Tang and Song Ci: A New Reading

Author: Yang Liu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: In this book, you can read the "Kuihua Treasure Manual" of Tang-Song Ci without barriers: the history of Ci, its representative figures and schools, their masterpieces, the expressive methods and artistic techniques of Ci, appreciation of classic poems, explanations of Ci terminology, and brief biographies of Ci poets. The text is light, fashionable, and full of wit. Reading Song Ci is like appreciating a classical beauty—less tedious, more enjoyable. Additionally, the "tip" sections scattered throughout the book provide abundant knowledge of Ci and anecdotes from the Ci world, making you feel like a "master of Song Ci." Reading this book, you will discover that the shadows of Song Ci always linger behind many contemporary pop songs. This book can also serve as a supplementary reader for the "Poetry Appreciation" section of the college entrance examination Chinese curriculum: annotations, anecdotes, brief analyses, and modern reading forums—providing a comprehensive interpretation from language to artistic conception, expressive techniques, themes, and authorial perspectives. As a rare bloom in the garden of classical literature, Tang-Song Ci has influenced the hearts and aesthetics of generations of Chinese people. In the postmodern era, parodying Song Ci has become fashionable. Reading the funny "new Ci" on the internet and smartphones, you can't help but smile—do you also want to give it a try? But what is Ci? How is it generated, developed, and spread? In the history of Tang-Song Ci, who were the epoch-making figures and schools? What were their emotional journeys? What are the artistic characteristics of Ci? How is it written and appreciated? What stories lie behind those familiar Ci poems and lines that seem familiar? How did the ancients and contemporary experts in Ci evaluate them? What influence does Tang-Song Ci have on today's pop songs? What insights does it offer for modern life? Yang Liu's New Reading of Tang-Song Ci helps answer all your questions and guides you to appreciate the beauty and charm of Tang-Song Ci.
1. "The Ancestor of the Huajian Collection" — Wen Tingyun
Wen Tingyun, the opening poet of the Huajian Collection, contributed 66 selected works. According to the Old Book of the Tang Dynasty and other records, Wen Tingyun was unattractive and unkempt but possessed sharp wit, able to compose eight lines in eight syllables with a single gesture, earning him the nickname "Wen Baicha." His career in officialdom was not smooth, and he often frequented brothels, composing "ladylike" Ci to the tunes of string instruments, which led to him being labeled as an "unconventional" scholar. Yet he took no shame in it and became a dedicated Ci poet in history. The he wrote, which shocked traditional scholars, became wildly popular. Wen Tingyun was undeniably the "ancestor of the Huajian," and the late Tang Ci world thus bloomed with a captivating spring fragrance.
Wen Tingyun's representative works include the 14 "Pusazhuan," with the first one being the opening piece of the Huajian Collection:
"Golden light flickers behind the layered screens, / Dark clouds of hair almost brush the snow-white cheeks. / Lazily rising, she paints her eyebrows, / Adorned with cosmetics, her grooming is slow. / Mirrors before and behind reflect her face, / Flowers and beauty mirror each other. / A new embroidered silk robe, / Pairs of golden pheasants."
This Ci depicts a lazy and charming woman's morning grooming, with vivid and delicate brushwork. The golden morning sun shines on the gilded screens, contrasting the dark clouds of her hair with the snow-white cheeks. In the mirror, flowers and her face reflect each other, and the beautiful embroidered silk robe adorned with golden pheasants—all are basic elements of Tang Dynasty court ladies' paintings, with bright colors, intricate patterns, exquisite images, and rich sensory appeal. The details of the beauty's "lazy rise" and "cosmetic play," as well as the concluding "pairs of golden pheasants," subtly reveal her inner loneliness and solitude, expressed in an implicit and winding manner. The style is and soft, with dense and overlapping imagery. The rhyme shifts every two lines, either in level or oblique tones, creating a lingering rhythm. Interestingly, this purely descriptive, due to the rich semantics embedded in phrases like "eyebrows," "reflecting flowers," and "embroidered silk robe," was interpreted by the Qing Dynasty Ci critic Zhang Huian as: "This reflects the sorrow of a scholar who fails to meet with favor, with a structure similar to the Longmen Fu." "The four lines of 'reflecting flowers,' " Zhang Huian further noted, "contain the idea of the Sishuo's initial attire." (Selected Ci)
Regarding this view that Ci should convey meaning beyond the words, emphasizing metaphor and allusion, Wang Guowei harshly criticized: "How rigid, Guo Wen (Zhang Huian)! The Pusazhuan by Fei Qing, the Dieliehua by Yongshu, and the Bishanshu by Zizhan are all spontaneous works—what hidden meaning could they have? They were deeply twisted and fabricated by Guo Wen." (Words on Ci)
This Ci represents the main characteristics of Wen Tingyun's works: narrow themes, almost exclusively "ladylike" subjects—love or separation; filled with words like jade hairpins, green hair combs, eyebrows, and yellow blossoms, directly appealing to the senses; often depicting women's physiques, attire, and external behaviors as objective objects of male gaze; the protagonists are usually confined in deep, narrow courtyards, singing exquisite and exquisite laments; primarily relying on implication to create a subtle and reserved aesthetic effect; the style is and delicate, dense and elusive. However, Wen's style is not monolithic. There are grand descriptions, such as "Willows on the river rise like smoke, / Wild geese fly across the sky under the waning moon" (Pusazhuan, No. 2); and some fresh and bright works, like "Dream of the South River": "After grooming, she leans alone on the river pavilion. / All the sails that pass are not hers, / The slanting sunset lingers, the water flows slowly. / Heartbroken at Baizhou." And the famous line in the eleventh "Pusazhuan": "After the rain, the slanting sun, / Apricot blossoms fall, fragrance lingers." The slanting sun after the rain, with falling apricot blossoms, creates a melancholic yet image,ing the woman's full of sorrow. A single word "yet" separates the originally close images. For example, "Shuiyuezi": "Jade stove scents, red candle drips, / Partially illuminating the autumnal thoughts in the painted hall. / Thin eyebrows, scattered clouds, / Long night, cold bedding." The second stanza is a brilliant and flowing description of sorrow, widely praised throughout history. Night rain and the tree, just dripping drop by drop, unknowingly touch the sorrow of the separated lovers in the autumn courtyard. She listens to the sound of raindrops alone, turning the night to dawn. "Night rain" and " tree" create a dense sorrow, with a light and flowing mood, as vast as the sea of mist. Reading these three lines in one breath, their phonetic beauty is like raindrops falling on the lips and heart. Qing Dynasty critic Tan Xian analyzed: "The second stanza seems straightforward, yet it perfectly expresses the 'long night,' following the principle of 'no downward stroke without upward compression' in calligraphy." If you read the first and second stanzas together, the Ci expresses longing—dense in the first stanza, sparse in the second, creating a perfect contrast.
With his abundant talent, Wen Tingyun established the form and style of Ci, writing the most song-friendly works. Amid the shifting tides of the era, Wen's Ci shone brilliantly, inspiring later generations to imitate it, leaving a profound impact. The author's "On Wen Tingyun's Ci": "Beauty reflects flowers before and behind mirrors, / Solitary in the deep courtyard, shadows vanish. / The ancestor of the Huajian—what does he resemble? / A lonely bamboo in the courtyard, graceful and slender."