Apricot Cheeks and Almond Eyes 9780231878487

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APRICOT CHEEKS AND

A L M O N D EYES

EMPRESS

YANG

First Consort of Emperor Ning Tsung of the Southern Sung (Dynastic

Portrait,

Palace Museum,

Peking)

APRICOT CHEEKS AND

ALMOND EYES By GENEVIEVE WIM SATT

i

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS : NEW YORK

C O L U M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS

1939

COPYRIGHT

1939

BY

COLUMBIA U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS, N E W

YORK

Foreign agents: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Humphrey Milford, House, London, E.C. 4, England, AND B. I. Building, Nicol Bombay, India; MARUZEN COMPANY, LTD., 6 Nihonbashi, Tori-Nichome, Tokyo, Japan M A N U F A C T U R E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S OF

AMERICA

Amen Road,

Dedicated to the Beloved Cousin MARIE

LOUISE

WIMS ATT

FOREWORD H N

FITTING

together, piece by piece, this biography of

Empress Yang of the Southern Sung Dynasty, the writer has drawn copiously from Chinese sources. The Biographical

Dictionary

of Sung Personages

Short

yielded beams

for the framework; the Annals of the Sung Dynasty nished pillars and columns; the Ch'i Tung

fur-

Yeh Yii sup-

plied solid timbers; while minor caches of hearsay and tradition lent various ornamental items. The Shen K'o Ssu Fu fen Four Famous

Women)

Chi (Collected

Poems

of

published in the Ta Ch'ing Dy-

nasty, presents in part the poems of Hsueh T'ao of the T'ang, Yii Hsuan-chi of the T'ang, Sun Hui-lan of the Yuan, and Empress Yang of the Southern Sung. Of these four poetesses, the first three are so widely known that the Chinese scholar refers to them as facilely as to M e n g Hao-jen or T'ao Ch'ien. Until modern times, however, the name of the fourth was heard only in recondite circles. Indeed, for centuries some obscurity as to authorship enveloped Empress Yang's poems; certain critics, ignoring connotations inherent in the matter and arguing only from the fixed classicism of the form, ascribed the compositions to a pre-Sung period. The reason for this seemingly strange disregard is at

viii

FOREWORD

once apparent to the student of Chinese customs. From early youth Empress Y a n g was a palace inmate, immured by red walls, having her whole existence within the cryptic boundaries of the court. Her verses were never intended for general circulation, but were, on the contrary, deliberately circumscribed, being strictly what their title implies, Palace

Poems.

These intimate vignettes, many of them composed for the Emperor's eye alone, were held to be too sacred for the vulgar gaze, and it may be assumed that, prior to their publication by Huang P'ei-lieh, there were never more than a few copies of the poems in existence. With the fall of the Southern Sung Dynasty in 1279 and the Mongol occupation of Hangchow, the compositions of Empress Y a n g might have perished utterly, but that, happily, an official of the fallen House, the scholar Chou M i (1232—1308) , whose ten volumes form a brilliant commentary on the institutions and customs of the Sung, succeeded in preserving a copy of the poems. In his " Comments " prefacing the Palace Poems of Empress Yang as included in the Shen K'o Ssu Ftt Jen Chi, Huang P'ei-lieh (1763—1825), the Ch'ing editor who gave publicity to these long sequestered verses, makes definite statement of his authority and clearly identifies Chien Fu, possessor of the original manuscript, with the Sung historian, Chou M i (also known as Kung Chien) :

ix

FOREWORD

" Formerly, until my discovery of this manuscript compiled by Chien Fu, the poems of Empress Y a n g were comprised only in collections of miscellaneous poems. M a o Tzu-ching has stated — ' T h e original preface (of Chien Fu's compilation) does not disclose the identity of Chien F u . ' However, after careful scrutiny of the manuscript I am convinced that the writer was, beyond doubt, a person of the Sung Dynasty, for the paper of his manuscript is of S u n g fabrication, very old and worn, and bearing the official red seals of that dynasty. " Furthermore, in his writing Chien Fu refers to ' Y a n g , Official Consort of N i n g T s u n g . ' A s he does not mention her as ' Empress Y a n g of the Sung D y n a s t y , ' it is clear that the writer is, himself, a man of the S u n g . " T h e inscription to the poems reads — Compiled

by

Chien Fu. I am entirely satisfied that this Chien Fu is none other than C h o u M i ( K u n g C h i e n ) w h o constantly employed this title. . . . " Further on in his " Comments " Chien F u declares — ' The

fifty

poems written by Y a n g , Consort of

Ning

T s u n g , were not given to the public. In the year Kuei Y u ( 1 2 7 3 ) I discovered these verses in C h i a n g T s o ( N a n k i n g ) and I now publish them that they m a y not be forever lost.' " In this bibliography many historical records and accredited traditions concerning the Empress, like stones long

X

FOREWORD

buried, have been dragged from obscurity to take their place in the reconstruction of a thirteenth-century career. The realm of art proved an unexpectedly rich quarry, from which paintings, inscriptions, edicts, and seals appeared in corroborative splendor. Most important among this class of material were the dynastic portraits of the principals in the drama, likenesses made from the subjects in the day of their glory and handed down from generation to generation as paramount treasures of imperial collections. These portraits of Emperor N i n g Tsung, of his mother, the terrible Empress Li, and of his consort, Empress Y a n g , now preserved in the Palace Museum in Peking, illustrate and illuminate the Southern Sung as no volume of description could do. Emperor N i n g Tsung's painting, the White

Eagle;

the elegant example of imperial calligraphy in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Edict

by Emperor Kuang

Tsung; and the Snow Scene by the Fair Lady Yang — all of these, while of less luster than the dynastic portraits, shed an intimate glow on the characters passing and repassing in the amazing story of the poetess. In presenting this account of the life and works of Empress Yang of the Southern Sung Dynasty

(1127—

1278), the biographer begs the privilege of inclining now and again to the medium of informal narration. Not that the interludes so treated include fictional admixtures and

FOREWORD

XI

not that these episodes have been interpolated by the author — for these incidents, equally with the more staid historical presentations, have been drawn only from recognized Chinese sources — but solely on behalf of consistency, the romantic vehicle is commandeered to carry forward those parts of the story where data have been drawn from tradition rather than from historical records. Material such as this invites the lighter touch of narrative presentation, at least up to the point where the veritable poems of the Empress take up the task of reflecting for a democratic age the exquisite decadence, the sumptuous luxury, the unsurpassed arts of that mirage of aestheticism known as the Southern Sung. These Palace Poems of Yang T'ai Hou are, indeed, casements through which a later age discerns those scenes immortalized by Hsia Kuei, M a Yuan, and M a Lin — genii-reared pavilions, tenuous pagodas, terraces overhanging misty lakes, and painted temples folded between the hills, scenes which might appear incredible to Western eyes had not a great Empress in fifty poems corroborated the testimony of the master artists. There can be little doubt that in form as well as in choice of themes Empress Yang was strongly influenced by a prior royal lady whose career was no less picturesque than her own. This was Hua-jui Fu Jen, Queen Flower Stamen, of Shu, for some years a captive-concubine of the first Sung

Xll

FOREWORD

Emperor. For m a n y years Q u e e n Flower S t a m e n ' s hundred poems of palace life reposed in the S u n g Imperial Library, readily accessible to Empress Y a n g . N o authority has been consulted in the placement of the poems throughout the text. N o such authority exists. O n l y probability and conjecture have suggested the order here employed. However, earlier poems and later poems, poems of aspiration, ascent, and achievement, m a k e their own declarations, while the love lyrics betray their presence like violets under leaves. Unfortunately, these fifty poems have been left without titles or headings of any kind. In the interests of clarity the writer has ventured to append the starkly serviceable captions here used; but the reader is urged to ignore these as completely as he m i g h t blot from his awareness the road signs pointing out " T h i s way to the mountain v i e w , " or " T u r n right to the f a l l s . " O n e further word. A l t h o u g h ,

when capital of

the

Southern S u n g , H a n g c h o w was known as Lin-an, throughout this narrative it has been referred to as H a n g c h o w , its earlier as well as its later designation and the one more familiar to the Occidental reader. W e s t Lake has been called W e s t Lake, rather than Golden O x e n Lake, or by any of its earlier names. In the same spirit of simplification an attempt has been m a d e to reduce names, styles, and appellations of the principal characters to their most easily

FOREWORD

xiii

remembered terms. For instance, Emperor Ning Tsung, whose personal name was Cbao K'uo, wore also an earlier title, Chat Wang,

a palace name, Mao Ling,

and sub-

sidiary titles too numerous to mention; he is called Ning Tsung throughout this story. Grateful acknowledgment is made to T. T. Ch'iu and to T. C. Wang whose scholarly transliterations blazed this trail. Also to T. L. Yuan of the National Library of Peking for permission to reproduce his own picture of the sage, Chu Hsi, painted by W u Hsueh-chao from a woodcut in the collected works of Chu Hsi published in the K'ang Hsi Period. Also, to William Habberley go sincere thanks for his never failing help and criticism in departments where it is most needed. The likenesses of Emperor Ning Tsung, Empress Li, Empress Yang, and Emperor Li Tsung herein reproduced are from photographs of Sung Dynasty portraits now preserved in the Palace Museum in Peking.

CONTENTS FOREWORD

vii

I. FAIR HANDS

I

II. THE MARITAL INFELICITIES OF EMPEROR KUANG TSUNG

14

III. THE MULBERRY IV. YELLOW

CATERPILLAR

.

.

.

.

RAIMENT

35

V. WITH DRUMS AND DANCES VI. CONCORD OF HARP AND LUTE

25

46 .

.

.

.

VII. IN THE GOLDEN HOUSE VIII. T H E DRAGON THRONE IX. A DISTANT THREAT

54 64 77 89

X. DEATH IN THE GARDEN OF JADE AND PROSPERITY XI. CROWNED WITH THE FIVE BLESSINGS

IOO IIO

LIST

OF

EMPRESS YANG

ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece

EMPEROR KUANG TSUNG

4

CHU HSI

16

EMPRESS LI

40

EMPEROR NING TSUNG

46

PALACE SCENE

58

CALLIGRAPHY ATTRIBUTED TO EMPEROR NING TSUNG

78

EMPEROR LI TSUNG

114

PERSONAGES PROMINENT HISTORY OF EMPRESS

IN THE YANG

Emperor Hsiao Tsung, 1268—1278: Abdicated second emperor of the Southern Sung and father of Emperor Kuang Tsung. Emperor Kuang Tsung, 1147—1200: Third emperor of the Southern Sung and father of Emperor N i n g Tsung. Empress Li, Twelfth century: Official Consort of Emperor Kuang Tsung and mother of Emperor N i n g Tsung. Emperor N i n g Tsung, 1 1 6 8 - 1 2 2 4 : Fourth emperor of the Southern Sung. Empress Han, Twelfth century: First Official Consort of Emperor N i n g Tsung and sister to Han T'o-chou. General Han T'o-chou, Died 1207: Generalissimo of the A r m y and brother to Empress Han. The Mulberry Caterpillar, Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries: Later, Empress Yang, second Official Consort of Emperor N i n g Tsung. Chu Hsi, 1130—1200: Confucian commentator, reformer, statesman, and philosopher.

xviii

PERSONAGES

Yeh Shih, 1150—1223: Statesman and poet. Chao Ju-yii, Twelfth century: Statesman and Imperial Cousin. Lady Tsao, Twelfth century: Rejected candidate for the place of Official Consort. Shih Mi-yuan, Died 1233: Statesman, supporter of Empress Yang and upholder of Li Tsung. Prince Hung, Thirteenth century: Nominated by Emperor N i n g Tsung as his heir and, later, set aside by Empress Yang. Emperor Li Tsung,

1203—1264: Fifth emperor of the

Southern Sung; as Prince Y u n g , chosen by Shih Mi-yuan and Empress Dowager Yang to supplant Prince Hung.

APRICOT CHEEKS AND

ALMOND EYES

CHAPTER

I

FAIR HANDS There is no such poison in the green snake's or in the hornet's sting, as in a woman's

mouth, heart

ANGCHOW was astir. M i s t s between the Cloud-clasping T w i n Peaks, though still gray of bulk, were beginning to display edges of rose-and-gold. Snake like, the reflection of W h i t e Serpent Pagoda undulated on the surface of the lake. A beam of sunlight threaded the finial of Needle Pagoda, while along the causeway built by the old poet-governor, Su Tung-p'o, new willow leaves lisped in the breeze. D a y was near, a spring day in the last decade of the twelfth century A.D. Leisurely the capital of the golden S u n g roused itself. In its m a n y avenues and streets the easy-going populace, only half awake, yawned and reached for tea; but in the Imperial Palaces stretching back to the Phoenix Hills the day's affairs were already under way. W a s not this a signal occasion on the official calendar? For the first time in many moons the Emperor was holding morning audience! In the Fifth W a t c h figures of

2

FAIR

HANDS

guards and sentries showed dimly through the mists, while the procession of officials crowding toward the antechamber passed like silhouettes in a shadow show. In the Hall of Audience a thousand candles wavered in the morning gusts, fitfully lighting the crowd of courtiers who by neither word nor sign expressed astonishment that the Son of Heaven, after months of dereliction, had resumed his place as chief administrator of the State. Not an eye swerved, not a nostril quivered; yet the acute observer might have noted that General Han T'o-chou knelt more rigidly than usual, that his associate, the poetstatesman, Yeh Shih, breathed rapidly, and that the forehead of the imperial cousin, Chao Ju-yii, was beaded with sweat. Silence, broken only by the cries of the heralds announcing the approach of Kuang Tsung, Third Emperor of the Southern Sung. . . Quiet in the vast hall. . . Faint rustlings from behind the Dragon Screen. . . A deep, anticipatory hush. . . W i t h due ceremony the Emperor, a middle-aged weakling bowed under the weight of his gold-embroidered robes, emerged from behind the screen of state, glanced from left to right, wavered. . . The court held its breath. W i t h a start the Emperor wheeled, retreated again behind the screen, emerged cautiously, and with unconcealed t r e p idation seated himself upon the Dragon Throne.

FAIR

HANDS

3

When the prescribed rites had been performed the Grand Ceremonialist stood forth, and announced: " If there be any among you with a memorial to present let him now come forward! A t once General Han T'o-chou approached and prostrating himself before the throne unrolled the petition in his hand, while attendant secretaries swabbed writing brushes on ink-stones and prepared to record yet another of the dashing militarist's pleas for more troops, more munitions, more redoubts on the borders. Through many repetitions the scribes were conversant with the theme of the General's arguments — the Golden Tatars were encroaching on the frontiers, demanding heavier tribute, unsated with the 200,000 taels of silver and the 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 lengths of silk annually drained from Sung. What of recent treaties with these exigent neighbors? Surely, treaties existed, but these were trifles, forced agreements worthless before the blood of the sacrificial victims was dry on the paper! Danger in arousing the Tatar's suspicions by military preparations? What danger could be feared now that Han T'o-chou was in command? Let the Son of Heaven but speak the word — A signal from the Grand Ceremonialist interrupted the General's eloquence as a messenger advanced unchallenged into the Hall of Audience. Sighting the intruder, the Emperor, as though viewing a portent of disaster, stiffened in

4

FAIR

HANDS

his scat, while Han T'o-chou paused and shifted his eyes uneasily. Transfixed, the court waited as a eunuch, rustling in yellow brocades, shuffled down the length of the hall, holding on a level with his eyebrows a covered dish. In a silence pregnant with panic he waddled forward; but no guard stirred, no lord scowled in despite. Undeterred he usurped the spot vacated by the General and made the prescribed prostrations before the throne. On the South Facing Seat the Emperor arose, shaking down his long sleeves in signal of displeasure. Then, with a manifest effort, he forced his trembling hands to turn back the yellow cuffs, and sank again to his place. " Speak! Setting the lacquer dish on cushions which an attendant had hastily laid on the dais, the eunuch beat his head — cautiously — on the resounding hollow stone before the throne, and stated his errand. His August Mistress, the Empress, sent salutations to the Sacred Sovereign, her Lord, and ventured to accompany these morning greetings with a token of her unceasing watchfulness over the Sacred Welfare. A t this message the third sovereign of the Southern Sung turned faintly green, trembling until his yellow robes rustled in the silence. The kneeling eunuch tenderly lifted the cover from the

THE ABDICATED EMPEROR. KUANG TSUNG T h i r d Sovereign o f t h e S o u t h e r n S u n g (Dynastic Portrait, PaUcc Museum,

Peking)

FAIR

HANDS

5

black dish, at the same time heaving the vessel aloft that the Dragon Eyes might the better inspect its contents. Pallid against the glossy lacquer lay two hands, red only at the severed wrists. The Emperor shuddered once and grew rigid, his glazed eyes proclaiming his cataleptic state. But not until the emissary had completed his prostrations and retired from the Audience Hall did attendants venture to bear their unconscious Lord behind the screen. In the succeeding hush ministers and nobles saluted the empty throne and silently withdrew. The Hall of Audience was empty. On the steps of the dais reposed the lacquer dish, displaying the hands of the lady-in-waiting who on the previous day had held basin and towel for the Emperor and had been overseen by the Empress. After this reception of the Imperial Consort's morning gift Emperor Kuang Tsung, ever unstable and vacillating, lapsed into a psychopathic state bordering on dementia. Even at the time of his accession to the Throne he had already passed under the sway of the stronger will, living in such dread of his Empress that he feared for his very life. Time after time when urgent affairs of state summoned him to the Audience Hall he had turned on the threshold and fled, frenzied before the specter of assassination. Reliable authorities, such as the Sung

Annals

and the

6

FAIR

HANDS

Cb'i Tung Yeh Yii, support the inference that the third ruler of the Sung was a psychopathic subject, beset with many phobias; but, in his dread of the First Consort, Kuang Tsung appears to have had ample grounds for apprehension. A dilettante of subtle tastes, debilitated by the lusts and luxuries of the court and the soft, relaxing climate of Hangchow, he had made early but futile submission to the ferocious mate who, introduced into his palace as a concubine, had mounted step by step to his throne. The same authorities point out that Empress Li came rightfully by this savagery which had spread consternation throughout the Inner Quarters. Her sire, the Governor of Hupei, in earlier days before he had achieved first wealth, then power, and lastly honors, had been the leader of the most notorious bandit band of the day. Once admitted to the Emperor's favor, the bandit's daughter, following the tactics of her progenitor, had adopted a policy of swift death in dealing with potential rivals. Tolerating no competition, she permitted the Celestial Lord to visit his secondary wives only so long as she could rest assured that these casual affairs constituted no menace either to her personal influence or to the interests of her children. Upon suspicion that the Emperor cherished a personal predilection for one or another of the ladies of the Inner Courts, the recipient of his regard suddenly and certainly descended to the Yellow Springs — as witness the fate of Huang

FAIR

HANDS

7

Kuei Fei, a secondary consort of a rank only one degree less exalted than that of the Empress. " In the eleventh moon of the Year Sbao Hsi," notes the Ch'i Tung Yeh Yii, " on the seventh day while the Emperor was passing the night in the imperial study, Empress Li took advantage of the opportunity to do away with the Imperial Concubine Huang. Later, the Empress reported that the Lady Huang had died suddenly of a malignant disease. " Upon receiving this report the Emperor was so shocked that he suffered a nervous collapse. " Later, when the Emperor ordered religious rites to be celebrated for the soul of the dead lady, a great wind rose during the office and the candles used in the ceremony for the dead were extinguished. This ill omen further depressed the spirits of the Emperor, now convinced that Heaven was angry with him." Her program of terrorization proving completely successful, the Imperial Consort inch by inch pushed the Emperor aside as though he were a puppet, and gathered power into her own hands. In all but name the bandit-Governor's daughter was ruler of the Sung. Ministers and nobles, well advised as to where lay the actual authority of the State, ventured no opposition, though secretly the court chafed under this woman-rule. The party of mute dissent included every man of daring

8

FAIR

HANDS

about the throne; but so ruthless had the Empress shown herself, so powerful was her clique -—• having as its bulwark the sinister strength of the court eunuchs — that in the amorphous body of her adversaries only one figure was definitely discernible. W a t c h i n g H a n T'o-chou less resolute nobles questioned one another: " W h e n the General has crushed the Golden Tatars and brought peace to Sung how much longer will he be allowed to see the light of day? N o w , as all know, the State has need of his sword; but ' when the hunt is over the coursing dog goes into the pot.' " Memoirs of the period hint that popular dissatisfaction was directed mainly toward the Dragon Lord. The Imperial Lady, it was conceded, was merely following in the footsteps of many another Phoenix predecessor, of Lu Shih of the Han, who had set an adopted son on the throne, murdered him, and become the first woman ruler of China; of Wu-the-equal-of-Heaven, who had been successively concubine, nun, palace lady, co-ruler with her lord, and finally the supreme Huang

Ti of the Celestial Empire; of

W e i Hou, who had killed her husband and seized his scepter. That a regnant Empress should show herself ruthless toward sister-wives was accepted as a matter of course by the People who, bowing to the immutability of the Yin, or Feminine Nature, turned resentment less sharply against Empress Li than against the One M a n who had failed to master this tigress in his House.

FAIR

HANDS

9

Jealousy of inferior wives was, admittedly, a deplorable trait, but one not unique in exalted circles; and rivalry to the death was but an ordinary phenomenon of the Inner Quarters wherein intrigue and assassination were the accepted order of advancement. Had Empress Li but been content to vent her malice on subsidiary spouses — refraining from the spectacular displays of vengeance which shattered the morale of the Sacred Sovereign — there would have been few to challenge her rule. But, alas, the August Lady's animosities were no more to be concealed than lightning, it was acknowledged, no more to be obscured than T'ai Shan. And plain as comet in the sky was Empress Li's opposition to her imperial father-in-law, the abdicated Emperor Hsiao Tsung. Although now retired from active participation in the government, the ex-Emperor was still the head of the Imperial House and, as such, wielded power even greater than that left in the hands of his son, the nominal ruler. T h e genial sexagenarian, beloved by a People in whose interests he had labored throughout a long reign, openly condemned the behavior of the woman whose tyrannies had broken the health and spirits of his heir. Roots of the feud between these exalted antagonists stretched back through many a year. Standing warfare had been precipitated by an earlier breach of etiquette. Arrogant by nature, and untrained in the complex and manifold duties of an imperial daughter-

IO

FAIR

HANDS

in-law, Empress Li had from the beginning of her palace career flouted the obligations of her high station, and failed to render her Lord's parents the services and devotions which were their simple due. Overbearing to inferiors, vindictive toward rivals, she was not one to submit even to the parents-in-law whom she was called upon to worship as Heaven. Historical memoirs preserve details of the first major clash between the contending forces. When elevated to the throne, Empress Li, in the first flush of her glory, took occasion to flaunt her triumph by paying a visit to the ex-Emperor's palace; there, to further signalize her victory, she caused her palanquin to be carried straight into Dowager Hsieh's apartments, without waiting to observe the customary forms. Whereupon the Dowager, herself a model of correct deportment, remarked significantly, " My marriage was according to the Rites," thereby implying that the transgressor, being of plebeian origin, had risen to eminence by devious steps. After this encounter hostility was rife between the two palaces, and guerrilla warfare between their partisans menaced the peace of the State. However, Empress Li could stoop to dissemble her feelings in the interests of a passion even fiercer than jealousy. An inordinate maternalism was the distinguishing trait of her nature, and as violently as she hated her rivals she doted on those in whom she purposed to perpetuate

FAIR

HANDS

II

herself. Before the birth of her third child she had dreamed that a baby fell toward her out of Heaven, and that she caught the infant in her outstretched arms. Accepting the dream as one of happy augury, when a son was born to her the Empress poured upon him a flood of extended egotism. As this Heaven-given boy advanced in years and realized her fondest expectations, the Empress gave thought to expediency, and shrewdly tempered her program of arrogance toward her parents-in-law. In the time of the Sung, as in earlier and later dynasties, succession to the throne was not necessarily by right of primogeniture, but depended largely upon nomination by the current ruler, who in turn was influenced in his choice by the support of powerful members of the Imperial House. Empress Li shrewdly apprehended that in the present instance the final word fixing the succession would be spoken by the old exEmperor, and that no candidate unacceptable to the patriarch would Ascend the Summit. Filled with these forebodings, that only by grace of her affronted father-in-law would the young prince ever come to the South Facing Seat, Empress Li humbled her pride, and taking the boy by the hand waited on Dowager Empress Hsieh to solicit her good graces in the matter. The Dowager, however, had not so soon forgotten earlier insults. Implacable as the Ruler of Hell, she listened

12

FAIR

HANDS

and was unmoved, curtly declining to further the designs of her erring daughter-in-law and flatly refusing to use her influence with the ex-Emperor to advance the prince's cause. Going out from the presence of Dowager Hsieh the disappointed mother wept tears of rage, crying to her son, " Now it is finished! Never, never will you be Emperor! But though she wept Empress Li had no thought of submitting tamely to defeat. Thwarted in her scheme for winning the ex-Emperor's support, she inaugurated reprisals, finding in her fiberless spouse the very instrument with which to fight back at her opponents. Now the Empress worked unremittingly on the mind of the enfeebled Emperor, planting in his disordered fancy a new phobia. His Sire, she represented, sought his life. So he must no longer go to the ex-Emperor's palace, paying those ceremonial visits which etiquette required; and, assuredly, he must reject the medicines which his father sent to ease his heart trouble. Dominated by the stronger will, gradually Kuang Tsung abandoned all communication with his Imperial Father, and resigned himself to the espionage practiced upon him by a wife who trailed him like his shadow. Thus the case stood. The Lofty August One was a woman's puppet, and the Sung court chafed under their Lord's bonds. And, even as at home, so was the situation

FAIR

HANDS

13

abroad, for more abjectly than the Imperial Consort had subjugated the Emperor, the enemy at the gates had humbled the weak, wealthy empire of the Southern Sung. Outside, the Golden Tatars were licking their chops, ready to gulp down the fat, boneless State which purchased its peace with annual tribute. T h e immediate outlook was dark for Sung. Happily, however, two lights on the horizon brightened the gloom. For the Golden T a tars, desert ruffians unused to soft living, were already rotting amid unwonted luxuries, growing yearly more lax and flaccid. Again, a strange, wild force was swelling in the W e s t , and the Mongols, like a whirlwind from the desert, were arising in the Tatars' rear, pressing them hard, leaving them less and less opportunity to exact silks and silver from the vassal state. W i t h this prospect Emperor Kuang T s u n g rested content. Let his enemies destroy each other; his hands were full at home, and the tutelary gods of Sung must fight for the dynasty. A t the heart of that fabulous glory which has come down to wondering ages in art subtle and intellectual, in poetry wistful and visionary, in brocades and textiles whose patterns have been repeated from one generation to the next,

in ceramics which spread translucent

porcelains

throughout all Asia, smoldered the coal of shame.

CHAPTER

11

THE MARITAL INFELICITIES OF KUANG TSUNG When the hen rules the morning,

VENERATED

EMPEROR

disaster is at hand

by all — with one notable exception — the

ex-Emperor lived on in retirement, his latter years shadowed by the neglect of the heir to whom he had yielded his throne. Flagrantly now Kuang T s u n g scanted his devotions, omitting even the bare courtesies demanded by custom, leaving his August Sire unvisited in the seclusion of the Double Flower Palace, where the intrepid Dowager Hsieh companioned the chill of the ex-Emperor's isolation as composedly as she had shared the glory of his throne. A g g r a v a t i n g the disturbances which rocked the dynasty — the menace of the Golden Tatars, the peril of a woman-dominated government — the State was now further shaken by those religio-political storms of which Chu Hsi, reformer, moralist, and statesman was the center. This innovator, whose commentaries on the Confucian Books ran counter to interpretations of the orthodox

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

15

school, had been summoned to the Capital in the previous reign only to lose the support of his Imperial Patron. Champion of principles too lofty for his day, rigidly honest, but devoid of that tact and finesse which might have won acceptance for his rigorous tenets, C h u Hsi was unable to secure even a foothold in the intrigue-ridden court. T h e Dragon Ears had been quickly wearied with C h u Hsi's memorials advocating that the heart be made pure and virtue cultivated, and the struggle between the unbending reformer and the sinuous courtiers about him had been one of short duration, with the final issue never in doubt. Following his dismissal from office C h u Hsi had known a checkered career. Cashiered and overlooked, he was left unemployed, only to be elevated to a governorship when it appeared that the rival nation, the Golden Tatars, entertained the project of enticing the philosopher

to

their cause by bribes of preferment and opportunity to establish

his school.

Alternately

honored

and

exiled,

C h u Hsi, nevertheless, steadily continued his teachings, founded his cult, and attached to himself a large and devoted following. Despite official obstruction, this advocate of integrity — even in the administration of affairs of State — had gathered about him a party which could not be wholly

16

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

ignored. His renown was bright among the People, and Sung politicians were forced to take note of a rising power. Here were energies which must be used by, rather than against, the government. Though anathema at the Sung court, and in particular to General Han T'o-chou, Chu Hsi was again invited to the Capital, there to take up the post of Imperial Preceptor to the heir apparent. Among the treasures of art which have come down from the House of Sung is the Edict, written by the brush of Emperor Kuang Tsung, autographed and sealed, and presented to Chu Hsi on the occasion of his promotion to the office of Chao Feng Lang, or Imperial Tutor. This scroll, more than four feet in length, is dated 3rd day, 10th moon, Shao Hsi year [1194 A.D.] . The recipient did not long enjoy the honors bestowed upon him by this superbly inscribed patent of office. Unbending morality had little chance for survival in the eddies of corruption roiling the court. Furthermore, and even more fatal to his cause, the reformer was looked upon with disfavor not only by Han T'o-chou, but by the puissant Empress as well. In less than two months from the time of his appointment Chu Hsi had proved as unacceptable to Emperor Kuang Tsung as he had formerly been to Emperor Kuang Tsung's father, and was again dismissed from court. Orthodox Confucian scholars, who persisted in regard-

•f-

% lilt s'il 95

CHU HSI Sung Philosopher (Ffrom an original draxinng byj WM Hsueb-cbao appearin gg in the collected works of Chbu Hst published in tjtj* unader the auspices of Emperor K'ang Hst) Byy courtesy of Mr. T. L. Yuuan, National Library, Peking

it.

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

17

ing Chu Hsi's school as heretical, were violent in denunciation of the innovator, abetting and inflaming the enmity of the court satellites. The reformer's teachings were anathematized, his books banned and burned, and those of his followers who held office were deprived of their posts. The nation split into two ethical camps, the pro- and the anti-Chu Hsiists. Months passed, with bitter antagonism between the cults spreading dissention among the People and perturbation throughout the Capital. Timid and fearful, shrinking from disturbance, the Emperor hastened to betake himself to the quietude of the Court of Blue Walls, while tumult raged without. No pressure of business, no claims of duty could now force him from his sanctuary. Even on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month, an occasion of obligatory visits in the Imperial House, when the nobles confidently assembled to escort the Celestial August One to the palace of the ex-Emperor, Kuang Tsung faltered at the threshold and turned back, leaving his cortege leaderless. The Emperor's evil genius had again impeded his progress. Thrown into confusion by this unprecedented lapse from decorum the courtiers protested vehemently, in their insistence even venturing to lay hands on the Dragon Lord, striving to drag him to his duties. " Would you lose your heads? " shrilled a voice from

18

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

behind the screen. " How dare you attempt to coerce the Emperor? " From her post of vantage the Empress had again imposed her will, and in panic Kuang Tsung fled back to the shelter of the Blue Walls. But, malignantly though his daughter-in-law may have hated him, it was through no contrivance of hers that the ex-Emperor was " approaching the wood." History yields no hint that Empress Li enjoyed the satisfaction of arranging her opponent's demise. The aged Hsiao Tsung had merely exhausted his term of life and was preparing to " mount the Dragon and ascend On H i g h , " while the Emperor cowered in his retreat. Risking their lives, daring nobles again and again petitioned the Sacred Sovereign that he should observe his obligations and wait upon his August Sire. But all in vain these formalists exposed themselves to the displeasure and vengeance of Empress Li and her powerful cohort of eunuchs. Throughout the illness of the ex-Emperor, his son visited him but once in six months. One call of condolence in half a year! While, by all the canons of filial piety and the rules of dynastic ceremony, the Emperor should have been in constant attendance at his father's side, not merely as a visitor, but in the role of devoted nurse and supporter. Contrary to these demands, Kuang Tsung remained hidden in his pavilion,

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

19

sending the Prime Minister to represent him at his dying father's bedside. Though these lapses were, perforce, condoned by the court, word of the dereliction was soon blown about the streets of the Capital and became the common talk of the People. That a son should fail to cherish the parent who had given him life was a thing abhorrent to the Hundred Names, an outrage arousing indignation in the lowest beggar in the market place. The scandal of an irreverent daughter-in-law and an unfilial son shocked thieves, cutthroats, bandits, and harlots. Murmurs grew louder — it was whispered that the August Lady despised her Lord's sire. It was told with bated breath that the Son of Heaven was remiss in his filial duty. Dissatisfaction spread among the masses, and ministers and courtiers wore grave faces. The Celestial High One, sole intermediary with Heaven, was tempting Shang Ti, drawing down His wrath upon the nation. But Empress Li, exultant, only tightened the strictures upon the Emperor and enforced her interdiction. Now a nation shuddered! Empress Li, with unprecedented temerity, had prevented her Lord from attending the deathbed of his Sacred Sire! Even with the passing of the ex-Emperor his daughterin-law's animosity was unabated. For six days after the demise of his father, the Emperor was held a virtual pris-

20

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

oner in his own quarters, while in the Double Flower Palace the body of Hsiao Tsung lay uncoffined, because the last rite could not be carried out in the absence of the nearest relative of the deceased. At length the Emperor's aged grandmother was substituted for the absent heir, and the nobles assembled for the delayed obsequies. Now a nation growled! Empress Li, with incredible effrontery had prevented her Lord from taking his place in the funeral cortege! In this final despite shown the departed ex-Emperor, Empress Li had cast a stone which fell back on her own head. Theretofore the generally accepted view of the imbroglio had been that if the Phoenix henpecked the Dragon the circumstance was, after all, one which existed in many another place than the palace. But that a wife should restrain her Lord from performing the last services for his father inflamed the tenderest sensibilities of the Black Haired Race, creating a sentiment upon which bold patriots were prepared to act. Blasted by this ultimate tyranny, Kuang Tsung collapsed. Rumors of discord within the palace spread throughout Hangchow, augmenting the general uneasiness. Fearing that the government was tottering and that civil disorders might break out, great numbers of the populace fled the country, while nobles and officials flocked from

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

21

office. Even the Prime Minister, made apprehensive by a dream, gave up his post. However, before going into retirement, the Prime Minister called to him the Imperial Cousin, Chao Ju-yii, and consulted with him as to the best way to save the nation from revolution. " The situation is perilous," the Prime Minister represented. " You, because you belong to the Imperial House, are the one who must find a way to safety." The two statesmen, intimately acquainted with the perils of the course indicated, were yet well aware that there was but one way to accomplish their purpose. Han T'o-chou was drawn into the complot, and General Kuo Kao, Commander of the Imperial Body Guard, was induced to lend his strength to the party. Under the nominal leadership of the widowed Dowager Hsieh, still fuming wich rage from Empress Li's indignities, the machinators laid their plans to save the dynasty. Indeed, not only the dynasty but the very nation itself was now in jeopardy. No alternate course lay before the conspirators. Kuang Tsung, either by persuasion or by force, must be prevailed upon to abdicate, leaving the throne to a more resolute successor. This successor had already been agreed upon. In N i n g Tsung, third son of the Empress Li, the plotters had a candidate whose appointment would minimize opposition

22

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

on the part of both Emperor and Empress, lessen peril to his supporters, and delight the People, who had never dreamed of visiting the sins of his mother upon the head of the popular prince. W h e n informed of the plans formulated in his behalf the prince modestly declined the proffered honor. His party, however, was by no means discouraged, and with few misgivings as to the outcome of their efforts, sent a delegation to wait upon the Emperor. Apprized beforehand of the commission's intent, Kuang T s u n g received the petitioners from behind the screen where, accompanied by the Empress, he took u p his stand, poised for flight at the slightest indication of violence. Before the gilded barrier concealing the form of the sovereign, prince and nobles knelt together, while Han T'o-chou, taking his life in his hands, assumed the role of spokesman, memorializing the Emperor that in view of the perils of the situation he should withdraw into private life, leaving his son, N i n g Tsung, to assume his duties and obligations. Silence, chill, prolonged, nerve-racking, followed the conclusion of the insurgent's speech. " I have served the State for a long, long time," at length spoke a wearied voice in the breathless silence. " Now it is m y wish to retire." Thereupon the prince, prostrating himself before the

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

23

screen, again and again declined to assume the prerogatives of his August Father. Recognizing in the young man's protests only the formal reluctance of a dutiful son, the nobles adjured him to desist and accept the honors yielded to him. This the prince declined to do. The courtiers persuading, the prince refusing, matters were at a standstill until the Emperor, still from behind the screen, handed his yellow robes to Han T'o-chou, directing him to place the raiment upon his son and assist him to the throne. The coup had been successful, and an imperial heir, acceptable to the loyalists, popular with the People, was safely established on the Dragon Throne under the title of N i n g Tsung, Fourth Sovereign of the Sung. The succession was unbroken, the dynasty stood firm. Finding that the State had been stabilized those who had fled the country now flocked back to enjoy the peace portended by the new regime, and ministers and civil officials returned to their abandoned posts. W h a t of Empress Li in this upheaval? Though shorn of her direct authority she had by no means lost her cause for the ambition of her life was realized, and the son for whom she had schemed and maneuvered sat on the Dragon Throne. N o longer Empress, but now Dowager, she was a figure of enhanced significance in the new order. Power, riches, and dignities were still hers. W a s she not the mother of the Celestial Sovereign, and as such ruler of

24

EMPEROR

KUANG

TSUNG

the Ruler? Now even those who had condemned her domination of Kuang Tsung would have to nod a concurrent head when the mother exacted from the son those concessions the wife had forced from her Lord. Escaping to the haven of retirement, Kuang Tsung, then in middle life, took up his residence in the sumptuous estate reserved for ex-Emperors, the Double Flower Palace, which from the time of his occupancy was known as the Tzu Fu Kung, or Palace of Benevolent Blessings. Here, from such evidence as memoirs of the age afford, the imperial recluse spent the happiest years of his troubled life, giving himself up to the pursuit of painting, calligraphy, inebriety, and enjoyment, leading an existence less and less burdened by female domination. Here he brought to perfection that elegant writing for which Sung emperors, almost without exception, were celebrated, composed poems, played chess, and fished in the quiet waters of West Lake. Dowager Empress Li, no longer in a position to be endangered by her Lord's flights of fancy, was no longer concerned with his amours. With hopes fulfilled, basking in contentment, the August Lady focused her attention on the son who, despite lack of support from her detested parents-in-law, had ascended the Dragon Throne.

CHAPTER

THE MULBERRY

III

CATERPILLAR

'The mulberry caterpillar has young, wasp carries them o f f

and

the

ow HANGCHOW must be left behind — West Lake, the Thirty-six Han Palaces, the pavilions beside the waters, and the gardens on the hills. Ahead only a wild countryside meets the view, forests and low mountains framing a temple of no great dignity or distinction. The prologue of the drama has been acted on the stage of the Imperial Court; but the curtain rising on the actual appearance of the principal reveals only the rustic setting of I Chen, with the Temple of the High Reeds in the background. There are footprints in the mosses growing thick about this old temple in the hills, faint, hardly discernible traces that may or may not be worth a second glance. But because the moss is deep and green, the footprints airy, a glance may not be entirely wasted. No authentic record of the origin of Yang T'ai Hou exists, though legend points to Ningpo as her birthplace.

26

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

The first, and one of the most striking incidents of her career, enacted long before she became a subject for court annalists, is preserved only in local traditions, and in such popular accounts of her life as have been compiled from unofficial sources. However, as no surer beginnings may be found, the biographer here turns aside from historical records into the realm of tradition, for the first glimpse of her who later was Empress Yang. Retired in his study, the Abbot of the High Reeds Monastery communed with the Infinite, while in the great hall the priests, wrapped in their square cloaks, sat crosslegged in their stalls, meditating on their blessed fortune in residing under the same roof with the Saintly One who had received the gift of prophecy and could read past, present and future in a man's face. The acolyte attendant upon the Abbot had already reported to the assembly that the incense stick which measured the ecstatic's period of rapture was burning to the brazier. For whom had the Holy M a n ascended the empyrean, monk asked of monk? Nobility had not graced the monastery in recent months, no lord had made unusual offerings. The local gentry, estimable gentlemen though they might be, were manifestly unworthy of this

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

27

special condescension. Was a prince then bringing gifts? Was one of the palace eunuchs coming with expiatory offerings? Or was it the Prime Minister himself who was awaited? Swayed throughout their ranks by rumors that the prescient Lord Abbot had received foreknowledge of approaching mightiness, the monks prayed and pondered. Some great personage was about to appear. Suspense tautened as whisperings spread the word that the Abbot had at length emerged from his meditations to order the preparation of a vegetarian feast — of the third order of excellence — directing that two messengers stand alert to carry his invitation. A feast of only the third order? Then it was not a high eunuch who was looked for, nor was it the Prime Minister. A n immediate invitation? Then it was not royalty from afar that was expected. Who then? The magistrate? The military commander? A roving poet? A t the same time in the thatched hut standing opposite the temple gates the two mountebanks who, to the scandal of the monks, had been allowed to take up their abode in the very shadow of the monastery, sat staring at the mud floor. The man, in whose head white hairs were beginning to show, continued his harangue, but hopelessly, as though admonishing the air.

28

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

" See where your trust in Buddha has brought us! Two of us sharing the rice of one, and you must take a third to eat from our bowl! Now, indeed, we starve! The woman thus addressed reached for a pair of swords standing in the corner, and began to practice a dance of incongruous grace, replying indifferently as she twirled the blades over her head, or set them upright on the hard earth and wound in and out between the gleaming edges. " What is wrong in this? The Book of Odes says, ' The Mulberry Caterpillar has young, and the Wasp carries them off.' Have not childless persons, like this Humble One, always adopted orphans, just as the Wasp flies away with the Mulberry Caterpillar's offspring? Now, I am but a dancing woman of the Four Streams Province, and my sins are many. But I have vowed to perform one virtuous act in this life, that by grace of the merit thus acquired I may be reborn in my next incarnation a male." " Acquiring merit — ha! " What more meritorious act than to cherish life? Answer me that, Musician Chang? " The man snorted. " Who does not know you took the child only that you might have a pupil to carry on your profane art when you are too old and fat to dance! " Grow old I must," replied the woman, swaying between the swords; " fat I shall never be while I follow you,

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

29

Musician C h a n g ! A n d I chose well when I picked this grub from below the Ningpo wall! Here's a pupil who will carry m y name into high places where I have never penetrated, into rich tea houses, into noble halls, into ya men — " " Ay-ya!

Into palaces, you'll be saying next!

" W h y not? W a s n ' t the little grub white and smooth and straight? A n d hasn't she grown in beauty and cleverness? Already she postures the Sheep's Wool Dance as well as I! " " Ai, the Mulberry Caterpillar's comely," admitted the man sourly. " A n d , thanks to m y tutoring, already an acrobat and a fair musician. So long as it was only a matter of food I let you have your way — " " For how many Moons has she brought home enough coppers to pay for her own millet — and often for ours? " But now," the man carped, " she grows! She grows, and must have a cotton gown! A n d next year, no doubt, she must have shoes -— and perhaps a fan! A n d hairpins! Even a cloak! This is folly! Let us take our bundles and steal a w a y ! T h e Abbot of the monastery, no doubt, will place the girl in the convent with the nuns, and what better fate could she find? " A n d she could dance the Two-edged Sword Dance in the Hall of Meditation! " scoffed the woman. " She could sing to the Gate Guardians, and play the lute to

30

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

the Eighteen Lo-hans! Never! I have poured all my hopes into this vessel, and shall I abandon it in the hills? " Either you leave the Mulberry Caterpillar behind and come with me, or — " Chang leaned over the posturing woman — " or I leave you!

Rice, bad enough! But

clothes! Let the girl serve Buddha, and Buddha will clothe her! " " Not yet! M y art perishes when her head is shaved! She grows but little! A mere gnat of a girl! And later we can sell her for many gold pieces! " Only by the compassion of the Abbot have we this shelter over our heads. So far he has demanded no rent, but any day his agents will be coming for money! Ai! Ai! Ai! They have come! Pacing footsteps had slackened at the open door. The shadows of two monks fell across the threshold. " W e have no money," the woman whined. " Not a single cash. W e pray the Lord Abbot — " W i t h downcast eyes the spokesman of the pair drew a red paper from his sleeve and held it forward. " From the Abbot of the High Reeds Temple." " Not a cash! Not one copper cash! " the woman wailed from the floor of the hut. Her protest reached but one pair of ears. The monks were gone. Only the musician stood in the doorway readin»D the red scroll.

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

31

" An invitation to eat! An invitation from the High Abbot, for me, for you, yes, even for the Mulberry Caterpillar, to come to the temple and feast! The lay priests serving the meal strove to conceal their amazement as the Saintly One urged his guests to partake of the vegetarian fare provided in their honor. The High Abbot must be still entranced! Perhaps, while his soul excursioned in Heaven, some evil spirit had taken up its abode in the High Abbot's body! For here was a beggardly musician and his companion, the dancing woman; and as though these two were not affront enough to the sacred place, the mountebank's girl brat, covered only with a ragged gown, so worn that at any moment it might disintegrate and leave a female form exposed in the holy temple! Imperturbably the High Abbot pressed his guests to partake of food, uttering compliments with which he might have entertained a magistrate, and paying particular attention to the small ragamuffin. He had provided golden plums in syrup for her, cakes sprinkled with sesame seeds, dried lichi and sweet po po, all the delicacies loved by children. Not until this youngest guest had laid aside her chopsticks did the Lord Abbot turn to address the musician. But at length, " Honored Guest," he inquired gravely,

32

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

" may I venture to inquire your purpose in wrapping a pearl in straw? Surely, you must have reason for loitering here in the wilds, withholding from gem-loving eyes this jewel — " and he waved an indicative hand toward the girl — " cast upon the darkness? The musician stared at his ward, as though seeing her for the first time, and his eyes rounded. " Lord Abbot," he responded, making

obeisance,

" those who collect jade and heap up rubies are all in high places, in the Capital. Now, in that great and splendid city of Hangchow there are many thousands of girls more shapely, more refined, more talented than this miserable thing which I and my Lowly One call the Mulberry Caterpillar, inasmuch as she is not of our own flesh and bone, but a foundling. This humble musician knows both

stringed

and bamboo instruments;

while

the

woman is still able to dance and please villagers who are not over critical of her advancing years. But, burdened as we are with the support of a growing girl, how should we have accumulated sufficient means to enable us to exist in the Capital where rice is dear as pearls? How then can the Lord Abbot say, ' W h y do you linger? " What is difficult in this? " asked the prelate soothingly. " S a y no more." Disregarding the words spilling from the musician's mouth he turned again to the smallest of his guests. The

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

33

child immediately rose and stood before him. A s the Abbot regarded her long and attentively the benevolence in his gaze spread like the dawn. " Child, know that this Simple One is a physiognomist, and that every face coming under these eyes is like a scroll of clear script. Furthermore, from time to time enlightenment is given, and the future is revealed. In your face, Small Girl, I read that even before your birth your fortune was recorded in the book of fate." To the consternation of her foster parents the child did not fall upon her face and strike her head before the Lord Abbot, but stood spellbound, listening attentively. " Small Girl," continued the visionary, " I see your future bright with the aura of felicity; but here in the hills it is dimmed; its full effulgence can blaze only in high places." Turning, the Abbot addressed himself again to the musician. " Dare no longer to obstruct the course of destiny! Take the child and go to the Capital, there to comply with fate! " Respectfully both C h a n g and his companion clamored their protests. The w a y was long. There was no money. Moreover, in Hangchow, that city noted for its lotus flowers in marble basins, its peonies in golden pots, how should their bit of floating duck-weed find favor? Furthermore —

34

MULBERRY

CATERPILLAR

Paying small heed to these protests, the Abbot beckoned a pair o£ waiting acolytes who now came forward, bearing between them a red chest swung from a bamboo pole. This burden they set down at their master's feet. " Though only a poor servant of the Lord Buddha," the Abbot declared, " unlearned in worldly ways, this Humble One, nevertheless, desires to be a compliant instrument of Heaven. High destiny awaits the child. And when she rises to lofty heights will she not fill with abundance the two who have cherished her youth? Furthering the designs of Heaven this insignificant Abbot begs that his Honored Guests will accept the two thousand strings of cash contained in the chest, and with all speed make their way to the Capital." Two thousand strings of cash! Inspired assurances that their foster child was predestined to greatness! Food in their bellies, and wine mounting to their heads! Again and again Chang and his woman prostrated themselves and struck their heads on the floor.

CHAPTER

YELLOW The

tattered

IV

RAIMENT

sail catches a favorable

wind

ARCO POLO has minutely described that city of Hangchow which he visited only a few years after the fall of the Sung. As but little ravage had been done to the metropolis by its Mongol captors, and as time had not then stripped the gold and azure from the pillared halls nor shattered the rainbow-tiled roofs, Hangchow must have blazed before the Venetian's eyes in a splendor but little abated from the full effulgence it had known as Capital of the Sung. Centuries still listen to that voice from the past describing " the noble and magnificent city of Kin-sai (Hangchow), a name that signifies the Celestial City, and which it merits from its preeminence to all other cities of the world in point of grandeur and beauty, as well as from its abundant delights which lead an inhabitant to imagine himself in paradise." By his own account Marco Polo, from his post at Yang Chou-fu where he was governor, made frequent excur-

36

YELLOW

RAIMENT

sions to the glittering metropolis, giving delighted attention to the exotic splendors spread before his observant eyes. "According to common estimation," he writes, " this city is a hundred miles in circuit. Its canals and streets are extensive, and there are squares, or market places . . . which are exceedingly spacious. It is situated between a lake of fresh and very clear water on one side, and a river of great magnitude on the other. . . . " Each of the market squares is surrounded with high dwelling houses, in the lower part of which are shops, where every kind of manufacture is carried on, and every article of trade is sold, such, amongst others, as spices, drugs, trinkets and pearls. In certain shops there is nothing vended but the wine of the country, which they are continually brewing and serve out fresh to their customers at a moderate price. The streets connecting the market squares are numerous, and in some of them are cold baths, attended by servants of both sexes, to perform all the offices of ablution for the men and women who frequent them, and who from their childhood have been accustomed at all times to washing in cold water, which they reckon highly conducive to health. . . . " The inhabitants of the city are idolaters, and they use paper money for currency. The men as well as the women have fair complexions, and are handsome. The greater part of them are always clothed in silk, in consequence

YELLOW

RAIMENT

37

of the vast quantities of that material produced in the territory of Kin-sai, exclusive of what the merchants import from other provinces. . . . T h e opulent principals in the manufactories do not labor with their own hands, but, on the contrary, assume airs of gentility and affect parade. Their wives equally abstain from work. They have much beauty, as has been remarked, and are brought up with delicate and languid habits. T h e costliness of their dresses, in silks and jewelry, can scarcely be imagined. . . . " The natural disposition of the native inhabitants of Kin-sai is pacific, and by the example of their former kings, who were themselves un-warlike, they have been accustomed to habits of tranquillity. . . . " On the borders of the lake are many handsome and spacious edifices belonging to men of rank and great magistrates. There are likewise many idol temples and their monasteries, occupied by a number of monks who perform the services of the idols. Near the central part are two islands, upon each of which stands a superb building, with an incredible number of apartments and separate pavilions. . . In addition to this there are upon the lakes a great number of pleasure vessels, or barges. . . . And truly the gratification afforded in this manner, upon the water, exceeds any that can be derived from amusements on land; for as the lake extends the whole length of the city, on one side you have a view as you stand in the boat at a certain distance from the shore of all its

30

YELLOW

RAIMENT

grandeur and beauty, its palaces, temples, convents and gardens, with trees of the largest size growing down to the water's edge." Though something of its high prestige had departed from the Celestial City at the time Marco Polo explored its market places, courtesans' quarters, shops and temples, though in his day West Lake, formerly the mirror of the Imperial Gardens, had been opened to the public, the Venetian boldly affirmed this to be queen among all the cities of earth, not excepting his own stately Venice. W h a t then must Hangchow have been at the peak of its glory, while still the capital of a dynasty which cherished the arts and made a cult of luxury? In the latter half of the twelfth century, on a day unnoted by historians, three wayfarers from I Chen entered one of Hangchow's many gates, and stood staring at the wonders presented to their gaze: avenues thronged with merchants from Persia, India, and Turkestan; spanned by humpbacked

bridges;

swarming

canals market

squares; distant palaces spreading on the Phoenix Hills, and red pavilions beside the waters. Lost in the throngs crowding the metropolis the itinerant players went their way and were swallowed up in the vast population of the Capital. Clouds of obscurity enveloped the wanderers.

YELLOW

RAIMENT

39

Historical accounts dissolve the mists in a blaze of glory. From the Palace of Benevolent Blessings, now the lodging villa of ex-Emperor Kuang Tsung and Dowager Empress Li, emanates an effulgence in the glare of which two figures stand out in sharp relief. Behold! The strolling musician Chang, somehow risen to the post of orchestra leader! Behold! His ward, the player-acrobat, now one of the troupe performing for the entertainment of the Court! In this illumination the figure of the dancing woman is not discernible, though it may be presumed that she, also, is attached to the cast, perhaps in a minor capacity. Stretching along the shores of West Lake, most idyllic of waters within the Six Directions, the imperial palaces, some scores in number, bask in the sunlight. Three islets on the lake's bosom are ornamented with pavilions and towers of phantasmal beauty, their charms mirrored in the clear shallows. On the hills beyond range the administrative buildings and courts of justice, more distant summits are crowned with stupas and pagodas and the va lleys enfold monasteries and temples lovely as antechambers to the Western Paradise. Between hills and waters the ex-Emperor and Dowager Li have established a court which is only one degree less brilliant than that resigned to their son, Ning Tsung. Here, amid marvels of architecture reflected down through the ages by grace of paintings in which Sung artists have

46

DEATH

IN

THE

GARDEN

" I bear the Imperial Order that you immediately resign your offices," came a voice through the mist. " Ha! And if you have such an order why have I not been informed of the matter? " No answer. . . A rush of feet over the Sixth Department Bridge. . . . Without further parley Shih Mi-yiian's ruffians seized the shafts of the man-drawn chariot in which the General was seated, and whirled the light vehicle to the bank. But, as the head of the Sixth Department Bridge was, obviously, no fitting place for the assassination of an Emperor's brother-in-law, Han T'o-chou, hampered in his satin robes, was dragged , to the near-by Garden of Jade and Prosperity where he was quickly and savagely dispatched, torn to death like the hare by the pack, only his head being preserved intact. Shrouded in rosy mists Yang Tzu-shan hastened to the pavilion of the Empress with the grateful word that her enemy had gone down to the Yellow Springs. The thunderclap had been so well muffled that reverberations were long in reaching the Dragon Ear. Only after three days had elapsed was the Emperor made aware that his Generalissimo of the Army had vanished. However, though having been left so long in darkness, the Emperor showed slight resentment at this usurpation of one of his own prerogatives, and was opportunist enough

DEATH

IN

THE

GARDEN

107

to make good use of the catastrophe when report of Han T'o-chou's death at length reached him. Knowing full well at whose door lay responsibility for the General's demise, the Sovereign Lord could but condone the assassination and shield the assassins. Alas, the departure of the imperial brother-in-law was already an accomplished fact. A public announcement proclaimed that the late General had been guilty of high treason. In his own interests, and without authorization from the State, he had jeopardized the Empire, for which crime he had suffered the death penalty, while his vast estates were held confiscate to the Throne. Getting wind of the purport of this edict before it had been made public, two of Han T'o-chou's wives destroyed their treasures and deliberately fired all the halls and villas within their reach, and, loyal to their lord as he had never been loyal to any man, leaped into the flames and perished. So fared one who had set himself against the small, decorous foundling who had become Empress of the Sung. The Emperor, speedily consoled and placated, did not grieve long for his lost brother-in-law. Shih Mi-yuan flourished, while Yang Tzu-shan was raised to royal dignity and invested with the title of Prince Chieh Yiieh. Since the rise of the Golden Tatars under Akuta, their royal House had sedulously aped the superior culture of the rival state, and this so persistently that in less than

108

DEATH

IN

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a hundred years the tribes had achieved success as marked in the cultural as in military fields. Constantly absorbing Chinese civilization, and by grace of the Sung tribute indulging in Chinese luxuries, the Tatar Court at Sheng Ching was now no longer a mere assemblage of tents and yurts, but a great and prosperous capital, lacking only the aura of art, poetry, and philosophy to rival Hangchow itself. The scene of the drama shifts briefly to that Court at Sheng Ching where the Lord of the Golden Tatars, regal in Chinese robes, surrounded by ministers of Chinese education, holds audience in a pavilion which is a faithful replica of a Chinese throne hall. The Master of Ceremonies makes his proclamation. " Admit the messenger from Sung. Let him humbly deliver his message, but hope for no terms between the Golden Horde and his perjured nation. Now the Mongols are quiet in the west, and the State is at leisure to push its advantages. Let Sung hear and tremble — Sung, who has withheld tribute, and seized territory captured by our brave troops, who still delays compliance with our righteous demand for the punishment of the one who stirs up war in defiance of solemn treaties! Guards escort the emissary down the hall. Kneeling,

DEATH

IN

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GARDEN

109

the travel-worn ambassador deposits at the Tatar's feet the casket he has carried slung from his neck. The messenger bows lower and throws back the lid of his casket. A n overpowering stench fills the court. Heedless, the Tatar chief leans from his throne to gloat. " The head of Han T'o-chou! " he shouts, stamping his feet. " The head of Han T'o-chou!

CHAPTER

CROWNED The

bright

WITH

ENACED

THE FIVE

moon wanes, are

XI

BLESSINGS

the variegated

clouds

scattered

on all sides, yet, as it must have seemed to his

Court, especially preserved by Heaven, Emperor Ning Tsung had achieved a long and brilliant reign. For thirty years he had ruled over an industrious and opulent People, cultivating the arts, fostering architecture, making Hangchow the center of such beauty and splendor as had seldom before dazzled the earth. Four times he had changed his reign title, inviting continued fortune under the terms, Ch'ing

Yuan (Proclaiming the Origin), Chat T'ai (Com-

plete Stability), K'ai Hsi (Opening Felicity), and Chai Ting

(Established Tranquillity).

But though Ning Tsung had four times changed his reign title he had not once changed his heart. With astonishing constancy he had fixed his affections and had remained unswervingly oriented. Compliant, Empress Yang accorded her Lord a freedom spacious as the sky, yet she, herself, remained ever at the zenith. A brave testimony

THE

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111

to her confidence illuminates the lines in which she affirms her faith in the imperial favor. Here the allusion is to Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju, a blithe troubadour of the Han Dynasty who placed his talents at the service of a discarded favorite of Han W u Ti, and wrote for her a flowing prose-poem. The lady, presenting the composition as her own, so impressed the ruler that he restored her to her former place. A clever fellow, that Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju, the Empress smiles; but if he were in her Court she would have no occasion to call upon his writing brush! Unwanted After the rain Moss deepens on the Royal Way; The door is padlocked with the Fishes Twain, Heavy and still the day; Even were Hsiang-ju in Court His writing would be all in vain, His songs unsought, unbought. A provocative word sketch illustrates the easy intimacy of life in Sung Palaces during the tranquil days of Ning Tsung, and casts a mellow glow on the character of the Sovereign Lord whose ladies, in the heat of summer, appear before him in negligee. A sense of gay informality permeates the lines.

112

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

Deshabille Pomegranate flowers garnishing sleek tresses Amuse the Emperor who applauds the sight; The ladies' negligee discloses underdresses Made of new woven linen, sheer and light. During the period of the Great Heat, as it appears from another verse, it was the Emperor's custom to withdraw somewhat from the company of his women, and retire beyond the Nine Doors, leaving his household leisure in which to renew their wardrobes. Making Ready for Fall Locust trees in the court cast pleasant shade; In early summer's drowsiness No visits to the Nine-doored Hall are made; During the Feast of Gown-bestowing The ladies all compete in dress, New raiment sewing, Dragons embroidering on the bright brocade. M a n y and many a merry feast enlivened the monotony of life in the Han Palaces where the inmates solaced their loneliness with music and wine. Revelry For Shang Yuen silvery candles and rare wines! Bright through the colonnade the clear moon shines! Now the Conductor calls for new songs from the stage — Strings, voices, flutes, the burst of sound combines!

THE

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113

The return of the Emperor, perhaps from a tour of inspection, perhaps from a pilgrimage, or a fishing trip, is an occasion for rejoicing among his women. T h e mannered elegance of Empress Yang's lines signalizes a glad event. On the Emperor's

Return Sleet

Falls

In palace courts they say The Imperial Chair returns with morning's light! Against the Tower of Hope-for-Spring banners fly bright! A sudden fall of sleet today! Strange as if flowers had blossomed in the night! Though of genial nature, preferring the pursuit of art to the ruling of a people, Emperor N i n g Tsung, nevertheless, could not escape forebodings. For Emperor N i n g Tsung had not been blessed with a son, either by his official consort or by any one of his concubines, and this lack was a cause of profound uneasiness to him, for none knew better than he the probabilities of intrigue, strife, civil war, and even the overthrow of the Dynasty, should he join his Imperial Ancestors without having first established an heir to the Throne. With a view to perpetuating his line, in 1221 Emperor N i n g Tsung, the Empress concurring, formally adopted and raised to the dignity of Heir Apparent the most promising of the collateral imperial scions, Prince Hung, a youth of talent and spirit, and a descendant in the thirteenth generation from the great T'at Tsung.

A n d three years

114

T H E

F I V E

BLESSINGS

later, some two and a half centuries before Columbus had dreamed of a westward passage to India, and while Europe drowsed in the dusk of the Dark Ages, Emperor N i n g T s u n g laid down his white jade scepter, relinquished the Great Seal of State, and after a reign of thirty years M o u n t e d the Dragon. N o doubt Emperor N i n g Tsung approached the Imperial Ancestors with the full assurance that his nominee would, in due course, fill the Dragon Throne and continue the succession in a manner acceptable to the manes of the S u n g Dynasty; but in this expectation he reckoned without the incalculable Yin force which had so strongly shaped his destiny. T h e widowed Empress, now in her turn one of those incalculable and undirectable powers which many a time in Chinese history had deflected the current of fate and made and unmade dynasties, was now an Empress Dowager. During the period of official mourning for the late Emperor the widowed lady held the reins of power and was, in fact, the Mother of the State, a solicitous and benevolent, though none the less despotic, matriarch. Of her care for the People, and the seriousness with which she assumed responsibility she makes declaration in the stanza in which she reveals herself as head of the nation, at the same time apprising her ministers of the fact that her perspicacity pierces to the heart of the political situation.

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EMPEROR LI TSUNG Fifth Sovereign of the Southern Sung (Dynastic

Portrait,

Palace

Museum,

Peking)

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

Ruling the

115

Empire

Late, late at night I dream of ministers To foster arts and arms, and make the nation great; Grasping full sovereignty, I strive to benefit the State; Both good and bad, records of officers Are noted on m y screen, clear, accurate. Here the Empress Dowager likens herself to the early ruler Shang Kao Tsung, who dreamed of a great minister who would aid him in governing the People, and discovered the humble but learned Fu Yiieh whose genius upheld him throughout his reign. So sincere and powerful was Dowager Empress Y a n g that conspirators and intriguers dared not enter upon the program of coercion, assassination, and secret mutiny which usually marked the period of mourning for deceased rulers. Emperors might be dethroned, and m i g h t y Generals murdered without fear of arousing the ire of the masses; but what cabal, however strong, would venture to cross the will of an Empress Dowager beloved by a nation? Far more touching than her lines proclaiming actual as well as nominal sovereignty, admonishing her nobles to the exercise of a spy-proof loyalty, and publishing the aims of ler rule is the short poem whispering of the loneliness of in aging woman deprived of a lifelong companion, and conmiserating the mateless parrot in its cage. T w o words of :he second line are lost.

Il6

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

Bereavement Solemnly, solemnly, A l l night the incense smokes : Under the blossoming cassia tree Embroidered pictures are unrolled; In the vast, empty sky Cold, cold, The moonbeams lie Across the Starry River; The parrot, all a-shiver, Calls out for Someone with persistent cry. T h e widow grieved; but the temper of the Court was one of quiet assurance that Prince H u n g would duly ascend the Throne, rule jointly with the Empress Dowager for a few years, and after the demise of his mentor carry on as an independent ruler, seasoned by association with one of the shrewdest minds of the State. Such, indeed, appears to have been the expectation of the Dowager herself, who regarded the heir as her son, and had dedicated herself to carrying out the project which she, in conjunction with her Lord, had conceived for the stability of the Dynasty. For this reason she was the more aghast at the contretemps brought about by the prince who, hotheaded and unbridled, with a word plunged his supporters into confusion. T h e Empress Dowager headed a party which was, in effect, the government. In this dominant clique Shih M i -

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

117

yuan, by reason of his long service to the Empress, was an important figure. To threaten Shih M i - y u a n was to threaten the party; to menace the Dowager's henchman was to menace the government. Yet, though cognizant of this situation, Prince H u n g was not tactician enough to dissemble his animosity and make sure of his throne before indulging his prejudices. Prince H u n g was young; Prince H u n g was opinionated; Prince H u n g was fiery. His grudge against the statesman was not to be concealed. " W h e n I am Emperor," he boasted, poring over a map of the S u n g domain, " I shall exile Shih M i - y u a n to this island, the farthest from S u n g . " A n d with these words Prince H u n g quenched forever his hopes of mounting the Dragon Throne. His words had wings, and flew at once to the ear of wily Shih M i - y i i a n who harbored them with sentiments of consternation and alarm. Shih M i - y i i a n stood high in the favor of the Great Lady; yet even Shih Mi-yiian, who had already recognized in Prince H u n g a potential danger, did not venture to dispose summarily of the heir. The Empress had concurred in the late Emperor's nomination of the prince; therefore her consent to his removal must be secured. After anxious consultation with Y a n g Tzu-shan and other members of the ruling party, Shih Mi-yiian set himself to the difficult

Il8

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

task of accomplishing his end by the route of importunity and persuasion. Enthronement of Prince H u n g meant the downfall of the Empress Dowager, of Y a n g Tzu-shan, of Shih M i yiian. That the Great Lady did not as yet see eye to eye with her faithful partisans was a misfortune to be rectified, not by threat or force — for who could cope with an Empress Dowager? — but by soft coercion and family pressure. Counting on that spirit of nepotism which has ever dominated female as well as male sovereigns of the Celestial Empire, Shih M i - y u a n chose as advocates two agents having direct access to the matriarch's ear and heart. Having long endured a dearth of family affection, the Dowager was peculiarly susceptible to the worshipful influence of her nephews, Y a n g Kuo and Y a n g Sha, the sons of Yang Tzu-shan. N o w the young nobles were carefully coached in their parts and sent to wait upon the August Aunt. Theirs was no easy task, to turn the mind of a regnant and determined woman. The Dowager was flatly averse to nullifying the appointment made by her Sacred and Deceased Lord. She would have no hand in setting aside the legitimate heir. A s to her, she was an old woman now, ready to lay down the burden of government and seek seclusion. Let the enthronement of Prince H u n g procecd.

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

119

That her own astounding stability had not dulled her perception of the usual mutations of princes had already been expressed in the delicately cynical lines — A Shift of Wind Cloud shadows overhang the cedar pool, The voice of autumn sounds through thousand-year-old boughs; In marble palaces, you ask, does it grow quickly cool? The weather changes while you read at night and drowse! She had had ample opportunity to observe those sudden changes of temperature suffered by courtiers, and though she might allude to the phenomenon of shifted favor with penetrating subtlety she, herself, was not one to first blow hot and then blow cold. Despite the representations of the envoys that the enthronement of Prince H u n g meant exile for herself and death for Shih Mi-yuan, Dowager Empress Y a n g clung tenaciously to her decision. She was obstinate, indeed. Seven times in one night her nephews waited on her, using every argument, every lever of family influence to move the August A u n t from her position. Frantically Yang Kuo and Y a n g Sha pointed out that Prince H u n g had already grasped undue power, and was plotting the overthrow of Shih Mi-yiian, the bulwark of the party. A prince who threatened a mighty minister with

120

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

exile, might, conceivably, venture to thwart the will of a Dowager. Furthermore, her party's drive against the prince, having been once launched, must be brought to a successful conclusion. If now permitted to mount the Throne Prince Hung would take speedy vengeance on those who had challenged his elevation. " A n awl in a sack," treason would out, and the heads of Shih Mi-yuan, Yang Tzushan and the two nephews would drip over the city gates, while the High, the Mighty, the Sacred Lady herself would eat bitterness in exile. Even when confronted with this probability the Dowager Empress yielded her consent to the alternative plan only after exhausting persuasion. But at length, weighing the case shrewdly, and taking into consideration the probable fate of relatives and supporters, as dawn was breaking the wearied old lady sighed, " Where is this other prince whom you wish to enthrone? " Straightway the conspirators brought forward Princc Yung, a descendant of the founder of the Sung Dynasty. The young man, at that time about twenty-four years of age, fell upon his knees before the arbiter of his fate, and the old Empress, having at last taken up her position, patted the suppliant's shoulder and spoke the words which gave him the Throne: " From henceforth you are my son."

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

121

Having arrived at her decision the Empress Dowager allowed no dew to settle on her pearl-sewn shoes before moving to put it into effect. Quickly, decisively, before opposition could be organized, by a forced order she invested the rejected nominee with the title of Prince of Ch'i, and announced the elevation of Prince Y u n g to the Dragon Throne. In this decision Court and People quietly concurred, and in the year 1225 Prince Y u n g Ascended the Summit, and under the title of Li Tsung began his turbulent reign of forty years. T h e salient events of this period may be traced in any history of China, and there the inquirer may read of the collapse of the Golden Tatars, of Sung's futile efforts to wrest back her lost capitals, K'ai Feng and Lo Yang, and of the outcome of these coups in further contests with the advancing Mongols. Yet not in Li Tsung's time was the mandate of the Sungs to be exhausted. Jenghis Khan might loom portentous on the horizon, but this protege of the August Lady's was to continue on the Dragon Throne for four decades, the steadfast upholder of Shih Mi-yuan, the devoted son-by-adoption of Empress Dowager Yang. In the light of historical accounts it appears that the Dowager could have made no more fortunate choice than this prince to whom she yielded support only after seven visits of supplication from her nephews. Throughout his

122

THE

FIVE

BLESSINGS

reign Li T s u n g stood staunchly by those w h o had elevated him to his high position. Shih M i - y u a n , the emperor maker, held unlimited power under the new regime; but it was the Empress Dowager upon w h o m the most elaborate honors were heaped. Li T s u n g confirmed his sponsor in her title of Yang T'ai Hoti, received her as coadministrator of the government, and commanded that her birthday be celebrated as the Festival

of

Long Life

and

Felicitations. H o w inspired had been this Mulberry Caterpillar in her election of relatives, of brother, of sister, of child! T h e last of the Palace Poems of Yang T'ai Hou acknowledges the reverent attentions of her adopted son. A t the Fifth of the Fifth Moon,

the celebration of the Summer Solstice, the

Dragon Lord comes in person to offer homage at the bedside of the aged lady. The Emperor Brings

Congratulations

H o w splendid are the T ' i e n C h u n g celebrations! Heaven's Son, leading his train, Presents the W i n e C u p of Longevity, A n d holds the plate, and bows and bows again! N o w the attendant noblemen are free T o near the Dragon C o u c h with high felicitations. N o rude breath broke the sunset calm. In 1225, as a matter of precaution, Shih Mi-yuan quietly murdered the

THE

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123

Prince of Ch'i, thus guaranteeing that no further disturbance should arise from that quarter. In mellow radiance the sun of Dowager Empress Yang declined toward the horizon. Already she rejoiced in the title of Tsu Ts'ai,

Benevolent-and-Sapient. On her sev-

entieth birthday she was loaded with the triple titles of Hsu Ming

Jen Fu Ts'ai Ming,

or Longevity-and-Brilliance,

Benevolence-and-Blessings, Wisdom-and-Brightness. Even after her death at the advanced age of seventytwo in the year Shao Ting,

the inexhaustible good fortune

of the Mulberry Caterpillar drew down upon her elaborate tomb the posthumous titles of Kung T'ai Hon,

Hsun Jen Li

Yang

the Venerated-and-Sacred, Gracious-and-Vital

Dowager Empress Yang.