1171ch’un-yu 春 遊, spring travel, spring tour, a term used as early as the Han dynasty, by Ts’ui Yin 崔駰 (AD? - AD 92) and by Chang Heng 張衡 (78 - 139), an early note to the latter saying: “’Spring tour’ means taking a tour in the second month of the spring - the second month of the lunar year - to Mount T’ai, at which time the insects hidden in the earth open their doors, and the emperor accordingly makes a tour of inspection eastwards, to assist the warm ether.” Here it is probably used in a general sense of: imperial tour(s), imperial trip(s).
1172chia-li 佳麗, beautiful charmer, exquisite charmeuse, gorgeous beauty, a term used by Hsieh T’iao 謝脁 (464 - 508), and Li Pai 李白 (701 - 762).
1173hou-kung 後宮 “the Rear Palaces”, refers to the dwelling quarters of the empresses and other imperial wives in the imperial palace. Tai Sheng 戴聖 (early first century BC), Rites record (Li-chi 禮記, “Hun-yi”), says: “In ancient times the Son of Heaven set up the Six Palaces for his queens/empresses”, and an early note to this says: “The Son of Heaven has six bedrooms, and the Six Palaces are behind them.” The term is found used in a rhapsody attributed to Song Yü 宋玉 (ca. 290 BC - ca. 233 BC) uses the term. It can also collectively refer to the royal/imperial wives themselves, as used in an example from Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (145 BC - ca. 90 BC).
1174Chin-wu 金屋, gold room/house, used here in connection with the chiao three syllables below this surely refers to the story in Pan Ku班固 (32 - 92) (attr.), Old happenings/stories of Emperor Warrior of the Han dynasty (Han Wu ku-shih 漢武故事). Ch’en Ying’s陳嬰 great grand-daughter was named Dear-dainty (A-chiao 阿嬌), and her mother was Emperor Warrior’s (Wu-ti 武帝, reigned 140 BC-87 BC) aunt, the Elder Princess of Kuan-t’ao (Kuan-t’ao Ch’ang-kung-chu 館陶長公主). When Emperor Warrior was a child, the Elder Princess once picked him up in her arms, put him on her knee, and asked him: “Do you want to have a wife, my son?” And she pointed at Dear-dainty, and said: “Would she do?” “If I got Dear-dainty,” replied the future emperor with a smile, “I’d have to keep her in a gold room.”
The Elder Princess was most delighted at this, and later accordingly requested the emperor to bring about the marriage. When he ascended the throne, he set Dear-dainty up as his empress.
From this story, later ages used the term “Keeping a dainty beauty [chiao 嬌] in a gold room” to signify building a splendid room/ house in which to lodge a lady.
1175yü-lou 玉樓, “jade bower/villa/mansion”, i.e. a splendid storied building, here a poetic term of praise for palace buildings.
1176lieh-t’u 列土, to be awarded a territory/estate, to be ranked among the titled estate-holders. This refers to the titles awarded to three of Most-prized-empress Yang’s elder sisters and two of her paternal elder cousins, and also, although not stated, by implication to the other titles and honours awarded to other members of her family. In AD 750, her eldest sister was made Queen of the State of Han (Han-kuo Fu-jen 韓國夫人), her third eldest sister Queen of the State of Kuo (Kuo-kuo Fu-jen 虢國夫人), and her eighth eldest sister Queen of the State of Ch’in (Ch’in-kuo Fu-jen 秦國夫人). Her father Yang Yȕan-yan 楊元琰 was given the posthumous title of Duke of Ch’i 齊公, and her mother was made Queen of the State of Liang (Liang-kuo Fu-jen 梁國夫人). Her male first cousin Yang Hsien was made Lord Master of Ceremony, and another male first cousin, Yang Ch’i, Attendant Censor. In AD 754 a male second cousin, Yang Chao 楊釗, better known by his later name of Yang Kuo-chung (楊國忠), became Prime Minister of the Left.
1177Chung 重, to consider important, to attach/accord importance to, to prize, to highly value Story behind “Song of everlasting sorrow” （Ch’ang-hen ke chuan 長恨歌傳）by Ch’en Hung 陳鴻 (fl. ca. AD 813) says: “A folk-song of the time said: ‘Don’t be sad and sour if you bear a daughter, Don’t be joyful and delighted if you bear a son.’ And another one went, ‘Sons aren’t made lords, but daughters are made queens, Look to daughters instead as the prime hope for your house’s station in society.’ Such was the admiration that she evoked in people’s minds.”
1178Li-kung 驪宮, the Li palace. On Mount Li, south of present-day Lin-t’ung county in Shensi province. A Hot-spring Palace (T’ang-ch’ȕan-kung 湯泉宮) was built there in AD 723, which was changed to Warm-spring Palace (Wen-ch’ȕan-kung wen, 溫泉宮), then in AD 748 to Florescence-purity Palace (Hua-ch’ing-kung 華清宮). Emperor Dark-progenitor would visit it every year, and so “hot-water wells” (t’ang-ching 湯井) were enlarged into ponds, and offices and ministerial residences, were set up in the area. After the Rebellion fo An Lu-shan, imperial tours to the palace became rare, and it later fell into ruin. During the Five Dynasties Tsin dynasty, it was turned into a Taoist temple. The mountain was so named because anciently the Li-jung 驪戎 “Barbarians” used to have their home there. The First Emperor of the Ch’in (reigned 246 BC - 210 BC) is buried on the mountain. At the foot of it are warm springs.
1179ch’ing-yȕn 青雲, “blue clouds”, i.e. sky, high location, high place. Ssu-ma Ch’ien (145-ca. 85 BC) uses the term in three senses: fine virtue and reputation; lofty position/post; lofty reclusion. There is something of the sense of all of these, especially the latter here: see next line.
1180Ning 凝, lit. “to freeze”, “to congeal”, a musical term meaning: to slowly/leisurely lead/introduce, to be slowly leisurely introduced/led by.
1181Ssu-chu 絲竹, “silk and bamboo”, i.e. string and wind instruments, i.e. string and wind music
1182p’i-ku 鼙鼓, small horse-drum, i.e. a small drum played on horseback, i.e. war-drum. This is the meaning from the Han dynasty onwards. More anciently, when soldiers didn’t ride horses, the drum was held by the Grand Marshall/Commander-in-chief (ta ssu-ma 大司馬)
1183Yü-yang 漁 陽, name of commanderies (chȕn 郡):
(i) set up as a during the Ch’in dynasty, its territory including the land east of present-day Peking, north of Tientsin, south of the Great Wall, and west of Feng-jun and Tsun-hua counties in Hopeh province. During the Han dynasty, its administrative seat was Yü-yang county, the old city being south-west of present-day Mi-yȕn county. That city was situated north (yang 陽) of the River Yü (Yü-shui 漁 水), hence its name. During the Three Kingdoms period, both county and commandery were abolished.
(ii) Set up during the Sui dynasty, in the region of present-day Chi county and P’ing-ku county in Hopeh province. They also set up a Yü-yang county, where there was located the commandery’s administrative seat, being situated in present-day Chi 薊 county. During the T’ang dynasty it was changed to Chi subprefecture (Chi-chou 薊州), and in the Ming dynasty it was dispensed with and absorbed into Chi subprefecture. Illustrated classic of Chi-chou (Chi-chou t’u-ching 薊 州 圖經) says: “North-west of Chi subprefecture’s city there’s a Mount Yü (Yü-shan 漁 山), and the commandery is south (yang 陽) of that mountain, which is why it’s called Yü-yang.” Mount Yü is north-west of present-day Chi county. The River Yü is nowadays called the River Yang (Yang-he 陽 河). It issues from Mi-yȕn county, flows south-east, passes the foot of Mount Yü in Chi county, and enters the Chi Canal (Chi yȕn-he 薊).
The poem is actually referring to Fan-yang 范陽. In the T’ang dynasty a Fan-yang county was established in the region of present-day Ta-hsing, Wan-p’ing, Ch’ang-p’ing, Fang-shan, An-tz’u and Pao-ti counties in Hopeh province, with its administrative capital at Chi, present-day Ta-hsing county. During the period 742 - 756, a Commissioner for Fan-yang was set up, and the region of Fan-yang became one of the Non-Chinese Military Border Appanages (fan-chen 藩 鎮). The system of such appanages, begun during the T’ang, was greatly developed by Emperor Dark-progenitor of the present poem, who set up ten of them in border regions. The appanages tended to become independent of and troublesome to the central imperial government. Also in the middle of the period 742 - 756, the area round Chi (Chi-chou) had its name changed to Yü-yang province (Yü-yang-chȕn). Selected essentials of T’ang and Sung poetry (
T’ang Sung shih chü-yao 唐 宋 詩 舉要) says: “Chi subprefecture (present-day Ta-hsing county in Hopeh province) of the T’ang dynasty during the Heaven Treasure reign-period (742 - 756) was changed to Yü-yang commandery, under the control of the Area Commander with Special Warrant of Yü-yang (Yü-yang chieh-tu 漁 陽 節度). When An Lu-shan occupied Fan-yang and rebelled against the T’ang dynasty, it was like P’eng Ch’ung 鵬寵 (fl. ca. AD 25) [governor of Yü-yang] had occupied Yü-yang and rebelled against the Han dynasty, which is why Yü-yang is mentioned and not Fan-yang.”
In the (eleventh lunar month of the) year 755, the half-Chinese half-Sogdian General An Lu-shan 安 祿 山 (An Roxan - AD 757) rebelled in Fan-yang, under the pretext of wishing to deal with the Prime Minister of the Right, Yang Kuo-chung 楊國忠 (- AD 756), the rebellion lasting until 757. Because, as seen above, a certain P’eng Ch’ung rebelled at Yü-yang during the Han dynasty, to maintain the fiction of a Han setting this poem refers to Yü-yang here instead of the historical Fan-yang start of An Lu-shan’s rebellion, but near enough for the hidden T’ang reference to be clear.
There’s perhaps also, in view of the mention of drums, a hint at another famous Han dynasty incident, in which the haughty scholar Ni Heng 禰衡 (173 - 198) “beat the three drum-rolls of Yü-yang” (Yü-yang ts’an-chua 漁陽參撾) with disastrous consequences for himself. Although not directly relevant to our context here, this latter hint would add sub-liminal weight to the line.
1184Ni-ch’ang yü-yi ch’ü 霓裳羽衣曲, Rainbowskirtt feather-jackett melody, the name of a dance-tune or suite of tunes. It originated in India, and came to northern China during the period 713 - 741, through Chinese Turkestan (present-day Sinkiang) and Kansu, being presented to the emperor by the Commissioner of Hsi-liang 西涼. (in north-western present-day Kansu province), Yang Ching-shu 楊敬述, at that time. Emperor Dark-progenitor revised it somewhat. One early story says: “Lo Kung-yȕan 羅公遠 had a lot of secret magic, and once went with Emperor Dark-progenitor to the Palace of the Moon, where several hundred immortal-maidens all in plain-white silk and rainbow robe danced in a wide open piazza. On asking what the melody used for the dance was, they were told it was Rainbow-skirt and feather-jacket. The emperor discreetly noted the tune, and then he and Lo came back. The following day, he summoned his musicians and from the tune composed his Rainbow-skirt and feather-jacket melody.” Another tale says; “On the mid-autumn night of AD 741, the emperor and Yeh Fa-shan 葉法善 [Yeh “Excellent Magic”] took a trip to the Palace of the Moon, heard all the immortals there playing a melody, and subsequently put it to the jade-flute, calling this melody Rainbow-skirt and feather-jacket, it thereafter being spread by the Ministry of Music.”
A certain Cheng Yü 鄭愚 says: “When Emperor Dark-progenitor reached the Palace of the Moon, he heard immortal’s music but on his return could only remember half of it. It chanced, however, that Yang Ching-shu presented him with the supernatural melody, which fitted in with its music, so he used what he’d heard on the moon as a separate prelude, and what Ching-shu had brought him as the melody proper, calling it Rainbow-skirt and feather-jacket.” Cheng seems to have tried to reconcile probable fact and probable fiction! Emperor Dark-progenitor’s Most-prized-empress Yang, the heroine of this poem, was famous in posterity for her dancing to this tune for the emperor’s pleasure, and it’s used here as a symbol of the pleasure-making of the two lovers that’s suddenly shattered by rebellion.
1185yen-ch’en 煙塵, “smoke and dust”, i.e. armed conflict of rebellion (or the news of such). It seems elsewhere and originally to refer to (the alarums of) border incursions.
1186ch’eng-ch’ȕeh 城闕, “walls and gate-watchtowers”. From ancient times there would be two watchtowers or square-based round-topped outlook-towers one on either side of the gates of a palace. Hence this term, found as a compound as early as in Songs classic (Shih-ching) with the meaning “high watchtower on top of city-walls”, was used by Yü Hsin 庾信 (513 - 581) to mean the place where the emperor lives, i.e. the imperial city, the compound of imperial palaces, the imperial palace (in the broader sense). There is a similar term kung-ch’ȕeh 宮,“imperial-palace watch-towers”.
1187chiu-ch’ung 九重, the Ninth Layer (i.e. highest) Heaven, i.e. (The Son of Heaven’s = emperor) emperor’s abode/palace. Early in the Ch’ing dynasty, a Westerner writing in Chinese defined the Nine Layers as: 1) sun, 2) moon, 3 - 7) the five planets, 8) Heaven of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, 9) Tsung-tung (Progenitor Activing?) Heaven. Another explanation of the term seems to be embodied in Ch’u elegies’ (Ch’u-tz’u 楚辭) line “The monarch’s gates are nine, one after the other”.
1188hsi-nan 西南, south-westwards, south-west, i.e. towards Szechwan, whither Emperor Dark-progenitor and a host of his followers moved in the sixth lunar month of AD 756 to avoid the approaching victorious forces of An Lu-shan
1189ts’ui-hua 翠華 “kingfisher-bloom/-florescence”, emperor’s banner (a banner adorned at the top with a cluster of kingfisher-feathers). Pan Ku班固 (32 - 92) and Liu Yȕn 柳筠 (465 - 517) both used the term. One commentator says “emperor’s chariot-canopy and banners”, but with no support for that elsewhere.
1190tu-men 都門: capital-city/metropolis gate, here referring to Ch’ang-an’s Extended/ Inviting Autumn Gate (Yen-ch’iu-men 延秋門).
1191liu-chȕn 六軍, the Six Armies, i.e. the emperor’s army. Anon. (late Chou-early Han), Chou rites (Chou-li 州禮), says: “An army is in general composed of twelve thousand five hundred men, and a ruler of China (wang 王) has six armies, a powerful state in China three armies, the next-size state in China two armies, and the smallest states one army.” It usually meant the emperor’s main military forces, garrisoned near his capital, and often under his personal control, another term for chin-chȕn 禁軍, “forbidden precincts imperial palace army”.
1192e-mei 蛾眉, lit. “moth eyebrows”, a term found as early as in Songs classic (Shih-ching) of the Chou dynasty. It’s taken, not unreasonably, that it referred to eyebrows that were as gracefully arched as the antennae of a moth, which was certainly the generally accepted connotation in later times, but Yen Shih-ku 顏師古 (581 - 645) disputes this at length, and prefers to view the e as meaning the same as e 娥, “daintily pretty”, “sprightly and slightly”, “cute”. Often used in poetry, it has the sense of: daintily pretty/beautiful girl/woman/lady.
1193ma-ch’ien ssu 馬前死, to die before horses, i.e. under their hooves? But perhaps the term is deliberately vaguer than that? In the sixth lunar month of the year AD 756, Emperor Dark-progenitor, hearing news of a massive defeat of his forces at T’ung Pass by An Lu-shan’s troops, fled for Shu (Szechwan) in wild disorder, but on reaching Ma Wei’s Posting-station, some three or so miles west of present-day Hsing-p’ing county in Shensi province, the soldiers accompanying him, being hungry and weary, mutinied and refused to go any further. They killed Yang Kuo-chung, and demanded the life of Most-prized-empress Yang, viewing her as responsible for the T’ang empire’s disasters and their own predicament. In a dangerous position, the emperor had no choice but to give in, and ordered her dragged off. She was garrotted in a Buddhist temple, and her corpse placed in the courtyard of the posting-station, where the soldiers were summoned in to view it, they only then agreeing to proceed on towards Szechwan. Sometimes it’s taken that the corpse was trampled by the hooves of the imperial guard, which adds drama to the incident.
1194ts’ui-ch’iao 翠翹, “kingfisher’s (long) tail-feather”, a woman’s hair ornament made in imitation of kingfisher’s tail-feather.
1195hsȕeh-lei 血淚, blood and tears, blood tears. It was held, or poetically mooted, that, if one’s grief was too terrible, one would weep blood instead of tears, or that if one had wept all the tears that one had, one would weep blood. Here, clearly, there is simultaneity. Another explanation, that hsȕeh itself means “tears”, hardly holds water!
1196san-man 散漫, to scatter everywhere, a term used in a poem by Hsie
h Hui-lien 謝惠連 (397 - 433)
1197yȕn-chan 雲棧, “cloud wooden-walkway”, a walkway/plank walk/gallery walk (including bridges) built of wood and supported by wooden struts, with some hewing-out of the mountain rock, and very high up in mountains, such walkways being required by the precipitous and difficult terrain of the route from present day Shensi province into Szechwan province.
1198Chien-ke 劍閣, Sword Bower, Sword Pavilion, Sword Kiosk, being the name of a chan-tao 棧道, “wooden walk-way/gallery”, road between Big Sword Mountain and Little Sword Mountain in present Szechwan province. Also called Sword-gate Pass. One commentator says that it means Sword-gate Mountain (Chien-men-shan 劍門山), north of present-day Chien-ke county in Szechwan province.
1199See note above.
1200Shu-chiang 蜀江, Shu Yangtse, those parts of the Yangtse in present-day Szechwan province.
1201Shu 蜀, see note above.
1202hsing-kung 行宮, “travel palace”, a provisional residence used temporarily by emperor when on tour away from the capital.
1203ch’ang-tuan 腸 斷, “innards-/gut-severing”, i.e. heart-rending
1204t’ien-hsȕan ti-chuan 天旋地轉, “Heaven revolves and Earth turns”, i.e. Heaven and Earth undergo an enormous and sudden change, here referring to the Rebellion of An Lushan’s being ended and the T’ang dynasty’s being restored to power, in AD 757.
1205ch’ou-ch’u 躊躇, to linger, to tarry. Ou-yang Hsiu 歐陽修 (1007 - 1072) et al., New T’ang dynasty history (Hsin T’ang-shu 新唐書) (1060), says: “When Most-prized-empress Yang was garrotted at the foot of the shrine, she was buried by the roadside... On reaching there from Shu, the Emperor came up to the spot, and had a sacrificial service held for her.”
1206T’ai-yeh 太液, i.e. T’ai-yeh ch’ih 太液池, Grand-liquid Pond, name of ponds:
(i) A Han dynasty pond north-west of present-day Ch’ang-an county in Shensi province. Emperor Warrior (reigned 140 BC - 87 BC) built his Splendour-establishing Palace (Chien-chang-kung 建章宮) south of the pond, and then also built a Soaking Terrace (Chien-t’ai 漸臺) in the pond, which was over two hundred Chinese-feet tall, and carved with stone leviathans thirty Chinese-feet long. From the middle of it arose three mountains, symbolising the three mountain-isle paradises of Erigeron-chenopodium (P’eng-lai 蓬 萊), Ying Isle (Ying-chou 瀛洲) and Fang-chang 方丈. During the reign of Emperor Resplendent (Chao-ti 昭帝 (reigned 86 BC - 74 BC), a Yellow Swan, seemingly a large fabulous bird, alighted in the middle of the pond, and the ministers considered it an omen of longevity.
Appendices and Endnotes Page 56