264Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Li Chung李中 [fl. ca. AD 947].
265Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lo Yin 羅隱 [833 - 909].
266Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Su T’ing蘇頲 [670 - 727].
267Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Liu Kung-ch’üan 柳公權 [778 - 865].
268Kuo Tzu-yi 郭子儀, (697-781), a man of Cheng 鄭 in Hua-chou 華州. During the reign of Emperor Dark-progenitor (Hsȕan-tsung 玄宗) (reigned 712-756), he became a Military Selectee of Exceptional Grade (wu-chü yi-teng 武舉異等), and rose to become Military Commissioner of Sho-fang (Sho-fang chieh-tu-shih 朔方節度使). During the reign of Emperor Solemn-progenitor (Su-tsung 肅宗. Reigned 756-763), he quelled the rebellion of An Lu-shan and Shih Ssu-ming 史思明 (AD? -AD 761), his exploits surpassing those of all the other generals of the T’ang restoration (Chung-hsing 中興). He was awarded the title of Prince of Fen-yang (Fen-yang-wang 汾陽王), for which reason people called him Kuo Fen-yang 郭汾陽.
In the reign of Emperor Replacement-progenitor (Tai-tsung 代宗, reigned 763 - 779), he was encamped at He-chung 河中, when several score thousand Uighurs (Hui-ke 回紇) surrounded his camp. With only a few score cavalry to accompany him, he rode into the Uighur camp to try and dissuade them from attacking, and the Uighurs withdrew without doing battle. During the reign of Emperor Virtue-progenitor (Te-tsung 德宗, reigned 780 - 805) he was promoted to Defender-in-chief and Secretariat Director (T’ai-wei chung-shu-ling 太尉中書令), so came to be referred to as Kuo Lord Director (Kuo ling-kung 郭令公). He was awarded the title of Esteemed Father (Shang-fu 尚父). His career was intimately bound up with the fate of the T’ang dynasty for nearly twenty years, and he was given the posthumous title of Conscientious-in-service and Doughty (Chung-wu 忠武).
269Yang Kuo-chung was a paternal cousin of Empress Yang, and made himself Prime Minister. It was said to have been his jealousy of An Lu-shan that sparked off the latter’s rebellion.
270 Ch’i-t’ien 杞天, Ch’i Heaven, Heaven over Ch’i. The term seems to derive from the philosophical work Sir Lieh (Lieh-tzu), written some time before about 300 AD, in which there is mention of a man of the state of Ch’i who was so afraid that the heavens might collapse and fall on him that foolishly he could no longer sleep or eat. Here Kuo Tzu-yi seems to be saying that he has no intention of passively relying on a Heaven wrongly reputed to listen to one’s prayers.
271The work K’ung Fu 孔鮒 (ca. 264 BC - 208 BC) (doubtful attribution, possibly a forgery attributed to him by Wang Su 王肅, 195 - 256), Confucius and a cluster of other philosophers (K’ung ts’ung-tzu 孔叢子), of the first or second century BC has the words “Swallows and sparrows dwelling on top of the hall think themselves secure, and when the stove suddenly flares up and sets fire to the beams and house, they don’t realise that the disaster will affect them, too.” Kuo mocks those passive onlookers who think the fate of the court will not affect them.
272In Anon. (around 600 BC), Songs classic (Shih-ching 詩經), no. 189, verse three, the final two lines, “I gaze ahead and see ravens alighting: On whose roofs will they do so?” take the raven as an ill omen. Another tradition takes the ravens’ alighting as referring to people’s giving their allegiance in times of strife to an inferior leader. In the latter case, Kuo is referring to the growing number of adherents to the causes of such rogues as An Lu-shan and Yang Kuo-chung.
273“Tigers and bears” anciently meant “bold generals”, but here must mean “bold bad generals”, i.e. An Lu-shan and his ilk.
274she-shu 社鼠, “soil-altar rats”. Ch’eng-hu 城狐, “city-wall foxes”. In the Chou dynasty or early Han work Yen Ying 晏嬰 (?BC - 500 BC) (dub. attr.), Sir Yen’s “springs-and-autumns” (Yen-tzu ch’un-ch’iu 晏子春秋), “soil-altar rats” is used as an image for the hangers-on of evil men. “Soil-altar rats and city-wall foxes” is found in Fang Ch’iao 房喬 (579 - 648), and others, (eds.), Tsin history (Chin-shu 晉書), meaning evil hangers-on whom it is desirable to remove, but whose removal would mean disaster for the political personality whom they “infest”. The idea seems to be that the destruction of such vermin would entail the destruction of the very “soil-altars” and “city-walls” wherein they dwell. Here it must mean the evil hangers-on of An Lu-shan, and the Yangs, and so on.
275t’ing chi-ming, ch’i-shen tu yeh-wu 聽雞鳴, 起身獨夜舞, “to hear cocks crowing, and get up and dance alone at night”, refers to the phrase wen-chi ch’i-wu 聞雞起舞, “to hear cocks and rise and dance”. Fang Ch’iao 房喬 (579 - 648), and others, (eds.), Tsin history (Chin-shu 晉書), “Tsu T’i chuan”, says: “Tsu T’i 祖逖 [266 - 321] slept at night with the Minister of Works (ssu-k’ung 司空) Liu K’un 劉琨 [270 - 317] under the same duvet, and in the middle of the night he heard cocks crowing in the wild countryside, and kicked Liu K’un awake, saying, ‘That’s not an evil sound.’ And then he got up and danced [practised sword-play].” Subsequently, Tsu T’i became the military saviour of his decaying nation. Laster ages used the phrase in praise of scholars and knights of noble aspirations who exerted their efforts in timely fashion.
276Seemingly a phrase from the poet Han Yü 韓愈 (768 - 824).
277It was a commonplace poetic remark that the last word on the “great men” of history was always had by the ordinary woodcutters and fishermen, who still plied their trades when the mighty empires lay in ruin and oblivion.
278i.e. the streets of the capital. The term is found at least as early as in the poetry of Han Yü 韓愈 (768 - 824).
279The Minister of Ch’u is Ch’ü Yȕan 屈原 (340 BC? - 278 BC), China’s earliest securely nameable poet. A conscientious minister, his advice went unheeded and he eventually drowned himself. Perhaps because he drowned himself in water, rather than his sorrows in wine - as is sometimes pointed out in later Chinese literature - he’s often associated with sobriety, as well as being regarded as an archetypal loyal minister.
280Possibly Lü Shang 呂尚 (traditionally fl. ca. 1050 BC), bastion of the Chou dynasty, and first discovered by King Civility (Wen-wang 文王) as Lü was angling. More likely Han Hsin 韓信 (?BC - 196 BC), a general who helped found the Han dynasty.
281Perhaps Li Kuang 李廣 (?BC - 119 BC), a doughty defender of the Han empire, or, anachronistically, the Five Dynasties General Li Ts’un-hsiao 李存孝 (AD? - AD 894), a famous tiger-shooter.
282Probably Fan K’uai 樊噲 (?BC - 189 BC), but there were many other famous dog-butcher heroes. Possibly in all three cases, of Angler, Shooter, and Butcher, Hung Sheng simply intends to convey the generalised notion of “hero bastions of the nation”.
283i.e. Ching K’e 荊軻 (?BC - 227 BC) of Yen, the famous would-be assassin, who for the sake of his prince, tried to kill the fearsome First Emperor of the Ch’in dynasty. Kuo Tzu-yi thus likens himself to this famous (or notorious, depending on point of view) tippling loyal servant of his prince.
284i.e. T’ao Yȕan-ming 陶淵明 (T’ao Chi’en 陶潛 365 - 427), the famous poet, who retired from his ultra-brief magistracy, and became a boozy recluse.
285Kuan Fu 灌夫 (?BC - 131 BC), a man of Ying-yin 潁陰 during the Han dynasty. A swashbuckling warrior, and an inveterate drinker, forthright in his cups. Courtesy-name Chung-ju 仲孺. His surname was originally Chang 張. His father Chang Meng 張孟 was a House-man (she-jen 舍人) retainer of the merchant, general and prime minister Kuan Ying 灌嬰 (?BC - 176 BC), so he took on the surname Kuan. When the states of Wu 吳 and Ch’u 楚 rebelled against the Han dynasty, Kuan Fu went with his father to attack them, once galloping his horse out alone to beneath the Wu general’s command-flag, and killing scores of men before returning to his own ranks, this earning him “world-wide” fame. Under the reign of Emperor Warrior (Wu-ti 武帝, reigned 140 BC - 87 BC), he became governor of Huai-yang 淮陽, but was charged for some offence and dismissed. When the empress dowage
r’s nephew, the general and prime minister Tou Ying 竇嬰 (?BC - 131 BC) fell from power, he would daily wander around in the company of Kuan Fu. Kuan Fu was a knight-errant kind of man, liked striking up new friendships, but was firmly upright. He was fond of letting himself go in wine-drinking, and destested fawning. Later on, in the dwelling of the prime minister T’ien Fen 田蚡 (?BC - 131 BC), he became wildly drunk and swore at all present, for their corrupt sycophancy, and was subsequently impeached by T’ien Fen, and shortly executed, along with the rest of his family.
286Kao-yang Chiu-t’u 高陽酒徒, Kao-yang Guzzler/Kao-yang Toper. Li Shih-ch’I 酈食其 (Ch’in dynasty) came to be known as “young lord/lord’s son of Kao-yang” (Kao-yang Kung-tzu 高陽公子). He once called on the Duke of P’ei (P’ei-kung 沛公 ̶ the later founding emperor of the Han dynasty), and was announced as looking like a Confucian scholar. A notorious anti-intellectual, the Duke sent back the message: “Tell him I’m too busy conquering the world, and haven’t got any time for meeting scholars.” When he received this message, Li Shih-ch’i placed his hand on his sword, and raged at the messenger: “Be off with you! Go back in and tell the Duke of P’ei that I’m the Guzzler of Kao-yang! No scholar me!” He subsequently became an important counsellor and diplomat of the Duke’s. Kuo is likening himself to Li, as someone who drinks copiously, and who could prove of momentous service.
287This cryptic poem comes from Yȕeh Shih 樂史 (930 - 1007), Unofficial biography of Grand-truth (T’ai-chen wai-chuan 太真外傳). The first line is a prediction of An Lu-shan’s rebellion, the second of the defeat of the T’ang general Ke-shu Han on the frontier, the third and fourth of Empress Yang’s death at Ma Wei’s Slope. The “ring/bangle” refers to her, since her personal name includes the word for “bangle” (huan 環), and the silken dress means the silken cloth with which she hanged/was strangled. Thus the poem as a whole foretells the national disaster of the T’ang, and the personal disaster of Empress Yang.
288Riddle-poems were a popular game, and there were often societies of expert devotees of such games. Kuo is wistfully wishing that he had someone so expert to help him unravel the mystery of the poem.
289chin-chi pu-chang 金雞步障, Gold-cock Step-curtain/screen, a screen bearing designs of golden cockerels which was placed around the emperor’s divan. He allowed An Lu-shan to sit at his feet, and both of them would watch performances of the Hundred Games (pai-his 百戲) entertainents of acrobatics. etc. together.
290An Lu-shan was half Chinese, half Sogdian. Non-Chinese people of central and northern Asia being pastoral nomads, the term “shepherd-slave” could be used as a term of abuse for such foreigners.
291This term derives ultimately from the work Tso-chuan of the Chou dynasty. “Hornet”-or “bee’-like eyes means big bulging eyes. The “hyena” is actually some other, ferocious wolf-like animal.
292 i.e. help the emperor.
293Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Hu Hsiu 胡宿 [996 - 1067].
294Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Ssu-k’ung T’u 司空圖 [837 - 908].
295Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Wang Chien 王建 [fl. 751 - 835].
296Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lü Wen 呂溫 [772 - 811].
297Yin-ch’an 銀蟾, Silver Toad, a poetic term for the moon, more often referred to as Ch’an-kung 蟾宮, Toad Palace. Legend has it that a toad dwells in the moon. An early note to the astronomical section of Fan Yeh’s 范曄 (398 - 445) Latter Han history (Hou Han shu 後漢書, says “Yi 羿 the Archer besought the medicine of immortality from the [goddess] Royal Mother of the West. Heng-e 姮娥 [i.e. Ch’ang-e 嫦娥, Constant-charmeuse], stole it and fled to the moon with it, she becoming the Toad (ch’an-ch’u 蟾蠩, elsewhere found as ch’an-ch’u 蟾蜍).”
A poem by Hsiao T’ung 蕭統 (501 - 531) uses the term ch’an-kuang 蟾光, “toad light“ for “moonlight“. Ts’ao Sung 曹松 (fl. ca. AD 867) in a poem uses the term Ch’an-k’u 蟾窟, “Toad Hole/House/Grotto“, meaning the moon or the moon palace. A poem by Li Chung 李中 (fl. ca. AD 947) uses the term Ch’an-kung, Toad Palace“, for the moon, associating it with the cassia-tree (kui 桂) said to be growing there, in allusions to “plucking the cassia“ which means “gaining success in the imperial civil service examinations. Li Chȕn-min 李俊民 (fl. ca. AD 1217) says in a poem, “In Toad Palace, breezes scatter and send drifting perfumes from the cassia.”
298She stole an elixir. It’s the Moon Rabbit that’s usually depicted as pestling exilir.
299chieh-ch’en 劫塵, Kalpa Dust, a Buddhist-sounding term for the ordinary mundane world. Kalpa is term for the vast length of time between the creation and recreation of a world or universe, being defined as 336,000,000 years, etc. In this drama the term just seems to serve to add a Buddhistic flavour.
300T’ai-yin 太陰, Grand Fenale-force:
i) a name for the moon.
ii) the name of a star, the same as Heaven’s Deep-pool (T’ien-yȕan 天淵). the planet Jupiter (Sui-hsing 歲星, Year Star), also called Year Female-force (Sui-yin 歲陰), Grand Year (T’ai-sui 太歲), Green Dragon (Ch’ing-lung 青龍) and Heaven One (T’ien-yi 天一). Liu An 劉安 (?BC - 122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), “T’ien-wen”, says: “The Grand Female-force is in the position yin 寅. Its year-name [sui-ming 歲名] is Guide-lift [?] Rise Form (She-t’i-ke 攝提格).” It also says: “Of the most eminent of Heaven’s gods, none is more eminent than Green Dragon, which is sometimes called Heaven One, sometimes Grand Female-force.”
Chang Yi 張揖 (Northern Wei dynasty, fl. ca. AD 490), Expanded “Standards” (Kuang “Ya” 廣雅), “Shih ‘t’ien’”, says: “Green Dragon, Heaven One and Grand Female-force are Jupiter.” Cf. T’ai-sui 太歲.
iii) the name of an asterism (ts’ung-ch’en 叢辰). Anon. (fl. ca. 1739), Book concerting years and distinguishing regions[?] (Hsieh-chi pien-fang shu 協紀辨方書), produced by imperial commission in AD 1739, cites a Divine door-pivot classic (Shen-shu ching 神樞經) as saying: “Grand Female-force governs the year, and it constantly occupies [the positions of] the two ch’en 辰 to the rear of Jupiter.
iv) a synonym for the Upper-spleen Meridian (shang-p’i ching 上脾經) and Lung Meridian (fei-ching 肺經) in Chinese traditional medicine, being the greatest abundance of female-force energy. Anon. (Han dynasty and/ or earlier), Inner classic (Nei-ching 內經), also called Yellow Emperor’s inner classic (Huang-ti nei-ching 黃帝內經), Basic questions (Su-wen 素問), “Yin-yang li-he lun”, says: “Beneath the Vast Shine (kuang-ming 廣明) is called Grand Female-force. The root of Grand Female-force arises from Hidden White (Yin-pai 隱白), and it’s called Female-force within Female-force (yin-chung chih-yin 陰中之陰).”
v) according to Ts’ai Yung 蔡邕 (133 - 192), Independent judgements (Tu-tuan 獨斷), says that Grand Female-force means “winter”.
301Yi 羿. Anon. (Chou to Han dynasties), Mountains and seas classic (Shan-hai ching 山海經), says:
The world-ruler Handsome (Ti-chȕn 帝俊.) bestowed a red-coloured bow and arrows with white plain-silk lines attached upon Archer Yi (Yi 羿 )[, the archer-god], for him to assist the lands of the mortal realm below. It was from then on that Archer Yi began to go and succour the Earth below in all its tribulations.
Liu An 劉安 (?BC-122 BC), Sir Huai-south (Huai-nan Tzu 淮南子), “Pen-ching p’ien”, tells of the shooting of the suns:
In the time of the world-ruler T’ang-ti Yao 唐帝堯 [traditionally reigned 2357 BC-2256 BC] ten suns would appear in the sky at one and the same time, scorching the grain and crops, and destroying the plants and trees, which meant that people could get nothing to eat. And the Cha-yü Ogre [Cha-yü or Cha-wa 猰貐. A weird supernatural dragon-headed tiger-clawed animal. Also variously described as a cave-dwelling monster with a red, ox-like body, human face and horse’s hooves, having a voice like a baby’s, and eating humans, and
as a monster with a snake’s body and human face.], the Chisel-teeth Monster [Tsao-ch’ih/Tso-ch’ih 鑿齒. Described elsewhere as a human-looking being, with chisel-shaped teeth five or six feet long, or, by another description, an animal, with chisel-shaped teeth three feet long protruding through the bottom of its chin, and who held a spear and shield.], the Nine-Necked Troll [Chiu-ying 九嬰. Said to be a nine-headed goblin which could squirt water or spurt fire from its mouth.], the Great-Wind Vulture (Ta-feng 大風 [said to be a fierce bird, a huge hawk or vulture, which could destroy people’s homes.], the Mighty Boar (Feng-hsi 封豨) and the Streak Serpent (Hsiu-she 修蛇) all plagued everybody.
So T’ang-ti Yao sent forth Archer Yi, and Archer Yi chastised Chisel-Teeth in the wilderness of Plough field Florescence (Ch’ou-hua 疇華), slew Nine Necks on the banks of Grim River (Hsiung-shui 凶水), and with an arrow attached to a silken line shot down Great Wind in the marsh of Blue Mound (Ch’ing-ch’iu chih-tse 青丘之澤). Above, Archer Yi shot down the tens suns, and down below he killed the Cha-yü Ogre. And he cleft the Streak Serpent in twain at Lake Cave-paradise-court (Tung-t’ing 洞庭), and captured the Mighty Boar at Mulberry Grove (Sang-lin 桑林).
All the multitude was overjoyed, and set up T’ang-ti Yao as the Son-of-Heaven, their world-ruler. It was not until then that the vast spaces and narrow defiles, the steep heights and the easy slopes, and the far places and near places of the whole world acquired roads and regular measured highways. Kao Yu 高誘 (Han dynasty) notes to this: “The ten suns came out together, and he shot away nine of them.”
Pao Chao 鮑照 (ca. 412 - ca. 465), in his Imitating antiquity (Ni-ku 擬古) poem, has the line: “The startled sparrow had a missing eye [no complete eye].” Li Shan 李善 (AD? - AD 689), in his notes to Selection of literary writings (Wen-hsȕan 文選), quotes Huang-fu Shih 皇甫謐 (215 - 282), Annals of the eras of emperors (Ti-wang shih-chi 帝王世紀), as saying: “The demi-god Yi 羿, Yu-ch’iung-shih 有窮氏, made a trip to the north with Wu He 吳賀, and Wu He got Yi to shoot at a sparrow. ‘Am I to leave it alive?’ asked Yi, “or to kill it?’ ‘Shoot its left eye,’ said Wu He. Yi stretched his bow, and shot at it, but hit its right eye by mistake. He hung his head in shame, and never forgot that all his life. That’s why to this day Yi’s praised for his skilled archery.”
Appendices and Endnotes Page 24