The Case of Wang Wei (Ca

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_full_journalsubtitle: International Journal of Chinese Studies/Revue Internationale de Sinologie _full_abbrevjournaltitle: TPAO _full_ppubnumber: ISSN 0082-5433 (print version) _full_epubnumber: ISSN 1568-5322 (online version) _full_issue: 5-6_full_issuetitle: 0 _full_alt_author_running_head (neem stramien J2 voor dit article en vul alleen 0 in hierna): Sufeng Xu _full_alt_articletitle_deel (kopregel rechts, hier invullen): The Courtesan as Famous Scholar _full_is_advance_article: 0 _full_article_language: en indien anders: engelse articletitle: 0 _full_alt_articletitle_toc: 0

T’OUNG PAO The Courtesan as Famous Scholar T’oung Pao 105 (2019) 587-630 www.brill.com/tpao 587

The Courtesan as Famous Scholar: The Case of Wang Wei (ca. 1598-ca. 1647)

Sufeng Xu University of Ottawa

Recent scholarship has paid special attention to late Ming courtesans as a social and cultural phenomenon. Scholars have rediscovered the many roles that courtesans played and recognized their significance in the creation of a unique cultural atmosphere in the late Ming literati world.1 However, there has been a tendency to situate the flourishing of late Ming courtesan culture within the mainstream Confucian tradition, assuming that “the late Ming courtesan” continued to be “integral to the operation of the civil-service examination, the process that re produced the empire’s political and cultural elites,” as was the case in earlier dynasties, such as the Tang.2 This assumption has suggested a division between the world of the Chinese courtesan whose primary clientele continued to be constituted by scholar-officials until the eight eenth century and that of her Japanese counterpart whose rise in the mid-seventeenth century was due to the decline of elitist samurai-

1) For important studies on late Ming high courtesan culture, see Kang-i Sun Chang, The Late Ming Poet Ch’en Tzu-lung: Crises of Love and Loyalism (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1991); Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Cen- tury China (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1995), chapter 7; and Susan Mann, Precious Re- cords: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1997), chapter 5. See also Paul Ropp, “Ambiguous Images of Courtesan Culture in Late Imperial China”; Wai-yee Li, “The Late Ming Courtesan: Invention of a Culture Ideal”; and Dorothy Ko, “The Written Word and the Bound Foot: A History of the Courtesan’s Aura,” in Writing Wom- en in Late Imperial China, ed. Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun Chang (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1997), 17-45, 46-73, and 74-100, respectively. For a recent case study of the celebrated Xue Susu 薛素素 (1568-?), see Daria Berg, Women Writers and the Literary World in Early Modern China (1580-1700) (London: Routledge, 2013), chapter 3. 2) Ko, “The Written Word,” 82-83.

©T’oung Koninklijke Pao 105 Brill (2019) NV, Leiden, 587-630 2019 DOI: 10.1163/15685322-10556P03

Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 588 Sufeng Xu bureaucrats.3 In particular, current research has centered on several famous late Ming courtesans such as Liu Rushi 柳如是 (1618-1664) and her love relationships with leading loyalist scholar-officials Chen Zilong 陳子龍 (1608-1647) and Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582-1664) during the Ming-Qing transition. Through the study of figures like Liu, scholars have amply demonstrated the strong identification between loyalist scholar-officials and the elite courtesans they extolled during the dynastic transition. However, given the complexity of late Ming courtesan and literati culture, there are areas where further investigations can be con- ducted, especially when we take into account the fact that loyalist courtesans like Liu spent a significant portion of their adult lives under the Qing and are classified in Hu Wenkai’s 胡文楷 catalogue of Chinese women’s writings as Qing dynasty women.4 Moving beyond “love and loyalism,” a prominent theme that has dominated recent scholarship on late Ming courtesan culture, I attempt to show the complexity of this culture by focusing on the nonconformist Wang Wei 王微 (ca. 1598-ca. 1647, zi Xiuwei 修微), one of the most distinguished courtesan poets of the Ming dynasty.5 Like Liu Rushi, Wang Wei has also been considered a loyalist courtesan in recent scholarship due to her anti-Manchu sentiments during the dynastic transition.6 However, unlike Liu who lived in the Qing for most of her adult life, Wang Wei died three years after the fall of the Ming. It is important to note that she had been the concubine of the Donglin scholar-official Xu Yuqing 許譽卿 (1586-1662, zi Xiacheng 霞城) for over twenty years at the time of the transition.7 Moreover, as a young courtesan in her early and mid-twenties around the early 1620s, Wang Wei was an active member of the renowned literatus-merchant Wang Ruqian’s 汪汝謙 (1577-1655, zi Ranming 然明) Unmoored Garden (Buxiyuan 不繫園), a mixed-gender poetry club on a boat in Hangzhou, whose members’ ac-

3) Ko, Teachers, 254-55. 4) See the entries on Liu, Gu Mei 顧媚, and Dong Bai 董白, in Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü zhuzuo kao 歷代婦女著作考 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 430-34, 805, and 688, respectively. 5) Wang Wei’s dates are suggested by Ma Zuxi 馬祖熙, “Nü ciren Wang Wei jiqi Qishan cao ci” 女詞人王微及其期山草詞, Cixue 詞學 14 (2003): 220-34. 6) Ko, Teachers, 348, n.92. See also the entry on Wang Wei in Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism, ed. Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy (Stan- ford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1999), 320. 7) On the Donglin party, see John W. Dardess, Blood and History in China: The Donglin Fac- tion and Its Repression, 1620-1627 (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 2002).

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 589 tivities and publications seemed to cut across not only gender, but also class and dynastic lines.8 Styling herself Caoyi daoren 草衣道人 (Person of the Dao in Straw Garments), Wang Wei fashioned herself into the sort of paradoxical icon that was typical of the late Ming—she was at once a disengaged recluse capable of standing aloof from the world and a cultured person highly connected with friends and community. Was there a connection between nonconformism and loyalism during the Ming-Qing transition? If so, what was this connection and how did it take shape? Through an examination of Wang Wei’s courtesan career, her friendship networks in the Unmoored Garden, and her adoption of multiple identities such as xianren 閒人 (person of leisure), daoren 道人 (person of the Dao), and shiren 詩人 (poet), this article seeks to illustrate what I believe is an important explanation for the flourishing of late Ming courtesan and literati culture. I argue that the rising prominence of learned and literary courtesans was strongly connected to a new social formation of unconventional literati, the so-called men of the mountains (shanren 山人), a general appellation for literati who avoided office.9 Among them, Wang Wei’s intimate friend Chen Jiru 陳繼儒 (1558-1639, hao Meigong 眉公 and Migong 麋公) was the most prominent.10 These nonofficial urban elites of the prosperous Jiangnan

8) The club was so named after a painted boat Buxiyuan (built in 1623) where many literati gatherings took place. For general membership guidelines of the Buxiyuan, see Huang Ruheng 黃汝亨 (1558-1626), “Buxiyuan yue” 不繫園約, in Congshu jicheng xubian 叢書集成續編, jibu 集部, vol. 122 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1994), 954-55. For a description and discussion of the club, see Sufeng Xu, “Lotus Flowers Rising from the Dark Mud: Late Ming Courtesans and Their Poetry” (Ph.D. diss., McGill Univ., 2007), chapter 1, 86-95. 9) For studies of late Ming shanren, see Xie Xingyao 謝興堯, “Tan Mingji shanren” 談明季山人, Gujin 古今 15 (1943), in Kanyin zhai suibi 堪隱齋隨筆 (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1995), 238-42; Suzuki Tadashi 鈴木正, “Mindai sanjin kō” 明代山人考, in Shimizu Hakushi tsuitō kinen Mindaishi ronsō 清水博士追悼記念明代史論叢, ed. Shimizu Hakushi Tsuitō Kinen Mindaishi Ronsō Hensaniinkai 清水博士追悼記念明代史論叢編纂委員會 (To- kyo: Daian, 1962), 357-88. Willard J. Peterson has noted that shanren refers to hermits, but in reality, these people “often sought to have contact with society” on their own terms. Peter- son, Bitter Gourd: Fang I-chih and the Impetus for Intellectual Change (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1979), 3. For a recent discussion of the late Ming shanren, see Xu, “Lotus Flowers,” chapter 1, 61-73. 10) On Chen Jiru and his publishing activities, see Yasushi Oki 大木康, “Sanjin Chin Keiju to sono shuppan katsudō” 山人陳繼儒とその出版活動, in Yamane Yukio kyōju taikyū kinen mindaishi ronsō 山根幸夫教授退休記念明代史論叢, ed. Yamane Yukio 山根幸夫 and Okuzaki Hiroshi 奥崎裕司 (Tokyo: Kyūko Shoin, 1990), 1230-51.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 590 Sufeng Xu region fashioned themselves as retired literati, devoting themselves to art, recreation, and self-invention, instead of government service.11 In constructing an “artistic and hedonistic counterculture,”12 they encouraged the involvement of both courtesans and literary women of the gentry class. I contend that scholar-bureaucrats of the late Ming were not the vital force behind the striking visibility and respectability of courtesans as is often assumed if we trace the development of courtesan culture back to the pre-conquest and even earlier periods of the late Ming. I present Wang Wei as representative of the courtesans who pursued an unconventional lifestyle typical of the shanren literati, a lifestyle characterized by nonconformity and cultural sophistication. This reading also reflects the judgment of Wang Wei’s own contemporaries. Shi Shaoshen 施紹莘 (1588-1640, zi Ziye 子野), a friend of Chen Jiru, referred to her as a “famous scholar in the courtesan quarters” 籍中名士也.13 In support of my argument, the sources to be examined in this article fall into three main categories: 1) contemporary anthologies of women’s poetry that included Wang Wei, 2) other contemporary writings by her closest friends and associates, and 3) her own poetry. These sources

11) I draw on Peterson’s concept of withdrawal. He defines three common characteristics of a literatus who has withdrawn from government office: such a man “has not taken any examinations (and such cases were rare among the highly educated in most periods); he has, or has sought, a degree but never served in office; or he accepted appointment, but not for a significant portion of his adult career.” See Peterson, Bitter Gourd, 3. 12) The term is first used by Charlotte Furth in “The Patriarch’s Legacy: Household Instruc- tions and the Transmission of Orthodox Values,” Orthodoxy in Late Imperial China, ed. Kwang-ching Liu (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1990), 203. 13) See Shi Shaoshen’s preface to his song lyric to the tune Yi Qin’e 憶秦娥, subtitled “Huai Wang Xiuwei” 懷王修微 (dated 1620), in his Qiushui’an Huaying ji 秋水庵花影集, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, jibu 集部, vol. 1739 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1995), 5:380-81. The term mingshi 名士 means literally “famous scholar.” As a social formation, the mingshi started to develop into an archetype in the Wei-Jin periods. As recorded in the section of “The Free and Unrestrained” (Rendan 任誕) in Liu Yiqing’s 劉義慶 (403-444) Shishuo xinyu 世說新語, the Eastern Jin scholar Wang Gong 王恭 (?–398) claimed that “To be a ‘famous scholar,’ one does not need to have [remarkable] talent; one only has to have nothing to do most of the time, drink heartily, and recite the Lisao by heart. Thereby one can be called a ‘famous scholar’” 名士不必須奇才，但使常無事，痛飲酒，熟讀 “離騷”, 便可稱名士. Translation by Lily Xiao Hong Lee with one modification. See Lee, “Xie Daoyun: The Style of a Woman Mingshi,” in The Virtue of Yin: Studies on Chinese Women (Broadway, Aus- tralia: Wild Peony, 1994), 25. However, only in the late Ming was the term used also to refer to cultivated courtesans. Here, I also translate mingshi literally as “famous scholar,” but it simply means the nonofficial, eccentric, and highly educated shanren literati, men who devoted exclusive efforts to the promotion of courtesan culture in the late Ming.

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enable me not only to examine how late Ming courtesans such as Wang Wei were perceived by their contemporaries, but also to investigate courtesans’ own self-perceptions and how their poetry was woven into the intricate fabric of late Ming literati culture.

The Poet: Wang Wei in Late Ming and Early Qing Anthologies of Women’s Poetry The late Ming witnessed a sudden and sharp rise in the visibility of women poets (courtesans and gentry women alike) as well as an un- precedented interest in preserving women’s poetry.14 One important reason women chose poetry as their mode of self-expression lies in the fact that poetry, a dominant orthodox literary genre since the classical era and an important test for qualification to office since the Tang, was excluded from examination requirements in the Ming. In contrast to earlier dynasties, the Ming relied exclusively on the “eight-legged essay” (bagu wen 八股文) to select officials.15 While writing poetry remained a legitimate pursuit for educated men in the late Ming, poetic endeavor also became a political statement of withdrawal for many literati who did not serve in office. In many Ming writings, the term shanren itself became exclusive to shiren, poets. As Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 (1610-1695) noted, “The category of poets had long been comprised largely of ‘men of the mountains’ and recluses” 自來所謂詩人者，多山人處士.16 The Liechao shiji 列朝詩集, an extensive anthology of Ming poetry compiled by Qian Qianyi, recorded over fifty shanren poets, the largest selection

14) For studies of Ming-Qing anthology-making of women’s poetry, see Kang-i Sun Chang, “Ming and Qing Anthologies of Women’s Poetry and Their Selection Strategies,” in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, 147-70; Grace Fong, “Gender and the Failure of Canonization: Anthologizing Women’s Poetry in the Late Ming,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 26 (2004): 129-49. 15) According to Benjamin Elman, an examination essay style that was specifically called the “eight-legged” style appeared for the first time in the early years of the Ming Chenghua 成化 reign (1465-1487). See Benjamin A. Elman, “Classical Reasoning in Late Imperial Chi- nese Civil Examination Essays,” Journal of Humanities East/West 20 & 21 (1999-2000): 361- 420, esp. 374. 16) Huang Zongxi, “Dong Shunzi muzhiming” 董巽子墓志銘, in Huang Lizhou wenji 黃梨洲文集, ed. Chen Naiqian 陳乃乾 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 250. Unless stated otherwise, all the translations in this article are mine.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 592 Sufeng Xu ever to be included in a poetry anthology.17 It was precisely because of poetry’s loss of privilege in the civil examinations that poetic talent was able to develop largely as a value outside of official interests. Writing poetry in the late Ming was even considered by some people a womanly affair. The Suzhou woman poet Lu Qingzi 陸卿子 (fl. 1590), wife of the famous shanren literatus Zhao Yiguang 趙宧光 (1559-1625, zi Fanfu 凡夫), claimed: “Poetry is definitely not the calling of men; it is really what belongs by right to us women” 詩固非大丈夫職業，實我輩分內物也.18 This new view on poetry helps us to better understand why late Ming women writers devoted themselves almost exclusively to poetry writing, a cultural phenomenon distinct from the European tradition where women were largely excluded from writing poetry, a male dominant domain.19 Wang Wei was first and foremost known for her poetry. She was ob viously a favorite choice for anthologists of her day who preserved an unusually large number of her poems. Her textual visibility and respectability came from her intimate relationships with literati circles, especially with those who were involved in anthologizing women’s poetry. Wang Wei’s debut as a poet was in Gujin mingyuan huishi 古今名媛彙詩 (1620) compiled by Zheng Wen’ang 鄭文昂, a buyi 布衣 (commoner) literatus who gave up his pursuit for degree and office when he was very young 早棄公車.20 The anthology involved the contribution of many literati who actively participated in poetry societies (shishe 詩社), a social and cultural space outside officialdom that focused on the arts.21 She was selected for inclusion in the anthology especially due to her rela-

17) Suzuki, “Mindai sanjin kō,” 362. 18) See Lu Qingzi’s preface to Xiang Lanzhen’s 項蘭貞 (fl. 1623) Yongxue zhai yigao 詠雪齋遺稿, in Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 176. Translation by Grace Fong, “Lu Qingzi,” in Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy, eds., Women Writers of Traditional China, 686. 19) Chinese women’s focus on poetry writing has drawn scholarly attention. See Sun Kangyi 孫康宜 [Kang-i Sun Chang], “Gaixie wenxueshi: funü shige de jingdian hua” 改寫文學史: 婦女詩歌的經典化, Dushu 讀書 2 (1997): 111-15. See also Women Writers of Traditional China, Introduction, 4. 20) See Zhu Zhifan’s 朱之藩 preface to Zheng Wen’ang, comp., Gujin mingyuan huishi, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu 四庫全書存目叢書, jibu 集部, vol. 383: 2. For the preface, see also Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 881. 21) The anthology recorded fourteen names of the proofreaders 同校姓氏, and most of them were commoner literati of the shanren or buyi type. See Zheng Wen’ang, comp., Gujin mingyuan huishi, 12.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 593 tionship with Mao Yuanyi 茅元儀 (1595-1641, zi Zhisheng 止生), a proofreader of the anthology.22 As we will see, Wang Wei was briefly married to Mao as a concubine. Five years later, Wang Wei was selected for inclusion in Mingyuan shigui 名媛詩歸 (ca. 1625) attributed to Zhong Xing 鍾惺 (1574-1625), the founder of the poetic school of Jingling 竟陵派.23 The anthology devoted one complete juan to Wang Wei’s poems, and a total of ninety- eight poems under eighty-eight titles were recorded.24 Her intimate associations with Zhong Xing and particularly his younger friend Tan Yuanchun 譚元春 (1586-1637), cofounder of the Jingling school, likely earned her this place of honor in the Mingyuan shigui. The anthology included Wang Wei’s poetic exchanges with both Zhong and Tan, one and seven, respectively. However, Zhong Xing’s extant collections do not contain any poems addressed to Wang Wei. It is possible that Zhong’s poems with Wang Wei were excluded from his personal collections because of his status as an official. This may also explain the ambiguity of the editorship of the Mingyuan shigui.25 It is worth noting here the Ming laws banning serving officials from having liaisons with courtesans. The “Criminal Law” 刑律 of the Da Ming lü 大明律 (the Great Ming Code) contained a statute titled “Offi- cials sleeping with prostitutes” 官吏宿娼 that explicitly states that any official who sleeps with prostitutes would receive sixty blows of the rod 凡官吏宿娼者杖六十,26 and could even be dismissed from office or

22) Ibid. 23) This school promoted spontaneity and self-expression in writing. For Zhong’s biogra phical information, see Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji xiaozhuan 列朝詩集小傳 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 570-71. For his English biography, see Dictionary of Ming Biography: 1368-1644, ed. L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, 2 vols (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1976), 408-9. 24) For Wang Wei’s poems, see Mingyuan shigui, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, jibu, vol. 339, 36:407-21. 25) Zhong Xing’s editorship has been in question since the early Qing. Grace Fong has suggested that Zhong Xing possibly initiated the Mingyuan shigui which was later polished and completed by other people in his literary circles such as Tan Yuanchun. See Fong, “Gender and the Failure of Canonization,” 146. For general discussions of the Mingyuan shigui and its editorship, see also Chang, “Ming and Qing Anthologies,” 151. 26) See Da Ming lü, ed. Liu Weiqian 劉惟謙 (fl. 14th century) et al., in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, shibu 史部, vol. 276 (Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 1995-1997), 25:701. This clause was ad- opted by the Qing legal codes but with more concrete substatutes. See Matthew H. Sommer, Sex, Law, and Society in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2000), 220-21.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 594 Sufeng Xu held back from promotion 罷職不叙.27 Even though prevalent practice in imperial China often flouted legal regulations—the modern scholar Howard Levy simply did not believe such a decree was ever promulgated,28 we have significant evidence that scholar-officials of the late Ming, especially those of the Wanli 萬歷 (1573-1620) era, lost or quit their posts because of their indulgence in romantic affairs with talented courtesans.29 Qiu Qiyun 丘齊雲 quit his post as the magistrate of Langzhou 閬州 in order to marry the courtesan Hu Wenru 呼文如. The two promised to each other that the day he let down his hair (sanfa 散髮) to withdraw from office would be the day she dressed up her hair (shufa 束髮) to become his bride.30 Their romance was celebrated by many, including prominent courtesans such as Xue Susu 薛素素 (1568-?) and Xu Pianpian 徐翩翩 (zi Jinghong 驚鴻).31 The remarks by Xue are dated 1587, the fifteenth year of the Wanli era.32 Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道 (1568- 1610) withdrew from his post as the magistrate of Wuxian in 1597 precisely because he could not keep his black gauze hat (wusha mao 烏紗帽, referring to his official status) while enjoying romance with the red sleeves (hongxiu 紅袖, referring to courtesans).33 Although many unconventional officials, men whom Suzuki Tadashi 鈴木正 refers to as the “officials of the mountains” 冠帶山人, also enjoyed the company of courtesans at literati gatherings, only nonofficial “commoner” literati, or

27) See Lu Rong 陸容, Shu yuan zaji 菽園雜記 (SKQS), 2.4b. 28) See Howard Levy, A Feast of Mist and Flowers: The Gay Quarters of Nanjing at the End of the Ming (Yokohama, Japan, 1966), 19. 29) The Wanli era was the high point of late Ming anthology-making of poetry particularly by courtesans. See Xu, “Lotus Flowers,” 116-22. 30) “Hu Wenru,” in Qian Qianyi, comp., Liechao shiji xiaozhuan, 745-46. 31) The collection of their poetic exchanges was titled “Yaoji bian” 遙集編, to which Xue Susu and Xu Pianpian wrote the postscripts. The two essays were included in Jiang Yuanzuo 江元祚, comp., Xu Yutai wenyuan 續玉臺文苑 (1632), juan 3; reproduced in Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 126-27. The essay by Xue Susu was under the name of Li Susu 李素素 because she was then very much doted on by Li Zhengman 李征蠻. An exploration of the true identity of Li Zhengman will constitute the subject of a separate study. For a recent study of Xue Susu, see Berg, Women Writers and the Literary World, 85-127. 32) For the significance of the year 1587, see Ray Huang, 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1981). For a discussion of the Wanli context and Ming courtesan culture, see Allan Barr, “The Wanli Context of the ‘Courtesan’s Jewel Box’ Story,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 57 (1997): 107-41. 33) See Cao Chen 曹臣, comp., “Yunyu” 韻語, Shehua lu 舌華錄, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, zibu 子部, vol. 143, 10:614.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 595 the yimin shanren 逸民山人, to also use Suzuki’s term,34 had the freedom, leisure, and passion to fully devote themselves to the promotion of courtesan culture in the late Ming. Those who exchanged poems with courtesans or anthologized and valorized poetry by courtesans in the late Ming, especially in the Wanli era, were almost exclusively “commoner” literati without degree or office just like Chen Jiru: Wang Zhideng 王穉登 (1535-1612), Mei Dingzuo 梅鼎祚 (1549-1618), Zheng Wen’ang, Zhou Lüjing 周履靖 (1542-after 1611), and Zhang Mengzheng 張夢徵 (fl. 1620), to name just a few.35 Unlike Zhong Xing, a nonofficial literatus like Tan Yuanchun would have had few moral or legal reasons for hiding his poetic exchanges with a courtesan. His Tan Youxia heji 譚友夏合集 (1633) contains ten poems addressed to Wang Wei.36 Moreover, Wang Wei once sent her poetry manuscript to Tan, asking him to edit her collection. He compiled her poetry into the Qishan cao 期山草 (Drafts of Longing for the Moun- tains), for which he also wrote a preface (dated 1619).37 I will return to the preface below. The Liechao shiji also included a generous selection of sixty of Wang Wei’s poems, of which thirty-two appeared in an anthology for the first time. Because of her marriage with Xu Yuqing, Wang Wei was included in the section of “wives and daughters.” The anthology was edited and compiled by Qian Qianyi, but the section on women poets (juan 4 of the “Runji” 閏集) is believed to have been compiled by Liu Rushi.38 Wang Wei, Qian, and Liu all belonged to Wang Ruqian’s circle. It is not clear if Wang Wei and Liu Rushi ever met in person because when Liu became

34) Suzuki, “Mindai sanjin kō,” 365. 35) For a discussion of the educational and official backgrounds of promoters of late Ming courtesans, see Sufeng Xu, “The Rhetoric of Legitimation: Prefaces to Women’s Poetry Col- lections from the Song to the Ming,” Nan Nü: Men, Women, and Gender in China 8 (2006): 255-89, esp. 285-87. 36) Tan Yuanchun, Xinke Tan Youxia heji 新刻譚友夏合集, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, jibu, vol. 1385, 315-584; esp. 435. 37) The Qishan cao has been lost, but fifteen poems and three song lyrics from the collection were recorded in Yao Lü’s Lu shu (preface dated 1622), a book of miscellaneous records. Yao devoted one juan (juan 4) to women poets including courtesans. See Yao Lü, Lu shu, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, zibu 子部, vol. 1132: 583-600, esp. 593-94. 38) See Gu Ling 顧苓, “Hedong jun xiaozhuan” 河東君小傳 (1664), in Gu Huizhi 谷輝之, comp., Liu Rushi shiwen ji 柳如是詩文集 (Beijing: Zhonghua quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin, 1996), 226.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 596 Sufeng Xu active in Wang Ruqian’s circle as a courtesan, Wang Wei had been married to Xu Yuqing for many years. But Qian and Xu were definitely old acquaintances. Qian’s individual collections contained his poems addressed to Xu.39 In addition, they were both members of the Fushe 復社 (Restoration Society), a large and influential political organization that flourished at the end of the Ming. According to one other source, Xu once visited Qian’s residence and Liu’s charms gave him a sense of immense jealousy over Qian’s prompt success in marrying Liu. After returning home, Xu slapped the table and said to Wang Wei: “How could the ‘willowy slender waist’ (referring to Liu) so soon fall into the hands of a Shazhali (referring to Qian)” 楊柳小蠻腰，一旦落沙吒利手中! Wang teased her husband, saying: “It is easy to understand—he was just afraid that the aide of the barbarous general (referring to Xu) would catch up with her” 此易解，渠恐蠻府參軍追及也.40 In any case, Liu certainly knew Wang Wei very well. In a letter written to Wang Ru qian, Liu mentioned Wang Wei by her nickname “The slim young man” (xianlang 纖郎).41 Wang Wei’s high degree of visibility and respectability in all these important anthologies of her day illustrates the significant role of personal connections in the anthologizing of women’s poetry in the late Ming. This practice of incorporating living authors such as friends, family members, or even the compilers themselves was severely and repeatedly criticized by the editors of the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 (the Complete

39) See the poems entitled “Xiacheng zhang zhijiu...” 霞城丈置酒 …and “Xialao lei xi zhijiu...” 霞老累夕置酒 …, in Qian Qianyi, Muzhai Youxue ji 牧齋有學集, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, jibu, vol. 1391, 7:61, 62-63, respectively. 40) Miao Quansun 繆荃孫 (1844-1919), Yunzizai kan suibi 雲自在龕隨筆 (Gaoben 稿本), 6.20b. The dialogue between the couple alludes to the Tang story “Liushi zhuan” 柳氏傳. Miss Liu (the same surname as Liu Rushi), a beautiful concubine of the scholar Han Yi 韓翊, was separated from her husband during the An Lushan Rebellion 安祿山 (755-763). Han joined the army led by the non-Chinese general Hou Xiyi 侯希逸, a former subordinate of An Lushan, to fight against the rebels. Before they were allowed a reunion, Liu was carried away by Shazhali, another non-Chinese general serving the Tang. Han was heartbroken. Disturbed by the situation, Xu Jun 許俊 (the same surname as Xu Yuqing), Hou’s aide, took up the cudgels against Shazhali. Eventually, he rescued Liu and brought her back to Han. Later the story was customarily used to refer to a man’s wife or lover being abducted by a powerful man. Here beautiful Miss Liu refers to Liu Rushi, the powerful Shazhali to Qian, and the bold Xu Jun to Xu Yuqing. For the Tang story, see Wang Pijiang 汪辟疆 (1887-1966), comp., Tangren xiaoshuo 唐人小說 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), 52-54. 41) Liu Rushi, Hedong jun chidu 河東君尺牘, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, jibu, vol. 1391: 563.

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Library of the Four Treasuries), classical evidential scholars of the High Qing.42 In the eyes of these classical moralists, this practice was corrupt because compilers of such anthologies could not “exercise just discern- ment without being distracted by worldly customs” 杜絕世情，用彰公道.43 The Siku editors explicitly pointed out that this was “an inveter- ate practice rooted in Ming poetry societies” 明人詩社錮習.44 Indeed, although late Ming anthologists had precursors from former dynasties, the literati trend of ego-boosting and self-promoting in the context of poetry societies definitely elevated this anthologizing practice to a new high point in the late Ming. In contrast to the other two anthologies that included only a brief introduction to the young Wang Wei, the Liechao shiji provided a com- prehensive account of the courtesan. Her life as described in this work can be divided into two distinct periods: before and after her marriage with Xu. The first part of the biography described her early life, focusing on her nonconformism as a courtesan while the second part was on the later period, emphasizing her loyalty as Xu’s concubine:

Wei’s courtesy name was Xiuwei, and she was a native of Yangzhou. At the age of seven, she lost her father and eventually she ended up in a bordello. When she grew up, her talent and temperament were extraordinary. She would travel back and forth between Suzhou and Shaoxing in a small skiff, accompanied by her books. The people she associated with were all famous gentlemen of a superior category. Later she experienced sudden enlightenment and converted to the joys of Chan. Wearing a cloth robe and carrying a bamboo staff, she traveled throughout the Yangzi region. She climbed Dabieshan, visited the famous sights of Yellow Crane Tower and Parrot Isle, went on pilgrimage to Wudangshan, and climbed Heaven’s Pillar Peak. Traveling up the Yangzi River, she ascended Mount Lu and visited the straw-thatched cottage of Bai Juyi (772-846) and at Wuru sought instruction from the great master Hanshan Deqing [憨山德清 (1546-1623)]. Upon her return, she had her future tomb built in Hangzhou, and calling herself the “Person of the Dao

42) See their comments on the three-juan Guoxiu ji 國秀集 in Qinding Siku quanshu zongmu 欽定四庫全書總目 (SKQS), 186.15a-16a. See also their comments in the entries “Jin shishuo” 今世說, “Jibu zongxu” 集部總敘, “Jiangyou shigao” 江右詩稿, and “Chongshou tang shiji” 寵壽堂詩集 in Qinding Siku quanshu zongmu (SKQS), 143.47b-48b, 148.1a-2b, 177.75b-76b, and 183.5b, respectively. 43) See their comments on Guoxiu ji, 186.15a-16a. 44) Ibid.

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in Straw Garments,” she was prepared to live out her life in this manner [as a recluse]. 微，字修微，廣陵人。七歲失父，流落北里。長而才情殊眾，扁舟載書，往來吳、會間。所與遊皆勝流名士。已而忽有警悟，皈心禪悅。布袍竹杖，遊歷江楚。登大別山，眺黃鶴樓、鸚鵡洲諸勝。謁玄嶽，登天柱峯。溯大江，上匡廬，訪白香山艸堂，參憨山大師於五乳。歸而造生壙于武林，自號 “草衣道人,” 有終焉之志。45

The biography goes on to narrate how Wang Wei was eventually married to Xu and how they resisted the Manchu invaders and supported each other during the dynastic transition. She died around 1647, three years after the fall of the Ming, and Xu mourned her deeply. In concluding the biography, Qian and Liu extolled their long-standing mutual acquaintance as follows:

A gentleman might say: “Xiuwei was like a blue lotus rising high above the mud from which it has extracted itself, or like a white piece of jade from Kunlun Moun- tains, indestructible even by the fires that come at the end of a kalpa. This may be called ‘completely returning (to one’s true home).’” How fortunate! 君子曰: 修微青蓮亭亭，自拔淤泥，昆岡白璧，不罹刦火，斯可謂全歸。幸也 !46

The lotus flower rising from the dark mud (qinglian 青蓮, short for qing ni lianhua 青泥蓮花) is an image often linked to Buddhist symbols of purity and rebirth. Although courtesans were characterized as lowly (jian 賤) in both Confucian didactic texts and official legal codes, their talent and noble character made them comparable to the pure lotus flower arising from the slime of the pond. Qian Qianyi and Liu Rushi were not the first to play on the dichotomy of purity and impurity when idealizing the courtesans in the late Ming. Before them, Mei Dingzuo named his courtesan collection Qingni lianhua ji 青泥蓮花記 (A Record of Lotus Flowers in Dark Mud; 1600), using the term to refer to courtesans as a collective group.47

45) Translation of original texts by Idema and Grant with modifications. See Wilt Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Asia Center, 2004), 368. For the Chinese texts, see “Caoyi daoren Wang Wei” 草衣道人王微, in Qian Qianyi, comp., Liechao shiji xiaozhuan, 760. 46) Translated by Idema and Grant, The Red Brush, 369, with one modification. 47) The collection is reprinted in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, zibu, vol. 253, 723-903.

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Wang Wei’s later life as a once eccentric courtesan actively involved in the mainstream resistance against the Manchu invaders offers valuable insight into the decisions made by many late Ming literati not to serve the new regime—they preferred autonomy and individuality to government office. Their refusal to collaborate with the early Qing government was comparable to their decision to remain out of office in the late Ming. Apparently, nonconformity was an essential component that defined Ming loyalism.48 The Liechao shiji was compiled in 1649, five years after the fall of the Ming. Not surprisingly, Qian and Liu highlighted Wang Wei’s loyalist en- deavors during her final years. Because of Qian’s influence in the contemporary literati world and the importance of Liechao shiji for later anthologies of women poets, such as the Mingyuan shiwei 名媛詩緯 (1664) compiled by Wang Duanshu 王端淑 (1621-ca. 1706), this biography has become a standard source on Wang Wei’s life in recent scholarship.49 However, it seems that the significance of her early life as an unconventional courtesan has been largely neglected. In the next section, I will use sources that I have discovered to show how Wang Wei was depicted in writings by her close friends and associates such as Chen Jiru and Tan Yuanchun. These writings allow us a glimpse into the larger sociocul- tural contexts in which learned courtesans like Wang Wei lived and worked in the floating world of late Ming Jiangnan.

The Courtesan Mingshi: Wang Wei in Writings by Her Society Associates It is textually evident that when introducing Wang Wei’s nonconformist lifestyle and religious pursuits, the compilers of both the Mingyuan shigui and the Liechao shiji drew much from Chen Jiru’s account of Wang Wei, an essay entitled “Wei daoren shengkuang ji” 微道人生壙記 (A Record of the Future Tomb of Wei, the Person of the Dao; dated 1623).

48) Lynn Struve also argues that if there had been no hair-and-dress decree from the Qing state that forced Ming people to adopt the Manchu style, Ming people might not have been irritated enough to strongly resist the Manchu invaders. See Lynn A. Struve, The Southern Ming, 1644-1662 (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1984), 60-61. 49) See Chang’s entry on Wang Wei, Women Writers of Traditional China, 320. See also Ide- ma and Grant, The Red Brush, 368-69.

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In fact, about half of Zhong Xing’s biographical entry on Wang Wei, considered the “most famous biography of Wang Wei,”50 was directly copied from Chen’s essay. Wang Wei was first married to Mao Yuanyi as a concubine. She lived in Nanjing for some time with Yang Wan 楊宛 (1598-ca. 1645, zi Wanshu 宛叔), another concubine of Mao. This is evidenced by Mao’s poem entitled “Yanxue newly married me. I took her to Baixia [Nanjing] to show Wanshu [Yang Wan] and Xiuwei [Wang Wei]” 燕雪新歸，攜之白下示宛叔、修微.51 Yang Wan was best known for her calligraphy, for which she received high praise from Chen Jiru and his friend Dong Qichang 董其昌 (1555-1636).52 But Wang Wei could not bear the fact that Mao favored Yang over her, and eventually ran away from Mao’s home. Yao Lü’s 姚旅 Lu shu 露書 recorded this episode:

Wang Wei, courtesy name Xiuwei, nickname Wangguan, was a courtesan of Wei- yang [Yangzhou]. She was married to Mao Zhisheng [Mao Yuanyi]. Later, after she realized that Zhisheng favored concubine Yang Wan over herself, she escaped. She hid herself in her relative Jin Qi’s home for three days. Wang used to live in a grand mansion while Jin Qi’s house was very small. Still, she sat by the well railing to read every day. Her breadth of vision was exceptional. 王微，字修微，小字王冠，維楊妓。歸茅止生，後以止生視姬人楊宛厚於己，遂逸去。匿其戚金七家三日。王素居廣廈，金七屋如斗，猶日坐井欄讀書，胸懷出人頭地矣。53

Yao Lü was an acquaintance of Wang Wei as evidenced by his poem entitled “Sent to the Female Scribe Wang Xiuwei” 寄王修微女史.54 His record should be reliable. However, possibly because of Wang Wei’s later marriage to Xu Yuqing who was still living when the Liechao shiji was compiled, Qian and Liu did not record her earlier marriage with Mao. As we will see below, Tan Yuanchun recorded that he first saw Wang Wei at literati gatherings in Hangzhou in 1619, which suggests that she was no longer with Mao in 1619 when she was around twenty-two sui. This

50) See Ko, Teachers, 349, n.105. 51) For the poem, see Mao Yuanyi, Shimin shangxin ji 石民賞心集, in Siku jinhui shu congkan 四庫禁燬書叢刊, jibu 集部, vol. 110 (Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1997), 3:314. 52) For Chen Jiru’s comments, see Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 185; for Dong Qichang’s, see the entry on Yang Wan, in Ni Tao 倪濤, Liuyi zhi yi lu 六藝之一錄, xubian 續編 (SKQS), 14.21b. 53) Yao Lü, Lu shu, 4:593. 54) As quoted in Ma Zuxi, “Nü ciren Wang Wei,” 227.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 601 episode reveals that the young Wang Wei was a headstrong woman with considerable determination and independence. It seemed that after she left Mao, Wang Wei was patronized by Wang Ruqian in Hangzhou. Here, she spent time mingling with a group of nonconformist literati until she married Xu around 1625. In this study, I focus on the image of Wang Wei as a courtesan in the years between her departure from Mao Yuanyi and her marriage to Xu Yuqing. This period, between 1619 and 1625, also marks the high point in her writing of poetry.55 As textual evidence shows, members of Wang Ruqian’s Unmoored Garden were broadly defined as mingliu 名流 (famous celebrities), gaoseng 高僧 (eminent monks), zhiji 知己 (intimate friends), and meiren 美人 (beauties).56 The relationships among all the society members can be subsumed under the common category of friendship. It is striking that gender and class seem to have ceased to be problematic categories in the context of poetry societies in the late Ming. A strong-willed woman, Wang Wei probably felt at home among this group of eccentric men; and, as indicated in their writings, these men welcomed her. Her image as an unconventional courtesan was amply reflected and stressed in writings by her society associates, particularly Chen and Tan:

“Wei daoren shengkuang ji” by Chen Jiru; “Ti Wang Xiuwei shijuan songxing xu” 題王修微詩卷送行序 by Dong Qichang; “Xiuwei daoren sheng zhiming” 修微道人生誌銘 by Xu Jing 許經 (hao Kuang daoren 狂道人); “Qishan cao xiaoyin” 期山草小引 by Tan Yuanchun.57

55) From Wang Wei’s extant poems, we see that her poems were largely written during her stay in Hangzhou from 1619 to 1625. She had two poems under the title “Mourning Zhao Fanfu” 悼趙凡夫, written to mourn the death of Zhao Yiguang who died in 1625. Ma Zuxi also points out that her poems were written before she married Xu Yuqing around 1625. See Ma, “Nü ciren Wang Wei,” 223. 56) Huang Ruheng, “Buxiyuan yue,” 954. 57) These four essays were all included in the Qing zhong 情種, compiled by Song Cunbiao 宋存標 (fl. 1625), in Beijing tushuguan guji zhenben congkan 北京圖書館古籍珍本叢刊, vol. 65 (Beijing: Beijing shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1988), 6:826-28. In addition to these four essays, two other writings on Wang Wei were written also by Chen Jiru’s friends: Zou Diguang 鄒迪光 (1550-1626), “Wang Xiuwei Xian cao xu” 王修微閒草序 (preface to Drafts of leisure by Wang Xiuwei), Shiqingge gao 始青閣稿, in Siku jinhui shu congkan, jibu, vol. 103, 11:240; Shi Shaoshen, “To the tune Yi Qin’e” and its preface, 380.

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Wang Ruqian built a future tomb (shengkuang 生壙, a tomb built in advance for a living person) in Hangzhou for Wang Wei in 1623, shortly after she returned from her journeys to a number of famous mountains and rivers in the south.58 Dong Qichang wrote a colophon for the tomb entitled “This is the Future Tomb” 此未來室也.59 Chen Jiru and his disciple Xu Jing wrote funerary inscriptions for the living Wang Wei. Dong’s essay was written before Wang Wei’s journeys to the south. These three essays on Wang Wei, together with Tan Yuanchun’s preface to Wang Wei’s poetry collection Qishan cao, as mentioned earlier, were all included in the Qing zhong 情種 (Passionate Lovers), a collection on people deep with feelings compiled by Song Cunbiao 宋存標 (fl. 1625) with a preface by Chen Jiru.60 Here we see how a group of men worked together through writing and circulating their writings to promote a particular courtesan who was their female associate—they not only had motivation and leisure, but also the means to do so. From these references, we can see that those who associated with Wang Wei, men whom compilers of the Liechao shiji referred to as “famous gentlemen of a superior category,” included Chen Jiru and the like-minded men who clustered around him. Chen burned his student gown and hat at the age of twenty-nine to show his determination to abandon all his political ambitions. Although he was unsuccessful in officialdom, he enjoyed great fame outside office as an eminent “man of the mountains.” In evaluating his influence on the late Ming literati world, the Siku editors compared Chen to the extremist Li Zhi 李贄 (1527-1602). Li was the leader of the Taizhou school, the radical wing of the Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472-1529) movement, whose iconoclasm greatly shook the entire intellectual world.61 As the editors put it, “Those who learnt the Dao admired Zhuolao [Li Zhi] and felt obligated to discourse on Chan teachings while ‘men of the mountains’ lost no

58) Wang Ruqian, “Huafang yue” 畫舫約, in “Xihu jiyou” 西湖記遊, in Xihu yunshi 西湖韻事, in Sishi you shang lu (wai shi zhong) 四時幽賞錄 (外十種), ed. Shi Diandong 施奠東 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1999), 114. 59) Ibid. 60) For Chen’s preface, see Qing zhong, 731. 61) For a study of the thought of Wang Yangming and his followers, see William Theodore de Bary, “Individualism and Humanitarianism in Late Ming Thought,” in Self and Society in Ming Thought, ed. William Theodore de Bary (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1970), 145- 245.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 603 time in talking about Meigong and feigned being fond of a life in isolat- ed retirement” 道學侈稱卓老務講禪宗; 山人競述眉公矯言幽尚.62 Zhong Xing was greatly influenced by Chen in his later life. In a letter to Chen, Zhong claimed that he felt very fortunate to have met Chen but regretted not having met him sooner 相見甚有奇緣似恨其晚.63 It was likely under Chen’s influence that Wang Wei became addicted to the “joys of Chan,” living out her young life in the manner of a nonconformist shanren “recluse.” These essays all celebrated Wang Wei’s unconventional lifestyle with reference to her character, vision, interest, and erudition. Interestingly, she was portrayed and celebrated as a like-minded fellow literatus who shared intellectual interests as well as social and cultural activities with her male associates rather than as a courtesan who served men with her bodily charms and performing arts. Chen Jiru’s essay deserves special attention here. Not only is it the primary source from which many later accounts of Wang Wei originated, but more importantly, it allows me to identify aspects of Wang Wei’s life and character that were presented by Chen—the greatest shanren of the Ming—as laudable and fashionable. In this way, I hope to demonstrate the strong identification between the late Ming elite courtesan and the “man of the mountains” valorizing her. As we will see, Chen’s romanticized portrayal of Wang Wei closely reflected Chen’s own perception of being a shanren as well as his effort to define the place of this newly emergent social category both in literati culture and society. First, Wang Wei is depicted as an unworldly recluse. The essay begins with a celebration of the courtesan as a paragon of literati eccentricity who “had developed obsessions with purity, books, as well as mountains and rivers since she was young” 自幼有潔癖、書癖、山水癖.64 As Judith Zeitlin has observed, obsession had become a huge craze in the late Ming. It was increasingly viewed as a necessary part of human

62) See the entry on Xu Shuofu 續說郛, ed. Tao Ting 陶珽, in Qinding Siku quanshu zongmu (SKQS), 132.10b-11a. 63) Zhong Xing, “Yu Chen Meigong” 與陳眉公, in Zhong Xing, Yinxiu xuan ji 隱秀軒集, ed. Li Xiangeng 李先耕 and Cui Chongqing 崔重慶 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1992), 28.475. 64) Chen’s essay was reproduced in several other collections, but I have used the Qing zhong edition. Qing zhong, 6:826.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 604 Sufeng Xu nature and valuable for personal fulfillment.65 It is not surprising that as a deliberately eccentric pose, obsession was extremely fashionable particularly among unconventional literati. Chen Jiru claimed to have an obsession with flowers 花癖66 while Yuan Hongdao was obsessed with beautiful women 青娥癖.67 Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597-1679) praised Qi Zhixiang’s 祁止祥 (juren 1627) “deep feelings” 深情 and “genuine com- portment” 真氣 on the basis of Qi’s obsessions with calligraphy and painting, ball-playing, bo-instrument playing, ghost plays, as well as dra- matic performances 有書畫癖、有蹴鞠癖、有鼓鈸癖、有鬼戲癖、有梨園癖,68 all interests independent of official concerns. Wang Wei’s various obsessions were exactly those of the “men of the mountains” who preferred an independent life to government office. Whatever they were obsessed with, their obsessions served to detach them from worldly business. No wonder that the detached Wang Wei, Person of the Dao, could be included in the Qing zhong, a collection of passionate lovers—while her single-minded obsession with obsession served to remove her from worldly attachment (and toward enlightenment), it also made her a passionate lover of things she was obsessed with. Wang Wei was certainly not the only late Ming woman who liked to be seen as a hermit standing aloof from the world. In fact, under the strong influence of shanren culture, many literary women of late Ming Jiangnan, particularly courtesans, were fond of this image. Like Wang Wei, Bian Yujing 卞玉京 styled herself a daoren. While Liu Rushi and Shen Yin 沈隱 named themselves Yin 隱 or “recluse,” Yang Wan called herself Xiangong 閒公 (master of leisure). Wu Juan 吳娟, a courtesan originally from a gentry family, styled herself “Person of the Jade Moun- tains” (Qunyu shanren 群玉山人).69 With the style name Liyin 離隱 (separated recluse), Huang Yuanjie 黃媛介 (ca. 1620-ca. 1669) fashioned

65) Judith Zeitlin, Historian of the Strange: Pu Songling and the Chinese Classical Tale (Stan- ford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1993), 61-74. 66) Chen Jiru, “Hua shi ti ci” 花史題辭, in He Fuzheng 賀復徵 (1600-after 1646), Wenzhang bianti huixuan 文章辨體彙選 (SKQS), 363.11a–b. 67) See Yuan Hongdao, “Yu Pan Jingsheng shu” 與潘景升書, in He Fuzheng, Wenzhang bianti huixuan, 265.27b-28a. 68) Zhang Dai, “Qi Zhixiang pi” 祁止祥癖, in Tao’an mengyi 陶庵夢憶, ed. Cai Zhenchu 蔡鎮楚 (Changsha: Yuelu shushe, 2003), 4:154. 69) Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 103.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 605 herself as flying to reclusion (feidun 肥 [飛] 遯).70 This explains why withdrawal and reclusion suddenly became a prominent theme in women’s poetry.71 Second, Chen Jiru also described Wang Wei as an all-rounded sophist whose thought was more or less Confucian, more or less Buddhist, and more or less Daoist, but simultaneously unshackled by any of these three teachings. This is what Qian and Liu referred to as “the joys of Chan” Wang Wei converted to. Chen Jiru commended his buyi friend Zhou Lüjing, another keen supporter of talented courtesans, for soaring above the bounds and shackles of all Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist doctrines. In his poem “Zhou Meidian zan” 周梅顛贊, Chen creates a poetic sketch of Zhou as a spiritual nonconformist “wearing a Daoist hat and gown while having a Buddha’s mind” 仙人之冠裳，佛氏之心腸.72 Chen praised Wang Wei for the same reason. As we will see below, at various points in the essay, Wang Wei finds solace, guidance, or purpose in all of the three teachings. In Chen’s depiction, Wang Wei’s relationship with her parents is characterized mainly by a Confucian sense of filial piety and female propri- ety, although a sense of Buddhist devotion is also evident. Her father died when she was only seven. Many years later when she was guided by her elder brother to her father’s grave, the grief still overwhelmed her:

She fell prostrate to the ground and cried until she lost her voice. She invited monks to perform the Water and Land Ritual for fifteen days for the salvation of her father’s soul. To pay for the expenses of mourning, she sold off her fine silk garments and the jewels in her bamboo box without any hesitation. 仆地哭失聲，延僧作水陸道場凡十五日，以薦父靈，笥中綺繻環瑱隨手立盡矣。73

70) “Guishu shi Huang Yuanjie” 閨塾師黃媛介, in Shen Jiyou 沈季友, Zuili shixi 檇李詩繫 (SKQS), 35.1a-2b. However, Huang was harshly criticized by Zhu Yizun for “almost having the style of a courtesan” 近風塵之色, which suggests the changing values in the late years of Kangxi era. See the entry on Huang Yuanzhen 黃媛貞, sister of Huang Yuanjie, in Zhu Yizun, Ming shi zong 明詩綜 (self-preface dated 1705) (SKQS), 85.21b. 71) This phenomenon has been observed by some scholars; see Maureen Robertson, “Changing the Subject: Gender and Self-inscription in Authors’ Prefaces and ‘Shi’ Poetry,” in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, 202-8; Wai-yee Li, “The Late Ming Courtesan,” 70-71. 72) Chen Jiru, “Zhou Meidian zan,” in Chen Meigong ji 陳眉公集 (1615 block-printed edition), 14.6b. 73) Qing zhong, 826.

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She had a sense of shame for being a courtesan and wanted to withdraw from her profession to look after her aged mother. Filial piety, we might note, was an excuse for some late Ming literati not to retreat to the mountains.74 In addition, we are told that Wang Wei was a devoted Buddhist prac- titioner. She studied Buddhist wisdom of ancient Indian masters 竺乾古先生. On another occasion, she made a long journey to Mount Lu to meet the Chan master Hanshan Deqing to seek instruction. Even more strikingly, she used her own blood to copy Buddhist sūtras, a sign to show her extreme devotion to Buddhism. Yet, an interest in Daoist practice is also apparent in her life story. We are told that Wang Wei ate only vegetable meals and wore only coarse clothing 飯蔬衣布. She is described as meek and modest like the immortals living on faraway Guye Mountain 綽約類藐姑仙, the androgynous Holy Men celebrated by Zhuangzi 莊子,75 to which I will return below. Chen writes of her travels: “Accompanied by a writing-brush box, a tea furnace, and a short oar, she wanders carefree like Tiansuizi, or Master Whom Heaven Follows” 筆床茶竈，短棹逍遙，類天隨子.76 “Ascending the mountains and descending the abyss, she travels for several thousand miles. Going and coming alone, she is quite well in her cloth-sailed boat. Her wisdom can protect her feet and her courage can defend her body” 登高臨深，飄忽數千里；獨往獨來，布帆無恙。智能衛足，膽可包身. Elsewhere we are told that a monkey she sees avoids her while a tiger she encounters does not hurt her. Wang Wei is exactly like Zhuangzi’s Holy Man who is immune from any calamity.77 Previous studies of Chinese religion have paid close attention to the phenomenon of three teaching syncretism in the late Ming.78 In this

74) For example, the late Ming poet Wang Lidao 王立道 claimed that reclusion in the city does not violate filial piety 市隱不違親. See Wang Lidao, “Chunri xianju” 春日閒居, in Juci ji 具茨集 (SKQS), 2.3b. 75) See Zhuangzi, “Carefree Wandering” (Xiaoyao you 逍遙遊), in Burton Watson, Basic Writings: Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1996), 23-30, esp. 27. 76) Tiansuizi was the style name of Lu Guimeng 陸龜蒙, an unfettered poet in the Tang dynasty. See Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072), comp., Xin Tangshu 新唐書 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 196.5612-13. 77) On the Holy Man, see Zhuangzi, “Carefree Wandering,” 27-28. 78) For studies of late Ming three teachings syncretism and intellectual trends, see Chün- fang Yü, The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1981); Edward T. Ch’ien, Chiao Hung and the Restructuring of Neo-

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 607 period, Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism were “less as standing apart from, or in opposition to each other, and more as sharing common ground.”79 Chen Jiru’s portrayal of Wang Wei provides a perfect illustration of what the late Ming three-teaching syncretism really meant for intellectual individuals, men and women alike. While late Ming eccentrics drew inspiration from Daoism and Buddhism to fashion themselves into “carefree” people, they also sought moral support from Confucianism on their own terms. The sense of “adhering” to some of the accepted Confucian values served as a distinctive mark that separated men like Chen, whom we may refer to as “mild Chan,” from ex- tremists like Li Zhi, often referred to as “wild Chan” or “crazy Chan” (kuangchan 狂禪), who in many ways dispensed with Confucian tradition and morality.80 A good example to illustrate this syncretistic tendency was the cult of “dangerous” friendships under exaggerated Confucian rhetoric as reflected in Feng Menglong’s 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) friendship stories.81 In this light, one can understand better why the unconventional Wang Wei eventually married once again as a concubine, which was hardly an unconventional option. Needless to say, within this late Ming religious syncretism, the more common ground the three teachings shared, the more they undermined orthodox norms and values not only in the Confucian tradition, but also in Buddhism and Daoism. In this context, a reliance on established conventions and dichotomies such as the three “-isms,” public/private, orthodox/heterodox, purity/impurity, attachment/detachment, conformist/nonconformist, and even masculine/feminine, is not a viable

Confucianism in the Late Ming (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1986); Cynthia J. Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and Moral Order in Late Imperial China (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1991); Timothy Brook, “Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the Three Teachings and their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 21 (1993): 13-44; and Kai-wing Chow, The Rise of Confucian Ritualism in Late Impe- rial China: Ethics, Classics, and Lineage Discourse (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1994). 79) Timothy Brook, Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late- Ming China (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1993), 54. 80) De Bary, “Individualism,” 197-203. 81) On dangerous friendships, see Norman Kutcher, “The Fifth Relationship: Dangerous Friendships in the Confucian Context.” American Historical Review 105.5 (2000): 1615-29. For a discussion of Feng Menglong’s friendship stories, see Martin Huang, “Feng Menglong and Rewriting Friendship in the Late Ming,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the As- sociation for Asian Studies, Philadelphia, March 25-28, 2010.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 608 Sufeng Xu methodology. For this reason, I translate daoren as “person/people of the Dao,” avoiding the usual translation of “Daoist,” “Daoist Adept,” or “Daoist Master” because the concept of Dao in the narrow sense of Dao- ism was not wholly consistent with the late Ming nonconformist ideal, an indeterminate multifaceted personality.82 Chen Jiru referred to this nonconformist ideal as yimin 逸民 (the unfettered), set against the traditional recluse (yinshi 隱士). In the preface to the Yimin shi 逸民史 (A History of the Unfettered; 1603) compiled by Chen, Chen’s disciple Wang Heng 王衡 (1564-1607) explained, “[Such a man] is like the flying cloud or the rising rainbow—people can see him with their eyes, but they cannot control and fetter him” 如雲飛虹起，有目者何嘗不見？第不得而控揣之，繫羈之云耳.83 Wang Heng emphasized not only the untrammeled spirit of yimin, but also their strong desire for social visibility. Clearly, late Ming “disengaged men” were no longer a kind of Xu You 許由 or Chaofu 巢父, lofty hermits of antiquity who really retreated to the remote mountains.84 Rather, they all swarmed to the most prosperous cities of Jiangnan where courtesan quarters were clustered. They maintained only the spirit of being the “man of the mountains.” As Chen’s friend Zou Diguang 鄒迪光 (1550- 1626) put it somewhat exaggeratedly:

Nowadays, the ‘men of mountains’ flourish like forests. However, they have all swarmed into San Wu and Liang Yue (Jiangsu and Zhejiang). There are very few in other regions and absolutely none in Guangdong and Guangxi. 今之為山人者林林矣，然皆三吳兩越，而他方殊少，粵東西絕無一二。85

The flexible and hedonist mode of withdrawal was commonly called shiyin 市隱 (reclusion in the city) and seyin 色隱 (reclusion in sensual beauty). The latter, as the late Ming literatus Wei Yong 衛泳 proudly

82) Vincent Goossaert also renders daoren as “man or woman of the Dao.” See Vincent Goos- saert, “Mapping Charisma among Chinese Religious Specialists,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 12.2 (2008): 9, 14. 83) Chen Jiru, comp., Yimin shi 逸民史, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, shibu, vol. 115, 274. 84) On reclusion, see Alan Berkowitz, Patterns of Disengagement: The Practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2000). 85) Zou Diguang, “Yu Chen Xiaohe” 與陳小翮, in Shiyu zhai ji 石語齋集, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, jibu, vol. 159, 23:365.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 609 claimed, was solely a Ming phenomenon never heard of in the past 古未聞以色隱者.86 Chen Jiru listed Tao Qian 陶潛 (365-427, zi Yuanming 淵明), Bai Juyi, and Sikong Tu 司空圖 (837-908) as such exemplary wise men and claimed Wang Wei to be their true successor:

Alas! It is common that scholars avoid talking about withdrawal from office while aged people avoid talking about their aging. Xiuwei is young, but she does not avoid talking about death—not only death, but also tombs. In the past, Yuanming [Tao Qian] offered a sacrifice to himself while Letian [Bai Juyi] wrote funerary inscription for himself. Sikong Tu invited all his old friends to drink deeply at his future tomb. After these three gentlemen, there have been few who have carried on their lofty style. But Xiuwei is so broad-minded that she sees life and death as the progression of day and night or that of summer and winter…. 予歎曰： “常情士諱歸，年諱老，而修微少不諱死，死不諱墓。昔者淵明自祭，樂天自銘，司空圖引平時故交，痛飲生壙中。三君子以後，鮮有嗣續高風者。修微達視死生如晝夜、寒暑之序 ….87

It seems irrelevant that Chen Jiru describes Wang Wei’s broad vision by talking first about the common headache confronted by men: service or retirement. Apparently, Chen takes this opportunity to address the anxiety he felt as a literatus with “commoner” status. These three gen tlemen Chen admired all hid themselves right in “the realm of men” (renjing 人境), all the while remaining uncontaminated by the world. Tao Qian offered his insight into how he could achieve this state: “When the mind is detached, one’s place becomes remote” 心遠地自偏.88 Although Tao’s farm life in villages of medieval Jiangzhou (modern Jiangxi) had little in common with the libertine life of eccentrics in late Ming Jiangnan—especially given the complete absence of women in Tao’s poetic representations,89 the conception of reclusion Tao offered was attractive to all those who embraced Chan teachings—“One can

86) Wei Yong, “Zhaoyin” 招隱 (Beckoning the Recluse), in Yuerong bian 悅容編, in Wei Yong, comp., Zhenzhong mi (bu fen juan) 枕中秘 (不分卷), in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, zibu, vol. 152, 729. 87) Qing zhong, 826. 88) Tao Qian, “Drinking Wine” 飲酒, in An Anthology of Chinese Literature, Beginnings to 1911, ed. Stephen Owen (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), 316. 89) Although Tao Qian occasionally mentioned his sons in his writing, he offered no word about his wife or any other women. See also Martin J. Powers, “Love and Marriage in Song China: Tao Yuanming Comes Home,” Ars Orientalis XXVIII (1998): 51-62, esp. 57.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 610 Sufeng Xu hide anywhere.” In Chen’s eyes, men like Tao Qian were true predeces- sors of the late Ming shanren. Indeed, for Chinese intellectuals living in a milieu deeply informed by Buddhism, lofty hermits like Xu You and Chaofu were much too stiff and inflexible, too hidebound and unfash- ionable. In addition to describing Wang Wei as a recluse and a sophist, Chen also portrayed her as a cultivated scholar who took learning seriously. Willard J. Peterson’s study of Fang Yizhi 方以智 (1611-1671) has shown that when an educated man could not pursue a traditionally satisfying life, he would seek other means of self-realization.90 Becoming a well- rounded scholar was a choice made not only by Fang Yizhi, but also by the hundreds or even thousands of late Ming shanren. Remaining out of office provided these men not only sufficient time and motivation to devote themselves fully to learning but also leisure and freedom to dis- regard official norms and expectations. The identity of the Confucian educated man in the late Ming shifted from the traditional scholar-official ideal to that of a nonconformist multitalented personality. As Chen declared:

Famous courtesans reading the classics, old monks brewing wine, generals soaring high in the world of literary writings, and scholars fighting in the battlefields—although they lack the original quality [of those who carry out these activities], they contain style in themselves. 名妓翻經，老僧釀酒，將軍翔文章之府，書生踐戎馬之場。雖乏本色，亦自有致。91

These words of Chen Jiru were regarded as “stylish words” (yunyu 韻語), included in the contemporary collection of fine words of celebrities, the Shehua lu 舌華錄 (A Record of Flowers of the Tongue) compiled by Cao Chen 曹臣 (fl. Wanli era). For Chen and his like-minded friends, what really mattered was taste and style. Wang Wei was certainly the sort of “famous courtesan” referred to by Chen, with refined taste and a serious attitude toward learning. In addition to Buddhist sūtras, she read extensively historical masterpieces by Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145-ca. 85 BCE) and Ban Gu 班固 (32-92) as well

90) Peterson, Bitter Gourd. 91) Cao Chen, “Yunyu,” Shehua lu, 10:615.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 611 as military classics by Sun Wu 孫武 (fl. 722-481 BCE) and Wu Qi 吳起 (fl. 475-221 BCE). Not only did she read broadly, she wrote broadly. As Chen informs us, she was a poet, an essay writer, a rhetorician, and a commentator on others’ works. Moreover, she was a painter and a calligrapher. It is not surprising that with such talent and character, she became the center of literati attention:

Her shi and ci poetry is elegant and serene, comparable to that of Li Qingzhao (1081-ca. 1141) and Zhu Shuzhen (fl. 1095-1131).92 As for taunting and teasing people or ranking and evaluating authors and their works, she is very able to surpass all the people present. Guests admiring her paintings and calligraphy all crowd around her desk like the spokes of a wheel from its hub, as if they were farmers praying for water during a drought…. 其詩詞娟秀幽妍，與李清照、朱淑真相上下。至於排調品題，頗能壓倒一座。客慕翰墨者，輻輳案前，如農訴水旱 ….93

Wang Wei was so greatly empowered by learning that, as Chen explicitly states, “No man could treat her with disrespect” 人莫得而狎視也. Ap- parently, learning had made it possible for both “commoner” literati and women (courtesans and literary women in general) to play important roles in society and culture.94 The positive cultural values of late Ming shanren and courtesans were so prominent that scholar-officials or even Confucian moral educators could not completely ignore them. This may help explain why women’s culture could continue to blossom in the High Qing, an era known for the revival of orthodox Confucianism.95 In concluding Wang Wei’s life story, Chen introduces the concept of xia 俠 (chivalry or knight-errant), referring to her as a nüxia 女俠, a woman knight-errant.96 Allan Barr has rightly emphasized the importance of xia in late Ming literati culture, characterizing it as “a powerful

92) For discussions of the lives of Li Qingzhao and Zhu Shuzhen and English translations of their writings, see Idema and Grant, The Red Brush, 204-56. 93) Qing zhong, 826. 94) Some famous courtesans including Wang Wei eventually married into gentry families as wives and concubines to prominent scholars. See Xu, “The Rhetoric of Legitimation,” 275-76. 95) For a discussion of the continuation and transformation of late Ming trends in the High Qing classical revival, see Sufeng Xu, “Domesticating Romantic Love during the High Qing Classical Revival: Poetic Exchanges between Wang Zhaoyuan (1763-1851) and Her Husband Hao Yixing (1757-1829),” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 15.2 (2013): 219-64. 96) Female knights-errant as a literary type can be traced back to Tang classical tales. See

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 612 Sufeng Xu force guiding human behavior.”97 It seems that xia was associated particularly with “commoner” literati and courtesans in the late Ming. Many nonofficial literati such as Wang Zhideng, Cai Youni 蔡幼嶷 (Xue Susu’s lover around 1599), and Wang Ruqian as well as courtesans such as Ma Xianglan 馬湘蘭 (1548-1604), Xue Susu, Yang Wan, and Zhao Jinyan 趙今燕 (fl. Wanli era) either were praised for their chivalry or liked to be seen as knights-errant.98 The Chinese knight-errant could be from any social class and occupa- tion, from dog butchers to lute musicians or even criminals. As a nonconformist type, the knight-errant goes beyond the traditional categories of Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist ideals. The idealization of these political low achievers can be traced back to Sima Qian, the great historian who wrote passionate biographies of famous knights-errant in his Shiji 史記. Following Sima Qian, Chen Jiru also glamorized this group of men. In his preface to the collection entitled Xia lin 俠林 (A Forest of Knights- Errant), Chen Jiru stated:

Only the chivalrous will rescue another from penniless obscurity, provide support in time of crisis, and defuse disputes between others. Only the chivalrous will avenge grievances and reward kindnesses. Only the chivalrous will right wrongs and bring the lovers back together; only the chivalrous will overcome disaster. 貧賤非俠不振，患難非俠不赴，鬭鬩非俠不解，怨非俠不報，恩非俠不酬，冤非俠不伸，情非俠不合，禍亂非俠不克。99

For Chen Jiru, xia is a friend in life and death; xia is a noble character with extraordinary spiritual discipline; xia is a defender and restorer of social justice; xia is a hero with the possibility of action; and xia is immune from any disaster, just like Zhuangzi’s Holy Man. To sum up, xia is an idealized image of the yimin shanren, a “commoner” literatus strug- gling against anonymity.

Roland Altenburger, The Sword or the Needle: The Female Knight-Errant (xia) in Traditional Chinese Narrative (New York: Peter Lang, 2009). 97) Barr, “The Wanli Context,” 110. 98) Much scholarly attention has been paid to this phenomenon. See Li, “The Late Ming Courtesan,” 60-63; Barr, “The Wanli Context,” 107-41, esp. 110-14. See also Berg, Women Writ- ers and the Literary World, 108. 99) Translation by Allan Barr with one modification, in Barr, “The Wanli Context,” 110.

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The other essay I wish to examine here is Tan Yuanchun’s preface to Wang Wei’s poetry collection Qishan cao. Tan’s essay echoes Chen Jiru by representing Wang Wei as a nonconformist with a focus on her multiple identities and shanren lifestyle:

In the late autumn of the year Jiwei (1619), I met Wang Xiuwei on the West Lake, and I thought she was a dweller on the lake. Later, she wanted to return to Tiao;100 I then thought she came from Tiao. She did not wear scented powder, but she still had cloudlike tresses. I regarded her as a young lady. Every day, she went out with us back and forth for the autumn waters and yellow leaves with not a care in the world, and I thought of her as a person of leisure. Among her words, many had perfect understanding worthy of listening, and I regarded her as enlightened. Peo- ple all said that she cut cogon grass to build a thatched hut and that she had thoughts beyond this world. I then regarded her as one who studied the Way. She once showed me a draft of her poetry and asked me to edit it. I then considered her a poet. In her poems, there were words of the world, words of the Way, and words of the boudoir. Whether profound or simple, detached or intimate, they are just like her person. Xun Fengqian said that “Women’s talent and wisdom were not worth discussing. They should be mainly judged by their beauty.” This remark is extremely shallow. As for such a person with such poetry, should she be judged only by her looks? Yet some in the world do not even know that she is a woman. 巳 [己] 未秋闌，逢王修微于西湖，以為湖上人也。久之復欲還苕，以為苕中人也。香粉不御，雲鬟尚存，以為女郎也。日與吾輩去來于秋水黃葉之中若無事者，以為閒人也。語多至理可聽，以為寘悟人也。人皆言其誅茆結菴有物外想，以為學道人也。嘗出一詩草，囑予刪定，以為詩人也。詩中有巷中語、道中語、閣中語，縹緲遠近，絕似其人。荀奉倩謂， “婦人才智不足論，當以色為主。” 此語淺甚。如此人此詩，尚當言色乎哉？而世猶不知為婦人也。101

As we have seen, the terms daoren, xianren, and shiren were commonly used by literati to romanticize the “men of mountains.” Wang Wei’s multiple identities, as presented by Chen and Tan, precisely reflected these men’s ideas of self-fashioning. In discussing Tan’s essay on Wang Wei, Dorothy Ko argues that Tan “highlighted her femininity while try- ing to capture her multiple identities.”102 My reading, however, differs from Ko’s. I believe that in writing about Wang Wei, her male associates,

100) Tiao, referring to Gui’an, was Mao Yuanyi’s hometown. After she ran away from the Mao family, Wang Wei occasionally (at least once) went back to visit Yang Wan at her request as Mao Yuanyi was often absent from home. See Wang Wei’s poem entitled “Wanshu zhao yin huaxia de kuang zi” 宛叔招引花下得狂字, in Mingyuan shigui, 36:415. 101) For the Chinese text, see Tan Yuanchun, “Qishan cao xiaoyin,” 435. 102) Ko, “The Written Word,” 80.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 614 Sufeng Xu especially Tan, ascribed most weight to her shanren qualities of taste and connoisseurship. In representing Wang Wei in their writings, they actually deemphasized or even denied her feminine charm in order to create an androgynous image. As Tan noted, “some in the world do not even know that she is a woman.”103 Liu Rushi and Lin Tiansu 林天素 (fl. 1620s) called Wang Wei the “Xianlang” (The Slim Young Man)104 and Wang Ruqian called her the “Xian daoren” 纖道人 (The Slim Person of the Dao).105 These two terms are not marked explicitly as feminine. After she died, Wang Ruqian asked Li Yu 李漁 (1611-1680) to write an inscription on one of her por- traits in celebration of her life. Li Yu composed a song lyric as requested. From this poem, we can derive more information regarding Wang Wei’s appearance and the sort of “beauty” that was deemed fashionable within this specific social group. The song lyric to the tune Xing xiang zi, subtitled “Inscribed on the portrait of the late Wang Xiuwei at the request of Wang Ranming, the Titled Old Man” 行香子: 汪然明封翁索題王修微遺照, reads:106

這種芳姿 This kind of elegant pose 不像花枝 Is not like a blossoming branch, 像瑤臺一朵紅芝 It is like a red magic zhi (mushroom), on the jasper terrace. 一朵紅芝 On the jasper terrace. 嬌無淫態 Lovely without licentious looks, 艷有藏時 Her charm is often hidden. 帶二分錦，三分畫， With two parts brocade, three parts painting, 七分詩。 and seven parts poetry. 沈郎病死 The talented Master Shen had died from illness,107

103) Ko provides a different translation of this sentence: “Yet the world does not know it, and still takes her to be a mere woman.” See Ko, “The Written Word,” 81. 104) “Hedong jun chidu,” 561, 563. 105) Wang Ruqian, “Huafang yue,” 114. 106) The term “fengweng,” meaning “titled old man,” was similar to “zhengjun” 徵君, the “summoned scholar,” used to refer to those who were famed and cultivated but with no official ranks. 107) Shen Lang refers to the prominent Southern Qi statesman and poet Shen Yue 沈約 (441- 513, zi Xiuwen 休文) who created the Yongming style poetry 永明體 and compiled the Songshu 宋書. In the poem describing his poor health, he used the term “shouyao” 瘦腰 (slender waist). If used to refer to a man, the term was often associated with his sexual indulgence/excessive feelings. See Wang Shizhen 王世貞 (1526-1590), Yanzhou sibu gao 弇州四部稿 (SKQS), 161.9b-10a. For a study of Shen Yue, see Richard B. Mather, The Poet Shen Yue (441-513): The Reticent Marquis (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1988).

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衛郎看殺 While good-looking Master Wei had died from being stared at.108 問人間，誰可相思? In this world, who else could you long for? 吟腮自托 Resting your chin on your hand, 欲撚無髭 As if you want to toy with the moustache you do not have: 有七分愁，三分病， With seven parts sorrow, three parts illness, 二分癡。109 and two parts passion.

It is apparent that Li Yu also did not represent Wang Wei as a conventional feminine beauty. Li’s friend Ding Peng 丁澎 (1622-1686, zi Yaoyuan 藥園) offered a comment after this song lyric: “It is a picture of a heavenly beauty. But of her beauty, there is no powder and sensuality. She is definitely not of the kind that Zhou Fang and men like him could appreci- ate” 天然一幅美人圖，其中非香非色，固非周昉輩所能知也.110 Zhou Fang was a famous Tang court painter with a talent for painting upper- class women. Among his paintings is the famous “Zanhua shinü tu” 簪花仕女圖 (Beauties Wearing Flowers). All the women in the painting are gorgeous and elegant but full and round as befitted the feminine aes- thetics of the Tang.111 Ding’s comment clearly states the changing ideal of feminine beauty that had occurred between the Tang and the Ming and the difference between “worldly” men with “poor” taste and eccentrics with “unique” taste. The deemphasis and even denial of Wang Wei’s conventional femininity as reflected in writings by her male friends were closely con nected to her daoren identity and with these men’s perception of the Daoist ideal of immortals. “A heavenly beauty” is a beauty in the “hea venly” realm, set against the “human” realm. Wang Wei’s image as a woman with the imagined moustache presented in Li Yu’s song lyric is comparable to that of Zhuangzi’s Holy Man who was strikingly androgynous with conventional femininity: his skin is like “ice and snow” and he

108) Wei Jie 衛玠 (285-312) was a very good-looking young man. Every time he went out, he was surrounded by people. He died at the age of twenty-seven sui. Some people would rather believe that he was being stared at to death. For his biography, see Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (578-648), comp., Jin shu 晉書 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 36.1067-68. 109) For the Chinese text of the song lyric, see Li Yu quanji 李漁全集, 12 vols (Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe, 1992), vol.2, 454. 110) Ibid. 111) The painting is partially reprinted in Zhongguo gudai huajia cidian 中國古代畫家詞典, ed. Wu Yangmu 吳養木 et al. (Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin chubanshe, 1999), 10.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 616 Sufeng Xu is “gentle and shy like a young girl.”112 The Holy Man is Zhuangzi’s enlightened man who is totally free from all man-made values including gender distinctions. Interestingly, Chen Jiru was known for being frail and skinny 眉公羸瘦.113 Wang Renjian 王人鑑, another buyi literatus whom Wang Wei admired deeply, was also known for looking like a wizened and leisurely Chan monk 枯禪逸叟.114 These attributes were not associated with conventional masculinity either. While I recognize that in the context of literati communities, both men and women were very similar to each other in terms of their literary engagement and lifestyle, the idealization of an androgynous image of literary women in the late Ming also had to do with the Chan conception of the nonduality of man and woman, ideas strongly influenced by Zhuangzi’s relativism.115 In this regard, I prefer to translate ren 人 as “person” (non gender-specific) rather than “man” (gender-specific).116 Writings by Wang Wei’s friends are of great value in the study of her poetic representations because as we will see below, Wang Wei consciously identified herself with shanren literati, devoting herself to their fashions and values.

“Person of the Dao in Straw Garments”: The Voice of Wang Wei Wang Wei styled herself a daoren. However, like her shanren friends who did not cut themselves off from their social and cultural communities, Wang Wei did not live in seclusion. The “Lone Mountain” (Gushan 孤山) where she lodged and wrote poetry is a natural island located in Hang- zhou’s West Lake, an attractive spot for literati gatherings since the Song.117 It was the place where the famous Song poet and hermit Lin Bu 林逋 (967-1028) once lived. Wang Wei presented herself in literary

112) Zhuangzi, “Carefree Wandering,” 27. 113) Zhang Dai, “Migong” 麋公, in Tao’an mengyi, 5.185. 114) See “Wang buyi Renjian” 王布衣人鑑, in Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji xiaozhuan, 593. 115) For a discussion of androgyny and Ming-Qing women’s culture, see Kang-i Sun Chang, “Ming-Qing Women Poets and Cultural Androgyny,” Tamkang Review 30.2 (1999):11-25. 116) Ko uses the phrases of “a man on the lake,” “a man from the lofty distance,” and “a man of leisure” to refer to Wang Wei. See Ko, “The Written Word,” 80. 117) See the entry on “Shehui” 社會 in Wu Zimu 吳自牧 (fl. 1276), Meng liang lu 夢梁錄 (SKQS), 19.9a. Similarly, the “Cold Mountain” 寒山 to which Zhao Yiguang retreated with his wife Lu Qingzi is only a short boat ride outside of the city Suzhou. Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 170.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 617 gatherings and keenly engaged in the activities of literary societies. She had poetic exchanges with twenty-odd men of letters. As we have seen, many of them belonged to Wang Ruqian’s circles: Chen Jiru, Dong Qichang, Zhong Xing, and Tan Yuanchun, to name a few. Wang Wei went with Tan Yuanchun and other men to visit the tomb of Sun Taichu 孫太初 (fl. Wanli era), the immediate predecessor of Ming shanren, which suggests a kind of shared identification.118 She joined male literati in her appreciation of a newly discovered poetry collection Xianghun ji 香魂集 by the woman poet Ma shi 馬氏.119 Sometimes she observed male literati perform painting and calligraphy while at other times she herself was such a performer. Wang Wei’s self-definition shaped her poetic self-representations. Her unusual character can be first observed in the way she viewed her body or feminine charms in general. Wang Wei refused to value her physical beauty. As Zou Diguang stated, she “had completely washed off powder and rouge” 鉛華盡洗.120 Her apparent avoidance of a courtesan’s sensual beauty also enabled her to assume a critical distance toward romantic love between man and woman. In the following poem entitled “Harmonizing with Wanshu” 和宛叔, Wang Wei uses flowers as a metaphor to warn Yang Wan that beauty and love are transitory and undependable:

昨夜花灼灼 The flowers that bloomed luxuriantly last night, 今朝花已落 This morning, are already fallen. 盛衰自有時 Glory and decline, each has its moment; 君恩隨厚薄121 The lord’s favor changes in its generosity.

The opening couplet employs nature’s cycle as a metaphor for the im- permanence of human passion, which is elaborated in the second

118) See her poem entitled “In early winter, visiting the tomb of Sun Taichu with Youxia and others” 初冬拜孫太初墓和友夏諸子, in Mingyuan shigui, 36:416. 119) For Wang Wei’s poem, see Mingyuan shigui, 36:419. Ma shi was the wife of a general of Tiger Pass. The poetry manuscript entitled “Qiugui mengshu shi” 秋閨夢戍詩 was found in an old house of a deserted village in Zhejiang by Song Jue 宋珏 (zi Biyu 比玉). Song had it compiled and published it into Xianghun ji. Tan Yuanchun and Mao Yuanyi wrote prefaces for it. See Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 154. 120) Zou Dihuang, “Wang Xiuwei Xian cao xu,” 240. 121) Mingyuan shigui, 36:417-18.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 618 Sufeng Xu couplet. The poem is not specifically dated, but it shows a sense of disil- lusionment with the fickleness of men’s love. Bai Juyi’s “Pipa xing” 琵琶行 (Song of Pipa) narrates the story of a once-famed courtesan who ended up as the wife of a tasteless merchant and was left behind in solitude. The poem gained wide circulation im- mediately after it was published. But in another poem to Yang Wan, Wang Wei challenged the received view that the poem became well- known because of the poetic talent of the male poet. She attributed its widespread recognition to women’s tragic fate as women: “Not that the one in the blue robe [Bai Juyi] is good at writing about resentment,122 in this world there are only abandoned women who sing the “White hair song” 不是青衫工寫怨，世間只有白頭吟.123 In this poem, Wang Wei voiced bold criticism of gender hierarchy.124 Wang Wei’s uncommon attitude toward love was also reflected in her inscription for Wang Ruqian’s poem entitled “Youchuang jimeng” 幽窻記夢 (Dream by the Secluded Window) written in 1622.125 Wang Ru qian’s poem is a seven-character quatrain with a long preface. In the preface, he describes a romantic dream in which he meets a talented beauty and talks with her about poetry and painting. However, when he attempts to reply to her poem, somebody wakes him up. According to Dong Qichang, after Wang Wei traveled to the south and Lin Tiansu left Hangzhou for her native home Sanshan 三山 (in Fujian), the lonely Wang Ruqian created a romantic dream in order to console himself.126

122) For Bai Juyi’s “Pipa xing,” see Quan Tang shi 全唐詩 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 435.4821. “Qingshan” (blue robe) was the official uniform for district magistrates. Here the term refers to Bai Juyi who was the magistrate of Jiangzhou when he wrote the poem. The last line of this poem is “Tears wet the blue robe of the Jiangzhou magistrate” 江州司馬青衫濕. 123) “Jin qiu huai Wanshu” 近秋懷宛叔, in Mingyuan shigui, 36:419. The “Baitou yin” alludes to the story of Zhuo Wenjun 卓文君. Zhuo was a good-looking and rich widow who eloped with the talented and poor poet Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 (179-118 BCE). Their romance became a popular theme in Chinese literature. But her husband disfavored her in her old age. He intended to take a concubine. Wenjun composed a poem entitled “Baitou yin” to break up with him. For their love story, see Idema and Grant, The Red Brush, 108-12. 124) She also expressed her awareness of her limitations of being a woman in the prefaces to her poetry collections. See Women Writers of Traditional China, 688-89; Ko, Teachers, 287. 125) Wang Ruqian et al., Chunxingtang shiji 春星堂詩集 (Changsha, 1886), 3.6b. Copy in the Harvard-Yenching Library. 126) Dong Qichang, “Ti ci” 題詞, in Chunxingtang shiji, 3.6b.

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Chen Jiru, Han Jing 韓敬 (jinshi 1610),127 Xu Jing, and several others all wrote something to celebrate the romance in Wang’s dream.128 Wang Wei was the only courtesan who wrote a response to Wang Ruqian’s dream poem. Her poem, written in 1623 when she returned from her travels in the south, entitled “Inscribing a Poem on ‘The Dream’ for Wang Ranming” 為汪然明題夢草, reads:

情為夢姻緣 Emotion is the root of dreams; 情眞夢多妄 The emotion may be real, but the dreams are mostly unreal. 非夢能渺茫 Not that dreams can become indistinct, 渺茫反多狀 For indistinctness generates even more shapes. 先生忘情人 You, Master, are one who has forgotten emotion, 獨醒眾所諒 Alone awakened from where others are stuck. 豈以春無端 Would you, for no reason in the spring, 而夢遂遊飏 Let a dream wander and flutter? 夢中與意中 In the dream and in the heart— 是一或是兩 Is it one or is it two? 湖舫讀夢草 Reading your “Dream” poem in the Unmoored Garden, 使我識情量 Makes me understand the reach of emotion. 斯時殘月在 At this moment the setting moon is here; 千頃碧漾漾 All around is a stretch of emerald drizzle. 夢起與夢消 The arousal and dispersal of the dream 只看梨花上129 Both depend on the pear blossoms.

Wang Ruqian had a dream because of the absence of his female friends. Wang Wei, the one for whom he longed, did not respond in kind with a love poem. Rather, she gave Wang Ruqian a discourse on love and true enlightenment from a religious perspective. Love was “the root of dreams.” Even though Master Wang [Ruqian] was supposed to be an enlightened one able to forget love, his dream reflected an ongoing entrap- ment in emotion. But dreams are as transient as the pear blossoms, and so is love in the dream. Unlike the direct criticism of men expressed in the poems to Yang Wan discussed above, this poem indicates the

127) Han Jing wrote the preface for the Yutai wenyuan 玉臺文苑, compiled by Jiang Yuanxi 江元禧. See Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 885-86. 128) Dong Qichang, “Ti ci,” in Chunxingtang shiji, 3.6b. 129) Translation based on Kang-i Sun Chang’s with minor modifications. I have changed “my boat” to “the Unmoored Garden” because hufang 湖舫, meaning literally “painted boat on the lake,” should refer to Wang Ruqian’s Unmoored Garden. See Women Writers of Tradi- tional China, 321. For the Chinese text of this poem, see Mingyuan shigui, 36:411.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 620 Sufeng Xu inversion of gender and class hierarchy between a cultured courtesan and her patron. As Wang Wei takes on a position similar to that of a teacher to Wang Ruqian, she is the one analyzing and expounding on the relation of emotion and dream. It seemed that the relationship between Wang Wei and Wang Ruqian, or Chen Jiru, was more a simple and openhearted friendship than an ordinary scholar-beauty love affair. However, friendships between literati and courtesans undermined even more the fundamental orthodox values because they broke down traditional class and gender distinctions. For this reason, Yu Huai 余懷 (1616-1696), author of Banqiao zaji 板橋雜記 (Miscellaneous Records of the Wooden Bridge), was severely criticized by the Qing Siku editors as an “offender of Confucian princi- ples” 風雅之罪人.130 Wang Wei’s unconventionality can be also seen in her nonconformist religious and spiritual pursuits. She displayed a particular interest in traveling and recording what she saw and felt during her journeys. She described her visits to sacred peaks and temples and expressed her taste for sojourning in the mountain wilds. As she claimed in the preface to the Mingshan ji 名山記, of which she was attributed with editorship, “By nature I belong to the wilderness; I grew up to be as unrestrained as a soaring eagle. Little did I know that such a fate would befall me” 艸野之性，長同鴻鴈，誠不意有今日也.131 Several titles of her poetry collections had to do with traveling.132 Below, I list the titles of some poems on her journeys to show Wang Wei’s obsessions with mountains and waters:

Waiting for the Moon on Parrot Isle 鸚鵡洲候月; Climbing Mount Dabie to view the famous sites Yellow Crane Pavilion and Parrot Isle, I divided the rhymes to write poems with Wang Youdu, Zhu Qiqin, Li Zongwen, Zhang Zhonghu, Wang Ziyun, Long Mengxian, and Xiong Yuanjing 登大別山，眺黃鶴樓鸚鵡洲諸勝，同王右度、朱其勤、李宗文、張仲虎、王子雲、龍夢先、熊元敬分韻; Heaven’s Pillar Peak 天柱峰; Calling on the great master Hanshan Deqing 參憨大師;

130) See their comments on Banqiao zaji, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, zibu, vol. 253, 917. 131) Wang Wei, “Xiaoyin,” in Mingshan jixuan, 1b. As quoted in Ko, Teachers, 286 and 349, n.109. 132) Ko, Teachers, 286.

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Straw-thatched Cottage on Mount Lu 盧山草堂;133 Xianjia zhuzhi ci: Climbing Wudang Mountain with Mme Li 仙家竹枝詞: 同李夫人登武當山。134

Wang Wei’s penchant for travel was not merely a personal hobby but a fashionable pursuit among late Ming literati. Travel in the late Ming had profound cultural implications. For many literati who preferred to live life independently, travel was a good way to live as “a man of the mountains.” As Peterson has rightly noted, whatever their motivation, for travelers like Xu Xiake 徐霞客 (1586-1641), their sojourns in the mountains served effectively to remove them from society’s entanglements.135 It is not surprising to see that the late Ming produced many “men of the mountains” and great travelers as well. Yuan Hongdao was considered as such a traveler who “craved for mountains and lakes as a hungry and thirsty man would for food and drink.”136 Xu Xiake spent most of his adult career traveling to mountains, instead of preparing for examinations and office.137 In 1624, Xu Xiake met Chen Jiru, who thought Xu not only looked but acted like a wizened and aged religious priest from the mountains.138 In the late Ming context, a journey could be taken as a metaphor of constant effort to achieve self-cultivation in Neo-Confu- cian terms or true enlightenment in terms of Buddhism and Daoism.139 Wang Wei’s love for travel was located in the larger picture of late Ming shanren culture, but her poems also record her personally nu- anced experiences about travel. In the song lyric to the tune Xianjia zhuzhi ci, subtitled “Climbing Wudang Mountain with Mme Li,” Wang Wei takes the secluded and mysterious mountains to be a paradise for women:

133) For the five poems listed above, see Mingyuan shigui, 36:410, 413, 413, 414, and 419, respectively. 134) Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 372. 135) Peterson, Bitter Gourd, 132. 136) Quoted in Pei-yi Wu, The Confucian’s Progress: Autobiographical Writings in Traditional China (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1990), 98. 137) Peterson, Bitter Gourd, 132. 138) Quoted in Peterson, Bitter Gourd, 132. 139) Pei-yi Wu discusses travel as a means for late Ming intellectuals to cultivate the moral self in terms of Neo-Confucian self-cultivation. See Wu, The Confucian’s Progress, 95-99. In the case of the Buddhist master Hanshan Deqing, travel was approached as a means by which to achieve self-enlightenment. See Wu, The Confucian’s Progress, 145, 151; Peterson, Bitter Gourd, 132.

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幽蹤誰識女郎身 In this secluded realm, who can tell this body is a woman’s? 銀浦前頭好問津 Facing the Milky Way, it is easy to ask where the ferry is. 朝罷玉宸無一事 At this moment of leisure after worshipping the Lord of the Empyrean, 壇邊願作掃花人140 I am willing to be the flower-sweeping girl by the altar.

The poem records her visit to the Daoist sacred mountain with Mme Li, probably the wife of Li Zongwen 李宗文.141 Its focus is on the expression of her joy and freedom in the mountains. Yinpu refers to the Milky Way, commonly known in Chinese literature as yinhe 銀河 or tianhe 天河. This term first appeared in a poem titled “Tian shang yao” 天上謠 (Song from Heaven) by the late Tang poet Li He 李賀 (790-816).142 Wenjin, meaning literally “asking for the ford,” alludes to the story recorded in Tao Qian’s “Taohua yuan ji” 桃花源記 (Story of Peach Blossom Spring), in which Tao Qian described the Utopian paradise of a simple life in an inaccessible mountain valley and the fisherman’s effort to locate it. These two allusions are used to highlight the transcendent beauty of Wudang Mountain. In the second couplet, Wang Wei further expressed her willingness to escape from her milieu as a courtesan and retreat to the mountains, an idea shared by other late Ming courtesans as mentioned earlier. Wang Wei’s nonconformity can be further demonstrated by her intimate friendships with gentry wives. As we have seen, courtesans and gentry women were organized into the single category of meiren (beauty) in the guidelines for membership of the Unmoored Garden.143 Wang Ruqian’s writings mentioned four gentry women who had come into contact and exchanged poems with him at gatherings on the boat mostly around or after the Ming-Qing transition: Wu Shan 吳山, Wu Shan’s daughter Bian Mengjue 卞夢珏, Huang Yuanjie, and Wang Duanshu.144 However, Wang Wei’s writings provide significant evidence for the social and literary interactions between courtesans and gentry women before the dynastic transition. As mentioned earlier, her poems were mainly

140) Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 372. 141) Li was a local literatus in Hubei. When Wang Wei traveled to Hubei, Li and several others accompanied her to visit some of local scenic spots. 142) For the poem, see Quan Tang shi, 390.4399. 143) Huang Ruheng, “Buxiyuan yue,” 954. 144) Wang Ruqian et al., Chunxingtang shiji, 5.75a.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 623 written before 1625.145 Therefore, her social poems addressed to gentry wives provide valuable information for understanding issues of gender and class in the context of poetry societies before the fall of the Ming. Wang Wei’s friendship with the gentry wife Xiang Lanzhen 項蘭貞 (fl. 1623), evidenced by their poetic exchanges, has been discussed by Dorothy Ko.146 Other writings by Wang Wei provide more information about when and how they became acquainted:

At the end of autumn in the guihai year [1623], I was sick and returned to West Lake… I ran into Huang Maozhong [zi Maoxi 卯錫] who had brought his wife to pay respect to the Buddha in the Lingjiu Temple. Their place was close to mine. They came by a small boat to have a chat with me. When the moon rose, we lis- tened to Lady Yu playing zither to the tune Shuilong yin. … After I was drunk, I chanted the “Bamboo branch songs” with Madam Huang. We wanted to change the tune to wash out its decadence. Thus, we allotted rhymes to compose “Songs on the lake.” We agreed to meet at my place again the following morning. … Very soon, Madam sent me the new song lyrics she wrote. The words read just like a hundred strings of luminous pearls falling into my bosom and sleeves. I barely picked up the brush to harmonize with hers, just recording the time of and my feelings for our meeting. The world is vast, how can we get more unexpected meet- ings like this? 癸亥秋杪，病歸湖上 … 適黃茂仲偕細君孟畹禮佛靈鷲，寓與予近，以輕舟就談，至月上，聽俞大家彈琴作水龍吟 … 醉後與夫人偶咏竹枝詞，欲一變調，以洗靡靡，遂分韻為湖上曲。約曉煙初醒，再叩蓬蘆 … 未幾夫人以新詞寄示，讀之琅琅，如夜光百串，落我懷袖。聊一拈筆勉和，且記其時而感其遇，宇宙雖大，如斯邂逅豈可多得乎!147

Obviously, Wang Wei and Xiang Lanzhen came into contact and became friends through Xiang’s husband, Huang Maoxi, a tribute scholar (gong- sheng 貢生) in the context of the late Ming increasingly fashionable idea and practice of companionate marriage in which husband and wife had a shared love for literature and art.148 Besides Xiang, Wang Wei enjoyed intimate friendships with some other gentry women. Since she associated mainly with literary figures in Wang Ruqian’s Hangzhou po-

145) Ma Zuxi gives the year 1630 as the latest. See Ma, “Nü ciren Wang Wei,” 223. 146) Ko, Teachers, 287-90; “The Written Word,” 89-90. 147) Wang Wei, “Hushang qu xu” 湖上曲序, in Jiang Yuanzuo, comp., Xu Yutai wenyuan, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, jibu, vol. 375, 2:476. 148) On companionate marriage in late Ming Jiangnan, see Ko, Teachers, chapter 5.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 624 Sufeng Xu etry societies, it is not difficult to identify who these women were— most were wives of Wang Wei’s male friends and associates. From the poem entitled “Mme Wang showed me the poetry collection of Buxiyuan. I composed this poem to send to her” 汪夫人以不繫園詩見示，賦此寄之,149 we understand that Mme Wang was the wife of Wang Ruqian. Wang Ruqian collected poems by society members on the occasions of literary gatherings on the boat into the Buxiyuan ji 不繫園集 (Collection of the Unmoored Garden). In his Liu Rushi biezhuan 柳如是別傳 (Biography of Liu Rushi), the modern historian Chen Yinke 陳寅恪 (1890-1969) simply denied the possibility that Mme Wang could have had any contact with Wang Wei, the intimate female friend of her husband. Chen assumed that this must be a change made by Qian Qianyi who included this poem in the Liechao shiji after Wang Wei married Xu Yuqing:

It is just that the two characters “furen” could be “Ranming” [Wang Ruqian] originally. Qian Qianyi changed them probably because Xiuwei had married Xiacheng [Xu Yuqing] and it was not convenient [to reveal her former association with Wang Ranming]. Although the wife of Wang Ranming may not be actually like Duan shi, the jealous wife of Liu Boyu, who would have created wind and waves to endanger the crossing of the Buxiyuan,150 but I am afraid she would be so nice to the extent that she unnecessarily went out of her way to send the poetry collection to Xiuwei. 惟 “夫人” 二字，其原文疑作 “然明” 二字耳。此二字之改易，殆由修微適許霞城後，有所不便之故耶? 其實汪然明之夫人，雖不如劉伯玉妻段氏之興起風波，危害不繫園之津渡，但恐亦不至好事不憚煩，而寄詩與修微也。151

But Chen Yinke was wrong. In fact, Wang Wei wrote more than one poem to present to Mme Wang. In another poem, she referred to her not by her husband’s name but by her natal name, as Mme Wu.152 The poem

149) For the poem, see Qian and Liu, Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 373. 150) According to legend, Duan shi was the wife of Liu Boyu, alive during the Western Jin period (265-317). Liu once recited before her the famous rhapsody, entitled “Goddess of the Luo River” 洛神賦 by Cao Zhi 曹植 (192-232), saying that if he could marry a woman like the deity, he would have no regrets in life. His jealous wife became so angry that she drowned herself in the Luo River in order to become the water deity. She often created wind and waves to endanger pretty women crossing the river. For the story, see Li Fang 李昉 (925-996), comp., Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (SKQS), 272.8a-9a. 151) Chen Yinke, Liu Rushi biezhuan, 3 vols (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), 376. 152) For Mme Wang’s biographical information, see Mengsou 蒙叟 [Qian Qianyi], “Xin’an Wang Ranming he zang muzhiming” 新安汪然明合葬墓誌銘, in Xihu yunshi, 115-17.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access The Courtesan as Famous Scholar 625 is entitled “Mme Wu visited my mountain village, showing me her poems. I replied to match her rhyme” 吳老夫人出訪山莊以詩見示次韻賦答.153 From these two poems, we can see that Wang furen was a literary woman and that she had a good relationship with Wang Wei. Huang Yuanjie, another noted woman poet whom Wang Ruqian supported fi- nancially, also produced a painting with an inscription to present to Mme Wang. The inscription reads: “On a winter day of the xinsi year [1641], painted for the amusement of Mme Wang; Huang Yuanjie” 辛巳冬日寫似汪老夫人博笑，黃媛介.154 Wang Wei also wrote a poem entitled “On a moonlit night, I stayed over at Madam Feng’s beside the pond” 月夜留宿馮夫人池上. The poem reads:

愛君池下影 Loving the reflection in your pond, 特來池上眠 I especially come to sleep beside it. 落花映修竹 Falling flowers set off tall bamboos, 靜起一簾煙155 Serenely, mists rise from the blind.

Wang Ruqian had a series of poems entitled “On an autumn day, with friends, I passed by Kuaixue tang and visited Wang Xiuwei for a chat at night” 秋日同友人過快雪堂訪王修微夜話.156 The first line of the first poem states that Wang Wei lived in the Lone Mountain and her place was close to Kuaixue tang 快雪堂, the famous villa built by Feng Mengzhen 馮夢楨 (1548-1605, zi Kaizhi 開之).157 But Feng Mengzhen died in 1605. The new master of the Kuaixue tang should be his son Feng Yunjiang 馮雲將 (1575-ca. 1661) who maintained long friendships with Wang Ruqian, Qian Qianyi, and Li Yu. When Wang Ruqian died, Feng and Li Yu looked after his funeral.158 This Madam Feng should be his wife. The pond described in Wang Wei’s poem was likely located in the Kuaixue tang. We see from the poem that Wang Wei stayed overnight in

153) For the poem, see Qian and Liu, Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 373. 154) “Yanshui shulin fu” 煙水疏林幅, in Wang Keyu 汪珂玉, Shanhu wang 珊瑚網 (original preface dated 1643), 2 vols (Chengdu: Chengdu guji shudian, 1985), 1198. 155) Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 374. 156) Wang Ruqian, Qi yong 綺詠, in Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, jibu, vol. 192, 813. 157) Feng Mengzhen named his hall “Kuaixue” because he had the original calligraphy titled “Kuaixue shiqing tie” 快雪時晴帖 by the famous Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi 王羲之 (309-ca. 365). See Shen Jiyou, comp., Zuili shixi, 15.12a-13b. 158) “Li Yu nianpu,” in Li Yu quanji, vol. 1, 35.

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 626 Sufeng Xu a gentry family not so much as a courtesan entertaining her patrons, but as a family friend coming to share some refined moments with the wife. In addition, she saw off Xia furen,159 the wife of Xia Changqing 夏長卿,160 and mourned the death of Han furen,161 the wife of Han Jing who was also a frequent visitor to the Unmoored Garden.

Conclusion This article has attempted to demonstrate the strong identification of learned courtesans with the “men of the mountains” of late Ming Jiang- nan by focusing on Wang Wei and her intimate relationships with nonofficial men active in literati circles. Although Wang Wei’s admirers also included officials such as Zhong Xing, her textual visibility was largely due to her social and literary interactions with “commoner” literati such as Chen Jiru and Tan Yuanchun. The cult of cai 才 (talent) and appearance of more equalized literary gender relations in the late Ming must be understood in the context of male poetry societies, a cultural space that had been “organized as diversion from, or an alternative to, official life.”162 Wang Wei was definitely not the only “famous scholar” from pleasure quarters in the late Ming. In order to participate fully in literati culture, many courtesans devoted themselves to the learning of shanren talents and virtues. Wang Manrong 王曼容 learned calligraphy from Zhou Tianqiu 周天球 (1514-1595)—the “Man of the Jade Mountains” 群玉山人, poetry from the buyi literatus She Xiang 佘翔 (zi Zonghan 宗漢), and zither-playing from the little-known Xu Taichu 許太初.163 Xue Susu learned Buddhist practice from the shanren literatus Yu Xianchang

159) “Hanye song Xia furen cong Chu ru Luo” 寒夜送夏夫人從楚入洛, in Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 373. 160) Ma, “Nü ciren Wang Wei,” 227. 161) “Ku Han furen” 哭韓夫人, in Liechao shiji, “Runji,” 373. 162) William S. Atwell, “From Education to Politics: The Fu She,” in The Unfolding of Neo- Confucianism, ed. William Theodore de Bary (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1975), 335. 163) See Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü, 87. For Zhou Tianqiu’s biographical information and a re- production of a calligraphic work by him, see Tseng Yu-ho Ecke, Poetry on the Wind: The Art of Chinese Folding Fans from the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties (Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1982), 50-51.

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俞羨長 (zi Anqi 安期)164 and poetry from Wang Xingfu 王行甫. The latter introduced her to Hu Yinglin 胡應麟 (1551-1602), the Mountain Man of Shaoshi 少室山人 who admired Xue greatly.165 It is not surprising that many courtesans, in the process of participating in literati culture, became skillful writers and artists who produced artistic works of great market value. Ma Xianglan’s paintings were treasured by prominent men in her day166 and used as valuable gifts in later generations.167 The shanren literatus Pan Zhiheng 潘之恆 (1556-1622) was very im pressed by the courtesan-calligrapher Yang Shuqing 楊叔卿, saying that one of her calligraphic works printed on white silk from Qi could be exchanged for one hundred pi of brocades 得其一染齊紈可易百錦.168 Indeed, the ban on serving officials visiting the courtesan’s quarters in the Ming provides useful clues that help us identify the particular group of men, the yimin shanren, who dedicated themselves to the valo- rization of talented courtesans. For the first time in Chinese history, the identification of the literatus with the courtesan was not merely a literary motif or a rare occurrence, but a common social reality: the two par- ties were on a more equal social and cultural footing in the late Ming than ever before. Remaining out of office to live life independently gave these men a sense of pride and self-fulfillment as reflected in their writings. However, in reality, in order to survive, many of these men had to seek patronage from prominent officials or wealthy merchants.169 It is striking that some literati even received financial help from courtesans.170 The rise in visibility and respectability of courtesans accurately reflect-

164) For Yu Xianchang’s biographical information, see Qian Qianyi, Liechao shiji xiaozhuan, 630. 165) See “Xue jiaoshu” 薛校書, in Hu Yinglin, Jiayi shengyan 甲乙剩言, in Shuofu xu, ed. Tao Ting, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu, zibu, vol. 1190, 450. 166) See Zhou Tianqiu’s introduction of Ma Xianglan, in Views from Jade Terrace: Chinese Women Artists 1300-1911, ed. Marsha Weidner (Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art and Rizzoli International Publications, 1988), 75. 167) “Yipu shi cheng, xie Jiang Xuezai song mingjian, Banguan, Wucao, Luyan, Ma Xianglan hua lan qi” 藝圃詩成，謝姜學在送名牋、斑管、吳草、盧研、馬湘蘭畫蘭啟, in Wu Qi 吳綺 (1619-1694), Linhuitang quanji 林蕙堂全集 (SKQS), 2.7a-b. 168) See “Yutai hanmo yu fang” 玉臺翰墨餘芳, in Wang Keyu, Shanhu wang, 433. 169) Even Chen Jiru served as tutor to teach the sons of high officials or rich local landlords. His disciple Wang Heng was the son of the prominent official Wang Xijue 王錫爵 (1534-1614). 170) In the prefaces to Ma Xianglan’s Pingkang Ma Xianglan shiji 平康馬湘蘭詩集 and Zhao Jinyan’s Qinglou gao 青樓稿, Wang Zhideng and Zhou Lüjing praised these two courtesans respectively for the generous financial help they provided for their male associates. See Xianglian shi 香奩詩, ed. Zhou Lüjing. The Xianglian shi consists of works by several women

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Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:55:34PM via free access 628 Sufeng Xu ed the decline in status and prestige of educated men at large in the late Ming. While I argue strongly for the primacy of nonofficial urban elites as the driving force behind the highly elevated status of late Ming courtesans, I am also aware that there were cases of prominent scholar- officials supporting courtesans. Dong Qichang was one such example. A jinshi degree holder and official,171 Dong was also an enthusiastic supporter of talented courtesans. As mentioned earlier, he praised both Wang Wei and Yang Wan for their literary and artistic talent. He also made comments on the works by Xue Susu and Lin Tiansu. It is not surprising that his role as a keen supporter of talented courtesans has drawn scholarly attention.172 However, what I want to emphasize here is that Dong was already thirty-five when he passed the jinshi examinations.173 As Zhu Yizun 朱彝尊 (1629-1709) noted, he wrote to praise Xue Susu’s painting when he had not yet obtained his jinshi degree 未第日.174 Moreover, Dong remained out of office for more than forty years alto- gether in his adult career.175 Clearly, as a long-time friend of Chen Jiru, Dong was profoundly influenced by him. The philosophy behind this growing nonconformism among literati in the late Ming was the syncretic and populist tendency in intellectual thought, a tendency that relied on unconventional ways to interpret the classical canons of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. This trend had long prevailed among men of letters but was much fuelled by the individualistic bent in the philosophy of Wang Yangming during the late Ming. Wang’s teaching was widespread in the late Ming, extending from the reigns of Jiajing 嘉靖 (1522-1566) and Longqing 隆慶 (1567-1572), throughout the long Wanli era, and into the Ming-Qing transition. Wang Wei’s transformation from a nonconformist to a loyalist in her later life shows that nonconformity remained fashionable in the world of letters in the Ming-Qing transition period. poets (the earliest preface dated 1595) including the poetry collections by Ma Xianglan and Zhao Jinyan. A copy of the Xianglian shi is held in the Central Library (Taibei). 171) Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (1644-1912), ed. Arthur W. Hummel, 2 vols (Wash- ington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1943), 787-89. 172) Ko, Teachers, 184; 282; Ko, “The Written Word,” 79; 81-82. 173) Hummel, Eminent Chinese, 787. 174) “Ti Xue Susu huace” 題薛素素畫冊, in Pushuting ji 曝書亭集 (SBCK), 54.14a-15a. 175) Hummel, Eminent Chinese, 787.

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Wang Wei—not quite feminine nor masculine, neither entirely Daoist nor Buddhist, and not quite a courtesan nor a gentry woman— presents a striking illustration of the many ways in which late Ming courtesans could fashion or redefine themselves. Her autonomy, lifestyle, and cultural sophistication made her quite similar to her shanren friends such as Chen Jiru and Tan Yuanchun. Male literati communities provided a place of association for unconventional minds, including a nonconformist courtesan.

Acknowledgments An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Philadelphia, March 27-30, 2014. The author is very grateful to Professors Grace S. Fong and Judith T. Zeitlin, the chair and discussants on our panel at the meeting, for their valuable comments and support. Sincere thanks also go to the two anonymous referees, for their professionalism, thorough review, and insightful sug- gestions.

Abstract This article examines the life and poetry of Wang Wei, one of the most distinguished courtesan poets of the Ming dynasty. Through an examination of her courtesan career, her friendship networks in literati circles, and her adoption of multiple identities such as xianren (person of leisure), daoren (person of the Dao), and shiren (poet), it seeks to illustrate what I believe is an important explanation for the flourishing of late Ming courtesan and literati culture. The rising prominence of learned and literary courtesans was strongly connected to a new social formation of nonconformist literati, the “men of the mountains” (shanren). These nonofficial urban elites of the prosperous Jiangnan region fashioned themselves as retired literati, devoting themselves to art, recreation, and self-invention, instead of government service. In constructing an “artistic and hedonistic counterculture,” they encouraged the involvement of both courtesans and literary women of the gentry class.

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Résumé Cet article examine la vie et la poésie de Wang Wei, l’une des courtisanes poètes les plus distinguées de la dynastie Ming. En examinant sa carrière de courtisane, ses réseaux d’amitié dans les cercles littéraires et son adoption de multiples identités telles que xianren (dilettante), daoren (personne du Dao) et shiren (poète), il cherche à illustrer ce que je crois être une raison importante de l’épanouissement de la culture des courtisanes et des lettrés Ming. L’importance croissante des courtisanes érudites et lettrées était étroitement liée à une nouvelle formation sociale de lettrés non conformistes, les « hommes de la montagne » (shanren). Ces élites urbaines non officielles de la région prospère du Jiangnan se sont inventées comme des lettrés à la retraite, se consacrant aux arts, aux loisirs et à l’invention de soi, au lieu de servir le gouvernement. En construisant une « contre-culture artistique et hédoniste », ils ont encouragé la participation des courtisanes et des femmes let- trées de la classe bourgeoise.

提要本文深入探析晚明名妓詩人王微的生平和詩歌創作。通過檢視王微的從妓生涯，在文人圈的交遊關係，以及他們所用來自我標榜的“閒人”、“道人”、“詩人”等多種名號，本文旨在探討晚明名妓文化、文人文化的興盛與所謂的“山人”新型階層的崛起二者之間的密切關係，這是一個非常重要卻幾乎被學術界完全忽視的關係。這些非官員的精英文人活躍於繁華的江南都市卻把自己塑造成隱逸之士，他們無緣仕進因而致力於藝術、休閒、與自我創造。在建構晚明“藝術的和享樂的”反官方、反正統文化的進程中，他們鼓勵女性的積極參與，這些女性包括名妓和縉紳名媛。

Keywords Shanren (man of the mountains) – courtesans – xia (knight-errant) – gender – poetry – friendship – religious syncretism

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