(•farnell Ininetatt}} ffiibrarg CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1676 1918 Cornell University Library The book of Chinese poetry :belna the co 3 1924 023 365 764 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023365764 THE BOOK OF CHINESE PaETRY. THE BOOK OF CHINESE POETRY BEING THE COLLECTION OF BALLADS, SAGAS, HYMNS, AND OTHER PIECES KNOWN AS THE SHIH CHING OR . CLASSIC OF POETRY METRICALLY TRANSLATED BY CLEMENT FRANCIS ROMILLY ALLEN HER majesty's CONSUL, CHEFOO, CHINA; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCir. JV. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd. Paternoster House, Charing Cross Road 1891 ft LONDON PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINQTON, LIMITED, ST. John's house, CLERKENWELt ROAD, E.G. AFFECTIONATELY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS (PAST AND PRESENT) AT MORTON HALL, RETFORD. " If Chinese scholars would bring the ancient literature near to us, if they would show us something in it that really concerns us, something that is not merely old but eternally young, Chinese studies would soon take their place in public estimation by the side of Indo-European, Babylonian, and Egyptian scholarship." Max Mullee. PREFACE. Chinese Canonical Literature consists of "The Four Books" and "The Five Classics." The former are, i. "The Great Learning;" 2. "The Doctrine of the Mean;" 3. "The Confucian Analects," or " The Conversations of Confucius;" " and 4. " The Sayings of Mencius." " The Five Classics are, i. The Yi Ching,ot " Book of Changes ;" 2. The Shih Ching, or "Classic of Poetry;" 3. The Shu.Ching, or " Book of History ; " 4. The Li Chi, or " Canon of Rites ;" and 5. The Chiin Chiu, " The Spring and Autumn Annals." The second of these " Classics " is the subject of this work. The "Classic of Poetry" consists of four divisions.—" The Fing;' " The Lesser Ya," " The Greater Ya," and " The Sung," terms which I translate respectively " The Ballads," " The Songs for the Minor Festivals," " The Songs for the Greater Festivals," and " The Hymns." The reasons why I have adopted these titles are given in the introductory notes to each part. The Chinese commentators further divide the poems into three classes, viz., Fu ^, "Descriptive," Pi Jt, "Meta- phorical," and Hsing J^, " Allusive." The commentary on each poem states under which head the poem is to be / included. In some cases a piece is put under two heads,- such as " Narrative and allusive," or " Allusive and meta- phorical." Dr. Legge, in his Prolegomena to Vol. IV. of>his version vi CHINESE POETRY. -of the "Chinese Classics," pp. 82-86, gives a table showing the date to which each poem in the classic belongs. I refer the student of Chinese to this, contenting myself with pointing out to the general reader that the oldest pieces are 1 the last five hymns, . These indisputably were in existence during ajl Yin) dynasty, hich Kh^Shang (also c ed the w lasted from B.C. 1766 to B.C. 11 22. Some of the ballads and festival-songs, according to Dr. Legge's table, were also composed in the later years of the same dynasty; that is to say during the lifetime of King Wen, the founder of the C/iou dynasty, who, though canonized as King, never sat on the throne of China. Their date may be said to be B.C. 1 184 to B.C. 1 134. The remainder belong to the time of the C/iou dynasty, from the~~reign of King Wu, who came to the throne in B.C. i i2i7to the time of King Tmg, who reigned from B.C. 606 to B.C. 585 . The poems, According to Chinese historians and commentators, were collected and edited by the great Confucius himself, who, be it remembered, lived from B.C. 551 to B.C. 479. At this point I think it advisable to make a few brief remarks on the ancient history of China, that the reader may more clearly understand the events which are men- tioned or referred to in the poems. I am a believer in Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie's theory, that the Chinese have no claim whatever to the immense antiquity in which they delight to boast, and that they camejrom Babylonia_and Elam. in successive imm igrations, into China,* where they first settled, near the great bend of * " Origin from Babylonia and Elam of the Early Chinese Civilization." A Summary of the Proofs, by Professor Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie. " Babylonian and Oriental Record," Vol. III., No. 3, e( seq. , PREFACE. vii theYellow River somewhere about B.C. 2500.* The settlers brought ~wilh them fronT^aEyloma'to^ China a written language closely akin to the cuneiform,t and sundry arts and sciences. Archaic Chinese history is nothing more than a collection of myths and legends with, nevertheless, a possible sub- stratum of truth. W. F. Mayers, in his " Chinese Readers' Manual" (page 365) says: "It is only in the age of Yao and Shun that a claim to anything like authenticity is set up, and even here the sterner requirements of European criticism demand proofs, which native historians are content to forego. It is convenient, nevertheless, for chronological purposes to accept the last of the line of imaginary epochs as that with which the legendary, as distinct from the purely mythical, period of Chinese history may be deemed to commence." I thankfully accept his suggestion. This last line of " imaginary epochs " is known as " The Age of the Five Rulers,'' the first of whom was Fu Hsi ^ ^ B.C. 2852-2738. No mention is made of him in the "Classic of Poetry." An allusion is made to his successor Shin Nung %^ j^, the Divine Husbandman, or God of Husbandry. Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie has identified him with Sargon.J * " Mark in particular the sharp bend some way to the east- ward of Si-ngan, for it is at a spot not so very far fiom this that the Central Kingdom, as the Chinese still style their country, is first made known to us in the ancient books of China, as existing some 4000 years ago."—"China," by Sir Thomas Wade, "P. & O. Handbook." f See " Early History of the Chinese Civilization," and other works by Professor Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie. % " The Old Babylonian Characters and their Chinese Deri- vatives," and "Wheat Carried from Mesopotamia to Early China," p. i. — viii CHINESE POETRY. Then we have in full the legend of Hon Chi,* the reputed son of the Empress Chiang Yuan, the wife of the Emperor Ti Ku. Hou Chi was miraculously conceived. He was supposed to have lived about B.C. 2400. If he was any- thing more than a solar mythj I conjecture that he was in all probability the man who first introduced agriculture into China. After Hou Chi we get on more solid ground. It is advisable to search in Babylonian or Accadian annals for all events which are alleged to have taken place in China beibreRC. 2500, but from this date onwards China itself may be taken as the scene of occurrences narrated in the Classic. Yii, the Great, who reigned from B.C. 2205 to B.C. 2197, is frequently mentioned and alluded to in these poems. He founded the Hsia dynasty, and is further famous for having in nine years drained away the great deluge, by which the Empire was overwhelmed.t The Hsia dynasty lasted till B.C. i ^66, when Chieh Kuei, the last king of it, a monster of cruelty and wickedness, was overthrown by T'ang, the founder of the Shang dynasty. This dynasty was in power from B.C. 1766 to B.C. 11 22, during which period twenty-eight monarchs .sat on the throne J Of these four only were kings of renown, viz.: T'ang, the founder of the dynasty, B.C. 1766- 17 54. His son T'ai Chia, B.C. 1753-1721. TaiMou, B.C. 1637-1563. Wu Ting, B.C. 1 324-1 266. * III., ii., I. See also "Wheat Carried from Mesopotamia to Early China," by Professor Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie. \ Mayers' "Chinese Readers' Manual," Part I., art. 873. \ Each of the names of these twenty-eight monarchs, except first that of the King, contains a "horary character," /. e. a word PREFACE. ix The other reigns call for no remark, until we come to that of the last King of the dynasty, Chou Hsin, who, like Ckieh Kuei, was everything that was wicked. His prime minister was Ch'ang, the Duke of Chou, whom the King cast into prison as dangerous to his power. The Duke was released after two years, and sent to fight the tribes on the frontier. At his death he bequeathed his title and the command of his forces to his son Fa, who rose in revolt against King Chou Hsin, overthrew him, and became King of China in B.C. 1122, with the title of King Wu. He canonized his father as King Wen. We must now go back a little to trace the history and lineage of the great family of Ckoii ^. They claimed descent from Hou Chi, the inventor of agriculture,* and from -his mother Chiang Yiian, a daughter of the house of T'ai ^15, with which principality Hou Chi was invested. The first descendant of Hou Chi of whom we hear is Liu, canonized as Duke Liu\ He settled his tribe in Pin, the modern Pin Chou >]\\ or lat.