian Tongkao 文献通考.Vol. 137, pp.107, Guoxuedashi: http://www.guoxuedashi.com/guji/42b/.

29 meaning in banquet poetry also has been continued. Zhang Hu 张祜( 785-849?) writes a poem about tartar pipe playing says:

觱篥 The tartar pipe

一管妙清商 A tube of the wonderful Qing Shang melody 纤红玉指长 Slender and pink, the jade fingers are long 雪藤新换束 Snow-white vines are newly switched to tie 霞锦旋抽囊 Sunglow-like brocade is just used to make the (pipe) bag 并揭声犹远 Fingers raised together, the voice seems far away 深含曲未央 With deep meanings, the song has not yet ended 坐中知密顾 I know that among the seating guest, the one glances secretly 微笑是周郎 Is the Young Zhou with smile

The poetry from previous writers was focused on the performer’s appearance and feel, this is the first time that the Young Zhou’s attitude and manner at the banquet have been described by the poet. We don’t know whether the performers in previous time have gotten what they want, but on this banquet, the Young Zhou indeed glances the performer secretly, with a gentle smile.

However, in a poem of 元稹（779-831), although a mistake appears in music playing, the one glances at the banquet is not the Young Zhou who’s good at music

舞腰 Waist in Dancing

裙裾旋旋手迢迢 Spinning and fluttering are the skirts, waiving and swinging are their hands 不趁音声自趁娇 （The dancers）do not rely on the sound of music but their beauty

30 未必诸郎知曲误 All young gentlemen may not really recognize the error in music 一时偷眼为回腰 They secretly take a look at the same time is for the Waist Turning dance In this poem, the allusion Zhoulang Gu has been put into the lines naturally, and if one does not know Zhoulang Gu, he will not even notice there’s a use of allusion. The most interesting part of this poem is that at this time, although young men at the banquet act as the Young Zhou, nobody really is him. These people who glance, not all of them know music, they are attracted by the dancers’ beauty and the charming dance. Although this poem is describing a dancing performance, the idea Yuan wants to express is not just about dancing. Weilu Yehua 围炉夜话 [Evening Talk Surrounding the Stove] says that “the meaning of Tang people’s poetry does not necessarily to be involved in the title 唐人诗意

不必在题中.” In the following text, it uses ’s (王维 701-761) poem on Xishi 西

施 as an example, saying that this poem is meant to satire some of the emperor's beloved high officials such as 李林甫(683-753) and Yang Guozhong 杨国忠(?-756). Then it mentions Yuan Zhen's “Waist in Dancing” and says it is because Yuan has dissatisfaction

(for some officials) and he expresses this by using dancers.35 So if we read this poem from this aspect, seeing the banquet as the officialdom, we’ll easily find out this poem is a satire.

From my point of view, the gentlemen at the banquet are a metaphor of the high-rank officials, and the dancers are shadows of those flattering government officials. It seems like the senior officials are the ones can discover talents, but actually, they are unable to do so. And what they appreciate are the flattering people rather than people with real ability.

35

31 In this poem, the Young Zhou does not exist at the banquet, but he is who the poet hope to be there.

In Tang Dynasty, poets use allusion not just for aesthetic purpose in literature; they carry all sorts of social purposes, some use it to flatter, some use it to satire. Started from Yu

Xin’s use of allusion Zhoulang Gu, the Young Zhou has become a kenning, and after several hundred years’ developments, Zhoulang is referred to people who know music well in general. Moreover, to glance at music playing turns into an elegant action. The Young

Zhou knows the music, what he knows is not only the music played by musical instruments but also the music from strings in people’s hearts.

2.4. Song Dynasty: Who is the man taking a glance?

We can say that after getting into mid to late Tang, the use of Zhoulang Gu has stepped into a relatively mature stage. So started from Song Dynasty, the frequency Zhoulang Gu was used in literary pieces grows rapidly. Although there are no further meanings was developed in this period, the use of this allusion has glowed different colors than Tang

Dynasty period under the brushes of Song Dynasty literati, especially Su Shi and his disciples.

A poem Su Shi writes to his friend Wang Shen 王诜 (1036-? ) says:

次韵王都尉偶得耳疾 Under the Same Rhyme Sequence on Wang Duwei Accidently Caught Ear Disease

君知六凿皆为赘 You know that six holes are all superfluous 我有一言能决疣 I have a word can get rid of the wart 病客巧闻床下蚁 The sick person happens to hear ants under the bed 痴人强觑棘端猴

32 The silly one tries hard to see the monkey curved on the end of the thorn 聪明不在根尘里 Good eye vision and hearing is not from the sense organs and physical feelings36 药饵空为婢仆忧 Medicine and food become worries of servants in vain 但试周郎看聋否 Just exam the Young Zhou to see whether he’s deaf 曲音小误已回头 A slight error occurs in music, he has already turned around

In this poem, the way Wang Ji uses Zhoulang Gu has been continued, the reasons to make mistakes in music playing are the same, to test the Young Zhou. However, the purpose to test him are totally different. In the early part I’ve mentioned, the performer wants to test the Young Zhou’s talent in music, and the idea to give this test is based on her feeling for the Young Zhou. But in this poem, Su Shi test “the Young Zhou” is not for checking his music talent, Su just wants to make sure he is deaf or not. This is joke Su Shi makes for relaxing his friend Wang Shen who is getting an ear disease at that moment.

This is not the only time Su Shi use the allusion Zhoulang Gu to make fun of a friend, another poem of his is:

法惠小饮以诗索周开祖所作 Drink A Little in Fahui Temple, Writing A poem to Ask for A Piece Written by Zhou Kaizu

立着巫娥多少时 How long have the ladies from Mount Wu stood for? 安排云雨待清词 Cloud and rain are settled, waiting for the elegant lyric 酒酣鲁叟频相忆 After getting drunk, the old man from Lu area37 thought about you again and again 曲罢周郎尚不知

36 Genchen 根尘, a Buddhist phrase. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and thought are the six indriya ( liugen 六根); Color, voice, smell, taste, touch and dharma are the six desires. 37 Lusou 鲁叟, the old man from Lu area is another name of Confucius. Lu area/kingdom is in the northeast of nowadays China, and it is the hometown of Confucius. In this poem, this is referring to the author Su Shi himself.

33 The song already ended, but the Young Zhou not yet known this 海鹞无踪飞过速 The trace of sea sparrowhawk cannot be found, it may fly too fast 云龙有报发来迟 The cloud dragon has a message, but it was sent to me late 从今莫入寻春会 From now on, don’t ever attend a spring-seeking-banquet 为欠梅花一首诗 Because you still owe the plum blossom a poem This poem describes the endless process that Su Shi waited for Zhou Kaizu’s work. From the last line we can speculate that Zhou might promise Su Shi he’ll write a poem on plum blossom but did not do so for a long time. So Su Shi wrote this poem after got drunk and he asks Zhou for the poem he owed half-jokingly. In line 3 and 4, Su Shi compares himself to Confucius and compares his friend to the Young Zhou. To be more specific, “the Young

Zhou” here is an ingenious use with double meanings. The person whom this poem is writing to also has the surname Zhou, so on the one hand, the phrase “Zhoulang” is referring to Zhou Yu’s allusion, on the other hand, it is an address of Zhou Kaizu. What is different from previous poems is that when the music rings, the Young Zhou is not on the scene. So he does not even know when the music ends, let alone figure out the tiny mistakes in playing. Besides these works for kidding, Su Shi had ever used Zhoulang Gu in a

“serious way." In the poem “Seeing Off Officer Ouyang to Take Office of Wine Making

Officer in Hua State” 送欧阳推官赴华州监酒, some lines are：

我观文忠公 From my view of the revered Mr. Wenzhong38 四子皆超越。 His four sons are all outstanding 仲也珠径寸

38 Wenzhong 文忠, the posthumous title of Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修(1007-1072). Ouyang Xiu was one of the head examiners in the year when Su Shi took the civil service examination. He appreciates Su Shi’s talent, and Su Shi treat him as his respected teacher and friend.

34 The second is like a pearl of one-inch-long diameter 照夜光如月 Lighting up the night, as bright as the moon 好诗真脱兔 great poems were written as fast as the true escaping rabbit 下笔先落鹘 Prose /painting was finished even faster as a falcon swooped down first 知音如周郎 He knows music as well as the Young Zhou 议论亦英发 The thoughts and speech of him is also outstanding …… This poem is a farewell poem. Although the object Su Shi seeing off is hard to verify, we can tell that the person he praises is Ouyang Xiu’s second oldest son Ouyang 欧阳奕

(?-?). Su Shi is in a very close relationship with Ouyang Xiu’s sons, and they have lots of literary interactions. This poem was written after Ouyang Yi died, Su Shi expresses his yearning and high praise to him, and encourages the young Mr. Ouyang(very possible to be one of Ouyang Yi’s son) who are leaving the capital to take office. In the line which

Zhoulang Gu is used, the word “zhiyin” 知音 appears again, and it means “knows music well," either the real music or the melody from one’s heart. In Su Shi's

lyric poetry “Niannu Jiao: Meditate on the Past at the Red Cliff” 念奴娇 赤壁怀古, he has expressed his admiration for the Young Zhou and used “majestic appearance glows

（xiongzi yingfa 雄姿英发)” to describe Zhou. And in this poem, Su quotes the word Sun

Quan 孙权(182-252) praised Zhou Yu, “the thoughts and speech are outstanding” (yanyi yingfa) 言议英发. Here Su uses “the thoughts and speech are outstanding” and “knowing music” to praise Ouyang Yi, overlapping his admired people in ancient time with his good friend. This shows his appreciation on Ouyang Yi and also his admiration on Zhouyu.

In Su Shi’s social circle, his friend Tingjian 黄庭坚(1045-1105) has also used

35 Zhoulang Gu in his several poems. One of the poems are:

奉送周元翁锁吉州司法厅赴礼部试 Seeing off Zhou Yuanweng Who Resigns the Position of Penal Officer in Ji State to Attend the Exam of the Department of Ritual.

…… 椎鼓发船星斗白 The drum was beaten, the boat will depart, the Big Dipper is white and bright 明日各在天一方 Tomorrow we will be in different places under the heaven by ourselves 寒鸦满枝二桥宅 At the house of two Qiaos when jackdaws are all over the branches 樽前顾曲忆周郎 I’ll be missing the Young Zhou with a wine vessel in front …… It is the same as Su Shi’s poem “Drink A Little in Fahui Temple, Writing A poem to Ask for A Piece Written by Zhou Kaizu” that in this poem, used the phrase

Zhoulang with double meanings. The Young Zhou is not only Zhou Yu from the Eastern

Han period but also Huang’s good friend Zhou Yuanweng 周元翁 who’ll soon depart from him. Similar lines are written by another friend of Su Shi, Chao Yuezhi 晁说之. It says

“Zhoulang is old and does not glance (for the error in) music anymore, he himself makes a

Wu accent to sing White Raime. (周郎既老曲不顾，自作吴音歌白苎)” The poem is to thank Zhou Tongsou 周通叟 giving him poetry scrolls.

Su and Huang are close friends, the literary intercourse between them are very frequent;

Su Shi and Chao Yuezhi also have recorded interactions in poetry. Moreover, Su Shi appreciates Chao’s talent a lot. He gives Chao extremely high evaluation and strongly recommends him to the court. Three poets with close relationship were using the same allusion in their poetry in an exact same way, and this is definitely not a coincidence. From this, we can say that interactions between literati would influence their way of using a

36 single allusion and this is an embodiment of “qun” in allusion use.

The allusion Zhoulang Gu was firstly used in banquet poetry which was required by some princes, then it appeared in the social intercourse poetry between literati. And Liu

Kezhuang 刘克庄(1187-1269) used this allusion into memorial poetry.

哭孙季蕃二首 Two Poems to cry for Sun Jifan

岁晚湖山寄幅巾， At the end of the year, I received a funeral kerchief delivered from Hushan 浩然不见两眉碑 It is too vast that I can’t see the two-eyebrow-tablet 看花李益无同伴 Li Yi will have no companion when enjoys the sight of flowers 顾曲周郎有后身 The Young Zhou who glances at the music has his reincarnation 厚禄殷勤营葬地 Vast fortune (High payment) hospitably settled in the graveyard 隐君欢喜得吟邻 Hermit is happy getting this reciting neighbor 看来造物于君厚 It seems that the world creator treated you kindly 判断风光七十春 Let you enjoy sceneries for seventy years With the change of the purpose to create and the main character in the poetry has transformed, the emotion of poets in these poems with Zhoulang Gu changed from not showing his feelings to with strong and sincere emotion.

The way Song literati use Zhoulang Gu is extremely conservative but also extremely creative. They continuously used the original meaning of Zhou. There’s no bold variation such as “Constantly, she plucks the strings incorrectly” (时时误拂弦), but they pulled the person in this allusion close. In contrast, the story in the poem does not only belong to the performer and the one glances anymore. The Young Zhou in their lines is not only the Wu

Kingdom general who is a thousand years away, not only the judge to examine if the music

37 playing shows any errors, not only the dignitaries at the banquet, and not the superior he needs to make up to. The Young Zhou turns into the most intimate friend that the literati can make jokes on, expressing their grief of parting to, can wail for after he died, shout out that “the Young Zhou had passed away, there will no zhiyin 知音.

38 Chapter 3. Performers 妓, the disappeared main character

In the development of Zhoulang Gu, music performers who had been centered upon gradually die out in poems with Zhoulang Gu. In order to figure out the possible reason, let us take a look of why performers became the main characters in early years. It is not hard to find that this is directly related to the style of the poems. The first four poems used

Zhoulang Gu in Chinese literature are all in palace style.

3.1. Palace style

Palace style was started by Xu Chi 徐摛 (474-551) and received this name because of

Emperor Jianwen of Liang (Liang jianwendi 梁简文帝) Xiao Gang 萧纲 (503-551) who was just the crown prince at that time. The “The Biography of Xu Chi” recorded that “After the piece became crown prince, (Xu) became the head officer of the

(crown prince’s) house and he is also in charge of literary recording, leading the guards.

Chi’s literature style is special and different from others’, people in the Spring Lane all imitate it. The name ‘palace style’ was started from this.” (王入为皇太子，转家令，兼

掌管记，寻带领直。摛文体既别，春坊尽学之，“宫体”之号，自斯而起。39 ) chunfang 春坊(“spring lane”) is another name of the crown prince’s palace, and it is also be called as chungong 春宫40 (“spring palace”). This explains that the “palace” in palace style is referring to the palace of the crown prince, not the whole palace.

39 , Silian 姚思廉, et. al. Liang Shu 梁书 [Book of Liang]. Vol.2, Zhonghua Shuju, 1973, p. 447. 40 Crown prince lives in the eastern palace. East is a symbol of spring in Chinese culture, so the crown prince’s palace is also called the Spring Palace. See Sima, Guang 司马光, and Hu, Sanxing 胡三省. 资治通鉴, 2011. Print.

39 The palace style poetry is a transformed style which is originated from Yongming ti 永

明体 (“Yongming style”)41, and a significant portion of poems in this style have some erotic elements. Book of Liang comments on Xiao Gang’s palace style poetry as qingyan

轻艳 (“coquettish and erotic”)42, and in the letter, Xiao Gang wrote to his son, he said that

“writings need to be wanton 文章且需放荡." Besides, the Book of Zhou says that words used by Yu Xin’s student Yuwen Zhao in his poetry are mostly coquettish and erotic.43 So we can see that “coquettish and erotic” are characters of palace poetry. This erotic literature cannot be separated from beautiful females so that the wantonness of poets have a place to go. And the beautiful women who are the main characters in palace poetry, are not the maidens in the upper class, not the honorable wives of poets, are mostly performers (ji 妓).

I think it is because performers are the most suitable group to appreciate and to imagine about. Due to their identities, whatever they do or think about will not violate the rites of that time. The primal purpose of palace style poetry creation is not to express the authors’ feelings, but to fulfill esthetic needs. In these poems, the writer and the subjects are separated. The writer is just a viewer, and even at some time the viewing is absolute, the happiness and sadness of the female in the poem is totally unrelated to him. At the same time, this aesthetic standard causes people to use the way describing objects to write about females. This objective way to write makes the majority of palace style poems gorgeous but not touching. There’s no personal emotion expressed, and as a spokesman, the poet

41 Yongming (483 A.D.-493 A.D.) style is named after its produced period. This style builds up a more strict standard on rhyme and tonal pattern than previous poems, and it is a base of lüshi 律 诗 in Tang Dynasty. 42 See Liang Shu 梁书, vol. 1, p.109. 43 See Zhou Shu 周书, vol. 1, p.202.

40 neither has a sympathy with the females they write about. This causes many thoughts and feelings which has been expressed by the female performers are all based on the author’s imagination, and these are the characteristics of females that the males wish them to have, but not the real picture of the females at that time.

Back to the four palace style poems with Zhoulang Gu, we can tell from the titles that all four are poems on performers, or in Chinese, yongji shi 咏妓诗. Ji (妓 or 伎) has slightly different meaning through different periods in China. In this paper, ji is referring to people who are trained and living on their skills, such as musical performers and dancers. The character 伎 does not specify the gender and 妓 is only used to refer a female performer.

3.2 Poets and performers

Depends on whether the poem expresses thoughts of the poet, Wangling Lianghua 王凌

靓华 has categorized poems on performers into four standard modes44, those are:

1. Sigh for the perishability of happiness or suggest enjoying life promptly

感叹欢乐易逝或建议及时行乐

2. To sympathize with the female performer one writes about

同情所咏之女伎

3. To guess female performers’ feelings and thoughts

揣测女伎之心思

44 See Wangling, Lianghua 王凌靓华. Gechun Yishi Xianyu Kan: Jiushiji Shige Yu Jiyue Wenhua Yanjiu 歌唇一世衔雨看——九世纪诗歌与伎乐文化研究. Fudan University Press, 2016, pp. 108.

41 4. The whole poem is about the description of the female performer and her activities, and there’s no feelings and thoughts of the poet

全诗仅是对女伎及其活动的客观描写，无诗人感想

These four poems all belong to the third type. The poets made guesses of the attitudes the female performers have towards the glance of the Young Zhou from their aspects, and this also shows the poets’ attitude towards the glance. And along these four poems, female performers’ action of making mistakes in playing has developed from unconscious to intentional. From my point of view, this transformation has nothing to do with the change of performers. Although in Early-Tang the palace style poetry started to change, due to the unchanged nature, it is still for satisfying the poets own esthetics. So the bold performer who intended to make mistakes is the taste of Wang Ji, or in a larger picture, the taste of some Early-Tang people. And then, what are the relationship between poets and female performers?

The earlier poems on performers are focused on objective descriptions, and many of them have “watching performers (guanji 观妓)” in the titles. At that time, poets are absolute spectators, the distance between them and female performers in their works are far, and these two groups don’t have any direct interactions. So this kind of poems on female performers, especially the part describing their minds, is like what I mentioned before that have mostly satisfied poets themselves’ esthetics and imaginations. Due to the nature of palace style poetry, it is not necessary for the poets to understand the performers’ real inner hearts and to have empathy for them. But after getting into the

Mid-Tang period, the relationship between poets and female performers have been changed. It is not only watching and appreciating from a far distance anymore, but

42 intercourse in their soul has also happened. A large number of poems writing between poets and female performers springs up in this period, and with the spread of these works, poets and female performers help each other to achieve great reputations, no matter on beauty, skill or talent.45 Because of poets’ recognition of the female performers, they started to compare themselves with female performers. Tang Dynasty poet Luo Yin 罗隐

(833-909) has written a poem for the performer Yun Ying

云英, that is:

钟陵醉别十余春 After we parted drunkenly in Zhongling, it has been ten years 重见云英掌上身 I again see Yunying’s lithe posture (that can dance) on hand 我未成名卿未嫁 Until now, I’ve not become famous, and you haven’t got married 可能俱是不如人 Probably because we two are not as good as others

In this poem, Luo compares his talent with Yunying’s dancing skill and also compares his official career with Yunying’s marriage. This gives us a feeling that theres are no fundamental differences between scholars and female performers, although they are in different social class and with different genders. They are both living on their talents, and their ultimate goal is to find someone who prefers their abilities. So there are poets that compare themselves to the female performers. This is a phenomenon I discussed in this paper earlier that the performer playing music became an embodiment of the author and the Young Zhou referred to his superior.

45 Yu, Shine 俞世芬. Tangshi yu nixing de yanjiu 唐诗与女性的研究 [On and Females]. Renmin Press, 2012, pp.7.

43 Then, the most crucial character in poems with the use of Zhoulang Gu has changed from the performer to the Young Zhou. Since Young Zhou is referring to the poet’s good friend, the poet focuses his poem on praising his friend or showing his feeling to his friend, there’s no need to involve the performer in this poem.

At the second-half stage of Zhoulang Gu’s development, Zhoulang, performer and the glance have been symbolized. Zhoulang could be someone outstanding in the poet’s life, such as his superior or good friend, not necessary to be the one glance at a banquet.

Performer transformed into the poet’s self-identity at sometimes and the glance has also developed a new meaning, to recognized one’s ability. At many times, “gu” is not an actual physical action anymore. So due to the high symbolization of allusion Zhoulang Gu through its development, it causes two conditions. The first is poet does not need to borrow female performers as a medium but writing themselves directly as the one misplayed the string. Second, whoever is the music performer is not important anymore, what the poet wants to keep is the characteristic, which is knowing the music, of the Young Zhou. I think these are the reasons why in early period the main character, performer, dies out in poems with Zhoulang Gu in Song Dynasty.46 47

46 The poem “For the Concubine of the Honorable Officer” by Song Dynasty poet You 曾 由基 write about a music playing performance by a concubine of an officer. Zeng talks about her reaction after making errors in music playing and then uses allusion Zhoulang Gu. This is the only poem on the performer (or here, the concubine) with the use of Zhoulang Gu I find so far in Song Dynasty. This single poem does not affect the general trend that performer disappeared in poems in Song. 47 This conclusion is made for the literature form “poem” only. In ci poetry, it is totally another story. A large number of ci poetry with Zhoulang Gu is on or for performers.

44 Chapter 4. Zhoulang Gu in works of monks

From Northern and Southern Dynasties to Song Dynasty, there are in total four monks used the allusion Zhoulang Gu in their poems. These poems in time order are :

1. Faxuan’s poem “Write in Harmony with Prince Zhao’s ‘Performers Watching’ Poem”.

和赵郡王观妓应教诗48

2. Jiaoran’s poem “Watching Two Beauties of Zhongcheng49 Li Hong to Sing the Song of

Zhazheng” 观李中丞洪二美人唱歌轧筝歌 皎然50

3. Guanxiu’s poem “writing back to the poem prime minister Zhang sent to me” 酬张相公

见寄

周郎怀抱好知音 The Young Zhou’s heart is in favor of a great confidant 常爱山僧物外心 Always appreciates the Buddhist spirit of the monk living in mountain 闭户不知芳草歇 With door closing, I have no idea when the grass withered 无能唯拟住山深 Has no talent, I can only live in remote mountain …… 但似前朝萧与蒋 So long as you believe in as much as the prime ministers Xiao Fang51 and Jiang Shen52 in previous period 老僧风雪亦相寻 I, the old monk will pursue you regardless of wind and snow

4. Daguan 大观’s the fifty-first gatha 偈颂五十一首 三叠秋风古调清

48 See part 2.1 49 Zongcheng, 中丞, title of an official position, sometimes works as censors in Tang Dynasty. 50 See part 2.3 51 Xiao 萧仿(?-?), a prime minister in the period of Emperor Xizong 僖宗 in Tang Dynasty. 52 蒋伸(799-881), a prime minister in the period of Emperor Xuanzong 宣宗 and Emperor Yizong 懿宗 in Tang Dynasty.

45 The ancient melodies of Sandie53 and Qiufeng54 are clear 移商换徵许谁听 Who will listen to the switch of Shang tone and the change of Zhi tone 周郎一雇扬鞭去 The Young Zhou raises the horsewhip to leave after taking a glance 云外数峰江上青 Away from the could, several peaks are shadows onto the river in green

The first poem of Faxuan is a perfect example of rushi poetry 入世诗 by Buddhist monks.

Rushi poetry, different from gatha which the monks write to express their understanding of

Buddhism thoughts or to preach Buddhism, is a type of poem that written by monks but using themes that the worldly poets often use, for example, banquet poetry. The poems of

Early-Tang are still strongly influenced by Northern and Southern poems. And this poem by Faxuan, if we through it into a bunch of palace style poems from Northern and Southern poems with the authors’ names covered, nobody will find out a Buddhist monk writes this.

As we discussed before, palace-style poetry is created to fulfill the authors' aesthetics, and it is a reflection of their inner desire. So it is quite interesting to see this type of poem was created by a Buddhist monk who’s cultivating goal is to get rid of all attractions.

The second poem of Jiaoran is also a rushi poetry. The author is at a private party of his friend and enjoys the music performance by two beauties. In contrast with the first one which praises the performers’ appearance a lot, this poem shows an appreciation of the performers' skills as well as characters. By praising the performers for not intending to make mistakes in playing, Jiao expresses his disagreement on making mistakes on purpose, which action is liked by literati at his time. From the aspect of style and theme, this poem is worldly, but from the thoughts, it is not, although we cannot tell if there’s anything to do

53 Sandie 三叠, a name of a song. The full name of it is Yangguan Sandie 阳关三叠 54 Qiufeng 秋风, a name of a song. The full name of it is Qiufeng Ci 秋风辞

46 with the Buddhist thought.

Then, the third poem is a typical monk poem in Late -Tang period that one can easily tell the author's monk identity from the poem. Although it has the same purpose as the first two poems which are to intercourse with someone, this one’s communication is Buddhist related and it uses several Buddhist phrases. This poem has an intention to try to persuade the receiver to believe in Buddhism. However, there’s no appearance of the author's

Buddhist thought.

In the last poem or to be more specific, a gatha, the author monk Daguan expresses the thought of emptiness (śūnyatā) from Zen Buddhism. In the poem, after the line with allusion Zhoulang Gu, Daguan has used a quotation. “Away from the could, several peaks are shadows onto the river in green 云外数峰江上青” is originally from earlier poet Qian

Qi’s (钱起 722?-780) line, “After the song ended, the performer cannot be seen. On the river surface, several peaks are in green. 曲终不见人，江上数峰青。” In this poem, it does not matter who Zhoulang is and what he glances at. The real Young Zhou, the superiors, confidants, songs, beautiful appearances, talents are all emptiness. Eventually, after the song ended, there will be nobody, no performers, no audiences. Only left the high sky with light cloud, the shadow of mountains reflected on the river and even on one day, these will disappear. So why to be so eager to get the glance from the Young Zhou?

Although these four poems are created by monks, the “gathering” characteristic showing from these poems and their use of Zhoulang Gu has no difference with works of the worldly poets. Some of them act just like the worldly poets, imitating the former masters' works

(which has nothing to do with Buddhist thoughts) in order to make some connections with them, to gather with them in the spiritual world. Some are using Zhoulang Gu as a medium,

47 expressing their Buddhist thought in a worldly-like way.

48 Chapter 5. Conclusion

The old rulers die, new rulers rise. One dynasty falls, the other regime builds up. Through the time, literati’s brushes have never stopped. The allusion Zhoulang Gu develops with literati’s interactions, develops due to “gathering” and “shangyou." Literati from all different periods gather together, sharing with each other how they use Zhoulang Gu. With admiration for the Young Zhou and previous masters, poets continuously use Zhoulang Gu, until this allusion becomes a way of their social interactions. As in a banquet with full of guests of exalted rank and friends with great talent, the wine vessels from Eastern Han were put down, cups from Six Dynasties has raised up. Dancings of Tang just stopped,

Song’s singings ring out. The clear song is waiting for the glance, tasty wine is ready for the confidants.

49 Reference

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