Historical Love Songs (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Liu Qi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Chinese love songs are an extremely rich literary treasure. To readers who admire aristocratic refinement, they may not seem as elegant as court literature or so-called pure literature. However, their genuine emotions, straightforward expressions, and witty, spicy language transport people into a candid and pure artistic realm. Even the confessions of courtesans avoid pretense, expressing their natural and intense inner feelings. This is the outstanding feature of love songs in terms of content. From another perspective, among the rich love songs, there lies a quality that outshines pure literature—revealing strong sexual desires with extreme candor and powerful language, achieving a natural perfection that is even more noble and elegant than high refinement. Folk songs and ballads, while unrestrainedly expressing the desire for life, also freely unleash sexual passion. Excessive development of anything brings side effects. The suppression of normal sexual desires brought by feudal consciousness and hypocritical Confucianism is undoubtedly a cruel torment to human nature, inevitably leading to pathological sexual expression, even transforming the poetic celebration of normal love into vulgar and lewd behavior. Inferior creations are not uncommon in folk songs and ballads. This book is a collection of historical folk love poetry and lyrics, carefully selected from masterpieces spanning from the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties to the Qing Dynasty. It includes more than ten precious ancient texts, such as Mountain Songs, Plum Blossom Children, White Snow Remains, Rainbow Skirt Melodies, and others. Brief annotations are provided.