Chinese Poetics: Implied Meaning and

Its Conceptualization

Lian Duan(Comparative Literature: East and West, Vol. 12, 2010)

1

This essay aims to explore a classical Chinese poetic

notion yiqu 意 意 (meaning, theme)1 proposed in the critical

treatise Ciyuan 意意 (Fount of the Song Lyric) by the late Southern

Song lyric writer and poetic critic Zhang Yan 意 意 (1248-

1320?).

In Ciyuan Zhang Yan discussed the importance of yiqu and

used some song lyrics to illustrate what yiqu refers to and

how to imply yiqu in composing song lyrics.2 According to

Zhang Yan, it is important to conceptualize and imply a yiqu

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in the process of writing a song lyric, and it is equally

important as well to contemplate the ways in which the yiqu

is implied in a song lyric.

Yiqu is the topic and title of the seventh passage in

Zhang Yan's Ciyuan. In it Zhang Yan wrote:

Yiqu is essential to the song lyric. [A lyric

writer] should not imitate the meaning in the language

of the earlier lyric writers.3 意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意，。

In this passage, Zhang Yan's notion of yiqu has two

correlated connotations: the yi 意 in the whole of a song

lyric and the yi in individual lyric lines. The former is

more thematic and the latter is more semantic; the former is

based on the latter and the latter embodies the former. No

matter in what sense, the thematic or semantic, the key of

yiqu is yi.

A literal definition of yi can be found in Xu Shen's 意意

Shuowen jiezi 意意意意: "yi, zhi ye 意意意" (yi is intent, yi is will); his

exemplification is: "from investigating the words [one can]

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learn the intention 意意意意意意."4 Duan Yucai 意意意 interprets Xu

Shen that "yi ji shi 意意意" (yi is to know, yi is knowledge, yi is

will),5 and further explains: "xin suo shi ye 意意意意" (yi means to

know by heart).6 In a literal sense, yi connotes intent and

intention.

As for qu 意, Xu Shen defines "qu, ji ye 意意意," refers to a

fast movement towards a certain direction. Duan Yucai

interprets that the intended direction extends the

connotation of qu to the meaning of "interest," because

people move towards the direction of their personal

interest.7 Thus, the literal connotation of qu is related to

that of yi; it implies direction, intention, and interest.

Related to this topic, Jonathan Chaves conducted a

suggestive study on the meaning of qu. According to his

research into the Gong'an School8 in the 16th-century Chinese

poetic scene, qu is

[T]he ineffable essence at the heart of things,

and even partakes of a spiritual quality. It is also a

quality in the mind or soul of one who perceives ch'u

[qu] in the outer world, in keeping with the dualistic

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function of many Chinese critical terms, i.e. their

applicability both to some quality in the world and to

the quality in the mind of the perceiver.9

Although the qu Chaves discussed is one from a much later

poet and critic Yuan Hongdao 意意意 (1568-1610), he grasped the

essential nature of it, the duality, which reveals its

relation to idea and intention of a poet, and the relation

to the poetic world created by the poet in his or her work.

No doubt, due to the historical difference, the qu of the

Gong'an School is not the same qu of Zhang Yan; however, it

can also provide us with a clue to understand Zhang Yan's qu

from a historical angle. To the Gong'an poets and critics,

qu sometimes refers to pleasure or interest in a

conventional sense, sometimes refers to style, and sometimes

to "the essence of an experience or of a work of art,"10

whereas Zhang Yan emphasized the yi that is embodied in and

also modifies the qu. Nevertheless, the essence of their qu

is no difference: the interest or intended meaning.

2

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In traditional Chinese poetics, there are a few terms

containing qu, such as qingqu 意 意 (interest of feeling,

interest of passion), liqu 意意 (interest of reason), yequ 意意

(interest of wilderness, interest of nature), zhenqu 意 意

(interest of sincerity, interest of truth), and so forth.11

A combination of yi and qu, Zhang Yan's notion of yiqu

indicates an intended meaning or thematic idea in a song

lyric, which is implied through the semantic meanings in

lyric lines. According to Zhang Yan, the uniqueness of the

thematic and semantic meanings distinguishes the lyric and

its writer from other lyrics and other lyric writers.12

In the passage on yiqu, Zhang Yan singled out some

works by renowned lyric writers to exemplify such

uniqueness. Among those works are Su Shi's song lyrics

written to the tunes "Shuidiao getou 意 意 意 意 ," subtitled "Mid-

Autumn 意意" and "Dongxian ge 意意意," subtitled "Summer Night 意夏,"

Wang Anshi's song lyric written to the tune "Guizhi xiang 意意意,"

subtitled "Jinling 意意," and Jiang Kui's song lyrics written to

the tunes "Anxiang 意 意 " and "Shuying 意 意 ," on plum blossoms.

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After citing these song lyrics, Zhang Yan voiced his

opinion:

Speaking of these song lyrics, in qingkong, there

is yiqu. Those who do not have such writing ability

cannot reach the point [of yiqu].13

意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意，。

Qingkong contains yiqu; in the terminology of Zhang Yan, the

specific yiqu is varied from one song lyric to another; it

can be different themes and different expressions of

feelings and thoughts. For instance, in some of Jiang Kui's

song lyrics, his yiqu is specified as to express his

sorrowful feelings about personal matters, such as his lost

love, and in some of his other song lyrics yiqu is tied with

his thoughts about the past, such as the fall of the

Northern Song.

In the above sense, since the intended yiqu is conveyed

implicitly in a song lyric, it is relevant to the western

poetic notion of allegory, and the relevance can help my

exploration of yiqu. A poetic term in the western literary

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tradition, allegory refers to a rhetorical and thematic

device that represents one thing for another; for instance,

represents an object in a poem to imply a meaning outside of

the poem. Scholars have debated the comparability between

the notions of western allegory and Chinese allegory.14 A

scholar argued, "the presuppositions of Chinese

1 Neither "meaning" nor "theme" is an accuratetranslation of yiqu, they are used here to tentativelysuggest the possible connotations of the Chinese poeticnotion. Since there is no English equivalent of yiqu and noexisting translation in English to adopt, I usetransliteration to maintain its connotative nuance inoriginal Chinese.

2 Tang Guizhang Cihua congbian (Beijing: Zhonghuashuju, 1996). Vo..1 pp. 260-261. (CHCB 1, thereafter).

3 Ibid., p.260.4 Xu Shen and Duan Yucai.Shuowen jiezi (1981), p. 502.5 The Chinese word shi is polyphonous and polysemous;

it is also pronounced zhi, and connotes knowledge and willrespectively.

6 Xu Shen and Duan Yucai, p. 502.7 Ibid., p. 63.8 A group of poets in the late Ming (1368-1644)

period, based in Gong'an, Hubei province.9 Jonathan Chaves, "The Panoply of Images: A

Reconsideration of the Literary Theory of the Kung-anSchool," in Theories of the Arts in China, eds. Susan Bush andChristian Murck (1983), p. 345.

10 Ibid., p. 346.11 Zhang Hu, Zhongguo meixue fanchou yu chuantong wenhua

(Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 1996), p. 303.12 CHCB 1. 260.13 CHCB 1. 261.

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'allegorists' do not just differ from those of European

writers but are incompatible with them."15 However, some

scholars hold different views, as Haun Saussy stated, "The

task of defining allegory (a particularly volatile term) in

a flexible enough way that talk of its regional variants

makes sense has become a touchstone for the issue of the

cultural specificity of literary or rhetorical genres."16

The western notion of allegory is applicable to the study of

Chinese poetry and poetics, especially applicable to the

study of yongwu ci, the song lyrics describing and

representing objects not only objectively but also

subjectively. Indeed, as Grace Fong put it, the term

allegory is applicable to Chinese poetics when one stresses

its indication to a double meaning, the surface and the

hidden meanings, in a song lyric.17 In other words, an

allegorical interpretation of a song lyric lays emphasis on

the intended meaning of the lyric writer. In fact, as Fong

pointed out, allegorical reading was even exercised by

Southern Song scholars,18 and this was a continuation of the

traditional poetic hermeneutics since the Han scholars'

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interpretation of Shijing and Lisao 意 意 . In her historical

review of allegory, Fong discussed the influence of Qu

Yuan's 意意 (340? –278 BCE) Lisao on Chen Ziang's 意意意 (661-702)

regulated verse:

[T]he flower so often emblematic in the "Li Sao"

[Lisao] stands as a symbol of high-minded men whose

virtues and talents go unrecognized. As Chen Ziang's

use of "Li Sao" symbolism suggests, the allegorical

mode was by no means new in the Chinese poetic

tradition, nor was it without precedent in the yongwu

subgenre.19

On the one hand, allegorization has a long history in

Chinese poetic tradition, and on the other, Chinese poets

14 The so-called Chinese allegory refers to thetraditional poetic term jituo. In order to avoid any possibleconfusion, I will not use the Chinese term in my discussionof yiqu and the western notion of allegory.

15 See Haun Saussy, The Problem of A Chinese Aesthetic(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), p. 17. Saussyopposes this view.

16 Ibid., p. 17.17 Grace Fong, "Contextualization and Generic Codes in

the Allegorical Reading of Tz'u Poetry," Tamkang Review 19(1988), p. 663.

18 Ibid., p. 669.19 Fong (1987), p. 83.

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are traditionally in favor of infusing political message and

personal sentiment in poems through allegory. Fong also

traced allegorization back to Confucianism and the ideology

of shi yan zhi 意 意 意 (poetry expresses intent).20 Based on the

teaching of Shidaxu 意意意 (Great Preface to Shijing), she considered

that intent referred to both thoughts and feelings expressed

or embedded in yongwu ci song lyrics.21 Discuss Su Shi's

contribution to the development of the allegorical yongwu ci,

Fong emphasized the importance of subjective voice in the

yongwu ci song lyrics. In a yongwu ci song lyric the object

functions like a vehicle that contains and helps to express

the lyric writer's intent. On this issue, Fong offered her

views: "if the descriptive process itself could serve to

articulate the author's serious thoughts and emotions, thus

creating an extra-literal or metaphorical dimension, the

resultant composition would serve to 'express intent'."22

The thoughts and emotions infused subjectively in song

20 Ibid..21 Ibid..22 Ibid., p. 84.

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lyrics suggest allegory and allegorization. Fong remarked on

some lyric writers and their works:

[T]heir most representative yongwu pieces show an

unmistakable tendency towards extreme subjectivity. The

object merely provides a tenuous thread on which the

poet strings together glimpses of past memories,

elusive thoughts, and subtle emotions through a partly

formal (i.e., object-oriented) and partly personal

(i.e., self-oriented) associative process.23

The purpose of allegorization is to objectify the lyric

writers' subjective intent. This is a key to the process of

conceptualization in composing a song lyric. In regard with

Zhang Yan's poetics, yiqu is generated from a specific

intent of a lyric writer, who allegorizes his or her intent

and implies it in the song lyric with describing an object.

On the same topic, Zhang Yan's contemporary scholar and

essayist Wang Zhuo 意 意 (active ca. 1145-63)24 discussed the

relationship between intent and the song lyric from the

23 Ibid., pp. 90-91.24 Wang Zhuo, dates unknown, his Biji manzhi is written

between 1145 and 1149.

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perspective of the origin of the lyric genre in the

beginning of the first juan in his Biji manzhi 意 意 意 意 . Wang

wrote:

One asks about the origin of songs, the answer is

that: when heaven and earth were divided, man was born

in between. Every man has a heart/mind, from where

songs are originated. Shundian states: "The Poem (shi)

articulates what is on the mind intently (zhi); song

makes language (yan) last long ……". Shixu states: "In

the mind (xin) it is 'being intended' (zhi); coming out

in language (yan), it is a poem." Yueji states: "poetry

tells intentions, song sings the words,……" Therefore,

where there is heart/mind there is poetry, and where

there is poetry there are songs…….25

意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意，：，，，。： "意意意 意意意意，， ……"意意

意意意意"意意意意 意意意意意，， ……" 意意意意意《》 "意意意意 意意意意意，， ……"意意意意意意 意意意意意意，。

Wang Zhuo is the first critic in Chinese literary history to

adopt the concept of shi yan zhi in discussing the song lyric.

It seemed to him that "what is on the mind intently" and

25 Wang Zhuo, Biji manzhi, in CHCB 1. 73. Also see anannotated version in Chen Yingjie (2000), p. 6. Thetranslations of the quotations from Shundian and Shixu aretaken from Stephen Owen (1992), p. 26 and p. 40, with minormodifications on the pinyin romanization.

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"being intended" are important to poetry as well as to the

song lyric. As for the intention or what is intended, Wang

Zhuo did not specify it as a particular personal feeling or

thought; he left it more general for various interpretations

in different contexts. In today's literary terminology in

the West, the issue that Wang clarified is similar to the

issue of intentionality, which refers to the purpose or goal

of a poet. In a work of poetry, intentionality is related to

the poet's intended purpose or thematic idea. Although the

20th-century formalists, particularly the American New

Critics, did not accept the notion of poetic intention, and

even labeled it an "intentional fallacy,"26 the

deconstructionists, such as Paul de Man, emphasized the

importance of an intentional object in a literary work;

hence, the literary work itself becomes an intentional

object.27 The Qing scholar Chen Tingzhuo regarded intended

thematic idea as being the most important in the song lyric.

In Baiyuzhai cihua, he emphasized "intent is before pen 意意意意,"28

meaning that the intended thematic idea should be

contemplated before one sets his or her pen onto the paper

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to compose a song lyric. Emphasizing intent, Jiang Kui 意意, a

Southern Song poet and lyric writer, also contributed an

insightful opinion in his Baishi daoren shishuo 意 意 意 意 意 意 by

discussing first the intent embedded in the poetic world,

and then he stated:

The stylistic level of the yige29 should be high.

…… [To compose a poem, one should] start with setting

the yige and complete it with polishing the lines and

words. The meaning in the verse should be profound and

distant, and the tone of the verse should be pure,

archaic and harmonious.30

意意意意…… 意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意 意意意意意 意意意 意意意。，。、，、、。

26 W.K. Wimsatt and M.C. Beardsley "The IntentionalFallacy," in William K. Wimsatt, Verbal Icon (Lexington:University of Kentucky Press, 1954), p. 4

27 According to Husserlian phenomenological literarytheory and the contemporary reader-response theory, a poeticwork contains an intentional object, and the reading processis an intentional act towards the interpretation of theimplied meaning hidden in a poetic work. Paul de Mandiscussed the issue of intentional object, see Paul de Man(1983), pp. 20-26.

28 CHCB 4. 3777, also see Chen Yinjie (2000), p. 315.29 Yige refers to the level of intent. According to

Jiang Kui, in poetry, the higher the intent, the better thepoem.

30 Jiang Kui, Baishidaoren shishuo in SHCK, p. 524.

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Although this is a commentary on shi 意 poetry, as a Qing

scholar Xie Zhangting 意意意 (1820-1888) remarked in his Duqi

shanzhuang cihua 意意意意意意, it could be applied to the song lyric

as well.31 On the topic of yige, Jiang Kui focused on the

intended and implied yi and brought about another important

notion, si 意 (thinking, contemplating, conceptualizing). He

commented: "composing without thinking, even one composed

many, so what 意意意意 意意意意意， ?"32 He thus set four high standards

for composing shi poetry:

There are four types of ingeniousness in shi

poetry: the first type is called the ingeniousness of li

(truth, reason), the second type is called

ingeniousness of yi (idea, theme, meaning), the third

type is called ingeniousness of xiang (thinking,

thoughts) and the fourth type is called ingeniousness

of ziran (naturalness).33

意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意，一，，，。

31 In his Duqi shangzhuang cihua, Xie Zhangting wrote,"Speaking of Jiang Kui's commentaries on shi poetry, some ofthe entries can be regarded as commentaries on the songlyric as well." CHCB 4. 3478.

32 SHCK, p. 521.33 Ibid., p. 525.

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Although the ingeniousness was categorized into four types,

they all refer to an intended goal: the li, yi, and xiang can

be presented as a specific theme in a poem, while the ziran

can be presented as a specific theme as well, and can also

be regarded as the way in which the theme is objectified.

In Ciyuan, Zhang Yan emphasized the uniqueness of yiqu

and considered it being important to the poetic concept of

qingkong. In this regard he included Yang Zuan's Zuoci wuyao 意

意 意 意 (Five Important Points Regarding Composing Song Lyrics) in his

Ciyuan as an appendix. The fifth point of Yang Zuan is "[to

compose song lyrics] new ideas should be formed 意意意意."34 To

form a new idea is to conceptualize a unique intended

meaning before one starts to compose a song lyric. Yang Zuan

explained that a lyric writer should express the ideas that

have not been expressed by other lyric writers, or, should

change the ideas of the earlier lyric writers and make them

new ones.35 Yang Zuan's opinion about expressing new idea

predicted Zhang Yan's opinion about the uniqueness of yiqu.36

As mentioned, there are two emphases on the notion of yiqu:

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the semantic meaning in a single lyric line, which is what

the term "yuyi" 意意 is about, and the thematic meaning in the

whole composition of a song lyric. In the first case, when

Zhang Yan discussed writing shouci 意 意 (song lyrics

celebrating a senior's birthday) in the passage of

miscellaneous comments, he advocated the opinion of yuyi xinqi

意意意意 (new and novel semantic meanings);37 while in the second

case, he advocated the notion of mingyi 意 意

(conceptualization, contemplating the theme) for the whole

composition of a song lyric,38 which is to conceptualize an

intended meaning.

3

The semantic meaning and thematic meaning in a song

lyric are inseparable, the former supports the latter and34 CHCB 1. 268.35 Ibid..36 In the "Introduction" to his Ciyuan, Zhang Yan

stated that Yang Zuan's discussions of the song lyricinfluenced his poetics. Although Zhang Yan mentioned YangZuan's discussions of music only, to the specific poeticgenre of the song lyric, music is not separated from thewriting of the lyric. See CHCB 1. 255, 267-8.

37 CHCB 1. 266.38 CHCB 1. 258.

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the latter comes from the former. Such a relationship makes

it possible for us to analyze a song lyric from lines to the

whole and also from the context of the whole to interpret

the individual lines, and thus reach a possible full

understanding of the song lyric. In order to elaborate Zhang

Yan's notion of yiqu, by comparing with Anxiang 意 意 and

referring to the research done by other scholars, I now

discuss Jiang Kui's song lyric Shuying 意 意 , which is the

second in the pair of song lyrics on plum blossoms.

Mossy branches decked with jade;/ Tiny, tiny

bluebirds / Roost on them together./ When wandering we

meet ----/ By the corner of the fence in the dusk,/

Without a word she leans on slender bamboos./

Unaccustomed to the remote barbarian sands,/ Zhaojun39

secretly longed for the Yangtze's climes./ Surely it is

her jade waistband / That returns on moonlit nights,/

Transformed into this blossom, so solitary.

The old palace tale still comes to mind:/ When

that beauty was asleep,/ One blossom fluttered to her39 Zhaojun, a concubine in the court of the Western

Han (206 BCE-25 AD). In the year of 33 BCE, the emperor ofthe Western Han married Zhaojun to a king of the Huns tomake a peace deal with the northern neighbor, or forpolitical and diplomatic purposes.

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black moth-eyebrows./ Don't be like the spring wind,/

Careless of beauty,/ But early prepare a gold chamber

for it./ If one lets all the petals drift with the

current,/ He shall resent hearing the sad tune for the

Jade Dragon./ If one waits till then to find the subtle

fragrance,/ It will have entered horizontal scroll over

the small window. 40

意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意 意意意意，，。，，。，。

意意意 意意意意意意意，。

意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意 意意意意意 意意意意 意意意意意 意，，。，，。一，，。

意意 意意意意意意意意意意意意，，。

Exploring the yiqu in this song lyric, a Chinese

scholar Wang Jisi 意意意 made an interesting point in his essay

on Jiang Kui.41 According to him, there are two intended

meanings implied in this pair of song lyrics Anxiang and

Shuying. The first is about Jiang Kui's lost love with pipa

courtesans in Hefei (Present-day Hefei, Anhui province),42

40 The English translation of this song lyric is takenfrom Lin (1978), p. 172.

41 Wang Jisi, "Baishi Anxiang Shuying ci xinshuo,"Wenxue yichan 1 (1993): 71-75.

42 Pipa, a traditional Chinese musical instrument.Jiang Kui's lovers are good at playing pipa. See XiaChengtao (1981A), p. 49, and pp. 269-282. For details of thelove story, and the debate and controversy involved, see XieTaofang, "Jiang Kui shiji kaobian" in Cixue 8 (1990), pp.130-135.

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which is remembered in these lines of Anxiang: "Tears freely

drop in front of the green wine pot; the red-calyxes are

speechless, disturbed by mutual thoughts" 意意意意 意意意意意意意， . Based on Jiang

Kui's own song lyrics and poems, another scholar Xia

Chengtao speculated that there are two sisters who played

pipa; Jiang Kui had love feelings towards the two sisters

and whenever he went to Hefei he always visited them.

However, when he went to Hefei the last time in 1191, the

two girls were gone and he had never seen them again; hence

he composed quite a few song lyrics and poems on plum

blossoms and willows to remember the sisters.43 Regarding

this intended meaning about Jiang Kui's love story, although

the subject matter and the topic of Anxiang are plum

blossoms, the allegory indicates the lovelorn affair, and

the plum blossom symbolizes the lyric writer's love and

lovers.

The second intended meaning is about Jiang Kui's

sadness for the fallen dynasty, the Northern Song, which is

referred to in these lines of Shuying: "Unaccustomed to the

43 See Xia Chengtao (1981A), p. 49, and pp. 269-282.

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remote barbarian sands, Zhaojun secretly longed for the

Yangtze's climes. Surely, it is her jade waistband, that

returns on moonlit nights, transformed into this blossom, so

solitary." Dealing with this intended meaning, Wang Jisi

suggested a comparison between a song lyric written to the

tune Yan'er mei 意意意 by the last emperor of the Northern Song,

Song Huizong 意意宋 (1082- 1135, reign 1100-1125), especially

the words and images of "barbarian sand," "Qiang pipe"44 and

"plum blossoms" of Song Huizong and the above-quoted four

lines of Jiang Kui, and then claimed that, because of the

referential connection between the two, the intended meaning

in Shuying was the sad feeling for the subjugation of the

Northern Song.45 Further, Wang Jisi called attention to the

allusion to Zhaojun who was good at playing the musical

instrument pipa, and this allusion reminds us that Jiang

Kui's lovers were also good at playing pipa. Zhaojun is a

concubine in the Western Han court. In the year of 33 BCE

Emperor Yuan Di 意意 (reign 48-32 BCE) married her to the king44 "Qiang" is a northern tribe of that time, the

present-day Qiang minority live in north-western Sichuanprovince.

45 Wang Jisi (1993), pp. 71-3.

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of Huns for a diplomatic and political purpose of easing the

tension between the Han court and the Huns. With regard to

the use of this allusion in Jiang Kui's song lyrics, two

respects should be noted: political and personal. In the

political respect, this allusion suggests the troubled

relationship between China and its northern neighbor in the

long history since the Han period (206 BCE-220), which

reminds us of the Jurchen incursions to Yangzhou. In the

personal respect, because of the marriage, Zhaojun left her

homeland for a strange barbarian place. This marriage

reminds us of the two pipa sisters who left Heifei before

Jiang Kui's last visit in 1191. Because of the mutual

reference to pipa, a play of allusion and allegory in this

pair of song lyrics is possible: Jiang Kui mingled his

personal feeling about a love affair with the fate of his

nation in the two song lyrics. Due to complexity of the

interwoven and interlocked reference, scholars have debated

whether or not the allegorical meaning in the two lyrics is

a mystery; some even claimed that the true meaning of the

two song lyrics could never be revealed clearly. Thus, how

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to clarify and explain the two mingled yiqu becomes an

important issue to Jiang Kui's readers.

Jiang Kui's life (1155-1221?) spanned the early-mid

Southern Song period; he composed song lyrics in the middle

of the dynasty. Historically, the mid-Southern Song was a

period in which the nation was highly prosperous in terms of

commercial and cultural life on the one hand, and started to

decline due to military weakness and the diplomatic troubles

with the northern neighbors on the other.46 Although the

Southern Song economy, technology and so forth were highly

developed at that time, due to the troublesome military

campaign against the northern invaders, the central

government experienced financial difficulties as well.47

According to research by Chinese scholars, Jiang Kui's well-

known early song lyric to the tune "Yangzhou man 意 意 意 " was

written in 1176 when he was in his early 20s,48 his last

song lyrics were written in 1207.49 During the thirty years,

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Jiang Kui witnessed both the brightness and darkness of the

Southern Song, witnessed the internal and external turmoil

his nation experienced. Such social turbulence had a strong

impact on his personal life and his writing of song lyrics.

Although some topics in his song lyrics are personal, they

still indirectly mirror the historical background of Jiang

Kui's time.50

Jiang Kui's love with the Hefei pipa courtesans was

situated in the historical and personal context that made

the love story comprehensible and meaningful. In the two

song lyrics, the love affair and the girls are related to

46 For more discussions of the historical background of the Southern Song, see Chapter Two of this study.

47 As for the issue of technology, military campaignand financial difficulty, see Ray Huang, China: A Macro History(Armonk, New York: An East Gate Book, M.E. Sharpe, Inc,1988), pp. 132-133.

48 According to Xia Chengtao, the song lyric Yangzhouman is Jiang Kui's first composition written when he was inhis early 20s. However, according to Xie Taofang, Yangzhouman was written when he was 17, and according to Liu Sifen,it was written when he was 22. See Xia (1981A), p. 1, XieTaofang (1990), pp. 126-138, and Liu Sifen (1982), p. 3.Whichever is the case, Jiang Kui stated in the preface tothis song lyric that it was written in 1176.

49 See Xia (1981A), p. 95.50 Sun Weicheng, "Jinsong renwu yu Jiang Kui

qirenqici," Wenxue yichan 2 (1999), pp. 46-54.

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the image of plum blossoms symbolically. In the Chinese

cultural tradition, the plum blossom, like the lotus, is a

conventional subject matter in poetry and painting,

symbolizing the lofty personality and dignity of one in

adverse circumstances, for the plum blossom is a winter

flower that endures severe cold and heavy snow. The symbolic

plum blossom is traditionally described as an ice-skinned

and jade-boned person, as well as an innocent virgin. Such

symbolization represents Jiang Kui's ideal personality. The

character of plum blossom in the two song lyrics reminds us

the immortal Zhuang Zi 意意 described in Free and Easy Wandering 意

意意:

On far off Guye Mountain, there is a feminine

spirit with flesh and bone like ice and snow, gentle

and sweet as a virgin. She does not eat the Five

Grains, but sips the breeze and the dew. She climbs the

highest clouds and drives a chariot drawn by the flying

dragons, wandering the Four Seas at her leisure. Her

spirit, when concentrated, keeps things from decaying

and brings crops to fruition.51

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意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意 意意意意 意意意意意意意意 意意意，，，。，。，，。

意意意意意意。

According to Sun Weicheng's generalization, this lofty

immortal possesses the ideal personality pursued by the

Chinese scholar-officials and literati for their personal

cultivation.52 Interestingly, a Southern Song scholar Chen

Yu 意意 (active ca. 1253)53 portrayed Jiang Kui in his Cangyi

huayu 意 意意一 in a similar way, which reminds us of Zhuang Zi's

description of the immortal:

Jiang Kui looks not to be strong enough to even

support his clothes, but his pen is so forceful that it

can hold a one hundred-hu54 cooking vessel. He is in

poverty but still feeds guests whenever he has a meal.

He has a good collection of books on art, history,

51 Zhuang Zi, Xiaoyaoyou, in Zhuang Zi jishi (Bejing:Zhonghua shuju, 1985), Vol. 1, p. 28. The Englishtranslation is taken from Sam Hanill and J.P. Seaton, TheEssential Chuang Tzu (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), pp. 4-5, withminor modifications on the pinyin romanization.

52 Sun Weicheng (1999), p. 47. Shi Shuangyuan alsodiscussed this issue and particularly discussed the Buddhistand Taoist influences on Jiang Kui and Zhang Yan, see ShiShuangyuan (1991), pp. 71-2.

53 Chen Yu, dates unknown, a Southern Song scholar,left behind a collection of works Cangyi huayu.

54 1 hu equals roughly 1.5 bushel.

194

literature and calligraphy. He is so lofty and carefree

that he looks just like the scholars of the periods of

Jin and Song.55 His intent [in poetry] plays its role

fully and his language is perfect. He does not

purposely make the intent be high and far, but it

naturally reaches high and far.56

意 意意意意意意意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意意意 意意意意，，一，，

意意 意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意宋，，。

Associated with the ideal personality, in Shuying, the

sad story of Jiang Kui's love affairs is the beginning of

the expression of his sorrow for the fallen dynasty, whereas

the sorrow for his nation brings the love story into full

play. Both the loss of his love and the loss of the Northern

Song provide Jiang Kui with a chance to show his lofty

dignity: the first loss is like a winter to Jiang Kui the

individual and the second loss is like a winter to Jiang Kui

standing for the Chinese intellectuals; the first gives

55 Jin (265-420) and Song (420-475) were two shortdynasties during the period of disintegration in Chinesehistory. Because of the social turmoil, many scholars andliterati of Jin and Song tried to escape from the real worldand live a Taoist life style. The Song period in thisquotation is not the Song dynasty of Jiang Kui and ZhangYan's time.

56 Siku quanshu, Chen Yu Cangyi huayu, juan xia, p. 2a, 2b.

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impact on a person, the second gives impact on people. In

this kind of winter, only plum blossom can stand the cold.

The plum blossom symbolizes Jiang Kui's enduring dignity in

adversity, and his lofty personality is infused in the

symbolism of the plum blossom. In the two song lyrics, the

allegory is implied in the plum blossom.

4

Compare the philosophical and religious implications of

the allegories in Western poetry, especially in the medieval

western poetry, generally speaking, the allegories in

Chinese poetry stress the historical and political

references; and correspondingly, the tradition of Chinese

hermeneutics was in favor of historical and political

interpretations. Although this is a general observation, it

is particularly true when applied to Jiang Kui and his song

lyrics. In terms of delivering political messages in song

lyrics, scholars in China do not consider Jiang Kui as an

outspoken political poet. Indeed, if we compare him with

some of his contemporaries, such as Xing Qiji and Lu You,

196

two Southern Song poets, we can see that Jiang Kui did not

make strong and direct comments on historical and political

issues.57 However, Jiang Kui's historical and political

sense is embodied in his works; this happened even at the

very beginning of his literary life.

Among those early song lyrics composed when he was

young is the one to the tune "Yangzhou man," in which he

blended his historical sensitivity with his political

attitude. A consideration of the intertextuality with

Yangzhou man can help us in further interpreting the

intended meanings that implied in Anxiang and Shuying. In a

general sense, intertextuality concerns the relationship

between texts. In contemporary literary criticism, it

concerns the relationship among the sign systems of

different literary works in particular. Although I do not

approach Jiang Kui's song lyrics in the fashion of

contemporary semiotics, I consider that, since Jiang Kui's

song lyrics are framed in the same background and framed in

the same personal and literary contexts, the intended57 For the discussion on this topic, see Tao Erffu and

Liu Jinban (1992), p. 262.

197

meaning in one song lyric can provide us with necessary

clues and suggestions in reading and interpreting another

relevant song lyric. Yangzhou man reads:

During the Chunxi reign period (1174-1189), I

passed through Yangzhou at the winter solstice of 1176.

The night snow began to clear up and the shepherd's

purse (capsella bursa pastoris) and wheat extended as far as

the eye could see. Entering the city walls, I saw ruin

and desolation on all sides. Cold water lay jade green.

Sunset colors slowly set in and the guard's horn sadly

moaned. My spirit was desolate; I sighed over past and

present. As a result, I composed this lyric song. The

Old Man of a Thousand Cliffs (i.e. Xiao Dezao) felt

that it has the sadness of the "Shu-li."

In this most famed city of the south of the Huai,/

At Bamboo-west Pavilion, a beautiful place,/ I unstrap

the saddle for a brief halt at the first stage./

Through ten miles in the spring wind,/ There is nothing

but green shepherd's purse and wheat./ Since Tartar

horses left from spying on the Yangtze,/ Abandoned

ponds and lofty trees / Still detest talk of warfare./

Gradually it becomes twilight,/ A clear horn blows out

of the cold,/ In the empty city.

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Du Mu, the eminent connoisseur,/ Were he to return

today, could not to be astonished./ Though his poem on

the cardamon was skillful / And his dream at blue

mansion was lovely,/ He would find it hard to express

these deep feelings./ His Twenty-Four Bridges still

exists,/ Waves stir at midstream – the cold moon makes

no sound./ I pity the peonies beside the bridge,/ For

whom do they grow year after year? 58

意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意意意意 意意意意 意意意

意意 意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意意，，，。，，。

意意意意意意意意意意。

意意意意 意意 意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意 意意，西，。，。，，。，

意意 意意意意意，。

意意意意 意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意意 意， 、 。 ， ， 。 ， 、 。 ，

意意意意意。

In the preface to this song lyric, the sentence "I

sighed over past and present" discloses the lyric writer's

intention, which comes from what he saw in the ruined city.

As the preface states, Jiang Kui's mentor and friend Xiao

Dezao 意意意 (active ca. 1147)59 even pointed out that, in this

58 The English translation of this song lyric is takenfrom Lin (1992), pp. 72-73, with minor modifications on thepinyin romanization.

59 Xiao Dezao, dates unknown, left behind a collectionof works Qianyan zegao.

199

song lyric, Jiang Kui's political sense and sad feeling over

historical change had much in common with the sadness in

Shuli 意 意 , a poem in Shijing, that expresses grief about the

poet's viewing the desolation of the abandoned Zhou (11th

century BCE-256 BCE) capital, Gaojing 意意.60 During the period

of You Wang 意意 (King You, reign 781-770 BCE) in the late 8th

century BCE, rebellions are erupted that eventually brought

Western Zhou to an end. In order to restore Zhou, Ping Wang

意 意 (King Ping, reign 770-719 BCE) moved the capital from

Gaojing in the west to Luoyi 意 意 in the east,61 and

established Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE) thereafter. Since the

move eastward, the old capital Gaojing left wasted. In Jiang

Kui's song lyric, the ruin of Yangzhou is comparable to the

wasted Gaojing. In 1130, four decades before Jiang Kui

composed Yangzhou man, the Jurchen army ravaged Yangzhou,

then, in 1162 and 1165 the Jurchens ravaged Yangzhou again.

As for the aftermath of the Jurchen invasions, according to

60 Gaojing is the last capital of Western Zhou (11th

century BCE-771 BCE), located in present-day Xi'an area,Shaanxi Province.

61 Luoyi is the first capital of Eastern Zhou (770-256BCE), located in present-day Luoyang area, Henan Province.

200

Xia Chengtao, even in 1171, approximately five or six years

before Jiang Kui composed Yangzhou man, more than four

hundred thousand acres of farmland in the Jianghuai Donglu 意

意 意 意 region centered in Yangzhou still lay wasted.62

Responding to the devastation, some song lyric writers

composed lyric works to express their anger and sadness,

such as Zhang Xiaoxiang 意 意 意 (1132-1170), Xin Qiji, Chen

Liang 意 意 (1143-1194), and Liu Guo, among others. Reading

their song lyrics, we can find strong political messages

calling for resistance. Jiang Kui delivered his political

message and showed his sadness. Referring to the sixth,

seventh and eighth lines in the first stanza of Yangzhou

man, Chen Tingzhuo made a comment about Jiang Kui's

allegorical message and historical feeling:

In Jiang Kui's Yangzhou man,…… these lines that

describe the aftermath scene of the warfare are truly

realistic. The four words "still detest talking

warfare" do the work of many sad words. Others write

thousands of words, still cannot express the same of

the four words.63

62 Xia (1981 A), p. 2.

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意意意意意意意……意意 意意意意意意意意 “意意意意”意意 意意意意意意意意 意意意意意意意 意意意意意意，。， 。，。

Chen Tingzhuo was sharp and insightful, he saw that Jiang

Kui's yiqu in this song lyric was suggested by the four

words. Although Jiang Kui revealed his purpose of writing

this song lyric in the preface directly, he revealed it in

the song lyric indirectly.64 If one does not investigate the

historical background of Jiang Kui's writing and his

political stance, the allegory and the hidden political

message in the four words cannot be detected. On this issue,

Shuen-fu Lin made a clear point on interpreting this song

lyric:

Chiang K'uei's [Jiang Kui's] journey through the

ruined ancient city is not the subject of the lyric

song but the song's background, setting, frame of

reference, or context – a poetic situation……. Chiang

K'uei's statement of his intention [in the preface]

leads the reader from the poetic situation into his63 Chen Tingzhuo, Baiyuchai cihua in CHCB 4. 3798. Also

see Chen Yingjie, p. 341.64 On the topic of disclosing the purpose of writing

this song lyric, Shuen-fu Lin discussed sufficiently thedirectness in Jiang's preface and the indirectness in hissong lyric, see Lin (1978), pp. 72-76.

202

poetic act. The poet's total experience with the

desolation of Yangchow [Yangzhou], not the desolate

scenery of the city, becomes the subject of Yangchow

Mahn [Yangzhou man.]65

According to Lin, this lyric is allegorical, and Jiang

Kui's intended yiqu implied in the lyric is found in the

subject. However, the questions of how Jiang Kui embodied

his yiqu in this song lyric and in what ways a reader could

reach Jiang Kui's allegory remain uncertain. To find an

answer, I offer two ways to read this song lyric. The first

is a close reading of the use of words, focusing on

comparisons, such as the comparison between the words "famed

city" at the beginning of the first stanza and the words

"empty city" at the end of the stanza. No matter how

implicit Jiang Kui's use of words is, when the comparison is

made, the contrast and difference between "famed city" and

"empty city" disclose the devastation and the decline of

Yangzhou: the first suggest the prosperity of Yangzhou in

the past, the second suggest the decline of Yhangzhou in the

65 Ibid., 76.

203

present. This comparison leads readers to search for the

reason as to why the devastation and decline occurred. Such

a historical search for an answer can provide explanations

to the allegory from a political perspective. Similarly,

when we compare the words "spring wind" and "clear horn," we

find the difference between the brisk air of springtime and

the chilly feelings from hearing the sound of horn. "Spring

wind" may also represent in its context the pleasant time

Jiang had in Yangzhou before, and the sound of "clear horn"

spreads a chilly sense about warfare that ruined the city

thereafter. Further, we can compare the lines "There is

nothing but green shepherd's purse and wheat" and "Abandoned

ponds and lofty trees" as well, and sense the similar

bleakness in the two lines, which explains the chilly

feeling. As Jiang Kui described, in the Yangzhou landscape

after the wars, only wild grass and bleak bushes were left

around the dead waters. These comparisons suggest political

implication that Jiang Kui infused in this song lyric.

The second way I read this song lyric is to examine the

allusions. Jiang Kui appropriated some verses from Du Mu 意意

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(803-852) on Yangzhou to form his own lines, particularly in

the second stanza. A Tang poet, Du Mu wrote famous verses

and lines to sing the prosperity and beauty of Yangzhou.

However, the wars put an end to the prosperity and beauty.

Jiang Kui did not elaborate the then brightness of the city,

but the opposite. In this lyric he even wrote such a line to

refer to Du Mu pessimistically: "He [Du Mu] would find it

hard to express these deep feelings." Surely, these are the

sad feelings about the desolation of Yangzhou. Jiang Kui

assumed that, facing the devastation in Yangzhou, Du Mu

would not write cheerful verses. For Jiang Kui himself, his

sentiment prevented him from writing cheerful lines; he

wrote about his sorrow towards the city, with strong

feelings from his personal experiences of visiting the city

before and after the wars.

The above historical and political yiqu discovered in

Yangzhou man provides an intertextual reference for our

interpretation of other lyrics of Jiang Kui: the fall of the

Northern Song is indeed a theme of Jiang Kui's song lyrics,

and Jiang Kui is indeed concerned with the national matters

205

of his country. As Grace Fong observed, the true meaning of

an allegory was hidden beneath the surface. In Jiang Kui's

song lyrics Anxiang and Shuying, the surface is the

description of plum blossom. However, since plum blossom is

symbolic in Chinese cultural tradition, readers have to

search for the hidden meaning through the symbols and

explore the biographical, historical and political

background of Jiang Kui and his time. With the help of the

intertextual reference of Yangzhou man, we can see that

Jiang Kui is political; since he is not outspoken, the yiqu

in the twin lyrics is concealed: it is found in the

interweaving of the song lyric writer's personal love affair

and the fall of the Northern Song. Jiang Kui's political

allegory is deeply hidden in his historical and personal

references, hidden in his sorrow for both the past and the

present, and possibly also hidden in his worry about the

future.

5

206

Zhang Yan highly praised Jiang Kui in the passage of

miscellaneous topics in Ciyuan for his uniqueness in

conceptualization: "As for the song lyrics on plum blossoms,

only the pair of Anxiang and Shuyin by Jiang Kui are

unprecedented and unrepeatable; they are truly masterpieces

for their own new themes 意意意意 意意意意意意意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意意 意意意意，，，，， ."66 Zhang Yan emphasized

the notion of mingyi again and again.67 To him, the process

of conceptualization is to imply allegorical meaning in song

lyrics. The uniqueness of yiqu and the beforehand

contemplation of how to imply the yiqu in song lyrics are of

highest importance. This is the key to the aspect of

conceptualization in Zhang Yan's poetics of qingkong.

The Author The author Lian Duan is an assistant professor of

Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Born in Chengdu,China, he studied comparative literature, visual art, andcritical theory in China and Canada for his B.A., M.A., andPh.D. degrees. His research interest covers classicalChinese poetry, modern prose, contemporary art, and criticaltheory. Since mid 1980s, he has published extensively onliterature and art, including six books of scholarly

66 CHCB 1. 266.67 CHCB 1. 258.

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research and collections of essays. He is currently writinga column “Visual Culture and Contemporary Art” forContemporary Artists bimonthly.

国国国国：610074 意意意意 意西 意意意意意西 意意意意 意意意 意意意 意意意意：028 8735 3133

国国国国：Lian Duan1055 St-Mathieu Street, apt 850Montreal, QuebecCanada H3H 2S3Telephone: 001-514-935-9067

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