Later, on the basis of this, people called brothers who were in discord with each other “Shen and Shang”. Chou Ch’i 周祈 (Ming dynasty), Investigation into the meanings of terms (Ming-yi k’ao 名義考), says: “Shen and Shang appear alternately. Sometimes people say Shen 参 and Ch’en 辰, or a variant expression Ch’en 辰 and Hsia 夏 is also usable.”
ii)In a slight but connected variation, the Shen constellation appears in the east of the sky, and the Shang constellation appears in the west of the sky, and the two are never simultaneously visible, so they are used together as an image for people who never meet each other. This is the meaning here.
197ping-t’ou-lien 並頭蓮, “twin-headed lotus”, a lotus with two heads or flowers on the one stem (one stem with two branches, not, as found in some dictionaries, one root with two flowers. A botanical malformation), is used as an image for perfectly loving lovers. Flower mirror (Hua-ching 花鏡), “Lien-hua-pan ming”, “Ping-t’ou-lien hsia”, says: “There are both red ones and white ones, one stem and two flowers.” Also called ping-ti-lien 並蒂蓮, “twin-peduncle lotus”. There was a drama entitled Twin-headed lotus (Ping-T’ou-lien chi 並頭蓮記) by Teng Chih-mo 鄧志謨 (fl. ca. AD 1596).
198lien-huan-chai 連環寨, Joined-rings Stockade “Joined rings” means interlocked and inseparable rings. Here the sense seems to be “an impregnable fortress (of love)”.
199t’ung-hsin lo-tai 同心羅帶, Shared-hearts Chiffon-silk/Tulle Sash/Ribbon, meaning something like “a secure love-link”. The basic term referred to is surely t’ung-hsin-chieh 同心結, Shared-heart Knot. In ancient times, people would coil up brocade ribbons into joined-rings palindromic patterns, always to embody some meaning of love, which is why they were called Shared-heart Knots. Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti 武帝, reigned 502 - 549) of the Southern Dynasties Liang dynasty composed a poem with the lines: “A pair of damask ribbons at my waist, I dreamed they were a Shared-hearts Knot.” Wei Cheng 魏徵 (580 - 643) and others, Sui history (Sui-shu 隋書), “Hsȕan-hua Fu-jen Ch’en-shih chuan”, says: “Emperor Yang-ti 煬帝 sent a messenger with the gift of a gold box, sticking a paper label on the edge of the box, personally signing the sealing characters, to bestow it on his principal wife, and in the box there were several Shared-hearts Knots.”
There was tz’u-lyric tune-title Two shared hearts (Liang T’ung-hsin 兩同心), of which Explanations of terms in the composition of tzu-lyrics (T’ien-tz’u ming-chieh 填詞名解) says: “The ancient Music Treasury song Su Hsiao song (Su-hsiao ke 蘇小歌) has the line ‘Where shall we tie shared-hearts?”, and subsequently there was the T’ang dynasty Instruction Ward musical-performance melody (Chiao-fang yȕeh-ch’ü 教坊樂曲) entitled Shared-hearts Knot/ Shared Hearts tied. There were however two tunes of this title, and the one chosen for composing tz’u lyrics was renamed Two shared-hearts.” This tz’u tune has three forms:
i) one using Oblique rhymes, created by Liu Yung 柳永 (fl. ca. AD 1045),
ii) one using Level rhymes, created by Yen Chi-tao 晏幾道 (fl. ca. AD 1073), and
iii) one harmonising all Three Tones for rhymes, created by Tu An-shih 杜安世 (fl. ca. AD 1040). It was also a ch’ü-aria tune-title, the Northern ch’ü-aria entering it as a High Big-stone Chȕeh Single-aria (Kao-Ta-shih Chȕeh chih-ch’ü 高大石角之曲), and for aria-sets putting it into the High Big-stone Chȕeh.
200Yȕan-yang 鴛鴦: mandarin duck, Aix galericulata, mandarin drake and mandarin duck (yȕan being the male and yang the female). As mandarin duck and drake mostly stick together as a pair, they early became a symbol for a pair of truly loving lovers or a perfectly loving married couple. Song no. 216 in Songs classic is called Mandarin duck and drake, and is in the nature of wedding wishes for fertility and plenty.
In a story given by Kan Pao 干寶, fl. ca. AD 317, when Han P’ing 韓憑 and his sweetheart Miss He 何氏 committed suicide because of the tyranny of a wicked Prince K’ang 康王against them, they were buried in separate tombs, but within one day a huge catalpa-tree had soared up at the inner end of each tomb, the branches and roots of both trees had entwined with each other, and a mandarin duck and a mandarin drake perched up in these trees, staying there together inseparably day and night. The people of their country called the trees the Love Trees/Yearning Trees (Hsiang-Ssu-shu 相思樹), and another name for them was Joined Branches (lien-li-chih 連理法), the trees likewise being used as a symbol of perfect lovers.
201 lou-tung 樓東, “East-of-the-tower/bower”. .
202 Lin-ch’un 臨春, “Spring-overlooking”, i.e. Lin-ch’un-ke 臨春閣, Spring-overlooking Chamber：
i) the name of a building constructed for the Latter Ruler of Ch’en (Ch’en hou-chu 陳後主, reigned 583 - 589, Ch’en Shu-pao 陳叔寶, 553 - 604). Li Yen-shou 李延壽 (T’ang dynasty, 7th century AD) Southern history (Nan-shih 南史), “Chang Kui-fei chuan”, says: “In the year AD 584, to the fore of Light-beaming Chamber (Kuang-chao-ke 光昭閣), there were erected Spring-overlooking Chamber and Knotted-damask Chamber (Chieh-ch’i-ke 結綺閣), which were several hundred feet tall, and such things as their windows, balustrades and thresholds were all made of eaglewood and sandalwood, adorned with gold and jade, interspersed with pearls and emeralds, and whenever a slight breeze drifted along, the perfume [of the wood] was smelt for some miles, and when the dawn sun first shone, its beams lit up their rear courtyards. At the foot of them, rocks were piled up to make rockeries, and streams were diverted to form ponds, and rare trees were planted, mixed in with flowers and herbs.
The Latter Ruler himself dwelled in Overlooking-spring Chamber, Most-prized-empress Chang (Chang Kui-fei 張貴妃) dwelled in Knotted-damask Chamber, and the two favourite second-rank wives Kung 龔 and K’ung 孔 dwelled in Gazing-for-immortals (Wang-hsien 望仙) [Chamber]. There were also Double Paths (fu-tao 複道) going to and fro, intermingling.” The old site must be in present-day Nanking city.
ii) Spring-overlooking Chamber was the title of a play by Wu Wei-yeh 吳偉業 (1609 - 1671), concerning the Latter Ruler, his Most-prized-empress Chang and his queen Hsi 洗.
203Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Han Wo 韓偓 [fl. ca. AD 901].
204Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lo Ch’iu 羅沀 [fl. ca. AD 874].
205 Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lu Kui-meng 陸龜蒙 [AD? - ca. AD 881].
206Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ts’ui Hao 崔顥 [AD? - AD 754].
207Yao-ch’ih 瑤池, Jasper Mere. The “jasper” is an arbitrary translation of the yao, defined in Chinese as “a beautiful kind of jade”. I imagine it once did have a more specific meaning. Jasper Mere is in the realm of the immortals, and by it dwells the goddess Royal Mother of the West (Hsi Wang-mu 西王母). Anon. (early 3rd century BC or earlier), Son of Heaven King Solemn (Mu t’ien-tzu chuan 穆天子傳), has the words:
On an auspicious day, the day chia-tzu, the Son of Heaven, King Solemn, went to visit Royal Mother of the West, and, holding a white writing-tablet and black jade-disk, had an audience with her, and, to gain her friendship, presented her with a hundred silk sashes and three hundred satin sashes. She received them with repeated obeisances.
The next day, the day yi-ch’ou, the Son of Heaven held a wine-party for Royal Mother of the West on the banks of Jasper Mere.
Ke Hung 葛洪 (284 - 363), in his Biographies of immortals (Shen-hsien chuan 神仙傳), says: “In Light-wind Park (Lang-feng-Yȕan 閬風苑) in K’un-lun 崑崙there’s a twelve-storey jade tower, to the left of which is Jasper Mere, and to the right of which is the River Kingfisher (Ts’ui-shui 翠水).”
208A reference to the story of the Han dynasty Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti). See notes above.
209 ch’ing-luan 青鸞, “green roc”:
i) a kind of phoenix, the mostly crimson kind of phoenix being called feng 鳳, “phoenix”, and the mostly green kind being called luan 鸞, which, for distinctio
n, we unsatisfactorily translate as “roc”. See Abundant knowledge record (Ch’ia-wen chi 洽聞記). Li He 李賀 (791 - 817) has a poem with the line, “At bronze mirror stands the green roc”. Rocs were said to enjoy dancing facing a mirror, and so “roc” became a term for “mirror”. Hsü Yin 徐夤 (fl. ca. AD 873), in his Shang-yang Palace lyric (Shang-yang-kung tz’u 上陽宮詞), has the line: “By darkness of dust on the dressing-table the green roc’s covered.”
ii) a poetic synonym for “messenger”, “envoy”, “deliverer of messages/letters”. Old matters of Emperor Warrior of the Han dynasty (Han Wu ku-shih 漢武故事) says: “On the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month, suddenly some green birds (ch’ing-niao 青鳥) flew along and flocked to the fore of the imperial palace-hall. ‘That means [the goddess] Royal Mother of the West (Hsi Wang-mu 西王母) is going to come here,’ said Tung-fang Sho 東方朔 [ca. 161 BC - ca. 87 BC, famous minister and court-jester]. Shortly, Royal Mother arrived, with three green birds in attendance upon her, on either side.”
210 About Chao Flying-swallow (Chao Fei-yen) and sister, a quote from a T’ang poem. See note above on Chao.
211i.e. one of boiled silk
212i.e. her husband died. A conventional image.
213i.e. Wang Chao-chün of the Han dynasty. See note above.
214a reference to the allusion of Han’s stealing incense in the romance. See note above.
215i.e. Queen of the State of Kuo
216A term from Tso’s commentary (Tso-chuan 左傳) and Ch’u elegies (Ch’u-tz’u 楚辭).
217Chiu-ch’ung 九重, Ninth Layer. A term originally meaning “Heaven”. Pan Ku’s 班固 (32 - 92) Han history (Han-shu 漢書), “Li-Yȕeh chih”, “Chiao-ssu ke”, says: “The Ninth Layer opens, The spirits drift.” A note to this explains: “Heaven has nine layers.” During the Ch’ing dynasty, a Westerner, his name given in Chinese as Yang Ma-no 陽瑪諾, is said in his book Brief questions on Heaven (T’ien-wen lȕeh 天問略), to have identified the nine “layers” as follows:
sun,
moon,
3-7. The Five Planets (Wu-hsing 五星, i.e. Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn),
8. The Heaven of the Twenty-eight Constellations (Erh-shih-pa-hsiu T’ien 二十八宿天),
9. The Progenitor-movement. Heaven (Tsung-tung-T’ien 宗動天).
No reasonable explanation is rovided as to the Chinese basis for this analysis.
Since an emperor was in theory Heaven’s principal conduit on Earth, his palace was also sometimes referred to as the Ninth Layer, or the emperor himself was even called the Ninth Layer. The early Han dynasty anthology of Chou dynasty and Han dynasty poetry Ch’u elegies (Ch’u-tz’u 楚辭), “Chiu-pien”, has the lines, “How can I not be pent with care, longing for my ruler, oh! My ruler’s gates are Nine Layers.”
Yang Shen 楊慎 (1488 - 1559), in his Outstanding men of antiquity (Ku-ch’ȕn 古雋), says: “Nine is the ultimate of the Male-force Numbers (yang-shu 陽數), which is why the Son of Heaven [= king/ emperor of China] is called the Ninth Layer.” The term Ninth Layer was, surely, mentally associated, however vaguely, with the term Nine Heavens or Ninth Heaven (Chiu-t’ien 九天). The Nine Heavens are the “heavens of the nine cardinal directions” (chiu-fang chih-t’ien 九方之天), being the heavens of:
1. the centre (chung-yang 中央),
2. the Four Main-directions (Ssu-cheng 四正, i.e. east, south, west and north),
3.the Four Corners (Ssu-yü 四隅, i.e. south-west, north-west, north-east, and south-east).
In ancient times, sacrificial services were often held to each of these nine directions. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC - ca. 85 BC) in his Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Feng-shan shu”, says: “The Nine Heavens Shaman held sacrificial services to the Nine Heavens.” Ch’u elegies (Ch’u-tz’u 楚辭), “T’ien-wen”, has the lines, “The edges of the Nine Heavens, where are they placed? Where do they join to?” A note to this says: “The Nine Heavens are:
Bright-white Heaven (Hao-t’ien 皓天, also found as Hao-t’ien 昊天), in the eastern region,
2. Male-force Heaven (Yang-t’ien 陽天), in the south-east region,
3. Crimson Heaven (Ch’ih-t’ien 赤天), in the southern region,
4. Vermilion Heaven (Chu-t’ien 朱天), in the south-west region,
5. Perfected Heaven (Ch’eng-t’ien 成天), in the western region,
6. Secluded Heaven (Yu-t’ien 幽天) in the north-west region,
7. Dark/Dark-brown Heaven (Hsȕan-t’ien 玄天), in the northern region,
8. Changing Heaven (Pien-t’ien 變天, also found as Phoenix(-chick) Heaven [Luan-t’ien 鸞天] and a Luan-tree [?] Heaven (Luan-t’ien 欒天), in the north-east region,
9. Even Heaven (Ch’ȕn-t’ien 鈞天), in the centre.
Yang Hsiung’s 揚雄 (53 BC-AD 18) Gandt Obscurity classic (T’ai-hsȕan ching 太玄經), “Hsȕan-shu”, says: “The Nine Heavens are:
1. Middle Heaven (Chung-t’ien中天
2. Admiring/Plentiful/Transcendent Heaven (Hsien-t’ien 羨天),
3. Following Heaven (Ts’ung-t’ien 從天),
4. Altering Heaven (Keng-t’ien 更天),
5. First-birthday Heaven (Tsui-t’ien 晬天),
6. Extensive/ Outline Heaven (K’uo-t’ien 壽天),
7. Reducing Heaven (Chien-t’ien 減天),
8. Sinking/Heavy Heaven (Ch’en-t’ien 沈天),
9. Perfect Heaven (Ch’eng-t’ien 成天).
Lü Pu-wei’s 呂不韋 (?BC - 235 BC) (attr.), Mr. Lü’s springs-and-autumns (Lü-shih ch’un-ch’iu 呂太春秋), “Yu-shih”, and Liu An’s 劉安 (?BC - 122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), “T’ien-wen”, both also have theories of what the Nine Heavens are, many of the items being the same as those of the note to Ch’u elegies. They term the Nine Heavens the Nine Areas (Chiu-yeh 九野). Mr. Lü’s springs-and-autumns says: “Heaven has Nine Areas:
1. The centre is called Even Heaven (Ch’ȕn-t’ien 鈞天),
2. The eastern region is called Grey/Blue Heaven (Ts’ang-t’ien 蒼天),
3. The north-east region is called Changing Heaven (Pien-t’ien 變天),
4. The northern region is called Dark/Dark-brown Heaven (Hsȕan-t’ien 玄天),
5. The north-west region is called Secluded Heaven (Yu-t’ien 幽天),
6. The western region is called White Heaven (Hao-t’ien 皓天),
7. The south-west region is Vermilion Heaven (Chu-t’ien 朱天),
8. The southern region is called Flame Heaven (Yen-t’ien 炎天),
9. The south-east region is called Male-force/ Sunlight Heaven (Yang-t’ien 陽天).
Sir Huai-south, with the same list of Heavens, says: “Heaven has nine Areas, and nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Corners (yü 隅), and is five billion (wu yi-wan 五億萬), [yi-wan meaning “hundreds of millions” or “millions on millions”, a generalised large number rather than a specific one] li-miles from the Earth.” A note to this says: “The Nine Areas are the Areas of the Nine Heavens, one Area being one thousand one hundred and eleven Corners.”
Nine Areas/Wildernesses (Chiu-yeh 九野), I note in passing elsewhere, also means “the open countryside of the world’s Nine Regions (Chiu-chou 九州).”
218Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Liu Ch’ang-ch’ing 劉長卿 [709 - 780].
219i.e. the emperor has made a statement.
220i.e. of the wealthy and eminent. Here meaning her own residence.
221Chi-men 戟門, Dagger-axe Gate. In ancient times, dagger-axes (chi 戟) were set up at the gates of palaces. Under the T’ang dynasty governmental system, those mandarins who were of grade three in their government career-merit were allowed to set up dagger-axes at the gate of their private residences, for which reason the gate of an eminent family was known as Dagger-axe Gate. In Yȕan Chen’s 元稹 (779 - 831) poem Returning home to the west (Hsi-kui 西歸) there are the lines: “In the heart-breaking
P’ei family’s Shining-virtue Residence, Nobody sweeps the ground deep behind the Dagger-axe Gate.” Here it refers to Yang Kuo-chung’s residence?
222Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Chia Tao 賈島 [fl. ca. 793 - 865].
223Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ch’iao Chih-chih 喬知之 [AD? - AD 697].
224 Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Li Shang-yin 李商隱 [813 - 858].
225feng-yȕn 風雲, “wind and clouds”, “storm-cloud(s)”. Sometimes taken literally as this:
i) But in Changes classic (Yi-ching 易經), “Ch’ien”, it says: “Cloud comes in the wake of dragons and wind in the wake of tigers, and when a sage [ruler] arises, all Nature’s creatures watch him.” Exegeses to this say, somewhat confusedly or confusingly, that the term refers to beings of similar kind’s affecting each other, and, accordingly, later on it came to mean “mighty (favourable or unfavourable) turns in life”, “spell of fortune (good or bad)”, “(mighty) encounter”.
Fan Yeh 范曄 (398 - 445), History of the Latter Han dynasty (Hou Han shu 後漢書), “Keng Ch’un chuan”, says: “Having dragon-and-tiger figure/ talents/ qualities, and encountering a time of wind and cloud, with vigorous speed he rose straight up, and within a year his younger brother was acclaimed prince.” Discourses passed down by Chu Yu and others (Chu Yu teng ch’uan-lun 朱祐等傳論), [by Chu Yu 朱祐, ?BC - 47 BC], says: “The Twenty-eight Generals of the Resurgence were in previous ages held to correspond to the Twenty-eight Constellations, but I have no details about it. All the same, they were all able at inducing the meeting of wind and clouds, energetically rousing up their strategies and courage, were acclaimed for assisting their ruler to consolidate a dynasty, and were also each knights of noble ideals and of much ability.”
ii) an image for high distant terrain. Tso Ssu 左思 (AD? - ca. AD 306), Wu capital rhapsody (Wu-tu fu 吳都賦), has the lines: “Paths and roads cut off, Wind and cloud showing through.” Shen Yȕeh 沈約 (441 - 513), Stele text for the late Prince Chao of An-lu of Ch’i (Ch’i-ku An-lu Chao-wang pei-wen 齊故安陸昭王碑文), says: “To the south it joins with Mounts Heng and Wu, a thousand-mile route of wind and cloud.”
Appendices and Endnotes Page 21