History of Yuefu Literature in the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties Periods

Author: Xiao Difei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-06-01
Features: This is an old poem I wrote in February 1945 for my book The History of Han and Wei Six Dynasties Yuefu Literature, which lacks poetic charm and serves merely as an opening. This small book was originally my graduate thesis, drafted in 1931 when Japan's imperialist forces launched the "September 18th Incident," and completed in 1933 when the Nationalist government signed the traitorous "Tanggu Agreement" with Japan. The poem refers to "ten years ago" as this tragic period: "ten years later" refers to 1943, when I revised and published my thesis, the sixth year of the later stage of the Anti-Japanese War. At that time, I was at Southwest Associated University in Kunming, living in a small village twenty miles south of the city to avoid Japanese air raids. There was no electricity, no kerosene, and life was as meager as a bean. To support my family, I took any available teaching job, regardless of whether it was at a university, college, or primary school, or how far or near, all relying on my two legs, with my life hanging by a thread in constant.
Forty years have passed since then. In these four decades, our disaster-ridden motherland, under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China, has achieved successive victories in the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, establishing the great People's Republic of China. "The Chinese people have stood up!" Everything has undergone earth-shaking changes. As for me, I have lived to be over seventy and continue to live and work, contributing to the construction of socialist modernization. I have even been able to see this small book reprinted. All of these are things I could never have dreamed of back then.
I deeply admire and am grateful to my mentor, Professor Huang Huiwen, but not solely for his scholarship or personal kindness to me. There is a story: shortly after the "September 18th Incident," one afternoon, Professor Huang came to class from the city. Normally, he was never late or early, but that day, he suddenly stopped teaching mid-lecture, closed his book, and left. Out of patriotic fervor, we understood his reaction, but his intensity was astonishing. The next day, I went to see him, and he wrote two seven-character quatrains titled Poems of Indignation. Among them were lines like "Thirty years of events in my sight, / Again the Japanese invade our land," and "As I grow old, this grief has nowhere to lay, / It began not today, but still wounds my soul." I then realized that he had linked the invasion of China by Japanese militarism decades earlier (the 1894 Sino-Japanese War) with the current "September 18th Incident," yet he could not see the strength of the people or the future of our nation. No wonder his heart was so heavy.
"The state must strike itself before others strike it." Therefore, in another poem titled My Poetry, a seven-character regulated verse, he harshly criticized the then-Nationalist government as "a band of thieves": "Heartbroken at thieves' words of governance, / They claim poetry can show my sorrow!" (This poem does not appear in his Jianjialou Collection of Poems and was likely removed by those in power.) Professor Huang's actions deeply influenced me and my thesis writing. I say "not willing to spare a single word," and this applies not just to the text.
Though titled The History of Han and Wei Six Dynasties Yuefu Literature, this book is actually the history of folk literature during the Han and Wei Six Dynasties, more precisely, the history of Yuefu folk songs. Because of their quantity, quality, ideological content, artistic form, influence on contemporary and later poets, and their role in shaping the poetic landscape, Yuefu folk songs, especially those from the Han Dynasty, hold a dominant position and created a new era in poetry. Unfortunately, Ban Gu, the author of the Book of Han, did not record these Yuefu folk songs, a loss that cannot beed. However, Ban Gu did two good things: First, he recorded in detail the scope and number of folk songs collected by the Yuefu, totaling 138 pieces from all over the country (excluding the Nine Poems of Miscellaneous Songs and others without specified origins). Second, he provided a good summary and evaluation of the artistic features and political functions of these hundred-plus Yuefu folk songs, which he described as "inspired by joy and sorrow, arising from events, and sufficient to observe customs and understand the times." (Both are found in the Treatise on Arts and Literature of the Book of Han). In modern terms, this reflects the spirit of realism in accurately reflecting reality.
From the perspective of the Yuefu poetic tradition, it is clear that without the Han Yuefu folk songs that "arose from events," there would be no imitated Yuefu by figures like Cao Cao writing about contemporary affairs under ancient titles, nor would the "Jian'an spirit" and the flourishing of five-and-seven-character quatrains have emerged. Hundreds of years later, the new-style Yuefu with titles reflecting the subject matter, pioneered by Du Fu, and the New Yuefu Movement advocated by Bai Juyi, calling for "poetry written for the sake of events," would also have had no chance to arise. The Tang Dynasty was the golden age of poetry, with achievements in many aspects, but the particularly vibrant flourishing of five-and-seven-character quatrains was clearly influenced by the small Yuefu of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Lu Xun said, "When old literature declines, it often undergoes a new transformation by absorbing folk literature or foreign literature. This is a common phenomenon in literary history." (Talks at the Threshold of Literature) The Han and Wei Six Dynasties Yuefu folk songs are the most obvious example.
Regarding the purpose of writing this book, I have already explained it in the "Introduction." Here, I need to add two points: First, during the ten years from its drafting to publication, the country and nation were in dire peril, so when discussing national conflicts, the text often reveals a traditional narrow nationalistic perspective. However, unless it seriously obstructs the meaning, I did not make any changes. Second, this is a previously published work, and to preserve its original form, I did not make extensive revisions. Most of the newly added materials are marked with notes and parentheses for distinction.
During the Anti-Japanese War, this book was published by the Cultural Service Society of China but with a very small print run and poor-quality paper. After liberation, thanks to the care of my comrades, I was repeatedly urged to "reprint it," and they even mistakenly cited and reviewed it. Now, with the strong support of the People's Literature Publishing House, it has been revised, reprinted, and published. Comrade Liu Wenzhong has also meticulously proofread the entire book.