Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" and the Poetics of Disagreement Author(s): Yang Xiaoshan Source: Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), Vol. 29 (Dec., 2007), pp. 55- 84 Published by: Chinese Literature: essays, articles, reviews (CLEAR) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25478397 Accessed: 14-08-2017 01:58 UTC
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This content downloaded from 66.31.142.119 on Mon, 14 Aug 2017 01:58:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" and the Poetics of Disagreement
Yang Xiaoshan University of Notre Dame
This essay reconsiders the controversy surrounding Wang Anshi's two poems on the Wang Zhaojun legend in light of his deliberate use of unconventional rhetoric to shock and awe his audience, especially in poems dealing with historical subjects. It argues that the morally problematic lines in Wang's poems reflect the confluence of his propensity to polemicize against established views through sensational statements and the vogue oifan'an ("case reversal") in Song poetry.
In 1059, shortly after arriving in the capital for a position in the central government, Wang Anshi aE$5 (1021-86) wrote his famous "Mingfei qu er shou" $M #? fflUll* (Song of Brilliant Lady: two poems).
No. 1
mmji&mnm, mmmgLftmmo i&mm&mm&, Mnmtt&Wo mmrnn^, aiit^^^Wo ****?*/*, nmm^mmo -**&?*?, mmmmn&o seraas*, KW^$t?0
As Brilliant Lady just came out of the Han palace, Her tears moistened spring breeze, her temple locks drooping. Pacing up and down, gazing at her own shadow, so pallid,1
I would like to thank Xiaofei Tian for inviting me to present an earlier draft of this paper at the China Humanities Seminar, Harvard University, October 2004. Thanks also go to those who raised questions and made comments following my presentation, especially Peter Bol, Michael Fuller, Wilt Idema, and Stephen Owen. To the two anonymous reviewers for CLEAR and William Nienhauser, I am deeply grateful for numerous helpful suggestions. My failure to incorporate those suggestions to the fullest reflects nothing but the limits of my ability. 1 The line derives from Fan Ye ??^ (398^45), Hou Honshu \%MM (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), 89.2941: "Zhaojun's gorgeous face and alluring make-up shone in the Han palace. As she paced up and down, looking at her own shadow, everybody around was stunned" (HSSS^tS t^? TfeWlll1.'* ilSHlJBh ^ite^fj). The description of Zhaojun pacing up and down while
?Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 29 (2007)
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She still caused her lord-king to lose control. Turning back, he blamed no one but the painter: When have I ever seen anything like this in my life? Her mien and manner could not be captured in paint, At once causing Mao Yanshou to be wrongly killed. Once she departed, she knew in her heart she would not return; Sadly, she wore out her dresses from the Han palace. She wished to send a messenger to ask about things south of the border, But year after year there were only wild geese flying by. Word came from home ten thousand miles away: Take care in the city of felt tents?don't think on us. Haven't you seen how Ajiao was confined in the nearby Changmen Palace?2 In life's disappointment, there is no south or north.
No. 2
w*e#j#n?a, K$5*g??E. fr\mt%mMA, wmmm^muo gazing at her own shadow is common in Song poems. Qin Guan'sHiK (1049-1110) "Wang Zhaojun" ZEBSf^, for example, has the couplet: "Lonely was she with her jade-like face: a flower without an owner / She gazed at her own shadow as she paced up and down, sobbing by the roadside." i#3S^ft*l?, llj?fS[?]&8&HI. See Quan Song shi ?5fct$, comp. Beijing daxue guwenxian yanjiusuo JbSA^ftlfciKffl^^f (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1991-98), [hereafter, cited as QSS], 1068.12151. Similarly, in Wang Tinggui'sigUi (1080-1172) "Ti Luo Choolao jia Mingfei ci Han tu" SJiKI^^M JEJ^glB (QSS, 1453.16734), we read, "She gazed at her own shadow and paced up and down for a long time, / Still hoping that her lord-king would turn around just once." IBi?ftfllI^li?A? jnjXSi?'[?111*. An even closer imitation of Fan Ye's description is the following couplet in Wang Yang's 3E# (10877-1154?) "Mingfei qu" 53#Btt (QSS, 1687.18937): "Pacing up and down, gazing at her own shadow, her flower-like face was winsome, / Her gracefully gorgeous features felt cold in the grand palace." #f@ilf|?#: IMS. &M$S?*K*. Yet another example can be found in Yuan Xie's M^ (1144-1224) "Zhaojun si" BSH^ (QSS, 2146.31000). Wang Anshi uses the same image to describe Chang'e in "Dinglin shi Daoyuan" ^#^itK (QSS, 539.6487): "Chang'e broke a cassia twig; / Gazing at her own shadow, she paced up and down for long." $$tt^fttt> JBfi^ffiflH. Wang also uses the image to depict talented (but somewhat arrogant) horses in "Liang ma chi ju zhuang" j^ J? S^tH: (QSS, 545.6528): "One horse halts on the long avenue, / Gazing at its own shadow while pacing up and down." ?Sjl-RIIj, HJ!^#fiII. Wang's depiction recalls Du Fu's "Congma xing" ULSIff: "So lofty is its daring posture and suave bearing, / As it gazes at its own shadow, neighing arrogantly, proud of being favored." *l29&J8fa*B^? ISf^SSffiS^ft. See Quan Tang shi ?SW, comp. Peng Dingqiu SiS* (1645-1719) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), [hereafter cited as QTS], 216.2264. 2 Empress Chen K (with the nickname Ajiao) was confined in the Changmen (Tall Gate) Palace after she fell into disgrace; see Ban Gu 81 (32-92), Hanshu Mti (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 97A.3948. According to a popular legend, while a child, the future Wu 3? Emperor (r. 140-86 BC) declared that he would keep Ajiao in a golden house if he was able to marry her; see anon., Han Wu gushi 3ISSfe^, in Siku quanshu VHM&Wi, Wenyuange ed. (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987), [hereafter, cited as SKQS], 2b.
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3t&#?#A?, ft?it?o ?g#^Bt*S, &?ftA?P@mo ??S?*e?, A???ffl*n
3 The number "a hundred" is nominal. The term SM appears in two epithalamiums in the ShijingWfM. (nos. 12, 261) in reference to coaches sent by the groom's side to fetch the bride. 4 Wang Zhaojun'sZEBSf^ (53 BC-18 AD) tomb was called Green Mound, because it was constantly green with grasses in a desert environment; see Yue Shi ^jfc (930-1007), Taiping huanyuji A?*^E (SKQS), 38.11a. 5 QSS, 540.6503. The Wang Zhaojun story is familiar enough not to need rehearsing here. For modem collections of poems on the subject, see Hu FengdanffiJilfl-, Wang Zhaojun aiqing jilEti& ffStffH (Taibei: Wenzheng chubanshe, 1971); Ye Wanzhi WM2-, Zhaojun shiping BSUI$i? (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1976); Lu Ge #5fc, Lidai geyong Zhaojun shici xuanzhu M iXUtftn^i^MMti (Wuhan: Changjiang wenyi chubanshe, 1982). For English translations of selected poems and other writings on Wang Zhaojun from the 3rd to the 20th century (including the two poems by Wang Anshi), see the 30th anniversary special issue of Renditions (no. 59/60, 2003), which has an introductory essay by Eva Hung, "Wang Zhaojun: from History to Legend." For other discussions in Western languages, see Eugene Eoyang, "The Wang Chao chiin Legend: Configurations of the Classic," Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 4 (1982): 3-22; Kwong Ying Foon, Wang Zhaojun: une heroine chinoise de Vhistoire a la legende (Paris : College de France, Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1986); Daphne Pi-Wei Lei, "Wang Zhaojun on the Border: Gender and Intercultural Conflicts in Premodern Chinese Drama," Asian Theatre Journal 13. 2 (1996): 229-38; Kimberly Besio, "Gender, Loyalty, and the Reproduction of the Wang Zhaojun Legend: Some Social Ramifications of Drama in the Late Ming," Journal of the Economic and Social History 40. 2 (1997): 251-82; Paul Rouzer, Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001), pp. 180-200. For another English translation of Wang Anshi's two poems with comments, see Jonathan Otis Pease, "From the Wellsweep to the Shallow Skiff: Life and Poetry of Wang Anshi (1021-1086)," Ph.D. diss. (University of Washington, 1986), pp. 270-79. There are hundreds of studies in Chinese on various aspects of the legend, a few of which will be mentioned in the following notes. Reference should be made to one particularly useful study here, i.e., Zhang Gaoping WMPf, "Wang Zhaojun xingxiang zhi liubian yu Tang Song shi zhi yitong: Bei Song shi zhi chuancheng yu kaituo" E0S^^^iSft^iS^I$2,M W}-lkM$ZW&^?$tfi, in Yi Rufen ^^r?? and Liu Yuanru g'J^ain, ed., Shibian yu Chuanhua: Han-Tang Tang-Song zhuanhuangqi zhi wenyi xianxiang ti?||!S!#Jft ? If> /S^WftJffl^Jtlllii %- (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo choubeichu, 2000), pp. 487-526.
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The two poems were an instant hit, as can be gauged, among other things, by the fact that they prompted five eminent literati of the time?Ouyang Xiu BcRIH^ (1007 72), Mei Yaochen ftflE (1002-60), Liu Chang gijft (1019-68), Sima Guang WJJUtl (1019-86), and Zeng Gong i^ (1019-83)-to write matching poems (heshi #!?#). Because of a few morally problematic lines, the poems also raised some eyebrows and remain controversial today. This essay offers a reconsideration of the poems as a case study that broaches major interpretive issues concerning ways in which poetry is read and misread, the relation between a political career and poetic works, and the link between poetry and personality in the larger context of literary culture. I begin by sketching the moral objections to the poems in the seventy-five years from Wang's own time to the early years of the Southern Song. Such objections are intensified along with the decline of Wang's political reputation. I then examine some of the matching poems to demonstrate that the condemnation of Wang's poems so frequently voiced by later critics is absent in the initial poetic responses by the leading contemporary cultural figures. Finally, I reinterpret the controversial lines of the "Mingfei qu" in light of what may be called Wang's poetics of disagreement, i.e., the deliberate use of maverick rhetoric to shock and awe his audience, especially in poems dealing with historical subjects. I argue that such a poetics exhibits the confluence of a prominent aspect of Wang's personality and a salient feature of Song literary culture. To be more specific, it grows out of the fusion between Wang's propensity to polemicize against established views through morally sensational statements and the vogue oifan'an $J Jfe ("case reversal") in Song poetry, which involves, among other things, achieving newness by way of contradiction and disagreement.
I
The fame of Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" rests almost exclusively on a few scandalizing lines, i.e., "In life's disappointment, there is no south or north" in the first song and in the second: "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate."6 These verses ostensibly blurred the
6 The only other couplet that has stood out in traditional commentary is: "Her mien and manner could not be captured in paint, / At once causing Mao Yanshou to be wrongly killed." To Ge Lifang 3SaL^ (d. 1164) it exemplified the superiority of expressing critical opinions (Stift) to mere narration of the event (hlF9) in poems on Wang Zhaojun; see his Yunyu yangqiu ISMP?$C, in Lidai shihua MftMM, comp. He Wenhuan j?Jj? j& (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 19.643^4. Zhao Yi MS (1727-1814), though generally suspicious of "expressing critical opinions" in poetry, grudgingly approved the couplet for the novelty of its idea (Mtfc ? ??); see his Oubei shihua IfczlbtJfS, in Qing shihua xubian Jm KfIS&Jt$ra, comp. Guo Shaoyu IRS3JI (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1983), 11.1324. In Chapter 64 of Honglou meng ?t1j|j^ (Taibei: Sanmin shuju, 1995), p. 559, Cao Xueqin W V?f (ca. 1717-1763), through the mouth of Xue Baochai WU SI, commended the couplet for being "good at reversing the idea of ancients" (#llttA^LM)
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fundamental distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians in the literary representations of the Wang Zhaojun story (and in the Chinese way of thinking in general). They were also considered morally suspect because they seemed to justify or even advocate shifting one's loyalty on the grounds of personal favors. The earliest extant comment on the "Mingfei qu" was made by Wang Hui 3:0 (1023-65), as recorded in Huang Tingjian's ItSlS (1045-1105) postscript to the first of the two songs:
This song puts Duke Jing [i.e., Wang Anshi] neck and neck with Hanlin Academician Li [Bai] $Q and Assistant Director of the Right Wang [Wei] 3E$t. In the past, when I traveled to Yingyin, I got acquainted with Mr. Wang Shenfu :ES5? [Hui 0] and was frequently favored with his kind instructions.7 Once, when our conversation turned to this poem, I opined that its diction is profound, that its meaning is fully expressed, and that there is nothing left unsaid. However, Shenfu said, "That is not true. Confucius said, 'Barbarian tribes with their rulers are inferior to Chinese states without them.'8 It is wrong to say Tn life's disappointment, there is no south or north.'" I said, "The virtuous words you uttered, Sir, adhere to the principles of loyalty and filial piety. However, Confucius once wanted to settle among the Nine Barbarians of the east, saying, 'Once a gentleman settles among them, what uncouthness will there be?'9 I suspect Mr. Wang [Anshi] may not have been wrong." The next day, Shenfu saw my uncle, Li Gongzhai $^S [Chang %], and said, "You should choose wise teachers and august friends as Mr. Huang's companions. At his young age, he is able to draw on history to support his argument. There is no telling how much potential he has."10
Wang Hui and Wang Anshi were good friends.11 Anshi's mother seemed to have played an important role in forging the friendship.12 In the letters from Anshi to Hui,
and "different from others" (^J&IAI^I). The motif of the unpaintability of Zhaojun's beauty is found in Song poets after Wang Anshi. Xing Jushi's ffPS* (1068-87) "Mingfei yin" HJ3?r23l (QSS, 1302.14810), for example, has this couplet: "The physiognomy of an immortal from heaven above is distinct; / A painter in the human world cannot paint it." JlA/flljA#7iSlJ? A K?X?^f#. Similarly, in Wang Yang's 3-1 # (10877-1154?) "Mingfei qu" ffiffift (QSS, 1687.18937), we read: "If only Mao Yanshou had not been killed, / Then it would be believed that her moth-like eyebrows were unpaintable." ^fl^^fi^llEU? 7jiil$,)m1t^$i. 7 Between 1059 and 1061, Huang Tingjian was studying in Huainan; see Huang Xun jto (1147 1212), Shangu nianpu dj?r^?i, 1.2a-b, appended to Huang Tingjian, Shangu jilh&M (SKQS). 8 Lunyu sft??, 3.5; D. C. Lau, tr., The Analects (London: Penguin, 1979), p. 67. 9 Lunyu, 9.14; Lau, p. 98. 10 Quoted by Li Bi $H (1159-1222), Wang Jinggong shi zhu bujian i$j^f#ffiMH with additional annotations by Li Zhiliang $x5l^B (Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 2002), 6.111. 11 See Fan Wenji ?&3t$t Yidai mingcheng Wang Anshi ^iX^ EiS^ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2003), pp. 194-98. According to Fan, the friendship between the two Wangs started in 1046. Most readers today would recognize Hui as one of the four who accompanied Anshi on an excursion to Baochanshan, as recorded in Anshi's famous "You Baochanshan ji" M MWihM, in Wang Linchuan quanji iKJII^r^ (Hong Kong: Guangzhi shuju, 1958), 83.526-27.
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one can see some disagreements between the two over such theoretical issues as how a gentleman can best benefit the world, but the distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians never surfaced in their correspondence. Certainly Anshi's two songs were never the topic of their exchanges which according to the extant writings stopped in 1059.13 It is highly unlikely that Hui would choose to voice his grave concerns about Anshi's "Mingfei qu" in a casual chat with a teenager over twenty years his junior. His somewhat pedantic display of moral sagacity was probably meant primarily to cool down Huang Tingjian's juvenile exuberance. As it stands now, the whole episode is told from Huang's perspective, and it is more about Huang's outwitting Hui than about Hui's critiquing Anshi. In any case, Wang Hui was so impressed with Huang's quick-mindedness and erudition (for his age) that he apparently gave up his own argument. Nonetheless, his initial response is significant in that it stands at the head of a long line of disapproving comments on Wang Anshi's songs. The line "In life's disappointment, there is no south or north" would become morally problematized from then on. In the late 1050s, Wang Anshi was already a well-known figure in the literati circle. His reputation was first established in the mid-decade. In the third month of 1054, at the end of his three-year term as Controller-generalffi^!] of Shuzhou, he was appointed Subeditor in the Academy of Scholarly Worthies ^fftif^t&S.14 He wrote four times to decline that post and asked instead for a prefectural job. In the ninth month of the same year, he received appointment as Administrative Assistant in the Herds Office SN^Jlif. Again he declined persistently and did not agree to take up office until after Ouyang Xiu used his formidable power of persuasion. In the following two years, he petitioned as many as ten times to be assigned to jobs away from the capital.15 Finally, in the fifth month of 1057, he left for the position of Administrator of Military Prefecture of Changzhou ^P^^I+W^NV. From then on, as Sima Guang would recall, because of Wang's repeatedly declining appointments at the court in preference for prefectural posts, "his name was deeply respected throughout the land (45 SAT). Those gentlemen who could not meet him face to face
12 Wang Anshi, "Ji Wang Hui Shenfu wen" %?3LMMJ%JC, Wang Linchuan quanji, 86.544. 13 For Anshi's letters to Hui, see his three "Da Wang Shenfu shu" ^iiSr##and two "Yu Wang Shenfu shu" ^i^S#, Wang Linchuan quanji, 72.459-62. For the dating of these letters, see Li Deshen^lSIf, Wang Anshi shiwen xinian 3i$5S!f jtf^^ (Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin jiaoyu chuanshe, 1987), pp. 104-05; 117; 126. The text of the third of "Da Wang Shenfu shu" is the same as "Da Wang Fengyuan shu" ^BEiUJiCIf, Wang Linchuan qaunji, 78.498. For proof that the letter was indeed addressed to Wang Ling 3:4* (style name Fengyuan, 1032-59), see Quan Song wen jkfcX, comp. Sichuan daxue guji zhengli yanjiusuo HJI|A#"S!SIISW^l#? (Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1988-), 32:1393.530 14 For translations of Chinese official titles, I rely, whenever possible, on Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985). 15 Wang Anshi, "Shang zhizheng shu" JitftftH, Wang Linchuan quanji, 74.470
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would feel regretful."16 In the fifth month of 1059, Wang was appointed Auxiliary Academician in the Academy of Scholarly Worthies i^RK, a position he accepted only after he declined repeatedly. Later in the same year, he took up a job that he had successfully declined in the tenth month of the year before?Administrative Assistant in the Revenue Section of the State Finance Commission HwIjS^t^J^. It was around this time that he wrote his "Mingfei qu." Well known as he had been by 1059, Wang Anshi was still a long way from the status as a dominant political figure. He owed his fame largely to his career choices (which reflected favorably on his moral character) rather than his accomplishment as a poet. The instantaneous popularity of his "Mingfei qu" had much to do with the prestige of those who wrote matching poems, especially Ouyang Xiu. After Wang assumed power in the central government a decade later, the songs apparently became something like a must read among young scholars. At the same time, serious questions were raised. This change can be seen in the following episode in Zhu Bian's ^~K (d. 1144) youthful days as a student at the National University:17
Although students at the National University focused on studying the classics and responding to the moral principles contained therein, there were also some with whom one could talk about poetry. One day, a fellow student from my college was reciting Jiefu's [Wang Anshi] "Mingfei qu." When he came to the lines, "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate" and "Haven't you seen how Ajiao was confined in the nearby Changmen Palace? / In life's disappointment, there is no south or north," he intoned and praised them for being well-crafted. A fellow student by the name of Mu Baoyi ^cffi^ expressed great displeasure. He said, "Poetry can stir and express resentment. Although it takes satire as its main objective, it is valuable only when it does not deviate from moral principles. If we should apply the meaning of these poems, then Li Ling $H would not be considered to have violated codes of ethics when he dragged out his ignoble existence in a foreign land, and the Wu ^Emperor of the Han would be considered to have abused punishment in exterminating Li's family. After Jiefu wrote those poems, the Refined and Righteous Duke of Wen [Sima Guang] read them and disliked them, so he wrote two pieces of his own. His words are rigorous; his message is righteous; for he wanted to correct the mistake [of Wang Anshi]. Why don't you gentlemen get hold of those poems for a reading?" Although all were convinced by what he said in their hearts, no one dared to chime in with him openly.18
16 See Shao Bowen Wfiffi (1057-1134), Shaoshi wenjian lu SPKMMSi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 11.116; see also Wang's biography in Tuotuo Iftflft (1313-55), Songshi ^ci (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 327.10542. 17 According to his official biography (Tuotuo, Songshi, 373.11551), Zhu entered the National University, Taixue A^?, at the age of twenty. 18 Zhu Bian, Fengyuetang shihua fti! ^|#IS (SKQS), 2.7b.
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Several points may be noted here. First, this is the earliest extant record in which all the problematic lines of Wang Anshi's two songs are identified. The critique by Mu Baoyi (an otherwise unknown figure, who may well have been simply a mouthpiece for Zhu Bian) set up a template for virtually all derogatory comments yet to come. Second, although Mu did not provide any evidence, he asserted vigorously that Sima Guang intended to refute Wang's heresy. In the partisan atmosphere in the wake of Wang's controversial reform programs, what had been a routine (and, as we shall see, amicable) social exchange was now recast as a clash of morally opposing views. We may also note in passing that, according to Mu, Sima wrote two matching poems, though only one has survived. Third, the fact that everyone present would only silently agree with Mu suggests something of the political climate in which the songs were read while Wang and/or his followers were in power. Last but not least, the reaction (or posturing) of Zhu Bian's anonymous fellow student reveals that there was a time when Wang's controversial lines were admired as technical feats (i.e., being "well-crafted" I) rather than as (im)moral propositions. Denunciation of Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" was at its most vociferous at the beginning of the Southern Song. In the eighth month of 1134, Fan Chong ^a^ (1067 1141) was summoned to an audience with the Gaozong ISJtj? Emperor (r. 1127-62). When the topic of Wang's treachery (H) came up, the emperor professed to be puzzled that some people still thought Wang had been right and even called for re implementing the New Policies. To explain the cause of such a lamentable moral confusion, Fan recalled a conversation he once had with Cheng Yi ?M?M (1033-1107), during which he opined the greatest harm Wang had done to the country was the reform programs. He was corrected by Cheng: the New Policies could be reversed with a single imperial decree; what could not be as easily undone was that Wang, with his own devious mind (>1>#jTjE), had "corrupted the mind of the people all over the country" (&i|S AT A'L>#J). Fan, though initially skeptical, eventually realized the profound truth of Cheng's observation. To illustrate Cheng's point, Fan cited from Wang's "Mingfei qu": "Many poets had composed songs on Brilliant Lady and presented the loss of her body as an endless regret. When Anshi did his songs, however, he wrote, 'Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate.' If this were so, then what Liu Yu S'Jfll did would not have been criminal. Those who betray the favor of their lords and defect to robbers and traitors all suit what Anshi had in mind. That is what is meant by his having 'corrupted the mind of the people all over the country.'"19 There is no doubt that Fan Chong was biased against Wang Anshi; his father, Fan Zuyu ??ffl^ (1041 96), was a close associate of Sima Guang.20 Also to be noted is that Fan was preaching
19 Li Xinchuan $^? (1166-1243), Jianyan yilai xinian yaolu ^ife W*{??Slft (SKQS), 79.2b-3b. 20 For the prejudice of Fan Chong, see Cai Shangxiang H_t$B (jinshi 1761), Wang Jinggong nianpu kaolue i$j ?^tf #ffl?, in Zhan Dahe f^^ (12th cent.) et al., Wang Anshi nianpu san zhong i ^5?ltHft, edited by Pei Rucheng M&Wi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1994), 7.332. Fan's prejudice is routinely mentioned by modern scholars in their defense of Wang Anshi's "Mingfei
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to the choir, as Gaozong's dislike of Wang was abundantly clear. Nonetheless, his assault on Wang also reflected the political sensitivity of his time, when loyalty was a touchy issue in the conflict between the Song (the Chinese) and the Jin (the barbarians). Taken together, the above three earliest comments serve to illustrate the increasingly higher pitch in the criticism of Wang Anshi's songs in the seventy-five years after they were written.21 Wang Hui was merely reacting to the ebullience of the young Huang Tingjian. Mu Baoyi, on the other hand, seriously disapproved the songs for deviating from moral principles but refrained from making any inference about the moral character of Wang Anshi himself. Fan Chong went one step further by alleging that the songs were not just a moral hazard but had actually been responsible for "corrupting the mind of the people all over the country." Whereas Mu only argued hypothetically that Wang's heresy would have justified the behavior of Li Ling (d. 74 BC) more than a millennium before, Fan sensationalized his charge by asserting that Wang's songs would have exonerated and even encouraged the treasonous act of Liu Yu (1073-1146), an infamous contemporary.22 For Fan, what Wang wrote ultimately mirrored his "devious mind." He claimed that he "had once seen through Anshi's mind between the lines" (#ji?Wln^1^#^^^lH though he had not dared to share his insight with others.23 Fan Chong was not the first to attempt to detect Wang's immoral character in his writings. As early as 1071, Yang Hui ^|$| (1027-88) sent a memorial to the throne, in which he cited a number of examples to demonstrate that Wang's poetry and prose revealed his "devious aspiration" (H;q5), though the "Mingfei qu" was not one of them.24
qu"; see, for example, Cheng Yingliu MMM, "Shu Wang Jinggong 'Mingfei qu' hou" lt3:;$J^ ?BJ3#?ffi? #, Shanghai shifan daxue xuebao, no. 1 (1986), p. 71; Deng Guangming %M$%\, "Wei Wang Anshi de 'Mingfei qu' bianwu" ^I$5W ?Efifeft? MWt, Wenxue yichan, no. 3 (1996), p. 59. 21 For a brief survey of critical comments on Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" from Wang Hui to the 20th century, see Yi Shuqiong WMM., "Yuedu shiye shanbian zhong de Wang Anshi 'Mingfei qu'" MH^KMS + Kff^S ?BJ?Btt? , Ningxia daxue xuebao (renwen shehui kexue ban), 27.126 (2005): 18-21. 22 During the Jianyan reign (1127-31), Liu Yu was set up as the puppet emperor of Da Qi by the Jurchens; for his biography, see Tuotuo, Songshi, 475.13793-802. 23 Quoted by Li Bi, Wang Jinggong shi zhu bujian, 6.111. Xu Boling f?f68? (15th cent.) would also claim to have detected Wang Anshi's "extreme disloyalty" (T & S ^) in the couplet condemned by Fan Chong; see his Yin jingjun 0fSffi (SKQS), 14.5b. 24 Yang Hui, "Shang Shenzong lun Wang Anshi zhi wen you yi zhi" h#^tra3:$5iiWJI;ife, in Quan Song wen, 36:1562.423-25.
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II
Defenders of the controversial lines in Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" in strictly moral terms were few and far between in pre-modern times.25 The best known among those is Cai Shangxiang H_h|$ (jinshi 1761), whose detailed study of the chronicle of Wang's life devotes quite some space to fending off criticisms by the likes of Fan Chong. Cai's argument is often pedantic and unpersuasive, but at least one of his points deserves our attention: "Lord Ouyang [Xiu], Liu Yuanfu [Chang], and Sima Junshi [Guang] all wrote matching poems to Jiefu's songs. If 'Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep' really contradicted the principles governing the relationship between ruler and minister, how could those gentlemen not have known it and written instead matching poems?"26 The reasoning here is fundamentally flawed. The fact that Ouyang Xiu and others wrote matching poems does not in itself prove that they felt no moral discomfort with Wang's songs. Indeed, as we have seen, it was asserted that Sima Guang's intention was to refute Wang's heresy. Nonetheless, Cai reminds us of the desirability of reading what Wang wrote against the matching poems. Those by Ouyang, Sima, and Zeng Gong will be examined briefly in the following so that some light may shed on the contemporary poetic response to Wang's songs, in contradistinction from the moralistic criticisms that we have seen.27 We do not know exactly who responded to Wang Anshi first. However, given Ouyang Xiu's status as the leading political and cultural figure of the time, one would assume that he was the first to receive and respond to Wang's "Mingfei qu." (We know from its title that Liu Chang's poem was written after Ouyang's.) One would also assume that his response influenced, if not determined, the reactions of the other four. Ouyang's two pieces (QSS, 289.3656) are certainly the best known of all the matching poems.
"Song of Brilliant Lady, Written to Match Wang Jiefu" TO tt^Pi^Mf W
The barbarians took horse saddles as their homes
25 In the preface to his "Zhaojun ci" HSm (QSS, 1611.43236), Zhao Wen ffi3t (1239-1315) asserted that the couplet "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate" derives its sentiment from "Qin cao" #ft and lamented that "readers have often missed the point" (ll#ttttT^). For another sympathetic comment, see Fang Dongshu 7fjK1St (1772-1851), Zhaomei zhanyan HSftfis" (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1961), 12.297. 26 Cai Shangxiang, Wang Jinggong nianpu kaolue, 7.330. 27 I omit Mei Yaochen's "He Jiefu Mingfei qu" W^ffTOtt(QSS, 261.3338) and Liu Chang's "Tong Yongshu he Jiefu Zhaojun qu" |W]7lcftfP^#HS^"ft (QSS, 478.5780) because these would not add any new dimension to my discussion here. It may be of some interest to note that a year earlier, in 1058, Liu had written a poem entitled "Wang Zhaojun" 3:0311 (QSS, 467.5667), to which Mei responded with two poems in the same rhyme scheme, "Yiyun he Yuanfu Zhaojun ci" flcMSUg ft HBS?, "Zai yiyun" WXB (QSS, 259.3290).
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And shooting and hunting as their customs. Sweet springs and lush grasses had no fixed locales; They vied to gallop after startled birds and frightened beasts. Who was it that sent a Han daughter to marry a barbarian fellow? The wind and sand were ruthless to her jade-like face. Where she went, she did not meet anyone from the middle kingdom; On her horseback, she composed a song of homesickness. As she plucked the strings back and forth, Even the barbarians all sighed as they listened. A jade-like beauty died wandering at the edge of the sky; Yet the pipa found its way back to the house of Han. Han palace ladies vied to play from the songbook of new tunes; With her lingering grief so deep, the tunes were even more painful. Those with slim hands growing up in deep chambers, Could learn how to play the pipa without ever coming down the hall. Without ever seeing the brown clouds over the road beyond the border,28 How would they know that the tunes could cause one's guts to wrench?
mmmMmm, mmmmn^o ^t^s+ha, s?g^siift0 *i?&g*P^?, mx^M^m* ^mm&ttim, gg#?*s*D ?g*Scf?3?i, ItBISS^o Mgktt*kMB, ##Ii^Tto
"Another Poem Matching 'Song of Brilliant Lady'" ff^P Hjffi ft
In the Han palace, there was a beauty, Unbeknownst to the Son of Heaven at first. Then she was about to follow the Han envoy To be married to the Shanyu in the distant land. Such supreme gorgeousness, matchless under the heaven, Once lost, it was hard to find again. Although the painter could be killed, What good could it do in the end? Even what could be seen and heard close by were handled like this; How could the barbarians ten thousand miles away be controlled? Han's strategy was indeed clumsy; A woman's beauty is not to be boasted of. Tears of Brilliant Lady as she departed Shed upon the flowers on the branches. As a wild wind arose at dusk, Adrift and floating, in whose house would she land? Extraordinary beauties are most of them ill-fated, Don't blame the spring wind, just lament your own lot.
28 Because of sandstorms, the sky often appears brown in the desert area, hence the expression "brown clouds."
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ilgWliA, ATtt*i6o HHMBStt, ?OTfio M&urm, -*?#*?. stffi??i, ??^f5[Mo
The greatest admirer of Ouyang's two songs was none other than he himself. As recalled by his son, Ouyang once declared these to be a tour de force of the highest order: "My late father had never bragged about his writings. One day, after he had a little too much to drink, he said to me: 'No one today can write a poem like my "Mount Lu Is High," only Li Taibai $Afi [Bai fi] could,29 but even Li Taibai could not have written my second lyric on "Song of Brilliant Lady"; only Du Zimei tt^PH [Fu tin could. As to my first, even Zimei could not have written it; only I could have."30 Ouyang's overly sanguine self-evaluation need not be taken at face value;31 neither should it be dismissed entirely as alcohol-induced bravado. What interests us here is that Ouyang did not even bother to mention Wang Anshi in his ramblings, even though his poetic variations on Wang Zhaojun were originally composed to match Wang's. Ouyang Xiu's pieces are fine, though they do not justify his exceedingly elevated sense of achievement. His first starts with a jarring rhythm: instead of the standard xx xx x xx or xx xx xx x beat, the first line reads as xx x xx xx. Following this choppy opening is a line of four characters in a poem where all other lines have seven characters. Such an ill-cadenced beginning is apparently a ploy to grab attention. Structurally, the poem shifts from the open landscape of the barbarian horse riders to the inner chambers of Han palace ladies. This shift contrasts with Wang Anshi's
29 The full title of Ouyang Xiu's poem is "Lushan gao zeng tongnian Liu Zhongyun gui Nankang" ftLhKi?[^l4siJ4] AffiSSH (QSS, 286.3628). For an English translation of the poem, see Colin S. C. Hawes, The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song: Emotional Energy and Literati Self-Cultivation (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005), pp. 86-87. Ouyang is said to have bragged about "Mount Lu Is High" in a letter to Mei Yaochen. Mei regretted very much that he did not get to see the poem, which Ouyang apparently did not bother to send together with his letter. Later, when Guo Xiangzheng $K#lE(fl. 1087), who since his youthful days had been fond of chanting Ouyang's poems, recited "Mount Lu Is High" to Mei, the latter was so impressed that he exclaimed: "I would not be able to write a single line of this poem even if I should keep writing poetry for another thirty years!" See Hu ZifiSr? (fl. 1147-67), Tiaoxiyuyin conghua ^"M^fflSIS, ed. Liao Deming JSPtSW (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1962), qianji, 29.200, quoting Wang Zhifang shihua 3: l^ttlS. Mei Yaochen recalls the event in "Yiyun he Guo Xiangzheng mijiao yuyu su Zhaoting jianhuai" ttffifflfP#lEffit?i? ffif&Hg^ JU* (QSS, 255.3120). 30 Ye Mengde MW% (1077-1148), Shilin shihua 5#!$I5, in Lidai shihua, 2.424. 31 According to Ye Mengde, "today's readers of his lordship's poems never single out those three pieces for marveling"; see Hu Zi, Tiaoxi yuyin conghua, qianji, 29.199, quoting Shilin shihua. Ye's comment is not included in the Lidai shihua edition of Shilin shihua.
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focusing on one locale in each poem (i.e., the Han palace in the first and the desert in the second). Couched in this spatial contrast in Ouyang's poem is the cultural paradox that the barbarians, thanks to their daily exposure to the harsh environment of the desert, appreciate Brilliant Lady's music better than the Han palace ladies. Again, Ouyang seems to be deliberately differing Wang, in whose second song it is the maids from the Han palace who "shed tears furtively" as they listen to Zhaojun's music, but we should note that in Wang's poem the Han maids are exposed to the same environment as the barbarians.32 Though Ouyang believed his first poem to possess unsurpassable excellence, his second one has actually received higher critical acclaim, primarily for his moralizing about the Mao Yanshou episode. Wang Anshi had advanced the notion that painting cannot capture the "mien and manner" of human beauty like that of Zhaojun;33 the idea may sound intriguing, but it has no connection with Wang's negative portrayal of the emperor who appears to "lose control" at the sight of an enchanting woman. In Ouyang's version, the pointless killing of Mao Yanshou is integrated into an indictment of the incompetence of the Chinese ruler in dealing with the barbarians. As we shall see, Ouyang's couplet "Even what could be seen and heard close by were handled like this; / How could the barbarians ten thousand miles away be controlled?" is clearly echoed in one of the two matching poems by Zeng Gong.34 There is no sign, however, that Ouyang was trying to rectify any of Wang's lines that would eventually be considered scandalous. The difference between the two poets lies in the way each tried to achieve novelty or at least variety in handling a familiar element in the Wang Zhaojun legend.
32 For another discussion of this poem, see Ronald C. Egan, The Literary Works of Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-72) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 115-16. Egan (p. 116) suggests that at the end of the poem Ouyang may be alluding to his own experiences of traveling to the Liao on imperial commission four years earlier. Furthermore, Ouyang "may have allegorical purposes, intending to suggest that he, because of the hardships he has endured in his career, is able to discern and appreciate things that the more 'protected' officials who have never left the Court are ignorant of." Egan's reading of the poem is predicated on the assumption that Ouyang "was answering a poem [i.e., the first of Wang Anshi's songs] whose ending is clearly allegorical." Ouyang's poem is also discussed in Michael A. Fuller, The Road to East Slope: The Development ofSu Shi's Poetic Voice (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), pp. 33-35. 33 In "Du shi" 11$ (QSS, 562.6672), Wang wrote: "What is hard for painting to capture is the spirit" ft#HA*lfS#. The locus classicus is Gu Kaizhi's lltS^ (ca. 346-407) observation that what "conveys the spirit and portrays the likeness" (f##SM) is the dotting of the pupils while the beauty or ugliness of the four limbs has nothing fundamental to do with the subtlety in painting a human being; see Liu Yiqing I'JiiH (403^14), Shishuo xinyu jianshu tfitft?f!?5|j5il, annot. Yu Jiaxi ^MWs (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1993), "Yiqiao" ?5H, p. 721. 34 This couplet (positioned in the very middle of the poem) and the one at the very end of the poem are heptasyllabic while all other lines are pentasyllabic. This is the only matching poem that uses predominantly pentasyllabic lines; all others are heptasyllabic, in accordance with Wang Anshi's original.
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When Wang Anshi became Administrative Assistant in the Herds Office in 1054, one of his closest colleagues was Sima Guang, who held the same title in the same office. Sima was immensely impressed with Wang's character.35 Friendship soon developed between the two, which became legendary at the beginning of the Jiayou period (1056-63.) Indeed, Wang, Sima, Lii Gongzhu g^ (1018-89), and Han Wei ft&t (1017-98) were such pals that they became known as the Four Friends of Jiayou H$J0;?.36 Wang, as we have mentioned, returned to the capital in 1059. At the time, Sima was Vice Director of General Accounts Supervising the Bureau of Revision jS;? M^hSP^J'&jK. The two men apparently renewed their social interactions, of which Sima's "Matching Wang Jiefu's 'Song of Brilliant Lady'" WT^it^ffiffi (QSS, 499.6044) was a product:
The barbarian lad sang a barbarian song as he mounted his horse; The brocade carriage was already hitched to white camels. Wiping off her tears, Brilliant Lady bid farewell to the Lord of Han; His heart broken, the Lord of Han could do nothing. The bronze rings on the two beast-faced plates on the palace gate? When would she turn back to see them again? She bemoaned that it would have been better to live by Mount Wu, And in coarse clothes and with an artemisia clasp to be married to a boor. Across ten thousand miles of cold desert, grasses and plants were sparse; From outside the Juyan Pass, she sent a messenger home. Nothing was left of what she had known in times past; Only the autumn geese flew at the edge of the clouds. Sitting in sorrow, she adjusted the four plangent strings; The song finished, she covered her face against the barbarian sky. Her maids did not understand the Han speech, But the sad note from beneath her fingers could still spread around. After spreading among all the barbarians, it reached the middle land; Perchance it would be eventually passed on to the Music Bureau. "I know my body will never return, in life or in death; In my heart I hope eventually to wake up my lord." Beauty and ugliness before one's eyes are truly easy to discern; Yet deception exists even about those in the nearby side chambers. Haven't you seen how the white-haired Grand Mentor Xiao, Suffered slanders, swallowed poison and yet caused no apprehension?
mm?mmim, ?*e?fijii&. mmwmmm^, m^m^^n*
35 Later in life, Sima recalled a party hosted by Bao Zheng fiS (999-1062) inside the Herds Office to view the blossoming peony flowers there. Bao urged everybody to drink wine. Sima, who never liked wine, felt compelled to comply. Wang Anshi, on the other hand, refused to drink any throughout the party. Not even Bao could force him to. See Shao Bowen, Shaoshi wenjian lu, 10.108. In "Ci xiuzhu di si zhuang" JHHSM?HH}|? (Quan Son Given, 27: 1177.549), written in 1060, Sima expressed true admiration for Wang's literary talent. 36 Xu Du fag. (fl. 1138), Quesao bian WMWi (SKQS), 2.15a.
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srmmmmm, mmmm^M.* mT-mmih, mmmmmm* nmMtm^m* mmmmxm* *#???&?, Kw**fwwi*. mm*t$tnmi&, mmm^m^ imT-mmmm, w?-&mm&* &mikm*?, n-tmmmm* %M?ttto^m, fisffliAio mmmmn, j^Rmmmmx* mr^&mmxm, mtmm&mm*
If, as suggested in Zhu Bian's memoir, Sima Guang had written two matching poems, then the present one would have been meant to match the first of Wang Anshi's two songs. Such a speculation is based on the fact that, in the penultimate lines of their respective poems, both Sima and Wang use the same line opener "Don't you see" (jun bu jian S ^M) to introduce a historical illusion. Furthermore, the messages conveyed through the allusions are similar. The Ajiao story in Wang's poem indicates that Zhaojun would not necessarily have fared better if she had remained in the Han palace. Sima's allusion makes the similar point that closeness to court may not always be a blessing. Xiao Wangzhi llM^L (d. 47 BC) was once the Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent X1?Xi$, and that heir apparent eventually became the Yuan Emperor % (r. 48-33 BC). Xiao's close personal relationship to the new emperor turned out to be no protection when he was slandered by two powerful eunuchs. He had to commit suicide with poison to avoid the humiliation of being imprisoned.37 It was also during the Yuan Emperor's reign that Wang Zhaojun was sent to a marriage in the barbarian land. The situational similarity between the court official and the palace lady is clear: both were victimized by misrepresentation, whether verbal or pictorial. The unnecessariness of Zhaojun's homesickness in Wang's poem is matched by the futility of Zhaojun's hope to "wake up my lord" in Sima's. (If the death of a venerable minister did not cause the emperor to suspect something had gone profoundly wrong, then how could a mere palace lady succeed in making him see the truth?) It is clear, then, that the sentiment in the allusive ending of Sima's poem resonates with Wang's "In life's disappointment, there is no south or north." Sima Guang is not known as an excellent poet, but this particular poem has had its admirers. It seems to have attracted some attention even before Mu Baoyi praised it as a corrective of Wang Anshi's heresy. The first notable fan we have on record was the Shenzong #tk Emperor (r. 1068-85):
One day, Shenzong was present at the lecture hall. When the lecture was over, he ordered that tea be served to everybody, and everyone was much at ease. He said to the lecturing officer: "A few days ago, I saw Sima Guang's poem in ancient style on Wang Zhaojun. It was exquisite. For example, there are the lines: "The bronze rings on the two beast-faced plates on the palace gate? / When would she turn back to see them again? / She bemoaned that it would have been better to live by Mt. Wu, /In coarse clothes and with an artemisia clasp, be married to a boor." Reading them makes one sad." At the time, Junshi [Sima Guang] had been on leave for several days because of his foot illness. Lii Huiqing g H5IP said, "Your Majesty resides deep
37 Ban Gu, Hanshu, 78.3288.
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in the palace. How did Your Majesty come across this poem?" His Majesty said, "I just saw it by chance." Huiqing said, "This poem is not without profound meaning." His Highness said, "You, too, have seen the poem, eh?" Huiqing said, "I have never seen the poem. I just heard Your Highness reciting these four lines." His Highness said, "What profound meaning is there in these four lines?"38
The Han emperor appears in a relatively sympathetic light in the line preceding the two couplets cited by Shenzong. Indeed, among all the matching poems, this is the only instance where the emperor is treated with some sympathy. That may help to explain the appeal Shenzong found in the lachrymose parting scene. The second couplet quoted by Shenzong actually contains an expression of resentment that might be frowned upon by straight-laced moralists, but the emperor was apparently too sensible a reader of poetry to be bothered by it. We may note that the Zhaojun who appears to indulge in self-pity at the beginning of the poem forms a noticeable contrast with the Zhaojun who declares her undying loyalty to her lord at the end of the poem. However, we probably should not assign too much significance to this contradiction except to observe that Sima, like Ouyang Xiu, was playing with the various elements or motifs of the Zhaojun story.39 We should also note that the informal conversation about Sima's poem took place after the official business of the day was over, when everybody was in a relaxed mood, ready for some pleasant chit chat. Deliberately (and almost mischievously) elusive in responding to Lii Huiqing (1032-1111), the emperor poked fun at the obviously disingenuous claim about the "profound meaning" of the poem. For his part, Lii Huiqing was simply being vigilant: when the emperor expressed a liking for a poem written by a political rival a long time before, it was always prudent to check how the poem found its way to the throne before dexterously commending the emperor for his taste in poetry. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Sima Guang's poem was well received by Wang Anshi. One of the lines cited by Shenzong?"When would she turn back to see them again?"?is included in the ninth of Wang's highly acclaimed "Eighteen Beats of the Barbarian Flute: Eighteen Poems" *Mn+Att+At* (QSS, 574.6760), a specimen of poetry known as collected lines (jiju %fc}), i.e., poems that are made up of lines culled from existing poems.40 Wang certainly would not have done so if he had the
38 Daoshan qinghua 31 djif IS (postface by Wang Wei iWdated 1130) (SKQS), 40a-b. 39 The idea that it would have been better for Zhaojun to stay as a village girl is common in Song poems; examples include Su Che Kfgt (1039-1112), "Zhaojun cun" BgS"W (QSS, 849.9819); Han Juftife) (1080-1135), "Ti Li Boshi hua Zhaojun tu" H^ffiBtMBSSH (QSS, 1439.16585-86); Wang Tinggui, "Ti Luo Choulao jia Mingfei ci Han tu" (QSS, 1453.16734); Li Bi, "Guo Zhaojun cun fu shi" iiBg^WWI* (QSS, 2744.32320) 40 Yan Yu iil
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slightest suspicion that Sima's poem was meant to correct his mistake.41 As we have seen from Zhu Bian's memoir, however, starting in the late Northern Song, Sima's poem has been read as a moral opposite of Wang's heresy. The alleged opposition even became the basis on which a characterology was constructed to judge the two men. Wang Shizhen j??M (1663-1711), for example, contrasted Wang's "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep" with Sima's "I know my body will never return, in life or in death; / In my heart I hope eventually to wake up my lord" and declared that Sima was as incompatible with Wang as a square tenon with a round mortise or as water with fire.42 At the time Wang Anshi wrote his "Mingfei qu," Zeng Gong was serving as Judicial Adjutant W)S#S in Taiping.43 One would assume that he, being absent from the capital, was the last of the five to receive and respond to Wang's poems. He probably had also read (some of) the matching poems by the other four before composing his own "Song of Brilliant Lady: Two Poems" HWBftzlff (QSS, 457.5552):
No. 1
Before Brilliant Lady came out of the Han palace, Her enchanting beauty was known to none. Worse yet, she left all alone from the land of Han, Ordered to marry a barbarian fellow ten thousand miles away. Filling her eyes were none but clamorous caitiffs; To whom could she talk about her heart of loyalty? How could you, Yanshou, selfishly distort loveliness and repulsiveness, So that beauty and ugliness could not be kept as they are? Even a painting of the perceptible could be like this; How can right and wrong be decided in their formlessness? Frustration or success?isn't it in each person's lot? South or north?the difference is not just made for you. Under brown clouds, on the roads beyond the border, her native place was far; Geese were in the sky, but messages from home were rare. She composed a new melody, but no one was there to listen; She could only play against east wind, her tears shedding in vain. If you say human feelings should not be stirred over this,
Sima's line is also included in Zeng Zao's ^fiS (1091-1151) jiju poem, "Ban mi" S^C, in Yuefu yaci WiMWm (SKQS), 1.3a. 41 If "Eighteen Beats of the Barbarian Flute: Eighteen Poems" came from Wang Anshi's late years?as Li Deshen maintains (Wang Anshi shiwen xinian, p. 304), then we could argue that Wang's political views did not stand in the way of his poetic appreciation of Sima's line. 42 Wang Shizhen, Chibei outan ftMtfgtl (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 10.230. 43 See Li Zhen $lt, Zeng Gong nianpu ?f S^H (Suzhou: Suzhou daxue chubanshe, 1997), p. 191.
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Then why was the daughter of Wei constantly homesick?44
TO*ftit?Bf, ffMiAA^teo $m-MmmA, m^nsMnift* mmmM^mm, mmn&mmo mmmmmm, ^A^g?w^io ^twit?ift, immwmmK mm^r-m^, mt&mmMo nmmmmmm, mm&x^tm* mmn^mxm, frnMA^mm^
No. 2
Such a supreme beauty with moth eyebrows could not be matched, Able to put to shame flowers in the Shanglin Park. Confident that nothing could stain white jade, She would not use gold to bribe the painter. Leaving her pepper-scented chamber for the distant dusty wind, She went to consign herself to a felt tent deep in the desert. Even Han ladies showed envy on their faces; How could barbarian girls have no jealousy in their hearts? Wishing to convey her feelings to the land of Han, She could only express her grief through a barbarian lute. So long as she could convey her intent at the moment, It did not matter in what age someone would understand the music. Chang'an's beauties boasted of wealth and rank,45 As they idled away their time in the Weiyang Palace. Little did they expect to vanish in oblivion like mist and smoke; Only the story of Brilliant Lady has been passed down to this day.
iftiiMtt^pr*, tgf]RE*fflE?#o gffHittei, ^0A^#Jiir^o -mmmAAM, mummm* #t?gw^fe, m-kmm^t^ mm\mmt&, mmmmim* mL%m%mM, ^mmxmm, n$itAf?tft ^nrnmytm* mummmm, ?wto#5^0
That Zeng Gong was consciously echoing Wang Anshi is obvious from the first line of his first poem, which is lifted virtually verbatim from its counterpart in Wang. Zeng's denunciation of Mao Yanshou almost sounds hackneyed by design:46 just as Wang had attempted to surprise his audience by reversing the case of Mao, Zeng tried to counteract by reversing Wang's reversal. Zeng was apparently also influenced,
44 There are two poems in the Shijing (nos. 39, 59) that, according to traditional commentaries, represent the homesickness of a woman from Wei whose marriage led her away from her homeland. 45 "Beauty" (HA) is a common designation of secondary imperial wives or consorts. 46 The poetic condemnation goes back at least as early as the early 7th century; see, for example, Lady Hou ffc A A, "Ziqian shi" S itl#, in Lu Qinli M?X?L, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi ft:0M%mmmm (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), p. 2739. a palace lady of the Yang j|? Emperor (r. 605-17) of the Sui;
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especially in his first lyric, by Ouyang Xiu. Consider the couplet "Even a painting of the perceptible could still be like this, / How can right and wrong be determined in their formlessness?" Liu Kezhuang S'JjnLffi (1187-1269) saw in this couplet clear evidence against the popular assumption that Zeng Gong was not good at poetry and declared it to be "what had not been uttered by other masters" (M^^^Tt^H).47 However, the couplet becomes anything but original when juxtaposed with Ouyang's "Even what could be seen and heard close by were handled like this; / How could the barbarians be controlled ten thousand miles away?" (Of course, one can argue that Zeng achieved some thematic variety by elevating Ouyang's moral-political discourse to a philosophical level.) To further illustrate the derivativeness of Zeng's couple, we may mention that the rhetorical pattern (though not necessarily the thematic orientation) in Ouyang's couplet is reminiscent of the second couplet in the following from Mei Yaochen's "Matching in the Same Fvhyme Scheme Yuanfu's 'Lyric of Zhaojun'" ^tiff MifBSSif (QSS, 259.3290):
In the past, there was Li Shaoqing, Stirred to sadness upon hearing the flute. Even a stout man was like that, How could her moth eyebrows relax?"
?if^/MiP, mmmrnM, ?irfej?, mm^nmo In "Matching Jiefu's 'Songs of Brilliant Lady'" fn^ftTOffi (QSS, 261.3338), Mei employs the same structure again: "Even men could not protect themselves as they traveled back and forth; / What could a girl, feeble and humble, expect?" ^%]?M.$\ Tft* ^TIM^^oIM. Finally, we should note that Zeng's own second poem has : "Even Han ladies showed envy on their faces; / How could barbarian girls be without jealousy in their hearts?" Among the five who wrote matching poems, Zeng Gong came closest to responding to and contesting Wang Anshi's controversial lines?showing agreement in the first poem and disagreement in the second. Wang's "In life's disappointment, there is no south or north" is matched with "Frustration or success?isn't it in each person's lot? / South or north?the difference is not just made for you."48 To Wang's "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate," however, Zeng responds with an opposing moral paradigm: "So long as she could entrust her intent at the moment, / It did not matter in what age someone would understand the music." Wang Anshi's zhixin ?P>1> ("heart-to-heart intimate") designates a realm of personal relationships, which are regulated by
47 Liu Kezhuang, Houcun shihua fJtWft f? (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), houji, 1.53. 48 Zeng's attribution of Wang Zhaojun's misfortune to her lot recalls the last couple in Ouyang Xiu's second lyric: "Extraordinary beauties are most of them ill-fated, / Don't blame the spring wind, just lament your own lot." The idea that beautiful women tend to be ill-fated is, of course, an ancient one.
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"favor" (en J?>) and which ultimately supersede any moral imperatives or political allegiance.49 Zeng's countervailing zhiyin ?R# ("one who understands the music") puts a premium on loyalty to the Han regardless of an individual's personal fortunes.50 Zeng Gong in his second poem may appear to have collided with Wang Anshi head on, but the collision is more poetical than moral. To be sure, his affirmation of Zhaojun's faithfulness to the Han could be construed as purposefully counteractive to Wang's reference to the Han's "shallow" favor (in contrast to the barbarian's "deep" favor).51 Alternatively, however, one may view this affirmation as a desperate attempt by Zeng to sound a different note as he joined the voices of four cultural luminaries to match what had apparently been a poetic sensation. Indeed, his praise of Zhaojun may be interpreted in the same light as his condemnation of Mao Yanshou. In both cases, he was aiming, albeit somewhat clumsily, for rhetoric that would set him apart from Wang. At the very least, it is clear that the controversial lines in the "Mingfei qu" never caused Zeng to suspect a darker side of Wang's moral character.
Ill
49 The term zhixin originates from a line in "Shao siming" d^'pfrin the "Jiu ge" f[J$k, attributed to Qu Yuan M JS (ca. 340-ca. 278 BC): "No joy is greater than making a new friend" ($?H^?r fflftl). According to the influential commentary by Wang Yi 3E3& (fl. 89-158), the literal meaning of the line is: "There is no joy greater than that of a man and a woman as they first know each other" (AT:t^, IIAIftJ^feffl^P^til); allegorically, Qu Yuan is complaining about the pain of being separated from his king; see Wenxuan JtS, comp. Xiao Tong M$t (501 31) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1986), 33.1524. Zhixin also resonates with a putative letter by Li Ling to Su Wu MS (Wenxuan, 41.1848), which contains an offhand remark on friendship: "When it comes to understanding between humans, the most precious is the understanding of the hearts" (Aiffl&h Jtffiftl'h)- Li Ling eloquently defends his deserting the Han and living among the Xiongnu and rationalizes in this connection his betrayal of Han's favor J&. It is a significant coincidence that Mu Baoyi mentioned Li Ling in criticizing Wang Anshi. 50 The term zhiyin harks back to the well-known story about Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi. When Bo played the lute, Zhong could tell what exactly was on Bo's mind, be it towering mountains or surging waters. After Zhong died, Bo smashed his lute and did not play for the rest of his life because there was no one else in the world who could understand his music as Zhong did; see Lushi chunqiu g K;#$C, ed. Chen Qiyou BI^SK (Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe, 1984), 14.740. 51 The motif of "favor" and its variations had been prominent in the poetic treatment of the Wang Zhaojun legend. Bai Juyi's fi FSMj (772-846) "Zhaojun yuan" BSS"^ (QTS, 439.4895), for example, ends with this couplet: "The favor of her lord was simply paper-thin; / There was no need to resent the painter forever." ? JolSJ?#$P&ft> ^1^ fnJ'Ififl'W. Bai's couplet in turn was probably meant to reverse the sentiment in a couplet from Xue Daoheng's jSiMff (540-609) "Zhaojun ci" BS^S?: "It was simply because I was born under an unlucky star, / So that by mistake the favor of my lord was made slight." # S^^^? ISffiflSft. See Lu Qinli, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi, p. 2680.
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As mentioned earlier, at the time Wang Anshi wrote his "Mingfei qu," he was not yet a highly controversial figure in national politics; his word and deed were not yet put under the moral microscope as they frequently would be. The serious problematization of his songs in later times was for the most part a byproduct of the aversion to what he did as a reformer. In their matching poems, none of the five leading literati of the time expressed serious misgivings about Wang's seeming heresy.52 The songs were taken as such rather than as a piece of immoral discourse or, worse yet, as proof of their author's insidiousness. In the pages that follow, I do not intend to add to the debate over the moral (in)appropriateness of the maverick verses in the "Mingfei qu." My interest lies instead in exploring the psychological and cultural dynamics that are at least partly responsible for the genesis of these verses. Rising out of the interplay between Wang's personality and the vogue of fan'an in the Song, these dynamics form the vital core of Wang's poetics of disagreement. Wang Anshi was often known for deliberately disagreeing with others in his relentless pursuit of novelty. Sometimes, his argumentative personality was said to represent a group trait of Jiangxi scholars. Zhu Xi ^M (1130-1200) characterizes this trait in terms of a disposition toward wrangling and a penchant for the odd: "It is a custom among Jiangxi scholars to make strange arguments. They would feel ashamed about agreeing with others and try to excel through advancing odd ideas" (QlHifi ftfe^Wi, Suj^AI^N ^alMW^JI).53 This tendency toward arguing for the sake of arguing is driven by an obsession with uniqueness and originality, which Jiangxi scholars tried to achieve by way of unconventionality. Zhu Xi's prime examples are Lu Jiuyuan SA$?i (1139-93) and Wang Anshi. Lu's contention that Gaozi pf has a better understanding of human nature than Mencius is said to be symptomatic of the tendency among Jiangxi scholars: "People from Jiangxi probably like to wrangle (Affi^Iffi A#J$&). If you say something stinks, they will surely say it is aromatic. For example, Gaozi cannot compare with Mencius. However, [they feel that] if I should say that, too, then I would be the same as others; therefore, I must say that Gaozi is superior to Mencius." 54 Following his condescending jab at Lu, Zhu Xi gave a more dramatic example concerning Wang Anshi. Wang once wrote a treatise on military strategy and left it under the inkstand in his library. One day, as he was meeting with a guest, Liu Ban WM (1023-89) came
52 Such muted response has been interpreted as an indication of the ideologically liberal atmosphere of the time; see Tang Meijiang jftf/liL, "Songdai Zhaojun shi leixing ji qi jiedu" 3i iX#&%W$$%l&^Mt% Sichuan shifan xueyuan xuebao, 2003 (1), p. 10. 53 Zhuzi yulei #c ???$!, ed. Li Jingde ^WH (13th cent.) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 124.2971. For a study in English of northern Jiangxi as a literary realm in the Song, see Jonathan O. Pease, "Lin-ch'uan and Fen-ning: Kiangsi Locales and Kiangsi Writers during the Sung," Asia Major, 3rd series, 4, pt.l (1991): 39-85. 54 Zhuzi yulei, 20.4555; see also Zhuzi yulei, 124.2971, where Lu Jiuyuan is identified as the originator of this perverse view.
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to visit him.55 So Liu went directly to the library and, upon seeing the treatise, furtively picked it up, read it, and memorized it. Then, Liu left on the pretext that it was inappropriate for him to sit in the library of the executive official without formally meeting with him. When the two met on a later occasion, Wang asked what Liu had written lately. Liu responded by reciting the treatise, only in slightly different wording. After Wang withdrew to his library, he tore to pieces the treatise, believing his ideas were the same as Liu's. According to Zhu Xi, "That was because [he thought] if there was another man who made the same point as I had, then what I said was no longer novel. That's why he tore his treatise to pieces" (IIWMIfliilltfc* Wl^HM^ ^, ^nitf:).56 Zhu Xi's anecdote about Wang Anshi came from Xu Du's f^J5 (fl. 1138) Quesao bian ?Pi#$|j (Compilations in seclusion), which has this comment: "Whenever he wrote an argumentative piece, Duke Jing would want to come up with something unexpected. If there was someone who had expressed the same view, then he would consider it to be a vulgar opinion" (MW&sPBWlWLi&WL\iiAMZ%, tf^f&^ZMWl W^^^f^JLiii).57 Xu already saw obsession with originality as informing Wang Anshi's discourse. Zhu Xi went one step further by suggesting that such obsession was not just an individual idiosyncrasy but representative of the mentality of Jiangxi scholars as a group. There is no doubt that Zhu Xi had an ax to grind against Lu Jiuyuan ?his main intellectual rival. One suspects that sometimes he simply dragged Wang Anshi in to buttress his case against Jiangxi scholars in general and Lu Jiuyuan in particular.58 However, Zhu's characterization of Wang is not peculiar; in fact, it reflects the widespread perception of Wang's fixation with originality?a fixation that may well have played a vital role in the composition of such morally problematic statements as found in his "Mingfei qu." Luo Dajing's SAM (jinshi 1226) critical pronouncements are highly illustrative in this connection. Speaking of the theme of the abandoned woman (H?i) in Chinese poetry, Luo cited "Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate" and faulted Wang for "contradicting reason and harming the Way to the extreme" (f^SfJl iiSII).59 Commenting on the same couplet in a different context, Luo asked: "If one
55 Liu Ban was known for his wit and jest. He especially enjoyed playing pranks on Wang Anshi, ever after the latter had been elevated to the highest position in the government; see Ye Mengde, Shilin shihua, 1.404; Shao Bo SPff (d. 1158), Shaoshi wenjian houlu SPftBJJL^S* (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 30.238; 30.239; 56 Zhuzi yulei, 20.455; see also 124.2971, where Lu Jiuyuan is identified as the originator of this perverse view. In Du Zhu suibi K&fiMI (SKQS), 3.25b, Lu Longqi gffiK (1630-93) observed that such an obsession was not unique of Jiangxi scholars. 57 Xu Du, Quesao bian, 2.21b. 58 For another sweeping swipe at Jiangxi scholars by Zhu Xi with specific references to Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Anshi, see Zhuzi yulei, 139.3302. 59 Luo Dajing, Helin yulu tt#3LJt (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), yi bian, 2.141.
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were to follow this line of argument, then wouldn't it be all right if a minister were to betray his lord or a wife her husband if they should feel their hearts were understood?"60 For Luo Dajing, the couplet is but one of the numerous instances of Wang Anshi's morally perverse statements, especially in poems on historical subjects. Other examples include "Grand Councilor Pi" ?ig (QSS, 571.6739), which polemicizes against the conventional wisdom about the perils of being infatuated with beautiful women:
The fate of a state is tied with its grand councilors; How can a lowly concubine be the source of the disaster? If only the king could get rid of Grand Councilor Pi, Then there would be no need to worry about keeping Xi Shi in the palace. HE*?S^, J9?Mteft??o flfmiS^fg, *?g?Wffiifio
To advance his selfish interests, an evil minister would encourage his lord to indulge in such sensual pleasures as beautiful women. An honest minister, on the other hand, would warn against such indulgence. To Luo, this would be self-evident truth. Wang Anshi's claim that "Then there would be no need to worry about keeping Xi Shi in the palace" simply flies in the face of such truth. Another example is "Shang Yang" SfH (QSS, 569.6724), which contains this couplet: "People today should not fault Shang Yang; / Shang Yang always carried out his policies when in power." ^A^rN?$5 Wk> iSI&fi^ift^fT. Luo's quip of Wang's absurd admiration for Shang Yang is curt: "When did the Two Emperors and the Three Kings fail to carry out their policies? Why single out Shang Yang as a model?"61 In Luo Dajing's view, morally bizarre statements are part and parcel of Wang Anshi's argumentative discourse. As an example, he mentions the well-known quarrel between Wang and Tang Jie jMiY (1010-69) over the appraisal of Feng Dao #? M (882-954).62 Wang argued that Feng, because he endured humiliations in order to benefit the people, was as virtuous as the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Tang retorted that Feng could not be called a pure minister because he served ten rulers under four dynasties. Wang rebutted with a rhetorical question: Can Yi Yin i^p" be called an impure minister, too, since he went to Tang five times and to Jie five times? Luo's comment on this exchange is that Wang's sophistry was always like this (^feMtti
60 Ibid., 4.186. 61 Ibid., 4.186. The Two Emperors were the legendary rulers Yao % and Shun #; the Three Kings were the virtuous Yu H, Tang M, and King Wen jt (or Wu 5?), founders of Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. 62 For Feng Dao's official biography, see Ouyang Xiu, Xin Wudaishi ?f Strife (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 54.612-15; for a study of Feng's character, see Wang Gongwu, "Feng Tao: An Essay on Confucian Loyalty," in Confucian Personalities, ed. Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1952), pp. 123-45.
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itt;).63 The quarrel over Feng Dao was originally recorded by Wei Tai $%M (llth/12th cent) to provide an example of the constant disagreements between Wang and Tang rather than to demonstrate Wang's sophistry.64 With partisan prejudice, Shao BoSPM (d. 1158) linked Wang's approbation of Feng Dao with the controversial couplet in the second song of his "Mingfei qu": "Duke Wang of Jing thought it was wrong for Duke Ouyang [Xiu] to denigrate Feng Dao. Now, Feng Dao served as Grand Councilor to five rulers. How could one write history without condemning him? Duke Jing's 'Song of Brilliant Lady' has: 'Han's favor is shallow and the barbarian's deep; / The joy of life is to be with your heart-to-heart intimate.' It is fit that he should approve Feng Dao."65 Wang Anshi's personality also figured prominently in the critical comments on his poems that are not morally outrageous. A case in point is the first of his two quatrains entitled "Lord Xie's Mound" W&W< (QSS, 565.6692):
My given name and your style name are by chance the same; From my house, your mound lies right before my eyes. You left, I came?the mound should belong to me now; It should not be that the mound is still named after you.
??&4HRffi|i|, ftg^J?4Bg+o ?*8c*??St *??#:f?fit&o
The cleverness of the poem lies in its playing on the identicalness between Wang Anshi's given name and Xie An's iSJ:?c (320-85) style name (i.e., Anshi).66 As Huang Zhen licit (1213-80) put it, the poem is notable for its "skillfulness in wisecracks" (?}\ Jl^^^5).67 According to an anonymous comment quoted by Hu Zi ft^jff (fl. 1147-67), however, the quatrain reveals Wang's uncontrollable habit of wrangling with others:
63 Helin yulu, yi bian, 4.186. Wang's allusion was to Mengzi ifeT, 12.6, where Yi Yin is praised as a humane (t) person, even though he went five times to Tang (the virtuous founder of the Shang dynasty) and five times to Jie (the evil last ruler of the Xia dynasty). 64 Wei Tai, Dongxuan bilu 3C$r*tt (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), 9.99. In Wei Tai's account, Tang Jie actually came out as the winner, for he countered that one can act like Yi Yin only when one has the intention of Yi Yin. Wang found no word to answer back. 65 Shao Bo, Shaoshi wenjian houlu, 10.74, 66 Zhu Yu 7^^ (fl. 1110) was probably the first to comment on this identicalness; see his Pingzhou ketan WM "!!?, ed. Li Weiguo $fiSIS (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1989), 1.18 19. 67 Huang Zheng, Huangshi richao jltK B?!> (SKQS), 64.4b. Wang's quatrains apparently inspired Lu You S# (1125-1209), who, in "Ti Chen Boyu zhubu suo cang Qin Shaoyou xiang" M^MfiT ^WffiWM'VM^ (QSS, 2219.25448), played on the similarity between his own given name (You) and the second character in Qin Guan's style name (Shaoyou) by lifting almost verbatim the first line of Wang's quatrain: "My given name and your style name happen to be the same." Sc^S^^IEffll^. More sentimental commentators on the poem would lament the disappearance of Wang Anshi's house; see Ge Lifang, Yunyu yangqiu, 13.588, and Zhang Bangji ?RffiS (12th cent.), Mozhuang manlu HffiSit (SKQS), 4.12b-13a.
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"Jiefu liked to wrangle with others. When he was at court, he wrangled with other venerable lords over New Policies; after he returned to woods in the mountains, he wrangled with Xie An over a mound."68 Of all the interpretations of "Lord Xie's Mound/' this anonymous comment proves to be the most influential in the sense that it draws attention to Wang's poems as revealing his aggressive personality. After quoting this comment, Qu You ilflj (1341-1427) cites "Impromptu" fiU (QSS, 571.6742) to reinforce the case about Wang's aggressive personality:
In old age, Marquis Rang presided over Guanzhong's affairs, And constantly worried that foreigners from other states would come. In my old days, I, too, own a glen exclusively;69 Every time I see a chariot, I get startled and suspicious. mimmm^m, s?aig?f*. m^m^-m, %&&mmnm*
Wei Rang flSi (d. 265 BC?) detested "strangers from other states" (Hf^?^) for fear that they might cause trouble to Qin (i.e., Guanzhong). WHien Wang JizEft brought Fan Sui ^Sflfrom Wei to Qin in a chariot and arrived at Hu, they saw Wei Rang approaching from the distance. Knowing Wei's xenophobia, Fan asked to hide in the chariot. When Wei came up, he asked Wang if he had brought any foreigner with him and was told no. After Wei left, Fan got off the chariot and walked away, predicting that Wei would send his attendants back to search the chariot. The attendants did come back and left only after they found no foreigners in the chariot.70 Of Wang Anshi's self-comparison to Wei Rang, Qu You wrote: "From this we see that the duke [Wang Anshi] not only wanted to lord it over others at court; he also wanted to own exclusively even such a thing as a glen. His inborn disposition was probably just like that" (SSttMife).71 As poetry is supposed to be self-expressive after all, Wang Anshi's case would not have been quite remarkable if it had been simply a matter of his powerful personality making itself felt at the thematic level. His personality was also a significant factor in the discussions of the stylistic features of his poetry. Alluding to the anonymous comment on "Lord Xie's Mound/' Qian Zhongshu situated Wang's poetic diction in
68 Hu Zi, Ttaoxi yuyin conghua, qianji, 33.227. 69 Wang Anshi is alluding, in a self-deprecating manner, to a self-complacent frog, who boasts to a gigantic sea turtle about how wonderful his life is as he has exclusive possession of the water of a glen (II?H2jK); see Zhuangzi jishi ffii^ftff, ed. Guo Qingfan fPJiSi (1844-ca. 1896) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), "Qiu shui" ft/JC, p. 599! 70 Sima Qian i]If S (145-86? BC), Shiji tni (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1956), 79.2402-3. 71 Qu You, Guitian shihua If BBftlS, in Lidai shihua xubianWLiXW$?f$l$k, comp. Ding Fubao T?I U (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 1.1252. As early as the 12th century, Chen Yanxiao ffiii S (fl. 1138-66) saw in the quatrain Wang's inability to disengage totally while in retirement; see Gengxi shihuafft^MMiS, m Lidai shihua xubian, 2.183.
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his competitive personality in terms of approaching and appropriating his predecessors: "When the duke was at court, he wrangled with others over policies; when he was in retirement, he wrangled with another man over a mound. Similarly, in his writings, he wished to compete with the ancients for superiority and appropriated all novel diction and marvelous verses. He spared no effort transplanting and picking: sometimes imitating straightforwardly, sometimes emulating by going in the opposite direction of the original; sometimes lifting directly, sometimes reversing the case. His inborn desire to excel is thereby revealed." (^^M
The association that Qian Zhongshu sees between Wang's personality and his poetic style was also noted by pre-modern scholars like Yuan Mei M$t (1716-98): "When writing prose, Duke Wang of Jing would reach the level of the ancients as soon as he let down his writing brush. When talking about poetry, Duke Wang of Jing would be wrong as soon as he opened his mouth. Why is it so? In prose, one avoids platitude, and the duke was stubborn by nature, so he was drastically different from others in his diction; in poetry, one values gentleness, and the duke had an incisive temperament, so he stumbled as he tapped what was aberrant and dived for what was hidden."73 We certainly do not have to accept Yuan Mei's distinction in styles between poetry and prose or his overly harsh assessment of Wang Anshi's poetry; what is germane to our discussion is his attributing Wang's pursuit of poetic novelty (i.e., the "aberrant" and the "hidden") to his "incisive temperament." With regard to the specific case of the "Mingfei qu," it was Li Bi ^H (1159-1222), the earliest annotator of Wang Anshi's collected poems, who first called attention to the pursuit of novelty as the primary agent responsible for the composition of the sensational lines. To refute the charge leveled by Fan Chong, Li offered the following explanation of the problematic couplet in the second of Wang's songs: "The literal meaning of the duke's words is certainly inappropriate, but that was because he as a poet was for a moment too engrossed with coming up something new and extraordinary and looking for what had not been said by previous writers to realize the inappropriateness of his words Mr. Fan, however, went too -far with his charges." (&igji@#,- mmxffi-mMm^, ^tuitr A#f*xt, wzmtz^fc, mw^m Wi^fM^o )74 In the intellectual framework available and acceptable to mainstream scholars in pre-modern China, Li Bi's is probably the most sensible and persuasive defense. While acknowledging that the couplet is "inappropriate" in its literal sense, Li traces the psychological provenance of Wang's moral revisionism/sensationalism to his desire as a poet to avoid poetic cliches. In a much less sympathetic tone, Zhao Yi MS (1727-1814) made a similar point. While joining Luo Dajing in denouncing Wang for "violating reason to the extreme" (#S^fi), Zhao describes the couplet as an
72 Qian Zhongshu OkMB, Tanyi lu t&Hi* (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), p. 247. 73 Yuan Mei, Suiyuan shihua MMWftS (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1982), 6.167. 74 Li Bi, Wang Jinggong shi zhu bujian, 6.112.
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example of his "fixation on being different from others" (IWJS} AalU). That fixation is simply part of Wang "inborn disposition" (^fi^til).75 Li Bi was eager to explain off the couplet as a moral eyesore: Wang's preoccupation with saying something unprecedented is just a momentary (^8$) impulse; it is Wang the poet (l$A), not Wang the moralist, who wrote the lines whose "literal meaning" is "certainly inappropriate." Zhao Yi, on the other hand, traced the problematic couplet to Wang's ubiquitous obsession with being different from others, and that obsession is part of his "inborn disposition." From a technical point of view, the revisionist rhetoric in Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" falls under the rubric of fan'an in traditional Chinese poetics. As He Shang ft^S (fl. 1662-81) observed, Wang "intended a case reversal" (S4fl^) and in doing so opened himself up to ceaseless attacks.76 If we give any credence to the common characterization of Wang as overly keen on being different from others, then we should not be surprised to see him employ the fan'an method frequently in poems (and prose pieces) on historical topics. Critical responses have been mixed. At the one end of the spectrum, there are those like Luo Dajing who found Wang's iconoclastic rhetoric to be pernicious. On the other hand, Wang's poems on historical subjects, especially those in the quatrain form, have been acclaimed since at least as early as the Ming. Li Dongyang ^MWo (1447-1516), while not using specifically the term fan'an, certainly had it in mind when he commended those quatrains for "possessing supreme force of the brush. They should be viewed with a special eye" (W^ftjl > # S'Jffl^^BltS^). The example that Li cited was "Shang Yang," which had been criticized by Luo Dajing and others.77 It is interesting to note in passing that Wang Anshi's own "Mingfei qu" became the object of a poetic fan 'an. Frowning upon the problematic couplet in the second of Wang's songs for defending treasonous actions, Xu Dezhi \^%Z (jinshi 1184) wrote a song to "run against the meaning of the couplet" (fc^MM^i,). In Xu's song, Wang Zhaojun expresses her undying loyalty to the Han emperor, even as she embarks upon the abhorring marriage with a barbarian. On the strength of this single poem, Xu made a name for himself as a poet among his contemporaries.78 Centuries later,
75 Zhao Yi, Oubei shihua, 11.1329-30. See also Gao Buying fif^Jfc, Tang Song shijuyao Jt5fcg#S3? (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), 3.329. 76 He Shang, Zaijiuyuan shihua (cJBBItJIrS, in Qing shihua xubian, 1.220. For a recent study from this perspective, see Min Zeping flcjffT, "Wang Anshi "Mingfei qu' bianzheng" izSr^J ?M#5 tt? MiE, Tianzhong xuekan, 19.1 (2004), 77-82. 77 Li Dongyang, Lutang shihua M'siWfnS, in Lidai shihua xubian, p. 1396. For a laudatory comment on Wang's quatrains on historical subjects explicitly for their use of the fan''an technique, see Gu Sili IIBlj?, (jinshi 1712), Hunting shihua M&Wfn?, in Qing shihua fit!$t?, comp. Guo Shaoyu M J^jR (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1963), p. 91. 78 Zhao Yushi ffiHH# (1175-1231), Bintui lu *il? (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1983), 2.15; see also Zhao Yuyan ffi^M (fl. 1231), Yushutang shihua M#SI#I5, in Lidai shihua xubian, 2.499. Xu Dezhi's poem is included in QSS, 2334.26837.
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Huo Zhuo m,}& (1661-1772) was to praise Xu's reversal of Wang's reversal as both sensible and elegant (ftljlfclH^, i?1f MW).79 Of course, fan'an has many dimensions other than reversing cases about historical events or characters. While those dimensions cannot be addressed here, we may observe that the prevalence of fan'an in the Song signals a desire to achieve newness by way of deliberately polemicizing against conventional wisdom or contradicting established views. Such polemical rhetoric has been recognized as one of the defining features of Song poetry.80 What I would like to underscore here is the coalescence between Wang Anshi's competitive and argumentative personality and fan'an as a sort of prevailing Zeitgeist in Song poetry. In taking account of the relevance of Wang's personality, we may get caught up in the hermeneutical circle of construing his personality through his poetry and interpreting his poetry through his personality. However, the strength of Wang's personality is such that it has figured persistently and prominently in the critical discourse on his poems. While it would be a reduction to absurdity to account for the controversial lines in the "Mingfei qu" solely in terms of his personality, to ignore his personality would blind us to psychological as well as cultural forces at work in the genesis of those lines. lifan'an was a vogue in Song poetry and if the sensational lines in Wang Anshi's "Mingfei qu" were an example of that vogue, then why did they stir up such a controversy? From the previous discussion, it is clear that the reason lies in the combination of two factors. The first is the inherently problematic nature of the iconoclastic rhetoric in the poems, even though the rhetoric is meant merely or primarily as poetic exercises in fan'an. One does not have to resort to moral sensationalism to achieve novelty in the thematic orientations of poems on historical characters and events. In fact, Wang himself was often successful in presenting views on history that would be refreshing and agreeable to even the most orthodox moralists.81 The second (and more decisive) factor was the aversion felt by critics toward what Wang Anshi did as a reformer. Without this aversion, Wang's problematic statements
79 See Zhao Yushi, Bintui lu, Appendix I, p. 144. 80 For discussion, see Zhang Gaoping, "Songshi yu fan'an" %.Wf^LMM, in Songdai wenxue yu sixiang ^MiXJC^^&M, ed. Guoli Taiwan daxue Zhongguo wenxue yanjiusuo Hal a ^A^+ ISJt^W^f (Taibei: Xuesheng shuju, 1989), pp. 215-58. Zhang elaborated on the topic in his subsequent publications, including Songshi zhi chuancheng yu kaituo: yifan'an shi, qinyan shi, shi zhong you hua wei li *?*:tfil*|ap*1fc: Wffl*l$# g Ui* + W?&0!l (Taibei: Wenshizhe chubanshe, 1991), pp. 13-115; "Fan'anshi yu Songshi tese" fffl3fei#-^;^i##fi, in his Songshi tese yanjiu ^l$#feW^L (Changchun: Changchun chubanshe, 2002), pp. 456-517. For a brief discussion of fan'an as a rhetorical technique in classical Chinese in comparison with Western examples, see Qian Zhongshu, Guanzhui pian IfSf j|? (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), pp. 463 65. 81 Among the best-known examples are "Fan Zeng" ??ii (QSS, 569.6725), "Xie An" St$ (QSS, 569.6726), and "Wujiangting" MfiL^ (QSS, 570.6732)-which is an explicit fan''an of Du Mu's tt tt (803-52) quatrain with the same title (QTS, 523.5892).
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would not have achieved such notoriety. We only need to bear in mind in this connection that Wang was neither the first nor the last to cast in a positive light Wang Zhaojun's marriage with a barbarian. As an illustration, I will cite two examples of fan'an, one before and one after Wang, in the poetic treatment of the Zhaojun legend. The first is Wang Rui's T#X (fl. 859) "To Mollify Zhaojun's Resentment" jftH8S& (QTS, 505.5743):
Don't complain about the artisan's painting an ugly picture of you; Don't resent the enlightened ruler's dispatching you to a peace-making marriage. Had you not been married to a barbarian foe at that time, You would have remained a mere dancer in the palace. n^xAitajf, n?w?it??L nmw^mm, R&n^-UKo
Wang Rui's revisionist contention is made somewhat palatable as Zhaojun's personal fortune is subsumed in the larger "peace-making marriage" policy adopted by the "enlightened ruler."82 In Lii Benzhong's g*^ (1084-1145) "Brilliant Lady" BJ #2 (QSS, 1606.18647), on the other hand, her plight is blamed squarely on the policy failure of the Han. She is urged to treasure and enjoy the affection she has in the barbarian land and stop torturing herself:
When the Qin was strong and thriving, It did not hesitate to fight hundreds of battles. The Han failed even in the middling strategy;83 With border pacifications, beacon fires still blazed frequently. As men were not capable of carrying out their duties, A woman was sent to a peace-making marriage. Her lord-king set up wine for her; The Shanyu presented treasures. At dawn, she bade adieu to the moon over the Han palace; At dusk, she was drifting with the dust of the barbarian land. In the twilight over white sand, she moved on the horse saddle; In springtime of yellow grasses, she dressed herself in a felt coat. Life is about mutual fondness; Barbarians or Chinese, it makes no difference.84
82 There are even rosier representations of Wang Zhaojun's marriage in Tang-Song poetry, e.g., Zhang Zhongsu 3R#* (7697-819), "Wang Zhaojun" iBgg (QTS, 367.4137); Guo Xiangzheng, "Lin Hezhong jia guan huajuan wu shou: Wang Zhaojun shangma tu" ffiffi^MMM^tTL'W: 3: BS^iiJSB (QSS, 777.8989); Chen Changfang RM^ (1138-78), "Wang Zhaojun" 3E0SS (QSS, 1984.22252); Zhao Rusui ffl&Si (1172-1246), "Zhaojun qu" fflM ft (QSS, 2864.34202). 83 According to Yan You Wl% (d. 23), the Zhou adopted the middling strategy of driving back the Xiongnu when they invaded; the Han, however, adopted the inferior strategy (xia ce Tit) of forming alliance with the Xiongnu through peace-making marriages; see Ban Gu, Honshu, 94B, 3824.
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Just enjoy the affection you have right now; Don't talk about your long-lasting pain and suffering. Take a look at those philandering fellows? How are they better than the people of the barbarian land! HAa?, wBiut^o m& The poem is noteworthy for its last six lines. Hu Zi was deeply impressed that they "do not toe the line [of previous poets]" (TJSH).85 As Zhou Mi ffl^ (1232-98) correctly pointed out, however, these lines do not go beyond the pattern (US) set by Wang Anshi's "In life's disappointment, there is no south or north."86 In any case, from a moralistic point of view, Lii sounds no less scandalous than Wang, and yet he was never defamed for his rhetoric about life among the barbarians as a viable option for Zhaojun.87 With his impeccable moral and political credentials, Lu's poetic exercise in fan 'an was apparently accepted as such, whereas Wang's "Mingfei qu" was found to be perfidious or even indicative of his immoral character. For his part, Wang probably would have enjoyed the controversy. If his main purpose in writing about the Wang Zhaojun legend was to shock and awe his audience, then his success was surely both instantaneous and enduring. 84 I read hu S^for yue ffi here, based on the textual variant in Hu Zi, Tiaoxi yuyin conghua, houji, 40.330; and Zhou Mi, Haoranzhai yatan ffif&lgBWi (SKQS), 2.22b. 85 Hu Zi, Tiaoxi yuyin conghua, houji, 40.330. 86 Zhou Mi, Haoranzhai yatan, 2.22b. 87 Lii has two other poems on Wang Zhaojun, i.e., "Zhaojun" BS^* (QSS, 1609. 18078); "Zhaojun yuan" HSS^S (QSS, 1628.18264). The latter ends with a couplet that also puts a positive spin on Zhaojun's life in the barbarian land: "She would rather be with the green grasses outside the Dragon Fortress, / Than live as a slender waist in the Zhaoyang Palace." ^^fllS^ #$, ^f^ mmmmm. This content downloaded from 66.31.142.119 on Mon, 14 Aug 2017 01:58:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms