Wu Xiong and the Collected Essays on Word Studies

Author: Wu Xionghe
Publisher: Zhejiang University Press
Publication Date: 2002-06-01
Features: The second visit to Goryeo was in the eleventh year of King Huijong of Goryeo (1115, the fifth year of the Zhenghe era of Song): On the day of Wuchen in the sixth month of King Huijong's eleventh year, Wang Zizhi returned from Song, and Emperor Huizong decreed: "Since the Three Dynasties, rituals have declined and music has been destroyed. If I study the past, I will elucidate it. After a hundred years, it will rise, and thus the Great Sheng was created. A thousand years later, we. This harmonious music has led to the spread of feathers. The noble and correct sound has spread throughout the land. To pacify guests and please distant people. Far away, your land, represents the eastern sea. The decree is issued to the officials, and there are envoys in the court. In ancient times, the feudal lords, with their teachings of virtue and prosperity, were rewarded with music. They spread the Xuanlu, to create your blessings. To change customs and traditions, nothing is better than this. Go and fulfill your mission, governing the states. Although the borders are different and separated, they all achieve great harmony, isn't that beautiful! Now, the Great Sheng music is granted." That year, on the day of Gengyin in the sixth month, King Huijong held a banquet in the Huqing Palace, inviting the prime minister and court officials to watch the new music of the Great Sheng. On the day of Jimao in the eighth month, King Huijong issued an edict: "Now, the Emperor of Great Song has specially granted the music and martial dances of the Great Sheng. They should first be offered to the ancestral temples and then used for banquets." On the day of Wuchen in the tenth month, he personally reviewed the music of the Great Sheng in the Qiande Palace. On the day of Kuiyou, he personally performed the Great Sheng music in the Grand Temple. The transmission of the Great Sheng music to Goryeo included both literary and martial dances. In Liu Yao's "Book of the Great Sheng Music," the "Twelve Diagrams" include diagrams for both literary and martial dances. "The literary dance has nine movements, ending with hanging clothes and bowing hands, governing through inaction. The martial dance has nine movements, ending with laying down weapons and practicing arts."① It is estimated that at the beginning, the transmission was not precise, so by the seventh year of the Zhenghe era, it was required to "practice the teachings of pitch and rhythm." According to the "Music" of the "History of Goryeo," when the Great Sheng music was first granted, "the Song Dynasty only sent robes and musical instruments, and our dynasty did not know how to practice them. When the chief counselor Xu Wen went to Song, he privately practiced the dance rituals and taught them, but the rhythm and number of movements had no basis," which seems unreliable. Such musical exchanges could no longer be compared to the period of Xining and Fengbao, when music masters and were sent to Goryeo to teach for several years. In addition to the literary and martial dances of the Great Sheng, the "Music" of the "History of Goryeo" records Chinese songs and tunes from the Song Dynasty, such as Zhao Qi's "Feeling the Imperial Grace," Li Jia's "Empress's Terrace Spring," and Chao Duanli's "River Yellow Clear Slow," all composed during the reign of Emperor Huizong and likely transmitted around the same time as the Great Sheng music. Chao Duanli was appointed as an associate music director of the Great Sheng Bureau in the third year of the Zhenghe era (1113) but died before taking the position. His "River Yellow Clear Slow" was one of the tunes in the Zhengzhao and Juezhao modes of the Great Sheng Bureau. This is the only tune from the Great Sheng Bureau that can be confirmed in the "Music" of the "History of Goryeo." Chen Zhensun's "Shizhai Shulu Jiedie" in volume 18 records Sun Ke's "Hongqing Collection" in 42 volumes, with a note saying: "A graduate of the third year of the Daguan era, a poet in the fourth year of the Zhenghe era. His 'Letter of Thanks for the Grant of Banquet Music from Goryeo' is widely praised." Sun Ke's "Letter of Thanks for the Grant of Banquet Music from Goryeo" is not included in any of the various editions of the "Hongqing Jushi Collection" in circulation. It is now found in the "Supplementary Collection of the Hongqing Jushi" compiled by Miao Quansun ("Post-Series of the Post-Compilation of the Predecessors of Changzhou"), which states: "From the treasures of the Great Sheng, to the splendor of Korea. The transformation of Douli, the joy of mercy. Vastly, it is nameless, though the beauty of the palace walls is unseen; joyfully, there is joy, and all hear the sound of pipes and flutes." This refers to the new music of the Great Sheng granted by Song. The two decrees of Emperor Huizong of Song and Sun Ke's "Letter of Thanks for the Grant of Banquet Music from Goryeo" are rarely cited, and this article specially mentions them. The above is the general process of musical and lyrical exchanges between Northern Song and Goryeo. This exchange flourished during the Xining and Fengbao eras, temporarily during the Yuanyou era, and again became prosperous after the Chongning and Daguan eras. The time of transmission of the Song Dynasty's songs and tunes to Goryeo recorded in the "Music" of the "History of Goryeo" matches the above process.