The Poetics of Sovereignty
Page 23
the morality of the people, they always changed the people’s sensory perceptions,
blocking their lustful desires, and obstructing their wanton thoughts, in order to
show them the path of harmonious sincerity. The “Five Teachings” and “Six
Conducts” served as the basis for educating the people, and the Poems, Documents, Rites, and Changes served as the gateway to moral principle.51 Thus if one could cause households to return to filiality and parental love, the people would
know courtesy and deference; in rectifying customs and regulating mores, noth-
ing is greater than this. There are petitions submitted and rhapsodies presented,
dirges composed and inscriptions engraved—this is all in order to praise virtue
and rank worthiness, to illuminate meritorious achievement and to confirm good
order. As a matter of principle they would not have done so if it were not to cau-
tion [the people].
—————
49. Yuwen Tai was a leading Toba general who split from the Northern Wei dynasty and founded the Western Wei. He did not personally rule as emperor, but instead founded the dynasty in the name of his cousin, Yuan Baoju 元寶炬 (507–51), who then reigned as
Wendi 文帝 (r. 535–51). Yuwen Tai himself was later honored as Taizu 太祖 of the
Northern Zhou dynasty. See Zhou shu, 1.1–2.44.
50. For Yuwen Tai’s edict, which was composed by Su Chuo, see Zhou shu, 23.390–94.
This is translated in its entirety in Goodrich, trans., Biography of Su Ch’o, pp. 36–44.
51. The “Five Teachings” are also called the “Teaching of the Five Constants” ( wuchang zhi jiao 五常之教). This refers to the five normative behaviors for the father, mother, elder brother, younger brother, and son. See Zuo zhuan, Duke Wen 文公, 18th year /
Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, p. 638. The “Six Conducts” are enumerated in the Rites of Zhou.
Following Zheng Xuan’s commentary, these refer to the virtuous behaviors of filiality, fraternal friendship ( you 友), cordiality among the nine generations of one’s clan ( mu 睦), harmonious relations with one’s in-laws ( yin 婣), dutiful trust among friends ( ren 任), and charitable sympathy for the unfortunate ( xu 恤). See Zhou li zhushu, 10.69b–69c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 707.
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126
The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
臣聞古先哲王之化民也，必變其視聽，防其嗜欲，塞其邪放之心，示
以淳和之路。五教六行為訓民之本，《詩》、《書》、《禮》、
《易》為道義之門。故能家復孝慈，人知禮讓，正俗調風，莫大於
此。其有上書獻賦，制誄鐫銘，皆以褒德序賢，明勳證理。苟非懲
勸，義不徒然。
Li E begins with the claim that the sage-kings of antiquity transformed
the customs of the people by transforming their very subjectivities—from
the sensory faculties of sight and hearing to their inborn desires and las-
civious thoughts. The basis of the Confucian teachings (the wujiao 五教
and liuxing 六行) and canonical texts ( Poems, Documents, Rites, and Changes) was to serve as the means by which morality could be established.
This is a Xunzian view of moral education, as Li E views the natural im-
pulse of the people as tending towards sensual abandonment and the pur-
pose of education as normative rectification. Literature, within this
framework, would be composed solely for the purpose of praising virtue
and ranking worthiness ( baode xuxian 褒德序賢). It is of significance
that Li E lists only the genres of petition ( shu 書, that is, the shangshu 上
書), rhapsody, dirge ( lei 誄), and inscription ( ming 銘) here, as these represent public forms of writing that flourished in the Han. Notably absent
is the shi, the lyric poem, which could be traced back to the Classic of Poetry, but here instead seems for Li E to exemplify the excesses of literary
aestheticism.
From this earlier period, Li E turns to more recent history and begins
to chart the course of literary and moral decline. He continues:
When it came down to later times, moral instruction gradually declined. The
Three Ancestors of Wei each, in turn, esteemed literary phrasing.52 They ne-
glected the great way of sovereignty, and instead were fond of the minor arts of
insect-carving. Those below followed those above like shadows and echoes. They
sought to outpace one another in literary ornamentation, and thus this became
the popular custom. South of the Yangtze, during the Qi and Liang, this corro-
sion became extreme. Both the high and low, and the wise and the foolish, de-
voted themselves solely to chanting and singing. As a result, they further aban-
doned correct order and kept what was novel, pursuing the empty and
insignificant. They competed over the marvels of a single rhyme and fought over
the wit of a single word. Throughout all their poems and compositions, they nev-
—————
52. These were Cao Cao (Wei Wudi 魏武帝), Cao Pi, and Cao Rui 曹叡 (205–39; Wei
Mingdi 魏明帝, r. 226–39).
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The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
127
er departed from figures of moon and dew; within the heaps on the tables and the
overfull chests, there were only descriptions of wind and cloud.
降及後代，風教漸落。魏之三祖，更尚文詞，忽君人之大道，好雕蟲
之小藝。下之從上，有同影響，競騁文華，遂成風俗。江左齊、梁，
其弊彌甚，貴賤賢愚，唯務吟詠。遂復遺理存異，尋虛逐微，競一韻
之奇，爭一字之巧。連篇累牘，不出月露之形，積案盈箱，唯是風雲
之狀。
A division is being articulated here, one that has less to do with the actual
nature of the literary genres (rhapsody being long identified with rhetori-
cal superfluity) than with the perceived lapse of public writing following
the Han. Li E sees the rise of the Wei dynasty as a turn away from the
concerns of moral sovereignty and an embrace of “the minor arts of in-
sect-carving.” As with Pei Ziye, the issue is the pursuit of technical craft
over moral teaching, and with the relocation of the Chinese dynasties
southward, the corruption of literature would reach its nadir. However,
whereas Pei had castigated the Song dynasty, Li E singles out the Qi and
Liang for their devotion to the empty ( xu 虛) and insignificant ( wei 微).
The rejection of the didactic role of literature becomes all the more pro-
nounced once poets and writers seek only to display their talents in de-
scribing moon, dew, wind, and cloud—images of romantic expression, ra-
ther than the moral work of praise and blame.
For Li E, these new poetic practices would infect the workings of the
political sphere. He goes on to describe the consequence of the rejection
of the canonical standards:
By this did the men of the age try to surpass one another; on this basis did the
court promote its officials. The path to salary and profit having already been
opened, feelings of partiality and fondness became increasingly firm. Thus the ig-
no
rant children of the villages and the tufted progeny of noblemen did not learn
the six jia stems [that is, how to count] before composing in five syllables. And when it came to the canonical models of Fuxi, Shun, and Yu and to the sayings of
Yi Yin, Fu Yue, and Confucius, they no longer concerned themselves—when did
such ever reach their ears?53 They took arrogant boasting as “pure and empty”; they
—————
53. Though Fuxi was credited with the creation of the trigrams, the term dian 典 here probably refers to “exemplary laws and codes” rather than to textual works. On Yi Yin and Fu Yue, see Chapter 2, note 85.
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128
The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
took “following from feeling” as a meritorious legacy.54 They labeled scholasti-
cism as antediluvian crudeness and used poetic rhapsodies to determine the supe-
rior man.55 Thus all forms of writing grew more profuse by the day, just as gov-
ernment became more disordered.56 To be sure, this stemmed from abandoning
the normative standards of the great sages and concocting the useless while be-
lieving it useful. They injured the essential in pursuit of the inessential, a trend that permeated all the lands of the Hua. They took one another in turn as teacher
and patriarch, and for a long time, the flames were fanned higher.
世俗以此相高，朝廷據茲擢士。祿利之路既開，愛尚之情愈篤。於是
閭里童昏，貴遊總丱，未窺六甲，先製五言。至如羲皇、舜、禹之
典，伊、傅、周、孔之說，不復關心，何嘗入耳。以傲誕為清虛，以
緣情為勳績，指儒素為古拙，用詞賦為君子。故文筆日繁，其政日
亂，良由棄大聖之軌模，構無用以為用也。損本逐末，流徧華壤，遞
相師祖，久而愈扇。
It is a vision of total imperial corruption that he presents here, creating
parallel accounts of the pernicious influence of the new poetry on the
route to officialdom and elementary education. The profusion of such
writings means that there would be no easy way to rid the lands of this
trend, which is no longer simply a matter of literary style, but would
quickly become one of general cultural and political identity.
Much of Li E’s rhetoric recalls that of Pei Ziye. However, the Sui cen-
sor’s target is not simply the elevation of poetic production above classical
learning, but rather the entire history of the southern poetic tradition. As
Owen has noted, “The antisouthern direction of the letter is only thinly
veiled.”57 Thus, with the conquest of the south and reestablishment of a
unified northern dynasty, Li E celebrates the restoration of sagely rulership:
When the Great Sui received the Mandate, the Way of Sages arose, eliminating
frivolous insubstantiality and halting ornamental insincerity. If one did not em-
brace classical norms and hold to plain substance, set one’s aims upon the Way
and rely upon humaneness, then one would not be able to gain entry into offi-
—————
54. The phrase “following from feeling” ( yuan qing 緣情) echoes the definition of shi poetry in Lu Ji’s “Rhapsody on Literature”: “Poetry follows from feelings and becomes beautifully ornate” 詩緣情而綺靡. See Wen xuan, 17.766.
55. “Ancient crudeness” ( guzhuo 古拙) would take on very positive connotations in the Tang, particularly for the mid-Tang fugu 復古 (“restorationist”) writers.
56. The term wenbi 文筆 refers to bellettristic writing ( wen) and more functional, utilitarian forms of writing ( bi).
57. Owen, Poetry of the Early T’ang, p. 19.
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The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
129
cialdom or join in wearing tied caps and high hats. In the fourth year of the Kai-
huang reign [ad 584], it was decreed throughout the empire that both public and
private writings ought to be substantive records. In the ninth month of that year,
the memorials of Sima Youzhi, Regional Inspector of Sizhou, were florid and or-
nate, and he was delivered to the office in charge of dealing with his crime.58 From that point on, among the high ministers and leading officials, all knew the correct
path and none did not delve deeply into the Three Scriptures and Eight Inquiries.59
They abandoned the ornate and extravagant, and took up the rules and statutes of
the early kings, promulgating the great Way within this age.
及大隋受命，聖道聿興，屏黜輕浮，遏止華偽。自非懷經抱質，志道
依仁，不得引預搢紳，參廁纓冕。開皇四年，普詔天下，公私文翰，
並宜實錄。其年九月，泗州刺史司馬幼之文表華豔，付所司治罪。自
是公卿大臣咸知正路，莫不鑽仰《墳》、《索》，棄絕華綺，擇先王
之令典，行大道於茲世。
This passage is not so much a description of what literary culture was ac-
tually like under Sui Wendi as it is the legislation of literary norms for the
new dynasty. What is striking (and rather sinister) is how Li E slips in the
example of Sima Youzhi 司馬幼之, who was punished for his florid liter-
ary style in the course of announcing the return to sagely customs. It is
not simply the benevolent aura of the Sui emperor that causes a restora-
tion of orthodox moral style, but the strict implementation of punish-
ment, which is necessary to ensure that there will be no backsliding into
corrupt southern cultural practices.
Indeed, the monitoring of literary style and the application of penalties
becomes the main theme of the petition’s conclusion:
—————
58. There is no other mention of Sima Youzhi in the Sui shu.
59. I follow the Bei shi here, which reads fensuo 墳索, rather than the Sui shu, which reads fenji 墳集. The term fensuo is first used in the Zuo zhuan: “He is able to read the Three Scriptures, Five Canons, Eight Inquiries, and Nine Almanacs” 是能讀三墳、五典、八
索、九丘. See Zuo zhuan, Duke Zhao, 12th year / Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, p. 1340. According to Kong Yingda’s “Preface to the Esteemed Documents” 尚書序, the Three Scriptures refer to the works of Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Thearch; the Five Canons to the works of Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin 高辛 (better known as Ku 嚳), Tang (Yao), and
Yu (Shun); the Eight Inquiries to the appended explanations on the eight trigrams; and the Nine Almanacs to the collected records of the nine territorial divisions of antiquity.
See Shang shu zhengyi, 1.1c–2b, in Shisanjing zhushu, pp. 113–14. Often these sagely texts are referred to simply as the “Three Scriptures and Five Canons” 三墳五典.
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The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
If one hears that, in an outer province or a distant prefecture, they still carry on with decrepit customs, then in selecting local officials and recommending candidates they will not follow the canonical norm. Even if those of local clans are
praised as filial and have restored humaneness, and in their learning they insist on the ancient classics and their associ
ations are not illicit, they will nonetheless be expelled from their families and not entered into the officials’ lists; [this is because] when their learning does not imitate the ancients, they follow fashionable
customs in writing frivolous literary compositions and form cliques in pursuit of
fame, so that when officials are selected and positions filled, they will be recom-
mended to the imperial court. In general, this results from district magistrates
and regional inspectors not yet promulgating moral instruction, but still holding
onto personal sentiments and not preserving the way of public virtue. Your subject
is unworthy of his position as imperial censor, but the office is suited to conduct
disciplinary inspections. If I were to hear of such things and then make accusa-
tions, I fear that those implicated would be many. I request to compel the various
offices to universally institute inspections and inquiries. If there were such cases, then their particulars would be forwarded to the Head of the Censorate.
如聞外州遠縣，仍踵敝風，選吏舉人，未遵典則。至有宗黨稱孝，鄉
曲歸仁，學必典謨，交不苟合，則擯落私門，不加收齒；其學不稽
古，逐俗隨時，作輕薄之篇章，結朋黨而求譽，則選充吏職，舉送天
朝。蓋由縣令、刺史，未行風教，猶挾私情，不存公道。臣既忝憲
司，職當糾察。若聞風即劾，恐挂網者多。請勒諸司，普加搜訪，有
如此者，具狀送臺。60
Throughout imperial China, the problem of extending the center’s con-
trol over the far-flung regions of the periphery has occasioned much
comment and consideration. For Li E, this issue takes the shape of how
the Sui emperor is to treat regional customs in the aftermath of Sui unifi-
cation. The censor argues that if local regions are allowed to continue
with the former customs of the Southern Dynasties, then the officials
they would send to the central government would be those who scoff at
classicist learning and Confucian morality. Therefore, he petitions the
emperor to be allowed to make investigations into the rectification of lit-
—————
60. The text is preserved completely in Sui shu, 66.1544–45; Bei shi, 77.2614–15; Wenyuan yinghua, 679.3502a–b; and Quan Sui wen 全隋文, 20.8b–9b, in Quan Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen, pp. 4134b–35a. It is partially preserved in Tong dian, 16.392–93. Wenyuan yinghua gives the title as “Petition Offered to Sui Gaozu for the Reformation of Literary Ornament” 上隋高祖革文華書. I have consulted the partial trans-