Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent 0674002431

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Poetry and Painting in Song China The Subtle Art of Dissent

Harvard~ Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 50

Poetry and Painting in Song China The Subtle Art of Dissent ALFREDA

+

MURCK

Published by the Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard, Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard University Press Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 2000

© 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States of America The Harvard-Yenching Institute, founded in 1928 and headquartered at Harvard University, is a foundation dedicated to the advancement of higher education in the humanities and social sciences in East and Southeast Asia. The Institute supports advanced research at Harvard by faculty members of certain Asian universities and doctoral studies at Harvard and other universities by junior faculty at the same universities. It also supports East Asian studies at Harvard through contributions to the Harvard-Yenching Library and publication of the Harvard

Journal of Asiatic Studies and books on premodern East Asian history and literature.

',

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murck, Alfreda. Poetry and painting in Song China: the subtle art of dissent / Alfreda Murck. p. em. -- (Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series) Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-674-00243-I (alk. paper) r. Painting, Chinese--Sung-Yuan dynasties, 960-1368.2. Chinese poetry--Sung dynasty, 960-1368--History and criticism. 3· Art and literature--China. I. Tide. II. Series. NDI043·4·M87 2000 759·951'09'02 2I--dC 2I 99-044492 Index by Mary Mortensen @

Printed on acid-free paper

Last figure below indicates year of this printing ro 09 o8 First paperback edition, 2oor

Frontispiece: Wang Shen (ca. ro48-ca. no3). Misty River, Layered Peaks. Detail. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. The Shanghai Museum.

For Christian and ]en

Acknowledgments

This study began as a doctoral dissertation at Princeton University under the guidance ofProfessors Wen Pong and Kao Yu~kung. Professor Pong deserves special thanks for urging me to ·study the Eight Views of XiaoXiang and for ask~ ing difficult questions throughout. Professor Kao encouraged me to read through the late poetry of Du Fu, an intimidating task that proved to be re~ warding. For several years I have circulated parts and versions of this manu~ script, all the while assaulting friends with observations and questions. It is impossible to name all the scholars and friends who reacted with helpful comments, stimulating questions, and additional bibliography. My partial thank~you list includes Richard Barnhart, Maggie Bickford, Karen Brock, Chen Pao~chen, Richard Davis, Deng Xiaonan, Patricia Ebrey, Ronald Egan, Barbara Ford, James Hargett, Robert Harrist, Jr., Charles Hartman, Jonathan Hay, Maxwell Hearn, David Johnson, Lee Huishu, Christian Murck, Susan Naquin, Susan Nelson, Michael Nylan, Ogawa Hiromitsu, Willard Peterson, Andrew Plaks, Celia Carrington Riely, David Sensabaugh, Shih Shou~chien, Jerome Silbergeld, Joan Stanley~Baker, Jan Stuart, Peter Sturman, Suzuki Hiroyuki, Robert Thorp, Kathleen T omlonovic, Dietric T schanz, Franciscus Verellen, and Endymion Wilkinson. Peter Bol read much of the manuscript and offered critical suggestions and information. Andrew Solomon and Rich~ ard Vuylsteke generously read and commented on the entire manuscript. Nancy Norton Tomasko suggested many improvements to Chapter 6. On

viii

Acknowledgments Sunday afternoons in Beijing, Peter Lorge, Tracy Miller, James Robson, and Christian Lamoureux shared insights on Song dynasty texts. Tracy Miller generously lent a hand with the Character List, Chun-man Gissing proofed the Chinese texts, and Susan Donnelly helped with special photography. Of the many scholarly studies from which I have benefited, I wish to acknowledge a special debt to Susan Cherniack for her work on the long poems of Du Fu, to Ronald Egan for his insightful study on SuShi, and to Julia Murray for her research on twelfth-century painting, which first alerted me to the potential of Song dynasty painting to assert political views. Unpublished materials proved highly useful as well: Michael McGrath and Paul Smith shared draft chapters for the Song Dynasty volume of The Cambridge History of China, and Susan Cahill sent her MA thesis on the Tang poet Shen Quanqi. For aid in interpreting various Chinese texts, I am indebted to Kao Yukung and Michael Nylan in Princeton, to Chen Wen-hua, Chou Chao-ming, and I Lofen in Taipei, and in Beijing, to Gao Jianping, Wang Chunyuan, and Liu Shangrong. For the privilege of viewing original paintings, my thanks to Cary Liu of The Art Museum, Princeton University; Maxwell Hearn at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Lin Po-ring and Wang Yao-tif).g at the Taipei National Palace Museum; Yang Xin, Shan Guoqiang, and Kong Chen at the Beijing Palace Museum; Shan Guolin and Zhong Yinlan at The Shanghai Museum; and Minato Nobuyuki at Tokyo National Museum. At Princeton University's Gest East Asian Library, Martin Hedjra was unfazed by difficult inquiries, and at Peking University Library, Shen Naiwen cheerfully lent aid whenever asked. In the editing process, John Ziemer applied his experience and wisdom to improve the manuscript significantly. My former colleague at the Metropolitan Museum, Sue Koch, contributed her talents to the design of the cover. For technical support I have relied on and tested the goodwill of friends and strangers, including Mathew Cohler, Eliot Drabek, Christopher Hayes, Michael Lewis, Curtis Smith, and Ivan Chu. Christian andJen have provided unlimited moral support. Hanyu pinyin spelling has been used, and for consistency, Wade-Giles spellings in quotations have been changed to pinyin. However, neither authors' names nor tides of publications have been altered. Dates containing a lunar month are spelled numerically (e.g., the seventh month of 1079 ). Dates converted to the Gregorian calendar are given in Western style Qanuary ro8o ). Wherever possible, tides follow Charles 0. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Ti-

tles in Imperial China.

Contents

Maps and Figures

xiii

Dates of Chinese Dynasties and Selected Rulers

XlX

Maps

XXll

Introduction A Millennium of XiaoXiang Laments

6

Sage-King Shun and His Faithful Wives 8/ Qu Yuan 10/ Song Yu 13/ Jia Yi 15/ Wang Yi 17I Yu Xin 18/ Shen Quanqi 19/ Zhang Yue 20/ Li Bo 21( Du Fu 23/ Han Yu 24/ Liu Zongyuan 25 2

A Defining Moment: Shenzong's Reign (ro67-85) Early Song Political Culture 28/ Emperor Shenzong Implements the New Policies 32/ A Painting Celebrates New Beginnings (1072) 34/ A Painting Admonishes the Emperor (1074) 37/ The Case of the Loyal Official Song Di 42/ The Luoyang Exiles 44/ The Crow Terrace Poetry Trial (1079) 48

28

x

Contents 3

Infusing Painting with Poetry

51

The Importance ofDu Fu 52/ Encoding Poetry 59/ Song Di' s Creation of the Eight Views of XiaoXiang 61/ Literary Characteristics of the Eight Views of XiaoXiang Titles 70 4

Exile, Return, and Dissonance

73

Unjust Exile: Wild Geese Descend 74/ Reprieve: A Sail Returns 82/ Mountain Markets and Du Fu's Autumn Day in Kui Prefecture 85 5

Confronting Melancholy: Evening, Night, and Autumn

IOO

River and Sky, Evening Snow roo/ Autumn Moon over Dongting ro4/ Night Rain on XiaoXiang roB/ Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple no/ Fishing Village in Evening Glow II4/ Tree Leaves Fall II7/ Level-Distance Landscapes 121 6

Su Shi and Wang Shen: Misty River, Layered Peaks

!26

SuShi Encodes a Poem 130/ Wang Shen Rhymes a Response 136/ Su Shi Writes After Drinking 141/ Wang Shen Responds with Thanks 147/ Misty River, Layered Peaks, Attributed to Wang Shen 151/ A Manuscript of the Four Poems 153 7

Huang Tingjian' s Laments

157

Career and Political Exiles 158/ Wind in the Pines, no2 163/ Calligraphy 177/ Monk Zhongren's Painted Plums, no4 179 8

Proclaiming Harmony: The Court's Visual Rhetoric Huizong's Ascension 190/ Paintings Proclaiming Harmony 191/ Era of Peace and Order 195/ Writing for the Emperor: Guo Si and Han Zhuo 197

9

Wang Hong's Eight Views of XiaoXiang

203

The Chan MonkJuefan Huihong 204/ Wang Hong Paints Like a Poet 210/ Audience 225 IO

New Uses of the Past

228

Dream Journey over XiaoXiang 230/ Ma Yuan and the Eight Views of XiaoXiang 233/ Ma Yuan and Zhang Zi's Poetry Gathering 237 I A Succession Crisis, a Banishment, and Spurious Learning 243/ "Seventh Month" from the Odes of Bin 245/ The Buddhist Monks Muqi and Yujian 252

Epilogue

259

Contents Appendixes A Dti Fu Texts and Translations

265

.B

SuShi's and Wang Shen's Matching ofDu Fu's Rhymes

275

c

Huang Tingjian's Matching ofDu Fu's Rhymes

279

D Eight Views ofXiaoXiang Poetry by Buddhist Monks

28!

Reference Matter

Notes

291

Bibliography

353

Character List

377

Index

389

Xl

Maps and Figures

Maps 2

Modern Provinces and an Indication of the XiaoXiang Region

xxn

Northern Song China

xxm

Figures

2

3

Guo Xi ~~ ~~ (ca. 1010-ca. 1090 ). Early Spring, dated 1072. Hanging scroll, ink and pale color on silk. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

35

Guo Xi ~~ \¥~ (ca. 1010-ca. 1090 ). Early Spring, dated 1072. Detail. Hanging scroll, ink and pale color on silk. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

36

ZhouJichang ffll-*1ft (fl. late 12th c.). Lohans Bestowing Alms on Suffering Human Beings, from Five Hundred Lohans, ca. !!78-88. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk. General Fund. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

41

XIV

Maps and Figures 4

5

6

7 8

9

IO

II

Song Di *~ (ca. I015-ca. ro8o ), attr. Small Wintry Forest, possibly a fragment of Geese Descending to Level Sand. Hanging scroll, ink on silk. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

47

Song Di 7K~ (ca. ror5-ca. ro8o), attr. (traditionally attributed to Xu Daoning). Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple. Handscroll, ink on silk. Fujii Yurinkan, Kyoto

65

Zhao Ganli:11~f: (fl. mid-roth c.). Along the River at First Snow. Detail of a handscroll, ink and color on silk. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

II9

Unidentified artist (I2th c.). Autumn Mountains. Round fan, ink and colors on silk. Courtesy Liaoning Provincial Museum

I20

Guo Xi¥~ !if~ (ca. roro-ro90 ), attr. Old Trees, Level Distance. Handscroll, ink on silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift ofJohn M. Crawford, Jr., in honor of Douglas Dillon, I98I. (r98I.276)

I24

Jianbaixi ~ 8 (fl. early I4th c.). Eight Insect Themes, colophon dated I330. Detail of snails. Handscroll, ink on paper. Beijing Palace Museum

I28

Wang Shen £ ~tc (ca. ro48-ca. rro3 ). Misty River, Layered Peaks. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. The Shanghai Museum

I52

Wang Shen £ ~tc (ca. ro48-ca. rro3), attr. Misty River, Layered Peaks. Handscroll, ink on silk. The Shanghai Museum

I53

r

I2 SuShi ~i!!Jt (r037-II0I). "Inscribing Wang Shen's Misty River, Layered Peaks" (poem one), and Wang Shen, "Rhyming a Poem" (poem two), ink on silk, following Wang Shen attr., Misty River, Layered Peaks (Fig. rr). The Shanghai Museum

I54

SuShi ~~i.\ (ro37-rror). "Rhyming Wang Shen, with Preface" (poem three), ink on silk, following Wang Shen attr., Misty River, Layered Peaks (Fig. rr). The Shanghai Museum

I55

I4 Wang Shen £ ~tc (ca. ro48-ca. II03 ). "Again Rhyming" (poem four), ink on silk, following Wang Shen attr., Misty River, Layered Peaks (Fig. n). The Shanghai Museum

I56

I3

Maps and Figures 15

Unidentified artist (12th c., spurious signature of Xu Daoning). Walking with a Staff Under Pines. Round fan mounted as an album lea£ ink and color on silk. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

166

16 Huang Tingjian J[ )}!~ (1045-II05). Wind in the Pines Hall. Detail. Handscroll, ink on paper. Courtesy National Palace Museum, Taipei

178

17 LiT ang :$ }j- (ca. 1070-ca. II 50). Boyi and Shuqi. Detail. Handscroll, ink and color on silk. Beijing Palace Museum

194

18

Zhang Zeduan ~.JH~Hffij (fl. early 12th c.), attr. Peace and Prosperity Along the River. Detail. Handscroll, ink on silk. Beijing Palace Museum

196

19 Wang Hong .:Ei;!t (fl. mid-12th c.). "Wild Geese Descending to Sandbar," in The Eight Views ojXiaoXiang, Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

212

20 Wang Hong .:Ei;!t (fl. mid-12th c.). "Sail Returning from Distant Shore," in The Eight Views ojXiaoXiang, Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

213

21

Wang Hong .:E~;!t (fl. mid-12th c.). Detail of Fig. 20, "Sail Returning from Distant Shore"

213

22 Wang Hong .:E~;!t (fl. mid-12th c.). "Mountain Market, Clearing Mist," in The Eight Views of XiaoXiang, Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

215

23 Xia Gui !l I (fl. ca. 1200-1240 ), attr. Mountain Market, Clearing Mist. Album lea£ ink on silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kennedy Fund, 1913. (13.100.102)

216

xvi

Maps and Figures 24 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). "River and Sky, Evening Snow," in The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McC~rmick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

2!7

25 Wang Hong .:E.?~(fl. mid~r2th c.). Linked compositions: the left th,ird of"Mountain Market, Clearing Mist" and the right third of"River and Sky, Evening Snow," from The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick,' Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

2!8

26 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). "Autumn Moon over Dongting," in The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

2!9

27 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). "Night Rain on XiaoXiang," in The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of I92I, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

220

28 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). Linked compositions: the left third of"Autumn Moon over Dongting" and the right third of"Night Rain on XiaoXiang," from The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

220

29 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). "Evening Bell from a Mist~ Shrouded Temple," in The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

222

30 Wang Hong .:E.?~ (fl. mid~r2th c.). "Evening Bell from a Mist~Shrouded Temple." Detail of Fig. 29, a monk climbing to a temple

223

Maps and Figures 31

Wang Hong .±~;It (fl. mid~12th c.). "Fishing Village in Evening Glow," The Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Section of a handscroll, ink on silk. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Edward L. Elliott Family Collection. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund. Photograph by Clem Fiori

224

32 Li ofShucheng ~r.!iX:$± (fl. mid~12th c.). Dream Journey over XiaoXiang. Detail. Handscroll, ink on paper. Tokyo National Museum

230

33 Dong Bangda :llitt~3l (1699-1769). Eight Views ofXiaoXiang After Ma Yuan, dated 1746. Handscroll, ink and color on paper. Wong Nan~ping Family Collection

234

34 Dong Bangda If~3l (1699-1769). Eight Views ofXiaoXiang After Ma Yuan, dated 1746. Handscroll, ink and color on paper. Proposed reconstruction of Ma Yuan's original design. Wong Nan~ping Family Collection

236

35 Ma Yuan,~ ~(fl. before n89-after 1225), attr. Composing Poetry on a Spring Outing. Detail. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. The Nelson~ Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Purchase: Nelson Trust)

238

36 Ma Yuan,~~ (fl. before n89-after 1225), attr. Composing Poetry on a Spring Outing. Detail. Handscroll, ink and colors on silk. The Nelson~ Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Purchase: Nelson Trust)

240

37 MaLin ,~ M (ca. n8o-after 1256). Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds. Fan mounted as an album lea£ ink on silk. ©The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998, John L. Severance Fund, 1961.421

241

38 Unidentified artist (ca. 1200 ). Seventh Month. Detail, "Crickets enter under our bed" and "Smoking out rats." Handscroll, ink on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection, Gift ofThe Dillon Fund (1982.459)

246

39 Unidentified artist (ca. 1200 ). Sev·enth Month. Detail, landscapes on bed. Handscroll, ink on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection, Gift of The Dillon Fund (1982.459)

248

xvii

xvm

Maps and Figures 40 Unidentified artist (ca. 1200 ). Seventh Month. Detail, the three friends of the cold season. Handscroll, ink on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection, Gift ofThe Dillon Fund (1982.459)

250

41 Muqi 151: ~ti- (ca. 1200-after 1279 ). Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple. Handscroll mounted as hanging scroll, ink on paper. Hatakeyama collection

253

42 Muqi 151:~ti- (ca. 1200-after 1279). Fishing Village in Evening Glow (also given as Sail Returningfrom Distant Shore). Handscroll mounted as a hanging scroll, ink on paper. Kyoto National Museum

254

43 Yujian ±Ws~ (fl. mid-13th c.). Mountain Market, Clearing Mist. Hanging scroll, ink on paper. Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo

255

44 Yujian ±Ws~ (fl. mid-13th c.). Autumn Moon over Dongting. Hanging scroll, ink on paper. Yada Matsutaro coll~ction

256

Dates of Chinese Dynasties and Selected Rulers

The first sages of tradition (Fu Xi {:ktf) (Shen Nong 1$M:) (Huangdi ji$) Yao~

Shun~ Yu~

The "Three Eras" of antiquity Xia~

Shang~

Zhou mJ Western Zhou ®mJ, mh century-771 B.c. Eastern Zhou "$:mJ, 770-256 B.c. Spring and Autumn Period wfJc, 770-481 Warring States Period~~~ 403-221 B.c.

B.C.

xx

Dates of Chinese Dynasties and Selected Rulers The first imperial states Qin 221-207 B.C. (Western or Former) Han(®, §U) r:l, 202 B.C.-A.D. 9 Wang Mang's .:E.~ usurpation: the Xin lfff dynasty, 9-23 (Eastern or Later) Han (*, 1&) ¥:l, 25-220

*'

The Three Kingdoms .=.~, 220-80 (Western) Jin (®) 'g, 226-316 Period of Division, 316-589 The Northern and Southern Dynasties i¥i~U¥JJ, 317-589 In the north, 386-581: (Northern) Wei (~t) R, 386-534, which divided into the Eastern "-* (534-50) and Western (535-57) Wei®~!, which were succeeded by Northern Qi ~t~, 550-89, and Northern Zhou ~tfflJ,557-89 In the south, 317-589: EasternJin *:g, 317-420, followed by the (Liu) Song (~U) 5K, 420-79, Southern Qi i¥j~,479-502, Liang~' 502-57, and Chen ~-*., 557-89 Unification of north and south Sui~~' 581-618

Tang Jj-, 618-907 T aizong ::l.,\:7};, 626-49 Gaozong r%J7};, 649-83 Empress Wu .fEtl§, 684-705: the Zhou fflJ dynasty, 690-705 Xuanzong ;t7};, 712-56 Suzong m-7};, 756-62 Daizong {-t7};, 762-79 Dezong 1~7};, 779-805 The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms .li {-t+~ period of north~south division, 970-60

Dates of Chinese Dynasties and Selected Rulers

The Song dynasty and the non~ Han dynasties of the north Liao ~ dynasty of the Khitans ~ft, 916-n25 Northern Song ~t*, 960-II27 T aizu ::;tt.§., 960-76

T aizong :71::*, 976-97 Zhenzong ~*' 997-1022 Renzong 1=*, 1022-63 Yingzong ~*' 1063-67 Shenzong t$*, 1067-85 Zhezong fff*, ro85-noo Huizong 1~*' noo-m5 Qinzong ~},:*, n25-27 Jin ~dynasty of the Jurchens fr~, III5-1234 Southern Song i¥i*, II27-1270 Gaozong ~*' n27-62 Xiaozong ~*' n62-89 Guangzong :Yt*, II89-94 Ningzong $*, II94-1224 Lizong fJ![*, 1224-64 Duzong !Jt*, 1264-74 The later dynasties Yuan j[;, 1264-1368 Ming 13jj, 1368-1644 Qing ~~~ I644-19II

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Thousands of geese had the freedom to fly great distances, but Du Fu was always left behind. The phrase "turn their backs on me" carried the hint of an affront. The tinge of bitterness was amplified when geese were equated with officials. in service to the throne. Among Du Fu' s poems dated to late 769 and 770, more than a dozen were written on occasions of sending off officials. Whether watching officials sail north toward the capital or geese taking flight, Du Fu felt .excluded. If wild geese in flight expressed the hierarchy of court officials, what did they suggest when they descended, as in the title Geese Descending to Level Sande Reversing the trope, Du Fu hinted that descending geese give up the dignity and decorum that characterized their flight. "Descending geese lose their abil24 ity to soar." In the poem translated above, this discrepancy is indicated by the contrast of the departing flock and the few left behind. The final couplet reveals a dark state of mind. Du Fu rejected the conventional poetic conceit: geese don't really bring letters. Don't expect any to arrive, not from family nor from the court. Forgotten and forlorn, he grimly recalled the thornferns that the brothers Boyi and Shuqi ate rather than be disloyal to the Shang and eat the grain of Zhou. When they were reminded that the ferns also belonged to the Zhou, they abstained from eating altogether and died of starvation. The allusion to the brothers is less a commemoration of their sacrifice than a revelation of the poet's anxiety over his own fate. 25 In the second part of "Returning Geese, Two Poems," the sense of foreboding is temporarily relieved. The first six lines, in hypnotic repetition, follow the cyclical movements of migrating geese. The orderly splendor of geese crisscrossing vast distances creates a mesmerizing calm that is shattered by an abrupt shift in closure: As snow is about to fall, they leave the foreign steppe, Before the flowers bloom, they depart Chu's clouds; Shadows on the clear Wei River are still passing, Flocks above Dongting Lake are soaring;

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Exile, Return, and Dissonance To northern frontiers on spring's dark evenings; 26 To South of the River as bright days turn hazy. The shock of a bow-drifting, falling feathers; The line is broken-I can't bear to hear.

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1'T Wi /F ti!'IZ 00

The wording of the seventh line is as startling as the event. A frightened goose, terrified for a moment by the sound of the hunter's bow, is felled. An early story recorded in the Zhanguo ce tells how the courtier Geng Ying shot down a wild goose without an arrow in his bow. As Geng Ying explained to the amazed King of Chu, the bird was slow because he had been wounded, and therefore he had become separated from his flock. Isolation made him anx~ ious. When he heard the sound of the bow, he flew higher, his old wound opened, and he fell to the earth. 27 In Du Fu's poem the wild goose does not de~ scend of his own accord, but plummets from the sky. The disruption causes the other geese to cry mournfully, a sound that the poet finds excruciating. In another poem, Du Fu recalled his arrest, trial, and (in his view unjusti~ fied) dismissal from court. Believing himself to be a loyal and principled ser~ vant unjustly slandered, he wrote: Ten years later, with broken wings, 28 I still shriek from the shock of that terrible fall.

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Long after the event, Du Fu's anguish is still evident. Readers of Tang poetry would have recognized Song Di' s painting title on descending geese as an allu~ sion to southern exile, with the unspoken implication that it was unjust. Su Shi used the image as he traveled south into his second exile: "A wild goose descends, hidden behind the east peak." 29 In 1087 Su Shi wrote a quatrain for a landscape painting by Guo Xi and opened the poem with the line: Straining to see a lone goose descend beside the evening glow, Distantly aware of wind and rain on 30 different rivers.

The poem, which surely refers to wrongful punishment and vicissitudes, is discussed further in Chapter 5· In the early twelfth century, Song Di's painting title was modified. In the poetry of the Chan poet Huihong, "geese~descending" yan luo was reversed to "descending geese" luo yan. The switch of characters softened the meaning. In~ stead of functioning as a verb, luo became a modifier, which shifted the empha~ 31 sis from "to descend/ to fall" to a description of alighting geese.

79

So

Exile, Return, and Dissonance The painting title's other two~character phrase, pingsha (level sand or sandbar), referred to the sandy banks and islets of a river, a feature of most riv~ ers not in flood. In early literature "level sand" was not commonly paired with geese. In the Book of Odes the wild geese settle in a marsh. What associations did level sand hold for the scholars of the 1070Sr Du Fu' s late poems often contain references to the sandy shores of a river:

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Beside the station, sands white as ever, Past the lake, grasses recently green. 32

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Rains wash level sands clean, Sky softly envelops the broad shore. 33

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and as cited above, Amid the clouds they call to each other urgently, On sandy banks they spend the night scattered. 34

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"Level sand" had a particular resonance with the Xiang River, a characteristic of which are its beaches. The sandy island in the middle of the river at Chang~ sha presumably gave the city its name ("long sands"). Han Yu opened a poem on the theme of exile in XiaoXiang with the line, "Changsha level for a thou~ sand miles." 35 The binome "level sand" indirectly recalls Changsha and its im~ portant role in exile lore. 36 These examples may have been sufficient to form a meaningful allusion, but for Luoyang exiles ruminating on these titles at po~ etry gatherings, other associations may have floated in the background, noted but unremarked. The phrase "level sand" could be linked to the legend of the great sage minister and general Zhuge Liang (181-234) of the Three Kingdoms period. A moral exemplar, Zhuge Liang was admired for his loyalty, eloquence, intelli~ gence, and military acumen. 37 Legend has it that his strategic battle formations (bazhen tu) were positioned in sand along the Yangzi River near Kuizhou: "Once Zhuge Liang created the Eight Battle Formations on level sand at Fish's Return. He piled stones in eight rows, each separated by twenty feet. When Huan Wen saw them he said, 'These have the force of the Chang Mountain Snake [formation]."'38 Du Fu contributed to the fame of the stones with his poem "Eight Battle Formations" and celebrated the memory of Zhuge Liang in "Five Ancient Sites" as well as in other poems on visiting memorials to the hero. 39 Du Fu noted that the Eight Battle Formations were configured on sand: "Battle formations in sand along north bank."40 Su Shi' s brother, Su Che, climbed to a height to view the Battle Formations; by his own account,

Exile, Return, and Dissonance they so mesmerized him that he was unable to leave. His poem opens with the lines:

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The Battle Formations were a symbol of the great general, who despite dedi42 cation and intelligence still failed to change the course of events. Another allusion, submerged still deeper in the background, may have connected "level sand" to the lore of Qu Yuan's exile. Sima Qian retold the story of a fisherman shrewdly advising Qu Yuan to discard his high principles and adjust to circumstances. Rejecting the advice, the disconsolate poet wrote "Embracing Sand" and then did just that: he embraced a stone and drowned himsel£ Because Sima Qian chose "Embracing Sand" for transcription into the Shi ji, scholars were especially familiar with its statement on the wrongs that Qu Yuan had suffered in a topsy-turvy world: White is changed to black, The high cast down and the low made high; The phoenix languishes in a cage, While hens and ducks can gambol free; Jewels and stones are mixed together, And in the same measure meted. The courtier crowd are low and vulgar fellows; They cannot understand the things I prize. Genius they condemn, and talent they suspect, Stupid and boorish that their manner is! 43

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Exile, Return, and Dissonance resolve of the principled man. An artist of moral stature should not alter brush lines, and the lines that he did set down were by definition an expression of his inner substance and purpose. "Embracing Sand" is a poem free of the extravagant language and passionate excesses of Encountering Sorrow; it even advocates moderation: I must curb my rebelling pride and check my anger, Restrain my heart, and force myself to bow. I have met sorrow, but still will be unswerving; I wish my resolution to be an example.44

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"Embracing Sand" was a sao poem that a sober Confucian could admire and quote without apology. The phrase "embracing sand" became a figure for Qu Yuan; Li Bo wrote, for example, "Embracing Sand went into the XiaoXiang."45 Li Bo also called Qu Yuan by his given name, Ping (level).46 Throughout Qu Yuan's biography in the Shi ji, Sima Qian used this name. Some connoisseurs may have noticed that "level sand" was also "Ping's sand." The link between Qu Yuan's name and the painting title is a resonant echo behind the image. 47 These poetic associations are a mix of established archetypes and Du Fu's innovations. Geese Descending to Level Sand conveyed the message that fine, loyal officials had been unjustly exiled.

Reprieve: A Sail Returns The destination indicated by the verb "return" (gui) in Chinese poetry varied with the circumstances of the author at the time of composition. Examining the paired themes of exile and return in the poetry of Su Shi, Kathleen Tomlonovic found Su' s use of" return" changing over his career as he responded to separation from family, to conflicts at court, and to banishment.48 Cui could mean retiring from official life and returning to one's home, as in the famous prose-poem "Returning Home" by Tao Qian (365-427), 49 or gui could have a psychological emphasis as in the poetry of Wang Wei (7or-6r), who spoke of renouncing society and returning to a purer state. Stephen Owen notes that returning to what was basic and natural meant leaving "the artificial world of capital society with its dangers, frustrations, and humiliations, as well as its 60 poetry.' Ouyang Xiu adopted this sense of return for the name of his miscellaneous notes on Song history, Returning to Farming (Guitian lu).

Exile, Return, and Dissonance The return that most exiles longed for was a reprieve from punishment, reinstatement of status and privileges, and restoration of a good name. 51 Re~ turn from a distant exile in addition meant relief from rustic surroundings and from the threat of death through disease. 52 It signaled reunion with friends and reabsorption into the urbane culture of the capital. The condition of po~ litical exile in Luoyang in the 1070s gave "return" a special focus. Most of the Luoyang exiles were not renouncing society but were eager to return to the hub of political activity. Displaced from the center of power, they were await~ ing a turn of events-a new prime minister, a change of policy-that would occasion their return. For those who had been convicted of crimes, return meant an imperial pardon that would abolish their criminal status. Some of them could. chant with sincerity Qu Yuan's line, "But my soul within me longed to be returning: Ah! When for one moment of the day have I not longed to go backt53 For Song Di and other exiles, Du Fu spoke eloquently to this problem. In his XiaoXiang poetry, return is an obsession. As Du Fu sailed ever farther from home, his thoughts often turned to the court. Living with his family in the temporary quarters of a river boat and subsisting on the charity of local officials, he repeatedly regretted being unable to return to the capital. 54 In one poem, Du Fu used a phrase from an ancient song from Chu that described the ritual of summoning the soul: "Oh soul come back; in the south you cannot · a med'1tat1on . on returmng . nort h, wrote: stay. " 55 D u Fu, m Amid the tumult of tigers and jackals I cannot linger long, Here in the South there is indeed an unsummoned soul. 56

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Exile, Return, and Disson.ance elation and anxious anticipation. He bid farewell to the house that he had lived in for half a year and urged the sails to speed him along: Spring dwelling abandoned, I leave. Autumn sails hasten the traveler's return; The garden's vegetables are still before my eyes, The shore's waves are already blowing my robe; My life's pattern of drifting has been inept, My aspirations in twilight years are thwarted; On the Central Plain cavalry horses abound, On this distant circuit ordinary letters are few; Geese of the pass gather as the season advances, Crows on the mast fly at year's end; From here I will go to Deer Gate, 58 And forever put a stop to Hanyin schemes. 59

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Like Song Di' s Eight Views, these titles are evocative of poetry but have even less specificity of locale. Zhang Cheng also noted that another painting dealer displayed a set of Twelve Views in twelve scrolls, each on a sheet of Guanyin paper over five feet long. Twelve may be an error, since Zhang listed fourteen titles. They included the eight titles given above and the following: Morning Clouds Playing with the Sun Evening Rain Obscuring the River Spring Valley, Ice Melting Autumn Mountains, Rain Clearing Government Bridge, Rain on Cypress Wilderness Ferry, Wind in Pines Zhang Cheng continued, "For each scene the emperor had inscribed the title. A seal read 'Imperial Painting Treasure.' The seal impression, five inches across, was magnificent. It shows the emperor's keen enthusiasm. "Looking 32 back, Song Di' s Eight Views are hardly worth talking about!" The authenticity of the paintings as imperial scrolls is dubious. Among extant paintings from the imperial collectio~ there are no examples ofHuizong's having affixed huge seals. Zhang claimed that this group of paintings was more interesting than the Eight Views of XiaoXiang, but we are left to wonder whether he was refer~ ring to the incomparably grander scale (large hanging scrolls with imperial in~

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Proclaiming Harmony: The Court's Visual Rhetoric scriptions and five-inch seal impressions) or to the greater drama and pathos in the titles. Some of the titles are close paraphrases of the original Eight Views of XiaoXiang ("Evening' Rain Obscuring the River rather than "Night" Rain on XiaoXiang). Perhaps he is suggesting that, compared to the loss of the imperial family and half an empire, Song Di's circumstances were truly inconsequential: he had little to complain about; he merely lost his job. Read metaphorically, they also include intimations of satire, such as the title Morning Clouds Playing with the Sun (if the sun is a figure for the emperor). The title could also be paraphrased as "court clouds playing with the sun," suggesting that an emperor had been manipulated by unsavory officials, or perhaps could even refer to the kidnapping of the two former emperors. Zhang's entry may be a dispassionate record, but under the circumstances, one suspects that the titles were of special interest to him as a commentary on the recent catastrophic loss of north China. What constituted an appropriate painting subject depended on one's perception of the world. The court's perspective on the quality of governance varied greatly from that of officials who had been fired or labeled "debauched factionalists." The emperor and his immediate advisers required imagery that reflected and reinforced imperial authority. The Painting Academy produced pictures that promoted a vision of the phenomenal world as evidence of a wellordered state. Ink paintings of stormy weather did not represent the court's interpretation of reality. However, after the capital was sacked and the empire imperiled, the content of even court painting was likely to have changed to reflect the new circumstances.

g/ Wang Hong's 'Eight Views of XiaoXiang'

Buddhist associations are immanent in the Eight Views of XiaoXiang through the reference to a bell tolling at a Buddhist monastery in the painting Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple. The rich literature of Buddhist sutras and their approaches to the problems of life, mysticism, and withdrawal from the world were integral to intellectual life in the late eleventh century. Buddhist associations with the Eight Views multiplied in the twelfth century because of the interest of Chan monks in literary culture and because of the natural convergence of the classic Buddhist problem of illusion and perception with XiaoXiang imagery. When an elder monk challenged the poetry-loving Juefan Huihong (ro7I-l128) to create a poem for each painting topic, the Eight Views ofXiaoXiang became the inspiration for the Buddhist poet's "paintings with sound." As Huihong explained in the preface to the set of poems: "Song Di painted eight regions, which are totally amazing. People call them lines without sound. The Reverend Y an playfully said to me, 'Can the monk make paintings with soundi'' Therefore I composed a poem for each." 1 The challenge was premised on the prosodic quality inherent in Song Di's paintings, his "lines without sound." Later in the twelfth century, a professional painter named Wang Hong borrowed images from Huihong's poems in painting what has become the

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Wang Hong's 'Eight Views oJXiaoXiang' oldest extant set of the Eight Views. Previous discussions of paintings inspired by poetry have focused on the lyrical qualities suggested by mist and on how painters selected and represented poetic lines in subtle and indirect ways. The analysis in this chapter differs in addressing the question of whether the pain~ ter Wang Hong went beyond the depiction of motifs to use the structure of a regulated verse in designing his paintings. Indeed, Wang Hong's Eight Views of XiaoXiang provides a unique opportunity to evaluate how poetry influenced the visual organization of paintings.

The Chan Monk]uejan Huihong During the early years of the twelfth century, the climate for public service was less inviting than it had been earlier in the dynasty. The painful consequences of opposing court policy or of being an independent thinker led to frustration and to a dampening of idealism. For some the risks of joining the bureaucracy outweighed the undeniable prestige and advantages. Learned men with finan~ cial resources could elect to pursue their scholarly interests without employ~ ment. For the impecunious, an option was the priesthood. The active ex~ change of poems between scholar~officials and monks is evidence of the number of well~educated men sympathetic to Buddhism in the late Northern Song. Some monks were led by their natural curiosity, erudition, and frequent contacts with the educated elite to be interested in contemporary society and government. One such man was Huihong. Huihong was born in Yunzhou prefecture of modern Jiangxi, where his father was serving as an official. 2 His natal place was about roo kilometers from Fenning, the birthplace of Huang Tingjian. His father presumably was preparing him for the civil service examinations, when both ofHuihong's par~ ents died in 1084. As a thirteen~year~old orphan, he became an acolyte to the Chan master Sanfengqing. Had he not been raised in a Buddhist community, he would likely have focused his considerable energy on a career in the civil bureaucracy. As it was, he became an enthusiastic postulant, voraciously read~ ing a wide range of Buddhist texts. Huihong was in his late teens and early twenties when the anti~reformers returned to court and dominated the gov~ ernment. The intellectual ferment and personalities of the Yuanyou era cap~ tured Huihong' s imagination. Much of his secular writing was devoted to re~ cording recollections of this poignant era. About noi Huihong traveled inland to the XiaoXiang region. Perhaps

Wang Hong's 'Eight Views ofXiaoXiang' this was when Huihong met Huang Tingjian, who wrote a poem mentioning 3 that Huihong had called on him three times in two years. Huihong was deeply influenced by Huang's character and literary style and noted down his 4 thoughts on literature, literary theory, and aesthetics. Huihong was later designated a representative of the Jiangxi school of poetry. First defined in II33, the Jiangxi school was a loose grouping of poets, most of whom were natives of the Jiangxi region and all of whom had some connection to Huang Tingjian. Some of the characteristics that they shared were admiration for Du Fu, an attention to craft, a preference for conciseness, apt use ofliterary sources, hon~ esty, diligence, and practicality. 5 When writing "secular" p.oems, Huihong dis~ carded overtly Buddhist terms and assumed the guise of a scholar, a facility that other monks disliked. 6 Nonetheless, even his secular poems exhibit a mixing of traditional erudition with the Linji Chan approach, which valued paradoxical juxtapositions and enigmatic phrases. Huihong often got into trouble with officials and influential people. In nos he was charged with forging a monk's ordination certificate and was im~ prisoned for a year in Nanjing. He was imprisoned in Kaifeng when it was discovered that he had failed to observe the taboo against using the characters found in emperors' and empresses' personal names (in his case the character he was using to write his monastic name Hui). Zhang Shangying (ro43-II22), a devoted Buddhist layman and a close friend and patron, successfully peri~ 7 tioned for Huihong's release and return to the monastic community. In nog, Huihong was again imprisoned. After Zhang Shangying was made a grand councilor in the sixth month of mo, he was able to effect Huihong's release, but when Zhang was dismissed in the fall of IIII, Huihong' s security evapo~ rated. He was accused of helping to draft a memorial that Chen Guan (ro57n22) submitted to the court that autumn. "In Praise ofYao" was a stern indict~ ment of Cai Jing and his faction. 8 Huihong was exiled to the southern extrem~ ity of Hainan Island, to the aboriginal town of Yaizhou, where he stayed for a year and a hal£ In III4, shortly after returning from exile, Huihong visited the monk Zhongren, who ten years earlier had painted black plum blossoms for Huang Tingjian. A twelfth~century account suggests that Zhongren and Huihong shared a similar approach to painting: "Huihong, Juefan, was com~ petent at painting plum and bamboo. He always used black glue to paint plum blossoms on raw silk fans. Illuminated by lamp or moon, they cast shadows. In 9 stems and branches his brushwork was extremely vigorous." Like Zhongren, he may have been drawing on the poetic tradition of turning white to black to

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Wang Hong's 'Eight Views oJXiaoXiang' point silently to an unreasonable fate. That year Zhongren presented Huihong with a painting entitled XiaoXiang, Level Distance View. 10 The meanings inherent in the XiaoXiang tradition, Huihong's multiple arrests, and exile argue that Zhongren' s gift was a form of commiseration. Paradoxically, for these Chan monks the XiaoXiang region was not a place of exile, but a refuge. For seven productive years toward the end of his life, Huihong lived at the Deer Park Monastery near Changsha and then at the Southern Terrace Monastery on Mount Heng; he filled his days writing poems, essays, and biographies of monks and editing his literary works. In a Buddhist sect that nominally forswore reliance on the written word, Huihong was an erudite scholar dedicated to literary learning and writing. And in a religion that placed a premium on solitary introspection and discipline, he was gregarious, outspoken, and involved in worldly affairs. Huihong's XiaoXiang poems are undated and may not have been concurrent with visits to the region. His preface indicates that he thought of the eight scenes as constructs: instead of "eight views" (ba jing /\ ~), Huihong called Song Di' s paintings "eight regions" (ba jing /\ t~) or mental states. Beyond the idea of territory, the word choice implies a psychological state: a pure environment that arises from controlling the perceptions within the mind. Relishing the idea that poetry could do more than painting, Huihong included an appeal to the senses in each poem-sound, fragrance, temperature, tactile surfaces, reflected light, change of scene-elements that are difficult, if not impossible, to paint. Huihong's enthusiasm for sound may have found a theoretical basis in the Surangama sutra (Lengyan jing), one of the most popular scriptures of the era.u A guide to reaching enlightenment, the sutra recounts the Buddha's precept that you must first control the six senses, conquering one sense at a time. It presents the Bodhisattva Guanyin's personal account of conquering the organ of hearing. The bodhisattva most attentive to the cries of believers throughout the world mastered the skill of being unmoved by sound by merging his apprehension with the object. 12 The sutra taught that the object of perception, whether a sound or an image, is an illusion of one's mind and a hindrance to the perception of truth. Indeed, one of the attractions of the Lengyan jing was that, as a quintessential Chinese text, it served as a bridge between Buddhism and Confucianism. 13 Two poems from. the series will illustrate Huihong's use of allusions and abstractions and his movement beyond the XiaoXiang region. (For a complete translation of all the poems in the series, see Appendix D.) "Geese Descending

Wang Hong's 'Eight Views of XiaoXiang' to Level Sand" begins with images of reflected afternoon sun that would chal~ lenge any painter: The lake's autumn colors are like burnished bronze, Evening sun whitens sand, light is diffused; Fluttering about to land, more calling and crowding, By fives, by tens, among dense rushes. Not yet returned to Xixing, anxious at growing old, A cloudless evening sky, the heavens as if swept; At the wind~ borne sound of a flute, they rise alarmed, 14 Writing cursive script in air like Wang Xizhi.

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'T en-thousand-li heart" is borrowed from Du Fu's description of Xi Kang, who 57 was eager to do great things but lacked opportunity. The second couplet preients the obstacles to his progress. It recalls a well-known regulated verse by t'he Tang Confucian Han Yu, who was demoted and exiled for having written a celebrated memorial criticizing the emperor's vener1don of a Buddhist relic. A strategic mountain pass southeast of Chang' an, Ihdigo Field Pass (Lantian guan), was a common route for Tang officials departing the capital to the south. Han Yu was traveling through snow to a distant exile at Chaozhou (Guangdong province) when he wrote this poem at Lantian Pass to his grandnephew: .

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Ninefold HeavenExiled at dusk to Chaozhou, eight thousand leagues to travel,

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New Uses of the Past Wishing to save His Sagacious Brilliance from treacherous evils, Could I have cared for the years that remain in my withered limbs? Clouds straddle the mountains of Qin: where is my home? Snows crowd the Lantian Pass, horse will not move. I know what the reason must be for you coming so far: The better to gather my bones from the shores of • . 58 miasmic water.

Han Yu captures the swiftness of his fall from grace: at dawn he was a high official; by evening he was exiting the capital a criminal. Yujian' s mention of "uncontrollable change" at Lantian may refer to such a reversal of fortune and to the emotions that were stirred by passing from the realm of the court out into the wilderness. Yujian alluded to the poems of Du Fu and Han Yu, two dedicated intellectuals unable to advise their sovereigns effectively. These allu~ sions to Du Fu' s anxiety over his inability to serve and Han Yu' s morbid de~ spair at his exile give an insight into Yujian's interpretation of the theme River and Sky in Evening Snow. Yujian's quatrain implies that the emperor had ne~ glected men of huge talent. The practice of adaptation and appropriation, aided by the dynamic interac~ tion among the religious community, professional artists, and scholar~officials, led to a variety of uses of the Eight Views of XiaoXiang. Buddhist monks, court painters, artisans, and the educated elite drew on established poetic and visual themes to create images that met their individual expressive purposes. The Eight Views of XiaoXiang demonstrated that, through allusion to poetry, painting had the potential to comment discreetly on almost any aspect of human experience. The. Eight Views of XiaoXiang, which brought the art~ ist into association with legendary talents of the past, had, by the year 1200, become a classic theme that was evolving as both !iterary and visual icon. The multiple uses of the XiaoXiang imagery may have