Abstracts
It has been said that poetry is the voice of the heart. In Mao Tse-tung's first poem Changsha, and Swimming written after his success, we have a picture of his aspiration and inspiration, his classical literary background, and the vicissitudes of his life and times.
Notes
“The Goddess”a connotes both the Goddess Mountain and the mythological goddess of the mountains of Wushanb in the Yangtze Gorges.
Prof. L. Carrington Goodrich's version of man-fu ching-lunc in
. According to Tsang K'o-chia, “Mao Tsetung has steeped himself in Chinese literature. He has read a great many classical works and absorbed much that is beautiful from them” (Mao Tse-tung,Tsang K'o-chia's Preface, ibid., p. 5. “In spite of his extreme position in the rejection of old China,” Lu Hsün (like Mao) “could at times submit himself completely to old Chinese poetry, with all its obscurity and weight of tradition. He could adapt himself to the culture of the traditional elite and derive whatever comfort it might still afford in an age of violent social changes and political revolution” (
For a discussion of tz'u, see
From the creditable translation by Andrew Boyd in
See
Ou-yang Hsiu (1007–1072), “Rhymeprose on the Sounds of Autumn,”h according to Herbert A. Giles' rhetorical version entided
“The Sounds of Autumn,” Chien-nan shih-chi [Collected Poems] 5:7a, in Lu Fang-weng ch'üanchi (Ssu-pu pei-yao ed.).
“On Hearing the First Breeze of Autumn,”iLiu Meng-te wen-chi (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an ed.), 4:13b–14a.
Prof. T. A. Hsia's usage in
. “Prosperity,” wrote Francis Bacon, “is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes” (“Of Adversity”). And Lü Tsu-ch'ien (1137–1182) observed: “Arms do not necessarily vanquish an enemy, but luxuries often suffice to bring a country to ruin” (Tung-lai po-i [Discourses of Lü Tung-lai], ch. 4, “Tou Chiao of Ch'u”). Thus Kung-fu Wen-po's mother (ca. 500 B.C.) admonished her minister son when the latter came home from court to see her spinning and took it amiss: “The ancient sage-kings administered their people by settling them on marginal land and keeping them diligently employed, and their rule lasted for a long time” (Kuo-yü [Conversations of the States], ch. 5, “Lu yü,” hsia [Ts'ung-shu chich'eng ed.], 70).Mao's early “reading of Darwin, Rousseau, J. S. Mill, and F. Paulsen,” noted Jerome Ch'en, “broadened his vision and encouraged him to break away from obsolete tradition” (
Cf.
See
Shui chu ch'en fou (line 13),f literally, “Who decides the fall and rise?” (cf. Mr. Boyd's free translation, “Who are the masters of all nature?”) Fou ch'en or “rise and fall” stands for “the ins and the outs” as indicated by Ts'ao Chih's (192–232) line, Fou-ch'en ko i-shihh [“Rise and fall are different in situations”], alluding to his brother on the throne and himself sent away from court. See
Lung-ch'üan wen-chi [Collected Works of Ch'en Liang], ch. 30 (Kuo-hsüeh chi-pen ts'ung-shu ed.), 371. According to his biographer, Mao was fond of Ch'en Liang's writings as a young student, conversant with Han Yü's (768–824) Collected Worlds, and earnest in his profitable study of Ssu-ma Kuang's (1019–1086) historical masterpiece, Tzuchih t'ung-chien [General Mirror for the Aid of Government], etc. See
In 1917 when Mao headed the student organization of the First Normal School, its swimming section had more than eighty members, who used to come together to swim in the Hsiang river after class (ibid., p. 34).
Cheng-jung sui-yüeh ch'ou (line 15),f literally, “High [and] noble years [and] months galore.” Cheng-jung denotes the “majestic loftiness” of a mountain, hence “high and noble,” “rigorous [season],” etc. “The Chinese language, especially the language of Chinese poetry, is extremely compact,” remarked Prof. Wen I-to. The poet “simply lays out the words, one by one, without resorting to the rules of grammar, like the modern impressionist artist putting the colors, spot by spot, on the canvas, and letting them harmonize themselves and bring out one another. This makes Chinese poetry all the more untranslatable, not to say into English, but into spoken Chinese as well” (“On the English Translation of Li Po's Poems,” T'ang-shih tsa-lun [Essays on Tang Poetry],
Ch'ia t'ung-hsüeh shao-nien (line 16)f [“Just when we were young school friends”]. Cf. Tu Fu's usage in “Autumn Feelings:”mT'ung-hsüeh shaonien to pu-chienn [“My young school friends are mostly not humble”] (Ch'iu Chao-ao [fl. 1693], Tu Shao-ling chi hsiang-chu [Annotated Works of Tu Fu], ch. 17 (Wan-yu wen-k'u ed.), ts'e 7, 65, 3rd of 8 verses.
Feng-hua in line 17 stands for feng-yün and ts'ai-hua,o “graceful in manners and gifted with talents,” which is incompatible with proud bearing and unrelated to physical strength according to Mr. Boyd. See
Fen-t'u,p “dirt” or “filth,” is more repugnant and provoking than “dust,” which has also melancholic connotations alien to Mao's “revolutionary romanticism.” Cf. Han Yü's (q.v. n. 18) outcry in “Snow, Written for Chang Chi:”q “The [upright] pines and bamboos are thwarted,/While the dirt is glutted with care and nourishment” (Han Ch'ang-li chi, ch. 9 [WYWK ed.],
Lang o fei-chou (line 25),f “Waves impeded speeding boats,” is comparable in imagery and syntax to Hsiang o hsing-yün,r “Sounds [of good singing] impeded travelling clouds,” in
Op. cit., ch. 12, ts'e 3, 88. “Few are willing,” said Robert F. Kennedy, “to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence” (
“Farewell, Leighton Stuart!” dated Aug. 18, 1949,
. Po-i, the note explained, “fled to the Shouyang Mountain and starved to death rather than eat of Chou grain” after the Chou king's victory.“To Liu Ching-wen,”uSu Tung-p'o chi, ch. 18 (WYWK ed.),ts'e 4, 96.
“Is it better,” asked Ch'ü Yüan in the satirical Pu chüv [“Divining for a Course to Follow”] attributed to him, “to preserve one's integrity by means of a lofty detachment,/Or to wait on a king's mistress with flattery, fawning, and strained, smirking laughter?” (
In a recent survey, Prof. Wolfram Eberhard characterized the Hunanese as being “emotional, heroic, military, upright,” and “eating very hot food” (
). Cf. Liu Yü-hsi's observation: “Along the Hsiao and Hsiang there is no mud hill or turbid water, and the people influenced by the environment are often pure, intelligent, and refined” (Prefatory note to “Parting with Ven. Haoch'u at Lake Hai-yang,”wop. cit., 7:8b). And Mao's favorite food, according to his former bodyguard and sometime cook, included “beef, chilli, fried bean curd” (Ch'en Ch'ang-feng, ). In a world where money is God, the Hunanese lass hawking rock-candy-sugarcd lotus-seed soup through passing train windows at the Yüeh-yang railroad station on the 680-mile Canton-Hankow line would dispense with a smile and save her customer's embarrassment by saying “Think nothing of it, sir, just bring it some other time,” when the train started moving before he could return the empty bowl and pay her; and the slow-paced, gentry-robed, mulish ricksha man in Changsha would ask his patron to “Please come down and pull it yourself” when urged to go faster.Cf. Li Hsün's (fl. 896) Yü-ko-tzux [“Fisher's lyric”]: “The beautiful scenery of Orange Island is like a screen painting” (Hua-chien chi,y an early anthology of tz'u lyrics, ed. Chao Ch'ung-tso [fl. 940] [Peking, 1955, facs. reprod. of 1148 woodblock print ed.], 10:6a).
Cf. Tu Fu: “Between Ch'iao-k'ou and Orange Island the currents are swift” (“Reply to Magistrate Kuo [Shou],”aop. cit., ch. 22,
The Yüeh-luaa or “foothills (lu) of the Heng-yüeh [mountains]” rise only 293 meters above sea level (cf. Tsui-hsin Chung-kuo fen-sheng ti-t'u [Latest Provincial Atlas of China] [Shanghai, Chung-hua shu-chü, 1948]). They are celebrated by poets, however, for their leaves in autumn, along with Nanking's Ch'i-hsia hills, Soochow's T'ienp'ing hills, and Peking's West Hills.
Quoted by the
on the anniversary of Mao's recent swim across the Yangtze.They were married in 1921, and in 1930 she was apprehended and executed, together with Mao's sister, when Mao took to the hills and left them in Changsha. See
See
“In Praise of the Orange-Tree,”ae
“What others take a few years to do,” he told his students, “I will take a few decades, and I have no fear that I will not succeed.” He cited as examples Darwin and his theory of evolution, Spencer and his Principles of Ethics, Ssu-ma Kuang and his “General Mirror” of history (q.v. n. 18), which all took from ten to twenty years to accomplish. See
Ibid., p. 24.
Ts'eng-lin chin-jan (line 5 ),f literally, “Terraced woods all dyed [red].” The word jan or “dyed” was used with dramatic effect by the Yiian playwright Wang Shih-fu (ca. 1260) in his lines which became famous: “At dawn who has dyed the frosted woods [red] with intoxication? It must be parting couples' tears”ag (Hsi-hsiang chi [The Western Chamber], Part 4, Act 3 ). Legend has it that the tu-chüanah or goatsucker, whose nostalgic cry in the night sounds like pu-ru-kuei-ch'üal [“Better go home!”], would call out until blood falls from its eyes in tears. Cf. Ou-yang Hsiu, “Lyric to Yü-lou-ch'un,”aj 26th of 29 verses (Ouyang Yung-shu chi, “New yüeh-fu,” ch. 2 [WYWK ed.], ts'e 15, 28).
See Li Tao-yüan (d. 527) Shui-ching chu [Commentary on the Water Classic], ch. 38 (WYWK ed.)
. Cf. Liu Ch'ang-ch'ing (fl. 733): “… At dusk on the deep Hsiao and Hsiang —/The Hsiang river is clear and visible to the bottom …” (“Arriving at Buffalo Cave by the Kuei River,”akLiu Siu-chou chi [SPPY ed.], 10:4a).Pai-ko cheng-liu (line 7),f literally, “Hundred boats vie in the stream.” Cf. painter Ku K'ai-chih's (341–402) depiction of the scenery of Kuei-chi in Chekiang: Ch'ien-yen ching-hsiu, tvan-ho chengliu,al “Thousand cliffs compete in elegance, myriad gullies vie in the stream.” See Liu I-ch'ing (403–444),
Huai-nan-tzu (SPTK ed.), 10:4a. When Hsieh T'iao (464–499) was recalled from his post due to the slander of his colleague, he compared himself to the scattering birds:
“Often beset by the falcon's strike,
As chrysanthemums withered in the frost.
Please tell the falconer,
[I] have made off into the depth of the blue.”
(“To My Colleagues at the Western Command …”amHsieh Hsüan-ch'eng shih-chi [Collected Poems], ch. 3 [WYWK ed.], 24).
“Mid-Autumn Night at the Wu[-sung] River Pavillion,”an
. Cf. “Cheng-yüeh”ao in the Book, of Odes: “Although the fish sink and lie at the bottom, it is still quite clearly seen” (See Chou Chen-fu and Tsang K'o-chia in
“Magpie, magpie, builds its nest on a twig; The kite takes the nest with superior might. It swallows the magpie's liver, and picks the magpie's brains, Preserving itself by stealing food and lodging. The splendid phoenix is revered by all birds. Why has he said nothing against the kite's havoc? …”
But what good was it for him to say anything— outcried, outnumbered, and outmoded?
Translated from the Chinese in
; cf. . Interpolations are mine.See Mao Tse-tung, “Introducing a Co-operative,” Hung-ch'i [Red Flag], June 1, 1958, pp. 3–4; tr.
See
Chin-shu [History of the Chin Dynasty] (Pona ed.), 62:9b–10a.
Chin-shu, loc. cit. “In these past few years,” recalled Ch'en Ch'ang-feng (op. cit., p. 13), “Chairman Mao had become like a father to me, concerning himself with my daily life and training.” Chinese history is replete with paternal precedents. The emperor T'ai-tsung of the T'ang wailed at the memorial services for his fallen soldiers, and personally sucked the arrow wound of his sinicised Turkic general Li Ssu-mo. The army was moved to tears, and the parents of the dead felt no regret (Chen-kuang cheng-yao [Administrative Highlights of the Chen-kuang Reign Period 627–649] [SPPY ed.], 6:9b). The famous Wei general Wu Ch'i of the 4th century B.C. sucked his enlisted man's ulcers. When news came to the man's mother, she wept. “Years ago, General Wu sucked the ulcers of the boy's father, and he soon died in action. Now the General again sucked the boy's. Where is he going to die next?” (
Wu Ch'iao (1611–1680+), Wei-lu shih-hua [Fireside Chats on Poetry], ch. 1 (TSCC ed.), 8. (I based my datings of Wu on his ridicule of his friends for offering to write him congratulatory poems on his sixtieth birthday in 1670, as a result of which none mentioned about such artificialities again in 1680 [ch. 4, 102].) When the Ming emperor Ch'eng-tsu (reigned 1403–1424) commanded his court to compose poems on a painting of a tiger looking back at his cubs, Hsieh Chinau (1369–1415) wrote:
“The tiger is revered by all beasts.
Who dares to rouse his anger?
But the love of a father
Makes him turn his head back at every step.”
The emperor, who had not been fond of the Crown Prince and had earlier sent him away to Nanking from the capital, immediately dispatched an envoy to fetch him back after reading the poem. See Ch'en Chi-ju (1588–1639), Hu-hui [Collected Tiger Anecdotes], ch. 5 (TSCC ed.), 70.
Tay, ibid. The mild, gentle lines of Plum Blossoms dated Dec. 1962 presaged the cataclysmic cultural revolution:
“… Elegant but not vying for spring, She only ushers spring in.
And when the whole mountainside is in bloom, She smiles in the grove.”
To herald the return of spring and summon the whole mountainside to bloom is to rally the faithful to “true revolutionary Marxism-Lenism” and “cultivate millions of successors to carry on the cause.”
, was even more elusive. The last line in the closing couplet apparently referred to “the spate of international revisionism:”“A sky of snow is the plum blossom's delight,
It's nothing strange (or little wonder),
if flies freeze to death.”
The Chinese text reads, Tung ssu ts'ang-ying weitsu ch'i,av which means literally, “Freezing to death fly (or flies) [is] not enough wonder.” As events turned out, my sister Vidyā noticed that wei-tsu or “not enough” was equivalent to shaoaw or “little.” By substituting shao for wei-tsu, the last three words became [Liu?] Shao-ch'i.
“Acknowledging Old Sun Hsin's Gift of Some Inksticks,”ayop. cit., ch. 14,
, last of 4 verses.“Reply to Ch'i-yüan's [Ch'eng Chin-fang] Letter on Poetry,”azHsiao-ts'ang-shan-fang wenchi [Collected Writings] (Shanghai, Wen-ming shuchu), 30:1b.
See Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, Yin-ping-shih shih-hua [Soda Fountain's Talks on Poetry] (Taipei reprint of Shanghai, 1936 ed.), pp. 2 and 41. Cf. Ch'ien Chung-lien, Jen-ching-lu shih-ts'ao chien-chu [Anrotated Poems of Huang Tsun-hsien] (Shanghai, 1957), esp. ch. 1, 15–16, “My hand writes my mouth …”
“On the Form of Poetry,” Shih yü p'i-p'ing [Poetry and Criticism], op. cit., p. ting 245.
Foreword, Yü Ta-fu shih-tz'u ch'ao [Poems], ed. Lu Tan-lin (Hong Kong, 1962), p. i. “Most of the older writers of the May 4 [1919] period could write classical poems,” observed the critic Liu Tachieh,ba “but only Lu Hsün and Yü Ta-fu's works are worthy of particular note” (cited in Shuangfeng [Lu Tan-lin], “Preface to Yü Ta-fu's Poems,” I-lin ts'ung-lu [Collected Reprints of Essays on the Arts], I [Hong Kong, 1961], 60). “It takes a master of poetry,” said Liu Yü-hsi, “to express a multitude of feelings with a handful of words, and command the performance of a myriad scenes without leaving his seat” (“A Note on Wu-ling chi by Master Tung [T'ing],”bbop. cit., 23:14b).
Fen-wai yao'jao,be literally, “Exceedingly enchanting.” Cf. the lines of sedate statesman Ouyang Hsiu in his lighter moments: “Her brows when she's singing, her waist when she's dancing:/ No part of her is not yao-jao [enchanting]” (“Lyric to Su chung-ch'ing,”bd Liu-i tz'u [Lyrics of Ouyang Hsiu] [Hong Kong, 1960], p. 67, appended from Sung dynasty wood-block print ed.).
Cf. Han Yü: “The banks clutch like long snakes,/The mounds clash like giant elephants” (“Snow, Written for Chang Chi,”qq.v. n. 23).
Cf. Tu Fu: “Heroes rose in contention here in past dynasties;/All-embracing kingship is seen here in the present” (“K'uei-chou,”ao 3rd of 10 quatrains, q.v. n. 41).
Wang Lin-ch'uan chi, ch. 37 (WYWK ed.),
. The fourth line hails from Hsieh T'iao: “The limpid river lies quiet like a breadth of dressed silk” (“Ascending the Three Hills and Looking Back at the Capital at Dusk,”bfop. cit., ch. 3, 32), which was acclaimed by Li Po and other poets.See Chang Tsung-hsiao (fl. 1736),
. Yeh hu chingbg or “wild fox sprite” signifies an “enchantress” in Buddhist terminology (I-shan hsien-sheng wen-chi [Collected Worlds of Yüan Hao-wen], ch. 1 (WYWK ed.), 1; cf.
Lyrics to Tung-hsien-kobj and Nien-nu-chiaobk resp., op. cit., ch. 17, 188 and 184. Mao's spirited Plum Blossoms (q.v. n. 61) also is not without antecedent as some have claimed. Cf. Ch'en Liang's verse: “Intent on heralding the tidings of spring,/ She is not afraid of overwhelming snow …” (ibid., ch. 30, 371).
Op. cit., 3:1b.
See
First of six poems
Ibid.Chin-ou or “golden bowl” signifies one nation strong and indivisible. Cf. the impassioned lines of sculptress-educator Linda Wubo amidst the cries of “Two Chinas:” “When good friends come together, how can we bear to talk of the golden bowl falling to pieces?/When the conversation turns to our homeland, our tears are streaming”bp (
Fan-ch'uan shih-chi [Collected Poems of Tu Mu] (SPPY ed.), 4:13b–14a. In the SPTK facs. reprod. of the Ming-dynasty wood-block print ed. (
The attribution is not verifiable, nor is the legend that the emperor then became a Buddhist monk. According to Prof. Meng Sen, the emperor was a lay disciple of Monk T'ung-hsiubs (1614–1675) of Hangchow, and had adopted the religious name “Hsing-ch'ih,”bthsing being the genealogical designation shared by the monk's immediate disciples, and ch'ih, meaning “foolish,” was the emperor's own choice. See
. Regardless of the authorship, it took only four seven-word lines for a master of classical Chinese poetry to epitomize China's early history and geography and the vicissitudes of man and empire—“so concise and covenient”, as Yü Ta-fu declared.The Shui-tiao ka-t'oubu or “Opening Section of the Water Melody” is also called K'ai-kobw or “Victory Melody.” Mao's lyric uses rhyme words in the yübx group, viz: yü (fish), shu (open), k'uang-yü (free), fu (an interrogative particle) in the first stanza; and t'u (plan), t'ung-tu (thoroughfare), hu (lake), shu (changed)by in the second; which require a whistling mouth shape with puckered lipss to enunciate.
cf. “The Long March” dated Oct 1935,
“Bite firm the green hill and don't let go, For you are rooted in the worn rock.
A thousand blows and a myriad beatings have fallen, but you're tenacious as ever: Come winds from east and west, from north and south!”
(
). Mao's sweeping, unbridled calligraphy, which Lin Piao seems trying in vain to imitate, bears remarkable resemblance to Cheng Hsieh's composite “seal,” “scribe,” “regular” and “grass” style.“The Constant Symbol,” introductory essay to
Yüeh-fu shih-chi [Anthology of Ballads], ed. Kuo Mou-ch'ien (ca. 1200), ch. 79 (WYWK ed.), 898–99, introductory notes to Shui-tiao-ko [“Water Melody”].
A glimpse of the occasion may be gleaned on a minor scale from Peller Malcolm's chatty account of George's party: “August 22, 1715. The king, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and a large party of nobility, went in barges with music from Whitehall to Limehouse. When they returned in the evening, the captains of shipping suspended lanterns in the rigging, and the houses on both sides of the river were illuminated, and incredible number of boats filled wth spectators attended on the royal party …” (Victor Schoelcher, Life of Handel [New York, 1857], p. 62, citing Malcolm's Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London During the Eighteenth Century [London, 1811]).
Yüeh-fu shih-chi, loc. cit.
Ho-chuanca [“River Melody”] (Hua-chien-chi, op. cit., 7:10b).
Mencius,
Huan T'an (24 B.C–56 A.D.), Hsin-lun [New Discourses] (SPPY ed.), p. 20a.
Prefatory notes to “The Southern Dynasties,”ebop. cit., p. 92.
See Mao chu-hsi shih-tz'u, op. cit.
“Everybody knows that the enemy is hateful,” wrote Liu Tsung-yüan (773–819) in his essay on “The Enemy”ce cited by the People's Daily article, “Refuting Bundy,” on Feb. 20, 1966, “but not that he is also most useful; that he is harmful, but not that he is also most beneficial.” “A great enemy,” added the article, will “make us work harder” and “keep us always on the alert and sharpen our fighting spirit” (tr.
). Cf. Liu Ho-tung chi [Collected Works of Liu Tsung-yüan], ch. 19 (Peking, 1960), 342.“Dining at Prime Minister Li's House with Fellow Successful Candidates at the Palace Examination,”edop. cit., ch. 1, 4.
Confucian Analects, “Tzu-han,” XVI (cf.
“Letter to Counselor Fan [Chung-yen],”ceop. cit., ch. 10, 137.
The mile-long Yangtze bridge between Wuchang and Hanyang then under construction was officially opened on Oct. 15, 1957.
T'ien-ch'ien,cf literally “natural moat,” is rendered “deep chasm” in line 14. Cf. Yo K'o's (1173–1240?) usage, “From of old the t'ien-ch'ien has separated the north and south” (“Pei-ku Pavillion” to the melody Tsu Ying-t'ai chin,eg in Yang Shen [1488–1559], Tz'u-p'in [Classification of Tz'u Composers], ch. 5 [Hong Kong, 1961], 147).
Wen-hs'üan [Anthology of Literature], ed. Hsiao T'ung (501–531) (SPPY ed.), 41:5a.
Old Wuchang was renamed “O-ch'eng” after the revolution when the name “Wuchang” was given to Chiang-hsia, the site of the historic mutiny of 1911.
“Departing from T'an-chou (Changsha),”ekop. cit., ch. 22, ts'e 9, 31.
“Seeing Master Fei Off on His Return to Wuchang (O-ch'eng),”el (T'ang pai-chia shih-hs'üan [Selected Poems of One Hundred T'ang Masters], ed. Wang An-shih, ch. 4 [WYWK ed.], 42).
“Drinking water” connotes poverty or lack of success. Li Yüan-tu (fl. 1630) said that he was “unsuccessful all my life, sipping gruel and drinking water” (Foreword in Hung Mai [1123–1202], Jung-chat sui-pi [Miscellaneous Notes]). Tzu-lu (ca. 542–480 B.C,) was grieved by his poverty which kept him from doing his duty as a son Confucius said: “Make your parents happy) and you have done your filial duty even if they are sipping bean [gruel] and drinking water” (Li-chi [Book of Rites], “T'an-kung,” hsia [SPPY ed.], 3:11a).
when the emperor T'ai-tsung of the T'ang ascended the throne in 627, he was apprehensive that the people might become unruly after the long chaos. “No, sire,” advised Wei Tseng (580–643). “A people that has enjoyed extended peace and prosperity may become arrogant and indolent, and being so it is intractible. But one that has been through long periods of anarchy and disorder is distressed. Being distressed it is susceptible to law and order, just as the hungry are easy to feed, and the thirsty are easy to satisfy” (
Ibid., p. 37
Kao-tang fucm [“Rhymeprose on Kaot'ang”], Wen-hsüan, op. cit., 19:1b–2a.
Shen-nü fucm [“Rhymeprose on the Goddess”] ibid 19–5a.
Wang Chao-yün, however, was not the first to be called Chao-yünco or “Morning Cloud.” Prince Yüan (Toba) Shen (fl. 520) had a maid by that name who was an expert player of the ch'ihep a seven-hole bamboo flute. See Yang Hsüan-chih (fl. 548), Lo-yang ch'ia-lan chi [Notes on the Buddhist Temples of Loyang] (SPPY ed.), 4:6b.
Cf. Tu Fu's allusion: “King Hsiang spared his footsteps …/[The Goddess] wiped her eternal tears” (“Reply to Sub-Perfect Hsüeh,”eqop. cit., ch. 19, ts'e 8, 28). “King Hsiang's sparse footsteps,” explained the commentary, “indicate heartlessness.”
Cf. Juan Chi (210–263): “The three lands of Ch'u abounded in talented men,/ And Morning Cloud offered them sensual gratification” (“Feeings,”er last of 17 verses,
Jen-chien tz'u-hua [Wang Kuo-wei's Comments on Tz'u] (Hong Kong, 1961 reprint ed), p 225 cf Han Yü: “When there is inequity, things cry out” (“Written for Meng Chiao”csop. cit., ch. 19, ts'e 5, 7): “It is easy to excel with sounds of sorrow” (cited by Sung Lo [1634–1713] in Preface to Mei Yao-ch'en [1002–1060], Wanling chi [SPPY ed.]).
The poetry of Mao Tse-tung is replete with allusions to Chinese mythology. In The Immortals (q.v. n. 36), we see Wu Kang, the legendary chopper of the cassia tree in the moon, presenting his cassia wine to the spirits of the poet's wife and friend, and “The lonely goddess in the moon spreads her ample sleeves/To dance for these good souls in the endless sky.”
See Hu Tsai (fl. 1147), T'iao-ch'i yü-yin ts'ung-hua [The Fisher Hermit's Collected Comments], hou-chi, ch. 33 (WYWK ed.), 667. Li Ch'ing-chao was referring resp. to Huang Tingchien (1045–1105) and Ch'in Kuan (1049–1100).
Ibid, ch'ien-chi, ch. 10, 64. “The taste of salt remains,” explained Lin Shu,et “but its form is not visible” (Wei-lu lun-wen [Lin Shu on Literature] [Shanghai, 1921], 3a).
Tung-p'o wen-t'an lu [Su Tung-p'o's Talks on Literature], ed. Ch'en Hsiu-ming (ca. 1350) (TSCC ed.), p. 10. When Ou-yang Hsiu, the literary giant and greatest patron of literary talents of his time, heard this, he said: “Bravo! I should step aside and let him come into prominence” (“Letter to Mei Sheng-yü,” op. cit., ch. 6, ts'e 17, 46).
Wen-hsin tiao-lung (SPPY ed.), 9:12a; cf.
Liu Su (fl. 807),
Not only genuine thread-bound books reappeared, but simulations were made by printing the appearance of stitching on the covers, e.g., Lu Pochun's
“High school textbooks in literature,” noted a teacher in a letter to the editors of Yü-wen hsüehhsi [Language Study] (Peking, No. 76 [Jan. 1958], 36), “have included a large selection of ancient writings primarily to help the student understand our culture and social life of the past and enlarge his vision, so that he may take over the rich legacy and keep up the fine tradition of Chinese literature, and draw his own spiritual strength from the lofty character of accomplished ancient writers.”
“Knowledge Rambling in the North”ew (
Ibid., Jan. 6, 1964, p. 5.
See resp.
Letter to the editors of Yü-wen hsüeh-hsi, ibid. “The breeze of classical composition has recendy swept the high schools. The black-board bulletin of our school receives more than twenty old-style poems a week, mostly half literary and half colloquial and difficult to understand.” “Not only senior high, but also junior high school students are composing,” added another. “They know nothing or very little about classical poetry, such as rhyme pattern, tone sequence, and line structure, thinking that by writing a given number of words they have come out with poetry …” But the teachers were unduly concerned. As Ting Hungda (d. 94) had said, “A tree that reaches the clouds and hides the sun starts from a green sprout” (Hou-Han shu [History of the Later Han Dynasty] [Po-na ed.], 37:19ab).
“Xuan Thuy, Hanoi's chief negotiator in Paris, published a poem here today telling of his reaction to the announcement Oct. 31 of the halt in the American bombing raids,” reported the
) under an Agence France-Presse Nov. 18 dateline from Hanoi. Mr. Thuy “wrote in the classic 14-quatrain form [sic] in the party newspaper Nhan Dan. His closing four-line stanza is addressed to the southern half of Vietnam, where ‘The fire-devoured palm tree grows fast.’” Thuy's metaphor is not unfamiliar in tropical south Florida, where palm trees are scorched before transplanting, and Vidyā (Cheng Hungyün) has a verse in which she lauded the “firedrinking palm,” whose “Scorched trunk touches the heavens with green foliage”de (Jen-sheng Magazine, Hong Kong, 33:9–10 [Apr. 16, 1969], 31). For the works of earlier Vietnamese poets, see Ming shih tsung [Collected Poems of the Ming Dynasty], ed. Chu I-tsun (1629–1709), ch. 95B; Ch'ing shih hui (Wan-ch'ing-i shih-hui) [Collected Poems of the Ch'ing Dynasty], ed. Hsü Shih-ch'ang, ch. 200 (both available in Taipei reprint).Tu Fu, T'ien-ch'ihūg [“The Pond on High”] (op. cit., ch. 20, ts'e 8, 56).
