Lasting-life Palace-hall
(Hung Sheng 1654-1704)
Volume Two
Endnotes and Appendices
By William Dolby
Chinese Culture Series No.29
This Straightback Publishing Paperback Edition published 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1539977278
ISBN-10: 1539977277
(This is the second volume of a 2-part publication)
(First Published by Carreg Publishers in 2012, Hardback Edition and
Digitally published in 2016 by Straightback Publishing.
Find out more about William Dolby at http://www.williamdolby.com
Copyright © 2016 Ieuan Dolby
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a public or open retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers.
This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of direct trade or barter, be lent, re-sold, lent or circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form, digitial, binding or cover other than that which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Lasting-life
Palace-hall
Volume Two
Endnotes and Appendices
by William Dolby
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Appendix One
Song of Lasting-woe, the story
Appendix Two
Lasting-woe song
Appendix Three
Unofficial biography of Grand-truth1258
Appendix Four
The Death of Most-prized-empress Yang
Appendix Five
Shining August-emperor of the T’ang dynasty on autumn night with rain on the parasol-tree
ENDNOTES
Appendix One
(As referred to in the Introduction to the Play, Volume 1)
Song of Lasting-woe, the story
by Ch’en Hung (fl. ca. AD 813)
(translated by William Dolby)
During the Opening Era reign-period, “the Great Steps were level”, and there were no troubles within all the world’s Four Seas. Emperor Dark-progenitor had been on the throne for many years, and had become sated with the late dinners and night attire required by participation in administration, so first consigned governmental matters big and small to his Chancellor of the Right, and steadily became more and more deeply preoccupied with aimless feasting, entertaining himself with music and beautiful women.
Prior to that, Empress Principal Noble-lady1132 and Most-prized Imperial Queen Martial-and-chaste1133 were famous and favoured with the emperor’s love, but one after the other they’d both passed away. Even though there were thousands of daughters of good family in the imperial palace, none of them sufficed to delight his eye, and he felt dejected and unhappy.
Once, as every Tenth Month of the year, the emperor rode forth to bless his Florescence-purity Palace with a visit, titled ladies from within and outside the imperial palace accompanying him in fitting fashion, in lambent splendour, to bathe their bodies in the after-ripples of the “sun”, he granting them permission to wash their hair in the water of the warm springs, and the springtime breezes and divine liquid mildly purling to and fro in their midst.
The emperor felt a sudden onset of welling delight inside, as if struck by someone, but1134 gazed right and left, and behind and in front, his powder-pale fair countenance turned like the grey hue of clay1135 He commanded Eunuch-chamberlain Kao to search the outer palaces, where Kao found the daughter of Yang Hsȕan-yen, from Hung-nung, in Longevity’s Residence,1136 she having already had her hair pinned up in a coil and come of marriageable age. Fourteen years old. Her temple-tresses and other head-hair were done-up with a glossy sheen, she was slim and plump both to just the right degree, and, whether she was still or in motion her deportment was graceful and beguiling, and she resembled Emperor Warrior of the Han dynasty’s Queen Li.
A separate hot-water pool was dredged out for her, and the emperor commanded that she be bathed till sparkling fresh. When she’d emerged from the water, her limbs were feeble and her strength nigh exhausted, as if she couldn’t take the weight of her tulle and damask. Her lustre and radiance so shone forth that, as she turned and moved, she cast light on others.
The emperor was overjoyed.
On the day that she was presented to him for audience, the Rainbow skirt and feather jacket melody was performed to usher her in. And on the night that their love and marriage were ceremonially confirmed, she was gifted golden hairpins and a gold-flower-pattern inlaid casket to consolidate their love, and the emperor further commanded that she wear a Step-shake coronet and dangle gold and pearl ear-rings.
The following year, she was ennobled as his Most-prized Empress,1137 and granted half the attire and expenses of an august-empress.1138 Because of this, she rendered her looks more beguiling, made her speech nimbler, made herself charming and prettily complaisant in ten thousand ways, so as to meet with the emperor’s desires. He treated her with ever increasing favors.
On the occasion of his tours to Inspect Local Customs of the Nine Regions of all China, or to Plaster Gold1139 at the Five Sacred Peaks, on snowy nights on Mount Li or on spring mornings in Shang-yang Palace, she would travel in the same coach as the emperor and stay in the same building as him, monopolizing his feast-mat at banquets, and monopolizing his room at bed-time. Even though he had his Three Queens,1140 Nine Royal-wives, Twenty-Seven Hereditary Serving-wives, and Eighty-One Charioteering Wives, along with the Talented Ladies mandarins of his seraglio and the female entertainers of the Music Treasury, she made it so that he’d no desire to pay them any attention, and from then on nobody was presented for his love favours from his Six Palaces.
It wasn’t only her exceptional gorgeousness and unparalleled figure that brought about this state of affairs, as her ability and intelligence, perceptiveness and wisdom, her skills and cleverness, her ready flattering eloquence, and her anticipation of his wishes and compliance with his commands, had something beyond description about them.
Her uncles and male cousins were all given ranks among the lofty men of eminence, and given titles of nobility of prominent lords. Her sisters were enfiefed as Queens of various states. Their wealth was on a par with that of the imperial palace, and their carriages, attire and mansions the equal of those of the Grand Elder Princess.
But the loving imperial favours and power they received even surpassed that, and they went in and out of the gates of the forbidden precincts of the imperial palace unquestioned, and the Leading Mandarins of the capital evaded their gaze in deference and awe. That’s why there was a folk-song in those times with the lines:
If you have daughters, don’t sorrow sore,
If you have sons, don’t rejoice or cheer.
And it also had the lines:
Sons aren’t enfiefed as lords,
daughters become queens of emperors,
Regard your daughters instead
as the lintels above your doors.
Such was the admiration and envy that people felt.
Towards the end of the Heaven Treasure reign-period [743-756], her cousin Yang Kuo-chung stole the position of prime minister, and wielded the powers of state in foolish ways. When An Lu-shan led forces towards the imperial capital, on the pretext that he wanted to punish the Yangs, T’ung Pass wasn’t held, and the imperial banners “blessed the South with a tour”. Issuing forth from Hsien-yang, they lodged en-route at Ma Wei’s Pavilion. The Six Armies held back, procrastinating, and, grasping their halberds at the ready, wouldn’t advance any fu
rther. The Supporting Officials, Attendant Gentlemen and Sub-Official Functionaries prostrated themselves before the emperor’s horse, and begged permission to “execute this ‘Ch’ao Ts’o’1141 as an apology to the world”. Yang Kuo-chung “wore a yak-tail hat-cord and held a bowl of water”1142 asking the emperor to punish his crimes, and died at the side of the road.
His entourage were still not satisfied, and the emperor asked what they wanted. Someone daring to speak up there and then, begged permission for the world’s resentments to be plugged by means of EMPRESS YANG. Realizing that he couldn’t spare her, but unable to bear to see her die, the emperor covered his face with the back of his sleeves, and let them lead her away. In a panicky fluster of to and fro events, she finally died “beneath a foot of silk cord”.
After that, Emperor Dark-progenitor made his “winter hunt-tour” to Ch’eng-tu,1143 and Emperor Solemn-progenitor1144 succeeded to the abdicated throne at Ling-wu.1145 The following year, he proclaimed a Grand Amnesty and changed to a new reign-period, and the imperial carriage returned to the capital. Dark-progenitor was honoured as Grand Sublime August-emperor,1146 and went to be provided for in South Palace, moving from South Palace to Western Inner palace.
Time passes, events go by, and when joy ends, sadness ensues. Every time the spring days or the winter nights came round, or when the pond lotuses bloomed in the summer, or the leaves of the palace scholar trees fell in autumn, or when the Young Students of the Imperial Pear Orchard Conservatoire played music on their jade flutes, or he heard a single note of ‘Rainbow skirt and feather jacket’, then his celestial countenance would be displeased, and his entourage would sob and sigh.
For three years he had only one desire, his longings not fading. He sought her soul in his dreams, but found no trace of her.
It so happened just then that a Taoist came from Shu, and knowing that the emperor was yearning so much for Most-prized-empress Yang, put himself forward as having the arts of Li Shao-chȕn.1147 Overjoyed, the emperor commanded him to invoke her spirit.
So the necromancer then plied his skills to the limit to try and find her, but she didn’t appear. He was also able to wander among the supernatural and chariot the ether, and went out into the borders of Heaven, and sank down into the Earth Palace,1148 to seek her, but didn’t meet her.
Then he further sought her up and down in the Four Voids, west to the bounds of the east of Heaven Sea, and bestrode Eerigeron-kettle paradise-isle.1149 There he saw the highest mountain of the immortals, up on which there were many towers and palaces, at the foot of the west wing of one of it there was the doorway to a cave, facing eastwards, the doors being shut and inscribed with the words: “Courtyard of the Jade Queen Grand-truth.”
The necromancer pulled out his hairpin, and knocked on one of the door-leaves with it, and a pair of a virgin-girls with paired hair-coils came out and answered the door. Before the necromancer in his fluster had time to say anything, she went back inside. Shortly, a jade-green-clothed female attendant arrived, and inquired where he’d come from. The necromancer then announced that he was an envoy of the Son of Heaven, and conveyed what his mission was.
“The Jade Queen is just now sleeping in bed,” said the jade-green-clothed attendant. “Please wait for her a short while.”
At that time, the sea of clouds hung so heavy, the sun was dawning in the paradise sky, the chalcedony doors were shut one after the other, and it was quiet, not a sound. The necromancer relaxed his breathing, stayed standing where he was with his feet together, respectfully holding his hands clasped palm to palm on his breast, outside the door.
After a long while, the jade-green-clothed female attendant invited him in, and further declared: “The Jade Queen is emerging.”
He saw a lady wearing a golden lotus as her crown, with a waist-sash of scarlet raw-silk fabric, and waist-ornaments of red jade, and shod in phoenix slippers. On her left and right, she had seven or eight female attendants. She bowed to the necromancer, asked if the emperor was well, and went on to ask what had happened since Fourteenth Year of the Heaven Treasure reign-period. When he’d finished speaking, she became sad and filled with pity, and instructed the jade-green-clothed female attendant to fetch gold hairpins and a gold-strip-flower-pattern inlaid casket, and broke off half of each, and handed them to the envoy.
“Thank the Grand Sublime August-emperor for me,” she said, “and I respectfully present these objects to him, in renewal of our old friendship.”
When the necromancer had received her message and the tokens, and was about to depart, his facial expression showed that he was still somewhat dissatisfied, so Jade Queen without ado asked what he was thinking, so he went up to her again, knelt down, and addressed her:
“I respectfully request that something that happened in those days, and of which other people weren’t informed, be put to the proof with the Grand Sublime August-emperor. Otherwise, I fear that, with the gold-strip-flower casket and gold hairpins, I’ll be seen as guilty of such deceit as Hsin T’an-p’ing’s.”1150
Jade Queen hastily stood back, and, as if something had occurred to her, spoke slowly.
“Formerly, in the Fourteenth Year of the Heaven Treasure reign-period,” she said, “I was attendant in your carriage when you left for a summer retreat in Mount Li Palace. In the autumn, in the Seventh Month, on the night when Oxherd and Weaving-damsel1151 meet each other, it’s the custom of the people of Ch’in, that night to spread out brocade and embroidery, and set forth food and drink, and to plant melons and fruit-trees, and burn incense in courtyards, which is called the festival of Love-luck-begging, and is especially esteemed in the ladies’ quarters of the imperial palace.
That time, when it was almost midnight, the imperial guards had been stood down to rest in the east and west wings, and I alone was in attendance upon Your Majesty. Your Majesty stood leaning against my shoulder, then, looking up into the sky, we were moved by the story of the Oxherd and Weaving Damsel, and secretly made vows of the heart, praying that for life after life we would be husband and wife. When we’d finished saying them, we held hands, and sobbed and moaned together.
That’s is something that only you my monarch know of.”
Then she sadly added:
“With that thought in mind, I cannot remain here, but shall descend once more to the world below, to accomplish my future destined love relationship with you. Either in Heaven or as humans, we shall definitely meet again, and be united in affection as of old.”
Then she said:
“You, Grand Sublime August-emperor, won’t be long in the mortal world, either. I shall feel blessedly grateful if you will just keep tranquil, and not put yourself to any suffering.”
The envoy went back, and reported all this to the Grand Sublime August-emperor, whose heart was shaken and made mournful, and who grew daily more afflicted.
In the Fourth Month of that year, the emperor passed away in South Palace.
In the Twelfth Month, in the winter, of the First Year of the Great Harmony reign-period [13th January- 10 February AD 807], Pai Chü-yi1152 of T’ai-yȕan moved from his post as Editor Gentleman1153 to become Defender1154 in Chou-chih.1155 I and Wang Chih-fu1156 of Lang-yeh1157 were living in that region, and on our days off we would go hand in hand with him for trips to Immortal-wandering Monastery,1158 and, on mentioning this story, would sigh with him, moved by it. Chih-fu went up to Chü-yi, proffering him a cup of wine.
“Such historically rare happenings,” he said, “without a man of ability outstanding in his age to polish them and give them colour will vanish, disappear with the passage of time, and become unknown to society. You, Chü-yi, are someone deeply versed in poetry, and full of passionate feeling. How about trying to make a song of them?”
So Pai Chü-yi then composed his Abiding bitter regrets song.1159 I conjecture that he was not only emotionally moved by what had happened, but that he also wanted to provide a warning example against women of exceptional beauty, and block off the staircase t
o moral disorder, as a message to posterity. When he’d completed his son, he had me publish it. What society hasn’t heard about, I, not being a survivor of the Opening Era reign-period1160, have no means of knowing. What society does know about, is to be found in Basic annals of Dark-progenitor.1161 For the present, I just pass on Lasting-woe song.
Appendix Two
(As referred to in the Introduction to the Play, Volume 1)
Lasting-woe song
by Ch’en Hung (fl. ca. AD 813)
(translated by William Dolby)
The “Han” emperor,1162 beauty-lover, yearned for a “state o’erthrowing” one,1163
And had ruled the world many years, but his seeking found him none;
The Yang’s, they had a daughter,1164 but newly to womanhood grown,
Who, raised in boudoir seclusion, no man had ever known.
Of such heavenly natural charm, she was as refuses to be ignored:
Sudden one morn she was chosen, raised to the side of her sovereign lord;
Did she but sweep her eyes in one smile, all manner of guilements were born,
Leaving the powder-kohl fair imperial harem1165 looking entirely colour-lorn.
In vernal chill, she was granted favour to bathe in the Pool of Florescence-purity,1166
The warm-spring’s water slipped round her, lapping her smooth skin’s ice-clarity;
Appendices and Endnotes Page 1