Selected Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty Qu Poetry

Author: Wang Qi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1988-05-01
Features: The preface reads as follows: Just as human material production is constantly changing and developing, so is human spiritual production. China's long-standing poetry has experienced a process from four-character to five-and-seven-character lines, from classical to regulated verse, and then evolved into qu and sanqu. Sanqu is China's last classical poetic form with vitality. It once flourished and achieved a status equal to that of poetry and ci. However, for a long time, people have paid little attention to it, believing that after its brilliant bloom in the Yuan Dynasty, it had since withered. This misunderstanding may stem from the phrase "Tang poetry, Song ci, Yuan qu." This does not mean that the phrase is wrong, no, the problem lies in our understanding. It does not mean that there was no poetry after the Tang Dynasty, no ci after the Song Dynasty, and no qu after the Yuan Dynasty. As for these poetic forms, they were actually interconnected across subsequent eras, flourishing endlessly. We need to strengthen the study of sanqu, trace its development during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and restore its splendid and colorful original appearance. With this purpose in mind, we have compiled this Selection of Yuan, Ming, and Qing Sanqu and wish to elaborate on our understanding here.
I. The Origin and Characteristics of Sanqu
Sanqu can be divided into northern and southern varieties. Their emergence is related to specific social and historical conditions, as well as the development of literature and music. China is vast, and due to differences in geographical environment, natural conditions, and ethnic composition, there are variations in life and culture across regions. When the country was under a unified regime, these differences were not too prominent; but when the country was divided into competing states, these differences became increasingly evident. From the early 12th century, the Jurchen and Mongol rulers successively occupied large areas north of the Huai River, establishing the Jin and Mongol regimes in opposition to the Southern Song Dynasty. By 1279, Kublai Khan, the Yuan Emperor, had unified the country and established the first dynasty in Chinese history ruled by ethnic minorities. Traditional Chinese music and dance had already become quite rich by the Northern Song Dynasty, with forms such as dachu, zhanda, guzicun, changzuan, zhuguantiao, and quzi ci being quite popular in various regions. Under a unified regime, these arts originated in different areas but were generally performed in a unified form. After the Northern Song and Jin Dynasties were in conflict, variations gradually emerged. Combined with the continuous emergence of new folk songs in various regions, these gradually merged and developed into new artistic forms. These new forms, in terms of drama, were zaju and Nanxi; in terms of music and poetry, they were northern and southern qu. Whether northern or southern qu, the main source of their tunes was folk songs. During the period when the Jurchen and Mongols ruled the northern regions, northern folk song creation was quite flourishing, with a large number of folk songs and ballads emerging. According to the Yuan Dynasty's Yan Nan Zhi'an's Chang Lun, there were folk songs sung in various regions such as Dongping, Daming, Nanjing (now Kaifeng, Henan), Zhangde, and Shaanxi. The music of ethnic minorities was also continuously introduced, and these two types of tunes accounted for the majority of northern qu tunes. On this basis, northern qu absorbed parts of dachu, Tang and Song ci, and zhuguantiao, forming a large vocal system. The ancient culture of Yan and Zhao was known for its heroic and melancholic spirit, and the Jurchen, Khitan, and Mongol people had a bold and rugged style. Their tunes thus had distinctive characteristics different from those of Song ci music. Even the ci tunes that were absorbed were modified and integrated into the unified vocal system. The lyrics composed to match these tunes, apart from being constrained by the musical style, were also influenced by the differences in life, language, and aesthetic psychology between the northern and southern people. Naturally, their appearance was quite different from that of Song ci. Simply put, they used more northern colloquialisms, had flexible and varied sentence structures, allowed the addition of supplementary characters outside the set rules, used both level and oblique tones for rhyme, had dense rhyme schemes, avoided repeated characters and rhymes, and employed sharp and vivid expressive techniques, giving a lively, heroic, and rugged impression. Southern qu also originated during the period of conflict between the Northern Song and Jin Dynasties, with its geographical scope in the southeastern coastal areas. "Village folk songs" and "street ballads" (as mentioned in Xu Wei's Nan Ci Xulu) formed the foundation of its tunes. During its development, it absorbed tunes from dachu, Tang and Song ci, zhuguantiao, and changzuan to enrich itself. After the Northern Zaju spread to the south during the Yuan Dynasty, it even absorbed tunes from zaju. Thus, compared to northern qu, southern qu had richer tunes. It is worth noting that the ci tunes it absorbed were much more numerous than those of northern qu, and it largely maintained the original singing methods. This was because many literati and artists followed the Southern Song court southward, bringing ci with them. Southern literature and art had always been gentle and graceful, and the tunes of southern qu carried this characteristic. Therefore, the lyrics composed based on these tunes were also elegant and delicate, not far from the short and long sentence forms of ci. They used fewer supplementary characters and had much less colloquialism than northern qu, paying more attention to the elegance of words and the subtlety of meaning. After southern and northern qu emerged almost simultaneously during the period of conflict between the Northern Song and Jin Dynasties, the development of northern qu was superior to that of southern qu. This was because northern regions experienced frequent warfare, and the ethnic minorities who ruled the Central Plains were not familiar with Confucianism, leading to relaxed ideological control and the decline of traditional poetry and ci. As a result, more literati engaged in the creation of this new form of song. The Southern Song Dynasty, under the control of Confucian thought, regarded folk songs as vulgar, and thus few literati touched upon it. When the Yuan Dynasty unified the country, due to the Mongol rulers' preference and the relative maturity of art, northern qu, supported by the power of zaju, became popular nationwide, while southern qu declined further and received little attention. In the late Yuan Dynasty, when southern people rose in rebellion, southern qu began to re-emerge, and southern-northern combined sets also appeared in sanqu. However, until the early Ming Dynasty, it was still described as "soft, slow, scattered, and unruly, not as resounding and pleasant as northern qu" (Nan Ci Xulu). Therefore, the early Ming Dynasty's qu scene was still dominated by northern qu. After Hongzhi and Zhengde, southern qu gradually flourished with the development of chuanqi and the gradual shift of economic and cultural focus to the southeastern region, eventually achieving a status equal to that of northern qu. By the Jiajing and Longqing years, southern qu, performed with the melodious Kunqu tune, became wildly popular nationwide, and northern qu declined rapidly. After that, although there was still some creation of northern qu, it was transformed by Kunqu and no longer resembled its original form. By the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Kunqu declined, and both southern and northern qu gradually became mere poetry, becoming a form of regulated verse for literati.
Below, a brief description of the stylistic features of sanqu is provided.
Whether northern or southern qu, they can be divided into two forms: xiaoling (short songs) and quashu (sets). Each xiaoling is independent, with a single rhyme throughout, equivalent to a stanza of poetry or a part of ci. Each xiaoling has a name, which is the name of the tune. The Jiu Gong Cheng Nan Nan Ci Gong Pu collects 581 northern qu tunes and 1,513 southern qu tunes. Each tune has different numbers of characters, sentence structures, tones, and rhyme schemes, known as "fixed sentence patterns." These tunes belong to different gongdi (tonal modes). Northern qu has twelve gongdi, while southern qu has nine gongdi and thirteen. There are two variations of xiaoling: one is the daigu in northern qu, which combines two or three tunes with the same gongdi and compatible melodies into a new song. The combination follows certain rules and cannot be freely matched. Common examples include [Yan'er Luo Dai De Sheng Ling], [Gu Mei Jiu Dai Tai Ping Ling], and [Ma Yu Lang Dai Gan Huang En Cai Cha Ge]. The other is the jiuqu in southern qu, also known as fan (transformation), which is similar in form to the daigu of northern qu but different in content. The daigu takes the whole of each tune and combines them, retaining the original names of the tunes in sequence. The jiuqu, however, extracts fragments of different tunes to form a new tune, giving it a new name. For example, [Zui Luo Ge] is formed by extracting sentences from [Zui Fu Gui], [Zao Luo Pao], and [Pai Ge] from three different tunes, [Jin Luo Suo] is formed by extracting sentences from [Jin Wu Tong], [Dong Ou Ling], [Zhen Xian Xiang], [Jie San Cheng], [Lan Hua Mei], and [Ji Sheng Zi], and [Qi Fan Ling Long] collects seven tunes, while [Wu Shan Shi Er Feng] collects twelve tunes. The daigu, however, can only combine no more than three tunes. There is also a type of xiaoling called "chongtou," which repeatedly uses the same tune to sing a continuous or similar piece. For example, Zhang Kejiu of the Yuan Dynasty used four [Mai Hua Sheng] to describe the four seasons, and an anonymous writer of the Ming Dynasty used one hundred [Xiao Tao Hong] to sing the story of The West Chamber. However, since each of these xiaoling uses a different rhyme, they cannot be considered a set. Quashu is a more complex structure, absorbing the methods of lian (linking sets) from Tang Dynasty dachu, zhanda, and zhuguantiao. It connects two or more tunes of the same gongdi, with a single rhyme from beginning to end, and includes a final line (though some sets lack a final line). The southern-northern combined sets that emerged in the late Yuan Dynasty combined tunes of the same gongdi from both northern and southern qu, following a certain format.
II. Yuan Dynasty Sanqu
Although the rule of the Mongols ended the long period of division in the country, objectively favoring historical progress, their harsh ethnic discrimination and oppression policies gave their rule a barbaric color. Mongol nobles and upper-class Uyghurs, relying on power and legal protection, arbitrarily oppressed the people. Corruption among officials and chaotic social order were unprecedented in history. Han Dynasty literati, who had been specially favored during the Song Dynasty, saw their status plummet. Although the saying "eight courtesans, nine Confucian scholars, and ten beggars" may have been the venting of Southern Song refugees, it profoundly reflected the reality of the time. The path to the imperial examinations was blocked, and scholars lost their means of advancement. In real life, they were constantly subjected to sudden attacks. Even Han officials sometimes suffered humiliation from superiors and colleagues and risked death. Against this social backdrop, sanqu writers sang songs of indignation.
People often divide sanqu writers into two schools: unrestrained and elegant. It is hard to say whether this can summarize their diverse styles. Things are always relative. Even Sima Guang's Twenty-Four Poetic Styles may not fully capture their essence; but if we make a rough division, it is not impossible. This is similar to the division of ci into graceful and unrestrained styles, or zaju into natural and literary styles. It is a simpler and clearer method. It is important to note that when making specific distinctions, one should not be too rigid. A writer's artistic style often changes with changes in life, thought, and subject matter, and it is not always fixed. First, the works of great writers often exhibit multiple styles. Second, the works of lesser writers are too few or lack distinct characteristics. Generally speaking, it is easier to classify works by style than to classify writers by school. Therefore, our narration below does not insist on uniformity and may touch on the issue at times but not at others.
The development of Yuan Dynasty sanqu can be divided into two periods, roughly before and after the late Dade era of Emperor Chengzong (1307). Many writers who engaged in sanqu in the early Yuan Dynasty were high-ranking officials and prominent literati. For example, Yang Guo, Liu Bingzhong, Hu Zhiyu, Wang Yun, Lu Zhi, and Yao Shi wrote sanqu occasionally alongside their poetry and ci creations. Their artistic constraints showed that they were not yet familiar with this form. Their content mostly focused on personal sentiments, with occasional hints of melancholic sorrow for the fall of their homeland. This was perhaps the norm for literati serving the Mongol regime. Other officials writing poetry and ci during the early Yuan Dynasty were mostly like this. Among them, Lu Zhi achieved the most. The sanqu he left behind are not only numerous but also excel in landscape and historical themes; his poems depicting rural life are particularly enduring. Later officials who achieved success in sanqu, however, were few. Feng Zi composed forty [Zheng Gong · Parrot Tune] for Bai Wugou, depicting the scenery of Bianliang, Shangdu, and Tianjing, showing artistic talent. Zhang Yanghao, after retiring to seclusion, lamented the dangers of holding office, truly reflecting the voice of an experienced official. He extolled the joys of seclusion and nature, with works that were unrestrained and free-spirited; his historical poems on Guanzhong were particularly moving. Among those with greater achievements were a group of officials who were in the wilderness or had fallen into obscurity. "Jin" Du Renjie and Bai Pu both had some widely praised works. Du Renjie's set [Zhuang Jia Bu Shi Lan] depicts the voice and demeanor of a farmer, with its colloquial language and humorous tone, ranking among the best "natural" works in the history of sanqu. The value of this set also lies in its preservation of precious historical materials about Yuan Dynasty stage performances. Bai Pu's works are unrestrained and elegant, with a distinct flavor of wine and poetry. He also wrote zaju, so the female protagonist in his [Zhong Le · Happy Spring Tune] On Love is like Li Qianjin in The Wall Headed Couple, demanding to break free from feudal rituals. Writers who immersed themselves in the brothels and taverns of the stage, such as Guan Hanqing and Ma Zhiyuan, had no poetry left behind, and their sanqu was quite different from that of poetic and ci writers. Guan Hanqing's [Nan Le · One Branch Flower] Unyielding to Old Age is famous for its strong fighting spirit. He made full use of the free nature of sanqu's rules to say exactly what he wanted, showing a particularly natural and colloquial style. He was skilled at writing love themes, bold when writing about lovers meeting, and deeply affectionate when writing about parting, which perhaps stemmed from his frequent contact with courtesans and familiarity with their lives and thoughts. As a lower-class intellectual who suffered from the corruption of rulers, he sang lines like "The wise are his, the foolish am I, what is the point of contention?" His indignation can be imagined! Ma Zhiyuan was even more celebrated as the author "whose bristling mane makes all horses fall silent" (Zhu Quan's Tai He Zheng Yin Pu). His style combined the strengths of unrestrained and elegant. His zaju were full of self-expression, and his sanqu were even more so. Works like [Shuang Diao · Night Boat] Autumn Thoughts, [Nan Le · Golden Coin] Unfulfilled, [Nan Le · Four Jade Blocks] Retirement, and [Nan Le · Four Jade Blocks] World-Disgust show a disdain for the world, weariness with life, and a desire to withdraw from the world. His bold and vigorous expression, combined with a strong sense of grievance, was admired by later intellectuals who were frustrated with their talents and disillusioned with the world, and was regarded as the master of unrestrained sanqu. His skill was also evident in his depiction of scenery, combining the reproduction of natural beauty with a strong emotional color, showing a Ma Zhiyuan-style melancholy and solitude. His portrayal of love between men and women was so subtle, without any vulgarity. No wonder his reputation was so high. Another writer from the early period was Wang Heqing, whose playful and colloquial works included the great butterfly, the big fish, the green-haired turtle, and the long-haired puppy, all with a mocking and satirical tone, making him unique in sanqu. With Zhang Kejiu and Qiao Ji in the qu scene as markers, the development of Yuan Dynasty sanqu entered its later period. Zhang and Qiao were once called the "two jade of qu" and were considered representatives of the elegant school. Zhang Kejiu was even more famous than Qiao Ji. He was a dedicated sanqu writer, leaving no zaju or poetry behind, but composing over 800 sanqu, accounting for one-fifth of the extant sanqu of the Yuan Dynasty. Most of these are xiaoling, with only nine quashu, showing that he focused his efforts on the elegantization of sanqu. We know that xiaoling are close to ci, and quashu are close to zaju. Generally speaking, quashu are more vulgar, while xiaoling are more elegant. Combined with his deliberate refinement, his use of the language and sentence structures of poetry and ci, and his subtle and concise expression, his works became elegant and reserved, making him the master of the elegant school and gaining many admirers in the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, his style was not singular. Quick and light, sorrowful and tragic, and robust and unrestrained—all could be found in his qu. But in the end, it all returned to elegance, and the "garlic sauce flavor" of early sanqu (especially folk creations) gradually faded. Zhang Kejiu's appeal to later generations naturally stemmed from his difficult official career and the numerous scholars' and melancholic flavors in his works. Qiao Mengfu's situation was similar, perhaps even more down-and-out; thus, in his qu, there were many works on carefree mountain and water, as well as some works on brothels and taverns, and he also vented his frustrations at times. If Zhang Xiaoshan is close to Jiang Bai in ci, then Qiao Mengfu is like Liu Qiqing in ci. Qiao Ji's artistry was not as meticulously refined as Zhang Kejiu's, with occasional "out-of-the-ordinary" colloquialisms, blending elegance and vulgarity, which might be related to his dual career as a zaju writer.
The Yuan Dynasty qu scene remained diverse in the later period. In terms of unrestrained and biting natural style, we can cite Qu Jingchen's [Ban She Diao · Shao Bian] Emperor Gao's Return to His Homeland, Liu Shi Zhong's [Zheng Gong · Duan Zheng Mai] On High Supervisor Si, Qian Lin's [Ban She Diao · Shao Bian] Watching Money, and Zhong Si Cheng's [Nan Le · One Branch Flower] Chou Zhai's Self-Introduction as representatives. Qu and Qian's works reached the peak of ridicule and humor, a development from Du Renjie's Zhuang Jia Bu Shi Lan and Ma Zhiyuan's Borrowing a Horse. Liu's work, a sprawling 34-tune set, showed a rare boldness that later writers lacked. Zhong's work exhausted his ability to describe, and Guan Hanqing's Unyielding to Old Age was even more extraordinary. Others like Xue Angfu, Guan Yunshi, Zha Deqing, and Liu Tingxin also belonged to this school. Xue and Guan were Uyghurs, and their achievements demonstrated that the prosperity of Yuan Dynasty sanqu was the result of the joint efforts of all ethnic groups. As for the elegant and refined school, there were more authors, such as Zheng Guangzu, Ren Yu, Zhou Deqing, Xu Zaishi, and Wu Xi Yi, who were among the best. Their contributions mainly lay in their more detailed and graceful depiction of landscapes and women's emotions.
Overall, Yuan Dynasty sanqu creation featured a large number of works on world-weariness and leisure, as well as love and grievances of women. This was because the authors, under ethnic oppression, had no power to resist and were unwilling to submit, so they sought spiritual escape in carefree mountain and water and in sound and color, looking for a way out in their spirits. This undoubtedly had strong elements of and self-narcosis, but it was also a reflection of the tragedy of the times. We should see through the surface phenomena to the blood and tears and struggles beneath.
III. Ming Dynasty Sanqu
After experiencing its flourishing period in the Yuan Dynasty, sanqu continued to develop in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the longer duration of the Ming Dynasty's rule, the number of writers and works exceeded those of the Yuan Dynasty, each with its own characteristics in content and form. The development of Ming Dynasty sanqu was basically the same as other literary forms, only becoming prosperous after the middle period. After Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, he strengthened feudal autocracy and ideological and cultural control. After the Yongle era, the Eastern and Western factories and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were established to strictly control the people and carry out large-scale executions of meritorious officials, while also constantly launching literary inquisitions. On the other hand, he opened the imperial examinations widely, setting eight-legged essays as the examination subject, with exams focusing solely on the Four Books and Five Classics, and only allowing interpretation based on Zhu Xi's annotations. As a result, intellectuals had an outlet in politics but were constrained in thought by Neo-Confucianism, and, fearing the severity of autocratic rule, they acted cautiously. Therefore, there was little achievement in literature. In the early Ming Dynasty, for several decades, apart from a few writers who entered the Ming Dynasty from the Yuan Dynasty, such as Wang Yuanheng and Tang Shi, who continued to sing tunes of world-weariness, only the mediocre works of Prince Zhu Youdun on admiring flowers, viewing landscapes, and indulging in romance occupied the qu scene. During the Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, and Longqing periods, urban industry and commerce developed, but social contradictions deepened: land consolidation intensified in the countryside, and floods and droughts occurred frequently; the emperor was foolish and tyrannical, eunuchs seized power and dominated politics, and ministers engaged in mutual strife; the people voiced resistance, and the ruling class itself also became divided. This situation was reflected in sanqu creation, with the emergence of a large number of writers and many works with social significance. Kang Hai, Wang Jiensi, Li Kaixian, and Chang Lun followed Guan and Ma, writing with unrestrained and unrestrained language about world-weariness and leisure, occasionally revealing dissatisfaction with the darkness of the officialdom and the treachery of human nature behind the and enjoyment of seclusion. Zhu Zhishan, Tang Yin, Wang Pan, Yang Shen, Huang E, Jin Lan, and Shen Shi, on the other hand, followed Qiao and Zhang, using a more graceful and subtle brushstroke to write about the elegance of women or landscapes. Their best works often moved people deeply, providing aesthetic enjoyment, but their shortcomings were their weakness and triviality. There are a few writers worth special mention: Chen Duo, Feng Weimin, and Xue Lunda. Chen Duo was always regarded as a master of the elegant school, and since he mostly wrote southern qu on the theme of women's emotions, this was certainly the case. However, he also had a volume Slippery Resonance, taking material from all kinds of urban life, including artisans, laborers, merchants, shopkeepers, fortune-tellers, shamans, midwives, matchmakers, jailers, bugle callers, village officials, and constables. The form was colloquial and simple, using all urban colloquialisms, with a witty and humorous flavor that was even more straightforward than Wang Heqing and Zhang Ming Shan of the Yuan Dynasty. This may have been adapted from popular urban qu, reflecting his concern for folk life and songs. These 130-plus works greatly expanded the scope of sanqu material, but unfortunately, few successors emerged. Feng Weimin was more concerned about rural life than Chen Duo, and in Ha Huo Shan Tang Ci Gao reflected the suffering of farmers during years of frequent floods and droughts, struggling on the brink of death. Works like Cutting Wheat with Sorrow, Sensing the with Sorrow, and those with titles like "Bitter Rain" and "Bitter Wind" are all excellent examples. He was always regarded as a master of the unrestrained school and even hailed as the "Xin Qiji of qu." Indeed, his works are numerous and cover a wide range of themes, exposing many social evils and the ugliness of officialdom, with a style that is vigorous, straightforward, and unrestrained, fully carrying forward the fine traditions of the Yuan Dynasty. Xue Lunda was rarely noticed, and almost no Yuan Dynasty qu selections or qu theories mentioned him, perhaps because of the many critiques of feudal society in his qu and the long-forgotten Shi Yi Xing. His sanqu themes had a notable feature: he wrote a lot about the scenery of the northern frontier and military life. The works under titles such as Immediate Matters on the Frontier, Autumn Conditions in the Border Town, Battlefield, Veteran, and Sending Clothes to the Front revealed the heroic ambition of soldiers for national glory, the homesickness of those who had served a long time away from home, and the vast and desolate atmosphere of the frontier. These works had a style that was heroic and desolate, with a flavor reminiscent of Tang Dynasty frontier poems. His other works were also vigorous and forceful, widely criticizing the inequalities in society. These individuals' works showed that sanqu had broken through the traditional scope of themes and ideas by the time they came along, and their art had also differed greatly from the mechanical imitation of Yuan Dynasty styles found in early Ming works.
Southern qu began to rise in the early Ming Dynasty but did not become dominant until before the Jiajing and Longqing periods. During the Jiajing and Longqing years, Kunqu flourished, and Liang Chenyi followed the after him, creating works in both qu and zaju. His Jiang Dong Bai Zha play, performed with Kunqu, made southern qu extremely popular, and northern qu declined rapidly. At this time, the southeastern region saw the emergence of capitalism and prosperous urban economies, with most qu writers concentrated in this area. Due to the stimulation of urban material life and the gradual decline of the ruling class, they were somewhat influenced by the trend of indulging in sound and color, and many had song girls or frequently visited brothels, so most of their works favored using exquisite and delicate language to write about lingering and exquisite love. Liang Chenyi's Jiang Dong Bai Zha and Shen Shi's Slobbering Silk of the previous period can be said to represent this trend. They pioneered the "Bai Zha school" and "Qing Men body," which became popular for a time. Shen Jing, although emphasizing naturalness,，。The trend of， led to the large-scale emergence of works using (linked sets), (transformation)， and (score).，，，，。，、，、、、、。，。