Wéi Zhuāng Jí

Author: Wei Zhuang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-03-01
Features: Excerpt: Tavern. The prince returns late, the palace trees are about to roost with crows. Liu Deren's tomb, to the public, to the art, finally embraces grievances and sinks. Renowned for poetic talent, but without the heart of the noble. Osmanthus and autumn dew drip, pine trees carry night winds. In the underworld, do you know if spring has come? The mound grass is already deep.
Titled "The Dragon Temple Monk's Room Under the Qinglong Temple": A thousand chariots and hooves, a single branch of fragrance, no matchmakers on the main road, causing self-injury. Titled the pillar, not expecting to return to Shu, where to kowtow to the King of Wu. Horses neigh on the spring field, golden bridles are noisy. Birds sleep in the splendid forest, embroidered feathers are fragrant. Wine is weak, resentment is deep, unable to dispel it, asking for melancholy from the branch.
"Residence in the East Village of Jian River, Guozhou": Riding eastward out of the suburbs, looking back, cold mist separates the prefecture city. When the clear stream rises, herons are joyful; when mulberry trees are sparse, oxen are heard. Children see me as a guest, servants are proud, resembling an elder brother. Looking at the family fields, I find comfort, with lush autumn rice seedlings flat.
"Sending Monk Jinglong of Japan to Return to Fusang": Fusang is already in the distance, my home is even further east. Who will accompany the master on this journey? A boat of moonlight, a sail of wind.
"Facing Wine, No Need for Seclusion's Name": A pot of spring wine can forget one's form. If Bolun had a method for eternal life, he would still be drunk today.
Postscript:
Wei Zhuang was a distinguished poet and a great lyricist in Chinese literary history. His courtesy name was Duanji, from Duling, Jingzhao (now Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province). The Old and New Book of Tang, the Five Dynasties History, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties do not have records of Duanji. The "Record of Shu" and the "Annals of Tang Poetry," "Biographies of Poets of the Tang Dynasty," and the "Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" also do not record his birth and death. Modern scholar Xia Chengshou compiled a chronology of Duanji, based on the poem "Clipping White Hair," where he deduced that Duanji wrote this poem in the second year of Guangqi (888 AD), at the age of fifty-one. Although it is not absolutely correct, there is no other evidence, so we temporarily follow Xia's view. He was a descendant of Wei Jianru, a Tang minister. The "Biographies of Poets of the Tang Dynasty" says he was "poor but diligent in learning, with exceptional talent." The "Annals of Tang Poetry" describes him as "unconventional and not." The "Extensive Records of the Marvelous" states that when Wei Zhuang was young, he often lived in Xiagui County as a refugee. Xiagui was the hometown of Bai Juyi, who was still alive at the time, so Zhuang's poetic style was quite similar to Juyi's.
In the third month of Hezhong (888 AD), in Luoyang, he wrote "The Lament of a Qin Woman." The "Miscellaneous Records of the Northern Dreams" states that when Wei Zhuang took the imperial examination, Huang Chao invaded the capital, and he wrote "The Lament of a Qin Woman," which included the lines: "The imperial treasury burned to ashes, the streets trampled with the bones of officials." After that, many officials were surprised, and Zhuang concealed the poem, earning the nickname "The Scholar of the Lament of a Qin Woman." Later, when writing his family precepts, he forbade hanging the scroll of "The Lament of a Qin Woman," thus stopping the rumors. However, the poem was not included in the "Flowers and Rocks Collection" or the "Complete Collection of Tang Poetry" until recently, when it was discovered in Dunhuang manuscripts.
The "Biographies of Poets of the Tang Dynasty" states: "(Emperor Zhaozong) in the first year of Qianning (894 AD), passed the imperial examination, was appointed as a librarian, promoted to a censor, and Li Xun was appointed as the envoy to the Two Chuan Regions. Zhuang was appointed as a judge. Due to the turmoil in the Central Plains, he secretly intended to rely on Wang Jian. Wang Jian appointed him as the head of the secretariat, soon summoned him as a court recorder, and Wang Jian recommended him to stay. Later, he became a minister of state for Wang Jian."
According to the "Chronology of Duanji" by Xia Chengshou, the "Flowers and Rocks Collection" is organized by year and place, so the number of poems in each volume varies. For example, Volume 1 has 48 poems, Volume 8 has 9 poems, and Volume 10 has 6 poems. In addition to the 10 volumes, the "Four Great Classics" edition has 2 supplementary poems, the Xi volume has 69 poems, and the Hu edition has no supplementary poems but includes the 2 poems from the "Four Great Classics" edition in the 10th volume and adds one more seven-character regulated verse. The "Complete Collection of Tang Poetry" states that the collection originally had 20 volumes, but now includes 5 volumes of poems and 1 volume of supplements. The volumes are organized as follows: the first and second volumes are combined as one volume, the third and fourth as the second volume, the fifth and sixth as the third volume, the seventh, eighth, and ninth as the fourth volume, and the tenth as the fifth volume, totaling 252 poems. The supplementary volume includes 1 poem mourning Yang's courtesan in addition to the 69 poems in the Xi volume, making 70 poems, plus 3 couplets of broken lines. The "Lament of a Qin Woman" has been added, placed as the first poem in the supplementary volume, making a total of 71 poems. Combined with the 252 poems, there are now 323 poems in total.
According to the preface to the "Flowers and Rocks Collection" by Wei Ai, "By the year Guihai, I added over a thousand more poems." Thus, the current collection of Wei Zhuang's works is less than one-third of what originally existed, and the loss is truly regrettable. Following Xia's view and the examples of Zhu Chengjue and Xi Jian, the "Flowers and Rocks Collection" has been organized into 10 volumes. The reasons for revising the "Complete Collection of Tang Poetry" into 5 volumes are also explained here for comparison.
Duanji's lyrics are scattered in various books and have no dedicated collection. Here, 48 poems are copied from the "Flowers and Rocks Collection," 5 from the "Respect Before the Ancestors," 1 from the "Remnants of the Hall of the Sage," and 1 from the "Remnants of Poems Through the Ages," totaling 55 poems. These are compared with the 54 poems in the "Complete Collection of Tang Poetry," and differences are noted. A special volume titled "The Collection of Flowers and Rocks Lyrics" is created. The comments on Duanji's lyrics by scholars from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, as well as the bibliographies cited in this work, are listed at the end for reference.
Xiang Diqong